This past Thursday, Don shared with us his presentation entitled “ Making Hard Choices” 

Don discussed change and how different types of changes can affect us. 

A few things I took away from his presentation; 

-Change when well planned is great for our mental health.

-Sometimes the changes we make are made poorly. Change can also have consequences that you need to be prepared for. So, we need to make sure and think through our changes and plan them out. 

You can change anything that you can control.  Now some things may be out of our locus of control.  Miriam has talked about locus of control on her previous presentations.  What exactly is our “ locus of control “ ? 

Locus of control is the extent to which you feel or believe you have control over events that impact your life. 

If we learn to identify what we can control, and let go of what we can’t control, we might feel better about change. 

Don shared how we should strive to have more balanced thoughts and manage more acceptance when it comes to change. 

When considering life changes, learn to understand the long term outcome.

And maybe try to anticipate the speed bumps. 

Maybe it might benefit you to eliminate the negative and cultivate people around you who are achievers.  And maybe quit anything that is dragging you down. Is there a certain part of your life that’s giving you grief? Can you live without it? 

If you eliminate a certain place, person or activity, will it be better for you? Changes you make may have a collateral effect on others, but that is out of your locus of control.  If you make a change in your life, will it benefit you? 

Learn to make positive changes in your life.  Be bold and courageous!

At the end of Don’s presentation, he gave us a homework assignment.

Start working on a list of personal intentions you may have for 2025.  Try and think of intentions that will give your mind and heart direction. 

Who knows, maybe sometime down the road, Don may ask us how we did on our homework assignment?

 Intentions are a code you want to live your life by.  Not always will you live up to your intentions.  They are things that you will try to do, but since you are not perfect and do not control other peoples reactions, sometimes you will fail to live up to your intentions.

Intentions are important and powerful. They set the trajectory and give our minds and hearts direction. It is worth taking five minutes to think about how you want to live, what you stand for, what is important, and what goals matter to you. 

To give you a place to get started, here is my list, and I will put this up in the blog for you to consider and modify to match your authentic self.  And facilitators, this is also a pretty good list of topics for this group if any of you want to grab one and run with it.

1. Live with integrity. 

2. Live with action, not just talk. (this is why I came up with a list for myself)

3. Take risks, try new things. (make changes to align with your authentic self)

4. Value rest and reflection. 

5. Create deeper relationships. 

6. Don’t default to “no” or “later” consider others input

7. Nourish – heart, soul, mind, body.

8. Always be learning. 

9.   Be kind.

10. Practice gratitude. 

11. Live with awareness. 

12. Give back.

13. Create and respect boundaries. (establish and maintain yours and others)

14. Practice the pause instead of reacting. 

15. Do hard things. 

16. Appreciate time. 

17. Embrace my own uniqueness. 

18. Love others for their uniqueness.  ( sort of why we are here)

19. Listen, show up, be there. 

20. Live with less. Don’t just buy.

21. Make home a sanctuary. 

22. Release bitterness, stuckness.  (let the past go, remember ground hog day)

23. Laugh and smile so much more. 

24. Live with fire. Alive.

25. Cherish the gift of aging. 

26. Asking more questions, especially if I do not understand.

And while I am at it, there are a few things that I’m no longer choosing 

1 People that do not choose me.

2. Believing my inner critic.

3.Taking on other peoples negativity

4. Living up to other people’s expectations.

5. Living someone else’s dream instead of my own.

6. Putting myself in unhealthy environments.

7. Things that make me feel less than.

8. Unrealistic expectations of myself.

9. Ignoring my own emotions, and needs.

Use these lists to make your on list of intentions. We will be revisiting intentions st the March 13th meeting so bring your list that night!