Day 6. Project Begin Again.

"There is no greater gift you can give or receive than to honor your calling.  It's why you were born.  And how you become most truly alive." 

"The things you are passionate about are not random, they are your calling."  

2:45 p.m

I have such a short amount of time to sit down and type here but I'm reminding myself of my promise to keep this simple.  "Just start typing Amanda... "  So, here goes... Day 6 in 10/15 minutes before jumping in the shower and dashing off to get kids and take them to three different places by 4:00.

First off, I'm not sure this day (weather wise) could get any better.  Glorious spring day!!  One of those days where you can smell, feel, see, hear and darn near taste spring.  And, that I did!  13 miles on the trails......

Grateful for: Friday night with friends. Warm sunshine on a blue bird day with a good beer, music, gorgeous sunset and lawn full of happy people...not a bad way to wrap up the week and head into the weekend! 

Didn't make it far with my post....

Now, it's 9:43 p.m, I'm entirely ready to sleep, but yet, I'm still determined to get this day 6 writing in....  

As with all of these posts... 

Before I move on to my daily musings, here's the link to the post that began Project Begin Again.  And below are the guidelines I keep in every post.  

So, here's how this will go. 

1. I will write something on here every day for 38 days because that is how many days until my 50k.  
2. I will keep in simple!!! Some days will consist of three sentences if that's all I have.   
3. I will write for me.  
4. I will try very hard NOT to compare my old Runninghood self to the Amanda typing today.  
5. I will keep my posts to daily gratitude, intentions and.... because how can we not feel sad, heavy hearted and powerless at so much happening in our world...I will include at least one small way I can or have done something to make the world a better place (this can be as simple and powerful as helping my child learn a lesson about love and kindness).  
6. Why am I doing this?  To Begin Again.  Just as with training for a marathon when we put in our daily workouts, I want to get into the habit of focusing on the things that make me happy and my intentions for making my life what I want. Writing helps me with this.  

Day 6:

Gratitude:

• Gratitude first today!  
• This gorgeous day!  
• Snow capped mountain views from the soccer field where my daughter practices after school.  Snow capped mountains in sight on a day where I'm wearing a tank top makes me happy.   
• My 13 mile trail run.  It was so enjoyable!  
• A day off to myself  A day that made me realize that as much as I love teaching, I am also so glad for my days where I don't work.  
• April Fools... My April Fools on my kids was the best yet!  Maybe I will write about that one tomorrow.  It had to do with me overreacting about being late for school...along with a water spill, one kid having to poop right before we walked out the door, a trashed house after both parents working all week, fighting siblings, and a forgotten homework packet on the kitchen counter.  Somehow, I pulled my entire mommy meltdown off as an April Fool's joke... AND they not only fell for it but they laughed hysterically and told me how perfect this April Fool's joke was.  Score!  
• Sunset tonight at a really sweet place in Bend.  Bend is crazy this weekend.... I think people must be here from out of town for their spring break because one of our normal hang-outs for when it gets nice was CRAZY tonight.  Kids and families were all over the lawn... soo many people!  
• My mom and sister-in-law accidentally called me tonight  from L.A (when they were hugging) when I was looking at the mountains after sunset.  It ended up being the best kind of call.  They told me something funny and we all three laughed and laughed so hard.  Ah, laughter is such soul food!  

Intentions: 

• Tomorrow is Saturday.  ENJOY.  RELAX.  
• Instead of dreading a 9:00 a.m soccer game tomorrow, I will see it as a way to start the day off right and still have so much time for other adventures!  
• Read back over Days 1-5 of these so I can actually absorb some of what I've been writing.  
• To NOT get so wrapped up in my blog and posts here that it becomes more important than it really is... nothing funnier than stepping back and realizing how self absorbed one can get when they are writing a personal blog.  Ok, lots funnier stuff ....BUT, it's pretty funny to notice how we bloggers can come to give so much attention to our daily posts that we forget to step back ...waaaaay back...like outside our bubble back... and see that No, no, the world does NOT in fact, revolve around our daily posts.   ha ha ha... ok, half joking here but kind of serious.  I love writing on here but it can definitely take over too much of my mental energy if I don't keep it in check!! 

How have I, or can I continue to play even a small part in making the world a better place (Be the Change):  

• I'm typing half asleep by now... but my first words that came to mind for this part tonight were to say:  "Be ME.  Use my voice." I'd add to that:  Use our gifts.  
• I think our gifts or callings or passions (or whatever you want to call them) are our way of sharing our deepest selves or spirit with the world. Good comes from this.   I think that when we are using our gifts and following our passions in some way, we are giving to the world.  I know, this sounds silly in how I'm wording it tonight so perhaps I'll try to write more on this tomorrow for day 7 when I'm not typing with one eye open and almost sleep-typing.  

All for now.... 

Amanda