Wednesday, April 06, 2011

Day Two

I think it probably goes without saying that day two of any new habit is harder than day one. Day one you are energized and geared up to start. Day two you are thinking "WHY am I doing this again?"

So today I hit the snooze once, but then got up. The kids were both still asleep and it took a good 20 minutes to get them to get out of bed.

We meditated for 6 minutes this morning and, surprisingly, they both pretty much stuck with it for the whole time.

And the rest of the morning was kind of... not fun.

But that's two days down, right? And what do they say about establishing new habits? 21 days, I think. So we've got 19 more to go.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

Pictures of Aron

A few weeks ago I took the kids to South Bend with me for a day. I thought it was a no-school day for South Bend School Corporation and the YMCA would be having all-day care. But SB was making up for snow days and the Y wasn't open. My boss' wife offered to watch the kids while I worked and once her children got home from school the kids all played together.

When I got there to pick them up this is how Aron was dressed:
From 2011
Jordan was dressed in a similarly spectacular outfit but she wouldn't allow me to take a picture. They were making a show, but decided I couldn't see it. I know they had a blast. One of my boss' children is exactly one week younger than Aron and Jordan, but there are also 3 other elementary school children. And the second oldest is one of Aron's "girls".

Two weeks later it was time for the Mommy/Son dance through Davenport Parks & Rec. Aron and I had gone to two Mommy/Son dances in South Bend before we moved. Last year we were in Europe, so we missed the dance here.
From 2011
Aron was SOOOO excited and discussed with his father about getting a new shirt and tie. We went out the day before the dance and got him a whole suit and Jordan got a new Easter dress (which she's not allowed to wear until Easter Sunday.) He really loves to dress up. For his spring school picture he is wearing a striped yellow shirt with a blue tie. (Pictures forthcoming). And he's so handsome!

I look at the contrast between the two pictures above and I can't help but smile. He's silly and loving and special and wonderful and my son!
From 2011

Habits: Good and Bad

Good habits are hard; bad habits are easy. I know this is not news to anyone, nor even a new revelation to myself. It's just more evident when you are trying to not only keep good habits yourself, but instill good habits in your children.

Here's a revelation (not new, but still...) I'm lazy. Adopting habits to make me NOT lazy is my primary goal right now.

Eric teaches a course called Intro to Religion. He's pretty excited about a new idea he has for his Fall class in which he will have his students either choose to visit a place of worship that is not their own tradition (this isn't new) OR choose a religious experience. He has 6 total religious experiences and he will offer 4 for each student to choose from.

One of them is meditating a certain number of times a day (2 maybe) for 7 days. Anyway on Saturday he was presented the idea from another professor. And Sunday, after church, he decided that the family would try meditating for 10 minutes.

So we all sat on the floor "cris-cross applesauce" and he set the timer for 10 minutes and we sat with our backs straight and stared at a spot on the floor right in front of us and said, together "frozen peas makes me sneeze." (It was originally "frozen peas make weak knees" but Jordan decided that was too hard.)

Jordan dropped out after about 3 minutes and laid down, but Aron, Eric and I kept it up.

I won't say that it was a life changing event or anything, but it was kind of nice to not think about anything for 10 minutes (which is the point).

Anyway, Eric mentioned shortly afterward that we should do that every day.

We also did a 10 minute challenge of folding and putting away laundry. And I made a turkey breast w/ fixin's for dinner. It was a pretty good Sunday, all in all.

Yesterday I got a lot done and since Eric was making dinner (enchiladas) I decided I would wake up at 6 this morning and meditate for 10 minutes and then make pancakes for breakfast.

Then I decided the whole FAMILY would get up at 6 and meditate for 10 minutes.

I should explain (back to the lazy) that my alarm goes off at 6 every morning, but I hit snooze until 7.

This morning my alarm went off at 6. And I hit snooze.

But at 6:09 I got up. Jordan was up (but only for about 5 minutes or so). I woke up Aron who was actually quite ready to get up. Eric didn't want to get up, but he did.

So at 6:15 we were sitting on the floor waiting for Eric to start the timer. Jordan, again, dropped out after about 3 1/2 minutes, but then she started again with 2 minutes to go. Aron, Eric and I lasted the 10 minutes.

Again, not life changing, but if we can all sit still for 10 minutes that's a good habit, I think.

Then I made pancakes with Jordan's help.

It was kind of nice to all be up in the morning with plenty of time to do what needed doing.

I think we'll try again tomorrow for right at 6... cuz Eric has to leave early on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays for class.

I think the habit of all getting out of bed at 6 is a great one to focus on. And really, you can only adopt one (good) new habit at a time, I think.