Richest Man in Babylon

I’m reading the Richest Man in Babylon out loud to my youngest son in the evenings.

There was a passage I read that keeps ringing in my head again and again: 

" 'Will Power!' retorted Arkad. 'What nonsense.  Do you think will power gives a man the strength to lift a burden that a camel cannot carry, or to draw a load that an oxen cannot budge? Will power is but the unwvering intention to carry a task you set for yourself to completion.  If I set for myself a task, be it ever so trivial, I will see it through.  How else can I have confidence in myself todo important things?  If I said to muself, 'For a hundred days, as I walk across the bridge into the city, I will pick up a stone from the road and throw it into the stream,' I would do it.  If on the seventh day I passed by without remembering, I wouldn't say to myself, 'Tomorrow I'll throw two stones which will do just as well.'  Instead I would retrace my steps and throw in the stone.  Nor on the twentieth day would I say to myself, 'Arkad, this is useless.  What does it help you to throw a stone every day? Just throw in a handful of stones and be done with it.' No, I would not say or do that.  When I set a task for myself, I complete it. Therefore I'm careful not to start difficult and impractical tasks, because I love leisure."

From The Richest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason

I’ve read so many things and put so many things into practice from what I’ve read, but eventually I stop doing a lot of them, first one day, then another, until something else takes its place.  There are other practices that have taken root and stayed in my life as formed habits, but still so many good intentions have fallen by the wayside.  One thing I want to do is create a daily to-do list and cross things off and double check it at the end of the day.  That would mean not falling into bed, exhausted, until my review is performed.  It’s funny, I’m afraid to commit for fear of failure, but if I do commit and fail, that would be better than just being afraid.  If I do commit and succeed, then I will have succeeded in creating a new life for myself.

The problem is not only do I want to do a list everyday, but I also have another long list of everyday or weekly habits I wish to cultivate:

Gardening at least two hours a week.

Yoga 3 x per week.

Meditation for at least 10 min everyday.

Write for an hour everyday.

Read all my affirmations 2 x daily.  (I was doing really well with this for about a month, then went on vacation and didn’t do it.  Now I’ve started again.)

Blog every single day at least once.

Write a weekly menu and shopping list.  ( my youngest son helps with this but it needs to be a habit)

Have a chore list that rotates between everyone who lives with me.  (This would be awesome. No more things not getting done because one person says I won’t clean because other people don’t clean. My sons keep chore score and if they think they are doing more than someone else they stop helping out.)

Spend an hour on lead generation for my speaking business and my appliance sales job every day.

I have the wild out-of-control feeling that if I could do these things on a daily basis, my life will change dramatically.  I realized last night that I’ve gotten into the habit of whining and expecting people to feel sorry for me.  I don’t want any one to feel sorry for me at all, ever.  I am going to get going and get doing! No more sitting around wishing.  That’s not getting me anywhere.

Valentine's Day

When I see all the hype about different holidays in the Media, I wonder if people really get that excited about holidays.  For me holidays feel as good as any other day except that, depending on the holiday, there is extra pressure about whether to give a gift or not, when to decorate, who to invite, what to do, etc.  These days everyday feels so joyful, so alive, so full that holidays are more of the same.  I don't remember exactly when life became so intensely pleasurable, but most days are pretty incredible.

When I was a child, however,that just wasn't the case.  It was all so stressful.  Holidays were days when my mom did stuff for us because she felt she had to.  She must have felt tremendous pressure at holidays as well.  She didn't handle it very well though.  One Christmas, I don't remember what we as kids had done, (there were four of us) but she got so angry that she threw the entire tree out the door, decorations and all.  That was devastating.  Valentine's was when we went to the store and bought the cheapest valentines and then hoped we would get some in return.  I went to so many different schools, I didn't always know many people in my class.

Now as an adult, I have friends and co-workers that decorate and plan and make the world beautiful everyday, but especially for holidays.  If you are a home-room mother who makes fantastic pink cupcakes, I thank you for the benediction those sweet bundles of caring bring into deprived, neglected, abused children's lives.  I know perhaps you weren't thinking of that child when you made the cupcakes, but just maybe your own child's happiness, but it spills over into other lives, lives that are hungry for beauty and stability.  If you are a decorator, the kind of person who pastes hearts and red and white decorations for Valentine's, shamrocks for St. Patrick's, and bunnies for Easter, thank you. Thank you for making the effort.  I don't know where your boundless enthusiasm comes from, but when I see your decorations, I am amazed at your creativity and willingness to create something finite, to pull out all the decorations and lovingly pack them away again.  When I see what you have done, I am again the awkward child at the back of the room, you are the homeroom mother who is only being nice as you offer me the fruits of your labor, but I bask in your secondhand love.  I am exceedingly grateful you exist.  Please don't stop decorating the world.  Let it be ok that I don't decorate, because I am busy surviving.  Thank you for the beauty you bring to this world.

What do I say?

I have a speech coming up for the Lion’s Club and the coordinator asked me to share with them how it was to live in Iran .  I have about 20 minutes to speak.  I’m thinking really hard about how to squeeze 13 years of amazing experience into 20 minutes.  In addition to that, a speech usually needs to be relevant to the audience.  How can I make the beauty and loveliness of the culture apparent, even as I share how making good choices and having a good attitude can help people everywhere?

My son and I were talking about the Egyptian uprising that’s happening now and in the news.  We were comparing it to the uprising during the recent elections in Iran , when the “Where’s My Vote?” campaign went violently wrong.  He put on an Iranian song that’s a political statement of the youth lamenting all that’s wrong with the government at the moment and violations of human rights.  I looked at him and for a moment doubted myself.  I told him, “I know these things happen and I know the reality and the horror of it, I’ve seen some of it.  What I really want to do however is to share what I love about Iran , what I found that was good, uplifting, and positive.  I want to share the funny paradox that living in Iran was to me.  I want to tell people how Iran saved my life and share my personal story.  I’m a hopeless Pollyanna.  I can’t help but see the good.”  He gave me a hug and said, “Mom, that’s okay.  As long as you concentrate on the people, it will be good.”

Checking Things Out

This morning I finished, "Who Let The Blogs Out" by Biz Stone.  He's part of the reason I finally got going and created MY BLOG.  That sounds so good!  I've also been looking at some of the other blogs here at Blogger.  There are some pretty creative things happening here.  I can't wait to really get into this and find some blogs that I'd like to follow.

I could've been doing this all along when I lived in Iran!  If I'd only known....

First Times

Here's another first to add to a long list of firsts: First Blog.  It sure took me long enough!  I've been blogging everyday all along in my mind for years.  I am so excited about what this blog will eventually look like and where it will take me.

Some of my more memorable firsts:

My first pony when I was eleven.  I even went on a hunger strike to get a pony but I really love food so it only lasted about half a day.  I did get a beautiful Welsh paint pony with one blue eye and one brown eye.  I was so timid and worried about doing things wrong that I had a hard time getting him to do what I wanted.  He aggravated me, but I loved him.  Funny, it was really my weakness that was making me unable to get what I wanted, but I had no way of knowing it at the time.

My first baby:  I spent so much time reading and getting ready for him.  I sewed him a whole layette by myself. I took Bradley classes, I went to a LaLeche League meeting. I thought I was prepared. When he arrived, I had no idea what to do with him.  Once after I'd fed him, changed him and done everything I could think of, he was still crying.  I actually shook him and said to him, "I don't know what you want!" That terrified me.  I was so afraid I was going to be a terrible mother.  I called a lady from my childbirth classes and asked her if we could go to lunch.  I also started counseling sessions and it changed all our lives for the better.

The first time I went to the Baths in Sare Ein, a small town in Ardebil in Iran.  It's located high on this gorgeous rolling plateau, cool even in summer.  Most of Iran is located on a huge fault line so there are tons of earthquakes, but also lots of hot mineral springs.  In Sare Ein they've built a big pool over a hot sulfur spring.  There's a wall around it, but it's open to the sky.  The first time we went there, I walked down a long dark hall, pulled aside a curtain and there in the steam were all ages of women, soaking, scrubbing, singing, dancing, all in various levels of undress.  The most modest wore swimsuits, and the bravest wore nothing.  It was cold in the air, goosebump cold, then the water was scalding.  Afterwards the street vendors sold an amazing stew made with yogurt and chickpeas and flavored with garlic.  We goobled the stew, lightheaded from the Baths, and it was the most wonderful thing.

There are a thousand other firsts in my mind, but for now this is enough.  Yes, at last! My own blog.