Print This Post Print This Post

What Are You Tolerating?

February 14th, 2010 in Personal Growth

Today is Valentine’s Day and immediately I thought of people I love.   How can I let them know they are important and special in my life?   Then I thought, “what about me?”  How do I show myself that I love “me” and I’m special in my life?

What flashed in my mind immediately is that I’m tolerating too much in my life.   How do I know that I’m tolerating “stuff?” I can tell by listening to my internal thoughts of frustrations or the complaints that I express to others.  

I started to think about what I was tolerating in my life.  For starters, I wandered around my home and listened to all the shooting thoughts about what isn’t right.   No home is perfect and yet I’m tolerating many things by not acting on them.

For example, I have a small office, but the space is plenty for my needs.   If I look to the right, piles of paper and behind me, books, papers and other stuff that needs to be put away.  My home is relatively organized but I tolerate too many books and papers.   If I open the closet in the extra bedroom, I cringe at all of the junk piled there.  It’s distracting because I get annoyed with myself, feel a bit overwhelmed by the visual display of clutter and yet, I live with it.  Why do I tolerate something that obviously doesn’t make me feel good?   

The Problem
Tolerating clutter, behaviors, other people, demanding bosses all take away a part of our lives.  Yes, the thought may be with us for a brief moment, but it tears off a small chunk of well-being by tolerating the situation.   Multiply that by other annoyances, frustrations and by the end of the day, no wonder we are exhausted and feel a little beat up by living.   The same things that we were annoyed about yesterday are still there today…we get to compound the tears in our lives.

Today is different.  Maybe because it’s Valentine’s Day and it reminds me to love myself fully.   In order to stand behind that thought, I have to acknowledge that I’m tired of tolerating what isn’t working in my life.  How do I channel my tiredness of tolerating too much to creating solutions to move forward?  Here are some thoughts I’ve created which maybe helpful for anyone.

Most Important – Create Awareness
**Home - Go around the home and listen to what bothers you.  Then capture all those annoyances on a master list.  Don’t judge or try to resolve anything.  Instead, give yourself permission to become aware of the tolerances that are robbing your life.

**Finances – What are you tolerating here?  For me, I feel I must go out to dinner all the time in order to maintain my friendships.  First, I don’t need the extra food and second, I need to save money.  What about our children, must we give them more than we want to do?  Are we tolerating debt?

**Relationships – are we allowing others to place demands on our time?   Do you cringe when a significant other treats you in a disrespectful manner?    Do we hold on to relationships because we are afraid to let go?

**Deprivation – what do we deprive ourselves of and then overeat or watch too much TV to compensate?

Action – Small Steps
There are no magic wands that can create massive change; rather the power resides in our own conviction that we can make changes in our lives.  

Starting small is perfect to building momentum in our lives.   If there is a junk draw that you have wanted to clean up, just do the draw.  If it’s overwhelming even to do that, then set a timer for 20 minutes and clean as much as you can in 20 minutes.    Set yourself up for success.   Success creates more success.

What am I doing on Valentine’s Day to nurture and create well-being in my day?    I going to create my master list of tolerances and then select one small thing to change today and nurture my well-being.  

What About You?

**How are you celebrating Valentine’s Day?    How do you show your love to yourself?    
**What are you tolerating in your life? 
**Are you interested in changing?
**What small action can you take today to stop tolerating what doesn’t work for you?

Love to hear your thoughts on this topic…share your thoughts about tolerating what doesn’t work for you.

Pat
“To fully enjoy the ‘richness’ of our lives, we need to stop long enough to visit with ourselves.”
(Pat Brill)

 If you like this article, please share it with others on del.icio.us or StumbleUpon or Twitter.  Thanks for your help.

 FREE DOWNLOAD:  Learn the basics of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)   www.emofree.com

 

Stand Up for Your Life: A Practical Step-by-Step Plan to Build Inner Confidence and Personal Power by Cheryl Richardson

 

 

 


Tags: , ,


6 Responses to “What Are You Tolerating?”

  1. Richie Perl Says:
    February 16th, 2010 at 2:41 pm

    “Stuff!” What a great word! Whether it’s food or “stuff,” our eyes may be greater than our capacity to “digest” the stuff we acquire!

    For me, it’s “someday” I’ll get to that!

    I need to develop the discipline to tell myself, “No you won’t!”

    For example, I’m eliminating any e-mail subscription that has anything to with the “Law of Attraction!” That’s getting old!

    I’m eliminating material that has anything to do with “Finding Your Life’s Purpose!” Enough already!

    But I’ll keep receiving your blog posts!!! :-)

  2. cathy Says:
    February 17th, 2010 at 11:11 am

    i do love your posts and i love how you convey your emotions…take care

  3. Veterankindergartenteacher Says:
    February 22nd, 2010 at 10:11 am

    Wow! What a powerful post! I can’t wait to get home and assess my stuff! Thanks for this!

  4. Jevannel Says:
    February 25th, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    you know what, you have great posts! Keep writing!

  5. Montura Clean Says:
    February 26th, 2010 at 6:37 am

    Valentine’s day will be a working day for me but I will keep in mind your idea.

  6. Pat Says:
    April 5th, 2010 at 10:26 pm

    Thanks everyone for sharing…
    Pat


Leave a Reply