Hey, I'm not sure why I'm feeling like this today... but, yeah, it's one of those days...
actually, instead of blogging I'm gonna read my scriptures for a little bit : ) I think that will help me : )
Friday, February 18, 2011
Friday, February 4, 2011
my day
My experience with eating mostly raw foods is going well. I have been craving cooked food. Nothing unhealthy, just stuff like rice, or something else heated. It's cold and no matter how much fruit I have in my kitchen I still feel like eating worm things, not cold vegetables. I've been making sure that my breakfast is something healthy (today it was the juice of 3 small oranges, 3 celery stems and one cucumber - all organic). But then for lunch I had rice. I feel like Heavenly Father is pleased with my diet. He knows that I want to be healthy, and that I desire the energy to play with my children and to exercise.
I've been watching some mormon messages (short videos on the net) and I've been uplifted by them.
I also did what Barbara asked me to do - study the BM first thing in the day. This is good. I read 2 Nephi 4 and felt the Spirit teaching me. I love my Father in Heaven and His Son - Jesus Christ.
I've been watching some mormon messages (short videos on the net) and I've been uplifted by them.
I also did what Barbara asked me to do - study the BM first thing in the day. This is good. I read 2 Nephi 4 and felt the Spirit teaching me. I love my Father in Heaven and His Son - Jesus Christ.
Getting rid of pride and guilt as a parent
I read this article in the deseret news online (http://www.mormontimes.com/article/19600/Getting-rid-of-pride-and-guilt?s_cid=newsline )
We were visiting a little ward in rural Idaho, and the Sunday School lesson happened to be on parenting. We sat quietly and anonymously and listened.
There was another visitor there, kind of a sophisticated city slicker who seemed to have all the answers. He also seemed to have perfect kids because he prefaced each comment he made with something like, "Well, the way I communicate with my son, the student body president ..." or "The way I handled that with my daughter, the valedictorian ..."
If it had just been a couple of times, it would have been fine, but about the sixth time he gave his perfect, pat answer about his perfect kids, you could almost hear the groans about this self-righteous guy who seemed to have no problems.
Then, just after the first bell, a small, quiet-voiced farmer raised his hand, got called on, stood up and turned to face the big bragger. "Excuse me," he said with a high-pitched country twang, "but God must notta thought much of you as a parent, sendin' ya all them easy kids."
There were some soft giggles from every direction and an almost audible murmur of agreement among the class members. We gave each other's hand a little squeeze and both mumbled, "Amen!" No offense was taken, but we all knew exactly what that good man was saying.
Knowing what we know about our children's pre-existence, about the eternity they have already spent becoming who they are, we had better not take too much credit for who they are. As LDS parents, most of us recognize that we have much less to do with who our kids are than their own growth and development over their past parts of eternity. So we had better not feel too much pride for their gifts and goodness.
And for the same reason, we had better not feel too much guilt for their imperfections and problems.
Because that courageous little farmer could have also said, in another situation to another parent, "God musta thought quite a bit of you as a parent, sendin' ya that difficult kid."
When we see other parents struggling with serious behavioral problems, instead of judging them as poor parents, perhaps we should respect them for how hard they are trying and for the fact that they were selected by some divine process to be worthy of very difficult parenting challenges.
Part of eternal perspective parenting — and a big part of looking for spiritual solutions — is remembering and understanding that we didn't create our children; that they come as who they are from a Father who entrusts us with stewardship for them. We do our best to help our children grow and develop in ways that are uniquely right for them, and we seek God's help.
Thus, we try not to judge other parents or ourselves. We replace pride with gratitude when a child does something well or shows promise in some way, and we replace guilt with perspective and added love when a child falls short or makes a mistake.
We were visiting a little ward in rural Idaho, and the Sunday School lesson happened to be on parenting. We sat quietly and anonymously and listened.
There was another visitor there, kind of a sophisticated city slicker who seemed to have all the answers. He also seemed to have perfect kids because he prefaced each comment he made with something like, "Well, the way I communicate with my son, the student body president ..." or "The way I handled that with my daughter, the valedictorian ..."
If it had just been a couple of times, it would have been fine, but about the sixth time he gave his perfect, pat answer about his perfect kids, you could almost hear the groans about this self-righteous guy who seemed to have no problems.
Then, just after the first bell, a small, quiet-voiced farmer raised his hand, got called on, stood up and turned to face the big bragger. "Excuse me," he said with a high-pitched country twang, "but God must notta thought much of you as a parent, sendin' ya all them easy kids."
There were some soft giggles from every direction and an almost audible murmur of agreement among the class members. We gave each other's hand a little squeeze and both mumbled, "Amen!" No offense was taken, but we all knew exactly what that good man was saying.
Knowing what we know about our children's pre-existence, about the eternity they have already spent becoming who they are, we had better not take too much credit for who they are. As LDS parents, most of us recognize that we have much less to do with who our kids are than their own growth and development over their past parts of eternity. So we had better not feel too much pride for their gifts and goodness.
And for the same reason, we had better not feel too much guilt for their imperfections and problems.
Because that courageous little farmer could have also said, in another situation to another parent, "God musta thought quite a bit of you as a parent, sendin' ya that difficult kid."
When we see other parents struggling with serious behavioral problems, instead of judging them as poor parents, perhaps we should respect them for how hard they are trying and for the fact that they were selected by some divine process to be worthy of very difficult parenting challenges.
Part of eternal perspective parenting — and a big part of looking for spiritual solutions — is remembering and understanding that we didn't create our children; that they come as who they are from a Father who entrusts us with stewardship for them. We do our best to help our children grow and develop in ways that are uniquely right for them, and we seek God's help.
Thus, we try not to judge other parents or ourselves. We replace pride with gratitude when a child does something well or shows promise in some way, and we replace guilt with perspective and added love when a child falls short or makes a mistake.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Raw Food Diet Trial
Nice : )
So far so good. I decided to eat raw for 10 days, and after those 10 initial days to see how I am feeling and then decide whether to continue for another 20 days or not (making the trial be for possibly one month). Oh, I must point out that my goal is not to eat 100% raw. I want to eat everything during the day raw with the exception for dinner, when I want to have the choice to either eat raw or join my family in a cooked vegan dinner.
Yesterday went great. I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help me (especially with my addiction to sugar) and I can tell that I received help from on high. I felt great and slept very well at night (something rare for me, as I suffer from insomnia). So, what did I eat?
- green smoothie in the morning (banana, lots of spinach, orange and a little bit of pineapple juice)
- an orange for snack
- for lunch I ate 4 DELICIOUS raw tacos ( sprouted walnuts, a bit of red onion, green and black olives, cumin, cayenne pepper all ground up in a mini blender and then divided between 4 lettuce leafs)
- a handful of Gobi berries for snack
- a vegan cooked dinner (potatoes, carrots, corn, and tomatoes baked in the oven with a little olive oil, salt and herbs)
So yeah, I ate all of this, and had energy to workout (strenght training) and slept very well.
This morning I had my green smoothie for breakfast and did a boot camp exercise class.
So far I'm not craving any cooked food badly BUT this is only the beginning and I'm aware of that.
This evening I am teaching 2 Zumba classes (at Curves and at the East Valley Y) so I may need to eat more calories... we'll see.
Just a side note: my skin isn't looking very good. Hopefully this trial will help me detox and my skin will improve as a result.
So far so good. I decided to eat raw for 10 days, and after those 10 initial days to see how I am feeling and then decide whether to continue for another 20 days or not (making the trial be for possibly one month). Oh, I must point out that my goal is not to eat 100% raw. I want to eat everything during the day raw with the exception for dinner, when I want to have the choice to either eat raw or join my family in a cooked vegan dinner.
Yesterday went great. I said a prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help me (especially with my addiction to sugar) and I can tell that I received help from on high. I felt great and slept very well at night (something rare for me, as I suffer from insomnia). So, what did I eat?
- green smoothie in the morning (banana, lots of spinach, orange and a little bit of pineapple juice)
- an orange for snack
- for lunch I ate 4 DELICIOUS raw tacos ( sprouted walnuts, a bit of red onion, green and black olives, cumin, cayenne pepper all ground up in a mini blender and then divided between 4 lettuce leafs)
- a handful of Gobi berries for snack
- a vegan cooked dinner (potatoes, carrots, corn, and tomatoes baked in the oven with a little olive oil, salt and herbs)
So yeah, I ate all of this, and had energy to workout (strenght training) and slept very well.
This morning I had my green smoothie for breakfast and did a boot camp exercise class.
So far I'm not craving any cooked food badly BUT this is only the beginning and I'm aware of that.
This evening I am teaching 2 Zumba classes (at Curves and at the East Valley Y) so I may need to eat more calories... we'll see.
Just a side note: my skin isn't looking very good. Hopefully this trial will help me detox and my skin will improve as a result.
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