Friday, May 13, 2016

28 of the Best Things I Ever Did

28 of the Best Things I Ever Did — from My Bedroom to My Business 1. Started treating my office like it was a real room that was worthy of my best treasures, not the “spare room made into an office”. 2. Drinking hot lemon water in the morning. Great for digestion, skin, alkalinizing. 3. Admitted that I don’t like managing people, and therefore I am not excellent at managing people. Good news is, I’m an excellent leader. 4. Took voice lessons with Awilda Verdejo — It changed.the.way.I breathe. And if you change the way you breathe — your relationship to your power shifts. 5. Got a hot tub. 6. Stopped bringing clothes to consignment stores. The money is rarely worth the time and hassle (and mild humiliation. “What do you mean you don’t want to re-sell my parachute pants?”) It’s way more gratifying to give or trade clothes with friends or donate to a charity store. 7. Put my bed on the floor. You want better grounding, grinding, and good sleep — lower your bed. 8. Got light-darkening shades in my bedroom and removed anything that blinked or flashed. Sweet Lord Jesus circadian rhythm happiness. 9. Downloaded the whole Deva Premal library, began studying mantras. And then…actually used them. Om gam ganapataye namaha. 10. Invested in a Sonicare toothbrush. 11. Kicked gluten. 12. Found a wonderful local food fairy to make me delicious dishes every week. Promptly decided to not feel guilty for having a food fairy. 13. Went through with the divorce. 14. Self published the first edition the The Desire Map. I put the book out in a few months rather than the few years it would have taken with a traditional publisher, and I made full profit. That gave me solid ground on which to negotiate when a publisher I adored came along. We created a really unique deal for book production, distribution and sales. Triple win. 15. Stopped trying to have a NYT Bestseller and just did my own thing. It worked. Over 75,000 copies of The Desire Map are in print. 16. I became harder to get to so I could have more ease in my life. If it impinges on my creativity or being home when my kid comes gets back from school, I’m a No, Thank you. 17. Put up serious boundaries with people who took great pleasure in not taking my boundaries seriously. 18. Got an elliptical. Used it. 19. Decided to bag the parenting books and to just be really honest all the time with my kid. 20. Got my boy a guitar and filtered through guitar teachers until we found the one who said, “Forget scales. What song do you want to learn to play today?” 21. Started taking my work with the healers in my life more seriously — treated it as essential and ongoing learning, rather than a “fix” when I was in crisis. 22. Got a financial planner who is a Feminist. 23. Started going to spin class. Hooked. 24. Went back to a vegetarian way of life. Tho’ I make guilt free concessions for really crispy bacon and grass-fed cheeseburgers. 25. Started working out with two other girlfriends. Holy motivation. And sweaty, lung-burning laughs. 26. That danger zone between 11:30pm and midnight — where I get my third wind of the day…I stopped pushing through that to check more email or start another project — and I shut ‘er down. If I’m in bed before midnight, I fall asleep right away. If I pass the danger zone and stay up — I get re-wound and it takes longer to unwind for sleep. Anything I think I need to do after 11:30pm can wait until the morning. For. Sure. 27. I let the pain soften me. I let the joy soften me. I let the desire soften me. I let the pain soften me. I let the joy soften me. I let the desire soften me. 28. Stopped responding to text messages immediately just because they were “text messages”. Remember when not that much was urgent? — Danielle LaPorte