“Finding the Gift: Daily Meditations for Mindfulness.”<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/span><\/p>\nHave you ever asked yourself, What do I need to get done today?<\/em> In other words, what do I need to have finished today?\u00a0 Past tense. Fast tense. I do, and often. I just realized that reflects how I feel a lot of the time. What do I have<\/em> to do and how fast<\/em> can I get it over with? For what? To get to the next list of have to\u2019s, ought to\u2019s and should\u2019s?<\/p>\nToo often I am racing to some mysterious finish line. If I\u2019m not careful, I can get in a rut and view everyday life as one big chore I must check off my list so I can get to the good stuff. How crazy is that?<\/p>\n
Everyday life is the good stuff! A life is the sum total of many single days.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhat do I WANT to do today?<\/em><\/h4>\nIt occurred to me to ask a different question today: What do I WANT to do today?<\/em> This reflects me running my life, not letting my life run me. This question nurtures empowerment, rather than fostering a victim or martyr outlook. I do have a few appointments and other obligations today, but I created those. I’m the one who made a choice to say \u201cYes\u201d to those.<\/p>\nWe each design our lives, voluntarily or involuntarily. Life feels a lot better when we take ownership for ourselves and our circumstances. We may not get to choose every circumstance we will ever encounter, but one hundred percent of the time we do get to choose how we feel about it. How we talk to ourselves and others about it. How we think about it. And what we\u2019re going to do about it. What actions will we take?<\/p>\n
Today, I\u2019m going to own my day. It\u2019s all mine. I get twenty-four hours. If I\u2019ve created obligations and commitments I don\u2019t like, it\u2019s my choice to honor them or not, and to agree to them again, or not.<\/p>\n
If I have agreed and given an employer a portion of my day, it\u2019s my choice. Regardless of how I earn income, I can go to work and earn money, or I can stay home and embrace the consequences of that decision.<\/p>\n
We are only \u201cstuck\u201d if we decide it\u2019s easier to be a victim than to take responsibility for ourselves and live our lives on purpose.<\/strong> <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\nI am in charge of me and help is available as often as I seek it. As the Serenity Prayer suggests: \u201cGod, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amen and amen. Enjoy your day. Enjoy your life.<\/p>\n
Can you relate? I would love to hear from you! Please leave a comment and start the discussion! Be sure to grab my free eBook while you’re here, if you don’t already have it, and you will be notified of upcoming events and new blogs. Have a wonderful time owning your day today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From December 8 in “Finding the Gift: Daily Meditations for Mindfulness.” Have you ever asked yourself, What do I need to get done today? In other words, what do I need to have finished today?\u00a0 Past tense. Fast tense. I do, and often. I just realized that reflects how I feel a lot of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4,121],"tags":[2,64,43,68,88,33,89,80,104,10,49],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Choices: What Do I WANT to Do Today? - Angela Howell<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Choices: What Do I WANT to Do Today? - Angela Howell\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"From December 8 in “Finding the Gift: Daily Meditations for Mindfulness.” Have you ever asked yourself, What do I need to get done today? In other words, what do I need to have finished today?\u00a0 Past tense. Fast tense. I do, and often. I just realized that reflects how I feel a lot of the […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Angela Howell\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/angelahowellauthor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AngelaHowellAuthor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-08T15:21:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-07-14T01:10:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/angelahowell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AH-quote-box_want-to-vs-have-to.jpg?fit=523%2C523&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"523\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"523\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Angela Howell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@FindingTheGift\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@findingthegift\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Angela Howell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/\",\"name\":\"Choices: What Do I WANT to Do Today? - Angela Howell\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-08T15:21:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-07-14T01:10:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a61c9777bcfa7eedf59757cfba1754ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Choices: What Do I WANT to Do Today?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/\",\"name\":\"Angela Howell\",\"description\":\"Ordinary Life...Extraordinary Perspective\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a61c9777bcfa7eedf59757cfba1754ad\",\"name\":\"Angela Howell\",\"description\":\"Angela Howell is a speaker, transformation coach, and the author of \\\"Finding the Gift: Daily Meditations for Mindfulness.\\\" She considers her twelve-year career in corporate sales, various entrepreneurial endeavors, and long-time eating disorder recovery journey among her greatest teachers. When a work injury ended her sales career in 2005, Angela reinvented herself as a photographer, writer and abstract artist. Passionate about wellness and success, Angela has been featured in Fast Company, Cosmopolitan and Yahoo News, and she is a regular contributor to Huffington Post. Angela is devoted to inspiring people to find renewed passions for living, loving, working and playing. And of course, just being!\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AngelaHowellAuthor\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FindingTheGift\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/author\/angelahowelll2016\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Choices: What Do I WANT to Do Today? - Angela Howell","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Choices: What Do I WANT to Do Today? - Angela Howell","og_description":"From December 8 in “Finding the Gift: Daily Meditations for Mindfulness.” Have you ever asked yourself, What do I need to get done today? In other words, what do I need to have finished today?\u00a0 Past tense. Fast tense. I do, and often. I just realized that reflects how I feel a lot of the […]","og_url":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/","og_site_name":"Angela Howell","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/angelahowellauthor","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AngelaHowellAuthor\/","article_published_time":"2016-12-08T15:21:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-07-14T01:10:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":523,"height":523,"url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/angelahowell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AH-quote-box_want-to-vs-have-to.jpg?fit=523%2C523&ssl=1","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Angela Howell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@FindingTheGift","twitter_site":"@findingthegift","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Angela Howell","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/","url":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/","name":"Choices: What Do I WANT to Do Today? - Angela Howell","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2016-12-08T15:21:27+00:00","dateModified":"2017-07-14T01:10:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a61c9777bcfa7eedf59757cfba1754ad"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/choices-want-today\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Choices: What Do I WANT to Do Today?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/","name":"Angela Howell","description":"Ordinary Life...Extraordinary Perspective","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a61c9777bcfa7eedf59757cfba1754ad","name":"Angela Howell","description":"Angela Howell is a speaker, transformation coach, and the author of \"Finding the Gift: Daily Meditations for Mindfulness.\" She considers her twelve-year career in corporate sales, various entrepreneurial endeavors, and long-time eating disorder recovery journey among her greatest teachers. When a work injury ended her sales career in 2005, Angela reinvented herself as a photographer, writer and abstract artist. Passionate about wellness and success, Angela has been featured in Fast Company, Cosmopolitan and Yahoo News, and she is a regular contributor to Huffington Post. Angela is devoted to inspiring people to find renewed passions for living, loving, working and playing. And of course, just being!","sameAs":["https:\/\/angelahowell.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AngelaHowellAuthor\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/FindingTheGift"],"url":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/author\/angelahowelll2016\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/angelahowell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AH-quote-box_want-to-vs-have-to.jpg?fit=523%2C523&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Ar8r-l7","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/angelahowell.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"personal](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/angelahowell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/AH-quote-box_want-to-vs-have-to.jpg?resize=523%2C523&ssl=1\")
<\/p>\n