It's the Simple Things

This morning I enjoyed a wonderfully simple breakfast. I ate two perfectly toasted pieces of cinammon raisin bread with my yogurt and morning coffee. It was fantastic! The reason I am sharing my breakfast with you is that recently I made a new purchase that has, surprisingly, made a huge impact in alleviating my morning stress. What could it be you wonder? Drum roll please...I am the proud owner of a brand-new, shiny silver toaster!

I know you are asking yourself--why would a toaster make a significant impact on anyone's life? My new toaster represents making a conscious effort to eliminate stressors and tolerations in my life. You see, before the new toaster, a temperamental toaster oven inhabited a large corner of the kitchen countertop. I purchased the toaster oven a little over a year ago, mostly because I thought it was sleek and beautiful and could satisfy the reheating and toasting needs of my family members in it's ability to multitask. I hoped the toaster oven could warm leftover pizza and toast bread or bagels with equal ease. I was wrong in my assumption.

The toaster oven required the user to be vigilant with whatever was placed in it's open door. If I watched the progress of my morning breakfast, it seemed to take an inordinate amount of time even to warm up the bread. The toaster oven also required the bread to be turned over halfway through the process to get both sides toasted. If I was side-tracked for a minute or two, then my toast would quickly turn the color of soot. I can't tell you how many slices of burnt bread I scraped or tossed out nor how many breakfasts would have been even better if only accompanied by an evenly toasted piece of bread!

Our crotchety toaster oven was a perfect example of how often we tolerate things, people or situations in our lives which cause us stress or inconvenience. Such stressors cause our energy to be sapped rather than tapped to meet our goals. You can also look at this from the view of procrastination or putting off decision-making. For over a year I put up with hovering around the toaster oven or suffering the consequence of burnt toast.

When I finally took the action of purchasing the new appliance--who knew how much satisfaction a truly functional toaster could bring! I now enjoy the morning without a thought to "Do I smell something burning?" It's little annoyances like this which can contribute to a stressful environment. It's amazing to realize the amount of energy that is released when one implements small actions to eliminate or correct stressors in one's life!

Thought for the Day: What are you tolerating in your life right now that you can easily remedy? Take a moment and list 5 tolerations in your life. What action can you take to eliminate those tolerations? Just imagine how relieved and energized you will feel when you eliminate these stressors!

"Commitment leads to action. Action brings your dream closer." --Marcia Wieder