It’s been a month since I last posted anything. But I didn’t make my goal of taking a break from social media for “one month” (I made it more like 2 weeks this time! *giggle*… *snort*) Well, no one’s perfect. I’ll try again next time!
But a lot has happened in the last month.

I planted our vegetable garden at our new home and saved my tomato plants from withering away (hurray!) and we finished our move and have unpacked most of our things in our new rental home…

…And I struggled some more with my new and unfamiliar surroundings not feeling quite like “home” once again. 
But I have a few things I love that help to distract me from all of that. So I try to focus my energies on those positive distractions.

Being away from all of the clouds of mental fogginess that a constant diet of social media provides helped to loosen up my “thinking wheels” a bit and let my thoughts flow more unconstrained. For a while now I’ve nicknamed taking a break from social media “mind fasting,” because that’s what it feels like – fasting, but for our thoughts. Me and a cousin have done several of these fasts together over the last year and we both just love it. We’re totally starting a new trend. (Not really! *chuckle*) But honestly, it is so nice. It’s refreshing. I love being able to quiet some of the excess noise we generate in our thoughts from sometimes being a bit overly-connected to way too much information to process than we can even keep up with. So purge all the unnecessary stuff jamming up my thinking gears? Sounds good to me! This is something I love to do regularly, and when I can remember to do so, I try to set my goal for checking in with what’s going on in my social media feed once a week, but that’s still a work in progress.

So I took a bit of a break from social media. But I caved at about 2 weeks out of my one-month goal. That’s okay. It happens. I’m not going to be hard on myself over it. Been there, done that, and it helps nothing. The important thing was I tried, and in a way I succeeded. Even if I didn’t reach my original goal of 4 weeks, I did manage two weeks! Not my personal best, but still pretty good. And I got to quite my mind a bit. That was nice!

My thoughts didn’t quiet altogether (do they ever?) but they were able to shift from much of the unimportant information constantly swirling around inside of my brain to the things that had a bit more substance and meaning. The things that are most important in life. I like those moments. Those reflective, meditative moments. They are often exactly what I need, especially to put things in life into perspective. I once heard someone call it, “quieting the mind to let the soul speak.” I think it’s probably closer to something that of quieting our mind to let us hear the still, small voice; the whisperings of the Spirit, as well as being able to hear our own hearts.

The quieting of my mind gave my soul a chance to speak. The things of the heart spoke. I thought about the move we just finished. I thought about motherhood and my children and all the things they teach me just by being their mother. I thought about adversity and the broad spectrum of struggles we all go through in life. I thought about happiness.

Most especially, I found myself thinking about the all opposition, challenges, and obstacles we all face in life surrounding happiness and also all the things in life that make happiness such a hard thing to find or hold onto or feel, even if you know what it’s supposed to be and feel like. I think that’s where I’m going to being exploring more in this adventure. Both things I already know about this particular topic, but also the many things I do not know about what makes happiness feel either “impossible” or “possible.”
But as I let myself cut away from some of the distractions of life for a few weeks and just focused on trying to enjoy being “Mom” more, I realized that it was one of the biggest things that can refocus my attention and bring me joy. The other’s being enjoying time with my husband, being with family and extended family, meaningful friendships, helping others, and last but not least, the gospel I know and love that guides me through life and also gives me the strength to do it.
Back to enjoying life…
I got to spend some much needed quality time with my family. I love motherhood. It is honestly so fun to just be a kid with my kids. Motherhood is amazing for that reason (and countless others). I get a reason to have fun in simple and “childish” ways (that means I pretend I’m a horse pulling a stagecoach in the backyard. Yeah, Stacy! How childish! *big grin*) I play with my kids outside, what can I say?
It’s moments like these, while I’m with my kids, that they teach me profound lessons about life, like re-learning to love the pure and simple joys and the finer things in life (what’s more, reminding me what those things really are!) For this, and countless other reasons, I adore my motherhood.

I never imagined that becoming a mother (for at least a few short moments every now and again) would allow me to experience a glimpse of what it’s like to be a kid all over again. I would never have found a way to experience the magic and wonder of life that way again had I not had children to remind me and show me how. They are my little examples, my little teachers. They don’t even know it. They are oblivious that anyone is teaching anyone about the mysteries and meaning of life. But hey give me a glimpse. They remind me what truly matter most.


I hope they read this someday. My kids are some of the most amazing people I know simply because they still see life through the eyes of childhood, something I have been trying to relearn from them for a few years. I think oftentimes as we get older we mistake growing up and putting on the jacket of maturity as having to give up childlike joys. It’s true we need to mature in all the right ways, but I don’t think we need to or are even supposed to give up so much of what we leave behind in childhood, like appreciating the world the way small children do, or the amazing amount of gratitude that toddlers have, or truly being able to love the little things in life, or to love others they way they do, or to forgive each other so quickly and sincerely as they do with each other, or the faith that they have. Let me tell you, when they believe in something, it doesn’t matter what anyone else says, to them, whatever it is in their imaginative little world that they believe in with all their heart, boy, do they stick to it with all the loyalty they have. I find a deep appreciation for that kind of trust and commitment, in a paralleled way relating to religious faith. Goes to show that there are lessons and examples to pick up on everywhere, even from the most humble and simple around us. It is amazing to me how someone with any amount of life experience can still learn so much from someone who seems to have so little.

But children are amazing teachers without even trying, especially in teaching by example. Everything is a wonder and a marvel and a miracle to my children and when I slow down and listen to what my children are trying to show me, and I mean really listen and then pay attention, I can see what they see, too.
Perhaps it’s just a glimpse. My eyes are probably still foggy, trying to remember that perspective that they still have, what they still know and see – Those things that I have long forgotten… But I know that if I just slowed down more often and focused on seeing life through their eyes, my eyes would see wonders, too. And perhaps now that I am grown and have experienced life, I’d be able to better appreciate those wonders if I could just master the skills of noticing and nurturing a deeper sense of gratitude in even the smallest of things. I want that. To me, that’s part of joy. That’s part of happiness for me. To truly, madly, deeply enjoy all the little wonders of life. All the small miracles – The truly lovely and beautiful things all around us that we’ve slowly become blind to over years and years of getting caught up with life. So caught up, we have forgotten what it means to really live life, the way my children know how. Oh, wisdom from the mouths of babes. They don’t even have to use words. They just live it because they know no other way that gratitude. It’s just hard wired into them when they’re so tiny. And as I think about that I wonder what I can do to help keep that. What can I say (or not say) to help them always live in the spirit of gratitude, even for the smallest of blessings? What can I do to be a better example for them to follow? Point out the good more often to train their perspective? Give thanks for small things in family prayer more often? Celebrate the small things more often? Just so long as I remember that I don’t have to do anything big. It’s the small things, consistently doing the small things, that add up and set a pattern of example and structure that makes the real difference. Patience, consistency, time, love… It’s a challenge that I love. Motherhood is an amazing miracle to me.

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