Happy Birthday to me- the gift of freedom & Day 1: Dishes

Happy Birthday to me. I give myself the freedom from the restraints of my habits.

Whether habits, thought-patterns, negative feelings and behaviors.... over the first 29 days of my 29th year I commit to recognizing the patterns that are not serving me and reconfiguring a more positive, productive way of approaching daily life.

Habit #1: Dishes....

Current habit: I have developed a resistance to doing the dishes. I avoid them in the morning by convincing myself I should get a start on my work and do them later. When later comes, something else is higher on the to-do list. While I hate the look and the gross, smell sometimes, of this inaction, I cannot motivate myself to do dishes more than I don't feel like doing them. Hence, not doing the dishes frequently enough......

Result: A pile of dishes growing faster than they are washed.... an almost daily pile of dirty plates and cups. As the pile grows, my motivation to tackle the dishes as the pile grows reinforces the habit decreases. I walk into a house that is less inviting to me because it is not clean and organized. Reduces the likelihood that I will cook even lower.

Starting today (10/11): I will spend 15 minutes per day on dishes and kitchen cleaning. If this daily practice does not yield a dish free sink by the end of the day, once a week, on Sundays, I will do all dishes in the sink to start the new week.

Preview

Day 2: Forgiving myself

Day 3: In bed at 11pm.... (.) = period!

Day 4: Forgiving others

....notice the theme of addressing alternating smaller and larger areas of my life that I'd like to change because I believe that simply having awareness over the habits in my life is a start and that even small changes add up to a more positive, authentic, present-moment, joyous life - for me and in relation to those in my life.