What was the best book you read in 2012, and why? (And by "Why?" I mean: Why did you read it? And why was it your favourite? Although these answers could be one and the same...!)
So, initially I wasn't even going to answer this question because I couldn't think of much I had read this year, but as I went to write a comment to that effect I did think of one!
Going with books I hadn't read prior to this year, the best thing I've read was Learning Dispositions. When I began reading it and attending the class where I got it, I really didn't think it would be as big a deal to me as it ended up being. But it ended up being the best book for me because it has really helped me a lot as a mother. I can look at behaviour that we tend to think of as 'naughty' and I can now be a lot calmer while still setting boundaries and see what my daughters are trying to communicate, as well as how I might better direct them to put their Purposefulness and Persistence or Confidence or Resourcefulness, etc. to a positive use. I can see that all behaviour has meaning and I know what I can do to help them develop skills that will benefit them throughout their lives and help them be life long learners.
It's really hard to explain just what this book has given me as a parent, but it has given me a lot.
What was the greatest risk you took in 2012? What was the outcome?
Another difficult question to answer.. and even as I began typing this I didn't know what the answer wiould be... and now I this is the question I don't want to answer, but in the spirit of my thoughts about this question, I guess I will!
It's really been a less risky year than other recent years for me... 2009 I got married and in 2010 and 2011 I gave birth... this year nothing major like that, lol!
I guess I have taken a different type of risk this year... in being more open about my experiences since becoming a mother (without wanting to be overly public about it...) I have felt a lot of vulnerability in doing so, but it has also has given me more reason to look for the good, be grateful, and embrace joy and left me feeling more capable, confident, resilient and stronger all round. It's been a risk worth taking - I am loving my family and my life and everything in it right now!
Showing posts with label Reflections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reflections. Show all posts
Monday, 10 December 2012
Monday, 3 December 2012
Reverb Day 3 - What Do You Really Wish For?
Today's reverb question I found hard to answer...
Today's #reverb12 prompt and image come from... Cam aka Curlypops. Many of you may know Cam as blog button designer extraordinaire. What you may not know is that she is also making the most of a life lived on hold:
Living life on a transplant waiting list gives you lots of reasons to reflect on what you've achieved in your life, and what you wish for the future.Imagine a scenario where you only had one year left to live. What is one thing that you really wish to do that you just haven't had the chance to accomplish yet?
I would like to add: what steps could you take (however small) to ensure that you accomplish this thing in 2013?
Today's #reverb12 prompt and image come from... Cam aka Curlypops. Many of you may know Cam as blog button designer extraordinaire. What you may not know is that she is also making the most of a life lived on hold:
Living life on a transplant waiting list gives you lots of reasons to reflect on what you've achieved in your life, and what you wish for the future.Imagine a scenario where you only had one year left to live. What is one thing that you really wish to do that you just haven't had the chance to accomplish yet?
I would like to add: what steps could you take (however small) to ensure that you accomplish this thing in 2013?
The reason I find this question hard to answer is that I couldn't identify any dreams I'm longing to fulfil that I'm not already in the process of accomplishing at least... I have a beautiful little family. I'm working on other study and interest goals. Those are things that I am excited to do, and do view as important (although not the be-all-and-end-all), but they are there and the steps are being taken. Honestly, there are things (like traveling) that I would like to do... but at the moment nothing that I would be terribly disappointed if I died without achieving...
Then I started thinking about one thing that I really am aspiring to for the year 2013 (and now!) which encompasses and influences all other achievements anyway - living life fully awake, intentionally, with gratitude, embracing joy. In case you're wondering, these are words one of my favourite bloggers often uses to describe the way she desires to live her life... and I think they are great words that simply describe and helped me really grasp a concept that I was already familiar with - life is supposed to be happy, and it can be, but it's up to you to grab it!
So maybe that's it, the thing I want to accomplish: embrace joy. I know that things won't always be simple and that life has stress - even now I can see things on the horizon that although I know will be a great blessing will have their challenges too - but if you make a conscious effort you can see all of that with a perspective of what will be at the end as well as the joys that surround us even when our circumstances try us.
As I have alluded to, Jonathan and I have some exciting things that are also a little bit scary coming up... watch this space! (PS - no I'm not pregnant.)
Wednesday, 22 August 2012
Removing distractions
Recently I came to a realisation: I have so many things that I need to/want to/ can do with my time and I'm really not getting very far with many of them.
Obviously my highest priority is my family and home. I also have a church calling. I'm studying to complete my SACE. I'm taking music lessons and will be doing an exam in a few months, which I need to practise for. I'm trying to find the time to sew a quilt for Natalie. I want to blog and write more. There are other things I'd like to sew, and make, and bake, and do... there are people I want to spend time with. All of these are things I consider worthwhile and many of them I don't get to do enough of for my liking. There are also things less worthy of my time...
As you probably know, I recently removed my facebook profile. First of all I deactivated it, and then I was told that there actually is the option of completely deleting your facebook account, and so I went back on and did that. I had come to the realisation that it had become a distraction to the point where that negative (and a few others) outweighed the positives aspects of FB. I decided to test the theory that if I didn't have a FB account to look at when I felt like I didn't have enough energy and/or focus for anything much, that maybe I would find the energy instead. If not, I decided that even just sitting on the couch watching my girls play, or reading if they are in bed would be a better use of my time!
So that is one example of a distraction that I felt the need to eliminate. The time that has passed since I bit the bullet really has confirmed what I thought it would achieve - I have so much more focus. I spend less time wondering whether someone has replied to a message I wrote them and I don't get sidetracked by other things while I'm checking for those messages, because I just call them or text them and know that when they reply or call me back, I'll know...
Obviously my highest priority is my family and home. I also have a church calling. I'm studying to complete my SACE. I'm taking music lessons and will be doing an exam in a few months, which I need to practise for. I'm trying to find the time to sew a quilt for Natalie. I want to blog and write more. There are other things I'd like to sew, and make, and bake, and do... there are people I want to spend time with. All of these are things I consider worthwhile and many of them I don't get to do enough of for my liking. There are also things less worthy of my time...
As you probably know, I recently removed my facebook profile. First of all I deactivated it, and then I was told that there actually is the option of completely deleting your facebook account, and so I went back on and did that. I had come to the realisation that it had become a distraction to the point where that negative (and a few others) outweighed the positives aspects of FB. I decided to test the theory that if I didn't have a FB account to look at when I felt like I didn't have enough energy and/or focus for anything much, that maybe I would find the energy instead. If not, I decided that even just sitting on the couch watching my girls play, or reading if they are in bed would be a better use of my time!
So that is one example of a distraction that I felt the need to eliminate. The time that has passed since I bit the bullet really has confirmed what I thought it would achieve - I have so much more focus. I spend less time wondering whether someone has replied to a message I wrote them and I don't get sidetracked by other things while I'm checking for those messages, because I just call them or text them and know that when they reply or call me back, I'll know...
So, inspire me - what are some of the distraction you've ditched recently?
I may just follow suit!
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Growing with an eternal perspective
There is a quote that gives me faith that I can keep growing and change who I am in to who I should be and want to be.
Isn't it awesome? I decided the butterfly is a good symbol of what this quote says. Even if you think you're a caterpillar, you can become a butterfly!
As I was thinking more about my last blog post, I remembered a conversation I had once with a friend, Lee Worden. We had been to the temple (I think it was one of the first times she'd been there) and she was driving me home. She expressed her concern that, having found the gospel later in her adult life, she would never catch up to us who had been learning about it throughout our lives. I said something like, "You have eternity to catch up." She liked that. I miss you Lee!
As I thought about this experience, I realised that this principle doesn't only apply to people who are baptised and join the church later in their lives. It applies tTro all of us. When we start comparing ourselves to other people and feel like we may never be as good as them we should remember - we have eternity to catch up! I really like something that Elder Neil L. Andersen said about this - "Wherever you now find yourself on the road of discipleship, you are on the right road, the road toward eternal life."
Lightbulb! So, if you're on the road to discipleship, you don't have to feel somehow less than people who have travelled further along it - just keep on trekking! Elder Jeffrey R. Holland also said, "[The Lord's] concern is for the faith at which you finally arrive, not the hour of the day in which you got there."
I'm really grateful to have had time over the past week to really think about the things that are important to me... the people that really matter, the attributes I want to develop, and the things that I want to spend my time on - they've all been on my mind. I dare say I'll tell you more about them soon. :-)
Isn't it awesome? I decided the butterfly is a good symbol of what this quote says. Even if you think you're a caterpillar, you can become a butterfly!
As I was thinking more about my last blog post, I remembered a conversation I had once with a friend, Lee Worden. We had been to the temple (I think it was one of the first times she'd been there) and she was driving me home. She expressed her concern that, having found the gospel later in her adult life, she would never catch up to us who had been learning about it throughout our lives. I said something like, "You have eternity to catch up." She liked that. I miss you Lee!
As I thought about this experience, I realised that this principle doesn't only apply to people who are baptised and join the church later in their lives. It applies tTro all of us. When we start comparing ourselves to other people and feel like we may never be as good as them we should remember - we have eternity to catch up! I really like something that Elder Neil L. Andersen said about this - "Wherever you now find yourself on the road of discipleship, you are on the right road, the road toward eternal life."
Lightbulb! So, if you're on the road to discipleship, you don't have to feel somehow less than people who have travelled further along it - just keep on trekking! Elder Jeffrey R. Holland also said, "[The Lord's] concern is for the faith at which you finally arrive, not the hour of the day in which you got there."
I'm really grateful to have had time over the past week to really think about the things that are important to me... the people that really matter, the attributes I want to develop, and the things that I want to spend my time on - they've all been on my mind. I dare say I'll tell you more about them soon. :-)
Friday, 10 August 2012
Defining me
'I've got to find out who I am... got to know, got to see what's making me... I'll be all I can when I find out who I am.'
When I was younger, I took the song quoted above quite literally - like maybe the girls had amnesia, was lost, and had to find out who she was. As I got older, I understood it in it's proper context - she's on a spiritual journey learning about how she existed before this life on earth, she has a loving Heavenly Father, there is a plan of salvation, and she is a daughter of God!
Lately, I've been thinking of it in a third context: what defines me? What makes me who I am? How do I define myself?
Usually I plod along and don't really give it a lot of thought I suppose, but I'm beginning to feel that it is really important. If that definition is too narrow, then when those things end you may end... or at least end up feeling really lost. Like if you define yourself by your job, then if you lose that job for whatever reason you could find it really hard to move on. On the other hand, if the definition is too broad.... well, you don't really get a definition do you.
Also, do I define myself or do I allow others' opinions of me to define how I see myself?
I am beginning to spend time thinking about how I currently define myself and trying to decide what I want the true definition of myself to be.
I know that some of those defining things include important relationships, my religious beliefs and values, as well as talents and other interests.
I'll be writing more about those in the future.
When I was younger, I took the song quoted above quite literally - like maybe the girls had amnesia, was lost, and had to find out who she was. As I got older, I understood it in it's proper context - she's on a spiritual journey learning about how she existed before this life on earth, she has a loving Heavenly Father, there is a plan of salvation, and she is a daughter of God!
Lately, I've been thinking of it in a third context: what defines me? What makes me who I am? How do I define myself?
Usually I plod along and don't really give it a lot of thought I suppose, but I'm beginning to feel that it is really important. If that definition is too narrow, then when those things end you may end... or at least end up feeling really lost. Like if you define yourself by your job, then if you lose that job for whatever reason you could find it really hard to move on. On the other hand, if the definition is too broad.... well, you don't really get a definition do you.
Also, do I define myself or do I allow others' opinions of me to define how I see myself?
I am beginning to spend time thinking about how I currently define myself and trying to decide what I want the true definition of myself to be.
I know that some of those defining things include important relationships, my religious beliefs and values, as well as talents and other interests.
I'll be writing more about those in the future.
How do you define yourself?
Tracey
Sunday, 27 May 2012
The things I didn't quite know
Ok, so.... there are some things which perhaps I knew already, but I wish hadn't taken so long to fully comprehend... or will I look back over the years and realise that now, as I write this, I still didn't quite get it?
Like all the times I've looked at Jonathan and been stunned with the thought that I'm sure I didn't even know what love was when I married him, or any day since - until that very moment... (obviously I loved him but it's like I didn't quite get it yet.)
Or when I've had the same feeling looking at my daughters... along with a deeper realisation of everything that it means to be a mother. Is it really possible that I could worry that much about these two tiny people who depend so much on me? Or that parenthood would be that hard but on the other hand worth it all? Or that I would, undoubtedly, give them my all without question?
Did I really understand before just how important human relationships are and that anything - really ANYTHING - can wait (at least for a little while) when a person needs you - most especially if those people are children who are counting on you to teach them their worth.
All of these are things that I sort of knew... in a way - and they're only a few examples picked out of many. They are the kind of things that people have said to me in the past and in some cases I would reply, "Yeah I know, BUT _______" (fill in the blank)... they now have deeper root in my heart and hopefully for power than before!
Like all the times I've looked at Jonathan and been stunned with the thought that I'm sure I didn't even know what love was when I married him, or any day since - until that very moment... (obviously I loved him but it's like I didn't quite get it yet.)
Or when I've had the same feeling looking at my daughters... along with a deeper realisation of everything that it means to be a mother. Is it really possible that I could worry that much about these two tiny people who depend so much on me? Or that parenthood would be that hard but on the other hand worth it all? Or that I would, undoubtedly, give them my all without question?
Did I really understand before just how important human relationships are and that anything - really ANYTHING - can wait (at least for a little while) when a person needs you - most especially if those people are children who are counting on you to teach them their worth.
All of these are things that I sort of knew... in a way - and they're only a few examples picked out of many. They are the kind of things that people have said to me in the past and in some cases I would reply, "Yeah I know, BUT _______" (fill in the blank)... they now have deeper root in my heart and hopefully for power than before!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)