Getting practical today

Today, I decided to get practical. Feeling as if I was free floating couldn't last much longer. No, no, I'm not going back to religion. I am going to use some very practical ideas to give my life the structure it started to miss when I gave up on my old religion.



I started reading a book on time management this morning. I got inspired to make some plans for the day, which I did. I cleaned up some things and got some laundry done. I wrote, on an old planner page, a few to-do's and a few things to do at certain times. I did a few routine activities and I only planned one religious thing. I planned to read some of my Book of Mormon. I believe in that book and feel it does me good to touch base with it a few days a week. Later, just because I felt like it, I read some of the Doctrine and Covenants. I read Section 93, which corresponds idea wise to John 1 of the New Testament. Then I read a few sections of my recently purchased copy of The Upanishads. Some of the ideas in this Indian text actually corresponded to D&C 93 and John 1. Wow! I guess truth is truth wherever you find it.



I don't need to be a super strict religious person to find truth. In fact, I need to loosen up and just read what I want to read when I want to read it.



This afternoon I bought some new planner pages for 2008 at a Franklin Covey store. The cashier, a young woman, shorted me two dollars in change. I didn't quite figure this out until I got home. I realized, though, that letting it go was the moral thing to do. She appeared very nervous and confused, on the verge of getting upset. She is not a born cashier. I realized I would have to ressurrect every petty feeling I've ever had to go back to get the two dollars. I think that this is my form of generosity for today. This is the type of generosity I want to develop and refine. It's a lot better than donating large amounts of money to murky causes. It is better than giving anymore tithing money to a church I don't agree with.



I think I am realizing that my life can have structure, generosity, and other things. I just need to be the one to decide that these things need to be in my life. I have to be the one to decide if it is practical or worth striving for. Last night, I felt at the end of my rope. But life is starting to seem full of opportunities.



I also realized last night that I was addicted to the negativity of not being able to give enough to God. I think I'm finally letting that go. You give what you are able to give. You conquer what you can conquer. In the past I would always have told this to someone else who felt overwhelmed, but it somehow got cancelled out as I put tons and tons of demands on myself. Well, I am starting to treat myself more as an equal to others. Thank goodness!