This morning while out on the Riverwalk, Buddy (my shit-zhu) and I came to a fork in the path — we’ve walked this path together hundreds of times and always go left. Today he stopped, turned and looked at me.
I gestured right. For the first time, we’re going right. The first step in a series of Intention Experiments (I talk about the what and why of Intention Experiments here)…
As we walked and experienced this familiar path from a completely different angle, I saw things I never noticed before and Buddy was sniffing places he usually walks by.
And the decision to start my first Intention Experiment. Or rather two:
- Mail a handwritten card every day for the next 30 days and
- Declutter/Donate 100+ items in the next 30 days
We returned home to discover that my friend Ken Petersen has passed from cancer and my “brother” (late sister’s husband and Ken’s brother) lost his black lab BJ to cancer today as well.
Life is unpredictable and just too damn short. These Intention Experiments are my way of enhancing not only my life and my appreciation for life overall, but also, hopefully, the lives of others.
Feb 9th Update:
It’s AMAZING what a conscious focus on sending at least one handwritten card/day can do for mindset and inspiration. Having sent at least one/day gives me an even greater appreciation for those in my life (business and personal).
And the BEST this week for de-cluttering. I was going to donate 19 items to Goodwill and one of them was a “Web Around” for virtual backgrounds. In the post office before heading to Goodwill, I heard a woman on the phone say how much she wanted “something for virtual backgrounds” for her constant video calls as she couldn’t keep up with the “mess the kids keep making”. Donated to her and DONE! Rest went to Goodwill.
Feb 13th Update:
The first of the cards I’ve been writing arrived and I received a wonderful response. It’s really amazing what a postage stamp and a card from the stack that I bought knowing it’d be the right card for someone will do.
While the goal is to write one card/day, I’m written 14 so far in the 9 days. No carryovers. It’s still a minimum of one card/day. I can easily see myself making this a daily practice. Every card makes me smile. 🙂
Donating/Decluttering: Going through the kitchen I discovered 11 things I don’t even remember buying and don’t eat and 3 duplicate pans. Sent a few texts to neighbors to see if anyone needed anything and donated rest to local food pantry.
33 items donated/decluttered. 67 to go by March 5th.