Some Ways to Find Peace in Your Busy Day 🫶
Believe it or not, when it comes to creating a feeling of PEACE in your day, the amount of time you take does not have to factor in. Humor me for a moment…
At one point of my career during a major ERP implementation project, I spent 6 months clocking over 500 hours of overtime.
During that time, I hit all the levels of burnout, because it seemed like I couldn’t get ahead of the needs. I had begun crying at work and was quite honestly fucking miserable.
It was at this time that my fiancee gave me an ultimatum to cease and desist the insanity. I remember feeling so upset because I didn’t know how to end the long days when all I could feel was the weight of everyone’s requirements at work holding me to task.
AND yet…
I also realized that I could NOT keep going at the level I had been without losing myself entirely.
👉 So I began by picking a date to no longer work my weekends.
👉 I chose a date to not work after I left the office.
👉 I began getting away from my desk during lunch.
👉 I spent my break periods going for a walk outside or driving to get a coffee.
As I began to slowly choose myself over work, my life started to tip back towards normal. I was spending time with friends again, taking walks with my pup, and actually enjoying wedding prep with my fiancee as opposed to it feeling like “one more thing that had to get done”.
The culmination of all the individual steps above was what helped me out of burnout horror, but I also learned two very
valuable things that are still supporting me today.
Number One
🫶 No matter how desperate the situation seems, I know that I always have a choice.
At first, I blamed my whole miserable experience on my employer, but the truth is that I was the one who chose to allow myself to be pushed, and I alone was the one who could choose to stop…and I did.
Number Two
🫶 I can create PEACE at any point in my day just by honoring the desire to create it with action.
You have the power to choose a moment in your day to stop, sit quietly, close your eyes if that is preferred, and then just listen what your heart is telling you it needs. When the message comes through, you find a way to honor all or part of it.
These are some examples that have come up for me lately:
❤️ Taking the long way home to look at the boats in the marina.
❤️ Listen to a certain playlist while driving and sing at the top of my lungs.
❤️ Take 5 minutes when I get home to be quietly alone.
❤️ Go for a short walk outside or eat my lunch in the sun.
❤️ Hugging a tree.
❤️ Stick my feet in the sand for 5 minutes while looking at the water.
Everyone has little things that fill their cup, and the truth is, it isn’t about the amount time you take to fill it. What’s important is you take a moment to hear the need, and then you honor it with action.
This is the way that we start putting ourself in our own list of priorities.
It is a practice just like mindfulness.
Doing this helps you get clear on what is important to your heart and soul, and the more clarity you gain on who you are and what you hold dear, the easier it becomes to choose YOU when it is most vital.
Upcoming Workshops
Purposeful Pathways
$67 | 3 Hours Total for Workshop
VIP Crew
$197 | Workshop + 2 Sessions for more 1:1 in depth work with me*
Dates: Oct 26, 27 at 6:00PM PST
Our Values/Principles are the compass by which we live, and we create them as we experience & learn throughout our lives.
At mid life things can begin to feel “off” and it is likely due to a shift in your priorities. For instance living a life heavily influenced by the “norms” of society might push you to work harder and go into debt to accumulate new things. With the passing of years, you now find yourself wishing for more free time for creativity or travel, but are still having to work long hours to pay the bills from your prior choices.
The more we learn and grow as individuals the more likely it is that what we most value has changed. This progression is a normal part of life, and my intention of this workshop is to help you get clear so you can purposely choose your pathway forward.
Day One
Prior to our first class I will send out a Values Assessment, which is a simple tool to help you discover the importance certain values have in your life. For example, defining the importance of Success, Creativity or Authenticity. We will take some time to explore the origins of these values, and how we feel when our actions don't align with them.
-Class Length 1.5 Hours
Day Two
I will work with the group to help you brainstorm ways to honor your identified values with action and accountability. If Creativity is something that you want to spend more focused time on, we will come up with the steps that feel doable to YOU so when you leave our last class you’ll have a plan for moving forward with purpose.
-Class Length 1.5 Hours
The VIP crew will have two 1:1 coaching appointments with me. The first will be a deeper focused coaching on the Values worksheet and what arises. The second will help you identify the choices you are currently making or want to make with regards to what you’ve discovered so far.
Photo by Stefan Schnur
If You Found Inspiration Here Today…
…please consider forwarding this newsletter to other soul seeking women you know so they can choose to become subscribers.
Daily Choices is the name of my business because I believe that we have the ability to find freedom through the act of each choice we make in our day to day.
What I want more than anything is for women at midlife to find confidence in who they are, and to know they’re capable of making the difficult choices that will bring them more inner peace and joy.
Thank you as always for being a subscriber!
My name is Jennifer Lockhart, and I graduated from Naropa University, with a BA in Contemplative Psychology, and pursued my coaching studies through the International Coaching Federation (ICF) Accredited school of iPEC (Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching). My base approach to coaching connects the Buddhist principles of my Contemplative Psychology degree with the amazing tools I learned through my extensive coach training at iPEC. The result is that I provide a safe non-judgmental space for you to observe and discuss the way you perceive your world. This process creates new awareness of the thoughts that have kept you from seeing a wealth of opportunities and choices. You’ll be amazed at what all has been patiently waiting for you to be ready, let me help you find your next path forward.
