The Pride of the Accomlishment

Do the best you can until you know better, then, when you know better, do better – Maya Angelou

It’s so amazing how your demons come out to haunt you when you least expect it. 5 years now spent on a journey of healing and self discovery and of self love and yet as I contemplated this idea of committing to writing down my plan for making all my seeds and intentions come to light, it’s there, the little voice of self doubt that for a long while was quiet but this week has seemingly become a bit more distracting. That little perfectionist inside that is saying don’t commit, what if you can’t? What if you fail? What if it’s not perfect enough? And while I realize that the little voice inside is a liar, I find I have to work that much harder to refocus and reframe. What if I CAN? What if I SUCCEED? What if it is the GREATEST accomplishment?

And in this moment I find peace and joy in writing. The healing that comes from putting in writing what is often jumbled in my mind. The clarity from the writing. Now is the time I take the story back. Quiet the lying storyteller and write my truth.

So what’s it going to take to grow my healing practice, remember my self love, explore photography and write my books?

• Focus
• Forgiveness
• Fun

Focus: Keeping my mind on WHAT I WANT and forgetting all the other noise. Consciously choosing each day, each moment “is this choice taking me towards what I want?” And if the answer is no, then RE focus my attention and remember the WHY I want this in the first place.

Forgiveness: I spent many years being ruthless and hard on myself. Never feeling good enough. Always reproaching myself for not having nailed it perfectly.  I have come a long way from that self abuse but like an addict I know I am a slippery slope away from a relapse. So forgiveness for me is big. Forgiving myself today for having slept in, instead of rising at 5:30 for meditation. Allowing that the self love today was an extra hour of sleep. Forgiveness for not being perfect and that’s ok. My goals aren’t completely undone and I can pick up now where I left off. I can meditate now.

Fun: This is quintessential. If I am not enjoying myself in these pursuits then why on earth am I doing this? Enjoying the moments, the baby steps of progress, the celebration of milestones. The pride of the accomplishment and watching the dream unfold. The pure bliss and peace of doing something I enjoy. That’s really it.

I won’t compromise on these 3 F’s. They are like sunshine, water and soil in my garden. I am sure there will be weeds and rainstorms and bunnies eating at my garden but I am confident that with Focus, Forgiveness and Fun, I can creatively go with the flow of what comes my way knowing the seeds are planted and the harvest will be sweet.

Written by: Melanie Groves