Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things My Yoga Teacher Has Taught Me 1. How to breathe using my tummy and not my shoulders. 2. How to be gentle with myself. 3. To say I love myself every morning, even before I brush my teeth. 4. To laugh 500 times a day. 5. To indulge without guilt or punishment. 6. How to meditate. 7. How to gently bring my mind back to the moment. 8. To listen to my body. 9. To feel my body. 10. To notice changes in my body and mind. 11. To take time every day to rebalance myself. 12. The importance of being gentle and forgiving with myself. 13. The ability to manage stress.

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The Dreaded Thank You Note

In many ways, I am a very lenient mom. In other ways, I am extremely strict.

Such is the case with thank you notes.

I grew up with a mom who couldn't take pen to paper to save her life and an aunt/uncle who were amazing at writing thoughtful notes for birthday and thank you alike.

Somewhere along the last 37 years, notes have become very important to me and I insist that my children express their gratitude.

Enter the Girl Scout cookie season.

My daughter is a Brownie and this is her second year selling cookies. Last year, through the help of my Rotary club and Operation Thin Mint, my daughter was the best seller in her troop, took her troop be the top 50 troop in the region, and earned a free pass to summer camp. That's over 500 boxes sold to us laypeople. That's also about 50 thank you notes . . .

She's doing well, but the parents are about driven mad with the whining and complaining. She's gotten notes and even monetary tips in response to her thank you notes, so she's getting positive feedback.

I guess life lessons come with their own challenges and I'm set on teaching her this one, but the whining . . . .

Unchartered Territory

I've hit a point in my career where I am finding myself immersed in politics in a way I never anticipated. I have people who are potential future board members on other wastewater boards soliciting me for campaign contributions. These people could be my boss someday, depending upon where my career goes.

At first I was simply scared when I got the letter and contribution envelope. Then I was a little glad to have been included. Lastly I was puzzled as to how to react appropriately.

I decided to contribute.

It seems like a small amount for someone to continue in or enter into their political career. When I was in consulting, I made cookies for clients. This isn't terribly different, and a lot less time consuming than cookies.

Also, I decided it would look worse to send nothing than to send a small amount. Everyone knows I have young children, so no one seems to expect me to have too much money . . . yet.

Not sure the way it will work when I do get my first general manager job. Do I donate to each of my current board members' campaigns? Do I donate to candidates running for office in my district? How transparent is my donation and should each one be identical?

Poop

Big Dreams and Pixie Dust has been talking lately about potty training and all the poop involved. I've enjoyed the blog as it brings up distant memories of potty training my now school age children . . .

until this past weekend . . .

Recently I went into my bathroom to find an odd substance in the sink. Yes, it was poop. I then noticed a smear on the mirror. Yep, more poop. Then for some reason I picked up the rug, and guess what was underneath??? You got it - more poop!

Now, my son had nonchalantly changed from shorts to pants earlier that day and it didn't take a whole lot of figuring to realize that he was guilty.

His defense, "it came out of the toilet". I guess the toilet backed up.

But, under the rug?!?!?!?

How the Other People Live . . .

I am blessed with a work schedule that allows me every other Friday off. This is time I get to volunteer at my children's school and have afternoon dates with the hubby. It's like a gift from above.

This particular Friday I decided to stop by the local Starbucks after dropping the kids off and before volunteering. I was shocked how many moms I ran into there and I could feel myself turning green with envy, thinking,

"They get to do this every day."
"They get the joy of female companionship every day."
and
"Wow."

Working full-time has it's pros and cons as does working part-time and being a full-time homemaker. This little peak into the other side was pretty intoxicating. But, no, I wouldn't trade my career for it or my husband who currently has the best work/life balance of any man I know. And I'm sure that the women I shared coffee with romanticize my position too.

Anyhow, my hat goes off to any woman who can stay with the kids and make a home for her family. And if she gets to enjoy coffee with her friends as a reward once the kids are in school, well, she's earned it!

Quote for the Day

“If only we'd stop trying to be happy we'd have a pretty good time.”

— Edith Wharton

Story of the Day

One day a small opening appeared on a cocoon, and a man sat and watched for the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.

But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened!

In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening was God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been. We could never fly.

I asked for Strength ...
And God gave me Challenges to make me strong.
I asked for Wisdom ...
And God gave me Problems to solve.
I asked for Prosperity ...
And God gave me Brain and Brawn to work.
I asked for Courage ...
And God gave me Danger to overcome.
I asked for Love ...
And God gave me Troubled people to help.
I asked for Favors ...
And God gave me Opportunities.
I received nothing I wanted
I received everything I needed.

Happiness

I've been thinking a lot about happiness over the past year and working to understand how to have more of it in my life.

I have listened to tapes from the dali lama, I have spent countless hours on The Chief Happiness Officer's blog, I have started and continued yoga, I have worked to stay healthy and most of all I have spent more time living in the moment.

So, when I came across this quote, it gave me pause . . .

The pursuit of happiness is a most ridiculous phrase; if you pursue happiness you'll never find it. - C. P. Snow (1905 - 1980)

Just as I type this, happiness happened to me. My darling daughter gave me a butterfly made from pipe cleaners - too sweet!

So the point of today's blog is that happiness is right here, right now, and right below our noses. We don't need to pursue it, we need to acknowledge it!

Stress

The evilness of stress finally took hold of me and I came down ill this week.

Between

- work being stressful, both the work I am doing (labor negotiations, training a new employee, annual regulatory reports) and the boss,

- spending the time and effort to find a new job (resume prep, searching, networking, informational interviews, obtaining approval from references, etc.),

- and lastly my dad and "something on his lung",

I'm just done with.

Took yesterday off, but kept in touch with the office via e-mail and took on kid duty after school - not sure how much rest I allowed myself. Went to bed early, but work up two hours ago with a racing mind.

Had hoped that emptying it might help . . .

Trying to stay strong.