Every year, I start with a "word of the year", then take each facet of my life and decide what actions need to be taken to improve. Then, I break down my overall goals into month-size chunks. Once I have my month chunked out, I can assign dates on the calendar as goal posts to keep me on track. Life can become overwhelming real quick when you juggle homeschooling, a large family, working from home and extra-curricular activities. It helps to have a game plan, just in case "life happens" and I get derailed along the way. (Like, um, last year) My word of the year is alignment. As in, "Align your actions with your intentions". Click through to see my goals - and updates - for 2014, my year of ALIGNMENT:
We had a little snowfall last night here in North Carolina. The roads iced over and neighborhood kids scrambled to get in some good sledding down the hill to the cul-de-sac before the sunshine melted it all away. We don't see much snow in these parts, so there was a big showing of sweatpants and athletic hoodies instead of proper sledding gear. One of our friends uses pizza pans for her kids sledding enjoyment. I admit, I'm a little jealous that I didn't think of that ... A funny thing happened this morning. As dozens of kids were slip sliding down the ice and snow, squealing their little heads off, there was a man in a minivan skidding uphill. Every time he revved the engine, his front wheels spun and screeched. No concern for the dozens of kids sledding past; he was on a mission. This went on for a few minutes, until a few teenage boys from the neighborhood grabbed kitty litter to "salt" the road with. We laughed and shook our heads as they passed by, pushing all their weight into the still struggling minivan. With one more stubborn VREEEEEET! he was off and moving up the road. Now, imagine that from the terrorized viewpoint of onlooking parents. Not really an occasion for laughter, right? Yet, the kids were all immersed in this slap-stick scene: a grown man unable to maneuver his own minivan to the point where it involves "the stuff the cat poops on". They clapped and cheered as he drove off, without one nod to the imminent danger they were in just a few minutes before. When other cars would attempt the hill, they'd respond the same. Every time it was awe followed by cheering, then back to sled races with their friends. I wonder when it happens that we all start worrying so much that we shrug off that part of ourselves which craves joy. As we move into the second month of 2014, I hope you're claiming joy despite your circumstances.
Here's my Wednesday confession: I spend way too much time reading about psychology. Last year, I knew next to nothing about borderline personality disorder. With all our researching, reading, conference-ing and talking about it in our community ... I still feel like we're miles behind where we should be. What I know for sure: Our brains are hard-wired for negative thoughts and internalizing negative experiences as future negative thoughts (e.g., "Remember that one time, at band camp, when I peed my pants in front of everyone?"). If we can master the art of reprogramming our brain to internalize positive experiences, we can transform ourselves into happier human beings. Happiness generates a healthy life. A happier human being has a stronger immune system than an unhappy human being. A happier human being is less sedentary. A happier human being is a breeding ground for dopamine, the "I feel great!" hormone. Happier human beings have no internal drive for bringing pain or stress to other human beings - or themselves. With all the stress, confusion, medical expenses, & general suckage that can come with parenting a teen with borderline personality disorder - it would be really easy for the Mr. & I to throw in the towel, sink deep into negative thoughts and stagnate there. The exceptional thing is finding moments of happiness and downloading them into our brains. I don't know about you, but I deeply desire an exceptional life. Isn't it amazing that the human body is designed in every way to heal itself? Isn't it amazing that we can empower ourselves simply by changing the way we THINK? Marinate on that for a minute.
The other day, a song I hadn't heard before came on the radio. The kiddos were in the backseat, jammin' along & having a great time. The baby was content to wiggle her feet, snug-as-a-bug in her carseat. I decided to take the long way home, through winding streets lined with Carolina pines. I'm sure I looked a hot mess, as is my norm. For those 3 or 4 minutes though, I put my pride on hold. That's my joy moment. There's a lot of chatter in the inspirational and entrepreneur blog circuits about having a word for the year. The word becomes your jumping off point for where your intentions lie. As a Christian, I want to tell you that my word for the year is Jesus. ... but that's not a boots-on-the-ground approach to how I would love 2014 to unfold. I tried out a lot of words before coming to the word that fits my heart for this year.
I know, I know - it's supposed to be wordless Wednesday. What if we did something just a little bit different and attached a word to each Wednesday of this month? What if that could be a way of aligning our actions with our intentions? Imagine it: every Wednesday this month, I choose joy. Maybe I royally screw up every other day of the week with choosing joy, but for one day of the week, I'm conciously choosing and verbally reminding myself. Joy, joy, joy. I choose joy. I reject sadness. I reject feelings of unworthiness. I reject fear. I reject anger. I reject holding grudges. I reject gossip. I reject any ol' thing that is attempting to suck the joy molecules out of my personal space today. In that spirit, I'm sharing some of my favorite images from around the interwebs that speak joy to me. You're welcome. :)
Mollie is a bohemian troubadour, deceptively packaged as a suburbanite . Her soul is wrapped in music, and her heart belongs to a man with more hair on his face than his head.