My Last Day as a Cowgirl (I'll miss my boots)

It was my last Friday working at the Cowboy Express Steakhouse.  When I arrived to work, I started skipping in slow motion towards the front door.  Believe it or not, I was escorted by a flock of cartoon bluebirds, Bambi and a garden gnome.  As I approached the entryway, two of my fellow cowgirls opened the doors with huge smiles on their faces as they welcomed me to work.  All of my coworkers were laughing and singing along to "This One's for the Girls" by Martina McBride (even the kitchen staff, and some of those guys don't even speak English).  It was truly moving.  I walked up to my first table (still in slo-mo,  my hair blowing in the wind) and they were swaying in unison to the music.  They knew exactly what they wanted: no special instructions, no allergies, no substitutions, and no complaints. It was miraculous.  I delivered their food and they ate in silence, swaying joyously.  They tipped me 45% and even did a little chorus line kick in honor of me before they left.  Maybe it was their heavily poured cocktails, I don't know. Okay so it didn't happen exactly like that, but it was close...
That last night reminded me of something I read in the book I was reading at the time, Millionaire Real Estate Agent written by Gary Keller.  He posed the question:  What if you worked everyday like it was the day  before you are taking a vacation?  Obviously, I wasn't taking a vacay, but my mindset was that the end was in sight.  Every little irritation just rolled off my back, I didn't care about "the small stuff" because I knew I would never have to deal with it again (in the near future at least), so I chose not to let all those little buggers get in the way of enjoying my coworkers and my tables.  But what if something had come up after my last shift and I had to cover for one of the girls the next night?  Would that have changed my phenomenal "last night" - no.  Albeit it would've been extremely challenging to have the same attitude as I did if I knew I was coming back the next day...but not impossible.  Just like building a muscle, changing your way of thinking takes deliberate action and repetition.  Imagine how much more we would enjoy the moments of the "ordinary" and "mundane" of our daily lives if we were able to keep that level of energy and enthusiasm even 80% of the time!  I've decided I'm going to Tahiti tomorrow. Oooo and maybe I'll head off to Europe the next day.   Who else is coming?

Or perhaps Fiji?...

(my desk at work!)

Schizophonia

On Earth Day this year my yoga studio had a special celebration restoration class complete with traditional (eastern) Indian instruments, music and singing. It got me thinking of one of my favorite words I learned during a World Music class in college: Schizophonia. It means to separate sound (schizo-to separate, phone-sound).  What I remember so much about it is the professor pointing out to us that we rarely experience music without some kind of schizophonia.  All of the music we hear on the radio and our iPods are examples of schizophonia; even hearing live music at a concert or small show fit the example. We hear the instruments and voices through some type of microphone or amplifier, separating us from the true sound that is being produced.  When you are around a campfire with acoustic guitars, voices and bongos, or in your living room listening to your roommate and his band mate practice their set for their upcoming gig - that is hearing the music with no schizophonia - you are experiencing the true sound waves and vibrations being created by strings and vocal chords. One of my most envious moments involves schizophonia...a brother of a friend worked at a restaurant that involved someone walking around playing an acoustic guitar for the tables (oh yea and the place is in Hollywood). Eddie Vedder just so happened to be there, borrowed a guitar and serenaded an intimate circle of lucky listeners. I think I would've given my left toe to  hear this man's voice from five feet away. However, a couple of my favorite no schizo times would have to be listening to a kindergarten class sing Christmas Songs and my sister in law playing me the latest song she wrote. The word reminds me that how we experience things in this world are sometimes distorted, but nevertheless, wonderful.

*That is Coco in the picture playing the harmonium and singing to us while we are in final Savasana.

Relentless Consistency

This phrase is one of the good things I've taken from my teaching experience while in Phoenix. This was the Principal's mantra for managing the kids at Carol G. Peck Elementary. It sounds very simple but it is extremely challenging for me! Probably the only thing that is ever consistent in my life is going to work (because I have to). I've tried being consistent with practicing yoga, going on walks, cleaning the house; I've read books that deal with 30 day programs only to get bored with them around day 11 or 12.  I admire people who have the self discipline to devote specific time in
their day for prayer/meditation, exercise, or a hobby.  At this point, there isn't one thing that I do like clockwork (which could just be part of my personality), but I feel it is important to be committed and consistent to something personal. A few months ago, I was going to enter my blog in a contest, but if you won you had to submit a blog 2-3 times a week. I had about six weeks until the deadline and I told myself that this was my chance to really push myself and write more. I could do it. And I didn't do anything. I think the deadline came and went without me publishing one post. So after that, it got me thinking that I'd like to practice being consistent. I'm starting here, with my blog! I plan on writing a new post every full moon. There is a little bit of fear involved because what if I don't have anything clever to write about? However, my hope is that this one little commitment every month will turn into a new strength of me following through with the things that I really want to do with my time.

*Note to reader: this blog has been sitting in my draft folder for over two months!! I still plan on finishing those books...

Passionate about ...feet

I just got a new pair of shoes. They are New Balance, 5.5 D. Okay 5.5 wide. This is probably my sixth or seventh pair from New Balance, and the third pair I've gotten just for work.  Learning my exact shoe size and actually finding a shoe company that consistently makes my size has been, seriously, life changing. It happened on a beautiful day in Mammoth Lakes, CA. Two of my very best friends and I were exploring the town and surrounding hiking trails in early spring about five years ago. We stopped by one of the bigger sport shops in town, Footloose. After spending a few minutes browsing around, Jake and Jaime asked to try on shoes. This was when the flood gates opened. I can't remember the guy's name, but he measured their feet fearlessly (even though Jake had some major talons). To their surprise, he suggested a size bigger than they usually wore. They were confused and that is when the foot man busted out a skeletal model of the human foot, pointed out several pressure points and demonstrated how it moved and the pressure changed as it went through it's motions. I was so impressed and moved because he was so animated and clearly very passionate about feet! That was when I had him measure my feet and learned that I have pretty much been stuffing my feet into a too small shoe, which would explain my callouses and pain in the ball of my foot after a busy day on my footsies. I didn't go out and get a pair right away, it took a couple more years for me to try the size he suggested. I was in Phoenix, teaching third grade, and running around like a mad woman. My feet were killing me at the end of the day, and they were even worse at the end of the week. They hurt so bad that I went to the doctor to see if there was something seriously wrong. I explained how my toes were wierd so maybe that was part of the problem..he laughed and then asked if I was wearing GOOD shoes. (Well, not really, but they were cute!) That day I ordered my first pair of 5.5D running shoes, and week later, no more foot pain! Now I'm able to go on a 10 mile hike or work a double at a busy restaurant with totally happy feet; life is good!

Share your passion and you could change someone's life!

Our Beautiful Messes

During a recent employment stint at a corporate coffee house, one of my co-workers laughed through her frustration, "Gaaa, I swear I spend most of my time here cleaning up after myself!" It was so irritating because we always had a long list of "deep cleaning" that we were supposed to get done sometime during our shift, but between cleaning up after ourselves and customers, it would rarely get done. And how appropriate to the bigger picture! Days rarely go as they are planned because more often than not, we have to wait in the emergency room after a fall down the stairs, spend time explaining to the officer why we were speeding in a school zone, or come back to work with three times the workload because we played hookie the day before.  Oh, our beautiful messes and how all of the unplanned spills turn into our amazing daily lives!

My most recent spill...