Holy cow, it’s August already & I have no idea what I’ve been doing!

Feel like the year’s getting away from you faster than an ice cream cone melting on a hot summer day? Like seriously, you can feel the melted ice cream sliding down your arm, escaping you & feeling icky & sticky. Do you feel slightly faint & dizzy when you realize it’s already AUGUST & no, new year’s day wasn’t just a couple of weeks ago & you’ve not had any time to reflect?

And just like you can feel the pull to eat more ice cream, you also feel the pull of shiny objects.

Shiny object syndrome: def’n à where your (scarce, scant, oh so valuable) attention is pulled by the force of a tractor beam by things like:

• That new book your bestie told you about
• That interesting sounding course you saw fly by your twitter feed
• That intriguing blog you saw …. uhm .. somewhere
• That latest video you meant to watch

And these so-called shiny objects are enmeshed with your overflowing to-do list including stuff like:

• What project of yours is due when
• What’s for dinner tonight
• Who you’re supposed to connect with this week,
• Which colleague you’ve got to touch base with regarding that thingamajig

Before you know it you’re mired in competing priorities & your head is swimming … & I don’t mean in a nice refreshing lake.

You’re so focused on what’s in front of you that you’re neglecting what’s inside you –your inner compass.

To make matters worse if you don’t have it on the inside you tend to get it on the outside.

Meaning if you’re not comfortable with yourself, where you’ve been & where you’re heading – if your compass is off & you’re constantly sucked into shiny object syndrome – you gotta get you some stuff on the outside. Stuff like that new pair of shoes that you don’t really need, the latest piece of tech that you know is only going to clutter your already cluttered tech pile & even that ooey gooey doughnut that’s hollering your name can all keep you even more off course.

I don’t know about reconstituting melted ice cream but I do know that this is a fabulous time of the year to take some time for yourself, to press pause & reflect & stop the shiny-object-syndrome.

Whether or not you have kids at home & know the back-to-school routine that’s kicking in soon, think of it like a back to school for your self & your soul.

And have I got an easy way for you to do just that.

Life Lenses® is an assessment I developed to help people like you. I’ve used it with thousands of folks to:

• Figure out what comes onto your radar easily, naturally & comfortably; where the light shines for you.
• Map out that foreign, awkward, uncomfortable territory. You know the space- when your boss, colleague, friend is saying something to you & you want to give your head a shake because it feels like you’ve fallen down the rabbit hole & you’re in another world that doesn’t make sense.
• How to communicate across those differences so you actually get heard & be understood.

The Life Lenses® are made up of 4 pair of lenses; each is its mirror opposite. Each lens has places it shines & places that aren’t so shiny.   Each lens has gifts to offer & challenges to overcome

Life Lenses® help you find your sticky spot; the places where you’re most comfortable, you’re most yourself, most of the time.

(And this time I’m not talking ice cream sticky.)

Great right?

Yes & no. Every lens has its gifts, not just the particular lenses you’re happening to look at the world through. So if you can figure out how to change views, you’ll find gifts galore.

Okay so back to the melting ice cream that is our rapidly progressing year. One of the Life Lenses® is the Stop lens.

And this time of year is fabulously, freaking great for the Stop lens perspective.

Whether or not the Stop Life Lens® is one that you naturally tend to wear or not, you can benefit, in big ways.

“Always remember your focus determines your reality.” George Lucas

The gifts of the Stop Life Lens® are introspection, reflection, analyzing. Just as Pico Iyer says, “It’s only by stopping movement that you can see where to go.”

The Stop Life Lens® helps us press pause & get our bearings, which is the opposite of shiny-object-syndrome. The Stop Life Lens® helps you turn inwards so you can tune into your own ah ha’s. It takes reflection to listen to your ah ha’s- which is when your conscious mind comes to know something your unconscious mind has known for awhile (but you’ve been too damn busy & distracted to listen).

“He who chases two rabbits, catches none.” ~Confucius

• Zone out: Get yourself in the zone; go to a coffee shop & listen to inspiring music, go for a long walk or run, meditate, pick some wildflowers, listen to an inspirational podcast. Do whatever works for you to zone out so you can then hone in.
• Tune in: use a medium that works for you. For example if you usually work digitally try working with coloured felts, stickers & stickies. Prepare thy canvas with whatever works for you to feel nurtured & contemplative.
• Tune in: make sure you’re in the right mindset. Goodbye negative chatter. Hello curiosity, open-mindedness, playfulness.
• Zoom in: Being productive doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing the right things for you so use the gifts of the Stop Life Lens® to zoom into what’s working & what’s not by using my playful to do, to done worksheet. It really helps you to realize all the stuff you’ve actually gotten done; it shifts the sole focus from all you’ve got to do.
• Reflection roster: Make sure you write your reflections down. Use the worksheet &/or some tech tools like workflowy. Then do a happy dance with me & carry on.

The Stop Life Lens® is 1 slice of an 8 slice pie. There are 7 more lenses with loads more to give.

Want the other slices? I’m teaching an online course on Life Lenses® December 6^th, 2018. Click here for more info / to sign up.