Ten Poems to Change Your Life by Roger Housden

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The title of this book is not misleading… it inspired me to pack up the family and move across the country… to start my own business… to fall in love all over again with my husband.



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So, every weekend I sit down and start my grocery list – not from what I think we need to replenish the pantry… I start with a list of 6 dinners for the week & 1 quick back-up for the days time gets away from us. I inherited a stack of 8X5 note cards a while back and I use these for the list each week. The dinner items go on the right side of the card and then I add what I need on the left. I put the list in the order of the grocery store adding general stock items, like OJ, as I go. This list generally gets stuck on the front of the fridge as a guide for the week. All the recipes I use are good for you, easy and quick to make – with a focus on less processed items.

I thought I would blog the list this week and come back with the recipes… I don’t know, it may become a trend… we’ll see…

• Asian Chicken Peanut Salad
• Tomato Basil Soup with Cheese Toast and Asparagus Apple Salad
• Chicken Veggie Soup with Pumpkin Bread
• Pizza Movie Night
• Pinto Beans with Cornbread, Sliced Tomatoes, and Carrot – Apple – Raisin Slaw

The focus for this week is to use the odd bits of veggies left over from last week, use the chicken I have the freezer, buy no new meat, keep the bill low – thus the 2 veggie soups and the beans.

I am going to try an roast tomatoes for the first time this week… we’ll see how that goes!

Happy Sunday everyone… here’s to a fabulous week for everyone.

I began a journey.

Thirteen years ago, I chose to begin…

I set my compass for enlightened living, a conscious connection to The Light, and then looked down at my feet… took the smallest step forward, and then another, and then another…

Each lesson along the way, each teacher that appeared as I was ready, each experience, each moment of spiritual growth, each layer shed that revealed another layer deeper still, the next smallest step forward, and then another, and then another…

I arrive at today.

Today I feel more grounded, more connected, more centered, enlightened, trusting, loving, open… alive than ever before. The archetypal energies within me have never been more aligned.

The Queen took measure of the needs of those in my life – family, friends, co-workers, clients – and decided on a change towards more balance.

The Warrior stuck her sword in the ground, loosed her battle cry…

The Mother worked in unison with The Universe, created the logistical support.

The Crone held the wisdom, the knowing, that I am loved and worthy of the dreams and destiny I imagine for myself.

I arrive at today.

“What if we truly believed there is a God — a beneficent order to things, a force that’s holding things together without our conscious control? What if we could see, in our daily lives, the working of that force? What if we believed it loved us somehow, and cared for us, and protected us? What if we believed we could afford to relax?”  ~ Marianne Williamson “A Return to Love”

Today I end this phase of my journey.
Today I step more fully into the belief that I can afford to relax.
Today is my last day working full time, away-from home.

Tomorrow I begin the next phase of my journey.
Tomorrow I more balance the needs of family and clients and myself.
Tomorrow I begin to work on my own, part-time, from home.

Tomorrow, I get the great honor, privileged and joy of getting to spend more time with my family.

(Each phase of my journey has given me to opportunity to learn what I needed to be successful in the next. I feel this very intensely around this particular transition. My time as part of the Schipul tribe has been amazing. I have never felt so supported, encouraged, and valued in my professional career as I have in the past few years working at Schipul. I see the Schipul team soaring towards such wonderful success and I wish them all well on their journey. I know that they wish me well on mine. )

God gifts to parents the most precious, rewarding, and important job that has ever existed.

It is also the hardest job… ever.

There is a saying that if you ask God for patience… God will give you plenty of opportunities to practice. Patience is not like an app you download for your smart phone. Neither is humility, passion, acceptance, love, forgiveness, faith, hope, laughter, joy, nurturing, playfulness, or wonder.

All jobs present the challenge and the opportunity of learning new skills, of honing existing ones. Being a parent presents the opportunity to learn how to teach, how to set boundaries, how to focus on what’s really important, how to let go of the small stuff, how to worry and not show it, how to love unconditionally, how to protect, how to hold on tight, and how to know when to let go.

The compensation is at the same time non-existent and priceless – it is immeasurable, unquantifiable, intangible and so real that at times it feels like nothing else has ever mattered more.

All the masters… the inventors… the world changers… were little people once with open hearts and open minds with parents, and families, and villages that raised them up to greatness.

Here in the US, the job benefits include taking care of someone else when they are sick and using vacation time to go to school plays, sporting events, teacher conferences, and very expensive places full of life-size adaptations of animated characters both live and animatronic. They also include paying for someone else’s braces, glasses, clothes, toys, sporting supplies, and entertainment. At the end of it all we can choose to invest an atrocious amount of money into an education that will prepare SOMEONE ELSE to be successful and prosperous and hopefully at the end of their career – retire well.

The job duties include being vomited on (a lot), having constantly injured feet from stepping on toys in the dark, aching backs from carrying around said little persons, being screamed at (in public), being argued with and talked back to, being sighed at, eyes rolled at, and/or simply ignored.

If I knew all I know about parenting today… would I have chosen to do it all over again? To those considering having children – don’t let this post turn you off.

For all the challenges… for all the struggles and frustrations and worry and tears… for the sleepless nights and overwhelmed days… the return on investment of all our personal, emotional, physical, mental and spiritual resources is magnificent… tremendous… super colossal.

Every day is a treasure trove of gems – every smile, giggle, accomplishment, hug, finger painting and poignant, simple, silly prayer at the dinner table is worth more than any winning lottery ticket.

Above it all, whatever the investment, whatever early gray hairs may come, whatever the rewards… the job of parenting is balancing the most rewarding and the most  challenging job at the same time.

And I commit to doing it every single day. To being the best parent I can be. To struggle through, to learn, to grow, to do it better, to ask for help, to be firm, to be loving.

I commit to do this for myself, for my children.

I commit to do this for you.

I commit to do this for your children and your children’s children.

I commit to take this job as seriously as it requires I do because as a parent I hold in my hands, every single day, the most valuable resource of all… the future.

Houston Zoo – African Forest Preview Wordless Wednesday

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