A prompt from 13 Steps to Awakening:
I came across the 13 Steps to Awakening series when the blogger, Alex Moses from A Life Answer, liked one of my book reviews. The first of the 13 steps included a scenario I found intriguing for a short post. The lesson also includes homework assignments, which I consider useful mind-stretching exercises as I struggle to sift through my life experiences to decide which are worth including in my memoir. Perhaps more significantly, I believe completing the exercises may help me uncover thoughts and memories that I have tucked away deeply into my sub-conscious in order not to reveal them. If my memoir is authentic, I need to consider telling the whole story, not just the parts that are pretty and look good sitting on a curio shelf.
Homework
- List all the things you would do if you were to die in the next 30 days. How would your life change for the next 30 days? What would you do differently?
- My first thought was that I would use my last 30 days to visit people and places I found meaningful in my life, to say thank you to the people and to view awesome places one more time. But I don’t really need to travel to accomplish either of these goals. Seeing people is possible through Skype or Facetime and the Internet is full of videos of places.
- The activities I then focused on are all related to making sure those closest to me have the information they would otherwise turn to me for–user ids and passwords, for example, on the minor end but much more on a more significant end.
- Related to #2 above is getting rid of things I have held onto that I know no one else wants. I know there are piles of such things around the house just as there are piles of thoughts in my mind that I should let go of.
- By taking the three steps above, my life would be simpler, less complicated.
- List all activities that you perform on any given day and assign one of the 3 states (feeling joy, feeling pain, being asleep) to each activity. Calculate the percentage of time being spent in each state.
- Writing-feeling joy
- Preparing meals-feeling joy
- Cleaning up-being asleep
- Reading-feeling joy
- Walking-feeling joy
- Playing with grandchildren-feeling JOY
- Paying bills-feeling joy (that I can without worry)
- Watching TV-being asleep
- Checking out social media-feeling both joy and pain
- 75% feeling joy, 10% feeling pain, 15% being asleep
The above homework is part of the first of 13 free lessons, developed by Alex Moses, Life Strategist, available on the A Life Answers website, shared with his permission.
Sandra Yeaman 
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