Got a Problem? Open Your Mind~'If the Mind is Flexible, the World is Flexible'

Practice the Pause

💓Do you worry a problem to death? There's a better way. 

💙Stop thinking about the problem and leave a space for solutions to appear.

💚Practice the pause and let your brain play off-line.

'If the mind is flexible, the world is flexible.'

Sakyong Mipham

Take a Walk

Take your brain for a walk.

Let it meander wherever it wants to go.

Listen carefully for it's whispered solutions.

'Movement is good for the body. 

Stillness is good for the mind.'

Sakyong Mipham

Dilly Dally

Sit in the garden or at a park, beach or lake. 

Let your brain dilly-dally and play on it's own.

'When we know how to create peace in our own mind, 
we can transform the world.' 

 Sakyong Mipham

You Have the Power to Choose What Matters to You

💓 'If we do not push ourselves enough, we do not grow, but if we push ourselves too much, we regress.  

💙 What is enough will change, depending on where we are and what we are doing. 

 💚 In that sense, the present moment is always some kind of beginning.' 

Sakyong Mipham

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Alone at Last~ Seeking Solace in Solitude

'It is not that

I avoid mixing

with the world;

but I do better

playing alone.'

Ryōkan

Anti-Social or Honoring a Need for Solitude?

"It's curious but I'm getting a tad anti-social in my old age," a friend recently wrote. 

"I bumped into an old friend recently while vacationing in her town. Surprised to see me, she immediately castigated me for not getting in touch with her so we could visit. I felt badly about quietly slipping into town without contacting her, but I just felt a need to slow down and stop trying to do so much when I travel."

I totally understand where she's coming from. She--like me--is an outgoing and gregarious fun-loving person who enjoys the company of others. Yet for balance, sometimes we all need to seek solitude and limit our interactions with others to get back to our own center.

"I don't think of it as being anti-social, I wrote her. "I think of it as being more contained and thoughtful for how I want to spend my time in the moment. Sometimes I just need time to sit with my own thoughts and share my own company."

'Writers may be solitary but they also tend to flock together: 

They like being solitary together.'

Neil Gaiman

No Guilt-No Expectation Friendships

One of my best friends and I have a no guilt-no expectations relationship. We do not get mad at each other for failing to call, visit or follow through on what we were going to do together if it gets too cold or whatever.  And we don't get upset if  the other chooses to spend time with other people instead of us.

Although we love each other dearly we leave lots of room for being ourselves with each other--fully understanding each other's need to get together--or not. We never take offense if we don't get together. We are simply appreciative of spending time together when we do show up. 

While we do need to nurture and grow our important relationships we also need to nurture ourselves. Just because we have space open up in our schedule that doesn't mean we need to fill it up. 

Alone at Last

To honor your need for alone time, let go of your expectations for being on-call for others at all time. Turn off your phone, leave emails or text messages unanswered, or take a walk in nature alone. 

Chose to come together with others out of genuine desire to spend time with them rather than guilt over leaving them out. 

'Let there be spaces in your togetherness,

And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.'

Kahlil Gibran

Solitude: A Gift from Nature

The cool water whirls between my toes

Jeans rolled up above my knees

Dirt from the pathway above trickles down the hill

Trees spinning in every direction

Protecting me in my spot

My territory

A bird in the distance echoes a sweet lullaby

I could almost dream to the sound

But I would rather stay here

Indian paintbrush spreads like wildfire among these ditches

It's as if you could pick it and eat it for dinner

Connecting with the universe

Through soil

My spot swallowing me whole

And I would not have it any other way

In the sweetest abyss of solitude

Alone at last

White noise of nature

A streak of sky through the tree tops

The waterfall only big enough for a fairy

I can see the remains of the dust from a previous visitor

Footsteps getting closer

Closer

I duck into my cavern among the sweetest lullaby and edible flowers

Only I know the password

Away from the outside strangers with nothing but bland points of view

Tracy A Gibbons

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.


Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

How to Get Out of Life Laughing

To Darling Sue with Affection

The Lord begets, and the Lord begot,

A Lower Ott and a Higher Ott,

But of all the Otts that the Lord begot,

The best of all is a Meyerott.

Who? Sue!

Mack David

Take Life Seriously and Yourself Lightly

Ever since the late 1970's, when American lyricist and songwriter, Mack David (who was sitting in a workshop of mine at UCLA) popped out this silly ditty and gifted it to me I've had an amusing image of two characters--a 'Lower Ott' and a 'Higher Ott'--residing inside me dictating whether I take a 'higher' or 'lower' view on myself and life. 

The 'Higher Ott' is my easy-going and empowered adult self who is gracious, generous, trusting, lighthearted, forgiving, creative, compassionate, kind, and smart. She doesn't take herself too seriously and she is amused by life.

The 'Lower Ott' is my childish 'chastised-by-life' self who takes herself seriously, holding on to feelings of betrayal, bitterness and disappointment as she holds onto the past chastising her for mistakes, failures or wrong-doing. 

The 'Lower Ott' is not amused, period. Living as the 'Lower Ott' is serious business with serious consequences. It is clearly a non-productive and not-fun stuck state of mind. 


Luckily I don't like residing in my 'Lower Ott' for long so I jump out as quickly as I can and this makes all the difference in my enjoying life more.

The key to getting out of life laughing is to take life seriously but yourself lightly. 

As we all have times when we retreat into our lower 'take-ourselves-too-seriously' selves this means we must find ways to step back up to functioning as our best and higher selves.

The minute we drop down into our 'lower-base-selves' we'll see life as dangerous, unfriendly and unforgiving and we react in kind.  Not a very easy or empowering place to live. 

So what is the key to finding a way to get out of our lower self sooner into the more empowered, higher functioning self? Create an amusing picture.

Who should I put in charge of my life--

the Lower Ott or the Higher Ott? 

Hmm...that's a hard one...

Create a Simple Amusing Picture of Your Lower and Higher Self 

You might say Mack David, who I only met briefly, became one of my life muses helping me take my life seriously but myself less so. 

In five minutes of musing he wrote something that went on to influence and amuse me for the next 40 years. With the flip of his pen, he provided me with a simple amusing picture of my lower and higher self I can clearly envision when I fall into my less-than-desirable serious and stuck self.

I laugh at myself every time I find myself reciting the ditty. And when I fall into my 'Lower Ott' self, my personal poem from Mack faithfully appears in my head and I find myself singing it, smiling and lightening up. 

Frankly, it's hard to take my lower self too seriously when I think that the man who created the 'Lower Ott' image for me is also responsible for writing such silliness as 'Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo' for Cinderella and 'The Unbirthday Song' for Alice in Wonderland. I share his silly view of life so imagining the difference between my two Otts lightens my outlook so I can move on.

To make it easier to move from taking yourself seriously to taking yourself lightly create a simple amusing image of your lower and higher self.

Look Outside Yourself for a Muse 

If you aren't naturally inclined to taking a lighter view of yourself, it helps to look outside yourself for a muse to spur you on and inspire you to see differently and with amusement.

What is a muse and why should you have one? 

A muse is a person or being who acts as a source of inspiration for a creative artist. But before you disregard that as not applying to you, consider we are all creative artists looking for inspiration for the best way to get out of life laughing.

We are all creative artists looking for inspiration for the best way to get out of life laughing.

Mack made the perfect muse. He was a funny, creative and silly man--writing lyrics and/or music to over 1000 songs to uplift  and help us access our sillier, more trusting HIGHER selves. 

As I was a forever lover of musicals and Disney animated cartoons who has always had a musical living in my head I was already susceptible to his influence when I met him. 

But I was also open to looking for muses--or people who could inspire and influence me--to be my best and who would help me access the lighter side of life even when I'm down.

Stay open to muses to guide you to a lighter way to do life. They are all around you.

A Musing on Muses and Amusing

"The Muses were the nine Greek goddesses who presided over the arts (including music) and literature. A shrine to the Muses was called in Latin a museum. An artist or poet about to begin work would call on his particular Muse to inspire him, and a poem itself might begin with such a call; thus, Homer's Odyssey begins, "Sing to me of the man, Muse" (that is, of Odysseus). Today a muse may be one's special creative spirit, but some artists and writers have also chosen living human beings to serve as their muses."

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Be on the Look Out for Your Muses

We all want to get out of life laughing and living from our higher, better selves. We all can benefit from the Muses inspiration to help us figure out how to take life seriously but ourselves lightly. 

Our Muses are out there, but we must keep an eye out for them. 

💓Who or what would you like to influence and uplift you? 
💙Who would your Muse(s) be? 
💚What kind of influence would you like in your life? 
💛What makes you laugh? Who or what amuses you?
💜Who or what keeps you from taking yourself too seriously? 

No matter where your past has led you so far--take time to find a muse and allow yourself to be influenced to lighten up. 

Choose to accept an outside source of inspiration that helps you keep an upbeat attitude and inspires you to find ways to take positive action to move your life forward. Be forward looking and acting to become the person you desire to be, living the life you wish to enjoy.

A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

From Cinderella

'A dream is a wish your heart makes when you're fast asleep.

In dreams you'll lose your heartaches; 

Whatever you wish for, you keep. 

Have faith in your dreams --

And someday your rainbow will come smiling through. 

No matter how your heart is grieving 

if you keep on believing the dream that you wish will come true!'

Mack David

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.

Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Lighten Up! Play 'I Spy' to Spot Something Good Coming Your Way

I spy with my little eye...

Happiness and Joy

hidden in plain sight

Playing the Game

As a kid I loved playing 'I Spy'. What could be better than finding things hidden in plain sight? 

Long after a game was over I still scanned my environment to discover the hidden treasures present if only I looked for them. I was enthralled with the game of discovery.

The game was a natural for teaching me how to scan my environment to look for what's present right in front of my eyes I'd miss if I didn't look for it. 

I learned I loved to play the game...and although I didn't know it at the time--so did my brain. This mind-engaging practice of playing I spy has stuck with me through my life--and has helped me find ways to change my perspective and see better in life.

I spy with my little eye...

8 variations of mirth

hiding in plain sight

Kids Love to Play the Game

For seven years, I used the game 'I spy with my little eye' when I conducted hospital tours for second graders to help them get over their fear of the hospital, and to show them how to shift their focus from feeling fearful to relaxed by looking for familiar 'homey' things.  

I brought the children into a hospital room to play the game. As I had primed them with the promise they were going to play a game of I spy when they got quietly into the room, they waited with smiles and anticipation to hear what they were going to look for in the I spy game so they could play.

"I want you to look around this room and identify everything that is the same as in your home", I said. "When you've got something, raise your hand and say 'I spy with my little eye...something that is the same as at home'."

I'd watch their eyes focus as they examined the hospital room with 'home' in mind and wait for their hands to shoot up. 

'I spy with my little eye...a door, a bed, a sheet, a blanket, a light, an electrical outlet, a window, a table, a chair,' they shared. 

It was great fun--and I watched as the children's eyes focused on the familiar and comforting things in the hospital room rather than on the scary looking hospital equipment. Now, if they or someone they loved ended up in the hospital, they had a fun experience to fall back on to help them look for comfort in their surroundings.

Happy Girl

Tracy Gibbons

I spy with my little eye

a Happy Girl

hiding in plain sight

Lighten Up! Play 'I Spy with My Little Eye Something Good Coming My Way'

Too often as adults we focus our eyes on obstacles or 'bad' things we fear will occur in the future. Once you get in a negative groove 'anticipating the worst' it can be difficult to knock yourself out of it.

Truth is if you only look for bad things to show up, you'll only see bad things when they arrive and totally miss the good that regularly drops in your lap. 

If you find a way to switch to looking for good things coming next, you may actually see something good on the horizon.

Here's where the I Spy game comes into play. By using the children's I Spy game each morning to set your focus on the good things you see 'in plain sight' you can reset your attention so you look for and anticipate good things coming your way.

Happy Cat

Tracy Gibbons

I spy with my little eye...

Good things coming my way

hidden in plain sight

Set Your Sights on What's Hidden in Plain Sight

Practice redirecting your attention towards the good things coming today. Play I spy. 

Try playing by yourself, and then try playing it with a friend.  If you have a child you can play the game with do that. Kids are uninhibited and love to play. Follow their lead.

I spy with my little eye...

Love wherever I go

hiding in plain sight

Here are just a few of the things you can look for to spot something good coming your way.

I spy with my little eye...

💓Things that make me happy
💙Opportunities 
💚Jobs I'd like to apply for
💛Jobs I'd be good at
💜Something fun to do
💓Things I do to be healthy
💙People I'd like to spend time with
💚Characteristics in others I'd like to have in a partner
💛Characteristics of people I'd like to mentor me
💜Characteristics of people I'd like to emulate
💓People treating others well
💙People doing a good deed
💚People I'd like to learn from

Play I Spy

💓

Affirm

All is Well

Life Is Good

💓

Shift Your Focus 

From Fearful to Calm 

From Hopeless to Inspired

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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.


Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list. 

Never Never Try to Teach a Pig to Sing

Listen Up, Buddy! Mind Your Own Pigsty 

Ducunt fata volentem, nolentem trahunt...

'The Fates guide those who go willingly. All others they drag.'

....And an annoyed pig will surely drag you through the mud!

Don't Mess with Me!

E-I-E-I--OH NO.....Are You Trying to Teach a Pig to Sing?

It's a drag--that person who does things so differently from you who really irritates and annoys you. So you take it upon yourself to fix her and show her how to do it your way--the right way. It works, right? Wrong.

If you like rolling around in the mud and muck, and annoying others, go ahead. But if you want to be effective and build competent people around you, help others find their own way instead.

Annoying the Pig

Stop wasting your time trying to make you or others into something you're not.

As Robert Heinlein said:

 "Never try to teach a pig how to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the pig."

   The Hummer Flies

 The Iguana Swims 

                                                                                The Horse Gallops  

Accept Others Differing Gifts with Grace

'You can put wings on a pig but you don't make it an eagle.' Bill Clinton

Does this mean people can't grow and change? No. It means there are many ways to accomplish things and we need to accept the differing gifts in ourselves and others with grace, compassion, and understanding.

A pig can easily learn to hunt for truffles but try as they might--they can't learn to sing.

The Happy Pig Grunts

A Happy and Competent Pig is 100% Herself

It never never works to attempt to make people over to be like you. It always works to encourage others to stretch to become their own best selves. 

Help people find their own way forward. The more each of us tap into our own path to excellence, the more competent and happy we'll be in life.

'I'm very happy to be called a pig--it stands for Pride, Integrity, and Guts.' Ronald Reagan

Accept the Realities of Life 

"Never try to teach a pig how to sing, it wastes your time and annoys the pig," means we need to accept the realities of life. You can't make a pig sing no matter how hard you try--and no matter how annoyed the pig gets.

'You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig.'

Let Me Do it!

So the next time you try to take on another person as your make-over project, know 'that little piggy' doesn't want to learn how to sing your tune or dance in step with your timing--so stop wasting your time and annoying her!  Let her learn her own dance and tune.

'I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty and besides the pig likes it.'  George Bernard Shaw 


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For more than 35 years, Susan Meyerott has been helping people lighten up and step over invisible barriers to change one step at a time. She speaks to your heart, puts you at ease, and makes letting go and moving forward with life easier than ever before.


Do you know someone who could benefit from uplifting messages? Please share Lightarted Living with them. If you or someone you love is interested in learning more about closing the gap between where you are now and where you want to be, join the FREE Lightarted Living mailing list.