Rebooting

When all else fails, what does one do when your computer freezes up? You reboot. Save what you can, shut it down and then start fresh.

Life is a lot like that.

I've unconsciously been rebooting my life all along and didn't even realize it.

Relationships that fail. Salvage the positives, learn from and recycle the negatives, delete unhealthy relationships from your life and start over.

Raising kids. Take what you learn from the first and try to apply it to the second and third. Keep what works, toss what fails, do your best, save the good stuff forever and keep restarting when the going gets rough.

Dead end jobs. Learn what you can from them, do your best, focus on what you love about your job, try to turn the negatives into a positive, know when it is time to move on to a new program and restart when necessary.

Relationships that last. Keep focusing on the positive, give from your heart, when the going gets rough ... save the lines of communication, recycle the lessons that you've learned, never delete the ability to forgive ... and restart from the new beginnings.

Over extending yourself. Taking on too much information, taking on too many responsibilities and adding them onto an already overloaded system. Save what is important, delete what is redundant, add what keeps you vital, shut down your system when you must and don't restart immediately. While your system is down, take the opportunity to recharge, reanalyse and rethink the situation before you start up again.

Times of mental fatigue and 'shut down' are there for a reason. It gives you a chance to take a step back and look at the same old situation from a different angle. Down times are an opportunity for change. If something keeps shutting down your system time and time again, it's time to look at what isn't working and consider if it is something you need to fix or delete.

'Clean up your files' on a regular basis - tidy up loose ends, delete the redundant and be grateful for all that you've saved.

Empty out your 'recycle bin' often. A person tends to have piles of recycling that need to be dealt with. Whether you toss it, donate or sell it ... too much stuff sitting around only adds to the clutter in your mind.

I often feel guilty at taking time to shut down and temporarily veer off the course that felt so right at the time. But every time that I look back on times of rest, renewal and just plain feeling down with the world ... something positive surfaces from the rubble. A new program ... a new path ... a new outlook.

Rebooting is necessary in this cycle of life. A chance to restart an old idea is often better after idling for a while.