Checking What Can I Complete

Last night, I attended the DC Sangha event hosted by Cameron Rosenthal from Grameen Foundation. The Right Question by Debbie Ford was our discussion reading. The premise of the book is to ask questions that will lead you to have a fuller life. She suggests to the reader to not get wrapped up with the doingness of daily living without maintaining a part of ourselves in "our power." To do this, she asks 10 questions that (she believes) will not allow you to rationalize your way out of the right answer.

1. Will this choice propel me toward an inspiring future or will it keep me stuck in the past?
2. Will this choice bring me long term fulfillment or will it bring me short term gratification?
3. Am I standing in my own power or am I trying to please another?
4. Am I looking for what's right, or am I looking for what's wrong?
5. Will this choice add to my life force, or will it rob me of my energy?
6. Will I use this situation as a catalyst to grow and evolve or will I use it to beat myself up?
7. Does this choice empower me or dis-empower me?
8. Is this an act of self-love or self-sabotage?
9. Is this an act of faith or an act of fear?
10. Am I choosing from my Divinity or am I choosing from my humanity?

With these questions in mind, I am assessing the "must completes" in my Grameen non-profit assignment versus what are the "nice to dos" while I am here. My short list includes:

• Deployment of PPI to Fonkoze
• Beta Testing of PPI software
• HCC score care
• Travel Management Analysis (Recommendation and Travel Training)
• Brown Bag on my company & myself

1 of the 5 is a no brainer and will be completed this week. The PPI tasks are software projects and I can do those in my sleep. Well, in some ways I do... as I will dream about what I need to do, and then just write it up in the morning. The travel analysis project is a tough one -- I am having to rely on others to get this complete, and that is really tough! There have been several instances where I told myself I should just "do it myself," but realized that I need to do a better job delegating and demonstrating other collaboration skills. So, instead I have reached out to encourage the use of the Bankers Without Borders volunteer program at Grameen to give someone else the opportunity to contribute to the organization. And finally, the HCC project. This one is struggling to get off of the ground! If lift-off isn't achieved by the end of the week, then I will circle back to the project manager to discuss other options.

That's my work world, but more important these questions got me refocused on what is important to my overall life. To this point, I had made a promise to myself to spend every other year volunteering during a vacation. There was a part of me that had "an out" with the fact that I am working with Grameen Foundation. But, in my heart, I was failing myself. The result is that I have signed up to go to Morocco as part of Cross Cultural Solutions as a volunteer teacher. I need to determine an appropriate date to travel (not the summer!) and get approval for the vacation time, but I am psyched to be back on track. Certainly propelling me back towards an inspiring future.

On the similar note, my friend Kisha is coming to visit DC this week. I am stoked about some of the fun things that we plan to do while she is here. This includes going to Eatonville for dinner, dancing at Fatback, a half day city tour of the highlights in DC, brunch at krameers on Saturday, and a drag queen brunch on Sunday. Obviously, a jammed packed weekend, but quite refreshing as I will have the opportunity to share the sites with someone who truly is a ray of sunshine to everyone who meets her!

As Ren and Stimpy would say, "happy, happy, joy, joy."