A Month of Growth

Each month I choose a new habit to develop or solidify in my personal life and practice. These habits range from life style changes to housekeeping tips. The common element is it is something I want to see developed or improved in my daily life and practice.

A month of growth. 

That really is the only way to describe what this month's habit has been for me. I knew when I chose my habit of the month as working on my interactions with my husband that things would be changing and stretching for me. They have been. It has been good to see how the little, tiny, seemingly insignificant things (the way I greet him when he comes home, the tone of voice I use when talking with him, etc.) have made a big difference. It has not always been easy for habits are sometimes hard to change, but it has been good to see the difference it already is having.  

Watching My Words

Each month I choose a new habit to develop or solidify in my personal life and practice. These habits range from life style changes to housekeeping tips. The common element is it is something I want to see changed or improved in my daily life and practice.  

This month my habit is to work on improving my interactions with my husband.  You can read more about my Habit of the Month here. With the start of the new week, I am updating my habit focus a bit.  

Last week, I focused on responding positively when my husband reached out to hug or kiss me.  Rather than being frustrated that he has halting what ever task I was working on, I want to be thankful I have such a great man to love me.  This week, I will continue that aspect of my habit of the month, but am adding in guarding my words and the way I say things.  

My wonderful husband

Each month I choose a new habit to develop or solidify in my personal life and practice.  These habits range from life style changes to housekeeping tips. The comment element is it is something I want to see in my daily life and practice.  

I have up to this point in my writing and blogging been very cautious about sharing too much personal information with "the world". That is going to change some this month for my new habit for February is very personal. It relates to my husband and my interactions with him.

Since February is so closely connected with Valentine's Day and thoughts of those you love, I tended to look for a habit that had to do with my family.

Excellent Speech

The words we say have such great impact . . . on us and those around us. I have been impressed by the importance of the things we say and the way we say them.  Both are so vital and reflect our heart attitudes.  

As I have been contemplating a new habit for this month, the list of possibilities was rather long.  In reviewing the possibilities, nothing seemed to be quite right.  Then in the midst of yet another talk with God about the attitudes in our home, and how they are being reflected in not such good ways in our speech . . .

My Food Journey

One of the many things that are on my list for this year is developing better eating and snacking habits for our family as well as eating some foods new to our dinner table.  This will entail some food learning for me.  And I know I will need to work with foods that to date I have left on the shelves of the grocery store.

I have a lot of trepidation about this goal.

When I came across Melanie from Only A Breath's The Real Food Experiment, I was very excited to be able to watch over her shoulder as she also journeyed in the area of real food and healthy eating.  

As Melanie shares her experiments in real food, I hope to follow with her and share with you all my own food journey: what I am doing, learning, etc.  I am not a food expert!  I have no official training in food prep or nutrition.  All I have learned has come from the people in my life, reading (reading, reading, and more reading), and experimenting (some successful and some not!).  I am terrified of being overwhelmed by the amount I have to learn, the changes I feel we need to make in our family, and the resistance I may face from the others in our home.  Yet, this terror while not stop me from proceeding!!

How about you?

Do you have eating or food habits you would like to see change?  Consider joining me as I make baby steps along the way.  I plan to post a couple of times a month, specifically about my food journey. I will make baby steps as I grow in my food knowledge and practices this year.  At the end of the year, I am determined to be in a different, hopefully better, place then I am today! 

Habit of the Month Follow-up: Taking It Down A Notch

This month has been a weird combination of time flying by and slow motion. Overall the month has been very enjoyable, and our family was able to celebrate a wonderfully calm Thanksgiving Weekend.  

For the last month, the habit I have focused on has been one of reduction.  Taking my plans, ideas for activities, and to do list expectations and cutting them down a bit.  For more of an idea of what that entailed for us, check out my original post from the beginning of the month.  

So, how did I do at scaling back?  
Well, I think pretty good.  

Our extended family's Thanksgiving was celebrated at our home for the first time in several years, with both sets of grandparents being able to come.  What fun!  I initially started off with some pretty big ideas of cleaning, decorating, and food for the special day; then, considering my Habit for the Month, I started crossing things off my idea list.   Even after that, there were some family events that forced me to reevaluate what really "needed" to be done, and more cutting and trimming of expectations took place. Those coming to our home to eat made it very easy for me to delegate food dishes for them to bring, and everyone in our home pitched in to help clean and do some project things our home.  I even got some Pinterest ideas put into real life for the occasion.   Nothing fantastical about the event, but it was perfect for us.  

I am so pleased with the results of this month's habit.   Not only was I able to put to practical application a somewhat vague idea, but I was able to see the direct and indirect benefits of practicing my new habit.  With the new month's approach, I know that I will continue to have opportunity to practice my new habit, and I anticipate that it will continue to be solidified in my long term life habits and the benefits will continue to be as enjoyable as they have been this past month.

"Survival for Busy Women"

Survival For Busy Women:  Establishing Efficient Home Management by Emlie Barnes is a good resource of advice and ideas for helping any woman learn how to better manage her home and life.

Life can be very busy or stressful and the suggestions and guidelines through out this book are practical how to's for those seeking guidance and help for life management.   Lists and charts, project ideas, and organizational suggestions are scattered through out the book. 

I enjoyed the easy reading of Emlie's writing and the format of this book.  The ideas presented, though not new to me, where done simply and in some cases differently than I have seen previously. 

The edition of this book I read was published over twenty-five years ago and that fact could be seen in several of the tools she referenced.  The ideas are still applicable, though.  The concepts of life management do not change over time.   An update of to this book is available, and I am looking forward to reading it to see if and how the author incorporates the tools technology has made available.   I am curious to see if she has an new ideas or suggestions after twenty plus years.  

Survival for Busy Women is a good primer for those seeking to be more efficient in their home management.  Whether for a young person or a lady with much experience, I would recommend this book for the basic ideas, suggestions, and charts presented by the author.  

Just Finish Already!

This month's habit at first glance seems to be very applicable to me.  The Habit of the Month is Completion: finishing the task or project I am doing before moving on to another. My life at times seems to be a constant string of interruptions. With family demands, housework that is never done, and my personal list of tasks there are days I feel as if I am moving from one thing to another with out never really finishing anything. 

So, this month, my attention will be to work on completing the project or task I am doing. Admittedly there will be times when that is not an option. If a screaming child calls from the other room or an appointment time comes, of course I will need to pause what I am doing to move on the another responsibility. The key will be coming back to and completing it when I am able to do so.  

As I think about this habit, I am not sure how it will play out in my life this month. So, we shall see.  I am curious to see how and if changes the way I do things. Would you join me this month is seeking to be intentional with completing the task or project at hand before moving on to another?

Gratitude Follow-up and the New Month

I am later getting this posted then I wanted, but here it is anyway:
Wow!  Is anyone else amazed by how quickly November seemed to pass?  As I review the habit for November, being thankful, seems that the habit was not necessarily something new that I did this past month.  It was simply an extension of what I seek to do anyway.

My thankfulness cards that I was to write in each day; well, did not get written in every day.  About half of them are used.  Rather than trying to finish it off the last week, I just let it be, continued on until the month end and now am tying it off and putting it my folder for review next year.

With all that is happening in our lives in December (well, it may not be that much, but as I stand looking ahead at it, it seems very mountainous), I am not seeking to establish a new habit.  Rather, perfect and hone the ones I have been working on this year.  Specifically, I am thinking of my follow through with projects and ideas and the act of completion in the task I undertake.

All in all, I am seeking to have a joyous, blessed and wonderous Christmas season and start of a great new year!

Habit of Gratitude

This month with Thanksgiving coming here in the US, this month's habit is sort of by default.   With our focus starting to turn to the Christmas Holidays, and not wanting to overshadow Thanksgiving, ideas of how to streamline our Thanksgiving focus are plentiful.  A simple online search will reveal more suggestions then one could ever hope to implement.  
For me, I have chosen to use the Gratitude Journal developed by Jason and Jennifer Bruce and found on Motherhood . . . Your Way.  (On a side note: Life . . . Your Way collection of sites is definitely worth checking out.  There is almost something for everyone there.)  
My dear husband printed the beautiful color cards for me, and they sit on my desk.  When I am working there, if there is something that I have been especially thankful for that day, I write it on a card.  Though, I may not think to write one each day (for there are days that are not "leisurely" enough to allow me to sit at my desk), I have already had a few days were more than one card was filled.  I plan to have them all filled by Thanksgiving.  At the end of month, I'll read them through and stash them way in my Holiday Journal to pull out and look at next year.  
In thinking of how I can help my family focus on being thankful each day, not just in this time of year, and it has been impressed on me that I need to be thankful!  I think of myself as a thankful person, but I more often than I want to admit I have found myself complaining or "sporting" a bad attitude.  That is harder to do when you are truly thankful.  So this year, rather than trying to drag my family into thankfulness mode, I am seeking to guide by example.  A wife and mom with a thankful attitude will most likely cultivate a family with a thankful attitude.  

Completion Habit

As October has marched by in all the beauty of fall, we in our home are focusing more on the habit of completion*.  When finishing with an activity or task completely finish it.  This could be putting the dirty dishes in the dishwasher  when done eating, cleaning up the game pieces and putting them away when a game is over, folding the blanket when you are done with it, placing the dirty clothes in the hamper not just near it, or hanging up your sweater when you come in from outside. 

Most completion tasks are simple tasks, yet the impact is amazing.  Not only is clean up easy (it is mostly all done already), but the overall effect is a hidden, or not so hidden, neatness to stuff of your home.  A more subtle effect is the development and strengthening of character: of being someone who completes what one does.  That effect has lifetime impact!  

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*This habit is taken from Regina Leeds's, One Year To An Organized Life.