Shelley pulled together several speakers, a fantastic lunch. This was my second ever weekend away from Jane, but the first ever was anything but relaxing as that was the weekend for my grandpa's funeral. It had been a whirlwind trip with me sick and no time to sleep! So this weekend was nice to have time to myself for the first time in over two years. I went to a few different workshops, but perhaps my favorite of the weekend was the class on "Raising Independent Children". In fact, it was a class that could apply to anyone, the presenter was so awesome, wish I could insert his name but I don't remember it. He spoke about the role of past, present, and future in our lives, and how most people live with past regrets and/or future worries, so much so that they allow the past and the future to push out the now, and often try to escape through different things, maybe social media, sleep, tv, video games, 'timeless' activities. But NOW is the gift that Christ has promised us. He has promised to cover our past faults, and has also said that we should 'take no thought for the morrow', we are as 'the lilies of the field.' He will build us mansions in heaven. He essentially has taken our past and our future into his hands through the Atonement. That leaves us with much more now to take advantage of. My mind is so enlightened by this whole concept. These are things I know about the Atonement, but as applied to my here and now it gives me a better perspective on how I should be spending my time TODAY. I can't control the past or the future, but I can control and enjoy every moment now. Childhood is something that disappears all too quickly, so I must savor each moment, even the hard ones, to take them as teaching moments instead of something to escape. If I am escaping into 'timeless' activities then time will be gone in a blink. I also loved how he talked about 'spilt milk'. If we freak out over little accidents like spilt milk, then how do we expect our children to approach us about a bad decision they've made? The choices will only get harder and we need that open line of communication with our children and they must know that we love them unconditionally, them, not their 'potential.' CTR (Choose the Right) is just as important as RTC (Right the Choice). When we've made a good choice, "Great, what did I learn?" And when we've made a bad decision, "Great, what can I learn?" We are ultimately mentors and teachers to our children, NOT disciplinarians. I think that is such a great distinction to make. I hope that I can be that kind of mom.
I also learned about depression, and being happy during hard times. I was also impressed by the main speaker, who told about the importance of using the scriptures when teaching our children or anyone else. Even being able to pick up the scriptures to answer basic questions.
So living in the NOW is my goal for the future. To not be so consumed by future-thinking, which as a procrastinator is my habit;). That being said, I am enjoying this Mother's Day by going through a mass of photos and videos unorganized from last year, and watching them, looking through them. The photos of my Jane make me smile and laugh. I have loved my own past, especially the past two and a half years. I can honestly say that I have no regrets, I have let the Savior take over anything negative there 100%. I am guilty of looking forward and perhaps worrying too much, or delaying too much. Jane has just woken up from her nap so I'm going to leave this here and post my favorite photo from Easter Sunday, a weekend I'd love to write about soon (need to play catch up), but I can do that while she's asleep. Time to sign off and go live in the NOW.
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