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. 

HOPE: Never Give Up

HOPE  

'Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all.'

Emily Dickinson 

HOPE

'Stay positive and happy. 

Work hard and don't give up hope. 

Be open to criticism and keep learning. 

Surround yourself with happy, warm and genuine people.'

Tena Desae

HOPE

'Infuse your life with action. 

Don't wait for it to happen. Make it happen. 

Make your own future. Make your own hope. 

Make your own love.'

Bradley Whitford

Hope

'Hope is being able to see that 

there is light despite all of the darkness.'

Desmond Tutu

Never Give Up

'There was never a night or a problem 

that could defeat sunrise or hope.'

Bernard Williams

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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. 

What to do while Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop~Stop Waiting, Of Course!

'Before you criticize someone, 
you should walk a mile in their shoes. 
That way when you criticize them, 
you are a mile away from them, 
and you have their shoes.' 

Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts

Stop That!

Shedding Light on 'Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop'

Yes, it's time to put a little levity in whatever moment of darkness you have been concocting in your mind as you've been 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' in your life. 

For me, a week doesn't go by without something making the pit of my stomach drop as my mind anticipates the other shoe. Since I really hate that feeling, my mind naturally looks for ways to step beyond the waiting to taking action. And humor always seems to help.

What about you? What bit of bad news have you been waiting for? Wouldn't you like to step beyond it, too? Then come with me as I think through changing my own mindset.

No Drama Beginnings

Ordinary Origins: 'Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop'

'Waiting for the other shoe to drop' is such an interesting old-time saying. After recently hearing it used I decided to explore what's behind the saying and examine how we might rework our human habit of anticipating 'the worst' to create a more positive approach to moving forward with life.

Waiting for the other shoe to drop has come to mean waiting for something really bad to happen after we've already experienced one 'bad' event. Rather than moving on 'after disaster hits' we wait around for 'the inevitable other shoe to drop' while carrying around that bad feeling in the pit of our stomach. 

But the saying actually originated as a less-than-dramatic response to an ordinary situation during the late 19th and early 20th century.

Apparently in New York City tenements it was common for apartments to be built with one bedroom directly under another on the floor above. As the story goes, the tenet below would hear a neighbor removing his shoes as they hit the floor above. After one shoe hit the floor, the neighbor below would be 'waiting for the other shoe to drop'. Not very dramatic, is it?

When are you going to drop the other shoe?

The Uban Dictionary illustrated how the term dropped into being with this silly rendition:

'A guest who checked into an inn one night was warned to be quiet because the guest in the room below his was a light sleeper. As he undressed for bed, he dropped one shoe, which, sure enough, awakened the other guest. He managed to get the other shoe off in silence, and got into bed. An hour later, he heard a pounding on the floor and a shout: "When are you going to drop the other shoe?" Thus the term waiting for the other shoe to drop.'

Stop Waiting

Snap Out of It and Move On


'Waiting for the other shoe to drop' is an expression that aptly describes how we passively wait for things outside our control to determine what happens to us next. This is a very dis-empowering stance to take in life.

So when we find ourselves in that place of waiting for the other shoe to drop what can we do to move out of it faster? 

We can move out of that fear-producing stance by actively take charge of our next steps--including reinterpreting what's coming when the other shoe drops. We can choose to move into action.

Stop waiting. Start imagining a different shoe to put on and move on.

Lucky Horse Shoe Falling into your lap

Make Your Own Luck

Why not anticipate the other shoe to drop will be a lucky one? Or one to bring you joy?

Try bringing out your inner dog and anticipate your future with enthusiasm. 

Oh boy! A shoe! My favorite!

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

We all start from a place of waiting for the other shoe to drop. The challenge is for us to find ways to move out of the fearful place sooner  so we can see the good stuff coming our way. 

Determine Your Own Way

Imagine the Shoe is a Boot and Pull Yourself Up by the Bootstraps

As long as we're waiting, we're not moving forward. As long as we're looking for the other shoe to drop, we've taken our eyes off our goals and dreams. 

Don't ever forget you are the master of your own life. You can greatly determine your own way by staying focused on what you want to make happen in your life and consistently taking action in the direction you want to go no matter what shoe drops.

Don't wait around for things to happen to you. Take a step--any step--in the direction you want yourself to go.

Imagine the other shoe to drop is a boot, pull yourself up by the bootstraps, and take charge.

Imagine the Shoe is Cinderella's Slipper

Don't forget when Cinderella's other shoe dropped she found her prince. 

Cinderella's story is proof that when the other shoe drops your life can change for the better.

'Give a girl the right shoe and she can conquer the world.' Marilyn Monroe

Imagine when the Other Shoe Drops You Walk Away

When that shoe drops get ready to walk away. 

Put those shoes on and walk away from drama as fast as you can. 

Don't linger in a bad situation. Step into action and keep on moving.


Imagine Life Throws You Dancing Shoes

'Please send me your last pair of shoes, 

worn out with dancing as

you mentioned in your letter, 

so that I might have something 

to press against my heart.'

 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Let Life Drop You Soft Bunny Slippers   

Be on the look out for the soft pink bunny slippers to be the next shoe to drop.  And if the slippers fit, wear them. Take time to relax in your comfy slippers knowing you can handle life calmly.


Say yes to the universe and accept everything life puts in front of you. Trust you can handle whatever life brings. Be confident and strong knowing all things seemingly good or bad work in your favor. 

'Even in the mud and scum of things, something always, always sings.' Ralph Waldo Emerson

Stand Tall 

Yours are Big Shoes to Fill

If the Shoe Fits, Wear it

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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. 

Don't Worry~Be Happy: How Happiness and Giving to Others Affects Your Health

Why You shouldn't Worry about Your Health

Feeling low? Worried about your health? Want a way to get out of your funk? Happiness research points the way. 

Powerful and uplifting links between our health and happiness have emerged in recent years, empowering us to worry less and enjoy life more--if we heed the message. 

In a nutshell:

If you want to live a longer, healthier life develop a more optimistic outlook by creating a sense of purpose and finding a way to 'do good' by giving to others.

Being happy and satisfied in life, and having an optimistic attitude is associated with a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. One study found having a sense of purpose reduced your chances of having a stroke by 44 percent. Cancer survivors who have a sense of purpose in life live longer.

While worrying and fretting about your health may feel like the right thing to do when an issue arises, stressing over your health can make matters worse as your stress hormones rise and inflame the situation. The better, more effective path is to calmly seek help and solutions.   

Worrying Yourself Sick

Don't give in to 'worrying yourself sick' when something's up with your health. Face it. Seek medical help when necessary. And talk to trusted friends and family about your fears. Choose to act calmly for yourself no matter what's up. Pursuing calm and relaxation when you're dealing with illness or pain can only make things better; letting worry, fear and stress overwhelm you only makes things worse.

Create a Sense of Purpose and Focus for Good Health

Putting yourself out there in life and going after what you want is a risk. The courage to risk comes from discovering what matters to you. 

Start by defining what you want out of life at this juncture so you can better guide your choices and daily actions. What you care about matters--it is the wind in your sails propelling you forward into a long, healthy satisfying life.

Discover what matters to you so you can:

💙 Concentrate your limited time and energy on those things that count.

💛 Plan your life so you feel more control over the things that matter to you.

💜 Create a sense of urgency for the things that are most important to you.

Lay the Foundation for Your Health and Happiness 

We all need others to support us when we're feeling fearful or ill. Having social support is a very important part of living a healthy life--especially when we're feeling a bit shaky. 

It's comforting to know there is someone out there who cares about us and is willing to gently help us over the humps and bumps in life.  

But surprise, surprise--giving support to others also makes us feel good--even better than our getting support from them. According to studies, we are happier, more energetic and develop better friendships when we reach out to 'do good' for others.

 But giving to others doesn't just make us feel good. In addition to decreasing our chances of getting depressed, giving to others improves our ability to think, strengthens our heart, lowers our stress and increases our lifespan.

Giving to others makes us happy. It is the doing for others that keeps us connected, provides our lives meaning, and extends our lifespan.

Do Good unto Others to Do Good unto Yourself

Did You Know?

💓 High levels of social support are as predictive of longevity as exercise, while low levels of social support are as detrimental to your health as high blood pressure?

💙 There's a high correlation between the amount of social support you perceive you have and your level of happiness?

💚 In the workplace the greatest predictor of your job satisfaction and engagement is the amount of social support you perceive you have. (And your productivity is directly related to your job satisfaction and engagement.)

We've known for decades the amount of social support you have greatly affects your health and longevity. But in more recent years a surprising tidbit has emerged.

The amount of social support you give is more important than the amount you get.

You do not need to rely on the actions of others to increase your health and happiness. You can positively affect your own well-being by reaching out and supporting others.

'It turns out, that giving feels better, does more for you, and provides greater returns in the long run, than getting ever does.'

 Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage

Be the change you want to see--do good for someone else while uplifting and improving your health at the same time. Get out of yourself to lend a hand, provide a listening ear, or give a moment of kindness. 

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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. 

Stay on Track: Focus Your Efforts to Expand Your Opportunities

Who Are You--and What are You Trying to Achieve in Life? 

Yes, I know--perhaps that's an overwhelming question you may prefer to avoid. But to live a life of purpose and meaning you must figure out what that looks like and the best way for you to get there. 

Too often we travel a scattered and unfocused path to go after our dreams and achieve our goals--sending us down rabbit holes, on wild goose chases, and ultimately leaving us befuddled and exhausted. 

If You're not Trying to get Somewhere Meandering is Fun

Don't get me wrong--if you're not trying to get to a destination, meandering is fun and it can be a delightful part of life. But when you're feeling frustrated because you can't seem to make progress on something of importance to you, then these tangents only serve to distract you from getting where it is you want to go and achieving what you want to achieve.

You Alone Hold the Key

When it matters to you to make forward progress, know you alone hold the key to keeping your energy up while staying on track with your dreams and goals.

And what is the key to putting your time and effort to the best use?

 ....Making a beeline for your dreams and goals by eliminating distractions and concentrating your efforts. In a word: FOCUS.

Making a Beeline toward Your Dreams

Like others, you want the grace and strength to determine your own actions as you make your way in life rather than allowing others to dictate your path.  

To gain the freedom to determine your own actions and make a beeline towards your dreams you'll need to think and act purposefully. 

Where is it you want to go and what are the actions that'll get you there?

Be Direct. Bees fly a direct route--or beeline--to their destination. 

Make a beeline to where you're heading by developing a strategic plan to purposely focus on making daily progress in the direction you're moving, while deliberately eliminating activities distracting you and zapping your energy.  

Avoid wasting your most precious resources--your time and effort--on activities that are tempting but distracting. 

Say NO to what isn't worth doing, and say YES to the activities that that move you closer to your desired destination. 

Conserve your energy by focusing your efforts to expand your opportunities.

🕗 Look for strategic opportunities to focus your energy and attention on--Things that matter. 

🕙 Eliminate activities that serve as distractions and time wasters getting in your way.

Make Sweet Honey from Your Old Failures

To stay on track to achieving your goals and dreams you must concentrate your efforts on things that matter to you. Learn to say NO to engaging in activities that lead you nowhere and drain your energy--including fixating on failure. 

Make a beeline for your dreams instead to sweeten the outcome and lessen the effort. Save your time and energy for the things that matter most. Make life sweet.

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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.