LIVING WITH YOUR MENTALITY

Do you live in the present moment? Or spend more time worrying about what has happened or what is going to happen?

Do you pay close attention to what’s happening around you, using your senses and intuition? Or are you more inwardly focused, missing some of what’s going on?

Do you give your body and mind what they need when it comes to eating, sleeping, and taking time out? Or are you ruled by your calendar and phone?

With the answers you gave for each question above, you can get a good picture of what your mentality is like. Is it one where you’re ruled by anxiety, fear, worry, and stress? Or is it one where you choose hope and abundance?

And the really important big follow up question to each of the three areas above… WHY?

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LIVING WITH CHOICES

All around us every day, there are examples of how we live with choices. I see it in my 14-year old son, as he continues learning consequences of his words and actions (or lack thereof). I see it in the executive I advise, as she navigates her new role and moves from the more technical side of business to managing and developing her team. I see it in our horses, as they are reminded of the boundaries of the fence and get a small zap when they get too close to the wire.

There are a thousand nice, neat sayings about this kind of stuff. I just wrote three of them before realizing how sound-bite-y and unhelpful they sounded. The rough reality is we all make choices, every day. It is simple truth. Those choices all have consequences—some unintended, some joyful and great, and some that really suck. A friend and business colleague a photo of a passage from Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen Master and Vietnamese monk. It hit me in the gut.

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LIVING WITH PERSISTENCE

Life on the farm is hard. We post a lot of beautiful pictures because it really is beautiful here. But it’s also very challenging. Managing lots of animals, predators, food supply, projects, all the people who live here, and time, which is ALWAYS in short supply, is hard.

This time of year is particularly challenging. While we love gearing up for the holidays and the festive air, it’s hard on the animals. The pastures where they are confined until Spring turn to horrible mud pits. Manure management (yes, that’s a real thing) becomes a game of chicken with the weather. Fence maintenance is critical to animals staying safely penned, when all they want is to get out and nibble on the last little bits of grass beyond their pasture borders.

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