What can you do today that you were not capable of a few years ago?

When I think back to where exactly I was 365 days ago, it never ceases to amaze me the jagged artwork that change has woven into the tapestry of my life.  Each seemingly unconnected event has worked to put me exactly where I am supposed to be.

Many philosophies support the idea of a preconceived plan for everyone. I am not sure about that yet, but sometimes it seems like things fall into place in ways that you would never believe. So here are some of the things that I can do today that I was not capable of a few years ago.

Blogging

The first and most obvious is blogging. I had heard of it a year ago but had no conception of what a community stood behind WordPress.

 It was really an accident I ever found out about it at all. Or was it?  I had written a bit on my website but never participated in blogging.

 I was too busy or too afraid or both to write on a regular basis and then kind of call attention to it.  Reading other people’s thoughts and commenting on them.

 It is like reading a book and being able to initiate conversation with the author as you move through it.  I love that type of interaction. I encourage it and try hard to be grateful for each comment I get.  This has been a life changer and 365 days ago I was incapable of doing this.

Writing What I Think

There was a time not that long ago when I wouldn’t dare to write something that I really thought down anywhere, let alone on a public blog.  I had many negative voices in my head telling me: Nobody cares what you think.  That makes no sense. You are the only one in the world who believes that.  Nobody could possibly understand that.   As you can see, I was a bundle of confidence when it came to writing.  It was as if the Universe were conspiring to push me into writing about my thoughts.  It started with freelance writing, which forced me to write a large quantity of posts last summer in a relatively short amount of time.  This forced me to publish many things anonymously which I found to be quite liberating. It removed the negative voices completely and I could look at my writing from a pretty unemotional and detached view.  Then after the summer I moved to a newer phase of writing at the urging of a friend I started to write about the things I thought about.   Like taking the smallest snowball and rolling it through the snow, I took my ideas and started to craft my thoughts into posts for my website.  It started with a project and ended with me becoming involved in the world of WordPress. A year ago I was incapable of writing this post it has been an expressive year.

Being a Coffee Shop Author

One of the best parts of writing for me is that some of the best thoughts I have are written in coffee shops and I was fortunate through fate to visit a number of them all over New England over that past year.

A year ago I might have felt awkward, and self-conscious about sitting and writing in a nice coffee shop. Today, all I need is electricity and the internet and I can write quite easily and comfortably.

This transformation was by necessity so I started to get used to going into new cities and towns and finding a place that offered free wi-fi and then writing my mind out.  It made me a bit of money but more importantly it allowed me to improve my writing and gave me many great ideas about topics I should be writing about.

I have my favorite chains of coffee shop to write in and it would be difficult to choose just one.  Coffee shop chains are designed to handle the writing kind.  Individually owned coffee shops are too worried about the space you are consuming to cater to you.  A year ago I never would have known this or cared. I can write in almost any Tim Horton’s, Starbucks, or Dunkin Donuts in the world.

Enjoying the Moment and Going with the Flow

I have been working on this for several years, but in the last year I have put it into practice as often as I can.  I have a good friend to thank for this because hanging around with them you never knew from one day to the next what was going to happen.  It allowed me to enjoy the moment that was happening right now.  The moment may be gone in an instant.  There was also an acceptance of whatever came and enjoying it no matter what. Or at least appreciating the experience even if it wasn’t the greatest and most fun.   Most things however can be enjoyed, and a year ago I wouldn’t have been capable of enjoying them.  The difference was that I learned to let go of what I thought should be happening and accept what was happening.   This was definitely not an easy process and I still work on it today, but a year ago, I was not even close to this.

Gratitude is the Attitude

I have written about this before but it is true, that adopting an attitude of gratitude and experiencing heart-felt gratitude for what you do have, rather than focusing and feeling bad about what you don’t have is a pathway to not only enjoying life but to having more of the things you like in it.

I have been true to my gratitude journal since I first wrote about it and there have been things happening that I never would have thought of.  I believe that positive energy we create translates to others and makes all experiences better.  This begins for me with gratitude for all that is happening in my life.  I never would have tried to keep a journal about it a year ago, or to share that I did this as well.  You can be critical all that you want, but if you are that way, you probably are more worried about what you don’t have than what you do.  I am glad I am not in that frame of mind anymore, this year has allowed that to disappear.

I could continue to write a small book about this topic and I am sure that I am not uniques in this.  A year is a long period of time for some and a short period of time for others but we all experience changes every year of our lives.  I hope that I notice and enjoy all of the changes that come my way in the year to come.

 What can you do today that you were not capable of a year ago?

Day 10

Who knows what this next trip around the sun will bring.