Living in Utah I watch the majority of my female friends and neighbors stay at home and be full time wives and mothers. Many of them have gardens that they tend to all summer so they can grow their own food. Then they harvest that food and make wonderful, fresh, homemade meals or they take the time to can it so that they have low preservative food stores available year-round.

As much as I would love to do the same, the reality is that I just don't have the time it takes to grow my own garden or can my own food. So when my neighbors and friends share recipes with me that require peeling, chopping, or dicing, I have a choice to make. I can feel bad for not having time or energy to do all that chopping or I can find ways to make the best of the situation. Rather than toss those yummy recipes out the door that require chopping, I take a shortcut and keep pre-chopped veggies on hand in my freezer. My favorite is chopped onions since onions go in so many recipes. I also keep mixed veggies around so I can add them to any meat leftovers to make a quick stir fry dinner. Just add a little teriyaki sauce and sesame seeds and it is almost as good as something you would pay a lot of money for at any Teppanyaki Grill restaurant.

I love when I am able to make one dish meals because they leave less dishes to clean up, take less energy, and I have more time to get to all the other things I need to get done (laundry, grocery shopping, helping kids with homework, etc). Not to mention the nutritional value my family gets out of it.

So rather than feel bad for not having more time to grow my own garden, I am thankful that I have found ways to be more efficient without my family missing out on good nutritional meals. I'd love to hear what qualities in yourself you have learned to love once you finally decided to let go of trying to be perfect.

This weekend I had the opportunity to make a new friend.  She is a very beautiful woman and very giving with her time.  As I was getting to know her, I was struck by a comment that she made to me.  We were talking about dating, camping, fishing, and a variety of other topics all at once and she said, “Yeah, I’m not much of a catch.” 

At first I thought she meant that she was not very good at catching fish. Then I realized that she was talking about herself.  Hearing this made me sad for her.  Here is this amazing woman and she doesn’t think she is much of a catch.  How can she not see how amazing she is?  It made me realize that there are a great number of women that feel this way about themselves.  Too often we let the harsh words of people around us touch us much too deeply and allow these words to create negative feelings about ourselves. 

That is why I am going to ask you to do an exercise this week.  I want you to look at the questions below and write down in a journal that only you will see the answers to these questions. Then we are going to take a journey together to help us change for the better how we feel about ourselves.  So go get a pad of paper and let’s get started.  Ready?

1. What do you think about yourself?

2. What do you think about your relationships?

3. Now consider what you just wrote.  Why do you think about yourself and your  relationships that way?

4. Are you surprised with what you wrote? Pleased? Saddened?

5. Is there anything that you want to change?

Action is the key to making positive changes in your life.  But before you can take action, you have to make a decision on what you want out of life.  Do you want success or do you want failure?  If you want success, then I highly suggest that you watch this short excerpt from my favorite book of all times… “The Strangest Secret” by Earl Nightingale.

Remember, your mind is like a garden, what you plant in it is up to you.  Why not plant beautiful  things in it to enjoy throughout the day? Do yourself a favor and write three positive things about yourself and your relationships.  Then read them multiple times throughout the day, especially first thing when you wake up and right before laying down to sleep.  If you find yourself thinking negative thoughts pull out your paper immediately and read the positive ones.  After doing this for two weeks, go back to your journal and answer the questions above again.  You may not see immediate results but hopefully you will begin to feel differently about yourself over time.  Because you are AMAZING!  Just ask someone who loves you.

http://play.simpletruths.com/movie/the-strangest-secret/