smile

It's Monday! Anyone else have RBF??

I figured it out guys...

Walk around with a smile on your face, you may just be a ray of sunshine for someone. And if nothing else, your smile will cheer YOU up!

My gratitude journal group concludes today and our focus of study was how to train yourself to be more grateful by a shift in mindset. I think my biggest "take away" from this mini gratitude study is that LIFE IS ONLY AS GOOD AS YOUR MINDSET. So we can be mad, or we can be happy, and the CHOICE is ours. And it IS a choice. Your choice. Because guess what, no one has a perfect life. You take your circumstances and you roll with it. You don't let those circumstances rule your happiness. YOU rule your happiness. And happiness comes from realizing the things you have going for you and being grateful for them. Happiness does not come from focusing on the have-nots or the rotten circumstance you might be enduring chronically or just in this day.

I encouraged my group to write in the gratitude journal at minimum a few times a week so as to make the "attitude of gratitude" a permanent mindset. It's not natural, it's going to take daily work, like showering! For best results, shower often!!

Other People's Success

In regards to business you might hear "why her and not me?" or how about "well, she must have cheated her way to the top." In regards to fitness "oh, you must have edited that photo" or "it's just the camera angle" or "must be nice." People either don't realize the amount of HARD WORK that goes into success, or they just want to discount anything someone else does, no credit is given where credit is due!

I feel like there's always so much comparison "out there" in the world, and especially on social media. It seems that some can't be happy for others who are succeeding. And I've always said, Comparison is the Thief of Joy! Try to resist comparing your journey through life to someone else's, we just never know what they've got going on in the life that you don't see on social media.

When you find the right TRIBE (your people) you'll find that some people don't want to compete with you at life! This tribe of people have a love for others, so much so that they love to see other people succeeding, winning at life! Those are the people you need to surround yourself with! Your cheerleading squad, the ones that will always lift you up and be happy in your success. And push you in a GOOD way to be the best person you can be. Sometimes guys, we gotta let the negative go and just pour ourselves into those people who want us to be happy and healthy! Life is too short to compete with others, be genuinely happy when you see success in someone else! And always try to be your personal best, which isn't going to to be the same as anyone else's, cause you are so uniquely YOU, and you rock!!!

God can refresh your soul

 

People like to say that the only two constants in this life are death and taxes. I beg to differ, God is a constant. The things that God has given us, constant. The sun rises every single day, for example, because He said "let there be light." If we think about that for a second, every single day, we count on the sun coming up, there's never a day that it just fails to rise. It's a sure thing! We can take it for granted though, most definitely.  

In Hosea 6:3, God says that as SURELY as the sun will rise, He will appear. And he will come to us like rain to the Earth. Whoa. So we can count on Him coming to us when we call, without fail, because it's as sure as the sun will rise! Jeremiah 33:3 "Call to Me and I will answer you..." God will listen to your every prayer. Call upon him, and He'll be there as surely as the sun rises. And what will He provide? Rain. Spring rain. The kind that completely rejuvenates and refreshes the air, the soil, all living things. It cleans, brightens, and restores. 

If you're feeling completely despaired, call on Him. He'll refresh your soul like rain refreshes the Earth. It's a constant. It's a sure thing. God does not ever withhold himself. 

If you haven't yet, take a minute to read this blog entry. http://foreverymom.com/mom-gold/exhausted-overwhelmed-depressed-mom/

I just think it's so awesome. And if we dig deeper into Elijah's story (1 Kings 17-19) we learn that Elijah called upon God. But not to refresh him, he asked to die. Elijah was so tired, scared, he was an old guy, on the run from Jezebel, the last of the Lord's prophets, she had all the others killed. He was just done. God came to him, but he didn't give him what he asked. You see, God has his own plan for us. He knows what you truly need. For Elijah, it wasn't death, it was sleep, food, a friend, and moment to refocus, to remember how special he was. God came to him in a still small voice, and Elijah could hear it. Elijah (with Elisha) went on! He came from wanting to DIE, to feeling rejuvenated and moving forward. 

    How can we apply this to our Momlife? Is there a time you can remember when you felt totally NOT cut out for this position of mommy? Take a second to answer in the thread below. For me, numerous times. I think often, moms feel like failures. We have such high expectations when that baby is kicking inside us, but then, it's hard! Your infant doesn't sleep, maybe has colic, fussy baby, there are joyful moments, and there are tough moments. And that trend continues for-ev-er. And in those tough moments, we feel like failures. We want what's best for our babies, and we don't think we're it! These moments of complete feeling of failure happen to EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US GOOD MAMAS! We feel like a failure BECAUSE we want all good things for our kids. By very definition, that's a good mom. 

 

HOW TO CHOOSE JOY: Next time we are feeling this way? What can we do? I challenge you to STOP, DROP, and PRAY. Call out to Him. He's the everlasting spring that can quench your thirst. He will clean, brighten, and restore you like spring rain, He will not withhold Himself, His ability, to the child that calls upon him.

CALL TO ACTION: Today/tonight, I challenge you to call on Him. You can say ANY prayer, He will listen. If it's been a while since you prayed, don't hold back. Say something to Him.

Steps to Happiness