Sunday, July 27, 2008

Leisure

Hello, everyone!

I'm practicing taking weekends off. It has been a very good practice for me. Plus, I get to play with concepts like "What is off?" and "What do I do when I'm doing things just for me?" and "What am I trying to avoid by staying so busy?" Lol. I suspect that for many people, such questions feel more like work than play. I enjoy them. That may be why I ended up a coach.

Cooking is my new hobby. I've cooked in varying amounts for a long time, of course. (My story of a conversation when I was ten: Mom said, "Anna, cook that roast for dinner." I said, "But I don't know how!" She said, "Yes, you do, just do it." "But wait -- how long do I cook it? What temperature? When do I add the vegetables?" Then she answered those, and I cooked it.) After I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, I arranged to get meat from a local, free-range, grass-fed ranch, and I found a farm that would let me get a weekly vegetable subscription in the Community Supported Agriculture model. It's local and organic -- very cool. The food has been really good. The meat arrived Wednesday, and we've tried two cuts, both very good. My first vegetable share I picked up on Thursday. Agriculture, of course, is slightly unpredictable. I love that about it! The challenge of figuring out to how to use what comes has been making cooking more fun for me. The meat available immediately was an entire lamb, properly butchered and frozen, of course. The vegetable share included probably more eggplant than I had prepared in my life. So, I spent a pleasant time reading eggplant recipes and lamb recipes. Also, I received a lot of hot peppers, some tomatoes, one pattypan squash, one beet, some chard, and a bunch each of basil and lavender. I feel very lucky that he could add a subscriber mid-season -- usually in this business model, you can only join at the beginning of the year. The food has been fabulous.

Eating great food is on my vision board. Looking at it this morning, I'm getting good coverage of what I wanted. I've added a circle of female friends, I'm taking time to read, my name is on the cover of books, I've made it to several of the vacation destinations I pictured. Doug is working on his electric car, so driving an electric car is coming along well. That covers well over half the surface of my vision board. Very cool!

Looking at the vision board is part of my morning routine. Since I read Steering by Starlight, I've been using Martha Beck's suggestion most of the time, and it seems to be working. That is, I look it over, appreciating what's on there, and then say, "Thank you. I quit."

So, life is going well. I'm looking forward to doing the teleseminar on Tuesday, and to working with my clients next week. Today, I'll spend some time on my new hobby.

All the best to all of you,
Anna