Monthly Archives: January 2012

Putting irritations into a different frame…

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Today, I watched this youtube video with Neale Donald Walsch and Eckhart Tolle.

Many things about this interview moved me, but none more than their brief conversation at the end of the interview about how all this “spiritual stuff” applies to our day-to-day lives. What more relevent question could there be for a busy mom to four sons? Or, to any parent, for that matter. The irritations we face over the course of a day can number in the thousands! For me, here are a few…

- I don’t wake up as early as I want to or am finding it difficult to lure myself out of bed.

- I am on the couch doing my morning meditation and one of my kids interupts me before I am ready.

- My husband turns on the radio too loud in the kitchen while I’m still meditating.

- The house is a mess.

- I just did a bunch of laundry and now there is another mountain to do.

- The boys are fighting again.

- I just changed a diaper two seconds ago and NOW he’s doing his massive poo.

Well, you see the picture. I could go on, but I think I’ll stop there. Watching this video helped me to put all of these irritations into a different form, one for which I could be grateful. I don’t want to spoil their telling of this message by putting it into my own words so that you don’t have to watch it. Instead, I am going to challenge you to make a cup of tea/coffee, grab a cookie and watch. Then, let me know what you think.

As always, I would love to hear from you.

 

I believe…

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An avid listener of Bob Edward’s Weekend, I am no stranger to the “This I believe” concept. Check out www.thisibelieve.org for more information on that. It’s very cool to read what people from all across the country count as their number one core value. I am always inspired by what I hear in the “This I believe” segment of Bob Edward’s Weekend.

However, today’s “I believe” is instead an answer to a call by Lynn Baldwin-Rhodes and her very moving blog post about why she almost quit the women’s entrepreneurial networking group she founded, “Power Chicks.” To read that wonderful piece of writing, go to http://www.powerchicksinternational.com/why-i-almost-quit-power-chicks/ .

If you are so inclined to read her story of winter epiphanies about what matters and where we can soften our expectations around success, then you will completely “get” why I am writing this blog post.

OK, so here goes….(This is for you, Lynn, and by extention for me too. It’s all connected, baby!)

I believe…

1. That motherhood is a spiritual path to inner peace.

2. That our children teach us the ways and means to that inner peace.

3. That I am already there, even when I think I’m not.

4. That being a mom and having a business can be fun.

5. That having a business about being a mom is THE most awesome business in the world for an entrepreneurial spirit like myself.

 

What do you believe? Share, share, share. We’d love to hear.

 

 

What do you do to beat the “Too-Tired” Blues?

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Having kids isn’t exactly restful. Fatigue is a major complaint of parenthood. What do you do to beat the “Too-Tired” Blues? I want to share our ideas and thoughts with one another about this subject. We can learn from one another and perhaps try something out that works for another mom. Please, take a moment to write a tip or two about basking in the glow of restfulness.

We are watching joy unfold!

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My husband had a dream. It was to create a home movie
theater experience for us to enjoy as a family. He researched projectors and
screen options. After hours of reading up on such things, he purchased a highly
regarded, affordable, projector and the makings for a homemade screen. For two
weeks, we waited in anticipation for the projector, screen paper and black
cloth to come in the mail. In the meantime, my husband carefully cut the wood
pieces to size that would become the frame for the screen. Finally the day
arrived when all the pieces were there and all that was left was the final
assembly.

Coming home from work to his home theater materials, my
husband quickly set to work constructing the screen. Then he mounted it carefully
on the wall. He fiddled with the projector, the wires and plugs until
everything was in place and ready to go. After the talking about having a home
theater, the waiting for things to come in the mail, the construction time for
the screen and the excruciating wait for dad to finish fiddling to make it
“just so,” we were ready to watch our first movie.

My kids danced around the family room like the most magical
thing in the whole world had entered into our lives. For that matter, so did my
husband. I sat there with the baby on my boob (that’s pretty much how I am most
of the time these days – including now) and watched all this joy unfold. It was
a spectacular sight to behold.

What a great thing for me to witness! I was more captivated
by their reaction to the home movie theater than I was by the actual movie
theater itself. They were sharing with me what pure joy looks like, plain and
simple, no strings attached. It made me realize how stuck I am in “If, Then”
scenarios. If I put ticks in boxes, then I’ll feel that joy I’m seeking.
Instead of putting joy first, I put it last on my agenda.

The lesson they are teaching me with our new home cinema is
that joy can be expressed in an infinite number of ways right now without me
needing to do anything else. I can dance for joy because it’s snowing outside,
the dishes are done, the baby is sleeping, the cupboards are full or any of the
gazillion other things that give me something for which I can be grateful.

Seeing them dance around the family room was a gift. The
home movie theater was the wrapping. The wrapping comes in the form of all the
little things that make my life such a blessing. Joy is the true gift. And now
I have more of it to pass on. So, this is for you, a gift of joy wrapped in a
blog post.

Different Ways to Share Yourself with the World

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How do you share yourself with the world? We all need positive ways to express ourselves. Take yourself to the next level of spiritual growth with a trip to “self-expression land.”

What is blogging but an internet-based journaling exercise to share your thoughts, feelings and experiences with the world? We need to express ourselves. It is an innate, internal desire that we pursue in an infinite number of ways. Right now I am writing, which is one way I process my experiences and give a piece of myself back to the universe (or God). I write in the middle of a reorganization project around the house. This is another opportunity for me to put my personal stamp on this space where I spend so much of my time.

JJ just came down having dressed himself in some too-small overalls, but determined to wear them all the same. Even at two, he longs deeply to be himself and share his ideas about toddler fashion with me and the community at large. He doesn’t care that his pants are too short. He is loving his outfit and the fact that he picked it out himself.

When we express ourselves, we not only share who and what we are with humanity, but we also share our spirit with the divine life force that flows through everything. Call it the universe. Call it God. Call it the mysterious web that binds us all together in the common experience of human-hood. Symantics always seems to create an obstacle to the larger truth that each of us exists on this planet and, in doing so, are an integral part of life – all life.

Without our existence, the world would be a different place in a very literal sense. That is why our self-expression matters. Because it adds to the overall experience of all life on this planet. We may not think we matter, but we most certainly do. Especially if you are a parent, your existence matters very much to the little ones under your charge.

So, go ahead, express yourself. Express yourself with love and joy and pride. I am in the middle of a big ol’ mess in my house right now as I reconfigure my domestic expression. I am committed to continuing a weekly blog of insights about life and motherhood as another form of sharing myself. Meditation, walking, the way I dress, talking, writing and so much more are all the ways I say to the world, “This is who I am.”

How have your shared yourself today?

New Resolutions for 2012 and Beyond…

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Exercise is my new thing for 2012. It’s my new old thing. I used to exercise. In fact, last spring and summer I was exercising more than I had in a long (long) time. Instead of becoming easier to go further with greater stamina, my daily jogs were becoming more and more gruelling. Then, when I looked at myself in the mirror week after week in my kickboxing class, I was not becoming trimmer in the middle. In fact, I seemed to be growing larger. When I started to feel the tell-tale butterfly flutters of second trimester pregnancy, I could no longer deny that I was with child. This was not supposed to happen. My husband had a vasectomy after our third son. Luckily for me, when I finally told my husband what was going on, the relief that I was not sneaking into the refridgerator every night to eat whole blocks of cheese was greater than the shock that I was pregnant.

Now that our new baby is two months old, I am running out of excuses as to why I cannot start moving again in a meaningful way. The new year provides a great opportunity for me to make a commitment to myself and my body. It’s only day three, but so far I have managed to put my running shoes on and power walk the pavements of my town. It feels good. It is my time to be alone with my thoughts, prayers and insights into how things are going on the inside. Three days in and I already treasure this time.

Resolutions at the new year work for me. Just like the six weeks of lent, the beginning of a new year creates an opportunity for me to make a commitment to myself. I like the change that occurs in me when I make this promise and then challenge my life circumstances to fulfill it. I start letting go of excuses and embracing the moments when I can do what it is that I am setting out to do. Tonight, the first day back at work since the new year, my husband came home from work, I had dinner in the oven, running shoes on, baby in the basinet and away I went. Timothy was crying when I returned home, but I was only gone for 25 minutes and he survived. I am starting out small, but I am starting.

My goal is to walk every day starting with just walking, then to include my ankle weights after about a week and work up to short jogs. I will begin my kickboxing class again at the beginning of February and have that on my schedule one evening a week. It then becomes my anchor around which I do all the rest of my exercising during the week. If I did not do some cardio on the other days of the week, I would die in kickboxing. It is just that gruelling. The teachers give no mercy because the students ask for none.

I have a plan. I have a commitment. I have a new year. I have a resolution. I love it. I love it. I love it. Life is crazy and complicated and always busy, but I feel determined in a way I have not felt in a long time.