Do You Talk to Your Plants??
What a strange question...or is it??
Words can ENCOURAGE!! Words can discourage!
You can SPEAK LIFE!! You can speak death!
What you say can LIFT UP!! What you say can cut down!
Who do you speak to? Your spouse? Your child? YOURSELF?
YES! YOURSELF!! Even words you say to yourself can make a HUGE difference. You can Encourage…. Speak Life…. Lift up yourself!!
Or the words you speak to yourself can cause discouragement, death of self-esteem or bring you down.
Words carry a frequency! I know this sounds way out there! I’ve heard about an experiment of two containers of rice. One was spoken love to! One was spoken hate to!! But try this experiment!!! See what happened!! I’ll try it also and post my results!!!
When I’m out watering my plants, I sometimes find myself talking to them. Encouraging them! Excited to see new growth...NEW LIFE!! This reminds me, I need to also Encourage, Speak Life and Lift UP my family, my kids … and myself!!
Just like new life and new transformation can grow in plants, it can also grow in others! It can grow in YOU!! Remember to Speak Life to you!!
“I Can Do All Things Through CHRIST Who Strengthens Me” is one of my favorite verses to encourage myself!!
Say “I CAN!!” “I WILL!!” “I AM ABLE!!”
I CAN walk daily! I WILL reach my goal! I AM ABLE to do this thing!!
REMEMBER YOU ARE AMAZING!!
YOU ARE ENOUGH!!
YOU GOT THIS!!!
Tell YOURSELF THAT!!! Tell others That!!
Speaking of Encouraging words! I also find what music I listen to makes a difference in how I feel. I mostly listen to Christian / Worship music, in the car, at home, etc. I feel ENCOURAGED, POSITIVE!! When I don’t, say the kids or husband are listening to something else or I relive my younger self music - I really can feel a difference!!
Challenge! Text HOPE to 816-239-8829 then Listen to only Christian and / or Worship music for 30 days! Find a Christian radio station! Play a playlist of Worship music! 30 days!!! See how you feel!! Tell me what happened in the comments!!!
Do you have someone you can vent to? Do you keep your emotions inside, building up?
If you are like me, you have a lot of stressors going on. You have several irons in the fire. You have LOTS of emotions!!
Yes!! I’m talking to YOU!! How do you handle your stressors? How do you cope with the emotions?
Do you have someone you can vent to? If you are a single mom or a mom that is single because dad is away often, finding someone to confide in is sooo important!!
If you are a Special Needs Mom, married or single, it is more important to connect with other moms that understand what you are going through!
I have a group of friends that “get it”? While some don’t know exactly what I’m going through, they know! They understand!
I have five resources for building a community for yourself!
Join a Special Needs Bible Study!! This is a great way to get into God’s Word and support each other at the same time. You can pray for and encourage one another, building a bond! I know of a Bible Study in the KC area (Overland Park, KS) that is going on on Tues nights! More info about Grace Church in Overland Park is Here
Join a Special Needs Support Group!! - This can be Christian based at a church or on your own. Some churches support the SN Community and they will have a support group in place. The church I attend has a SN support group that meets the 3rd Sunday of the month!! They also have a respite night for parents of SN Kids and the siblings as well! Check out Abundant Life Here!!!
Have lunch / connect with a friend on a regular basis!! I love this!! I love to fellowship with other moms. Have coffee, breakfast or lunch. Heck - Who are we kidding!! FOOD!!! Check out the Smoothie Recipe at the bottom!! Set up a once a month, once a week time. You can also meet over Zoom, which in some respects may be easier for a mom to connect!! I'm also in a group that meets to play Bunco!!
Start a Group - If you are not sure if there is a resource available in your area, check out churches. Start a group, meet in your home or a neutral place. Definitely look to connect with other moms/ parents. Check out this book you can do a study with or connect with other moms!! It's a book about a Mom's Journey learning her child has Special Needs!!
When was the last time you took care of you?
Are you a new Mom with a precious little bundle? But you have all the feels … Happy, Joy, Excitement but also Overwhelm, Anxious even Sad!
Or are you a Mom of 2 or more under 5. You don’t seem to know which way is up, let alone get a moment to yourself.
Or … Are you a Mom of a child with Special Needs. You have additional challenges and appointments. Top that off with behaviors. Maybe you have more than one child… with or without Special Needs. You feel stressed to the Max!!!
We know that Moms don’t seem to give themselves permission to invest time in Self-Care.
Moms need Self-Care! Moms need to take a moment to regroup or recharge.
Did you know Self-Care can be little Pockets of Moments in the day?
It can be as simple as doing some deep breathing.
I learned a technique called Square Breathing. It can be used to help when you feel stressed, anxious and overwhelmed. You can do this spur of the moment when you need a quick calm, because you are at your wit’s end!! You can also Breathe (wink) purposely just to keep yourself grounded to start the day and/ or throughout the day!!
Ideally you would find a quiet few moments, play soft soothing music, I like to add a calming oil like Stress-Away or Peace and Calming. Feet flat on the floor to be grounded.
Add a drop of oil to your palm (cupped hand), rub hands together then cup over nose and inhale deeply a couple of times.
Next you want to close your eyes and think of a square or focus on something.
Now ... Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold your breath for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds and hold your breath for 4 seconds. Repeat several times.
I challenge you to try this technique once or twice a day!!
This can also be helpful for your children as well.
If you liked this blog…check out my Community Group - Finding Pockets of Peace on their Chaotic Journey!
What do you do for Self-Care? What does Self-Care look like for you? As a busy mom and you don’t feel you have a moment to yourself but WHEN.... you can sneak in a Pocket of Peace...What do you do??
I know some moms have Littles and finding that time for self-care is one in a million. Even taking a five minute break to use the restroom or take a shower is stretching it. I understand how having little ones and self-care in the same sentence is hard to come by. My kids are close in age, between the oldest and the youngest there is 3 years difference. Now they are teenagers! Wow!!
I’m going to share with you some ideas to get a little bit of Self-Care in. Some of what I’m going to share is Time in the Word, Hobbies- Gardening, Finding an Oasis and sooo much more!! As to not overload, I’ll spread them out!!
Time in the Word / Quiet Time - I feel doing quiet time helps me with my day! It sets the tone, or gives me the strength and Courage to take on the day. Honestly I have just started being more consistent with my quiet time.
There are so many ways to get quiet time with the Lord in. There are little devotional guides that have a story, a bible verse and a prayer. I sometimes join a Bible Study. I pick one while the kids are at school. A Bible study can be between you and a friend or friends, find a church that does bible studies. Some offer child care for those with Littles!
What I have been doing lately for my Bible time is called S.O.A.P or SOAPing! Have you heard of this? S.O.A.P. stands for Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer.
Get you a spiral notebook or a journal book. You can go through the Bible in a year (in order) or jump around. I personally jump around. I like to write down the verses my pastor mentions and journal (or SOAP) those. Or favorite verses. Or open the Bible and pick a verse!
Write your verse address ( ex. Philippians 4:13 ) and I date it.
Next write out the Scripture “I can do all things through Christ who Strengthens me!”
Then write out your Observation - no right or wrong! What do you think it means
Finally write out your prayer - If you are new to prayer, just speak to God as a friend. Talk to Him like your best friend.
Comment below how you do a quiet time or if you have any questions!! Join other mamas who are also looking for Pockets of Peace HERE!
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3 Quick Tips to Temper Meltdowns...
Joey is climbing the walls! Rachel is in a mood...again!!! Keith just stormed off to his room slamming the door! Does this sound familiar!! Usually in our house, thankfully, it’s not all at the same time, same day maybe, but not the same time!!
How do you handle the mood swings? When you're at your wits end and don’t have any more answers, what’s next? What have you tried? I know I sometimes feel I’m grasping at straws. Now I do not have all the answers. I always say it takes a village to raise our kids.
I can share with you a few things that we have tried.
DIET - When my oldest son was younger, we had some significant behaviors from the start. We did the medication route, yet there was still some acting out. Let me be real here for a moment, we still have behaviors, he has a severe mental illness. We still use medication.
So back when Joey was little. It was brought to my attention about RED DYE. With some kids red dye can escalate anger and behavior. We eliminated the red dye from his diet, introduced it back again and immediately saw an increase of behavior. So now he is red dye free.
This next one is still a work in progress I admit. I do feel like it’s something I am consciously aware of. SUGAR!! Yes, I know it seems like a dirty word. Kids are kids, let them have sugar. I do know sugar is not good for anyone ( Yes I still have sugar ) like I said, Work in Progress!! I’ll do some research for another blog!!
What we do in our family, is usually water when we eat at home, and most times when we eat out. If we do get a drink eating out, it’s usually tea or lemonade. Pop is a treat!! The kids and I get half-cut tea (half unsweet / half ) or mostly unsweet with a little sweet. We don’t typically grab the artificial sweeteners either - I feel they are worse than real sugar!!
Another little tip I can share is we let the kids have 1 treat a day. One of my goals is to eliminate sugary cereals in our house!! However, aside from that, we do one treat a day!! Mom and Dad need to learn to follow that advice!!! LOL!!!
NATURAL OPTIONS - Before you roll your eyes LOL, I want to say, this has been a LIFESAVER!!
We have our share of meltdowns in this house / family!! We have used YL Essential OIls for several years now. There are a number of oils that can be used for emotional support. Here are a couple of favorites
The first time I saw this work, I was floored!! My youngest was having a meltdown. Crying, screaming, ...you know how it is!! I applied STRESS-AWAY on him and with in just a few minutes he calmed down.
My daughter loves TRANQUIL! She loves to roll it on her stuffed animals, hug the animal while smelling the calming oil! This works AMAZING during a meltdown or when she has trouble going to sleep. It gives her something to hold and she can smell it.
DID you KNOW the olfactory nerves are the quickest way to the brain?? To the Limbic Center? The Emotional Center?? See the connection??
PRAYER - I cannot do LIFE without prayer. I may forget to pray, but I know my Jesus is never far away! Prayer will not eliminate the behaviors. But the Relationship with Christ gives you the PEACE, STRENGTH and HOPE to get through your trials. To get through your crises! I can’t tell you how many crises we have had. Putting my oldest in a psychiatric hospital, sending him to a residential facility because he was not safe at home. I know I could not have had the strength to go through this JOURNEY, if it wasn’t for my relationship with Christ.
If you want to know more about having a relationship with Jesus, or if you need or want to chat and vent, send me a message!! I would love to listen and help you process!!
Til next time...
