Just Look at Your Feet!

This is the time of year when people and pets trudge in with snow and dirt and salt. And we sock footed stay-at-homers get annoyed!  But I’m writing to share a different point of view on “Look at your feet.”

Go ahead… look at your feet. Do you see where you’re standing right now? Where you are is where you are, and the only place in the world where you could possibly be.

This is also a time of year when we have a list of shoulds in our heads that is longer than Santa’s Naughty & Nice List!  We should bake cookies. We should have our tree up by now. I should have already sent out Christmas cards. I should quit eating these cookies. Note to self: I should quit beating myself up for mini-failures.  D’oh!

So… close the “should book” and look at your feet. This is precisely where you are:  in the world, in the process, in your life and in your relationships. And it is perfect in some way.  Don’t try to be where you aren’t, just try to enjoy where you are.

I will add that I learned this little gem second hand from a client, whose brother was in rehab. Her brother’s sponsor gave him this coping mechanism. And I let it rattle around in my brain all week and felt my own self-care and self-acceptance kick in.  I was relaxing and enjoying and being in the holiday spirit.  I had put aside the notion of trying to do everything I “should” have done in 2009 within the next couple of weeks… I was very accepting.

Next thing you know, I’m brushing my teeth, looking myself inthe mirror and I was cherishing this thought and its effect on my life in just a few days’ time.  OMG! my mirror self  and I were suddenly struck, I do this to my poor husband too – I think that he “should be” something else or somewhere further along in his work.  I spit out the toothpaste rinse, and I went in to find him in his office.  I said how unfair my thoughts and comments have been over the years.  He is where he should be, and it is perfect in its way, too.  It was a great moment to take some of the love & acceptance coaching gives me and remember to spread it around!

If people aren’t wiping their feet or removing their boots at your house, just look at their feet.  For some reason they are exactly where they should be, doing precisely what they should be doing.  While you’re looking at your feet, remember to put them up once in awhile too.  ‘Tis the season.