reading list.

As goes my 4 month planning schedule, September is the last third of this year's cycle (Jan-Apr; May-Aug; Sep-Dec).  Over the past few days, I've been compiling things I want to accomplish/see/do/learn/explore from now until the end of December.  It's an inspiring time of year for me.  With Autumn approaching, I get more nostalgic than any other time of year.  It was always so exciting to start school and to pull out big sweaters and boots.  I seriously had the same cozy thoughts as a seven year old!

Here's the list of what I will be reading and absorbing from until December:

The Power of a Parent's Blessing
Miss Bossypants
Book club book - *to be decided soon*
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Supernatural Childbirth (notice a theme here?!)
a novel?

What are some of your reads these days?  I love to pick up a new book if you have any sweet suggestions!

pic pix:  books I will be reading, at home, Aug.2013

thinking about ...

"We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private; and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship." 

~ C.S. Lewis The Weight of Glory

It's the beginning of May, and I still haven't finished my reading list for January-April.  Granted, it's been a season of change, moving, and newness so I won't be too hard on myself(!).

In one of the books I'm reading, the author is conveying the message that we don't memorize things like we (humans) used to.  Before "books" were ever a household item, text was written on scrolls, there were no indexes/chapters/page numbers, and very few copies of each book were print.  Scholars (or whoever could read them) would familiarize and memorize much of the script just so they could reference to what they had read at a later date.  Much of the Bible was memorized.

The author also points out that, in today's society, when we read things, nothing is memorized because we can "conveniently" pick it up to read later.  So basically, we've trained ourselves to read but not absorb information (loosely speaking).  Of course, there are things we had to memorize in school and passages or the gists of a book's message that have stuck, but really ... not a whole lot more.

"Oh the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers.  But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night." 

Psalm 1:1-2

"Study this Book of Instruction [Bible] continually.  Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.  Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do."

Joshua 1:8

We have such an awesome opportunity to take God's living Word, flood our minds and hearts with it's truth, and literally, sink our teeth into the goodness He wants to share with us.  All it takes is saturating our minds and meditating on the things He has spoken to us.

So that is my challenge for you (and me) ... to find a passage and cling to it today.  Write it down to read throughout the day.  Commit it to memory.  Spend a simple 10 minutes focusing on the words, the meaning, how it applies to your heart.

Only then will we "...prosper and succeed in all we do."


pic pix: thoughts in the clouds, 27.May.2013, at home

time.

cream in the coffee. from Sarah Nadine Arsenault on Vimeo.

Part of my goal list for the next 4 months includes a reading list.  I've been captivated with some of the intriguing facts found in "Moonwalking With Einstein"...especially pertaining to time.

Since I became an adult, it seems like someone is always telling me that time is only getting faster, and that it will only continue to do so.  After having Judah, I started wondering if Matt was changing the clocks to get me to go to bed earlier.  How can it already be time for bed?  Even now, I find myself asking: Where has the time gone?  It has already been 7 months since he was born!  How?

All I can picture is this snowball of time that gets faster and more reckless as it tumbles down the hill.  But once it hits the bottom, it just breaks apart.  At that point, no one is judging the speed anymore, they are just noticing that the snowball's time is done.

Ok, maybe a bit morbid, but essentially, it is what we keep telling ourselves time is - an increasingly fast moving snowball.

There is definitely a truth in how we feel like time is occurring (relativity speaking), but truthfully, time doesn't/can't change for an individual at any age.

"Life seems to speed up as we get older because life gets less memorable as we get older."

Remember being a kid on summer vacation and not knowing what day it was?!  Or thinking that you literally waited an eternity at the hairdresser's for your mom to get her hair done?  Dreaming about what you would do when you were an adult, when you were in charge of your time?!  William James (Principles of Psychology) explains this curious time-warp perception: "In youth we may have an absolutely new experience, subjective or objective, every hour of the day.  Apprehension is vivid, retentiveness strong, and our recollections of that time, like those of a time spent in rapid and interesting travel, are of something intricate, multitudinous and long drawn-out....But as each passing year converts some of this experience into automatic routine which we hardly note at all, the days and weeks smooth themselves out in recollection to contentless units, and the years grow hollow and collapse."

"Monotony collapses time; novelty unfolds it...Creating new memories stretches out psychological time, and lengthens our perception of our lives."

We need to make day-to-day memories, change up our schedules, take vacations, create as many new mental polaroids to engrain into our memories.  Those first few months of being a mom, every day was exactly the same and one day just morphed into the next because there were no new memories being made (side note: becoming a new mom is a new memory in itself...I'm not being hard on myself, but merely using it s an example and realizing this is why that time felt like such a blur.).  

Even if it is one thing a day that I mix up, I need to make each day momentous to "stretch" my time and make it worth living through.  I need to be creative, be open, be flexible with it.  I'm so excited with this new perspective, that I don't need to live my life believing that time only runs away and gets shorter...the challenge now: to live my life creatively & purposefully in the FULL amount of time given to me.

all quotes taken from Moonwalking With Einstein - Joshua Foer

pic pix: cream in the coffee > making time fun, May.2012

mental fitness.

Not too long ago, I shared how I approach goals and what some of my lifestyle "aimings" were.  I didn't go into detail with the smaller (4 month) goals, but I did share what overall goals I wanted to see transpire in my life - to be healthy spiritually, physically, relationally, mentally, etc.

A week before Christmas, I was chatting with my naturopath (love her!) about some of these lifestyle goals.  I shared that I wanted to be healthy...yada yada ya, blah blah blah.  After I got through my speel, she asked me what I did to be healthy mentally.

My mind drew a blank.  How DO I exercise my brain? I thought sheepishly.

It dawned on me that I hadn't really focused much on this area.  Sure, there's always room to improve, but it seemed I had nothing in this area outlined to improve from(!).  My first priority - to seek deeper relationship with God (spiritual), my second priority - work on relationships, my thrid priority - to get back into physical shape...fourth "priority" - insert *blank* here...

She gave me some suggestions to encourage and build a healthy mind...

1/ read books: To hear her perspective of reading was interesting.  "When you read, talk to your book.  Let it talk back.  Reading is like having a conversation with someone who has defined their life perspective/opinions/experience and written them on paper ready for you to challenge, agree/disagree with, learn from."  Even if I don't support what the author may be writing, my mind is creating it's own views/opinions.

2/ puzzles: Word puzzles, brain teasers, mind games ... There are 2 things my Gramma stands by to keeping her healthy: walks & crossword puzzles.  It was cool to hear my naturopath confirm that these types of things are good for logic and brain stimulation ... my Gramma is so smart!

3/ music & languages:  Engage in and practice them!

4/ use your opposites: If you're right-handed, try doing your simple everyday tasks with your left hand (and vice versa).  Physically, you are using different sides of your brain.

5/ letting go of thoughts: Writing & stretching.  Expressing thoughts on paper allows us to define and fuse loose ended thoughts together and is a way of clearing our minds.  Another way to let go of the "busy-brain mode" is to stretch and breath deeply.

6/ be positive and be vocal: Often, we think positively but neglect to share it with others.  That results in supressing the optimism and (silently) supporting the negative attitude.  As simple as it may be, curving conversations to end on a positive note encourages our brains to keep on a sanguine path to follow potential, creativity, and robust structure.

These are not new enlightenments, per say, and I know there are so many other ways to get my mind into shape.  But this is my list (for now) of how I am going to achieve mental fitness in my day-to-day ... how I love this type of conditioning!  I've (re)started some habits to implement a few of these things and have added them to my short-term goals list.  *Loving* the exploration of 'working out' my mind.

What are some ways you exercise/intend to exercise your mind?


pic pix: music I plan to learn, books I plan to read by May, puzzles, Jan.2013, at home