The first day...

If you haven't seen the movie, "American Beauty", I encourage you to do so. This is not a movie you just watch while chit-chatting with someone and talking on the phone. This is a movie you listen to...you get involved in...you pay attention to...and you watch more than once. It starts out with the main character, played by Kevin Spacey, reflecting on his life. One of my favorite lines is within the first five minutes and it basically says that any day can be the first day of the rest of your life except for your last day. How powerful is that!! So, I've decided that while this may be my last day and I just don't know it yet, this morning in this is the first day of the rest of my life.

With that in mind, here's a "current state" of my life and those goals that I'm setting and putting out there for myself, and you, to hold me accountable to.
1) I'm out of shape and overweight. I don't have a particular weight I want to be, I have a body shape I want to have and that basically is a flat stomache and strong legs and arms. I also want to move back towards being a vegetarian. I need to find some alternate protein sources that I like. I'm going to start walking more and using the Wii fit more with my daughter.
2) School. I have 4 weeks of school left and while I was starting to lose my devotion to my classes, I'm back on track. I'll admit that these last few classes have been really technical and a little over my head so I've been settling for low grades, which is not like me.
3) An authentic life. I had stopped meeting with my life coach because I was feeling overwhelmed and that I couldn't face everything I was trying to work through. Now I know that that was a defense mechanism to allow myself to stay in the rut and not push through to get out and have a more authentic life. I'm going to be recommitted to working with her and getting to the place I want to be which is more peaceful, more open to life and more positive.

I have a bunch of other things I want to work on and I've learned that if I bite off more than I can chew I just spit it all out and I don't want to do that so I'm stopping with the above. As these things come to closure, it will open up time and space for me to address other things and that's just fine. :)

Now for a quick digression...an update for those interested on Sylvia. We went to see the Jonas Brothers a couple Sunday's ago. WOW! It was her first concert. All in all they have a really good show. The biggest problem was that they have 3 opening bands and so by the time they actually started we had been sitting in our seats for 90 minutes. It was a bit much. It was hysterical to see all of the little girls just dressed to the hilt with the hope that they would get to be seen by one of the boys. We were up in the nose bleed section so unless they have some kind of awesome vision, we weren't getting seen. lol She's also very excited about being a second grader next year. She truly is the best thing in my life and I'm in a continual state of pride about her and the person she is becomming. Children really can be the way we make a permanent impact on the world and I believe God has given her a heart that is larger and more caring than most people no matter what age. She loves deeply and I pray all the time that God shields her heart so that it doesn't get hard.

Ok...I'm off to do some home work and house work and get ready for the week.

Love and blessings to everyone!

KA :)

ps...here's a challenge for you this week...stop using the word "but" in your language. That word has an inherent negativity AND we should all seek to get more positive. Instead of using "but" either think of another way to say the sentence or just simply end the sentence. Let me know if you do it and what you think!!