Hey grown-ups out there, can you remember the joy of a field trip? Some or all classes were canceled that day, and you had to pack a special lunch and ride on the bus with everyone in your class. Even the teachers were on the bus! And you got to go to a museum or a play or the zoo or the courthouse instead of sitting through the ordinary school day. I, for one, thought field trips were fantastic.

I took this picture a few years ago as I walked past the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. I found myself to be truly jealous of those kids who were piling out of the bus and into that enormously wonderful place. Silly to be jealous of them, right? I mean, I’m a grown-up! I can go to that museum any ol’ time I want to! So why don’t I? Because I don’t make the time for it, that’s why.

I’ve decided to add a few field trips to my calendar and I invite you to do the same. This blog post will suffice for a permission slip. Go alone or bring a friend. (Only a kindred spirit will do.) My suggestion is to do it during a weekday for a true field trip feeling. And a brown bag lunch is always a nice touch.

What is your favorite field trip memory? Where will you take a field trip now?

Overwhelm is a nasty little demon hiding in the dark corner, one I know all too well. We live in an increasingly plugged-in world full of more choices in any given moment than ever before. All those choices get filtered through your mind into piles of “can do,” “should do,” “want to do,” or “never mind.” If the first three piles get too big, our little demon runs out to play in them like a kid stomping in fall leaves. He’s having a dandy old time. The leaves (or you, in this case) start to get a little (or a lot) crushed.

Here are a few ways to send overwhelm back to his dark little corner and make him stay:

(1) Breathe

Amazing how such a simple thing can be so forgotten at times, isn’t it? I actually have a program on my computer that greys out my screen every 90 minutes to remind me to take a 10-minute break while I’m working. And every 20 minutes, my screen goes blue for 15 seconds. Wanna know what I do then? Sometimes I get up and boogie or stretch for a few seconds, just to move my body around. But most of the time, I close my eyes or look at the trees in my yard and take 3-4 slow, deep breaths. It creates space and a little bit of calm. It helps my little demon friend stay in his corner.

(2) Know You’re One Person

You are awesome. Awesome sauce with a cherry and chocolate sprinkles. And you’re one person. So please don’t try to be ten.

(3) Learn to Say No

These are powerful phrases: “I can do that”; “I should do that.” They come with a sense of obligation. But here are the questions that trump those phrases:

• Do you want to do it?
• If you don’t do it, will you regret it?

If the answer to both of those is no, then the answer to the task at hand is no. Period.

(4) Learn When to Say Yes

I like to call the place you live where you feel vibrant and excited about the work you’re doing and the life you’re living your genius zone. So what makes you feel vibrant and excited? What puts you in that place that just has you radiating from within? If something comes along with those qualities, say a hearty and loving yes.

(5) Respect Boundaries

Allow your calendar to be king (or queen). Respect your boundaries, and don’t work outside the hours you’ve set aside for it.  (Admission: This one is super hard for me!)

(6) No Multi-tasking!

I’ve written about this one before at more length. When you’re working, focus on the work at hand and don’t multitask.

(7) Delegate

A HUGE funnel to the “should” pile is the thought that we need to do everything ourselves. The idea that we get a gold star if we’re 100% self-sufficient is utter hogwash. You know that saying “it takes a village”? It really does! In everything.

Figure out the value of your time. Put a price tag on it. Now make a list of all the daily tasks you’re doing in your life or your business that are an inefficient use of your time, or are just things that don’t put you in your genius zone.

Whether you hire a manager / employee / assistant, or engage an intern, or give a job to the teenager down the street, the outcome is the same: more time for you. Delegate, delegate, delegate.

Your new help will not be a mirror image of you, and you can’t expect that. Don’t replace not delegating with micro-managing, though. That is just as inefficient a use of your time. Allow for a learning curve. Allow for the imperfections that are a given in every last thing in life. And enjoy a little bit of extra freedom and time for YOU!

(8) Understand Balance

In the United States, we put such a vast premium on work. Whomever works the most hours in a week gets a gold star. I shall repeat: hogwash. Giving into this idea, allowing my workaholic side to take control, it sent me into a spiral of health issues caused entirely by stress. You wanna know how you can be of most use to the community and world around you? To your family and your business? Take care of yourself.

Understand the importance of balance in the parts of you that need nourishment: your physical self, your mental self, your emotional self, your work, your play.

• Move your body.
• Eat good food.
• Read. Feed your mind.
• Find some practice of stillness or conversation or something that feeds your soul.
• Play often.

You will be a richer well of all the awesome sauce that is you if you do all these things, and the world around you will be all the better for it.

(9) Breathe (again)

Enough said.

What is one way you keep overwhelm at bay? Tell me all about it in the comments below!

“the most important reason for going from one place to another is to see what’s in between, and they took great pleasure in doing just that.”
– from the children’s book The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster

I love trains. I mean, I seriously love trains. I even took a cross-country Amtrak trip by myself when I was 27. Did you know it takes two and a half days to get from Grand Forks, North Dakota, to San Francisco, California? I love the forward movement of a train, the feeling of anonymity as a passenger, the homes and fields and towns flashing by the window, and the long, long tradition of it.

May 11th marks the 144th anniversary of our nation’s first transcontinental railroad. On that day in 1869 in Promontory Summit, Utah, the “golden spike” became the final railroad tie added to connect the 1,776 miles of Central Pacific and Union Pacific railways.

So… Happy National Train Day to all! How will you celebrate?

This is a photo I took of a tree at Paleaku Gardens Peace Sanctuary. The tree is magnificent, of course, but look at those roots. Most trees have roots that are below ground, so you can’t always see just how expansive they are – even more expansive than the canopy. This is a good reminder to me that, before I can reach up to the heights, I have to have a solid foundation to reach from.

It’s not just about my work, my goals, my achievements. It’s about my home, the community around me, the space and energy I operate from and live within every day. That has to be in balance for me first. Sometimes easier said than done, but so important.

How do you take care of your foundation? I would love to hear about it in the comments below.

“One is not born into the world to do everything but to do something.”
– Henry David Thoreau

I took this picture at a 4th of July parade in a small town in North Dakota. I can’t help but think that this little boy has his sights set on one day proudly operating that enormous farm equipment. But maybe he dreams of designing tall buildings or being a policeman or coaching an NFL team or working in an office in the big city. Only he will know what is his something to do.

What does the Thoreau quote mean to you?

When I first started training capoeira, I had a good teacher. When he moved back to Brazil, I found my second teacher, and I was home.

I have never really responded to yoga… until the fall of 2012 when I happened to find a teacher who incorporated a bit of snark with the practice. I love snark.

Different people teach in different ways & connect with different people. If there’s something you want to learn (with someone else as a guide), know that. If the first person you go to doesn’t feel right to you, go to someone else.

Have you ever had a time when you’ve changed teachers and found the right one? I want to hear your story! Leave it in the comments below.

I took this photo at Sundance in 2005. I love how vibrant and alive this flower is. And the missing petals don’t make it any less beautiful. To me, they make me wonder about the story of this flower; they make it unique.

This is a good reminder for me. The things that I sometimes think of as flaws really aren’t. They’re just part of what makes me uniquely me. They add to my story.

Same thing with projects. Nothing will ever be perfectly neat. Or completed without any wrinkle. Perfection does not equal doing something perfectly. Embracing the story of the imperfections and owning it with joy does.

In the comments below, tell me about a wrinkle in a recent project. And how it makes the overall story that much better!

“The big question is whether you are going to be able to say a hearty yes to your adventure.”
– Joseph Campbell

A friend of mine took this picture of baby birds in her yard. With their mouths wide and tipped upward, I do believe they are saying that hearty yes. There’s a vulnerability and a sense of surety too. They know their hunger will be satiated, but they have to open their mouths first. I think we all have that opportunity all the time, to open ourselves to a unique adventure that will ultimately leave us satisfied, fulfilled. But first, as Campbell says, our mouths must open and say that hearty “yes.”

How does springtime inspire you?

photo by Lisa Day Eiland

“Aloha”
– every resident of Hawaii

Hello, good-bye, & love in one word. The sharing of breath. It just doesn’t get better than that. Even though my time here has not been long, it has felt more like home to me than anywhere I’ve ever been.

There are a thousand thousand love songs for these islands. As I prepare to move away and embark on the next chapter of my adventure, they are all in my head and heart.

I hope my path brings me back here someday. But if not, my gratitude for my time here will still continue. My gratitude for the healing energy here. For Pele’s still-growing island that has inspired more growth in me than I ever expected. For my new ohana of amazing and wonderful people. For the noisy and awesome trade winds. For the honu who swam up to me on my first day in the ocean. For this aina and everyone and everything on it.

Mahalo for indulging my little post of gratitude.

Aloha.

“Organizing is what you do before you do something so that, when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”
– A. A. Milne

Being organized, like everything else in life, is a process and is unique to each of us. With my lists, my piles, my folders, my shelves, and my online tools, I strive for a feeling of freedom. For me, that feeling of freedom means that…

I know where to find something when it’s needed. I live with simplicity when at all possible. I am free of distraction when it is time to focus on the important task at hand. I don’t worry about anything falling through the cracks. I find balance with work and play. I am on time to every engagement. I take care of myself with proper food and enough sleep. I am free from overwhelm so that I can be available for that surprise invitation or inspiration. I stay on top of my responsibilities. And I can sit back and enjoy the ride.

That encompasses the feeling of freedom that I strive for. Being organized is indeed a process, an important one.

What does being organized feel like to you?