Reverb11: Day 12 - 12 little things

12 Things - What are 12 things your life doesn’t need in 2012? 

How will you go about eliminating them? 

How will getting rid of these 12 things change your life?

There certainly are things that my life doesn't need.  Some of them are more difficult than others to eliminate.  But what matters is that we work on eliminating those things we don't want or need, as opposed to just accepting its existence in our lives.  

12 things my life doesn’t need in 2012, and that I will try my very best to rid myself of:

1. Stress.  As a yoga instructor, my job is very stress-less.  As the manager of a yoga studio, my job is stressful at times.  As a member of my family, my life is riddled with stress.  Something I have realized is that we cannot control peoples actions, we cannot control illness or death, really we have very little control over things that occur in our lives.  But what we do have control over is our reactions to those occurrences, events, and actions.  So to rid myself of stress I plan to work on my own reactions to the events in my life.  Eliminating stress will allow more joy to come into my life, and it will be such a welcome addition!

2. Anxiety.  I need to let things happen naturally. I tend to become anxious about love, work, and family.  I realize that I need to join the flow of the universe, quit worrying about what will be or should be, because I am not the creator of the flow, I am simply in the flow.

3. Judgement.  We all judge, some of us without even realizing, some of us with full knowledge we are doing it.  Either way I wish for myself to eliminate judgement of both self and others.  It is not productive, it is destructive.

4. Jealousy.  Sometimes i feel jealous of others and their circumstances.  Some people I encounter are very settled and secure in their work life, love life, family life, and life in general, and I find myself feeling a little envious.  I need to simply allow time to develop and explore myself, and my world.

5. Attachments.  It is a constant struggle to remember that a persons happiness is not linked to or identified with anything.  Whatever highs and lows enter my life, I want to remain calm and maintain my happiness.  Knowing that the thing causing the high or low is not linked to my happiness, and that my happiness comes from inside.

6. Negativity. There are a lot of people that carry around negativity, and expel negativity wherever they go.  I tend to receive that negative energy very easily, so I need to eliminate negativity.  This doesn't mean ridding myself of those people that create negativity, just to alter my response to them so that their negativity does not become my negativity.

7. Illness.  Both with myself and with my family.  Unfortunately I have no control over illness within my family, and I have only some control over my health.  

8. People who don't cherish me.  Enough said.

9. Control.  Instead of planning the future, worrying about the future, feeling anxiety about the future, I want to simply enjoy the process in life...then whether I fail or succeed, the result will not weigh heavily on my happiness level. 

10. Living in the past.  Living in the past is deeply destructive, but we all do it.  We need to realize deeply that the present moment is all we ever have.  The future does not yet exist.  The past is over and impossible to change or alter.  I want to make the now my primary focus in my life.

11. People who drive painfully slow and/or don't signal.  Drives me crazy!

12. Clutter.  I need to seriously purge, and seriously organize.  I came home in May thinking that I would be here temporarily and then be off again on another adventure, so I kept things unsettled and cluttered.  I have found my dream job, became an aunt, and have met wonderful people, and know that I will stick around a bit longer than expected so it's now time to fully unpack and un-clutter, and at least semi-settle in to my home again.

I want to live beyond these things.  Live from moment to moment in happiness, health, and harmony.  Live my life with love, energy, awareness, and peace.