Trying a New Mindset

This past weekend, I had a few glorious minutes alone in the car.  Time alone seems to be a precious commodity now.  I used to take all of those quiet moments in my day for granted, now they are treasured.

During my treasured minutes, I listened to a podcast that talked about focusing your mindset on today being the Best Day Ever.  The idea was that this mindset is not reserved for special days.  It's not hard to see certain days as our best day ever.  Days like birthdays, Christmas, graduation, wedding days, the birth of your children...  Those days are easier to put that focus on.  They were talking about applying this focus to each and every day of our lives.  To put on this mindset first thing in the morning and live it out all day no matter how ordinary your day looks.

I've been trying to do this for the past few days.  I have to say, it is honestly going to take a lot of work for me to maintain this mindset.

I wake up with my mind running a million miles an hour about all that I have to do today.  Stop!  This is the Best Day Ever!  I have breath in my lungs.  I can see across the room.  Today, I woke up a minute before my alarm so when the radio didn't seem to be working, I did still hear the click so we all did not sleep in and start Monday off on the wrong foot.  I had the opportunity to wake up each of my favourite people one at a time.  Even with in all of this, I still had to remind myself of where to keep my mind.

I was blessed to be able to start my week off with a kung fu class.  I had a headache and felt sluggish but let's remember - today is the Best Day Ever.  Class was exactly what I needed to get my morning and my week moving.

Tonight I am blessed to have the opportunity to take both of my kids down to the Mustard Seed to serve supper to their clients.  I am blessed that I get to stand on one side of the table being the one serving and that I am not in a situation where I need to stand on the other side receiving.  I am blessed that my kids jump at the chance to participate in helping others.  I am blessed to be part of a community that allows us these opportunities.

Today overall is a very normal, routine day.  I will spend much of it helping with grade 7 math, changing the sheets on our beds and cleaning the bathrooms.  If I choose the right mindset, I can choose to see the blessing in each moment.  If I don't make a conscious choice, I will likely miss out on seeing the blessings and get sucked into a much different mindset.

Maintaining this mindset requires nearly constant adjustments and reminders.  Right now I am not great at it but I plan to continue practicing it.  The payoff of this thinking for even short periods is powerful!

Anyone else having the Best Day Ever!

Twitch, Twitch, Ugh...

I've been struggling on what to blog about this week.  I feel like in many ways I am living on a hamster wheel and in the movie Groundhog Day.  Things are good...  Things are a struggle...  Things are really all over the place...  I don't want this blog to become a place where I am whining.  I want it to be a place where I document my journey but give myself a pep talk at the same time.  This week has been a struggle in the pity party, whine festival department.

This fall I have added a significant new activity to my life.  It has been good.  The issue is my life was very full (perhaps over full) when I started this new adventure.  I have yet to truly take anything off my plate.  I just keep living in the lie that I can keep heaping it up and somehow it'll all be fine.  I know I've blogged about dropping balls and flying plates and all sorts of things along these lines.  This story is nothing new in my life.  I just keep on plowing forward and hope for the best.

The past couple weeks I have noticed my anxiety rising.  I can cover it up pretty good most of the time, especially in public but it is always there lurking below the surface.  I keep trying to ignore it.  I had some eczema that I was not able to clear up but I put off going to the doctor for a couple weeks.  I finally gave myself the pep talk that I would have given any friend.  I went to the doctor and I believe that is back under control (mostly).  So I keep ignoring the underlying issue.  Last Thursday my mind was spinning so fast that I could not even remember my forms.  Sleep has been a challenge.  Since my car accident, my sleep patterns have significantly changed but lately I've been finding it even harder than normal to get my zzz's.  My weight is creeping up and now today my eye has been twitching like crazy.  More signs that the anxiety lurking under the surface needs to be addressed.

I'm not entirely sure how to resolve this but for now I will start by focusing on some serious self care.  More sleep, more movement, more quiet moments to just breath.