MamaManagement

If you read my last blog post then you know that last month I did the 21 Day Oola Challenge. (It's 3 weeks of daily reminders to help you live more Oola. If you want to know what that means, read about it here: my-2018-oola-goals-wait-whats-oola-goal ) So, one of those daily challenges was this: Think of a friend who's positive change has inspired you to positively change your life, and thank them. I am inspired in one way or another by all of my friends and family. And I'm inspired by lots of people I know from the various groups I'm a member of. And I'm inspired by lots of people that I don't know at all, but read about. (Here's a good example that's also a children's book recommendation: Malala's Magic Pencil. I just read this book with my daughter and thought it was so well done-- with beautiful illustrations-- and felt inspired once again by Malala's story.) As I thought more about this idea of being inspired by others, ...

My daily intention: Stay Loose; and some other touchpoints (in this case, bracelets) to remind me of what's important I've been working on mindfulness for a while now. It used to be that I spent a lot of my time lost in thoughts of the past or the future. Nowadays I'm more likely to get lost in thoughts of all the things I should be getting done or plotting how I will manage to get them all done (and doing laps in the pool of guilt and shame for not getting more accomplished each day). But I'm trying not to do that. I'm also trying to focus on what's important rather than what seems urgent. One of the ways I do this is by setting a daily intention--an over-riding idea, theme, objective for my day, each day. I try to do this right when I wake up, but sometimes it's more like 9am before I give it the thought it needs. Sometimes it's a phrase, sometimes it's just one word. Today's intention is Cherish . I often write my daily intention on...

Make peace with it. For me, these words always conjured up the idea of some major grievance. You were seriously wronged or hurt by another person. You're holding a major grudge. You're holding onto hatred or blame or guilt. Something horrible happened to you, or you did something awful in the past. These were the things that you made peace with. Or so I thought, until the other day, when a friend used these words with me when we were talking about something I was struggling with internally. She asked me if I could just make peace with it. Could I accept that it just is and that is okay? Could I let go of the black and white/right and wrong thinking that was forcing me to pick a side in my internal debate? Could I give a little on both sides? Could I just make peace with it? I this case, "Making peace with it" had nothing to do with another person. No one had done anything to me. I hadn't made some horrible mistake. It had to do with two dueling parts of...

Birthdays are funny things. Especially as I get older. I think I'm in this limbo land right now. I exist somewhere between the excitement of a child and the nonchalance of an older adult. I'm between "OH MY GOD IT'S MY BIRTHDAY WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!" and "What? It's my birthday? I thought it was just Saturday. Well, that's nice. I could eat a cupcake." As a full time mom of two young children I relish the idea of a day that's all about me. Like many moms, I get two a year: my birthday and mother's day. That's it. And I mean that is REALLY it. Every other day...most seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months...all those measurements we use for time ticking by...is about other people. And most of the time that is quite okay with me. Most of the time I relish a life focused on others. I spent the first thirty years focused primarily on me. It's been kind of nice to not have time to dissect (worry, ruminate over) ever...

My Papa & Grandma at my aunt's wedding circa 1975. Don't they look marvelous. I lay in bed just an hour after hanging up the phone with my mother. Just an hour after shedding tears on my husband's shoulder. Just an hour after hearing the news of my Papa's passing. Once my mind has quieted a bit. Once my brain has made its to-do lists...the appointments that must be moved, the teachers that must be notified, the outfits that must be found, the drive home that must be driven. Once I've flitted onto the topic of how to tell the children that their Great Papa has died...only to flit away again. That is when the memories come. I don't think of the last few years. I don't think of the older, more frail and more distant Papa I've visited of late. No, I think of My Papa . It is like slowly wandering through a photo album. I take my time. I linger with each image, each memory and the feelings it brings with it. I remember my Papa as a big man. Wit...

Stop and Smell the Flowers. It's Top Ten Tuesday! I know, I know, it's exciting. While you try to calm down, I'll tell you where we're headed with this week's top ten list... My husband and I have been talking more and more about what our real priorities are and how we want to spend our time together as a family. We are both in a place of recognizing how fast time is going and how soon our kids will no longer really want to hang out with us. (We're going to blink and they won't even live in our house any more!) Right now we are their world. But that's not going to last. So maybe we ought to be taking better advantage of it. Maybe all of those urgent things on our to-do lists aren't all that important. Maybe playing IS important. Maybe making memories IS  important. Maybe slowing down and not acting (or feeling or being) SO busy all the time IS important. In the spirit of these notions, here is my list of the Top Ten Rules for a Happy Fam...

As I sit down at a table in my favorite coffee shop today, the moment of peace in an otherwise rather loud and chaotic day, I have so many thoughts swirling in my head that I am not sure where to focus. So, we're gonna say this post is about patience. But it's really about so much more. ...................... I'm reading a book about letting go of our constant connectedness to the less-meaningful world in our computers and smartphones and focusing on the real world (and people) right in front of us. I am also part of one online discussion group on living simply and another on banning busy. My brain is knee-deep in this subject-matter right now. And then I found out that our neighbor's little girl was just diagnosed with leukemia. It's like being hit over the head with a rock. ("Pay Attention!!" It screams, right in my ear. "This Is Important!") And it's not even my child. And they are not even close friends. We just moved her...

I am grateful for wonderful books and cool bookstores and delicious cappuccino. The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances. -Martha Washington Last week's top ten list was all about gratitude. ( Top Ten Things I'm Grateful For Today ) I shared a list of things I was feeling grateful for that day and a few brief thoughts on gratitude. But, after that post, I got to thinking more about gratitude; about what it really means to feel grateful; to feel that opening of your heart to others, to yourself, to the universe. And the more I thought about it, the more I began to believe that gratitude may very well be a key ingredient in making The (big) World, and our (personal) worlds, a better place. If everyone could move through their day from a place of gratitude, I think just about everything would be better. Imagine how the small things would improve... It's hard to have road range when you're feeling grateful for the beauti...

Gratitude. It's a buzzword right now. The idea of gratitude is everywhere, it seems. And yet I'm not so sure there is actual gratitude everywhere, these days. Research says that grateful people live longer and happier lives. Spiritual teachers tell us that gratitude is essential to a fulfilling life. So, in the spirit of gratitude...this simple act of recognizing the things we are grateful for each day...today's Top Ten Tuesday list is... Top Ten Things I'm Grateful For Today 10. My morning workout. 9. The first warming sip of my morning coffee. (And, well, really, that whole darn cup of coffee. And the second one. And, um, the Keurig and coffeeshops that brew that coffee for me. :-) 8. Fresh baked cookies. (Because, even if you aren't currently eating one, you can close your eyes and call-up the memory of biting into that soft, warm cookie and savoring the taste on your tongue. And that is always something to be grateful for.) 7. My strong and soft b...