Three Words . . . Keep Priorities Straight (#13)

Today I am grateful for my senses, especially my sense of hearing in this moment as I listen to music and to soothing water in our patio fountain.

Point #13: "Three words . . . keep priorities straight." One of the shortest points in number of words packs one of the most significant daily suggestions. Believe me, overthinking is not one of my priorities. But it sometimes gets more energy and time than my true priorities.

So I work on it, daily. Right thinking leads to right actions. Honoring my priorities brings me good energy and peace. Ignoring them in my futile attempts to manage unmanageables exhausts me and destroys any serenity I may have had.

To help remind me of my priorities, I have had this little 2 x 3 inch frame at home for years. I have one on my desk at work too, minus the two fortune cookie quotes:

Numbers 1-5 are recovery/faith, family, friends, running, and writing. Number 6 is my job. It starts with my recovery from alcoholism, because without that I wouldn't have the gifts of family, friends, and my passions of running and writing.

My job is important to me and it is part of what defines me as a person. It brings meaning, challenges, and it validates that I am a contributor in good ways. Yet, if I put it ahead of the other things on my list on a consistent basis, I get all out of whack. 

I used to worry that others wouldn't understand, that they would think I am a slacker with my job so far down the list. (I think American culture has done a poor job with so many mixed messages about the role of our jobs, but that's a different post.) 

Now, my response would be this: Because I honor the priorities that mean the most to me, I am actually better at my job when I am there. 

As I consider my sister Mary Jo on this point, clearly her priorities were her family and friends. She always had time for them, and her energy was there with her husband, daughters, and grandchildren first. Her passions of sewing, gardening, baking/cooking, thrift store shopping, reading...these were all ones she enjoyed with and for her family and friends. She had plenty of friends where she worked, but that followed from her priorities and passions. 

Watching Mary Jo suffer and decline, then die from metastatic breast cancer, firmed up my priorities. We don't know how much time we get. How do I want to spend it? 

I too often used to save my writing pursuits for after getting other things done. I was forever frustrated, because I often wouldn't have any time or energy left. One of the best things I have done to honor my writing is to start this blog. That is what the fortune cookie quotes are about in the frame above. 

Do you have a priority that needs to be honored more? Start today. Even in a small way.