20 Ways to Deal with Regrets.

20 Ways to Deal with Regrets.

2013 Gratitude Journal

27. I am grateful to view Street Art and meet upcoming artists at Lab Art with my aunt.

28. I am grateful for cover band Day After Daze that play 80's and 90's music to sing and dance to at Panchos.

29. I am grateful for really good Mexican food and a Corona on a Sunday afternoon.
30. I am grateful to make new friends at random moments.
31. I am grateful for time spent with my family at another winning Lakers Game.
32. I am grateful for a man who promised me something and kept his word.
33. I am grateful for a speedy recovery from a sick day.

34. I am grateful that my immune system seems to be strengthening in recent years.
35. I am grateful to be able to throw a Super Bowl Party and have friends and family over to relax, cheer and celebrate.

36. I am grateful for a really good workout this morning.

Carefully watch your thoughts...

“Carefully watch your thoughts, for they become your words. Manage and watch your words, for they will become your actions. Consider and judge your actions, for they have become your habits. Acknowledge and watch your habits, for they shall become your values. Understand and embrace your values, for they become your destiny.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

A Week of Music, Art & Sporting Events

It's been an incredibly busy week of music, art and sporting events... So busy I haven't had time to sit down and write my daily gratitude journal here until today. So here it goes before I have to move on to other home responsibilities before another art show tonight:

24. I'm grateful to have witnessed the amazing band that is The Airborne Toxic Event in Downtown Los Angeles at the Mayan on Wednesday night.

25. I'm grateful to have attended the Art Los Angeles Contemporary Opening Night at the Barker Hangar on Thursday night.

Here's a picture of the sunset that night:

26. I'm grateful to have experienced Downtown Los Angeles for a 12 hour day/night of work, fun and play yesterday including the California Gift Show and the LA Art Show at the Los Angeles Convention Center followed by happy hour at Flemings and my first Lakers game of 2013, which of course they won! (I had no doubt but my friends were skeptical given their season record.) I have no pictures because my phone didn't survive the day, but GO LAKERS!

I love this city and all the angels in it.

Give.

23. Today I'm grateful for every opportunity I have to give, to serve and to contribute towards a better life for my loved ones.

A moment of silence and sunsets.

22. I'm grateful to honor and celebrate the life of my friend Kindred Khan today. Happy birthday lovely friend. You continue to inspire and light up my life.

A weekend of gratitude.

19. I'm grateful for a quiet night at home Friday to be creative making jewelry.

20. I'm grateful for an all day and night birthday celebration Saturday gathering old and new friends from near and far.

21. Lady Gaga's concert last night. I'm grateful for music artists that move and inspire me.

If you do not ASK, the answer will always be NO.

18. Today I'm grateful to be asking for what I want in life.

Northridge Earthquake 19 Year Anniversary: Are you prepared for a disaster?

Today marks the 19 year anniversary of the Northridge earthquake that shook our world and destroyed our neighborhoods for the next several years... which also makes it a good day to review my emergency preparedness / disaster kit & plan.

Here are a few sites and links to visit to ensure you are prepared for an earthquake and/or other disaster:

The U.S. Government's Earthquake Hazards Program map is the site I visit most after an earthquake to see how large an earthquake was and where was the epi-center.

FEMA offers a variety of earthquake-related information resources.

American Red Cross: Prepare Your Home And Family

American Red Cross: Earthquake Safety Checklist

EarthquakeCountry.info has a great resource guide in pdf format to download here.

DareToPrepare.org

ShakeOut.org

The City of West Hollywood's emergency services / disaster preparedness section, has a Family Disaster Supplies Kit. Check with your local city resource guide as well for additional local relevant information including city evacuation plans and strategy information.

I also registered my cell phone number at Alert LA County for the LA County mass emergency notification system where they will contact me via call/text or email with what to do in case of an emergency.


17. Today I'm grateful to be prepared in case of an emergency.

Don't think. Just do.

I love you.

#16. Today I'm grateful for those moments when I do something nice for someone and they're so pleasantly surprised, their response is an immediate and heartfelt "I love you."

Music is food for the soul.

I've had a friend in the hospital for the past several weeks. He's older, had a heart attack and discovered he also has cancer and needs chemotherapy. It's very sad that he's been in and out of ICU and unresponsive for several weeks including when I last visited him.

Last week, I made him two cd's for my friend to bring him over the weekend. She played them for him and voila, he opened his eyes and started moving his hands to the music. Reports are that he's 1000% better so I'm going to visit him tonight and bring some more music for him.

#15. Today I'm grateful for music's power to heal the body and soul.

Blooming begonia

I was gifted a Rhizomatous Begonia plant during the holidays and when I checked on her last night, she has fresh new blooms! Happy, happy, joy, joy!
Next step, learn to take a leaf and propogate it...

Every time you buy food, you're voting for the world you want.

"Every time you buy food, you're voting for the world you want. When you choose corporate processed foods, you're paying for a food system gone awry, including the massive environmental cleanup of runoff from industrial farms. When you buy good Grub, you're supporting the production of food that doesn't poison our farm workers or the environment, but preserves biodiversity, rural communities, and food security. Every time we choose Grub, we're making the healthy choice, not just for our bodies, but for the planet as well." ~Anna Lappe

#14. Today I'm grateful for the healthy, organic food choices that nourish, heal, restore and regenerate my body daily.

Sharing is caring!

Went to dinner and a movie with my college roommate last night and she suddenly cleared two bags worth of clothes out of her closet and regifted them to me.

Before we were all so busy with other things, we used to have exchange parties where we'd gather a bunch of friends and bring the stuff we didn't want for the others to enjoy. It's always fun and feels like having a new wardrobe of beautiful pieces to choose from.

She inspired me! Today, I'll clear space out of my closet to make room for the new, find time to host a regifting party and donate the leftover items to San Lazarus Shelter downtown & Goodwill.

#13 Today I'm grateful for friends who share, regift and recycle. :)

What are you doing with your time today?

As the years go by, time flies away and slips away faster and faster. I have so many things I want to do, experience & accomplish in this lifetime, some involving others, some not. It's easy to feel frustrated when things don't happen as quickly, efficiently and effectively as I would prefer but that doesn't accomplish anything good. 

Lately I've been having so many creative ideas, the thought of turning them all into reality can almost seem overwhelming. Each thing takes time, work and resources to complete and I ask myself how I'm ever going to get it all accomplished. The answer: take a deep breath and redirect myself into focusing on one thing at a time in the right order. Be patient. Be willing to ask for help on the projects that need it and better utilize the resources available to redistribute the work and move things along in a timely fashion.

Once time's gone, I can never get it back and I don't want to waste it. Throughout each day I find myself asking myself, "Is this the most important thing to do right now to move forward with my long-term goals, priorities and values?" If the answer is no, I know to stop and refocus.

I'm also carefully scheduling and spending my time, effort and energy on activities and experiences that matter the most now and for the future to not waste this precious gift of time on things that don't really matter.

#12. Today I'm grateful for each moment of time spent doing the things that will matter most in the bigger life picture with the people I love and cherish most.

2013 Critics Choice Movie Awards

I had the honor of attending the 2013 Critics Choice Awards at the Barker Hangar last night.
#11 Today I'm grateful for the people whose creative vision, passion and actions are inspiring the world to make dreams come true.

A good night's sleep.

#10 Today I am grateful for waking up refreshed after a good night's sleep!

It doesn't matter.

#9. Today I'm grateful for the deeper insight to understand and accept that I can't control the thoughts, actions or behavior of others and it really doesn't matter.

The Sunsets in Los Angeles

#8. Today I'm grateful for the sunsets in Los Angeles.

Where does your garden grow?

Spent a few hours on Sunday gardening at my friend Ron Finley's house. He has turned his lawn into a beautiful edible food garden. I learned a lot about composting and planting with the hopes of applying even a bit of his knowledge to my own garden. I would ultimately like to create a sustainable food garden of my own. It's physically challenging and artistic and creative and therapeutic all at the same time. The most important lesson being that the best way to learn how to grow food is to just do it and see what happens through trial & error. I think that lesson applies to most of life actually.

#7. Today I'm grateful for the blessing of friends who are willing to do, teach, learn & share their kknowledge... From dirt to dirt. :)

In our house, we do love.

Yesterday we spent the afternoon transitioning our house out of our Christmas season decor. It's always surreal for me to watch the holiday ornaments collected over the years disappear for the year and there's a seemingly big whole in the living room where the Christmas tree lives for a month. It was an easy process & we got it done in one afternoon... just in time for friends to come over for a nice dinner & a movie.

#6. Today I'm grateful for the many lovely holiday traditions that we've kept in our home over the years.

Nothing as planned...

Do you ever have one of those days where everything you intended to do doesn't happen as you planned? That was my day 2 days ago. Nothing big or significantly bad, just nothing according to plan. At some point, you have to stop fighting the universe, say clearly this isn't meant to be right now, take a break and start again later.

For me, I finally called it a night and went to bed. And then a funny thing happened as I woke up yesterday. As soon as I let go, practiced flexibility and went with the flow of what wasn't working as planned, everything fell right back into place.

Yesterday was a great day. I unexpectedly reconnected with friends from out of town that I hadn't seen in month. Everything was last minute & unplanned... And it was perfect.

So #4, yesterday I was grateful for a new day and a chance to begin again. #5. Today I'm grateful for spontaneous unplanned moments with friends.

I can change.

Today I'm grateful that I can change.

I can change my mind.

I can change my attitude.

I can change my perspective.

I can change my habits.

I can change my body.

I can change my experience.

I can change my future.

2013. #3 ~A World Butterfly

Goals are dreams with deadlines.

Goals are dreams with deadlines. ~ Diana Scharf Hunt

#2 Today I am grateful to stay focused on the tasks that will ensure I meet my larger goal objectives by creating and keeping deadlines for myself.

The older I get, time seems to slip by faster and faster. Sometimes I have felt like hours have gone by and I know I was busy but I'm really not sure where the time went. Knowing that I have a tendency to become easily distracted, this year I'd like to improve upon setting and keeping deadlines to ensure success. As I wrote down my 2013 goals last week, I added deadlines to completing each project.

When I break down my long term goals into daily tasks, one way to ensure I am staying focused on meeting my deadlines is to set timers for each task. At home as I awake in the morning and my coffee is brewing, I spend that time cleaning the kitchen, emptying the dishwasher, wiping down the counters and tidying that area. By the time the coffee is brewed 10 minutes later, I have a nice clean space ready for preparing my meals for the day. I then sit down with my coffee and spend the next 30 minutes planning my day. I know from past experience that if I don't do this daily, my highest priority items will not be my focus and I'll continue to wonder where the time went.

While working, I set a timer to stay focused on each project. For example, a daily goal is to spend 1 hour a day on research and collecting data for an idea that I've wanted to implement for a while but haven't made time to do so as of yet. I now set a timer. When the timer ends, I move on to a different task. This helps me stay productive and organized while handling multiple priorities and obligations and keeps me from getting sidetracked by distractions.

As a recommendation, I really like this great egg timer project by David LeMieux. It's a great tool to stay focused on a task for a set period of time. I hope you enjoy using it as much as I do. :)

2013. A Year of Gratitude

#1, As I reflect on 2012 and make plans for the new year, I am humbled by my blessings. Today I'm grateful for many beautiful experiences with family & friends in the past year & look forward to 2013. :)