What is 8/8/11 About?

I just wrote in my journal and noticed that it is 8/8/11. With two 8's and two 1's, there's got to be some significance to this...and so I started looking into it.

• Eights are about order, organization and strength. They can symbolize advancement, stability, cycles, setting priorities and accomplishment.
• Ones are about starting a new cycle, trying something new, the beginning of projects and trying a different approach to starting new things.

How does this apply to your life? Maybe start by asking a couple of questions:

• In relation to the 8's: Where am I seeking order in my life? What needs my attention? What priorities are most important (see Rice and Walnut example below)? What cycles have created stability and how can I build on that foundation?
• In relation to the 1's: What is new in your life? What would you like to bring into your life more fully? How could a new beginning in your life benefit you and others?

Personal example:

Most of you know that we recently moved from Colorado to Pennsylvania for a temporary assignment in my husband's career. Leaving my home of over 20 years, and the boys' only home they have known, we are experiencing LOTS  of new beginnings. Some of them exciting, some seem painful, uncomfortable and new.

My time has been consumed by organizing for the move, and then unpacking and setting up our new home. As each item falls into place, there is a feeling of more stability and comfort (organizing is EIGHT energy).

When we first got here I constantly found myself subtracting two hours off the clock and wondering what was going on in Colorado.

But now, I am on Eastern time and only occasionally deduct the two hours to think about what's going on "back home," mostly because I have a new home...here...now.

I have on my plate a smorgasbord of choices of how to spend my time. The soldier students have started school and the spouses are being invited to participate in all kinds of activities -- from recreation to fitness to educational to family to you name it! (new beginnings are ONE energy)

In our Spouses Briefing last week, the General came in to welcome the mostly female spouses. After a touching slide show of his family (he has three sons as well), he gave a demonstration that I have seen before, but it is a GREAT reminder of how to set priorities. I call it the Walnut and Rice example and here's how it goes:

The General lifted up a jar that was completely full of six walnuts and rice. He separated the walnuts from the rice as he dumped the rice into another glass jar and set the walnuts on the table.

He explained that the jar represented all of your life, and each of the walnuts represented a different priority for each of us. The priority was based on our values, in other words, what was most important to us.

He held up the first walnut and said, "Perhaps your top priority is your family -- getting your kids to their activities, family dinners, etc. Another priority (he held up the second walnut) may be your education. And yet another one could be your health (he held up a third walnut)."

"And then there's the rice," he explained. "What's life without the carbs?" he said and explained that the rice represented all of the many fun activities, options, opportunities available to each of us every day...all of them sounding so appealing!"

He explained how tempting it is to be presented with LOTS of options and want to immediately put them into the jar. He poured the rice from one jar into the empty one.

The General continued to explain and demonstrate, "But, if you fill your jar first with the rice," he said holding up the rice-filled jar, "then the walnuts may not fit in like they did before," he said as he jammed the walnuts on top of the rice...stacking on top, but not fitting into the jar.

He continued, "If you are not careful and don't prioritize your life, the walnuts (top priorities and values) don't fit into your life (jar), and you find that you are busy tending to all of the rice, while the important walnuts get shoved out."

"As you might imagine," he said, "a life without the important walnuts can feel busy, but empty...and we know that all six walnuts and the rice CAN fit into the jar, if we do it in the proper order."

Over the weekend, both Tom and I talked about and prioritized our "walnuts" and our "rice," in an effort to fill our "jar" with the most important things first.

Today's date, 8/8/11 emphasizes the importance of this lesson for me. It's important to think about the walnuts and the rice in my jar (life) and use my best organizational skills (a characteristic of the 8), to prioritize and begin to pour my energy (a characteristic of the 1) into the most important areas of my life...the things I value the most.

What are your walnuts? What is the rice? And MOST importantly, what are you going to do to use your 8 energy to fill your life with what's most important?