Things have been so busy this week, I hardly had a chance to look at my notes from Time Out for Women. I have tried hard to keep the lessons I learned with me and new determination to be a better wife, mom, friend, daughter, etc. The theme was based on the 13th article of faith, mainly the part that says “We hope all things”.
There were many messages that touched me, but I think one of the most practical pieces of advice came from Wendy Ulrich.
When you get into motion, the motivation will follow.
To explain, she told us not to try to get motivated to exercise. I knew there would be a catch. What she said we should do is make a goal to exercise for two minutes. Once you start doing so, the motivation to continue will come. She said anyone can commit to anything for two minutes.
I knew what she said was true because I am the same with a lot of things. If I decide I’m just going to read a couple scriptures, I find myself wanting to read a whole chapter. If I am dreading cleaning the house, I will set a timer for 15 minutes. The timer goes off and I’m on a roll, so I continue to clean.
So I want to apply that principle to my life in a lot of ways. Wendy said we get in this mode where we feel the need to conserve energy, but what we need is to get in motion. I made pretty good progress with my kids’ room yesterday and I felt like I wanted to continue today, but now that I’m awake, I’m dreading it again. I just need to commit to a short amount of time and I know I’ll get on top of the clutter.
From Linda Eyre and her daughter Shawni, I really liked the idea of having a short family mission statement. I am still trying to decide what I want ours to be. Does your family have a mission statement?
I also liked their advice to be your own best kind of mom. Use your own personality to mother and be the kind of mom your kids need.
Sister Virginia Hinckley Pearce taught us not to compare ourselves to others. To compare our weaknesses to someone else’s strengths will make us miserable. To compare our strengths to someone else’s weakness is judgment. She’s absolutely right. At times I get extremely frustrated with certain character flaws in others, but I need to recognize that I have my own character flaws and it’s not their fault they have their weaknesses.
She also said in order to have a happy marriage, we need to lower our expectations of our spouse, but we shouldn’t lower expectations for ourselves.
Jenny Oaks Baker played beautiful violin pieces for us, but she also shared her testimony. I appreciated her advice to try scary things. She obviously practices what she preaches. This spoke to me because I have become much more cautious over the years. I need to take more risks if I want to succeed in life.
Ardeth Kapp was funny, but made great points too. She said someone said they wished they could find a man like her husband. She said, “I didn’t find him that way!” She reminded us of the progress we can make through the years and that we need to keep an eternal perspective. I am probably a better person today than I was 10 years ago. I hope to be an even better person 10 years from now.
I also loved her analogy of a baby chick hatching from its shell. As much as we want to help it get out, it needs to do it itself. It builds strength as it fights to get out. This touched me in two ways:
1. I need to apply this to my own children and realize they are capable of more than I give them credit for.
2. When I am struggling, I know that Heavenly Father is cheering me on as I fight. I know that he doesn’t want life to be hard for me, but He is wise and knows what I need to make myself stronger.
I also appreciated the moments when we were asked to write down something we hope for and the encouragement to keep hoping. What do you hope for?
Add A Comment