On this New Years’ Eve eve, I’ve been lying here and thinking of you.

And, to be honest, feeling a bit overwhelmed…

No, not by you.

By my freakin’ e-mail, social media and advertising all over the web.

Oy vey…


If you’re anything like me, you’ve got gobs of messages coming your way about special offers that ‘expire at midnight tomorrow’, year-end reviews, lists of celebrity deaths, and notifications for New Year Deals at the local mall.

Truth be told, I can barely open my e-mail or FB without getting a twitch.

I’m tired of  hearing about the new gadgets, tips, and tricks I need to try in order to get my life together —  and this pressure to hurry up or I’ll miss it.

I think I’ve lived a lot of my life that way — that ‘hurry up or you’ll miss it’ kind of motivation.


The ‘buy this now’, ‘go there now’, ‘do this now’,

“Or else…”

It’s hard to be present to the moment when you’re so afraid that you’re going to miss it — you end up trying to hold on to something out of fear, instead of experiencing it out of love.

I don’t want that for me.
I don’t want that for you.

I just want us all to breathe and relax and settle into this moment.

What keeps popping into my mind is all these notebooks I have in my closet. I mean tons and tons of notebooks that are filled with the most incredible wisdoms, insights, and suggestions  from conferences I’ve attended the last 30 years. Conferences that talked about health, healing, spirituality, philosophy, organizational skills, starting a non-profit, making money, marketing, yoga, meditation, herbs, oils, piano teaching, vocal coaching, public speaking, book writing, small group leading, financial investing, self-actualization, personal growth, and god, so much more…

I remember sitting and copiously taking notes from experts all over the world, at events that I traveled thousands of miles and spent thousands of dollars to attend.

It was awesome and I learned a lot that added to my career and relationships.

And I also rarely EVER opened the notebooks past the event.

I’d take the notebook, leave it in a stack of “things I really should look at” and then, eventually sigh a big, ol’ hairy sigh of resignation and  tuck it up on the closet shelf.

Those pages were filled with pure gold.
And I was filled with pressure…

The feeling that I had to ‘do it all’ was immense.

So, when I looked at those books, all I saw was an insurmountable amount of stuff that I felt pressured to do.

God is a merciful God and sent me an angel…

There was a wise, wise soul who suggested to me about 15 years ago: “Don’t try to do everything you learn. Pick one thing — just one — and do that — and your entire life will shift.”


It brought so much relief to me.

The pressure was off and seeing the notebooks wasn’t daunting anymore.

No more did I attend a conference with a “got to execute it all perfectly in order to make the most of this opportunity’ — I went, took notes, soaked in the wisdoms, and at the end of each talk, circle ONE thing that really resonated with me.  Then, at the end of the conference, I’d look at all my circles and pick ONE of those things that I wanted to implement into my life.

It was amazing advice which changed how I looked at going to these events.

And yet, I would sometimes forget to apply to other areas of my life…



100-Day Gong

Many of you know that I do a Taoist practice called “100-Day Gong” in which you do a certain something (yoga, meditation, reading, writing, drawing, whatever…) for 100 days straight. If you miss a day, you start over from the beginning.

It’s magical, transformative, confrontational, and amazing.

I’m on my 5th Gong right now, but when I did my first 100-Day Gong a few years ago, I picked six items to do, which took about 2 ½-3 hours a day.  

On top of working.
Raising my kids.
Being a wife.
Healing.

Holy “What Was I Thinking”, Batman…


On Day One, I had it all together and it felt do-able. By Day Six, I was completely overwhelmed.

I kept pressing through (since I had already started and had a bunch of people following my progress on social media — which spurred that bit of performance pressure in me) and that Gong, eventually, transformed my life!

BUT it didn’t need to be that way:

The ‘do a scrillion things’ kind of way.

I saw it more clearly when people would approach me for ideas on their Gong, “What should I do?” They’d ask.

And I’d say, “Don’t do what I did. For the love of God and all that is holy…please. Pick ONE thing — just ONE — and do THAT for 100 Days….and your life will be in a different place.”

The power of 5, 10, 20 minutes of meditation a day for 100 days? Whoa doggie.  That’s a complete game-changer…

It really is that 1% change in your trajectory and with enough time and consistency, your life will shift onto a completely different course.

—-

Which leads me back to this:

I have nothing ‘new’ for you right now.  I don’t know that you need a new practice, a new idea, or a new anything.

Do you really need a new diet tip?
Or a new organizational method?
Or a new savings plan?


Sometimes ‘new’ can just be the shiny and distracting object.

Let’s ask this instead:

What’s one thing that has resonated for you that you’ve been avoiding?
What’s that one thing that keeps niggling at your brain, tapping you on the shoulder, and whispering in your ear?
What’s that one thing that you circled on your mental page that you haven’t taken action on?

Sometimes we don’t need to do a new thing…

Sometimes, we just need to do just

One.

Sending you deep love and the most powerful year ahead…

 

 

If you’re looking for more Love, Humor, and Truth from Stacey, grab her book, “You’re Not Crazy and You’re Not Alone” on Amazon.

If you’re a woman with Hashimoto’s and your guy doesn’t get what you’re going through, pick up Rock’s book, “The Guys’ Guide to Hashimoto’s.”

If you’re wanting some coaching in January to support your heart, mind, health,  and dreams for 2017, click here.