I think I can, I think I can . .  .  I knew I could!

               Little Engine

At the beginning of any quest there is a surge of hopefulness, but the daily effort of change can drag the spirit. Put positive energy into your balancing program. Monitor your thoughts this week. Listen to the messages that you give yourself about creating change.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” ~ Confucius

Once you have your overall goal in mind, you must break it down into smaller steps. Any change will undoubtedly upset your balance, but intentional change for the good is worth a little stress. The key is to be patient. People who are unsuccessful with change generally have tried to do too much—too soon.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world” Mahatma Gandhi

Have you chosen your "one thing to change" yet?

When my daughters were small, my one thing to change was cooking dinner. It took years for that goal to make its full positive impact, and in fact, there were lots of bumps and detours along that road for change. Especially in the beginning, my “one thing” did not thrill my family. My oldest was horrified to see that chicken did not start as nuggets! One child preferred cheese melted, another detested cooked peppers, and to this day my husband has an aversion to the color green except in the palest of iceberg lettuce.

“What is one thing that you could do (you aren’t doing now) that if you did on a regular basis would make a tremendous positive difference in your life?”

                                                        Stephen R. Covey

Personal change is challenging. It takes courage to try something new and risk failure. For some, the possibility of success is just as anxiety producing. Tuesday of this week, Phil the groundhog took a good look at his shadow and ran back inside—I guess he just didn’t want to deal with it! We need to resist the urge to retreat this winter and instead gear up with some self reflection.

Refine the lessons learned in the past three weeks. Utilize your senses to add a finishing touch to January’s morning makeover. What do you see, hear, touch, and taste before you leave home? Invest some planning time to choose wisely about what you expose your senses to and you will feel more balanced before you even leave home....

January 19, 2010—If you peeked inside my typical morning bucket for the last week you would find me making the coffee, drinking coffee and day planning with my husband, fixing my daughter’s lunch, feeding the dog,  getting ready for work, eating breakfast, tossing one load of laundry in the washer, and straightening the house. All of these tasks fit into a 2 ½ hour bucket. Adding “just one more thing” which I did, several mornings, tipped the bucket to overflow with consequences.

January 12, 2010

Several books have shaped the way I approach personal balance. Seven years ago I read “Organizing from the Inside Out” by Julie Morgenstern. I found the book at a time when I was ready to make some lifestyle changes, a time of reassessment. Although the book focused on efficiency in organizing “closet clutter,” the concept easily transferred to “life clutter.” My quest towards better balance began. It was an AHA! Moment when I realized I was hording bad habits of inefficiency. I am still on that journey and welcome fellow travelers.   

January 5, 2010

It is the night before school starts after a long Holiday break. At bedtime you make a resolution to find better balance in 2010. In your dream the kids wake up with smiles on their faces and thank you for a warm breakfast . . .

The alarm goes off and you hit snooze but the shrieks of sibling rivalry wake you with a jolt. A glance at the clock confirms you have overslept. You quickly throw on a sweatshirt over your pajamas and head to the kitchen to break up the breakfast scuffle. The children are complaining about school and report they have never liked the cereal that you buy. You skip breakfast for yourself and grab a granola for the road. Searching for your son’s missing mitten you leave “breakfast” on the counter. The dog eats it. You yell the kids into the minivan. You look like BoBo the clown. 

One of my favorite events in the Olympics is the balance beam. The athlete not only walks across the thin wood block, she dances! Sometimes she wobbles, increasing our awareness that regardless of how “routine” the performance—balance is at the core. The athlete stops, refocuses her attention, and makes an adjustment before continuing.

As this applies in my life, when there is a wobble, I am tempted to rush across to finish my routine. The pressure to be productive is not directed just for moms, but they tend to have many roles and to-do lists that conflict with inner balance. We also have an additional talent that we bring to the beam—we multi-task....