FOCUS: GRATITUDE

Instead of New Year Resolutions, I know a lot of people who instead adapted a specific word as their mantra for the year. Words like "focus", "discipline", or "compassion". It's a good idea, really, because focusing on one word and all its meanings seems so much more do-able than the standard list. 1. Loose __lbs. 2. Get back in touch with friends I haven't talked to in monthes 3. Finish that project gathering dust in the garage. Blah.

I thought it would be a good idea to take this method one step further. I've decided to adapt one focus word per month to work on.

I read an article that garnered this inspiration on http://www.mormonwomen.com/ titled "The Person Inside the Mom" and found a lot of what she had to say can be applied to women in any situation, mother or not yet. Here's an excerpt:

"A lot of the happiness we feel in life comes when we’re progressing; the gospel teaches us this, but it’s true in any walk of life, whether you’re religious or not. And when we feel like we’re in a rut and we’re not progressing, when we’re sad or feeling useless, then we get down about everything in our lives.....

.....what do I want to improve? Who do I want to be? What aspects of my personality should I be developing? What talents should I be developing? What can I do with my kids? How can I do those in conjunction with what I’m doing as a mom?
....Motherhood is taking all these wonderful things the gospel teaches us about love and our role as nurturers and the role of eternal progression in our own lives and then putting it into daily practice. We hear all these great talks, but the how tos . . . the daily practice is often the mystery.
I still have big ideas, but my idea of what is big and what really matters have fundamentally changed.I think that what I’m trying to do is what every mom is trying to do: better herself, take care of her family, plus do a little beyond. We want to take care of ourselves, we want to take care of our families, and then we want to take it a little step beyond that and feel like we’re leaving a little print in other people’s lives, that we’re being a “light to the world” in our own way."


I like the idea of bettering myself, my family and beyond. I can remember feeling at a very young age the desire to "do a little beyond". To "leave a little print in other people's lives" and in this world. I think it's a common human desire. What a better way to do this than a little at a time, one word a month at a time.

That said, my word for the month is.. GRATITUDE.

When the going gets tough..the whining/complaining/crying/lamenting/Laman and Lemueling gets going with me. I forget that life is supposed to be hard sometimes and yes I CAN do it. When this happens it's easy for me to loose sight on the things I have instead of focusing on the have-nots. So for this month every time I think "she's never going to sleep, she is so much work" Or "why can't this apartment stay clean on its own" I'll be GRATEFUL that I have a daughter, that I have a place to sleep and live in that is so much cleaner than the shelters many others have to sleep under. When that doesn't work, I always have these moments:

And I feel grateful.