Mountain Moma

Yes, admittedly it has been a couple of weeks since my last post because I was on vacation up in the Sierra Nevadas, and now I am hooked. I don't consider myself a rustic moutain girl, I am more of a full-service-beach hotel kind of gal and have never even considered taking a respite above sea level, but this past week a close friend invited several families to her house up in Mammoth and I am a changed woman. The natural beauty I saw just blew my mind and each spot on natures playground was more beautiful that the next. I got lost in just 'being' there and it was easy to just be present when surrounded by lush green trees, skies of blue and pristine rushing water.

So I ask myself (and you), how might I re-create this ability to focus and stay present when immersed in the clutter, chaos, stress and busy-ness of daily life? How do I recapture that feeling of wonder as I was walking through the swampy meadow in Yosemite, through the lush green forest, crossing paths with deer, over the rocks and gasping when I saw the nirvana of the blue green rapid falls set against the white slate rock??? This visual spectacle has created an indelible impression in my mind that I can certainly conjure up when I need to focus and get to my 'happy place', but what other tools can we all use to remind ourselves to be present and not miss the moments? How can we make sure to notice things that are not 'framed' for us? How do I make sure to listen to the joy in my son's voice when he picks his first tomato from our vine in the backyard or miss his enthusiasm over the new baseball bases Daddy has just bought and he wants to run around on?

I think my heightened awareness is a start in the right direction and feel that getting out of my usual environment (and for me a dramatically different one) has helped me truly notice what I have been missing/forgetting to notice and reminded me to stay present whether I am immersed in obvious beauty or simply living through the beautiful moments of everyday life.



I'd love to hear some of your tips for staying present, please post your comments on this blog.


Until next week,
Romy
Goddess and Friend of Smokey the Bear and Bambi too

Mommy doesn't wanna get out of bed yet

Does this ring a bell to any of you?? I am so tired from staying up way too late the night before, and my bright-eyed and bushy tailed, singing 4 year old boy is fully awake and alive and he wants mommy out of bed NOW to play and match his level of enthusiasm and "I don't wanna!!" This is such a struggle for me from time to time, being 40 and never having been a morning person, I find it difficult to pop up and be fully engaged at 7ish in the morning, yet this is part of the mommy package I signed up for. And again this morning (again after not enough sleep), Mr. Perky (not the hubby, the kid :-) is hungry because he is eyeing the pumpkin chocolate chip bread I made the night before and how can a girl go back to sleep when her child is hungry?? So I get up, and slowly enter this alert world of a four year old and eventually I come alive (don't do caffeine either btw).

While I truly treasure the passion and enthusiasm of my son, how do I reconcile my morning resistence with his AM insistance?? Going to bed earlier is an obvious shift, but beyond that I think there needs to be an internal shift in my mind that says, "Mornings are great and you have the pleasure of your son's joyous company" or like one of my wise Goddess friends suggested, don't pop out of bed in the AM, instead spend a few extra moments in bed visualizing your day and how you want it to play out or meditate briefly so you start your day calm and centered. And I have tried this now and again and it does help--maybe I need to commit to this process of having a few moments of transition every morning before I burst into the day and this might be just the shift I (many of us) am looking for.

But truth be told, I am forever a nightowl and still love my late nights and sleep late mornings every now and again :-)


Until next time,
Romy, Goddess of Trying to Ease Into and Embrace her Mornings

Moma's Got a 'Mind Virus'

OK, OK before you worry, I am not sick--I am a happy and healthy 40 year old woman. But admittedly, I have been remiss on posting this blog predominately because I have so many 'To Do's' lately and not anywhere near enough hours to do it all (or so I think!). And then I got this thought provoking e-mail from a business service I subscribe to that brought up this concept of a 'mind virus' and I just loved it, it resonated with me. Basically, a 'mind virus' is a thought or programmed message that you constantly heard while you were growing up like 'money doesn't grow on trees', and you heard it often enough that this idea became embedded in your mind and now you just can't get rid of it. This repetitive thought has 'infected' your mind and holds you back from doing everything you want to do, it makes you think that it is real because it has been around for so long that it has just become part of your belief system. For example, someone who really believes that money doesn't grow on trees probably has some issues surrounding money or never having enough of it, and these embedded thoughts hold them back. This conceptualization makes so much sense to me.

For me, as happy and full my life feels, I continually suffer from the mind virus of 'I never have a enough time to do it all/there are not enough hours in the day' and sure enough time is constantly an issue for me. I never accomplish all my to do's, I am stressed about getting it all done, I am continually late, I am jugggling (like many of you) my career, mommyhood, a social life, personal growth, health/fitness and at the same time aspiring to be more calm, peaceful and live a less frentic life--Yikes! I totally believe in the Laws of Attraction and the more power I give to this lack of time, the more the 'virus' has taken over my life and when I have shifted my thinking to "I have all the time in the world/all the time I need" miraculously I have plenty of time to get it all done, with time to spare!

So what does all this mean? I am sharing my insight in hopes that moms out there will be able to identify the viruses that plague them and that this awareness will be the start of shifting their thinking and possibly getting rid of these nasty little buggers, especially those that hold us back from enjoying our precious moments right now.


See you next week,
Romy, Goddess of the Time Warp