Sunday, February 7, 2010

Planning for Better Days

I have been trying to figure out why my days don't go to plan. I have worked hard over the years to figure out a loose sort of routine/schedule/flow to my days that would cover everything being done regularly yet still have freedom to follow bunny trails with the kids.

Tonight as I was putting the kids to bed an hour later than I really would like them to be in bed (as usual) I was considering all the things that conspire to the boys going to sleep later than is healthy for them and me and my marriage. A scene from the movie Cool Runnings popped into my head where the leader of the team was studying a set of photos the night before the last race. He was sitting on the floor looking at each photo and moving his body to match what he should do at that curve.

I have read many books about motivation in my life (love Og Mandino especially) and one common theme is that to make changes in our lives it first needs to happen in our minds before it can happen in our physical world. It is not enough that I have made these great plans and I have even prayed over them many times to fine tune them. The reason I have not implemented them successfully is this: I have not been imagining (picturing myself) successfully implementing them. If anything when I look at my schedule I feel weighed down and feel that I will never manage to do it all.

The idea is to imagine it happening, picture each event happening in good order and feel the peace that comes from having a plan. If I add emotion to my imaginings it engages more parts of the brain and it wants to recreate the good feeling so it makes the visualised events happen in reality so that the good feeling can be experienced again.

I am going to sit down with my schedule and nightly go through it, just like the leader in Cool Runnings, picturing in my mind's eye the work I will do and feeling the attitude of busy-ness yet peace I will have when my days run to (or at least close to) my plan. I will also visualise myself reacting calmly to interuptions side-tracks and bunny trails, and will remind myself that I can get back on track again. I will remind myself that I am at home to serve my family in God's way, not to serve my home in my way.

No comments:

Post a Comment