This is one I'll be reading several times a day for a while.
Go here, and scroll down past the pretty printables and read the blue box.
About Hurry
Go on, go read it.
...
...
...
Now.
Breathe deep.
Carry on, with those pieces of wisdom ringing in your ears.
Showing posts with label Monday Musings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monday Musings. Show all posts
Monday, February 11, 2013
Choosing Focus and ::Monday Musings::
I woke up this morning and looked at the "Weekend To Do" list I'd compiled for myself friday evening.
Very little is checked off.
I realized that I can look at that list and see a weekend of failure, and start my week feeling 'behind',
OR
I can look at all the things I did do.
I helped my husband wrestle some monster logs onto our trailer to bring home firewood. (I'm talking 200-300 pounds each! Yes, my muscles are sore.)
I performed and emergency plumbing repair.
I took my daughter with me for some one on one time when an urgent errand popped up.
I did some work on my first "Virtual Assistant" gig.
I sorted through and put into storage clothes for 7 children.
I went salvaging in an old barn with my daughter, and we had a blast wrestling out some treasures from under the heaps.
I cuddled 2 toddlers to sleep for the first time in a long time.
I took an impromptu nap (haven't had one of those since baby was born 6 months ago!)
and, of course, the usual maintaining that goes with a family of 10 (with 2 in diapers).
Laundry, sweeping, meals, sweeping, potty trips, sweeping, goodnight kisses, reading stories, answering questions...
I had a good conversation with one of my children, who was very disgruntled at the time, about how whatever we choose to see, to focus on, we will see more of; how that can snowball and form our personality and our outlook on life.
It is easy for me to see which to focus on, which will make me happier, and which will make me more productive. That last part is counter-intuitive, for me at least. I always think that I should look at how much I didn't do to motivate me to move faster, but really all it does is make me feel like a failure and like I'm too behind to ever catch up. When I look at what I did, it seems to carry me on it's inertia into accomplishing even more than I would plan.
Of course, I do wrestle back and forth with wondering whether it's right or wrong or OK to choose happiness.
John Piper's "Christian Hedonism" comes to mind, even though I no longer identify as a Christian. Also, the simple fact that I am more kind, gentle, patient and loving when I am happy.
Then my background comes through and I hear echos of the teachings that seeking happiness itself is shallow and carnal, and that the righteous are at peace in persecution and suffering, and that if I were really "good" I would be all those things in spite of unhappiness, and that I would be reflecting the glory of God that way.
Sigh.
That's another post.
For now, I will do what allows me to be kind, gentle, patient and loving to my children, and wrestle privately with the ethics of what makes me that way.
::Monday Musings:
Hands Free Mama
Brave Moms Raise Brave Kids
Learning about becoming a Virtual Assistant
Learning about Chalk Paint & DIY
Inspired to Action- one of my favorite encouragements places
Power of Moms- another of my favorites for encouragement
Very little is checked off.
I realized that I can look at that list and see a weekend of failure, and start my week feeling 'behind',
OR
I can look at all the things I did do.
I helped my husband wrestle some monster logs onto our trailer to bring home firewood. (I'm talking 200-300 pounds each! Yes, my muscles are sore.)
I performed and emergency plumbing repair.
I took my daughter with me for some one on one time when an urgent errand popped up.
I did some work on my first "Virtual Assistant" gig.
I sorted through and put into storage clothes for 7 children.
I went salvaging in an old barn with my daughter, and we had a blast wrestling out some treasures from under the heaps.
I cuddled 2 toddlers to sleep for the first time in a long time.
I took an impromptu nap (haven't had one of those since baby was born 6 months ago!)
and, of course, the usual maintaining that goes with a family of 10 (with 2 in diapers).
Laundry, sweeping, meals, sweeping, potty trips, sweeping, goodnight kisses, reading stories, answering questions...
I had a good conversation with one of my children, who was very disgruntled at the time, about how whatever we choose to see, to focus on, we will see more of; how that can snowball and form our personality and our outlook on life.
It is easy for me to see which to focus on, which will make me happier, and which will make me more productive. That last part is counter-intuitive, for me at least. I always think that I should look at how much I didn't do to motivate me to move faster, but really all it does is make me feel like a failure and like I'm too behind to ever catch up. When I look at what I did, it seems to carry me on it's inertia into accomplishing even more than I would plan.
Of course, I do wrestle back and forth with wondering whether it's right or wrong or OK to choose happiness.
John Piper's "Christian Hedonism" comes to mind, even though I no longer identify as a Christian. Also, the simple fact that I am more kind, gentle, patient and loving when I am happy.
Then my background comes through and I hear echos of the teachings that seeking happiness itself is shallow and carnal, and that the righteous are at peace in persecution and suffering, and that if I were really "good" I would be all those things in spite of unhappiness, and that I would be reflecting the glory of God that way.
Sigh.
That's another post.
For now, I will do what allows me to be kind, gentle, patient and loving to my children, and wrestle privately with the ethics of what makes me that way.
::Monday Musings:
Hands Free Mama
Brave Moms Raise Brave Kids
Learning about becoming a Virtual Assistant
Learning about Chalk Paint & DIY
Inspired to Action- one of my favorite encouragements places
Power of Moms- another of my favorites for encouragement
Monday, January 7, 2013
Organization, Curricula, Morality, Exercise, & "Public Beta"
Looks like that's about the sum of my reading this last little bit...
It's quite interesting to step back and see a thumbnail of what I've been reading.
There were a couple more tabs open when I started this "Monday Musings" post, but they are pages I'm logged into, so I won't be putting them here, but they're what I call "Geekery": how to edit the HTML and CSS of the website and store I'm working on so publicly... I realized that I'll never ever get either where I'm fully pleased with them and ready to let them go live, so I decided to just go live first and then build them, learning how right out there in the open.
I call it "accepting public beta", and it's something that I'm learning to apply to all of my life.
I still don't know what I think of it, whether it's freeing and I'm doing more than I ever would have otherwise, or whether this is how it feels to slide down the slippery slope of mediocrity and now I'll never do anything well.
Anyhoo.
Here are the links to my Monday Musings:
Power of Moms topic search: Love
Power of Moms topic search: Organization
A Free Homeschool eBook: Return of the Routine
5 Sites Offering Free Homeschool Curriculum
What Everyone Should Read About the 50 Shades Books (follow the links there too!!)
Organizing and Printing Years of Photos
Getting Ready to Heal a Diastasis Recti
More About Healing a Diastasis Recti
It's quite interesting to step back and see a thumbnail of what I've been reading.
There were a couple more tabs open when I started this "Monday Musings" post, but they are pages I'm logged into, so I won't be putting them here, but they're what I call "Geekery": how to edit the HTML and CSS of the website and store I'm working on so publicly... I realized that I'll never ever get either where I'm fully pleased with them and ready to let them go live, so I decided to just go live first and then build them, learning how right out there in the open.
I call it "accepting public beta", and it's something that I'm learning to apply to all of my life.
I still don't know what I think of it, whether it's freeing and I'm doing more than I ever would have otherwise, or whether this is how it feels to slide down the slippery slope of mediocrity and now I'll never do anything well.
Anyhoo.
Here are the links to my Monday Musings:
Power of Moms topic search: Love
Power of Moms topic search: Organization
A Free Homeschool eBook: Return of the Routine
5 Sites Offering Free Homeschool Curriculum
What Everyone Should Read About the 50 Shades Books (follow the links there too!!)
Organizing and Printing Years of Photos
Getting Ready to Heal a Diastasis Recti
More About Healing a Diastasis Recti
Monday, November 12, 2012
A (big) Handful of What I've Been Reading Lately ::Monday Musings::
I love that my phone gives me the ability to read almost anywhere.
In the van while I wait to pick up my daughter from band practice.
In the van while my toddlers sleep through my bigger children's soccer practices.
In my rocker while I nurse my baby.
In my gold velour chair while my husband and I unwind from a busy day/week.
At the kitchen counter while I wait for supper to finish, or at the grill before I turn over the food...
Sometimes I find in interesting to "zoom out" and look at the overall landscape of what I'm reading. I know for sure that I am influenced by the "tone" of what I read, and I choose what I read with that in mind. Sometimes more mindfully and intentionally that others- sometimes I only read what I admire and aspire to, others I read simply because it's not destructive. That second category I don't recommend a steady diet of, neither do I consider it "wrong" as I used to. Sometimes I read things that others recommend, sometimes I read things that I disagree with, sometimes I read things that aren't "me" to broaden my perspective.
A whim hit me to share all of the open tabs I have right now. There have been many times I've found an article, post, story, or source that I really like or need through browsing others' links, maybe someone will find just what they need or want in my little pile. It's just possible that I'll try to do this every Monday; if I do, I hope I don't fall into reading or not reading things just because I'll be sharing Monday. (Do you put an uppercase letter after a semi-colon?? Someone tell me!)
So, here's what's on my phone this morning, left over from my weekend's reading:
So there you have it: my Monday Musings.
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