My Pendulum

I love these little people who I get to hang out with during the day. These pictures were not taken today,  but they are a good idea of what today was like.

It seems to me like life is such a pendulum. Sometimes the pendulum is all the way to the right where I feel energetic, happy, blessed and motivated. Other days it seems to swing the other direction and I feel unmotivated, tired, emotional and overwhelmed.

There is also the motherhood-sanity pendulum. When it's all the way to the left, which seems to kind of be where it has spent a little too much time in the last year, I feel a bit overwhelmed, anxious, and stressed. Yet then it does most assuredly swing to the other side, where the days seem to be so sweet, precious and peaceful. And there is of course always the in between. Side to side. Up and down. Over all life is definitely up and even in my downs I still feel the greatness of the blessings around me.

Well today I'm happy to report was a really great day. The pendulum swung towards peace, simplicity, and contentment. Though the pendulum is not easily controlled by just one person, I do think we are the main magnetic forces for our own pendulums, not always, by usually. So why was today so great? How did I swing my pendulum to the happy side?  For me, for this one day, this is what worked; I decided to just keep it simple. I got the older two off to school, and made sure the only thing on my to do list today was this "Take care of your children". So, we got outside. We exercised. We ate good healthy meals. We took a bath. We read books and worked on reading skills, and we even took a nap snuggled up together.  I was able to sit down and study my scriptures and journal a little bit. We had fun and played. And it was. . .  GLORIOUS. Patience was not my struggle today. Love flowed so easily and freely. Instead of trying to balance 50 things at once, I only balanced one, and that was the kids. The result? Happy kids. Happy me, and, drum roll please. . . a MESSY house. Worth it? ABSOLUTELY.  Can I do this everyday? Nope, but should I start doing it more often. Yep.

It has been a long time since I have had a day like this. Which is why I'm writing this down, so I can remember how I can control my own pendulum at least a little by letting things go. By focusing on the simple, yet most important things in my life. Granted there can be days where even if I just focused on my kids they could still be cranky and whinny and it could be a really exhausting and very no good terrible day, which is why I mention the pendulum is not always in our hands, but today it worked out seamlessly and it was so delicious to my soul.