Have you ever noticed that when you’re eating a really good meal there’s always one bite that seems like the “best bite”?  It has the perfect mix of flavor, texture, and temperature.

I’ve become a little obsessed with making a mental note every time I have a best bite moment!

It reminds me that paying attention is the biggest part of life, and the part that’s so easy to skip in the hurry up pace of today’s world.

Actually, the best bite mentality can spill over into lots of other areas.  Have you ever noticed that if you look for the good in someone instead of all of the flaws you start being able to appreciate them in a new way?  Have you ever noticed that if you stop the mental chatter about everything you don’t like about yourself and focus on what you do like, you feel a heck of a lot better?

Try noticing the “best bites” in your life for a few days.  I’m guessing you’ll start to notice that even though your plate is full, it’s full of delicious moments!

Extra-Ordinary Ideas

Read It:  Bossypants by Tina Fey.  I just started this book, and I’ve already had several laugh out loud moments.
Bossypants

Do It: Get your summer groove on. Be a step ahead of the game and decide on a few (fun and simple) things that you want to do over the summer. Cleaning out the garage is not included!

Think It: “We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.” Calvin & Hobbes

ahhhhh – I’m breathing a sigh of relief that goes along with unloading some long dragged around just in case baggage.  Not emotional baggage (I’m still hanging on to plenty of that), but actual physical stuff that I was keeping just in case.

Today, I cashed in $56.00 worth of old books, but better than the money is the feeling that I get when I look up and see my clutter free bookshelves. I didn’t just trade in old Danielle Steele novels (although there may have been one of those). Instead, I let go of many of the books that I’ve been dragging around since college.   Literary Theory, Shakespeare Researched, and A History of Composition Theory were taking up some valuable real estate both mentally and physically. I realized I was hanging on to them just in case.  Just in case I ever go back to teaching, just in case I decide to get a Ph.D., just in case my kids might need them when they are in college.  All of which are very bad reasons to clutter up my life.

We all have things that we hang on to just in case. Do you know what yours are?  Whether it’s mental or physical, maybe this week you can think about letting one thing go.   And after that great sigh, you’ll find there’s now room for more of what you really want in your life.

Extra-Ordinary Ideas:

Read It:  Have you ordered your own copy of Live in the Little yet?  It’s a great Mother’s Day gift for the extraordinary Moms in your life. Click on the book in the sidebar for instant access.

Do It:  Be sure to check out our very first Xtra Find in the post below.  Also, send us one of your extraordinary ideas for a chance at a great giveaway. Click on the green box in the sidebar to submit your ideas.  We’re looking for ideas on great summer reads.  If you have one, be sure to send it!

Think It: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” Leonardo da Vinci

In the ninth grade I wrote a paper that discussed how Bruce Springsteen’s lyrics embodied the sentiments of patriotic, middle-class Americans.  I’m not sure what’s scarier . . . that I wrote the paper or that I remember it so clearly all these years later.  Either way my own “Glory Days” are forever linked to Springsteen’s music. On a recent trip to The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland where they had an entire floor as a featured Springsteen exhibit, The Boss once again provided a couple of light bulb moments.

I’m a person who thinks there is little better than a blank notebook and freshly sharpened pencils, so it’s no wonder that I was fascinated by Springsteen’s songwriting notebooks that were on display.  Seeing the handwritten lyrics to classics such as “Dancing in the Dark” in a spiral bound notebook, revisions and all, made me remember that everything good has to start somewhere (even that next great dinner, birthday celebration, or project at work).  It’s easy to admire a finished product, but seeing how something as iconic as Springsteen’s songs were born in a drugstore notebook, reminded me of the endless possibilities we have to create good things if we just take action.  The challenge is in getting started and believing in ourselves enough to do it – whatever “it” is (being healthier, writing the next great American novel, or hosting your very first dinner party).  Sticking with something enough to get it right is when the rewards really pay off.  If you’re anything like me, you think a lot about how to improve small facets of everyday life, but when it comes to getting those ideas out of your head and on to the blank sheet of life, things get a little murky.  But it only takes one action built upon another to be the start of something really great, no matter how big or small.

The eXtra List:

Read It:  Of course it’s going to be Live in the Little, it’s a great collection of pick me ups from The Ordinary Matters archives.  Buy a bundle for friends and moms for mother’s day.  E-mail me at mscalf@theplaygroundgroup.net for special pricing on bundles of five or click on the right to order from Amazon.

Listen Up: Mat Kearney’s version of Dancing in the Dark is one of my favorites.

Think It: “He who has begun is half done.” Horace