unplugged

I'm going 'unplugged' for a week.  No internet, besides checking my email periodically, and no phone, except for phone calls.  

My daughter in yellow pretty much sums up how I feel about it.  

Adios!

four nothings

My cousin-in-law shared this on her Facebook wall a few months ago and I really liked it!  It's actually what got me really thinking again about waking up early and making some good changes in my life.  

This came from a 'life manifestos' blog... here.

The story is told of a sparrow and a dove perched on a branch in the winter.

“Tell me the weight of a snowflake,” the sparrow asked the dove.

“Nothing more than nothing,” the dove answered.

“In that case I must tell you a marvelous story,” the sparrow said.

“I sat on a fir branch close to the trunk when it began to snow. Not heavily, not in a raging blizzard. No, just like in a dream, without any violence at all.

“Since I didn’t have anything better to do, I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,471,952. When the next snowflake dropped onto the branch — nothing more than nothing, as you say — the branch broke off.”

Like snowflakes accumulating on that branch, your life does not change, your greatness is not unleashed by monumental actions, but by small, daily habits.

Here are four specific habits whose value will accumulate in your life like “nothing more than nothing” until, after years of steady discipline, will break your limitations and emerge as greatness:

1. Read

Reading the best books immerses you in the thoughts of the best thinkers, saturates you with the courage of the greatest souls.

Whatever you put into your mind emerges as behavior. You can’t read C.S. Lewis without grasping for heaven. You can’t read Viktor Frankl and not exercise your power to choose more wisely. You can’t read Rabbi Daniel Lapin without changing how you think about and spend money.

Every great book read is a snowflake falling on the ceiling of your limitations. Read one per week for five years and watch that ceiling crack.

2. Meditate

You are not your body; you have a body. You are not your mind; you have a mind. You are the “I Am” that observes the thoughts in your mind.

Your mind is a fabulous servant but a horrible master. It tends toward negative thinking and is plagued by fear, doubt, and worry. It holds you captive to your emotions.

To access your greatness you must transcend the negative-thinking mind. Meditation is the single most powerful tool for doing so.

Sit still in a quiet solitude and meditate for just ten minutes a day and watch the snowflakes fall…

3. Change Your Morning Routine

Leadership expert John Maxwell said,

“You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”

The most important thing you can change in this regard is your morning routine.

Make it a habit to get up an hour or even a half hour earlier than usual. Start your day with a prayer of thanksgiving. Meditate. Read. Exercise.

Do that every day for three years and you’ll feel branches of limitations snapping in your life.

4. Follow Spiritual Promptings

Call them whatever you’d like. Hunches. Intuitions. Sparks of inspiration. Whispers of conscience.

You feel them. Do you follow them?

You once had the thought to write a book. Have you written it yet? Something told you to stop when you saw that car on the side of the road with its flashers on. Did you stop?

The more quickly, courageously, and zealously you follow those promptings, the more of them you receive. The more you receive and follow, the faster your acceleration to greatness. Conversely, the less you follow these, the less you receive, the more you stay stuck.

Like the weight of one snowflake, the impact of any action taken one time is “nothing more than nothing.” But the impact of wise, daily actions cultivated into habits and lived for years is enough to break your limitations and change everything.

I really like all of these suggestions, but in place of meditation, I would say 'ponder,' which is basically the same thing.  I remember several years ago a lady who I really look up to was giving a presentation.  She is a brilliant woman and has studied the lives of many great leaders of our nation and church.  She said that one of the things she found they had in common was that they were all early-morning risers.  They would get up early and take time to pray and ponder before carrying on with the rest of their day.  

I have a long way to go before these things become habits for me, but I'm working on it.  Some mornings go well and some mornings are total flops (like this one today).  Tomorrow morning will be a good one.  

                                          The kiddies enjoying some morning Miami rain.

It doesn't snow in Miami, but it rains a lot, so I'll have to think of my daily habits as raindrops instead of snowflakes.

sleep. strength. study. spirit. simplicity.

For now, this is what I'm working toward...

Sleep:  Getting to bed earlier and waking up earlier. 

Strength:  Exercising... Giving myself an energy boost for the day.  (I've severely been lacking energy.)

Study:  Study the scriptures... Take time to ponder.

Spirit:  Praying with intent and inviting the Spirit to guide me in my day and then follow promptings I receive.  This goes right along with Study.

Simplicity:  Keep life simple.  Focus on what's most important.

My morning hours are far more productive than my late evening hours... when I'm awake for them.  The goal is to accomplish sleep, strength, study, and spirit all while my kiddies are still sleeping.  It's not easy, but when I've done it (only a handful of times), it makes my entire day go so much better.

Last night I got to bed at 10:00, which is pretty good for me, and I had my alarm set to wake me up early, but then my sweetie Ruby woke me up 3 times.  I'm pretty sure she's teething.  So... I reset my alarm for 6:20am.  Clint leaves around 6:30 and I like to be up at least a tiny bit before he goes, and my kids are up at about 6:45.  It's tricky when there are so many things I can't control, but that's okay.  Maybe tomorrow morning.

One day at a time.

                                    My favorite little boy at South Miami Beach

Progress is sloooow...

Obviously.

I haven't come back to this blog since I started it 5 weeks ago.  Hmmm.

I was actually doing pretty well, too, for about 3 days.  Not bad, huh?  My kids and I have been getting hit with all kinds of sickness.  Not fun.  I think we may be in the clear, though, and I am SO ready to get going again.

So here we go!

Confession:  I feel like I've been floundering in my life these past several months.  I've just barely been making it.  I want to feel like I am excelling, though.  There is a lot of fulfillment in progress and purpose and I know I have the potential for both.  I've just been holding myself back.  I struggle with sooo many things, but I feel like several of the things I struggle with could be helped or remedied if I went to bed earlier at night and woke up earlier in the morning.  It sounds so simple, but for me, it's not.  It's a huge weakness of mine.  I just enjoy the peace and quiet and relaxation of the evening waaay too much.  Kids asleep, time with my husband, movies, ice cream, Facebook, etc.  Sometimes even dishes and laundry if I'm feeling really good.

It may seem like such a trivial, silly issue, but I feel like if I were just better at this one thing, I would have more energy for my family (and home), more patience, more productivity in the zillion things I feel like I could be doing, etc.

But mostly... I could be a better mom.  I just want to be a good mother for my kids whom I love so much. (Did I use 'whom' correctly?... I really do want to know.)  :)

This verse of scripture inspires me...

"Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated."  
                                                                              Doctrine and Covenants 88:124

At certain times in my life I was doing this... going to bed early and waking up early, and it was amazing the difference it made in my entire day.  I love staying up late, but I allllways regret it in the morning when I am a grumpy zombie mom barely making it in the morning and day.  I do not do well on little sleep.

Night time comes and we get the kids ready for bed, and I'm thinking, "I am so going to bed as soon as they are asleep.  I am sooo tired.  It'll be so great."  And then, like clockwork, they fall asleep and something magical happens.  I wake up.  And I'm ready to dance the night away.  :)

I do think an hour or so is good to just decompress, talk with my husband, and relax.  I need that.  I just have a problem with keeping it to only an hour or so.

The purpose of this blog is to help me be a little more accountable for the choices I make.  I have so many changes I need to make.  Going to bed early is just the tip of the iceberg.

                                         At least Barney is catching some good z's.

As my roommate, Becky, would always say, no matter the time of day...

Good morning!

irony

I just now created this blog and it is 11:56pm... Hmmm. 

I am super excited to start this journey and write all about it.  I need to be accountable and track my progress.  For now, though, I need to hit the hay (as my dad would say).  The fun starts tomorrow!!

Well, now... today.  (sigh)

Sweet dreams.