Gratitude Day 5

On Day 5 of 30 Days of Tessism I am counting my blessings.

Gratitude:  Today, I am grateful that I have finally learned to accept the gifts people give me.  For the longest time I was convinced that being a strong woman meant doing it all alone.  I could always give because that was the nature of my heart but I could never sit back and receive.  Surely, that would undermine that strength that I was developing.  Right?

Not quite.  Strength is an elusive thing with as many different definitions as there are people in this world.  Some of the things we call strength are used to mask the fear of the appearance of weakness.  Accepting help or anything from others appears needy to the untrained eye.  In reality, it is a gift to allow others to give to you.

I find great pleasure in giving to others and making a difference in someone’s life.  All those times that I strove to “do it myself” lest I be a burden on others actually deprived someone of that exact same pleasure.

Allowing people to contribute to me allows others to see the difference they can make in my world.  Doing so, I give myself another gift as well: acknowledgement of my self-worth.  Receiving without worry, limitation or concern is my declaration that I worthy.  I deserve all the generosity I encounter especially when my heart moves me to be generous in that same way with others.  I am grateful I can revel in the gifts that others give me and compound them with the gifts I give myself.

Challenge Day 30: Score!

I swear I have the 30-day challenge blues.  After pushing day after day, I’m pretty sad that there is no more challenge left and that sucks the wind out of my sails.  Funny since I expected Day 30 to be the day to end all days where I would stand atop the mountain of my achievement and look out with puffed chest congratulating myself for daring the impossible.

I’m sure that I have the blues.  Now that there is no challenge each day, what will I do with myself?  Haha!  Anything and everything. The interesting thing about challenges is that they beget challenges–a sort of challenge-addiction.  Tomorrow or later this week, I’ll ruminate about lessons learned.  In the meantime, let’s get on with our last challenge!

Today’s challenge: Take stock of the last 30 days.  How did you do?  What did you do well?  What did you not do well?  What would you like to continue to work on?  How did it go?  What did you learn?
I’ll be sorting through the lessons learned on this journey for days to come but in the meantime, here are the stats of what I attempted this month:

• I blogged for 30 days straight
• I gave up complaining for 29 days
• I asked for what I really wanted instead of complaining for 28 days
• I practiced being peaceful for 27 days
• I brought gratitude to every situation for 26 days
• I gave up being right for 25 days
• I made sure I did not give up for 24 days
• I began clearing out my home for 23 days
• I committed to finishing things for 22 days
• I found something to celebrate every day for 21 days
• I attempted to write a novel for 20 days
• I meditated at least 3o minutes a day for 19 days
• I infused my actions with passion for 18 days
• I cleared my mind for 17 days
• I took time to reflect for 16 days
• I declared daily affirmations for 15 days
• I practiced exquisite self-care for 14 days
• I burst out laughing every day for 13 days
• I asked for help for 12 days
• I was impeccable with my word for 11 days
• I didn’t take it personal for 10 days
• I assumed nothing for 9 days
• I did my best for 8 days
• I let it go for 7 days
• I forgave for 6 days
• I had compassion for 5 days
• I stopped being late and procrastinating for 4 days
• I went with the flow for 3 days
• I wantonly wanted for 2 days
• And today I took stock of what I did

My closest friends can attest to the wonderful peace I gained in these 30 days as well as the struggle it was to complete these last few days.  I know I couldn’t have done it without them or you.  I also know that I’m not quite done yet.

While I was able to challenge myself to different things each day, I haven’t gained mastery over anything new.  I have an experience of what it is like to live a revolutionary life but I still have work to do.  Each day of these 30 days of challenges revealed so much about myself to me.

The greatest revelation is that this month was a buffet of challenges for me to choose from and work on extensively in the near future.  All the challenges have been interrelated.  They are all pulling for the same transformed, galvanized life.  The next step for me is mastery.

Gratitude: I am grateful for that I could complete this month of challenges when I’ve done nothing like this ever before

On the horizon: More results, lessons and mastery…the journey – to be continued.

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Challenge Day 19: Ask for Help

On day 19, I’m challenging myself to something I rarely do.

Today’s challenge: Ask for help.  You know you need it.  Let people contribute to you.  Graciously allow people to give to you in the same way you love to give to others.  Give them the pleasure of making a difference for you.  Accept things.

More often than not, I work on challenges on my own.  Whether they’re 30 days of Bikram yoga or a month of challenges, accomplishing them is a solitary endeavor.   I realize, though, that it is far more enriching and productive to ask for help.

Community is key in building the life of my dreams.  Being accountable to a community of readers keeps me blogging daily.  Without them, I would have stopped writing weeks ago.

I rarely ask for help and when I do, I ask very few people.  I’m always ready to help wherever I can.  Stranger, friend foe–I will help you.  It’s another thing for me to ask for needed help and with this challenge.  I am going to allow people to help me achieve results more incredible than the ones I would have on my own.

Allowing people to give to me multiplies all our strength and power.  For the next few days, I will look for wherever I need support in and ask for it.  You can too.

Today’s victory: I answered a call to do excellent, additional work today.  It wasn’t requested but I knew it was necessary so, with passion, I knocked it out of the box.  Feels good.

Gratitude: I am grateful to live in one of the most incredible cities in the world.

On the horizon: Miracles