MamaManagement

From an art class I took last summer. This ended up being the background for all the mini-paintings I did this fall. Today I'm here to urge you to take a class . I know you're super busy. I know there are already too many things crammed into your day. I know you've got work and home and kids and spouse and workouts and family and friends and general life stuff all vying for your attention and time. And the last thing you want to do is add something else into the mix. But I don't care. I still think you should take a class. I don't really care what kind of class you take. It can be one that gets you further in your career. It can be one that introduces you to a new hobby. It can be one that you've always wanted to take. It can help you learn a new sport. (Tennis, anyone?) It can be online. It can be through your community rec center. It can be at a local college. What and where it is doesn't really matter all that much, as long as it's somet...

Dear Diary, I was really tired last week. Like, really tired. Like in my bones. Throughout my body. In my brain. Just, tired. My first inclination is to react to this by powering through. I can do it. I'll get up and get going and it'll be fine. I ignore what my body is telling me with fatigue, and aches and pains, and brain fog, and I plow on through. And then, on the, like, third day of exhaustion, despite reasonable nights of sleep, it occurs to me that maybe I should listen to my body. Maybe it's okay to take it easy. Maybe the ridiculously heavy period I'm having is somehow related to how I'm feeling. Maybe my body needs me to slow down...just for a bit. Fun Fact: Did you know that back in biblical times, women went to a special place together during menstruation? The Red Tent. (The book of the same name, by Anita Diamant, is wonderful, by the way.) There were lots of reasons for this back then (some, not so great) that we don't need to get into ...

When things get crazy in your life and you just can't do it all, what are the first things you drop off your to-do list? I can tell you, without the least bit of hesitation, the first things to fall off mine: Exercise Meditation Healthy eating Downtime Hobbytime Sleep Which means that when I'm stressed out, the first things I stop doing are the things that help me manage stress. Brilliant, I know. Am I only one who does this? I have to believe I'm not. Nowadays, the month of May and first half of June are almost as crazy as the back half of November and the month of December. Of course, in all the wisdom of my pre-kid-self, I conveniently gave birth to my children in December and May. (Who knew?!?) So in addition to all the other craziness that we all have in those months, I also have kid birthdays. Which basically means I'm insane in May and December. It also means that I am stressed out, more likely to have anxiety attacks (a new-this-year added bo...

What I want life to feel like much of the time... Hello, dear friends! In this week's post, I'm giving you homework...but don't be frightened off by that. Because this is the kind of homework that could change your life. No, really. Ready yourself. Okay, so here's where you're about to see evidence of my former life in the corporate world. If you have ever worked in the land of corporations or business consulting, then you are likely super familiar with the terms Mission, Vision, and Values when it comes to businesses (usually all lumped together like it's one word: missionvisionvalues ). Most companies and brands and nonprofits have mission, vision, and values statements. For some organizations, these truly drive the business decisions and the corporate cultures...for others, they're more window-dressing and lip-service. But when they're used properly, they can be an excellent tool for drawing the map and driving the bus, for organizing ideas, an...

To know me is to love me...and to accept my weird obsession with resolutions and goals and betterment-seeking. I sent this picture to my dear friend Wendy the other day. Here's our text conversation that followed: Me: Do you think I have a New Years resolution planning problem? Wendy: Yes! But I appreciate your attempt at organizing your life, self, etc. Me: Are you questioning our friendship right now? Because I'm working on my personal mission/vision/values*...and I'm using colored pens. Wendy: No, I am rooting for you...and your pens. Me: I love my pens. That's the love of a true friend, yo. I am one of those life-long leaner types. I am a seeker. I am always looking for ways to broaden my horizons, deepen my understanding, and better myself and my life. I am always on a path of enlightenment of one sort or another. And the beginning of a new year has a tendency to really amplify this characteristic in me...so does getting older, I think. I know ...

I LOVE the new year...like, really love it. After the crazy indulgence of the holidays, there's something just refreshing about the blank slate of a new year. Everything seems possible at the beginning of the year. The fatty, sugary food gets trashed. The decorations come down. The kids go back to school. New calendars and planners come out-- fresh and clean . It all makes me want to deep clean the house and get rid of all the junk. It makes me want to detox my body and rekindle a healthy relationship with food and exercise and meditation. I make lists of all the things I want to do...all the things I want to be. I brainstorm and read articles and listen to audiobooks and meditations. I get so excited by all the possibilities! I mean, I could be a completely different person this year, than I was last year. I could be anyone...anything. More of this. Less of that. What will I be? What will you be? Every new year, it's like being young again...if we let it be. Th...

Hey friends! It's that time of year again! New year...New you! Last year at this time I was gearing up to start my first Danette May 30 Day New You Challenge. I completed that, went on to join her Forever Fit program, and have stuck with her eating, workout, and meditation plans ever since. (If you want to read about my experiences from last year, you can click on Danette May's name in "Tagged Stuff" in the righthand column. Or start with this post here: https://mamamanagement.blogspot.com/2017/02/30-days-to-new-me-danette-mays-30-day.html ) Buuuuuuuut... November and December were kind of crazy months with Nanowrimo and the holidays and some anxiety (insert dramatic eyeroll here) and, well, let's just say that I fell off the Danette May wagon (don't tell her). I almost completely stopped my workouts and meditations and I'd say I was eating on-plan about 60% of the time. And my belly will tell you...not so good an idea. So, here I am at the st...

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to what makes me happy...and, more specifically, what does not. It is the time of year for reassessing, after all. Something about that fresh year--the blank calendar, the unmarred planner, the pristine, white days ahead. It begs the highest of intentions, doesn't it? Well, in the best spirit of the new year's resolution, I have set before me a little project for 2016. And I've named it. Amy's 2016 Happiness Project It's not terribly original, I'm afraid. But it is rather descriptive. And it has two main components: 1)  Focus on joy , and 2)  Be a happy failure . The first isn't all that uncommon. It's meant to encompass bringing the focus of each day to my own joy and the joy of those around me. And it includes things like playing with the kids (and the dog) more and doing things that make me smile, like listening to music that I love and coloring and reading and writing...and relaxing. Making t...

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...

Welcome back! It's Top Ten Tuesday time again! I had planned to write a post about New Year's Resolutions sometime back around January 1, but for some reason I just couldn't get it together. I was delayed a bit in getting up and running, but I did eventually get engaged in things. I looked back over my resolutions from last year, like I always do. And I did my annual January resolution brainstorm at the coffeeshop….like I always do. Sidebar: Here's a little peek at my perch in my current favorite writing spot, The Cocoa Beanery. These were actually taken while I was working on my resolutions back in January. At some point I will share shots of my other favorite writing locals… But I kept wanting to spend more time with it all. It needed more thought. The thinking needed to be synthesized…simplified. And yet I never could get myself to do it. I just copied "Resolutions" from one week's to-do list to the next, never really doing anythi...

The Resolutions Tree I thought it might be nice if I got this post in before we're too far away from the New Year's beginning...it might lose some impact come September. While I personally think you can reevaluate things and set new goals anytime (like, say, March 1st!), the new year tends to be a natural time for this in our culture, so, come January, I said, let's do it! I'm not sure that I love the term "resolutions." I think it carries a lot of baggage. A lot of "I'm going to lose fifty pounds-go to the gym everyday-and never eat another piece of chocolate again-only to be broken within days of being uttered" baggage. What I'm thinking about is more of a thoughtful consideration of your life over the last year...what's working well, what your thankful for, and what you'd like to change or add to or subtract from your life. This is something I do every year. As a matter of fact, one of my 2012 resolutions was to start this...