Hacks to slim down your to-do list

First, if you are wondering: Is this blog new?

Nope.

• My first blog was and still is here.

• And then I had been writing here.

• Then I was writing on a page on this website you are standing on right now. But it got messy. So I started writing here (and still am twice a week).

  It would be peculiar at this point for a writer not to have some sort of blog, am I right? But it is confusing for said writers to have there writing all over the place though—am I right?

I looked down at my to-do list and I saw that I was everywhere. I was traversing universes and it was time to pause and draw back to center, as I like to say. I had to stop out-pouring all my energy, on all the things—things I could, but there was no return. Nothing was coming back.

Why? Because I wasn't asking. I was just outpouring. So here are my hacks for you friend. The blog is just a metaphor for the scattering that is all too common in our everyday expectation of being everything to everyone all the time.

Time Saving Hacks

1. Look at your to-do list. Really look at it and if you are chock full and your needs are not getting met pick 3 things to put on hold for 3 months. What? You say. You can’t? Well every little list is taking up space in your brain and your body and you need to clean house is you are reading this blogpost, so start with the most obvious and go from there.

   • Tell the people affiliated with the three things that you are not doing them. Do not create a long story. Throw your guilt into your trashcan or composter and don’t do it. Let it go. Don’t do the thing.

   • Here’s a sample: “Hello, Joel. I have paused all production on my podcast for three months to make space for my xxx. I will be in touch in 3 months to reschedule.”

2. Don’t immediately fill the space. A funny thing happened when I sent basically the same message I slyly used a template for you. It happened after my nervousness settled down. It happened after I reminded myself of my top 3 selected priorities (yes, do that too. It will help you hold your ground when things start to pull you off center) and let everything else go, and then I didn’t care. I didn’t care that I let things go. And I meditated more and started to remember what space felt like in my body and that is the biggest hack of them all: space and breath = calm

3. Calmness is your superpower. it is. Calmness gets you into your parasympathetic brain which is where solutions arise. It is where possibilities and creativity are waiting for their shot. It is the opposite terrain of burn through and push on.

I call this hack being human. Be deeply authentically human. Release your limits so you can remember that you are limitless. Sign up for the newsletter to stay in touch with these vibes that remind you you are worth it.

Be well,

Kate

What if it's not about getting it right?

Moving in Spirals

I teach a class/journey named Step into the Spiral. In nature, everything moves in cycles and spirals. We birth in a spiral motion. A fern unfurls—spiral. I wanted the title to hint at that the solution: to take a step and let the momentum lead you to the next step.

I am really good at this—most of the time, but I am admittedly coming out of a stretch that I was not so certain in my footing and it weighed heavily on me. I have been reflecting a lot on that: the uncertainty and how could I have let myself drift so far away?

I know part of the answer: There's no growth in what we already know. 

I remember talking about my son's birth with my mid-wife after the fact (spoiler: we didn't have the birth I imagined) and how it had gone so unexpectedly. As I remember she shrugged her shoulders, intimidating That's birth and then she said something I can still hear: "You were all in. The universe never misses an opportunity like that."

What if it is really more about learning and dismantling than it is about achieving? For the new readers, let me explain. I am Type A. I thrive on achieving, but (and this is a big but) if I am only achieving then something is lacking. If we are striving or learning or letting go of one pattern for another or openly enjoying ourselves (internal landscape motivators) then we achieve, but we don't care if anyone notices because we can feel it. It's a whole other level of accomplishment.

Friends & Power of Presence

I love and crave the support of my friends, and I have learned that some markers go largely unnoticed by the other and yet are groundshifters for how I perceive myself inside to out. Maybe that is one of the markers of that growth.

I have very few star crushes, even fewer these days; they don't hold my attention; however, I used to avidly watch Cesar Milan. His show was about energy work and dogs—a fave combo for me! I dug a little more into his background as a pop culture reference point while I was teaching bodywork. He lost everything at one point, his dog Daddy died, his wife filed for a divorce and he tried to end his life. When he awoke in the hospital he was surrounded by fellow patients that were fans that told him how much he had impacted their lives.  

Cesar Milan & Gifts of Failure

The interviewer asked him what he had learned from being successful, and Cesar Milan answered with an insight I have never forgotten. He said, "It's easy when you are successful. Everyone wants to be around you. Everyone wants to help. The real learning comes when you lose everything. Who is there then? I learned how to rebuild my pack, at work and we became international, but," and there was a look in his eye, "I built my pack from a very different place with different people who all held the same vision."

I truly feel that this year, if you hold the vision, you will see demonstrations back from the Universe, from the Elementals, from whatever you believe in that is orchestrating my thoughts and the breath and keys on the board, that you are heading in the right direction, that there is support waiting for you.  Acknowledge it and watch it grow. This is a year of change, you can read about it or you can close your eyes, sit still and feel it. Whatever works for you. 

May we learn from the times that are hard what is aiming to prepare us for our next grand rising.