This is YOUR year to focus on just ONE aspect of your life you’d like to improve upon. That’s it just ONE. I think sometimes we get bogged down with a list of things we’d like to change, improve, or begin in our lives and it overwhelms us so stop. Instead we listen to discouraging internal dialogue that we are too weak, not good enough, or we list excuses and allow them to own us instead of owning them.
So this is YOUR year to do something. By picking ONE thing, taking it to prayer, and allowing God to work it through in your life then you can witness the achievement.
My one thing? Not just being intentional in finding JOY in a moment in every day but allowing myself to RECEIVE JOY, HOLD ONTO JOY, and to feel WORTHY OF JOY.
God bless you all!!! And remember…focus on one thing!!
Blessings
Shannon
Remember – every Monday night I will release a new chapter of REDEEMED. Beginning this Monday!!
Each day is a new day…don’t panic. If today happens to be one that is filled with constant anxiety attacks, take care of ONLY what is absolutely needed (aka: KIDS or WORK) and once what is ONLY absolutely imperative is taken care of then take off your shoes, sit down and BREATHE.
Pray if you can. Nothing more than saying Jesus’ name.
Today I ran away. Well, not officially but I did get to last minute ask a fried who has a beach house in Galveston if I could use it for some R & R.
The crash of the waves is a lullaby to my spirit. The vastness of the ocean reminds me how BIG this world is and that God, the creator of it ALL is IN CONTROL of little ole me.
So I went to THE SPOT, enjoyed a beverage and chilled.
Friday night I was blessed with an unexpected down moment to spend some quality time with my kids. Ryan (16) hung with me for as long as he could stand it and went to ‘chill out’ and decompress. Seth popped in the movie we had in from Netflix called “About Time” and before we knew it he and I were having a sincere discussion about what makes us ‘happy’.
Time means a lot to Seth. Time in every aspect. How much we spend, how much we have, when we run out. Seth appreciates time as a precious and valuable commodity. Often I have to be conscious about this fact for Seth because clearly his main ‘love language’ is quality time. Time makes Seth happy.
Unbeknownst to me Seth has been writing quotes as they come to him and he shared this one with me the other day:
LIVE this day and be ‘done with it’ because tomorrow is a new day. Love him.
Little did we know the movie we were about to watch would demonstrate this philosophy. About Time is about this family that has a peculiar gift, they can travel back in time. They can’t go forward and they can’t go somewhere they haven’t been but they can go back and have a ‘redo’. The ‘take away’ from this film is that it is UP TO YOU to enjoy your life…one day at a time.
Take a moment and watch the movie trailer:
Sure there are days we choose to be sad, upset, angry or just melancholy…sometimes we need to let the emotion have its course…but the fair warning is if you allow yourself to stay in that state it will begin to erode your spirit and block out the light of the joy that God provides every day.
What God has created to amplify our happiness is constant.The moon, the sun, the mountains, the beach, a child’s smile, etc. It is our choice to see it, embrace it.
No one can ‘make you happy’. No thing can ‘make you happy’. Only YOU can make YOU happy.
Something that makes me happy is music and dancing. Since I was a young girl (as early as 3 years old) I would rock in a rocking chair and sing my own music as I rocked. Later Friday night videos came out and I would rock as I watched the videos…letting my mind go and imagination take over as the lyrics and beat took me to new places and adventures that only an imagination can bring. Later someone invented the Walkman and this took me through my teen years into high school where I learned to ‘escape’ in music.
I rocked into my young years as a mother, alone, without a baby in my hands to relieve stress. I let the music take me as I zoned out and let it go.
It’s been years since I’ve rocked in a rocking chair. But music has not ceased to be a consolation. If I realize I need to find my ‘happy place’ I put on music I know will redirect my thoughts and remind me that this life is so short. Why waste it being upset and down?
This quick (only 1 minute) dance instruction for Pharrell’s “HAPPY” song makes me smile on this Monday. I’m going to learn this dance!
Love him.
Just Show Up 