Relaxing is an Art

Sometimes when we enter this time of year, we find stress. It's a friend that many of us know well. However, it doesn't have to be.

I think November is a great time to sit back and take stock of our blessings. Thanksgiving is a week away, and all of us have many things to be thankful for. Many of us have family, friends, a home to keep us dry and warm, and employment to help us provide for ourselves.

We have food in abundance available and if we are fortunate, we have health and strength. There is the wonderful freedoms we experience living in one of the best countries on the planet -- even if you don't live in the US or Canada -- I'll bet you are thankful for your homeland.

There was a book written several years ago that my mom gave me. It was a book about gratitude. In the book she suggested that you keep a gratitude journal and write down five things each day that you are grateful for.

I did it faithfully for awhile, and then discovered that I would rather enumerate my thankfulness to Heavenly Father in prayer than write them down each night. Writing them down seemed monotonous and repetitive, as if I weren't finding anything new in each day. It became a burden, when it was supposed to be helping me find peace.

I agree that writing in a journal is important and we should list our blessings each day -- but sometimes when life seems stressed, it's time to take a breath and relax.

Find a quiet place, grab a notebook, a piece of chocolate (or 2), a cup of chocolate or herbal tea, and give yourself a half hour. If a half hour is too long, take fifteen minutes -- but you need the time. You've heard the Peter Pan Mantra -- Find your happy place? This is the time to do it.

Sit and close your eyes and think about your life. What are you thankful for? The way your hubby fixed the squeaky chair for you? Or how he prepared dinner the other night to give you a break? How about your children...what have they done that bring blessings into your life?

There is so much to be thankful for. Just a few moments of thinking about it, and you'll be able to list them out on the paper. Just keep going. Think of as many as possible and see how full you can get the paper.

You might be surprised what you come up with.

The End is Near

I should probably say the end has come, as for most of us, I hear school got out last week. For my district, today is basically the last day, though everyone but high school will be going tomorrow. I got these off a friends blog, because they are soooo funny. My husband and I have both worked in the school district and the only thing we would do, is change/compare some of it from teachers to tech support -- he gets questions all the time like "Don't you have the summer off???" Rigggghhhht.

1. YOU might be a school employee if you believe the playground
should be equipped with a Ritalin salt lick.
2. YOU might be a school employee if you want to slap the next person
who says, 'Must be nice to work 8 to 3:30 and have summers off.'
3. YOU might be a school employee if it is difficult to name your own
child because there's no name you can come up with that doesn't
bring high blood pressure as it is uttered.
4. YOU might be a school employee if you can tell it's a full moon or
if it going to rain, snow, hail...anything! without ever looking outside.
5. YOU might be a school employee if you believe, 'shallow gene pool'
should have its own box on a report card.
6. YOU might be a school employee if you believe that unspeakable
evils will befall you if anyone says, 'Boy, the kids sure are mellow
today.'(or you try very hard to not even think it)
7. YOU might be a school employee if when out in public, you feel the
urge to snap your fingers at children you do not know and correct
their behavior.
8. YOU might be a school employee if you have no social life between
August and June. (I don't quite get this one...whatever)
9. YOU might be a school employee if you think people should have
a government permit before being allowed to reproduce.
10. YOU might be a school employee if you wonder how some parents
managed to reproduce.
11. YOU might be a school employee if you laugh uncontrollably when
people refer to the staff room as the 'lounge.'
12. YOU might be a school employee if you encourage an obnoxious
parent to check into charter schools or home schooling and are
willing to donate the U-HAUL boxes should they decide to move
out of district.
13. YOU might be a school employee if you think caffeine should be
available in intravenous form.
14. YOU might be a school employee if you can't imagine how the ACLU
could think that covering your students chair with Velcro and then
requiring uniforms made out of the corresponding Velcro could ever
be misunderstood by the public.
15. YOU might be a school employee if meeting a child's parent instantly
answers this question, 'Why is this kid like this?'
16. YOU might be a school employee if you would choose a mammogram
over a parent conference.
17. YOU might be a school employee if you think someone should invent
antibacterial pencils and crayons...and desks and chairs for that matter!
18. YOU might be a school employee if the words 'I have college debt for
this?' has ever come out of your mouth.
19. YOU might be a school employee if you know how many days, minutes,
and seconds are left in the school year!