21 tiny habits

CHALLENGES AND ADD-ONS

Day 27 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. I am grateful that I have this platform to work from. It’s proving to be a valuable tool for me to get my thoughts organized and to get things done. I like to start off with my gratitude list.

  1. I am grateful for another sunny October day. Today I rode in the truck with the guy to this workshop and walked home. I had my exercise and 20 minutes with myself.
  2. I am grateful that I finally can finally play the C Major scale with both hands individually and together fairly smoothly.
  3. I am grateful I received my Rider Tarot deck today.

My day was busier than I planned but it was all good. I had wanted to make Ackee and salted fish rice this morning but upon reviewing the steps on the YouTube video, I rescheduled it for another day.

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October 28th, Day 28 of the Ultimate Blog Challlenge. I didn’t finish yesterday’s post. It got too late and I was tired. So I am doing an add-on. It’s what I am trying to do each day, adding on more good habits till I feel it’s ENOUGH! already. What have I been adding on? Ok. First it’s writing every day. Then adding on daily piano practice. Add on 3 things I’m grateful for. Add on 3 other things from my 21 tiny habits list. Add on a daily walk. Yesterday I added on clearing and cleaning one section of my linen closet and 2 sections of my own closet. That was plenty. Funny how dust gets in closed doors. I took all the towels and put them through the air cycle on the dryer to get them dusted. I did the same for my clothes. It took a few cycles and going up and down the stairs to and from the dryer.

I’ve reached my limit! No add-ons for today. I suppose I could count going to the library as an add-on. I surely didn’t feel like it after my walk. But it was on my to-do list. I wanted the books waiting there for me. That was enough to push me forward but this is it. I am done. Tomorrow I am going to make the Ackee and salted fish rice. It made me think of Harry Belafonte singing Jamaica Farewell. It’s a good way to end. He can sing and move.

GRATITUDE, LEARNING AND A WALK

Day 26 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. 6 more posts to write. I hope for no writer’s block or stumbling and falling off my keyboard till after they’re all written. Let me start by offering my 3 gratitude for the day.

  1. I’m grateful for another beautiful sunny day. The greenhouse got up to a high of 21.4℃ in the afternoon. There’s hope of the baby bitter melons maturing. I harvested 4 small ones to give my mother. It’s enough for a meal for her and my father.
  2. I’m grateful Zoom was working for my online class from our university. We had 2 very interesting speakers on the post pandemic world. One spoke on the politics before, during and now. The other speaker was a nursing faculty. He spoke on nursing education, nursing and the pandemic. I am a retired nurse so it was of special interest. I was in it for over 30 years and retired 9 years ago. I loved my job but I never defined myself as a nurse. Curious. One day I will give it some thought.
  3. I am grateful for my walk this afternoon to the guy’s boat workshop. I haven’t gone for many walks since we’ve lost our dog, Sheba. It was a 20 minute walk along the same route Sheba and I walked many times. I caught a ride home. I think it would be another good daily habit. I greatly enjoyed the exercise, fresh air and scenery along the way.

I’m looking through my list of 21 tiny habits. I think it’s a good habit to do it daily if I can.

  • I did exercise upon waking. I go through my c.a.r.s daily. I feel, move and sleep the better for it. It takes just minutes in the morning while I wait for the kettle to boil. I like to do a longer version in the evening while watching television.
  • Discover one thing a month. I discovered Tarot cards from another blogger in the UBC. I’m surprised it’s so interesting. I am reading The New Tarot Handbook by Rachel Pollack now and hope to get my cards soon, like tonight or tomorrow.
  • I have and tried to throw out one or 2 no longer needed things. I’ve trashed some obsolete photos from my desktop.

I think I’m doing pretty hunky dory for old gal. I’m still plunking away on the piano, making small progress. It is very small progress with the scales in my Brown Scale Book. I’m still working on the first 2 sets of C Major. But I’ve added Lavender’s Blue to my repertoire. It’s helping me make videos and it does help my playing hearing myself. My timing isn’t terrible but I’m too slow and I hesitate.

GRATITUDE AND FORTITUDE

It’s day 24 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. 7 more days to go after today. Since I’ve started it I want to finish it as best as I can. It’s a cloudy damp day. I’m as sleepy as I can be. It would be easy to throw in the towel and say, Good enough! I like to think I’m made of sterner stuff though. So I’m saying, No way, José! I hope I can live up to my own expectations. I hate to disappoint myself.

The 21 tiny habits is still fresh in my mind. So let me go through them. I’m always stumped on doing the grateful things. What 3 things am I grateful for today? We-e-l-l …..

  • I’m grateful we had the furnace fixed, cleaned and tuned in the summer. It’s getting colder and it snowed yesterday.
  • I’m grateful for our greenhouse. It’s still warm enough to keep it going, hopefully for a few more weeks into November. I can go in and harvest a few things to make a stirfry or a salad and to cheer myself up. The dahlia is still in bloom. There’s still tomatoes and bitter melons on the vine. There’s still a few peppers, too, as well as celery and Swiss Chard.
  • I’m grateful that I went to my exercise class this morning. I felt least likely wanting to but I did. Movement and engagement with others is good for body and mind.

Writing this post is the last must-do on my list today. It helps to have a list and a challlenge. Somehow I feel more accountable. I’ve been keeping up with my piano practice. I had a small chunk of time this morning before heading out to the gym. 20 minutes gives me enought time to practice my scales. I’m not progressing very fast and it is hard to co-ordinate both hands at the same time. I had to break it up in small sections, play right hand, then left hand and then both together. I bet I drove somebody around the bend. I can play a few simple tunes. Here’s a short little clip of Down In The Valley. I’m better than I thought! My timing is not too terrible and I’m not sounding that mechanical. Ok, enough now. I am done!

NOTES TO MYSELF

Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

Once again I am feeling overwhelmed by all my clutter even though I have sworn to do better. Habits are hard to change, especially bad ones. I’ve been scrolling through the world wide web for help and inspirations. Remembering the phrase A place for everything and everything in its place, I found a book by that name. It has some good reviews, too. The good thing is, it is in our library. I don’t have to buy it. Still, I couldn’t stop looking for more help. I started feeling bad about myself. I was procrastinating. I should at least sort and rid a few things instead of wasting time.

And so I did. I didn’t feel good doing it. At first I just shuffle bits and pieces of paper around. My head certainly is not in a space to handle financial papers. So I gathered those together for later dealings. Some items were definitely marked for trash. Then I found an index card named 21 Tiny Habits. They are quite helpful reminders to do but somehow I lost sight of them under all my clutter. Here they are if I haven’t posted about them already. I think they are meant to be done daily

  1. List 3 things you are grateful for.
  2. Yes no once.
  3. Exercise for one minute upon waking.
  4. Invest in experiences.
  5. Organize your home.
  6. Throw things away.
  7. Manage your anxiety.
  8. Stand up every hour.
  9. Follow this proverb. When we don’t have head, we have legs. What does it mean? Check it out here.
  10. Ask open-ended questions. It keeps the communications open.
  11. Turn off notifications.
  12. Prepare your clothes.
  13. Watch the news less.
  14. Drink more water.
  15. Discover one thing a month.
  16. Make your bed.
  17. Spend a minute/day with yourself.
  18. Ask yourself whether what you’re doing is worth it.
  19. If a task takes 2 minutes, do it right away.
  20. Take care of your posture.
  21. Read for 15 minutes a day.

I have many of these habits already but if I do them all daily, I would be that much ahead. I should keep the list where I can see it every day so I’m reminded to do them.