I end up suffering from information paralysis. I’ve got too many newsletters, too many books, and in the end, too many to-do lists.

This section of Emma by Jane Austen reminded me so much of myself:

“Emma has been meaning to read more ever since she was twelve years old. I have seen a great many lists of her drawing up at various times of books that she meant to read regularly through – and very good lists they were – very well chosen, and very neatly arranged – sometimes alphabetically, sometimes by some other rule. The list she drew up when only fourteen – I remember thinking it did her judgement so very much credit, that I preserved it some time; and I and I dare say she may have made out a very good list now. But I have done with expecting any course of steady reading from Emma. She will never submit to anything requiring industry and patience, and a subjection of the fancy to the understanding.”

I’ve spent even more time lately making lists, as recommended by the good man David Allen, author of Getting Things Done and Ready for Anything. Perhaps one of the most striking things I’ve read by him is regarding getting things off your mind and onto paper.

“Stress comes from unkept agreements with yourself. You can relieve that stress only by canceling the agreement, keeping the agreement, or renegotiating it. But you can’t renegotiate agreements with yourself that you forgot you made. Because psychic RAM has no sense of past or future, things filed there push on you to be done all the time. They must be made conscious and kept so, to alleviate the pressure.”

Now that I’ve seen the list, I’m going to start letting a few things go. I’ve got a horrible habit of being a horder, so even letting information go is difficult. Starting today I will reduce the number of email newsletters I get and never read, and set aside assigned time to do things that are important to me.

I’m guilty of trying to be perfect. Even if it’s being perfectly “messy.” When SPJB was in town this weekend, he noticed that I had a book laying on my office floor – “The Doodle Formula.” I think it was hard for him to understand why I felt like I needed a book to teach me how to doodle. Its just quick, slightly messy drawings. Its simple shapes, outlined and shaded in different ways. In his mind, you don’t need a whole book to tell you how to draw squares and lines and circles.

But, me being me, I don’t feel like I can doodle, or draw, or write, unless I’ve read a book or taken a class or watched a video about how to do it.  I’m not much of a risk-taker in that sense.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m afraid of being made fun of for a mistake, or because I don’t want to let my facade down long enough to let the rest of the world know I’m not perfect.

Just for today though, I may try to do a few things without making them perfect. Rather, at least just for today, I’ll try to be human.

She’s documenting her progress, along with her rules on her blog. I’d love to try it… but as of today, I just can’t walk away.

Let It Go
By T. D. Jakes
There are people who can walk away from you.

And hear me when I tell you this! When people can walk away from you: let them walk. I don’t want you to try to talk another person into staying with you, loving you, calling you, caring about you, coming to see you, staying attached to you. I mean hang up the phone.

When people can walk away from you let them walk. Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left.

The bible said that, they came out from us that it might be made manifest that they were not for us. For had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. [1 John 2:19]

People leave you because they are not joined to you. And if they are not joined to you, you can’t make them stay.

Let them go.

And it doesn’t mean that they are a bad person it just means that their part in the story is over. And you’ve got to know when people’s part in your Story is over so that you don’t keep trying to raise the dead.

You’ve got to know when it’s dead.

You’ve got to know when it’s over. Let me tell you something. I’ve got the Gift of good-bye. It’s the tenth spiritual gift, I believe in good-bye.

It’s not that I’m hateful; it’s that I’m faithful, and I know whatever God Means for me to have He’ll give it to me.

Let them go!!

If you are holding on to something that doesn’t belong to you and was

Never intended for your life, then you need to……

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to past hurts and pains……

LET IT GO!!!

If someone can’t treat you right, love you back, and See your worth…..

LET IT GO!!!

If someone has angered you…

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and revenge……

LET IT GO!!!

If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction……

LET IT GO!!!

If you are holding on to a job that no longer meets your needs or talents

LET IT GO!!!

If you have a bad attitude…….

LET IT GO!!!

If you keep judging others to make yourself feel better……

LET IT GO!!!

If you’re stuck in the past and God is trying to take you to a new level in Him……

LET IT GO!!!

If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship……

LET IT GO!!!

If you keep trying to help someone who won’t even try to help themselves….

LET IT GO!!!

If you’re feeling depressed and stressed………

LET IT GO!!!

If there is a particular situation that you are so used to handling yourself and God is saying “take your hands off of it,” then you need to…..

LET IT GO!!!

Let the past be the past. Forget the former things. GOD is doing a new thing for 2007!!!

LET IT GO!!!

Get Right or Get Left.. Think about it, and then,

LET IT GO!!!

“The Battle is the Lord’s!”

According to

10 Simple Ways To Do More it is possible. Here are their suggestions:

• Clear your head.I think yoga practice should help with that!
• Focus on the essential tasks. Not essential? Then its not getting done for the next 10 weeks or so.
• Eliminate the rest. Done and done.
• Do essential tasks first.
• Eliminate distractions.Distractions? Like the flowers and the iPod and the rain and the constantly flashing instant messenger?
• Use simple tools.Like a hammer to beat the people who are keeping me from being productive?
• Do one thing at a time.Yeah. right. Multi-tasking is the only way I survive.
• Find quiet.Ok, so they’re talking about more than noise here. This seems like a good one.
• Make the most of your work.Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• Simplify some more.

Here’s the definition of snarky:
A colloquialism meaning short-tempered or snappish.

After getting that definition, it reinforced my desire to essentially be a better person. I don’t want to be seen as short-tempered or snappy – even when sometimes people deserve it. (Darn it, there I go again!)
Here’s to nicer posts, coming soon. (Either that, or all my snarkiness is going to show up here… not sure which yet.

Andre Gide- “Be faithful to that which exists within yourself.”

It reminds me of the quote I write every night in my journal – as is the inner, so is the outer. When we are consantly striving to meet the needs and demands of today’s society, we forget to be true to our inner self. Some people call it the “authentic self,” others call it their “soul.” But whatever we call it, we need to remember that at the end of the day, the only person who is with you your entire life is yourself. And if you betray yourself, you have no one left.

At work, one of my co-workers asked repeatedly for the tools to do part of her job. Now that she has them, she claims to not have time to use them. Or can we make them push the information she needs to her inbox, so she doesn’t have to *gasp* take the time to log into a website and find the information there.

At one of my favorite stores, they had a store that said “Brand X Jeans, $21.90 Regularly: $29.00″ So, I bought a pair of Brand X Jeans, and they charged me $29.00. Their reasoning – it wasn’t the jeans on the table with the sign. “There are no signs that say that by the jeans you picked,” the salesgirl calmly informed me. I think that’s false advertising, since there was no mention on the sign that it may only apply to select styles, or only to the jeans that are on that table. When I mentioned that to the salesgirl, she said she’d tell the manager. I went in 2 weeks later, and the same sign was there, so I asked the manager about it. She said that the signs were just what corporate had sent them, and she was sorry. Hello! How long does it take to write “Select styles only” or “This table only” on the sign so that some actually bitchy customer doesn’t come in and throw a fit until they give her the jeans for $21.90. Apparently it wasn’t her responsibility.

I’m finding more and more in our society that indviduals refuse to take responsibility for their jobs, their health, their weight, or their happiness. Here’s a novel thought – if its within your power to do it, just do it. The world would be a much better place if we spent less time whining about what we don’t have because we’ve been wronged by so-and-so, and just did what it took to get the job done.

In times like these, I like to read Mother Theresa’s poem entitled “Anyway”

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered; Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God; It was never between you and them anyway.

I’m not going to say that the FC blog really is helping me to overcome this feeling. I’m hoping that all these feelings pass on their own.

But check out the blog. It is really good. And its got a quote from Nietzsche – you should read it at least for that!