learning – Looking Well

In Memory Making Mom: Building Traditions That Breathe Life Into Your Home, Jessica Smartt gives encouragement and practical ideas for creating and maintaining traditions in the home. The book deals with a wide variety of occasions and possibilities, in addition to discussing why traditions have value and what they can do in our homes.

Here are a few brief excerpts:

There is something innate in us humans that craves routine. We are made in the image of the One who created the hours and rhythmic seasons and makes the sun rise every blessed day. We find comfort in the repetition and the counted-ons.

At any given point — isn’t it amazing? — we can create a new narrative. We are not victims of our days. It doesn’t matter where we’ve come from or what we think we’ve missed out on, we can change the story through traditions. We just have to keep our memory-making eyes open.

I believe that there is a good and a better. With our limited time, we must be strategic in celebrating. There are so many super-fun traditions for holidays, and I’m going to share lots of these ideas. Yet the traditions and rituals that strengthen our faith and our families are the ones that deserve the bulk of our time and energy.

These books are set here as possibilities for you to explore. Posts and links are not endorsements or paid publicity.

In Don’t Overthink It, Anne Bogel addresses a mental cycle to which many of us can relate. The book discusses how to take control of our minds and stop wasting mental energy on stuff that doesn’t need or deserve it. The broad principle is that “living well depends upon thinking well — about the things that matter.”

Here is a brief excerpt on values and decisions:

Ally explained that her decisions today flowed naturally out of her core values — values she had decided would guide her future decision-making…

Because Ally has this big-picture value firmly in place and consciously relies on it when making decisions, she doesn’t agonize about how to spend her time, money, and energy. …In the same way, when we have a broader vision for our lives, many of the decisions we face become simple, because we have a reliable framework for making them. Because we made a single decision — that is, deciding on a big-picture value — we can see all other decisions as parts of a whole instead of as an endless string of isolated decisions. When a decision touches on our values, we have little to think about. With our internal world in order we can move outward in the right direction. These values can guide our lives in the big pieces and the day-to-day stuff. Whether we’re going to Thailand or the grocery store, what we do can flow naturally out of who we are.

These books are set here as possibilities for you to explore. Posts and links are not endorsements or paid publicity.

Tag: learning

Consider: “Memory Making Mom”

Consider: “Don’t Overthink It”