One Mommy's Memos

In February 2017, I read the life-changing book, the Miracle Morning , by Hal Elrod--and I began implementing it immediately. For the past 10 months, I've had weeks where I started off each day with a "miracle morning", and weeks where I didn't. And I can tell you that my weeks with miracle mornings, without a doubt, went much better than the weeks without. When I start my day off with a miracle morning, I am calmer, more patient, and more focused on what really matters. And I am less anxious and tense throughout the day. Today, at the beginning of the new year, I am recommitting myself to have miracle mornings every day. Will you join me? What is a Miracle Morning? It's starting the day off right. There's an easy acronym, "SAVERS", that helps me remember. S--Silence This is time to ponder, pray, and or meditate. A--Affirmations Growing up, I thought affirmations were silly. But I’ve seen where negative self-talk gets me. Saying a

I have many goals in my life. But the last few weeks since this post , I've been trying to identify my #1 priority for my life (not just this year) by contemplating the question, what is the One Thing I want to accomplish some day? As a Homeschooling Mom, I draw rich meaning and purpose in my life from facilitating the education of my children. And at first, I identified as my One Thing: "I want to raise children who are happy, spiritual, righteous, serving, educated, and productive, and have a good relationship with them".  From the beginning, I knew this #1 priority was missing something. For starters, it was missing God. But, I justified this by telling myself, I serve God by serving my children, and raising great children is what I feel God wants my purpose right now to be. Raising well-adjusted children as my #1 is also problematic because, despite my best efforts, it is out of my control. They have their free will. I will do my best, but perhaps they won'

There are things about myself I want to change. And sadly, some of those things are things I've wanted to change for many years, and yet, here I am, the same. Why? I think a big part of it is that I haven't had a vision of what is possible. And another part of it is that I get overwhelmed. Here's how it goes.... I read a parenting book. I vow to be kinder and more patient with my kids. Then something happens where my expectations are not met, and I'm tired and overwhelmed by something else, and my emotion gets the better of me. I do or say something unkind. And then I get upset at myself. And after a few days of this scenario happening again and again, I give up, thinking I'm just not capable of being the kind and patient Mom I want to be. But in reading  The One Thing  this week, I gained a new perspective that I know will be beneficial in my journey of change. My goal needs to be mastery. I don't want to just be OK at being patient and kind. I want to be e

Today, during my Miracle Morning , I came across a fresh approach to goal setting. It makes so much sense. Tomorrow I will be delving in to answering these questions. I can tell already this will be a life-changing exercise. This is as close to a direct quote as I could get, listening to the audiobook of  The One Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results . Goal Setting to the Now: What’s the One Thing I want to do some day?  Based on my someday goal, what’s the One Thing I can do in the next 5 years to be on track to achieve it? Based on my 5 year goal, what’s the One Thing I can do this year to be on track to achieve my 5 year goal, so that I’m on track to achieve my someday goal? Based on my one year goal, what’s the One Thing I can do this month, so I’m on track to achieve my goal this year, so I’m on track to achieve my 5 year goal, so that I’m on track to achieve my someday goal?  Based on my goal this month, what’s the One Thing I can d

As a Homeschooling Mom, one thing I regularly struggle with is inspiring my kids, or helping them to be properly motivated to learn. When I am interested in learning about a particular topic, I pursue it and enjoy it. It’s not work, it’s play. But when I’m forced to study something I’m not interested in, it can be a painful experience. I know it’s the same with kids, so I try to find ways to help them learn while pursuing their interests. The trick is to find something they’re passionate about--as they learn about that interest, they have so much fun that they don’t realize they’re learning. We’ve know about and have encouraged our 9-year-old daughter’s passion for creating art since she dre w “Mouse Eating Cheese” just after her third birthday. We’ve bought her art supplies, taught her some basics, put her in several art classes, and found great online resources like the Art For Kids YouTube channel where a Dad and his children teach how to draw child-friendly subjects. She

I love to read, but for years I have read very little. Last year, I completed only 2 books (not counting books I read to my children)! “I’m too busy” has been my excuse. I’m a Homeschooling Mom. My days are focused on spending time with them and facilitating their education. And for most of their lives, most days, I have felt like my focus was on just making it through another day. I lived in survival mode, just struggling to get by each day. I didn’t feel like I had time for reading or the energy for working on self improvement or goal setting. Each year when January 1st rolled around, I didn’t want to set resolutions that I would fail to accomplish and would only lead to guilt. But in January 2017, things were different. I don’t know why exactly, but at the beginning of 2017, I felt different. I felt open, and motivated to improve and progress in my life. I was ready for change! On January 1st, I set New Year’s resolutions for the first time in years. One of my goals was to r

I’ve read some awesome books so far this year, and wanted to share.  Here are the books: The Miracle Morning, The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) , by Hal Elrod A few months ago, I heard a leader from my church say something along the lines of "Every morning, hop out of bed with excitement and make it the best day." And I remember thinking "Yeah right." But it sounded like a nice idea, so I put a weekly reminder in my calendar telling me to do so. But every time I read my reminder to do this, I just rolled my eyes. That has all changed with this book. When I wake up in the morning, I am excited about the day, and am confident that I can make it a great day. This book has transformed my mornings, my days, and my life. I have been putting the suggestions into practice since February 2017, and as a result, these last few months have been some of the best few months of my life. I will write extensively about diffe