Now here’s something I wish I had as a student: an instruction manual on “how to be calm, confident and focused on any test”.
I recently read such a book: Test Success! The author, Dr. Ben Bernstein, Ph.D, identifies nine key tools for school success. He uses a balanced mind-body-spirit approach that boils down to being calm, having confidence, and maintaining focus.
From this book I learned there are four primary causes of poor scores: Continue reading
When I think I am alone, God sends me a reminder.
When I think I have done wrong or could do better, God lets me know that I’m doing my best; that as long as I keep my heart open and bring love to the table, I’m doing good.
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Today, as I rushed through life, stressing about things that stress me out (pick from the pile; there are many things right now from which to choose), and fought with my husband over things that we shouldn’t be fighting about, and got annoyed with my kids for little things they did that slowed my frantic pace to the finish line, I looked for a reminder. I searched in the madness and the anger and the exhaustion for something that would tie up the loose ends of at least one part of my scattered self.
I found it here:
So I’m busy. I know you get it. You’re probably a parent, too. And even if you aren’t, who isn’t busy these days?
I haven’t been spending much time on writing lately and I’ve got a million ideas swimming around in my head trying to get onto the screen. But without the help of my fingers to type out the words, those ideas are just going to have to hang out in my brain for a while longer.
Despite not having much time, I felt the need to sit down and get this thought out before it turns into a voice in my head and drives me bananas. It has to do with those thoughts that buzz around in my head and turn into voices.
After dropping my son off at preschool, my daughter and I came home and settled into our morning routine (me at the computer working and her playing with her toys or drawing pictures). But this morning on our way back from preschool drop-off, she made a new imaginary friend, Clarabel.
Clarabel is a chicken. And apparently quite cute when she’s sleeping (I had to carry her in from the car when we pulled in the driveway so that she wouldn’t wake up.) Once we were inside, my daughter had to tell me all about Clarabel and how Clarabel had come to live with us because my daughter wants a sister. Clarabel will sleep in Little Brother’s room because he doesn’t sleep in there anymore. And Clarabel is in Senior Kindergarten and will go to school with my daughter. And her birthday was yesterday so she is five now. And so on and so on.
For 40 straight minutes, my daughter never stopped talking. And of course, when I first get in the house and log into work, I have correspondence to catch up on, projects to set in motion, a To-Do list to make, and most of these things I’m doing in my head; talking myself through the tasks and then moving onto the next thing. With my daughter’s non-stop talking this morning, my brain could hardly get a thought in edgewise.
And that’s when it hit me. My daughter wasn’t interrupting my train of thought. The voices in my head were interrupting my daughter.
I work from home in the mornings to be with my daughter because she only goes to school in the afternoon. Next year, she’ll be going to school all day and I’ll be in the office all day. This time is short. I can arrange my work patterns so that I can be more attentive to my daughter right now while she is with me and not treat her like an interruption to my work.
She understands when I have to get something done, and she leaves me alone to do it. But first thing in the morning, she usually wants to talk for a bit. So, from now on, instead of my daughter interrupting me, I’m going to tell the voices in my head to stop interrupting my daughter.
You may recall I recently wrote about the incredible indecision that is plaguing me. If you need to catch up on that series of posts, you can do so here, here and here. Oh, and you could also check out this one.
Well, I have been thrown another curve ball. Continue reading
Lately I’ve been feeling calmer. So have my kids. I don’t know what has come over me. I’ve read two parenting books, both fairly different in their philosophies.
But both books spoke to me and centered me. I am, rather suddenly, a more confident parent. Continue reading
I’m linking up with The Gypsy Mama today for 5 Minute Friday. The word is “Empty.” Write for 5 minutes flat prompted by “empty.” No back tracking, no edits. Just writing.
As a mother, I am always Preaching.
Practising is a much harder Practice for me. Continue reading
