Day 27/ 30 Days of Intention: Learning to live in 3D!

 Daylight savings time ended yesterday and I had the delicious delight of adding another hour to my day.  I welcomed it; filming and speaking and children and husbands and my own needs are so tightly crammed in, just one extra hour put a spring in my step.  Most of my 30 Days of Intentions Challenge has been focused on what I have a hard time fitting in.

As I have written before, I don’t have a problem getting up to work out or working the tough tasks in my career.  My challenges, the spaces in my life I struggle to touch every day fall into one of two categories, financial and familial.

Even the end of Daylight Savings Time can’t save me!

I’m going as hard as I can!  I start the day by working out and end the day exhausted.  My husband knows I’ve fallen asleep when I drift off in mid-sentence.  There is nothing to take away, yet the needs are still there waiting for my attention and intention.

My intention:  Get more time with my boys

I have two sons, boys that will turn 16 this December.  For so long I felt the interminable pressure of each stage, despairing they would ever get out of diapers, learn to ride a bike, clean their room on their own.  Suddenly the end of our time together is imminent.  After tending to their every need since they were born, I see only 2 ½ years between our time together and their voyage to college.

It is a time when we can enjoy each other, talking about how to handle relationships with their friends or coaching them through difficult moments in debate or track.  We can discuss politics or our favorite books and I delight in their evolution to manhood.  But our

time is so limited; I might call out a goodbye as I head down to our home gym to work out and then get a few minutes as I’m preparing their plates for dinner before they manage the influx of homework that is typical of a sophomore year.  They are gone even on the weekend, packing their days with the kinds of activities that colleges admire and reward.

But I miss them.  And I have more to show them in love and lessons.   Each day I would think about my intention to find time with them and each night I would go to sleep with an bittersweet hole burning in my stomach.  I didn’t do it.

Another hunch:  What if I….?

It wasn’t until a cross-country banquet that one of those infamous 30daysofyou hunches popped up to save me.  I was watching 150 boys and their parents celebrate a season under a particularly talented coach.  The enthusiasm among the boys was contagious and I started wanting to be part of my sons’ success.  My enthusiasm for running hasn’t waned since I left the collegiate cross country program 17 years ago.

Then the hunch:  I can work out with them in the morning.  I want to show them what I know and help them achieve their goals.

An amazing idea, serving both my intention to connect with them without infringing on my fitness goals.  I proposed the idea to them and they responded with enthusiasm.  YES!  Mondays, Wendesdays and Fridays we would get up at 5:30 and go to the gym.  Together we would lift weights and run killers and work our core.  Together we would get stronger, and hopefully together we would find that time we needed.

The first morning, I had to get them up, but once we were at the gym, I saw their demeanor change to respect as we pushed our way through some pain.  On Wednesday they were ready to go before I was.  We talked and connected between labored breaths and I felt another intention become a reality.

After a night of filming for Life Dare, I wanted to bow out on the beginning of our second week of working out.  Deep down I knew I couldn’t and as I was complaining about my fatigue, Jordan said,

“I was looking forward to going to the gym.”

Ahhh.  There is nothing like an intention fulfilled.  I didn’t add an hour to my day.  I didn’t split an atom, multitasking another moment.  I just lived a fuller moment through my intention.   Better yet, I enriched my relationship with two of my favorite people, those twin boys of mine.  SO- on this x day of 30 Days of Intention, I learned how to live my intentions in 3 D!

1. Don’t think linearly.  I saw this great quote from Albert Einstein today:  If the

   

   facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.  So if you really want to something in your life, think about changing the way you are doing it right now.

2. What can you combine?  Meaningful combinations will create joy and meaning in your life.  At first, it may not seem as convenient as going solo, but in the end the dividends from your investment will outweigh the discomforts you might experience.
3. Give it all you got in the presence of those you love.  Don’t underestimate the power of your positive presence, the example of your life.  Do your best in the presence of those you love.  Include them in the work of your purpose and watch your intentions spread.
4. Enjoy the results.  Don’t forget to enjoy your well placed actions.  I felt it this morning in mid-stride, running “killers” in the gym with my boys soon to be men.  What a privilege to be their mother and to have them stride with me this morning.  I loved it and I will treasure these moments forever.

Living your life 3D.  Don’t be afraid to think creatively to make space for what you love.  Listen to those hunches, the desires of your heart.  At the bottom of every one of those random thoughts is the solution, a way to achieve your goals without sacrificing in a negative way.

Do you want more inspiration from Liz?  Sign up for www.30daysofyou.com  community!  Book Liz as a speaker with www.neadinspiration.com and watch ordinary people bring life back to every day life on Life Dare TV (www.lifedare.tv).