The last couple of days have been pretty intense.  Adding in the new job, albeit one I chose to do and enjoy doing… is definitely time pinching!

 

I listened in to a brilliant training hosted by one of my business partners on leadership and she talked about the leaders attitude.  The attitude of abundance, rather than lack.   Applying that principle to the times you are feeling time pressured, with lots on, rather than feeling stressed about it, have a feeling of abundance rather than lack.  Say to yourself ‘I am in demand!’… and that has far better connotations than saying ‘I have no time!’.

 

I have been saying ‘I am in demand!’ a lot today!  But it felt far better than yesterday when I kept saying ‘I have no time!’…

 

I am in so much demand, I have to get on to the next item on my list of things to do before bed!

I love being in demand.  It makes me happy!!!

It has been one crazy busy day. Really crazy busy. 

From the moment I woke at 6am to this minute as I slide into bed. It has been a toe hopping day from one thing to the next to get everything done, tri training, drop off and pick up, cooking birthday cakes, pavlova, a meal for the boys and a meal for the Big Man’s birthday…. 
As I slide into bed, after kissing my boys, I am totally in love, totally grateful for so many things… So many… But the one that made my heart sing tonight were the 3 pictures Willy wanted to show me at 9.30pm, pulling me away from our supper guests…
He couldn’t sleep so he was drawing…. He draws and drAws… There are over 100 sketches on his bedroom floor in piles according to topic… Like my writing, it must be his outlet to share what is on his mind….
The old fashioned carriages from long ago… Not sure where that has come from! 
The world and the galaxies that we have been reading about at tea time… 
And the space station… Apparently Tim Peake is there….
He is sleeping peacefully now having emptied his mind…. Just like I will now too. 

   
   
  

  

It was a Sunday tidy up, jobbing kind of day today.

 

One of the tasks I had to do today was to sort out our spare room for my VIP guests this week – my legendary Dad and the lady who has given him his big grin back.  I am so excited to welcome them both and so making the spare room clutter free, clean and tidy was really important.

 

As a converted coach house, we have no attic as our upstairs rooms go right up to the rafters – I love our high ceilings and open beams… but it does mean we don’t have much space to store ski clothes, suitcases, kids drawings and school work sent home.  So the spare room has been a bit of a dumping ground.

 

As I found new homes for all the paraphernalia… I then came across a small pile of ‘stuff’ (the Big Man uses another word that begins with ‘s’!) that Dad must have given me when I last left home.  One was a box of letters which must have come from my Grandparents house as they were all letters from either my sister, me or my Mum to my Grandma.

 

On the top was a letter dated ‘Tuesday 1.6.76’, typed in blue ink, clearly from an old type writer. ‘Dear Mum,’ it read…

 

And then it was like my Mum came alive right in front of me.  I could hear her speaking through the written word.  I could hear her love for me as a baby so clearly.

 

Hearing her as she learnt how to be a Mum and hearing how much she loved being with me, watching me and taking care of me.

 

It was a message from beyond.  It was a message from my Mumbo from 40 years ago.

I heard something today that I loved.. ‘It’s the tiny tweaks that lead to the biggest changes’…

 

I have definitely learnt that in the last couple of years having made changes to my diet, attitude, exercise, lifestyle.

 

Nuts and berries as snacks rather than grapes and tropical fruit, chocolate bars or crisps, protein smoothies for breakfasts rather than cereals or toast, slow releasing carbs rather than refined:  healthier, happier and flatter tummy, way more energy!

 

Ultra premium botanical skincare rather than the 3 for 2 on the high street:  hydrated, more youthful looking skin rather than dry, flakey and eczema prone…

 

Mixing up the weight training with HIIT, rather than just cardio:  fitter, leaner, stronger.

 

5 minutes meditation daily: mental calmness and clarity of purpose.

 

30 minutes reading or listening to a good book:  learning, growing, inspired to do more, be more and give more.

 

Focusing on one thing, in the moment:  less clumsiness, more productive, more focussed and boys far happier when I am present with them, listening with both ears and eyes.

 

Focussing on the positives rather than negatives, focusing on what you want, not what you don’t: a sense of peace, confidence and happiness.

 

Gratitude rather than attitude, abundance rather than lack:  feeling of fulfilment, contentment and satisfaction.

 

Swopping wine for clean spirits:  less headaches, no more full day hangover hell!

 

Well let’s hope so… tomorrow will be the proof!   It’s time I dress up for cocktails and date night with the Big Man for his birthday!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know where the weeks go sometimes! How can it be Friday again? It feels like I am still on Monday….
The Big Man is snoring next to me…. Comforting and annoying at the same time!
The boys are sweaty and drooly in their little pits…
Just me wide awake… Wondering where time went… 
I remember as a young girl in English lessons watching the hands move slowly, painfully through the minutes until the bell. I have always loved books and writing.. But taught English always felt like biology – a dissection of someone’s masterpiece. Why try to understand why they wrote what they wrote? Why not just enjoy the words and the mind pictures they evoke?
And yet in Latin or Art, why did I never notice the clock? A brilliant, engaging, slightly eccentric teacher who brought Pliny and Virgil to life from a dead language…. Or a topic, a still life or excursion that would pull me in to focussed trance as my crayons, pencils, paintbrush would fill a blank sheet of paper… 
Why is it in some cases, time stands still and in others it speeds up?
Is it enjoyment? Distraction!? Or that you are just living in every moment, loving every second (rather than waiting for the next best moment) you don’t realise they are passing. 
I didn’t realise how much I enjoyed this week! …. 

… And whoosh it was gone! 
  

My favourite bit of today was playing ‘my favourite bits of the day were…’ with the boys before sleep time.

 

After a high octane, busy, busy day for all of us, it is a good way for us all to reflect, calm down and share.  I love doing it!  Firstly, the boys open up and miraculously they remember what they had for lunch, what they did in class, what happened in the playground.  And secondly, they learn the art of positive thinking, of being thankful…

 

Tom and Willy came joint first with 16 favourite bits of the day, which was double my count of 8.

 

We had joint favourites of:

• Eating freshly made ice cream
• Singing songs in the car on the way home
• ‘this bit’ – ie. Lying in bed and telling our stories
• family cuddles and kisses

 

I learnt that Tom played water polo in swimming and scored 5 goals, did some drawing of soldiers in class and had baked potatoes for lunch.

 

I discovered that Willy has been climbing on the roof of the house by climbing out of the bedroom window (!!!), making friends in his class (he can’t remember their names!) and loved ball skills today.

 

The boys loved hearing about my day … how I loved the new toy shop in Harrogate, how I found a way to get the ice cream back from Harrogate to York for them, how much I enjoyed my 5^th day in my new job… but their favourite bit is always when I say ‘this bit’… and pull them both tight and smother them with kisses!

 

On going to bed, it feels like we are all going to bed after having our most favourite day!

 

 

 

Today, I had ‘fried brain’… so much going on in there it was like Rio Carnival!  So I decided to get back on my 30 day meditation challenge …

 

The first thing I had to do was get a load of stuff out of my head, so I emptied it onto an old envelope… plugged in my earphones and got comfortable and listened to the sugary soft voice of J Bittersweet.

 

I then rather shocked myself awake with a big snorty snore!

 

Clearly I had needed to doze off…  and the meditation had helped me relax enough to do that.  I had been in a dark room, being wrapped in golden light, feeling protected and safe…

 

After the rude awakening, I woke up re-energised and a clear way forward in my mind of how to tackle all the things I had scribbled on my envelope.

 

My mind clear.

My priority list clear for the day.

 

Top of my priority list for tomorrow… 5 minutes with J Bittersweet.

 

I love Rio Carnival … the colours, the frenzied excitement, the magic, spirit and pazazz… being caught up in the hype… but I love it even more when I can find my way through it in a calm way.  It is far less exhausting.

 

 

 

The balloon theory.

 

I used an analogy today that I quite like.. It just came out of no where but believe it is something I should apply more often.

 

Faced with a problem, an issue, a frustration… you can focus on it.  And keep focussing on it… keep giving it attention… fanning the flames. Just like a hot air balloon, you keep pumping hot air into it and keep it airborne, keep it rising… or like any balloon, the more air you breathe into it, the bigger it gets!

 

So, if you want the frustration, issue, problem to go away… why not just stop giving it attention.  Stop filling it with fuel or air.  Just stop.

 

Let it go!

 

Watch it drop like a stone… or fly off whizzing in to the distance.

 

Problem, frustration, issue… gone.

 

Giving life to breathing space and far more interesting matters.  Or solutions.

 

So the marble jars..

 

At first they drove me mad…

 

The boys emptied them as quick as I could put marbles in, to count them, to play with them.  Marbles all over the kitchen floor, tinkling in the jars, shouts at each other for stealing them.

 

But it is beginning to work…

 

It was my friend’s idea after a disastrous Easter with boy mayhem.  We both had a tearful teatime as we threw them all out in the rain… love them and yet exhausted by them…. Little blue eyed, blond haired, strong willed, mischievous, adorable, painfully and frustratingly stubbon…  their fathers sons…

 

So the marble jars were introduced.

 

An empty jar each, per child (you could include any grown up children too!)

For each good deed, helpful act, obedient response, polite word… a marble is put in the jar.

Once a marble is earnt, it can’t be removed.

As the jar is full to the brim, a pre-determined prize or amount of pocket money can be traded for the marbles.

An empty jar, to start again.

 

I have done something similar before.  With M&M’s or smarties.. but either the boys or I ate them.  Which wasn’t good for their teeth or my waistline!

 

So we are four days in and we have two layers of marbles in the jar.

 

It is true what they say – people work harder for praises than raises.  In this case, they get the praise as I deposit the marble… and the ‘raise’ in the form of pocket money …

 

They are being pretty good!  Which is a huge blessing..

 

 

 

 

The start of May has treated us.  I love May.  I love May and the way the countryside comes alive with colour after a bit of warmth.

 

In the last 3 days as sun and heat has drawn out the green leaves from the brown shells of the beech hedges, the blue hues of the forget-me-nots in the wildnerness grasses of the end of the garden, the pale apple blossoms mixed with the dusky pink tones of the cherry.

 

The garden is bustling with life… the birds are keen to share their delight of the sunrise, the squeals of the boys as they play in the hose, fat pigeons flapping in the trees and the squawks of the magpies…

 

Warmth.  It draws out the best of the seasons, in my opinion.

 

And warmth is the only way to get Willy to sleep after a very late night, a long day of playing and maybe a little too much sugar!    The cold, harsh tones don’t work for him, driving him more in to a frenzy, a storm of tears…   But a softer approach, wrapped up in a warm embrace and snuggled under the duvet has him snoring peacefully.

 

Warmth.  Warmth is the answer.