REFLECTION: Where will you invest your time, energy and attention in 2009? What kind of frittering and wastage do you hope to avoid?

Oddly enough, a new website, dressregistry.com, has prompted me to ask myself just those questions. This site is devoted to helping people (mostly women I would guess) avoid  the ‘ultimate fashion faux pas’ – wearing the same outfit as someone else to an important event.  If, for example, you happen to be invited to one of the January 20th US Presidential Inaugural Balls (and I know you’re all dying to attend), you can register your dress for the event at which it will be making its debut!

Call me fashionably naive or disinterested, but to this opportunity, I find myself having two reactions:  Why bother and who cares?

News of this service has prompted me to ponder the many ways that we waste our energy and overload our circuits by focusing on things that really just don’t merit our lingering. Do any of these situations strike a chord with you?

* The ‘other line’ of traffic or customers is moving much faster than the one you have chosen. Don’t stew. It’s a waste of psychic energy to fret about something beyond your control; and it’s only a problem if you invest your attention in tracking and comparing the relative rate of progress. Focus on something else. 

* Your life or business partner launches into yet another retelling of an old joke or war story that you have already heard a ‘million’ times. Who cares? Here is a person you care about who is happily engaged in conversation. Appreciate their presence in your life and their joy in having found a new audience for an old jewel.

* A business prospect has decided to choose another service provider. Don’t seethe. Learn what you can from the experience, adjust accordingly, and move on.

ACTION: Where have you focused unwarranted time, energy and attention on situations and mindsets, becoming the architect of your own pain?

How might you short circuit those energy drains, and shift your focus to a more productive place in these first few weeks of a brand new year?

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer to your goal. – Elbert Hubbard

RESOURCE OF THE WEEK: If you are suffering from the January doldrums and would appreciate a two minute shot of pure energy and enthusiasm, I invite you to drop in for a dose of Ethan, my not quite 2 year old grandson. This You Tube video is an example of what happens when you give a new grandparent a pocket video camera, some easy to use movie making software, and a few free hours on a wintry vacation afternoon.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLE-T2xMBNQ

READERS WRITE: In response to the final Pause message of 2008 on Grace, LC writes: “Grace has always been a favorite of mine, too.  From acts of grace to the attempt to age with grace, I am on it!  My mother was one of the most grace-filled women to touch my life and I am grateful to her every day for the lessons she taught both purposely and by example. Perfect ending for 2008 and a wonderful way to begin 2009!”