Carly's Ramblings Blog - Style

Recreation, Windows 10 & When The Shift Hits The Fan

30 Day Blogging Challenge – July 16

Creation Saturday!
The comeback of your life begins with...

The novel I am working on for Camp Nanowrimo.... and last years Nano novel, Fractured Dreams is based on this premise. A late thirtish woman is starting over after the breakup of her marriage. She is choosing to follow dreams she put on hold while being married.... dreams she had been keeping on the back burner, slowly simmering. Now she is forced to find her way... single after many years. Years she devoted to a man not really her soul mate.... a man she changed for to keep the peace, only to find she lost herself in the process. Now she must find that person again.
Parts of this novel are autobiographical... but to make things more exciting than real life I have added in other components and had my character, Taygen 'grow a pair'. Her husband's infidelity sparks her to find her more assertive side... and though she keeps things civil, she begins taking action for herself in ways her ex is seeing a little unsettling.

30 Day Blogging Challenge - July 17

The Sunday News!
This week, Microsoft said they won't be able to meet their goal of having 1 billion Windows 10 users . I use Windows 10 and it's fine for everything I do; others feel passionately different. What's your take? Is the operating system important, or do you not care as long as the device itself still works?

I am not a big fan of Windows 10… in so far as it keeps wanting to download onto my computer. I have Windows 7 on my big laptop and Windows 8 on my Surface which is a touch screen. I like that the two divices thave different screens – it helps me remember which divice I am on…. Otherwise I would be touching at things on my laptop and being frustrated that it doesn’t work that way. I simply want things to work and I have heard there have been issues with Windows 10… with a free download until July 29 I also worry that there may be something more…. Like a take over of human systems. I know that sounds crazy, kind of a movie kind of thing, but I remember that happened in I Robot – free robots given to people who could not afford them and they the robots turned on the people and tried to run the world… I am not into that… so I decline the download…. Besides I don’t want a computer screw up. Things are working right now why mess with something that is not broken just to have the latest thing out there. It doesn't mean it’s the best… just different.
I need food. Time to head back up to Cottage #1 and see if Mom is awake yet. I need to save this first.

Love Louder - Amplifying My Life

I have decided as part of my blog to comment on each of Preston Smiles's ways to Love Louder. He has written an intriguing little book or 33 Ways To Amplify Your Life. The full title is Love Louder: 33 Ways To Amplify Your Life.

Day 16 - When Shift Hits The Fan: How To Shift Into Neutral

"All events are neutral events. It's our interpretation of them that makes them 'good' or 'bad'. 'right' or 'wrong'. A key component of loving louder is shifting into neutral as much as possible."
By starting in neutral we can stop ourselves from immediately leaping to conclusions and reacting to situations that may in fact not be so controversial. Preston Smiles believes that "cultivating a practice of STARTING in neutral - as opposed to starting in defense, anger or judgement - will give you more perspective on the situation at hand"

He writes of mindfulness - a practice of observing your life from a nonjudgemental, compassionate, and accepting attitude. My being mindful,you are bringing awareness to the situation - paying attention to your experience moment by moment. Smiles learned that by doing this he was able to see that his emotions, thoughts, feelings, and body sensations were transitory - moving through us like a summer breeze.
Neutrality helps you make wiser choices because your are not operating on automatic; you are not reacting to negative thoughts or swimming in your emotions. You can bring a sense of calmness to the situation, thus diffusing it or deflating it.

#LOVELOUDERCHALLENGE
Pick a situation or a person that you have had difficulties with in the past.
Stay neutral for one day as you interact with that person or in that circumstance.
Speak to the person from a neutral space making it clear that you would prefer to move forward.
If its traffic you get into, you get to choose an interpretation that lifts and propels you to be positive instead of frustrated.

For me with traffic, I breath deeply and turn up the radio. I make a conscious decision to enjoy the music and let the frustration go. I may even sing and sway in my seat, not caring who sees me or what they may think.