Author: Jennifred Jones

Little By Little

Jennifred Jones

Sometimes our problems can seem so big we don’t know where to start.

It will take too long. I don’t have time. I don’t feel like it. Forget it!

Been there done that.

This morning, in my beautiful little home, I noticed some old dirt on the bathroom tile floor under the hot water radiator. I have been working for months to get everything clean to my liking, and here was another area needing attention. Below is part of my process.

  1. One day I took off all the switch plates and washed them and the switches.
  2. Another time I scraped off years of sloppy paint jobs from the tops of all the lovely thick white tiles. Now they gleam!
  3. I began vinegar spraying all the fixtures and faucets and gradually worked off the lime build up. It takes quite a while to do this without having to scratch the chrome or use toxic cleaners. But it works.
  4. Recently I popped all the clear caps off the water taps and soaked them shiny in vinegar and popped them back on – they look new again!
  5. This morning I toothbrushed out the dirt (using my vinegar/Dawn detergent solution) from under the radiator and it is finally clean.

My vintage bathroom has been a work in progress. I still need to scrape small paint drops from the tile floor, and I want to wash all the walls. That will be another day.

The important thing is the work is getting done. My bathroom is looking almost new and it’s been happening little by little.

This process will work in about any area you find yourself resisting getting started. You’ll feel accomplishment as one thing is done. It can be fit into small increments of time. It won’t feel like overwhelm trying to do everything in one day.

Is there a little-by-little in your life you want to begin?

Take Yourself Back!

Jennifred Jones

Just like taking a bath, giving our bodies regular physical maintenance, we need to give the rest of us regular maintenance.

What do you mean by that?

We have to reclaim our original self. Go through the mental carwash, get the oil changed, fill up the window washer fluid, check the brakes, muffler, antifreeze…

How do I do that?

What has worked for me is finding quiet moments when I can really think about how I’m doing, what I’m really thinking about, watching, entertaining, being tempted with. It’s like going to Auto Zone and having them give you a read-out or systems check to see if everything is working or what needs help.

Sometimes your ‘car’ will have to go to the garage and be there for a couple days to get worked on. They typically shut it all down and do a reset, fix it and then power it back up again after the problem’s fixed. It can take a bit of sleuth work to isolate the real problem depending on what it is.

The same with us. We have to get this regular maintenance on a frequent basis.

  • Am I keeping my windshield – mind and thoughts clean “(That’s none of your business lady; I’ll think what I want)” so I can see clearly how to lead my family to good things. Probably need to add more washer fluid.
  • Is the antifreeze up to level so in time of cold dark days, I don’t freeze up when I need to get out or help others.
  • Do the brakes work so I can stop when somebody is trying to run me over, or lead me astray?
  • Does the muffler work so I don’t get too loud while I’m driving.
  • Maybe I need an oil change…been running on dirty oil. Tired and worn out. Can’t go very fast anymore. Need to exercise.
  • Perhaps the inside of your car hasn’t been kept clean … too much junk foods living our fast-paced lives. Now we can’t get around inside because of everything we’ve junked it up with. Same goes for the outside of the car…headlights all dirty, people can’t see you comin’.

We’re all in this together folks. Clear out the demands and constant requests for our attention before they cloud us over. We have to take care of ourselves.

What parts of my life do I need to take back and clean up?

I Can’t…

Jennifred Jones

Saturday morning at the ice-rink a boy about 7 years old kept falling down.

The instructor would help him up and he’d fall again. When she got him up he only wanted to hold on to her. He didn’t want to try to stand or skate alone.

I could see the look on his face. Total frustration, almost red-faced anger at his young age. The instructor would help him time and time again – even getting down on the ice and showing him how to position his feet and legs so he could get up by himself like all the other young skaters were. Everyone was falling down and eventually getting back up all by themselves. This little boy was not really trying. He’d look like he tried to get up and then fall again and squirm until someone came to ‘help’ him. The instructors were looking back and forth at each other wondering how many times to ‘help’ him – when he would not help himself. He was not incapable – just not-capable because of his thinking. Somewhere along the way, he had given in to the ‘I can’t’ mentality. I imagine it was more than just on the ice.

The reason I could see it so clearly is that had been me at different times in my life…Algebra and math. I just ‘couldn’t‘ (I thought). Or meeting new people. I was too shy (unwilling to step out of my security box). I put off learning computers for years – thinking it was a passing fad. ‘I can’t‘ trying to rule me again.

Many times, teachers have learned…allow the student to struggle until they are hungry enough to learn. Then they will.

Back to the boy on the ice. He wasn’t ready to learn. Not yet. Give him a little more time, or maybe find something else he is interested in. Don’t nurture the ‘I can’t’.

In our mind, if we will remove the ‘t‘, it will spell, ‘I can‘. The first step is begin to recognize all our ‘I can’ts’

Where can I begin today?