Woman with a plan

I recently listened to Oprah’s main work squeeze, Sheri Salata’s, audible book “The Beautiful No: and Other Tales, Trials and Transcendence.” While it was an amazing insight into her journey to being the Executive Producer of the Oprah show, something else hit me more. I guess you could say it hit me like a bag of Oprah’s favorite things. Sheri suggested that we have less “to-do lists” and more “to-be lists”.

Intake that bit of knowledge, sit with it, let it marinate and recognize how we are all running towards the end of life clutching a list of to-dos. To-do lists at work, at home, chores, things we want to accomplish, and more. Especially as we have kicked off 2020 these to-dos are often our New Year’s resolutions:

• Loose those last 15 lbs
• Eat healthier
• Work out more
• Spend more time with friends/family
• Go on more dates

No one ever said at a funeral “She really could crush a to-do list like no other!” In fact, what we want to hear people say is that they love the person we are at our core and how we make them feel. Whether that feeling is love, gratitude, joy, safety or full-on belly laughs, who we are at our core being is the path to a to-be list.

Now, I do think that a good to-do list for work is key to staying on track and getting shit done before 5 p.m., or when things are going crazy it’s great to have a way to track what you need to do, prioritize and tackle it. So, I’m not saying that to-do lists are bad but we do need more to-be lists to make sure that we’re staying on track with our innermost self and becoming the person that we want to be.

I encourage you to find your to-be list, write it down, edit it, make corrections, add things and subtract them but to always be working towards your to-be list and treating it as important as picking up the dry cleaning. And if you don’t mind, I’ll go first with my list!

I want to be more in tune with my inner self: if you asked me a few years ago what I thought about journaling, meditation or anything involving crystals I would have laughed at you and said that was “hippie-dippie shit”. But I was wrong, I didn’t understand that meditation, manifestation, affirmations and more were all different forms of cognitive-behavioral therapy. In fact, my own therapist has suggested I try meditation. I really, REALLY, didn’t see any need to do the “hippie-dippie” stuff and didn’t think I would benefit from it.

However, something in the back of my head TOLD me to look more into this work, to listen to the universe, to understand that positive attracts positive and negative will never attract positive. So, I started slowly on my journey and this year took the dive to join a group/program to learn more about this work and to raise my vibrational self. I would have said that sentence sounded SO hokey years ago but now, I love typing that shit out.

I had my first true guided meditation the other day and broke down crying SO hard it was the most therapeutic thing I’ve ever done, and again I go to therapy! Getting in touch with my inner-self is a journey that will never stop and it’s at the top of my to-be list.

I want to be more thoughtful: I like to think I’m a pretty thoughtful person already and a killer gift-giver but what would it hurt to be even better? I want to be the kind of gal that drops a friend a pretty e-greeting when it’s their birthday rather than a text message. One of my favorite places, Paperless Post, literally has a card for everything and I can’t for the life of me figure out why I don’t use them for more than an invite! They have cards for when I want to say “Hi, just thinking of you!” to of course a “Happy Birthday” greeting, but I really think plus-ing up these kinds of things in my life will help me to be more thoughtful of others.

I even want to take the thoughtfulness further and be thoughtful with my words when I’m talking to my friends, family, and coworkers. I’m already a pretty strong empath, I can certainly tell you had a bad day and probably know what went down based on the energy that you’re giving out. And on the flip side of that, I’m a pretty sarcastic person so I want to make sure I’m being a healthy balance of the two. If you want to learn more about whether or not you’re an empath, or how you work with others I HIGHLY encourage you to download the app The Pattern.

This app had me like Drake, in my damn feelings. Within seconds I was learning so much about myself and my friends! You can connect with others on the app to see how you and your friend’s personalities work together and how you can learn from one another. If you download the app be sure to friend me!

I want to be healthier: Of course, we ALL want this, right? However, I want to be healthy in a way that is more than working out and eating healthy food but also to behave in a healthy way for myself and others. That “other” is really the environment I’m talking about. I have finally started to use glass containers to take my lunches to work, instead of using the Tupperware containers and heating up plastic which I know is SO bad for you. Oh, and you already know but I make my own almond milk and SO SHOULD YOU!

I’m also using reusable baggies and I’m totally obsessed with them. I want to continue to live a lifestyle that is healthier not just for me, but for my carbon footprint and the Earth. I’ve even started making weekly trips to the Farmer’s Market in town a priority. Not only are the deals KILLER, you should have seen how big my haul was for a mere $8 but it felt so great to shop/eat local.

Sure, I’m still working out early in the morning and hitting up a Pilates class when I can but continuing a more 24/7 healthy lifestyle feels really good and I like how I feel knowing that I’m helping out a local farmer, keeping one less plastic bag out of a landfill and certainly not ingesting any BPA if I can help it!

So, those are a few of the things I want to be today, tomorrow and in the future. What about you? What’s one of your to-be items? Cheering you and your list on wherever you may be!