Go placidly amidst the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labours and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its shams, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful.

Strive to be happy.

- Max Ehrmann (Desiderata)

i took a break from documenting my reset experience here for a few reasons. for one, it started feeling robotic and forced—especially since i knew i had no intentions of posting my journal entries full out.

i wanted to share reflections and significant AHA moments but found myself recapping the assignment instructions at times. which is certainly not the purpose of me sharing. but some of these, im not very comfortable posting about publicly.

so this is me checking in to say im still participating, and i’ll be back peeiodically when i have something meaningful im willing to share. appreciations to those who keep up with me on here and congrats to those who started the challenge as a result of me sharing… 21 days left!

-d xo

my #31DayReset notebook

today is Day 5 and we are still working out our values towards crafting a personal mission statement. the assignment is two-fold— to rate ourselves on how well we live out the core values we selected (our Reset 10) and to list at least 3 actionable examples of what it means to live that value, be they things we already do or should do.

the exercise called for us to set aside 60-90 min in total. these are clearly meant to be thoughtful substantive processes. it would behoove me to begin my assignments earlier in the day instead of bojangling on twitter til the wee hours of the morning. the way we set our priorities says much about our true values and how aligned we are. and that’s all im gonna say about that. -d

we are four days in and im still PUMPED! today we explored our values. this is connected to the previous work in that we need to address what keeps us from connecting to our best selves. the person we wrote to in the future self letter.

the first part if the assignment was the brainstorm and free write a least of things we value for at least 15 minutes. then we were to widdle that down by choosing our top 10, the core. we are going to continue working on “values” for the next few days, towards building a personal mission statement—im excited to see where we go.

of course i wiggled the rules a bit lol but i’ll share what 10 i picked (not in order):

1. love/kindness 2. family/friendship 3. comfort/security 4. health 5. integrity 6. beauty 7. culture 8. achievement 9. freedom 10. balance

until the next check in… peace.

today’s assignment was pretty much and extension of yesterday’s—calling us to take those “dislikes” or in my case, “deltas” (things to change) and write a love letter to future self, assuming all of the growth / change has occurred.

in my letter, i congratulated my future self for things like committing to routines that keep me productive and maximize my time; actively contributing to positive solution-oriented energy at work; sticking to my research plan so that i complete my degree in a timely fashion; sticking to my budget and being strategic about my finances; curbing vices that impact my health; keeping in better touch with my family and friends; and maintaining healthy boundaries in relationships.

and before i log off, i will pat myself on the back for pushing myself to complete the Day 3 assignment (and blog post) instead of saying I’d catchup on the posts tomorrow. I committed to doing these exercises daily… for me… and i will honor that.

d

today’s exercise called us to take inventory of various aspects of our lives (lifestyle, work, education, finances, health, family, relationships) and to assess where we are in those areas.

i chose to do a plus / delta list for each area and was surprised at how easily i was generating responses for each one. then it dawned on me that im in the process of overcoming my usual hurdles of denial and procrastination and that i had already begun working in these areas of my life or at least formulating a strategy.

it can be really overwhelming to work on your life and LIVE your life “at the same damn time” but i feel good about confirming to myself that ive found a pace that gives me peace. :)

really excited about this journey for July. today’s exercise was to choose our notebook, mantra, and theme song.

notebook: by paperblanks, size 5x7, a really pretty earthtoned metalic mosaic over black cover

mantra(s):
1. wanna fly? you got to give up the sh*t that weighs you down. - toni morrison

2. avoiding problems you need to
face is avoiding the life you need to live. - paulo coelho

theme song(s)
1. didnt cha know - erykah badu

2. umi says - mos def

i hope everyone is feeling motivated for the reset and discoveries ahead. day two is on the horizon. :)

-d