Happiness = Trying something new!

I've decided to move my blog to Wordpress. I am still setting things up and tweaking so I'll post updates and such here for a bit longer while I move things over.

Click here to see Wake Up Laughing on Wordpress.

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happiness gratitude inspiration creativity

Honoring Inspiration

A few weeks ago something came to me, a realization about my recent self. The realization: As I take time to discover and cultivate who I am, I notice the roles that used to overwhelm me are now inspiring me.

These roles - mother, sister, wife, daughter, friend, employee, co-worker, supervisor, student – could each feel so daunting just a few years ago. I didn't even know there was inspiration in front of me and I had no idea how to approach life with creativity. I was so resentful, drowning in obligations to anything and everything in life with no time for me. Looking back, I realize that having no time for me was partially my own fault - I wasn't making any time. If I don't make myself a priority, it is no one else's job to do so either.

Now I get to look at who I am. It’s not that I’m not tired, or that I don’t get occasionally frustrated, but I have started on a journey to develop myself. As I focus on my happiness project I find I do truly love being a mother, a wife, a student, daughter, friend…

I was recently lucky enough to be able to let go of quite a few things that were a source of negative energy and in doing so it seemed I was suddenly compelled to approach the roles in front of me with creativity. My new mantra: Be ready to be inspired by what is in front of me today. When I start with myself, I can see my roles as a gifts in my life. There are new gifts in my day, every day. Inspiration is everywhere once I open myself up to receive it. All it took was setting some boundaries (easier said than done but that’s another discussion) and then focusing on being Juli and looking for what that means.

Today that means:

• Bring order to my house.
• Improvise.
• Read.
• Write.
• Create (recently this has been a lot of crochet projects).
• Practice gratitude.
• Laugh with my kids.
• Laugh with my husband.
• Learn something new.
• Cook new things or make our old favorites in new ways.
• Get enough sleep.
• Seek the goodness in life – in the people around me, in the media I consume, in the moment that I am in.

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happiness gratitude inspiration creativity

Daily Routines Revisited

I realized that in my original post about routines I didn't really include what my routine consists of so here goes. Ideally, this is what my day looks like:

• Wake up
  
• Get H off to school
  
• Breakfast, observe the morning clean-up
• Rest of the morning varies depending on need: run errands, check emails, make calls, pay bills, vegg out, go to appointments, etc.
• Lunch and nap time for C
  
• C naps, I have "office hours" for crafting, emails, writing, homework, making calls
• C gets up, H gets home from school
• Snack time/Homework time
• Cook dinner
• Dinner
• Observe the evening clean-up & family time
• H gets free time, C gets ready for bed
• C goes to bed, I take my evening time for emails, writing, to-do list review
  
• H goes to bed
• Sean and I vegg and hang out
• Bedtime
  

Most days look *something* like this but it's not perfect. I'm glad I typed it out though. The two areas I am really working hard on are observing the morning and evening clean-up consistently. It only makes my life easier when I do. I noticed as those small tasks pile up, the free space in my mind gets limited too. It's bizarre. I suspect the amount of dishes on the sink is inversely proportional to the amount of creativity I can access (both literally and figuratively). Interestingly enough though, when the kitchen is clean - creativity seems endless.

And with that, I'm off to do the dishes....

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happiness gratitude inspiration creativity