Showing posts with label Parenting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parenting. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Day 4 - Two Compliments for the Day

It was beautiful today.  It was humid and warm but there was a cool breeze.  It has been raining and though there were worms and slugs out in full force, I decided to run/walk on the walking trail behind my gym.  My two oldest kids were at school and my two youngest were in good hands in the baby-sitting room.  It was great to be outside.  Refreshing. 

Years ago I was near the place where Stonehenge is in England and there is another place with stones placed in a circular shape.  There was energy there.  I wanted to do yoga, but back then yoga was less "normal" and I didn't have the guts to mentally block out the stares of others and connect with my soul and the surrounding.  Maybe it was for the best, but there is something special about doing yoga in nature. Until today I have only dared to do it in my backyard, but today after my exercise, I decided to try a few poses.  I actually loved it.  When I did a pose where you look up, it was spiritual.  It was connecting me to something bigger than myself, to the heavens.   The sky was a thick gray.  I knew that behind the gray, there was blue.  And that there is always blue sky behind the gray.  Sometimes life seems a bit thick and gray.  The thing is that whether we can see it or not, there is blue behind the gray. 

Compliment of the day.  There wasn't anyone around as I went through a vinyasa flow, except two grounds keepers.  One of them whom I had greeted yesterday when he pointed out that I had dropped my debit card (thank you very much!) walked over to me and in a strong accent asked if I do "that kind of exercise" everyday.  And that I look so strong.  It felt good to get a compliment, as small as it was.  I realize that as soon as I started staying home with my kids, I don't get complimented very much.  There just are not very many people around.  Either way, I loved my morning, relatively alone, with my thoughts.

I tried a dry sauna for the first time - detoxifing.  I got some reading in too.

And I showered at the gym.  I usually go home and do that while the kids watch a show, but I decided that it would be good all the way around to do it while there.  It was great.  It was fun to get ready for the day in front of a large mirror with a long line of women doing their beauty routine.  When I got to the babysitting place to pick up the boys, Stafford my newly 3 year, old look at me and said, "Mom, ew look bewful."  He touched my caridgan and then pointed out my shoes and said how nice they were.  I guess now that I think of it I got two compliments today.  :)

On my way home I noticed lots of moms and kids at the park.  I decided that I would go and see what would come of it.  There was a woman that I always see at the gym.  Our kids know each other from babysitting.  So I got to know her and her friend while we watched the kids play.  I'm sure I will see more of them there in the coming months.  It is fun to meet people.

I also spent some time playing Super Mario Bros. with my 5 year olds, Warrick.  We really like to work at it together.  Neither one of us is very good, but you got to give us something for effort.  I never realized that the Wii would be a great family thing, but it is.

I find that kids listen to their bodies more than we do. They do yoga poses, naturally. Every kid goes upside down on the couch, don't they? I did when I was a kid. I think they do it instinctively when their brain needs more oxygen - that's what the pose does. I've started taking pictures of my kids as they randomly throughout the day put themselves in a pose. These are of my 5yo. Ignore the underwear.

Monday, April 25, 2011

Day 2 - Picture yourself

This is a beginning of my dream wall.  Your eye gets used to the same pictures so I change it up often.  I only had one magazine that I could cut up so it is sparse, but it is a start.  I will get bigger and I will reach the goals that these pictures represent.  As I do nightly yoga and meditation, I visualize my goals - who I want to become.  I can already feel it working.  It is amazing.


Think of your favorite holiday, or simply a family gathering on a Sunday afternoon. 
Now picture yourself in this setting 20 years from now. 
Picture your family. 
Who is there?
What are the smells?
What is the general feeling?
What are people doing?

This exercise is something I did recently.  I have spent a lot of time meditating on this scene.  I have it in my mind in great detail, the sounds, the smells, the colors.  I can feel it; it is so strong.  This is what I base my day on.  It has changed the way I treat my children.  If I want them to WANT to be with me and their siblings, I have to nurture that relationship now.  If I want there to be lots of laughing and fun, I have to nurture those things in my everyday life.  Whatever environment YOU CREATE right now will be the environment of your life in the future.  The only way to change the future is to change the environment of right now.  It is circular.  It is always true.  There is no someday we will all get along.  It doesn't just happen.  You have to change it.  This doesn't mean perfection.  It means a work in progress is started now so that in 20 years, all the pieces will be put into place and the vision will become a reality.

I'm still adding details to my scene.  I will soon share it with Glenn.  Then, and I'm really excited for this, I'm going to share it with my kids.  Once I have introduced our future gatherings to my kids, I will let them add details.  Then, EVERYTHING we do will be focused on this vision.  If the boys are fighting, we will talk about how that behavior is going to affect the vision.  I have already harped on the reasons we need to be kind right now. I have already told them that their siblings can be the greatest support system they could ever get.  They know this.  They work on it.  But a picture in their mind will have more power.
I believe in visualization.  I won several state championship swimming titles, not because I had a "swimmer's body" etc.  but I believe a large part was based on the visualization that I immersed myself in.  It works.  Try it.  Put pictures up to remind you.  Have this ingrained in your mind.  Pray for it.  You will become it.  This I know.

Do not make excuses.  There are so many.  You are a being  with more potential than you realize.  There are people who have overcome bigger obstacles than you have.  It is possible - if you believe.  "Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it will achieve."

Happiness. Enthusiasm. Optimism.