Are you addicted to getting things done? Do you believe after you get everything done you will be living the good life on a beach sipping pina collada's? Most of us are guilty of believing if we want to succeed in life we have to be continually setting goals and obsessively working toward them as quickly as you can. Your mind is always fast forwarding to what is next creating impossible stress, negativity and a sense of loss in you life. 

Goals and achievements are necessary in life but become problematic when you delay your happiness in favor of being happy later. When does later come? The problem with constantly focusing on getting things done and moving on to the next thing is it takes its toll on your mind and body. Time to slow down and bring your mind into the present. 

Ironically, taking a slower path and putting your focus fully on what you are doing will help you to be more mindful and more successful. The next time you find yourself on the, "I gotta do it", roller coaster stop and ask yourself the question if it is "working for you?"  Ask yourself the question if what you are doing is in alignment with your integrity? Breath, become in tune with your environment. Being present will help you enlist your subconscious mind to be more creative, charismatic and happy. 

Today in the newspaper there was an article called “With experience comes knowledge”. Thearticle was asking, “What advice would you give the younger version of you?” Is there something you would do differently? More often? Less often? Or exactly the same? I welcome your response, as I am interested in what you have to say. What advice would you give your younger self?

As I am thinking of these questions personally I could come up with a lot of answers but the following is the one I settled on. If I could give advice to my younger self I would advise myself “to be more vocal in standing up for my ethics.” Sometimes I stood by and remained silent while I knew someone was making a bad decision (especially in respect to my oldest daughter who became addicted to drugs). Some of my excuses for remaining silent were, “She knows the consequences of what she is doing, she’s old enough to make her own decisions, let her make her own decisions. “

 In the book When to Speak up and When to Shut Up Dr. Sedler notes that we can often find ourselves in the predicament of whether to share personal feelings and risk offending someone or remain silent, maintaining “peace” but not being true to one’s self. I have learned as my older self that I cannot stay silent to compromise my personal ethics. I now know to speak up! This does not give me permission to run over other people’s feelings. I am trying to evaluate my past choices to make room for further growth.

Often we struggle to find our voice either as a child or in relationships. As we start the process of self change and transformation we sometimes learn what silence has a cost. My rule of good health is to speak up if I find I have to compromise my integrity. At the very least I feel better about myself.