Reaching in and Reaching out-Week 2 Day 11

Listen up!

Day 11
This has been a great morning so far.I read and meditated.We went over our goals from last week as a family.Last week we worked on getting everything together at night.We thought we did pretty good in that one.The kid came up with a new goal if having more family time.To accomplish this the kids want to help more with the kitchen clean up!It is a dream of mine not to have to clean the kitchen alone!

 I tried to be mindful.When I was playing with the kids I was there.I was not thinking about what I had to do next.Occasionally I had to pull a lego out of the babies mouth.Ughhhh I love legos for my boy's imaginations but good golly they are a chocking hazard!But you did not come here to hear me rant about legos did you?Is it possible to do  EVERYTHING mindfully.I am testing this with checking in with myself to see how I am doing.To be mindful is to focus on whatever you are doing and keep your focus.Bring your thoughts to that moment.

I wanted to talk more about being present in the moment and Meditation.You may ask yourself,why should I meditate?It is calming,it brings your mind back to where you want it.It has really helped me not raise my voice at my kids which is really working against yourself!I am learning from this week that I can find more silent moments than I thought.I use what time I have, and stopping every hour to breathe deeply I can think about where I want to go or if I have had enough for the day.Around 4 p.m. I usually have!It is like you are checking in with yourself to keep your emotions in check.

I am going to try this Transform-Stress-in-30-Days-with-One-Moment-Meditation to go with my deep breathing. Each day is a different exercise!These exercises go along with what I have been saying about just taking a few deep breaths and to mindful of these breaths.These exercises just take it a step further!

The creator of this challenge Martin Boroson said about this particular exercises  "It helps people who want to meditate but are having trouble getting started. It helps people who have tried to meditate, but concluded that they "couldn't do it." It even helps mediators integrate meditation into their everyday lives. And, of course, it helps people who think they're too busy to meditate—even the busiest people have a moment to spare."

Here is some more to try to bring peace into your life!Be more mindful in all you do.To get started:

I love this method of solitude or......

Try this simple meditation if you are just beginning to try meditation and yet another short meditation.These are great!

Here is two more!Try this opening heart meditation or this kindness meditation

I fell in love with these calm-parenting-mantras

Reaching out-
Yesterday I talked about listening to your kids.This requires you to get to eye level,put down whatever or turn it off.I want to give them my full attention!I found yet another great article 6 words you should say today.It was an inspirational read.The gist is this.As parents we tend to over correct or say to much but all you really need to say is I love to watch you________I love to watch you play together or I love to watch you dance.In this article it is suggested that this phrase takes the pressure off of them and they feel relaxed and happy.Do you really notice your kids and how they have changed and growing?Look at them,listen and be close to them!There has been a lot of fighting between siblings and so tonight we talked about what we loved most about each person!My heart is full!

Home-
I have a dream that I will get to painting my kitchen but I am working towards it.It is just that the mounds of laundry and playing with my kids came first today!

Let me end with a question to think about:
Are you happier today than you were yesterday?