{"id":96,"date":"2012-05-09T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-05-09T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mixhart.ca\/blog\/?p=96"},"modified":"2013-11-18T17:29:58","modified_gmt":"2013-11-19T01:29:58","slug":"go-with-the-flow-fernando","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/go-with-the-flow-fernando\/","title":{"rendered":"Go With The Flow Fernando"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a0Fernando’s Sexy and He Knows It<\/b><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

My life is new. New, in that now I am no longer a student. I am also no longer the mother of preschoolers. I was nervous to see how everything would transpire once I had finished my thesis, Pippi entered kindergarten and I was ready to focus on the next step of my career. The most wonderful thing that has transpired is that I feel as though I am on a moving fluid career path and I follow along where the road leads.
\nIn the past, this freedom might have frightened me. I wanted more stability. I suppose because I was young and wanted the security of a decent nest for my babies. But I am OK with this freelance career–doing what works in the moment. It fuels the adventure-junkie side of me in a way I never expected. It seems I plot my career in segments of about six months. I focus on tasks to achieve in this time period, reevaluate and begin a new segment. Such is the life as a writer\/artist.
\nWhat has helped me immeasurably with being able to focus and be happy in this new fluid career (writing, teaching, painting–doing what works in the moment and leads to an income and work satisfaction) are three simple things. Three things that bring metta (Metta<\/i> means happiness in Pali–an ancient Indian language spoken by The Buddha).<\/p>\n

#1 Evening meditations (yes, every night unless I am beyond knackered!) at home, alone, in front of my fireplace.
\n#2 Community meditation. Whether my schedule allows me to meet once a week or once a month, simply having the outside spiritual community gives me peace, connectedness.
\n#3 Following my schedule. I write a weekly schedule of all I want to accomplish each and every day. It is not overwhelming. It is a balanced life schedule that gives me the time to dabble in all pursuits: career, home up keep, personal fitness and health. It seems silly, but honestly, I often quit following my schedule religiously, believing it is only a schedule. But when I do this, mindfulness slips way. It is the simplest way I have ever discovered to keep one mindful and thus metta. Just stick to the schedule, don’t doubt the power of following simple daily rituals religiously.<\/p>\n

I hope these three tips for mindfulness and metta help someone, anyone, out there feel the freedom of enjoying a fluid, evolving life without fear and doubt. Because for those of us who don’t have a 9-5 institutional job to cement us, we need to let go and go with the flow…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Fernando’s Sexy and He Knows It My life is new. New, in that now I am no longer a student. I am also no longer the mother of preschoolers. I was nervous to see how everything would transpire once I … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[295,3114,296,293],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mindfulness","tag-metta","tag-mindfulness","tag-self-employed","tag-writers"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t