A Great Book!

So, my 30 day blogging challenge is a Challenge!!!  The day gets away from me.  I'll plan better.

My blog is short tonight.  I'm gonna recommend a book.  The book is Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert.  It is a great book about the importance of being creative.  I loved it as well as everyone in my family.  We forget how important being creative is.

Having a creative outlet in our lives brings such joy.  I think I've gotten caught up in not being the best at something so I don't do it.  For instance I love to sing.  I haven't been singing much for years.  I love to perform.  It's been years since I did any performing.  I know in getting those things back into my life I'll be so much happier!  What have you stopped doing that you love to do?

As always...comment!  I would love to hear what you think!

The Big Secret!

I have a problem with consistency.  I love the idea. I am a fan, not a performer in this realm.  I want to be consistent, but some deep seeded flaw in me resists.  I don’t know, was it all the running around the neighborhood unsupervised for hours as a child? Is it my tendency to day dream?  Is it my sparkling personality that makes others want to pick up the pieces for me?  Have I ever been consistent? If not, then maybe it’s because I don’t know how great it is.  Either way, I’ve decided to work on being consistent this year.  I feel I will get a lot done if I commit to this venture.  My house will be cleaner, my body thinner, my blog better.

If you really think about it nothing amazing ever happens without consistency.  If you can’t keep up a steady pace at whatever you want to accomplish, it isn’t going to happen. I should know, I’m an expert.  

Weirdly I’ve somehow instilled this priceless little gem into my children.  So much for “you can’t teach what you don’t know”.  Honestly maybe it’s my train wreck of an inconsistent life that inspired them all.  So, whether I did something right or did something wrong…they win!  I have 4 beautiful children.  No, really, they are beautiful. You see the pic.  Everyone of them going for their dreams.  I’ll write about my girls today.  

They started in the 5th and 3rd grade.  One day my oldest girl said: “Mom, I’m gonna be a star someday!”  I said: “Alrighty!”  We started from that time forward to support her and my younger daughter in their “little band” It’s been 9 years and lots of hard work and consistency.  They have practiced and believed in their dream.  They recently signed a record deal and have started the ride of a life time.  There are four girls in the band.  I could write so much about this and probably will.  For now lets just say, it took consistency.  Now that I think about it I have been consistently helping them pursue their dreams.  So I do know how to be consistent!  Now it’s time for me to be consistent in doing the things I want to do.  It’s a strange time, a hard time, an exciting time!

Leave me a message on my About page and tell me what you're going through now in your life.  I would love to hear from you!

Let's Do A Complaining Fast!

My 30 Day Challenge

So, because I want to be a full-time writer I've decided to challenge myself to post something to this blog everyday for the next 30 days.

I will write about whatever seems fun for the day.  It might be a recipe or a book I love or a makeup tip.  I'll post videos too.  I hope if you like something I post you will comment and follow this blog!  I think you have to sign in to blogspot to post comments.  Please take the time and do it because I would love to hear from you!

Mamas On The Move is about women.  All kinds of women.  You don't have to be a mother to be a Mama On The Move.  It's about moving forward in life no matter what.  It's about being your best self. It's about finding yourself and loving who you are.  I am in my midlife, so that's what I will be writing about mostly. I would love to hear about you on this blog so comment away!

Not sure why I'm posting this pic...need some new material.  The rhino in the back says CHARGE!
That's what I'm gonna do this year!

Pain Is In The Resisting Of What Is...

As the new year starts I wanted to remind myself of these thoughts I wrote awhile ago.

Pain is in the resisting of what is.  When I first read this I had a moment.  One of those moments that shifts your life.  As I thought about it, I realized how true it is, that the pain in any situation comes in the resisting of it.  When you accept what is, then the peace comes.  Stop resisting how things are and relax into acceptance.  After you do that, you feel the peace of letting go of trying to control a situation that you have no power to control.  

Accepting what is doesn’t mean you have to like it.  I think we get caught up in the thought that acceptance means we are ok or approve of how things are in the moment.  That isn’t true at all.  Accepting what is brings power and peace.  It means letting go of feeling responsible for, or in charge of others or their lives. It means changing your focus to yourself and what you have control over.  Sometimes it’s helpful to remind yourself of what you actually do control.  We all get confused about this at times.  

Acceptance means that we accept ourselves and the people in our lives, as we and they are.  It is only then, that we have the clarity to function and make decisions. Letting go of dreams is hard. The dreams we had for ourselves and for those we love.  But, we have to let go of old dreams to make room for new ones.  Letting go of our idea of what life was suppose to be like is hard work, but so necessary.  We have to have dreams and hopes for the future.  We might just need to shift the lens of what the future looks like.  The freedom lies in our ability to adapt and change. Don’t hold on so tight to what you thought things would be and miss all the amazing things that are.  

Respect The Journey

You've heard the saying.  Everyone is on their journey. Well, life has taken some twists and turns for me and I have been forced to reconcile myself to that!  For many years I was so judgmental, always thinking I knew what was best for the whole human race.  I set my life and family up expecting a certain outcome.  Never did I expect that my whole plan would not be followed by a tribe of independent, strong- willed people.  I believe that as a mother I tried to instill in my children self confidence.  I did succeed in that department.  However, I wanted to decided what direction that self confidence would take them.  They all had other ideas.  I have felt like a failure as a Mother because of things that have happened or just what is.  I was holding everyone up to my standard of success.  I can’t express the suffering I have been through because those that I love have set out on a different journey than what I wanted. I have cried and yelled and pretty much ruined my own life because of the control I wanted to have. 

After some years of pain I started to feel a change start to happen within me.  I knew there had to be a better way to live.  Could I control what others were doing?  Did I have the right to tell them how to live?  Even though I gave birth to four of these people, did that give me the right to tell them how to live their lives? Slowly, and I mean s l o w l y. I have let go of my previous expectations.  I am opening up and accepting what is…and I am fascinated by it.  This isn’t the journey I chose or expected for sure.  But the lessons and insight I have opened up to is amazing.  What a difference in my happiness when I just accept and love everyone for who and what they are. I’ve let go of the control I wanted to have over others, and started to focus on my own life.  I realized that I was holding my family up to a measuring stick that didn’t fit.  I was using the wrong measuring stick.  When I take that stick away and just look at them for who they are…they are amazing!  Shift your paradigm and everything changes.  

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DIYY Do It Yourself Yoga

The first time I walked into a Yoga class I was so excited to learn.  I loved the comfy clothes and the no shoes rule.  The sound of water and spa music lulled me into a state of confidence that I could do this.  I knew I needed to learn to chill and relax (many peeps have confirmed this) and this was gonna be my ticket to calm.  The room was dark and full of other yogis.  I was late, of course, so I hurried to find a mat and take my place in the back.  The studio was wall to wall mirrors, which would prove to not be a good thing for me.  

The teacher started giving instructions and everyone moved in unison and assumed a pose.  Downward Dog she said, I thought, what the heck?  I didn’t think this was gonna be a sex position class.  I was alarmed for a minute, but decided to live and let live, so I pushed my butt in the air and started to breath loudly with everyone else.  We stayed there for what seemed forever.  Blood rushed to my head and I became aware that my arms were not prepared to hold my voluptuous body in that position for long.  I held it and prayed for another command from the teacher.  Low Cobra was the next command.  I watched the gal beside me and was relieved that this I could do.  The next pose we were on our feet in Warrior.  I managed to get myself in some semblance of the Warrior only to have my socks start sliding on the tile forcing me into the splits of sorts.  (That’s why I was the only one in socks!)  

I worked on the poses and took comfort in the instructors gentle assurance that we do “our version of the pose”  I was pretty sure she was looking at me every time she said that.  I love that there is no pressure to do the poses like anyone else.  However, the mirror reflected that my version was so far from everyone else’s version, that it seemed I was in another class.  Even sitting cross legged was painful!  I am not a flexible gal.  

Toward the end of the class the great Yogi woman said something like freestyle.  I watched in horror as everyone either stood on their heads or formed a living pretzel with their bodies which only made me think of food.  People were doing yoga magic that I could only dream about having a body that was capable of achieving.  So, what did I do? I just sat there in my version of cross legged meditation with my fingers forming that yoga prayer thing, and pretended to be relaxing.  Man, this yoga thing is not easy.  Maybe I’m not cut out for it.  I left discouraged.  I wanted to be a Yogi.  I longed for that command of my body!  I saw that Youtube guy that was like 400 pounds and how he slimmed down just by doing Yoga.  What is that matter with me I thought.  

I decided to try another class with people more my age.  I found another studio and wanted to try Restorative Yoga.  That sounded good!  I have plenty of restoring to do.  

I walked into the class, late of course, and loved it immediately.  I was the youngest in the class which was a dream to start with.  We laid on mats with lots of pillows around and a blanket.  The music was soft and the grand Yogi master woman spoke softly and slowly.  We pretty much stretched and relaxed and laid in different positions…breathing.  I was in love!  Then, during the final resting pose with everyone practically asleep, a gastric explosion somehow escaped my radar.  It was loud, very loud. The room was small and quiet and there was no way to escape blame for this colossal infraction.  I was horrified!  What in the hell????? I didn’t know what to do, so I just stayed there, breathing loudly, praying for it to be over. After the class, I folded up my equipment and hurried out of there in 2. 1 seconds.

So, even though my experiences with Yoga haven’t been all that I had hoped, I am undaunted.  Now I just practice in my living room, no mirrors, doing my version of the poses, relaxing and letting it rip if need be.  This is "my version” of Yoga.  Maybe someday I’ll be ready to practice with other Yogis on a hill in Tibet, but for now I’m DIYY. (Do It Yourself Yoga)