First published in August 2010, this is the tale of a half-painted, mismatched Purple wall …
Had I known the lesson it would teach me, this goddess would have attended to it sooner.
(transcript added below)
So pray tell, Sweet Readers, what metaphorical Half-painted walls do YOU have in your life?
And how would the energy flow if you … you know, actually dealt with them???
Bliss-ings, dahlings (and don’t forget to opt-in!)
The goddess known as Jacqui
TRANSCRIPT:
I am the Goddess is known as Jacqui Gates . Today I’m going to tell you the epic revelation that I got from my purple walll. Yes, you heard me.
The toilet wall in my bathroom is painted purple, a delicious lavender color.
When I was painting that particular wall, I ran out to paint about three feet up. Sooo I went all the way to the hardware store, matched the paint, came back and finished it.
First thing next morning, I sit down on the loo, look at the wall and notice that it’s two different shades. This is very annoying, but I was too busy to do anything about it and it got put off. And put off. And put off.
Now we are selling the house, so now I have to get this wall done. It took me probably 15 minutes to repaint. The following morning I sat down on the loo, noticed that the wall was all one color and there was the sense of … *sigh.
The interesting thing was that I hadn’t realized how seeing that incomplete wall, every single morning, first thing in the morning and last thing at night, was eating away at me.
It would start the little voices, even sometimes really quietly, (to the extent that I wouldn’t pay much attention to them), but they were there.
Saying things like, “There’s another thing you haven’t finished. There’s another thing that needs to be done. Another thing on your to do list. Another thing that’s half done, incomplete.”
All these things going on in my head.
This was like a physical manifestation of an incompletion. Something half done. And I hadn’t realized, until it was done, just how much it took the edge off the optimism of the day, how much of my attention it would grab first thing in the morning. It wasn’t until it was done that I realized that it did eat away at me.
This is very interesting because we all have incompletions that lie around and chew up bits of our enthusiasm, and chew up bits of our attention, until such time as everything becomes too much of an effort because you have so much incomplete or so much that needs to be done, that the idea of taking on something new, like a blogging challenge or starting a home business, or simply revving up your home business so maybe you can go on a great holiday at the end of the year, these things just become too much effort.
So this has been an enormous revelation for me.
The other thing is that it really took me no more than half an hour get that thing finished.
It was just a case of laying down the dropcloths, stirring the paint, painting that little bit of wall and getting it done.
It really wasn’t much effort, but the pay off the next morning was enormous. When I turned the light on and it was done!
What have you around you that is incomplete? What have you got lying around that is half-done?
Just think how you’d feel tomorrow morning, if you came down the stairs, out of your room, or when you opened your eyes first thing in the morning and that little niggly thing was DONE. You could scratch it off your list. It doesn’t have to hold any more of your attention.
This is most uplifting feeling when you’ve been swamped by incompletions.
So my challenge to you is to make a list of your incompletions and work on them. Get a few of them done this week so that you can go into the weekend ready to enjoy some free time.
You don’t have to spend every weekend cleaning or tidying or finishing off stuff.
You will be able to make use of your free time because it will be free. You could build a business. You could learn a new skill. You could go to the park with your kids.
These are the things that when you’ve got your incompletions under control, you’ll be free to enjoy.
I hope you have a goddess-worthy day.
I’ll talk to you next time.
Aloha Jacqui,
Wonderful video and such a great point you make about seeing things which are left unfinished or incomplete. Now you’ve got me looking around and thinking how it may be affecting my subconscious.
I remember my mentor coming in my house and asking me about my living room and how I felt about it. We upgraded a lot of things and the energy felt so different and we all felt so good!
Thank you for your enlightening post! I loved it!
Aloha,
Kellie 🙂
Good point. I am very guilty of this. I am going to work on my list right now and actually get some of it done.
I remember once, before my son was born, when I had a weekend off my then-job and I made myself a list and I just sat and did it, one thing at a time, until everything was done. The sense of accomplishment from doing that was phenomenal. I felt really good.
thanks for your bravery in sharing your habits of “loose ends”, (an illness we all suffer from, from time to time… and often more frequently than that)!
how you describe the payoff the next morning was so powerful for me to hear. it’s never the task itself that is exhausting! it’s the time we spend contemplating “should I? shouldn’t I?” that sucks our energy. a great reminder to focus on how I feel when I get it done.
( and i love my “To Do” list too … the daily act of just crossing off things is so satisfying!)
Thank you so much! Perfect timing for me! Blessings! <3
My list might be lengthy! But I am game… I can relate to the unpainted wall, but I am afraid that I hate to paint so I left it for my hubby to do!! So I will look after things that are incomplete that I can do something about. Thanks for the post, perfect timing for me I should say!! Now that summer is drawing to a close I can get right back on track for the things that I have put off this last several weeks.
Oh, I love this video. I have dozens of “half-painted walls” — it’s such a bad habit of mine. For example, this entire summer, many of my food styling props sat out in my living room since I wasn’t sure quite where to organize them. When my roommate was scheduled to return from her summer trip, I finally buckled down and cleaned — and it took all of maybe ONE day. Afterward, I felt so free and relieved living in my own little home — I SO wish I’d just done it earlier! In that spirit, I finally vacuumed my bedroom the other day (it’s been needing it for awhile now!) and am trying to work on the other “walls” as well 🙂
Greetings, Julie, and thanks so much for visiting! I’m so glad you like the video and you really, Really ‘get’ the analogy. Its all about the energy tied up in ‘incompletions’. Looking forward to checking out your blog too.
Things on your mental “to do” list is like the clutter you keep seeing everyday that you don’t have the time to clean up. Both things not only bother you, but takes up a lot of your energy. You might find that everytime you check off things from your to do list, you gain back the energy it’s taking up from you. Good reminder to all of us. Thanks!
I have wayyyyy too many unfinished projects (or “half-painted walls”) in my life right now. I just moved into a new apartment and I made a list of all the things I needed to do… hang up the dining room chandelier, frame my posters, assemble my bookcase, etc. So far I’ve only accomplished the bookcase. It really bothers me because everytime I come home, I see the chandelier sitting on the floor, the posters rolled up on my desk, and so on. It makes me feel so unaccomplished and lazy! Tonight I’m going to write my to-do list on my big whiteboard, so I can’t forget about it!
Get at it, goddess! You’ll feel so much better when it’s all done and you can bask in the glow of your gorgeous chandelier.
This is so similar to the concepts taught in GTD’s system (Getting Things Done) where the author talks about how “open loops” drain our energy silently in the back of our minds. How all of these in-completions – most of them tiny – really eat at our resources!
This is part of why at the moment for me that I’m working on a number of household things that I’ve put off for a couple years on TOP of just the default house cleaning that this divorce phase seems to require. Lots of little house projects I’m trying to wrap up and seem to be calling for my attention at the moment.
Thanks for the reminder to attend to our “half painted walls” sweetie!
Kimberly
Hi Jacqueline,
I loved your video. I can’t even begin to tell you how many unfinished projects I have laying around. Your video has inspired me to kick my butt and get into gear.
Thanks for sharing,
Larry
Greetings, Larry!
Let me know how you feel once all the half-done stuff is Completed.
It’s my bet that you’ll be Flying!
Another amazing Video Goddess. I had not expected the Goddess herself to do her own painting. That was a huge surprise to me.
I just Adore painting walls!! It’s oddly therapeutic for me and I love how the energy in the room shifts with the new colour, especially if it aligns with the principles of Feng Shui.
I love your purple wall and what it meant! I love even more that you can share your experiences in the “lou” (not sure if that’s how it is supposed to be spelled 🙂 )
Dear goddess — you are simply extraordinary, and you give us such great lessons! Thank you for sharing your life with us!
These incompletions are killers … time, energy, sometimes even soul. I’m grateful you brought this to my attention, as I truly think I’ve buried many of mine! I’m bringing them back to the surface so that I can finish off what is keeping me back!!
They are ‘killers’ indeed … and when you work from home, they can eat into every part of your business building too.
Just find one thing – do it – finish it – and you always feel better!
Thank you, Jacqui, for reminding me of this seemingly simple step. I’m dashing off to write the agenda for my meeting next week.
I feel glorious to have that completed. This week I intend to list my half-completes and love them to completion.
One Love,
Debbie
Isn’t it just the most scrumptious feeling, Debbie?
And I absolutely adore your phrase of “love them to completion” … I’m soooo going to use that!
I really like how you said that our incompletions are physical manifestations. It is amazing what things we have left undone that rob us of energy. You are not only a Goddess, but a Wise Goddess. 🙂
Bravo, bravo! I completely confirm about how good it feels. I just spent the entire month of May ‘focused first’ on cleaning my house. Doing a good job and keeping it up. It got easier and easier and I had spare time, just like you said, to happily pursue other things I always want to do but don’t. Why? Because… the house was a mess, it was always the next most important thing I had to find time to do, and I just wasn’t in the mood to tackle the job I faced in order to catch up. I discovered a super perk came with my plan and now I can spontaneously entertain again without freaking out and busting ass and doing a ‘make it okay’ job getting ready. The second hand purpose of the cleanup was to further stretch and strengthen my out of shape physique. It worked well and I’m measurably happier! Thanks Goddess for sharing your purple wall story. The ripple effect is going to be great!
So chuffed for you, Michele! Isn’t the spare time that you find when your house is under control, just the most delicious thing? And a svelte new shape as a bonus? Go you!!