Left-Right Brain Balancing 101

Are you more left or right brained?


Did you know that the best learning isn't with one or the other, but the synergy of both? Whole learning requires this integration and when the brain is off-balance it actually makes full learning harder. But there are many ways to balance the left and right hemispheres of your brain.

First establish where your strengths and weaknesses are...





Being aware of the different parts of the brain and their functions is also helpful.

Here is a picture of the brain and the parts associated with the senses. As we work on areas involving the senses and get multiple senses and parts of the brain engaged we strengthen our brain and those associated senses of the body. We build greater awareness and synergy in mind and body.

So What can we do to strengthen our left and right brains to work together? Use multiple senses to cross all over the brain! mullti-sensory experiences are how we were born to learn. Not at a desk by a giver of facts. Our brains my be sponges, to some extent, but they weren't made to passively absorb. They were made to make connections and adapt and explore in three dimension! :)

Here are some activities we already do that we can try to get in a little more....

• reading, writing and performing poetry
• listening to classical music like Mozart or Bach
• playing an instrument
• creating art or observing good art (I read somewhere that William Turner paintings have a great effect on balancing the brain...but I can't find that source.)
• exercise where we cross all the different planes:

great article: http://www.npr.org/2011/06/01/136859090/the-power-of-music-to-affect-the-brain

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side notes:

Here is a simple article about how focusing on improving motor-coordination and brain-balancing will improve writing faster than focusing on handwriting in and of itself.

And here is a short article about needing both left and right to be a good artist:

Also, Brain Gym is a specific approach that teaches how to exercise the brain so the left and right hemispheres are working together--synergy. If you want to learn more about that and specific activities you can do, you can read more about that post. (there are more and more approaches coming out, so don't feel limited to that one)

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Here is a taste...

Brain Balancing Techniques

If both hemispheres of the brain are in balance or in 'sync', then a natural electromagnetic shield is put up by your brain for protection from negative influences.

Your non-dominant hand is the hand with which you DO NOT normally write. Your dominant hand is your primary writing hand.

The reason we are learning to use both hands here is to establish a cross-dominant brain process. Every time you use both hands at the same time, you help your brain to be more balanced, and as a result, you can achieve a higher level of focus for any endeavor you might choose. 

Any physical activity involving movements that cross the mid-line of the body can help your brain become more balanced. Here are just a few examples:

·           Cross-country skiing

·           Rollerblading

·           Walking with arms swinging in rhythm with the opposite feet

·           Bicycling

·           Hiking

·           Dancing

Below are some exercises you can try which will help you to balance your brain.

Lazy 8s: Use a large sheet of paper and markers or crayons. Starting at the middle of the paper, draw a horizontal 8 with your dominant hand. Then draw another one with your non-dominant hand. Finally, with a marker or crayon in each hand, simultaneously draw a lazy 8 with each hand.

X Marks the Spot: Draw a big X on a piece of paper and study it. It can remind you that both parts of your brain are connected and can send messages back and forth.

Double Doodles: Using both hands simultaneously, doodle as much as you like for 3 minutes on a clean sheet of paper. Don't forget to breathe! Use different colored markers or crayons.

Hookups: Cross one foot over the other and one wrist over the other. Put your palms together, bend your elbows, pull your crossed hands to your chest and take about 10 deliberate breaths. Stay in this position until you are feeling calm and centered. This is an especially good exercise to perform before a potentially stressful event.

Book Notes: What is Emotional Intelligence?

The ultimate goal of raising children should not be simply to have an obedient and compliant child. Most parents hope for much more for their children they want their children to be tomorrow and responsible people who contribute to society who have the strength to make their own choices in life who enjoy the accomplishments of their own talents, who enjoy life and the pleasures it can offer who have good relationships with friends and successful marriages and who themselves become good parents.

In my research I discovered love by itself wasn't enough channeling that carrying into some basic skills that parents practice. as if they were coaching their children in the area of the emotion was enough. The secret lay in how parents interacted with their children.

Emotionally intelligent children and people are better at shooting upset calming down their hearts faster and because of the superior performance in that part of their physiology that is involved in coming themselves they had fewer illnesses they were better at focused attention. They were better at understanding and had better friendships.

Ocean within this context motion coaching parents only set limits and miss behavior is no longer the major concern compliance obedience and responsibility comes from a sense of love and connectedness the children feel within their families in this way emotional interactions among nation for instilling values and raising moral people. Children behave according to Family standards because they understand with their hearts that is expected and that living right is off of belonging to the clan.The key to successful parenting is not found in complex series elaborate family room convoluted and affection for you demonstrated simply through empathy and understanding good parenting begins in your heart then continued on a moment to moment basis by engaging your children when feelings run high when you're sad angry or scared the heart of parenting is been there in a particular way when it really counts. 

In the last decade of scientists have found that even more than IQ your emotional awareness and ability to handle feelings determines your success and happiness in all walks of life including family relationships. Children learn most lessons about emotion from their parents it includes the ability to control impulses delay gratification motivate themselves read other people's social cues and cope with life's ups and downs.

Family life is our first school for emotional learning. Parents to teach their children strategies to deal with life's ups and downs are called emotion coaches they don't object to their children's displays of anger or sadness or fear nor do they ignore them instead they except negative emotion as a fact of life and they use emotional moments as opportunities for teaching their kids important life lessons and building closer relationships with them.

Parents who failed to teach kids emotional intelligence fall under three categories:

1. Dismissing parents who disregard ignore or trivialize children's negative emotions.

2. Disapproving parents who are critical of their children's displays of negative feelings and may reprimand or punish them for emotional expression.

3. Laissez-faire parents who excepts their children's emotions and empathize with them but failed to offer guidance or set limits on their children's behavior.

5 Steps of emotion coaching:

1. Become aware of child's emotion (emotion awareness)

2. Recognize the emotion as opportunity for intimacy and teaching (relationship opportunity)

3. Listen empathetically validating child's feelings (empathetic validation)

4. Help child find words to label emotion (name emotion)

5. Set limits while exploring strategies to solve the problem (strategic limits)

Extra Help for setting limits...

Set Behavior Tolerance Zones:

Green Zone = acceptable behavior that lifts and builds.

Yellow Zone = leeway both for learners (age-appropriate) and for hard times (unusual circumstances and stressors)

Red Zone = unacceptable behavior that can not be tolerated (can be destructive--physically, morally, etc.)

Set Consequences

Children should understand consequences are not bad in and of themselves. Good behavior will get happy consequences/rewards. Poor choices will unhappy consequences. Regardless of whether they are happy or sad, consequences must be three things: Consistent, Fair and Related.

Time-outs

When used correctly, children are briefly isolated from positive interactions. A Time-out can be an effective way to help childre...

1. stop their mis-behavior (stop action)

2. calm down (feel)

3. start again on a more positive note (think how to change: make it right)

Spanking

Short-term: the threat may stop mis-behavior immediately, but without discussion... putting off chances to teach the child self-control and problem-solving

Long-term: spanking may not work at all, but rather make the child feel angry and humiliated more often causing retaliation and denial.

Work Together to Find Solutions

Identify some options. kids under ten may need to focus on trying one at a time until they find one that works)

Try role playing and fantasy play. Little kids are better at acting their part through a character and feeling free to experiment their actions. You can try experimenting with a right and a wrong version to see which seems helpful or correct. 

Brainstorming Session. For our children, a regular brainstorming session should work. Remind the child that no idea is too silly, and just throw any ideas out on the table.

Recall the child's past experiences and victories. This will bring confidence and help them visualize trying something new.

Help Your Child Choose a Solution

Feel free to share your past experiences and feelings similar to your child's situation...sharing mistakes and decisions, etc. don't be afraid to let them make a choice you wouldn't. If things don't work out, she can learn and try something new. And you can guide them in analyzing why it didn't work out. Regardless of the outcome, be supportive and help the child develop a plan for the choice made.

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Many well-meaning parents dismiss children's fears and upset as though they didn't matter in these cases the child begins to except the adults estimation of the event and learns to doubt her own judgment. if adults constantly invalidate a child's emotional feelings, the child will begin to lose confidence in himself.

Taking children's emotions seriously requires empathy been listening skills and a willingness to see things from their perspective. It also takes a certain selflessness. (but when a parent is stressed or otherwise distracted a child's incessant and sometimes irrational demands can drive the parent wild).

Many parents are letting go of the strict authoritarian models which they were raised and living with the growing believe in the intrinsic goodness of children more parents now believes their role is to assist children to develop according to their own interests needs and desires.

Parents must show genuine respect for their children's feelings. They should not tell children what they ought to feel, because that simply makes children distrust trust their feelings. Kids' emotions do not disappear when parents say "don't feel that way." And while not all behavior is acceptable, all feelings and wishes are acceptable. therefore, parents should set limits on acts, but not emotions and desires. parent should honestly express their emotions, provided that it is directed at a specific problem and does not attack the child's personality or character.

As helpless as babies are they can learn from our response to their discomfort that emotion has a direction that it is possible to go from feelings of intense stress, anger and fear, to feelings of comfort and recovery. When babies get upset they lack any sense control. And without a guide to take them from distress to comfort they can't self-soothe; instead their negative emotional experience becomes a black hole of anxiety and fear.

The first step parents can take toward raising emotionally intelligent children is to understand their own style of dealing with emotion and how that affects their kids. 

Situations when Emotion coaching may not work...

1. When you are pressed for time

2. If you need to deal with a serious mis-behavior

3. If your child is faking an emotion to manipulate you

4. When you are too tired or upset to be productive

5. When you have an audience

Motherhood Parables: The Walk-in Closet

Here's number three of my Motherhood Parable Series:

The Parable of the Walk-in Closet
I always wanted a walk-in closet! When we first got married we lived in an apartment. Two different apartments, actually. The closets were so tiny, I thought them a joke. (Really, they were standard small room closets, just not a walk-in). And I loved clothes! I had a bunch and I love wearing different layers and types of clothes to match the seasons. >I< NEEDED my walk-in closet.

Well, it wasn't until we bought our new house that I got my walk-in closet. It wasn't a big closet, but the fact you could step in, turn around and go back out made it it a walk-in. I thought, "This is ok, it's close enough."  But it wasn't the walk-in closet I really wanted! In fact, I still had two boxes of clothes in storage and a huge sweater box/trunk at the end of our queen bed.

Anyway, as dreams of a big walk-in closet with tons of shelves and places of all sorts of knick-knacks and such ran through my head, I started feeling like I had too many clothes. My problem was that I just kept accumpulating thrift-store clothes and donations and rarely got rid of them. I would "make do and wear them out" and then get rid of them. That is a good practice, in theory. However, I realized that I didn't wear most of the clothes, and that they were more of a burden to me in having to deicide what to wear and how to match things, than a blessing.

So, I started getting rid of anything that I felt was just "blah."
Then I got rid of anything Paul hated.
Then I got rid of things that I just had since high school that made me feel like a little kid, instead of the mother of three that I am.
Then I started going through things that looked worn, old, etc.
Then I started paying attention to colors and styles. And I got rid of colors that washed me out. And styles that didn't flatter my body type or my personality.

Four trash bags later I narrowed my stuff down to one trash bag full of clothes. About three shirts in each color, and six in the neutrals. About 6 skirts/dresses. About 8 shoes. A box of layering tees in the colors I love that coordinate with the colors of shirts I liked. I now had a basic color palette in my closet which made mix-n-matching much easier. And my closet soon wasn't looking so full.

Not only the closet, but the closet result overflowed into narrowing my jewerly and accessories down. I got rid of my jewelry box and just kept those things that were meaningful and matched my specific color pallet.

I still honestly. feel like I have too much stuff. Too many clothes. Too many shoes. Too many necklaces. And so on.... But I have come a long way. And you know what? I never even think about a bigger walk-in Closet now. I just bought a few closet organizer boxes for simple keeping of my specific clothing articles. A shelf for workout clothes. Box for socks. Box for underwear, etc. We even got rid of our night stands and dresser! And everything fits in our closet perfectly. And we have just one box for seasonal clothes that we keep at the top.

In fact, I even got rid of my lime colored shoes that I liked. Just because I'd bought them right after my mission and thought it was my spark of uniqueness back then. But I don't need that anymore. And I don't want to feel like a teenager, or in that stage of life. I've moved on to a new phase. It's so delightfully freeing!


Lessons Learned:

• Our clothes make a statement. And since finding purpose and meaning in how I dress myself, I feel more purposeful and intentional in creating the life I desire.
• I had too much stuff! It's easy to accumulate, but takes work to let go. Am I willing to think through those things?
• "Wear it out and make do" works, if you are using it and like it. But if not...give it to someone who will use it more than you!
• Better understanding my personality and what I like and want helps me choose and stick to a set look and feel that make me happy, instead of just wearing whatever is around, or trying to match other's styles or personalities. and it makes picking out clothes and shopping a breeze! More mental energy for the other things I really need to focus on.
• More or bigger isn't always better. I frequently don't need more. I simply need to evaluate what I have and align it with what I want. The leftovers need to disappear. This creates not more stuff and greater organization. But rather, less stuff that is high quality and more meaningful and simplifying in it's effects.

So...what stuff do you just keep because it's around and you already paid for it?
Is the motivation of holding things a fear of letting go?
Are you too emotionally connected to the past and items that are holding you back in your maturing and moving into whatever season of life you are currently in?
Could you picture things you own on someone else, instead of you?

Motherhood Parables: The Messy High Chair

Here is the second parable from motherhood that has come to mind frequently...namely everytime I clean the high chair (daily).

The Parable of the Messy High Chair
We have a one year old baby. And boy does she love throwing food and squishing food all over her high chair and floor. I'm always surprised at how food gets in the most-inconvenient-to-clean corners of that chair. And I'm also surprised at the amazing sticking power sweet potato and other foods have. once dried. Some I would compare to the power of super glue! Seriously...not fun. Anyone who saw our high chair when baby first started eating would've thought I never cleaned it.

I wipe things down quickly if I get a chance. But frequently I don't get it all before it hardens. So Some would just pile on and I'd have crusty mountains piling up on the sides betweent he bars. Don't judge me as being a bad mom because of my messes! :)

Anyway, the first few months I didn't want to clean that high chair because it always involved a half hour of scraping and strenuous work. I used a pastry scraper. IT wasn't fun trying to scratch and force all those pieces of hardened gunk off...and especially in the corners.

IT wasn't until I stopped and actually thought about my approach and wondered. "Is this the best approach? Then I thought about my washing dishes. If a dish was left on the oven and the food remnants hardened in the pot, I always tell Paul to soak it over night and then I'll wash it in the morning. I'd rather spend two minutes washing it the next day, than Paul's 30 minutes trying to scrub it out late that night.

Isn't it the same with the high chair?
So I sprayed it with lemon water and went back ten minutes later with my rag and got most of it accomplished just fine, without a scraper.

Lessons learned: 
I am not the best cleaner.
I don't like cleaning things when I don't know how to do it well and it takes a ton of my effort, time, and energy.
Lemon water and a good soak is often times what crusty old dried food needs to get clean.
And I should just clean it up before it dries--but that's the ideal and honestly...not gonna happen as often as I'd like.

I think about this all the time in lmy life. What are my approaches to the things I do?
I especially think about it a lot with homeschool. Are things easier or harder than they should be?
What feels natural and nice and what feels forced and hard to do?

So, I will keep this question in my mind. And every time I see my high chair. :)

Motherhood Parables: The Wood Floor

There are so many lessons to draw from simple daily experiences that I decided to start a mini-series called "Motherhood Parables." There are two in particular that I think about a lot. One experience is about our new wood floor.

The Parable of the Wood Floor
This is s story about two people and a common floor--and the transformation that resulted.

Take Me, Shelley: I grew up shopping at thrift stores, garage sales, dollar stores...you get the point. I loved getting a good deal! I loved having tons of variety and exploring various styles, etc. My Dad would go garage sale-ing all the time and come back with the results  of "a good deal" all the time. It's what we did and how we stayed within our budget and lived "simply."

Then there's Paul: We aren't opposites exactly, but he definitely didn't grew up the same way. I don't even think he stepped into a thrift store unless he needed a costume for an event. And he certainly didn't like the dollar store and would frequently ask me why I bought "cheap junk " from there that is just going to break.

Now saving money and finding deals is a good way to go. It's especially great for if we have kids and they are just going to trash their clothes anyway. Might as well not spend $20 on something that will only last a month or two before they ruin it. But, does buying junk get our children use to being ok treating things like junk? A question I've never pondered until we were surrounded by junk and by kids' careless habits. Were they just kids? Or was this a habit learned from my shopping tendencies? Hmm...question to ponder.

So...imagine us moving into a nice new home. It was a quick-move-in home--which means that the builders had picked out all the interior details and such. Which was nice for us, because we didn't know what we wanted, and were just fine with the espresso-colored cabinets and silver fixtures. However, after years of living in it, our tastes have started to change--to develop.

Last summer I kept staring at our junky linoleum  kitchen floor and cheapest possible carpet. So cheap you can practically see through it and all sorts of surprises get caught down in it. I never really minded before, because I thought, "We have kids, it's perfect for now." But as I stared and stared, I wondered, "Why? Why do we have these things I actually don't like?" The answer was easy--"That's just the way is came. It was what I was used to."

As I thought about that I imagined what type of floor I wanted to have. And I saw a beautiful wood floor. As I pictured it, I felt uplifted and refreshed. I felt more beauty and joy. So I posed the question to Paul. He thought and thought. Then we shopped around a little just to amuse ourselves. But we thought, "We don't need a new floor. That's silly. Let's make do with what we have."

"Let's Make Do with what we have." --That's another parable I'll expound on.

But for now, I realized that there was some reason I couldn't explain of why I needed a new wood floor that cost money and was an inconvenience to put in. We were able to use our stove for a week and also have to move the fridge and dishwasher. It was hard. But it gave up new opportunities to think about the things we do daily without thinking about it. So we went ahead with the new wood floor. For some reason it just made sense to both of us from somewhere outside our logical minds.

With no oven, I was able to spend a week thinking about how to eat without one. We used a Thermal Cooker and a portable gas stove and I learned some emergency preparedness tactics. Cool! I normally wouldn't have self-imposed that experience on myself. But this was an opportunity.

We never use the dishwasher anyway, so I thought. Wow. I like having this space empty for my step-stool and recycle bin. Let's just get rid of this. Convention says everyone has one, but we don't use it...so why have it. Now that's gone.

The fridge...it was a pain to move, but was doable and there really is nothing special about that. So on we go with the story.

We decided on an orange bamboo floor that was on sale. Paul got a few tools for laying wood floor, And after a few weeks. Voila. In was the floor. (To this day we still haven't finished the edges) But the floor is amazing. IT transformed our home. The feeling is totally different! Our kitchen linoleum and great room carpet made the area feel like two different rooms. Now the space is extremely open. The color just contrasts and complements the espresso cabinets and beige walls so perfectly balanced, with a general warmth that exudes over the whole area.

I thought to myself, "How did we go so long without this amazing piece that creates such a strong change in our home?" And the answer..."We didn't know any better. We hadn't thought of it before. We weren't used to or experienced with wood floors. It just never occurred to us--the potential."

Now I'm not saying everyone needs a wood floor. It's like a haircut. Different cuts for different face shapes and blah, blah blah. But...we finally have something that fits us, our personality, our home atmosphere we are going for. And when those all align--wow. There is true harmony.

Now, i have to tell you. I'm a horrible deep cleaner most of the time. Paul will readily admit that he deep cleans our bathrooms. I, on the other hand, would rather organize and find a home for everything in the house. I know exactly where everything is. But Paul always notices when things aren't clean. We just have different focuses. I tidy up. He cleans.

So with the new wood floor, it requires extra care. Such quality needs to be well-maintained. Paul questioned how I was going to keep it clean, since I struggled keeping the linoleum clean. And the answer has been it isn't a problem. Why? I love my floor. I appreciate and value it so much--it brings me joy--that I can't help but want to take care of it and clean it. I realize the importance of not letting water sit on it too long or it will ruin it. So I take care of it. I have tools to take care of it, so it is easy for me. And we established rules for the kids so they too understand the importance of being gentle and careful with it.

The result?
Well, the transition was hard at first, for the kids. And we got some scratches from kids not thinking or not understanding the effect of certain toys being dragged accross, etc. But overall now, the kids get it. Ethan has to clean up his floor messes right away. We put felt pads under some furniture that could scratch. I sweep at least once a day--but I was doing that already. And the list goes on.

My Lesson: by having quality that fit our needs, desires and feel of our home. And by establishing rules and a foundation of appreciation and understanding the floor and reasons why we treated the floor well. We set expectations that our children rose up to. They aren't as reckless and have more awareness. They understand what good quality is. They appreciate nature and know where wood comes from and how certain things do and don't work with wood--so they better appreciate nature. And I understand better why I never liked cleaning--I didn't value the result or the materials. It was a task to do, instead of the results to be pleased with. I realize I have transformed. I love quality when it matters and am ok spending a little extra (though still on sale) if it will benefit and transform me and my family or our house to better reach our ideal and potential.

There are many other lessons and things I could go on about, but this is running much longer than expected. So if you read this whole thing. Give yourself a pat on the back. You made it through.
And hopefully there is something helpful for you in this.

 Life is about learning and transforming and getting better acquainted with our true potential. What is your true potential. How are you transforming? What new experiences and opportunities surround you?

Einstein Quotes

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” 

“If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself.” 

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” 

“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.” 

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.” 

“Try not to become a man of success. Rather become a man of value.” 

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” 

“Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” 

“If I were not a physicist, I would probably be a musician. I often think in music. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music.” 

“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” 

“You never fail until you stop trying.” 

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” 

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” 

“Reading, after a certain age, diverts the mind too much from its creative pursuits. Any man who reads too much and uses his own brain too little falls into lazy habits of thinking.” 

“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.” 

New Year: Looking ahead for 2016

Ok...it's that time of year we turn over a new leaf and begin again. Who's ready to Renew their efforts?

I always think of in the scriptures in Luke 2 where it talk about Christ's younger years. There's not much known of that special time in his life, but I like these two thoughts:

1. When his parents couldn't find him and search all over, they eventually found him days later in the temple. His response?  “wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (v.49)

2. Then the summary of Jesus's daily efforts and the direction he was focused in...“Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” (v.52)

Little do we know of the particulars, but those two thoughts are a parallel for us...to establish a framework:

1. What is my mission, within God's framework?

2. How do I improve myself in the various roles and in the different realms (social, physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual, etc.)?

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Keep in mind...this isn't striving and hard core goals to make you cry. This is uncovering and becoming in-tune with your desires inside you. And then finding order and balance in your life to help it roll forward.

So, here is a simple visual to help breakdown your vision into functional and feasible plans.... It even looks like an eye or target. :)

(Instructions for the visual...and then examples beneath.)

1. First establish your core priority and foundation of the Spiritual dimension. (There isn’t much room for this, so I normally do a separate section on the bottom.) For me, I typically focus on this beautifully simple scripture that prioritizes my focus:

Matt 22:35-40

Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.

And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.So here's 

a glimpse into a simple, general tool I use each year to reestablish my focus. It is a visual I draw in the back of my journal (so I know right where to find and refer to it often).

2. Then For each category, on the outer side, write a vision statement of how you see your best self—the ideal.  And in the inside write some goals and details needed to get you closer to that ideal. The key is that you establish a vision--and  a plan to work towards it. Not that you hit it exactly...but that you are working towards a higher aim daily.

3. If things are too hard or you don’t feel motivated to work towards it, adjust your goals. Your vision is a beautiful thing. Don’t make your goals blur your vision or make it feel heavier than it should be. You are great and the potential is within you already. Your vision is just better aligning your view of your own potential. Clear off those temporal glasses of present circumstance or looking back, and begin to BE who you already are, but have forgotten.

Example: Spiritual

I want to live my fullest potential and be in-tune with the spirit to know and act on what Heavenly Father needs of me for the benefit of others.

- feast in the scriptures daily: asking questions and writing answers

- invite uplifting music into my life when need extra support

- pray daily for opportunities to serve and give

Intellectual

I want to see goodness and truth in the things I read and learn about and seek a variety of opportunities to expand my views and cultural experiences.

- read a book a month

- try an ethnic recipe each month

- invite people into my home to share a cultural experience

- ask people I know to explain thing to me that I don't know much about

Example: Emotional

I want to have an awareness of my feelings and the feelings of those around me. Being present with those I'm with--thus knowing how to empathize with those in need. Being cheerful always through receiving all things with a grateful, childlike heart.

- write in my journal to get out my thoughts and feelings at least weekly, if not nightly

- use prayer as a way to get out my feelings and thoughts and work through them, turning them over to Him so I can best be objective in my judgments

- slow down and take time to just listen. Less talking.

- Reciprocate any and all forms of giving in word, deed, etc.

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Hopefully that will get you started in the right direction.... Just remember life is not a race. Don't push yourself. "Men are that they may have joy." And joy can be found in aligning our vision and priorities and then as we daily seek help in realigning with those, God can provide us the opportunities and pieces to fit into our vision and get us closer from point A to B. We don't have to do all the work. Just set the course and be prepared to follow. :) Happy journey 2016!

Also, for those who are interested in chakras or symbology, etc. I do this same thing for more areas and it is so meaningful for me in deepening my understanding and appreciation for all those areas of my understanding too. SO I invite you to try it if you are familiar with the seven chakras, or however many you want for numbers. Maybe one day I'll post a big thing on that and some other perspectives on self-improvement and gratitude. What matters is that the tool you use if helpful or meaningful for you.

Christmas Celebrations: History of Santa--Saint Nick

Though there is much commercialism in Christmas, this doesn't have to be a battle of Santa vs. Christ. There is room enough for both. Let's find out...

So, Who is Santa?

Why does he get so much attention during a season in which we celebrate Christ?

Nicholas (later called Saint Nick) was born around 3AD around Greece and Turkey. He was a good man that dedicated his life to serving God and helping others. There are many stories about his life and what he did and you can read more viable sources than me, but it boils down to a few points:

 - he delivered bags of gold at night, unbeknownst, to a poor man house who needed money for his daughters' wedding dowry.

- he was said to protect children and help restore them to their families and wholeness (kidnaped, hurt, etc.)

- and more stories...for which he became a saint by the Catholic Church (and interestingly enough he was at the council of Nicea)

- Source: http://www.stnicholascenter.org/pages/who-is-st-nicholas/

So...knowing this, Santa is based on a historical example of CHRISTLIKE service. Santa is a type or symbol for Christ. If we teach our kids this, then both help reinforce the principles of service and giving. Christmas doesn't have to be only about toys and wants. We can create more meaning as we present information and traditions with purpose and good discussion--as we bridge the Santa-Christ-divide.

So...where to from here?

We celebrate St. Nick the first week of December. I normally do this by telling a simple story of St. Nick secretly delivering bags of gold. And we put out holiday slippers with a tangerine, whole nuts, german candies and a simple wood toy. It's nice because my kids can wear their slippers all month and remember st. Nicks service...their socks become a symbol. How much more meaningful is having a tradition and story behind they "stuff" kids get! Also, we put the whole nuts on the table and that is what we eat all month for snacks during the day. This is so fun for kids...easy way to pass the time, they don't just scarf down food, but slow down and have more conversation, and they try new nuts not usually in our home. The tangerine reminds them of the gold. And a simple toys because st. Nick gave. Typically in some European countries, kids put strW or carrots in their slippers before and then st. Nick trades it for the goodies. I like this because I try to teach my kids the reciprocal nature of giving and that we should always give back to those who gave to us...in any form.

There are other things you can do, but go explore and find out what you'd like to try, that works for your family. And I suggest you just do those things you think would be fun and meaningful...otherwise things are more work than joy. And celebrations should be all fun and bring unity to all involved!

Then Christmas can more simple and focused on Christ because Santa has already had his focus. 

So...just to cap it off. December sixth is the official St. Nick's Day. It is the day he died. Fitting, right? If we celebrate a good man who showed us an example of trying to be CHRISTLIKE on the day he died, then we look forward the rest of the month to the life and birth of Christ. Death is but a new beginning this season!

Enjoy new beginnings!

Let's say "no" to the commercialism of Christmas and create meaningful events and traditions to more fully find joy, unity and peace this December--as we journey towards Christ and seek to give him true gifts this season.