Took the leap

He wants us to know ourselves.

I had one of those heart to heart moments tonight with my daughter. She took a big step in the courage and independence department today. She did something that she's been afraid to do for quite a while.

She decided to share with me her fear and anxiety over it and was quite tearful. Her "why" for taking that tough step was deep enough that she was willing to take that step. So cool to see this happen with my daughter...I know it was tough for her.

What did I do?? I just listened. Which is huge for me. For me, it's easy to swoop in, drive conversation and tell my daughter how she should feel or worse tell her to get over it ,but I looked deeper. And felt her emotions with her. Truly.

I know my walk with God continues to mold and shape me and make me a better mom. I felt like He was there tonight with us and leading us together in our talk.

The point. Don't feel guilty about working on you. Fitness, health and even spiritual focused time. The more you focus on you and your development, the more it compounds and shows up in such a beautiful way.

 

For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. - Matthew 12:34

 

It's Coming Unstuffed

Let the unstuffing continue!!! 

 

Many of you have been following my progress with a powerful book called “Unstuff Your Life”.  I focused on reading it for the month of May and it transformed the way I dealt with my stuff in my home…and helped restore some peace and time I’ve been craving for so long!

I implemented some simple ideas like having a home for everything, creating a place for things that I always need to find like my phone and my car keys and transformed my kitchen into a useable, workable space that I now I enjoy!

God wanted me to read that book!  He needed to show me a few things.  I listened and learned.    

My work is not finished though.  As a result of this book, I have some major plans for the rest of the house like going through my room, the closets, basement and garage, and to also save for a much-needed desk.  These are the projects I’m focused on for the summer in between visits to the pool and backyard cookouts with my family.  The important thing for me to do now is to schedule the time to work on these areas.    

If you are struggling to get your house under control and always feel like you are cleaning your house instead of spending your time with the people you care about, I encourage you to check out this book.  The fundamentals have changed my life, given me a structure to be more efficient and given me a peace that I can enjoy life without the nagging guilt of having to clean the house!

What's My Relationship With Stuff Got To Do With It?

 Have you ever just stumbled onto a personal development book that has been a life-changer for you? You know, a book that you just totally connect with and it clicks with you on multiple levels? Several years ago, I read, “Return to Love, A Course in Miracles” by Marianne Williamson and it was incredible how THAT book and the timing of reading it re-sparked my relationship with God. It “returned” me back to God. Ultimately, where I was meant to be. Do you ever wonder what your life would be like if you hadn't found that “life-changer” book? Not that God would’ve given up on me if I didn’t read the book, but I truly felt that it was God re-introduced. When I reflect back, I’m grateful for that book. 

I’m always on the quest for a book that will have THE answer for me. Fix whatever struggle I am currently facing. One area in my life that seems to be at the forefront in the current season of my life, well, geez, probably every season of my life is TIME! I have struggled with time. Always! I am always late. My house is always disheveled to the point that I feel like if I had someone just drop by, I would be mortified. Underwear on the bathroom floor or dirty dishes in the sink. My roommate in college always used to chuckle at how I got dressed each day…with my constant changing of clothes and the pile that always ended up on my bed. The pile of clothes never returned to the closet until about a week, sometimes two later.

 I’ve been a mom for 8 years. Yep, it would seem like I would have this whole “time battle” figured out, especially working full time and having a home based business. But, it turns out, I don’t! My laundry baskets are always overflowing, I never have the kids ready for school until five minutes before we walk out the door, my car, as I like to refer to it, looks like a bomb went off inside. I crave to seek peace in my crazy world, but is that even possible? Are moms just meant for a chaotic existence? Is that what we are supposed to “deal with” in our roles? I have read all about how to make my work week a 4-hour one, or how to organize my day into certain time blocks so I am dedicated to my task when I schedule it, but nothing has seemed to work. The whole thought of it feels a little hopeless.

 Last week, I started “listening” to “Unstuff Your Life” by Andrew Mellen. I always listen to personal development in the car to grow. This new book was an unexpected purchase on Audible.com through my monthly membership. Something about the name of the book just stuck out to me. Plus, the reviews were outstanding. I figured it couldn’t hurt.

The author, is a comforting man, who seems to resemble a therapist. We get started right away and the starting point is not what I was expecting. He wasn’t telling me where the perfect place is to keep my car keys or how to organize my cabinets. He asked me to look inward to understand why I am the way I am and what is my relationship with my stuff.

What I uncovered in the past week, is that I don’t have an unhealthy relationship with my stuff. I have no trouble saying “goodbye” to things in my house, but I am a perfectionist. I strive for perfection and I am often disappointed with myself when I don’t achieve high level of performance that I expect of myself. (Can I get an Amen here?) When I don’t think I can attain it, I shut down. I often don’t perform a task unless I know I will do it with accuracy. If I don’t have all the tools and resources available, I won’t do it. In turn, things pile up. Another issue for me is distraction or maybe it’s laziness. My husband referenced a few weeks ago, that I never put things AWAY right away when I am done with them. And...he’s right. I get started with dinner and the food, measuring cups, utensils, etc. are left out. Then we sit down for dinner and my mess is sitting on the counter. We’re done and not only do I have to clear the table, but I am overwhelmed by the prepwork mess I still have to clean up. OVERWHELMED seems like an understatement. In classic Lindsay-like fashion, I got pretty defensive with my husband’s comment, but last night I told him he was right.

I don’t have it all figured out yet, but I’ve been applying some of the things I have learned over the past week: 1. Everything has a home. All of our stuff needs to have a home and we need to be able to find what we are looking for in 30 seconds. 2. Like with like. This means when we store items, they must be kept together.

I have a feeling this book is going to transform my life. I am seeing it already. I have incorporated the things I have been told to work on this weekend. Find a place for my mail and my keys. It’s been revolutionary. Really. I’ve been also focusing on putting every single thing I get out AWAY when I am finished. This weekend, I cleaned out my car, weeded the flower beds, got more laundry done than I have ever done in a weekend…and I put it away.(Yahoo!!) AND, the best part was I found time to play with my kids without the nagging feeling that I had more housework to get done. Oh, and I got this blog post done. :)

I look forward to sharing the transformation and successes with you so that you might be inspired to read this one, too.

Faith and Trust are Mutually Exclusive

Life has been in a whirlwind lately.  New exciting projects at work, my 14 month old son is just starting to walk, my daughter going back to school, staying in our current home for the longer term.  I have been grateful for the changes and decisions in the past several months, but I would be lying if I didn’t say all the changes aren’t affecting me, making me a little uneasy with life, where it’s going and how to deal with the day to day.  I’m just your everyday working mom and wife.

Faith and trust.  These are words that are so interchangeable that before this week, I hadn’t really even thought about these words.  Do they mean the same thing or are they different?  You go to church and you hear those words all the time.  But can you have faith if you don’t have trust?

I consider myself a woman of faith.  I believe in Jesus, that he walked this earth and that someday he will return.  It definitely took some time for me to truly believe this, but now I do and stand firm in my faith that He not only existed on earth, but he still does in spirit.

Each morning, I try to put my time in with God.  Some weeks are more consistent than others.  I sit down with my phone and reading a selected bible plan.  This week’s topic was “Confidence”.  Seemed appropriate enough to dive in and soak up some scripture. 

Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.  For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.   Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm for God can be trust to keep his promise. - Hebrews 10:22-23. 

On this particular morning, my mental highlighter picked up the word, “trust”.  TRUST!  God wanted me to read this and focus on it.  If I’m not trusting to pray to God in hard times, thinking I can handle my issues on my own, how can God come in and do His work?  Lord knows, He will fix my boo-boo much better than me!  In our instant gratification society, we are programmed that when a problem surfaces, to stop the presses and fix the problem immediately.  We can’t handle pain for too long…nor do we have the time to really pray and ask God to handle in His time.

I am guilty of this behavior.  But, how do I stop it?

A friend of mine suggested that I ask God for more trust, more faith.  Hmm, I had never had that thought…you mean I can go to him for everything?  Crazy, right?

My realization this week is that one cannot fully have faith if they do not trust.  Trust is such a powerful word and even more powerful to GIVE.  I don’t have it all figured out this week, but here’s to the molding process.