Get your But out of it!

How often I have found that we grow to maturity not by doing what we like, but by doing what we should. How true it is that not every 'should' is a compulsion, and not every 'like' is a high morality and true freedom. Karl Rahner

It's just a small word, but in it, it has the power to create guilt and anxiety -- or -- to open doors to possibility.

Should.

Should I go shopping or go to work?

Should I buy that cashmere sweater or pay down my mortgage.

The power's not in the word. It's in the choices we make when the word is employed.

I know. I know. I've said it many times. Life is about the choices we make.

Last night, I spent some time having fun online, getting creative with my life vision and doing something constructive about envisioning and mapping it out. I found a wonderful FREE site that lets you create a vision board(s) to cover all areas of your life. Last night, I started working on my 'career' board. My plan is to create a vision board for every area of my life -- relationship, family, philanthropy, travel and recreation, + -- digitally.

Now, that word 'should' jumps in and niggles away at my peace of mind. You should be.... cleaning house. Ha! Because my leg is in a cast I've hired a cleaning lady to come and do the job. She was here yesterday and the house is pristine, all sparkly clean and shiny!

Take that you naughty 'should'!

But....

No buts about it. Get your shouldy butt out of it.

But...

(sigh) But can be so persistent. But what?

But you should be resting your foot, lying in bed eating bonbons and drinking champagne.

I am lying in bed, silly 'should'. At least, I'm sitting in bed with my foot up on a pillow, laptop in lap. As to the bonbons and champagne, well, I should NOT be eating bonbons and champagne if I ever want to get off this bed!

Hmmm. How about, you should be doing nothing because you're off work 'sick' and you shouldn't be having a good time doing things you like to do, enjoying life.

Ahhhhh.... now there's the crux of the shouldness in my life. Somewhere I've got a tape that runs something like this. "Life isn't meant to be enjoyed. It's a daily grind and you need to buckle down and accept it. No having fun. That's frivolous. Silly. No shirking responsibility."

But then, (see there's that persistent but again!) but then, I have a tape that runs saying, "you always shirk responsibility. You always look for the easy way out. You are such a lazy good for nothing... blah blah blah blah blah.)

I should cut the threads to those tapes.

I would like to cut the threads to those tapes.

I wish I could cut the threads to those tapes.

I can cut the threads to those tapes.

I WILL cut the threads to those tapes.

It isn't the 'should' that gets me. It's the underlying message I buy into when I should my way into feeling guilty about having fun, enjoying life, easing up on taking myself so seriously.

I should ....

go fly a kite!

Ooops. It's a no wind day here. No kite flying, and, as I discovered, flying a kite requires running and running in a cast up to my knee is nigh on impossible. I can go create a Vision Board of my life and what it means to have FUN -- I can start getting creative about what I do to instill fun in my everyday world!

That's it.

Rather than shoulding my way into taking myself too seriously, I'll WILL my way into enjoying every moment of every day, even when I'm doing the things that trigger those tapes. Best way to cut the tapes is to overlay them with ACTION.

And that's the thing about a Vision Board, a dream, an idea, a wish, any endeavour or grand scheme on how and what you want in life. No matter what you want in life, it won't happen sitting around wishing and hoping. It won't happen if all you do paint a pretty picture or write a list of I should's, or, I'd like to.... and then never get off your ..... BUTT and take ACTION!

Action is required to engage life.

Action is mandatory to making dreams come true.

See it. Believe it. Achieve it.

AND....

Get To It!

Get to doing the things no matter if they're 'shoulds', 'like to's', or 'want to's'.

Get doing. Get active. Get in motion.

And leave your but out of it!

Reality is.... for your dreams to come true -- Yes you should Do It!

The question is: Are you sitting looking at the 'should' and avoiding action?

And PS. Visit www.visionboardsite.com and get to it!