Do you dread cleaning out the fridge? I do! It was one drizzly, fall day that I finally brought myself to purge the fridge. Container after jar after baggie, I pulled out moldy leftovers. I chucked the unidentifiable contents into a giant ziploc bag for the trashcan, and tossed the dirty containers into the dishwasher.… Continue reading Moldy Leftovers and How Your Emotions Tell You it’s Time to Throw Them Out
Tag: Messengers
A Ruined Funeral and How I Fixed It
Have you ever had an important event ruined because you were angered by someone? I have. Were you able to work through that anger? I am remembering the funeral for my grandfather a few months ago and how I observed many things—about how people grieve differently, about how not dealing with current emotions contributes to… Continue reading A Ruined Funeral and How I Fixed It
My Anxiety for an Award (and why it’s not on my bucket list anymore)
Have you heard of Active4Youth? It is an amazing running program for elementary aged children. Every year they do a cross country season where hundreds of kids practice, train, and work toward running a half mile (for first graders) or a whole mile (for 2-5th grade). There are two meets, and then an all-city meet… Continue reading My Anxiety for an Award (and why it’s not on my bucket list anymore)
3 Steps to Helping Children in their Emotions
How do I help my kids in their emotions? This has been an epic journey for me. Not epic in a sense of heroic, but epic in the sense of incredibly-long-and-exhausting. Along that journey were sleepless nights, tears of pain, and many, many questions. And more and more, I began to recognize that I really… Continue reading 3 Steps to Helping Children in their Emotions
Angry, but Sadness was at the Root
It was after a very long day of battling my ten-year-old when she finally crawled into bed and I felt defeated. We had fought over E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. She had been defiant in everything I’d asked of her, mean to her sisters, and quick tempered. And I was tired. But I did not want to end the… Continue reading Angry, but Sadness was at the Root
Anger, Sadness, and then Anger Again
This is an experience I wrote about during July of 2018—glorious cherry season in Eastern Washington. What's unique about this experience is that I often find great peace once I've realized the emotion that's present, discover its message, and then act on it. But this time, it took me through THREE emotions! … Continue reading Anger, Sadness, and then Anger Again
Sadness and Disappointment
Yesterday was “Students as Teachers Day.” My eight-year-old won the raffle and got to be Mrs. P for half the day. Well, she had high expectations, and sadly, those expectations were not met. She came home from school and buried her head in my lap. She didn’t get to actually “teach” anything. She just walked… Continue reading Sadness and Disappointment
Anger and a Nap
I wrote this last June. I just thought I’d share it with you. . . . We took our first ever camping trip over the weekend. We arrived at camp on Friday evening, around six, got the tent set-up (yay for 2-minute set-up tents!), and then started our fire for dinner. I felt that if… Continue reading Anger and a Nap
An Eight-Year-Old’s Message in Anger
The summer garage sales are so fun. My kids love them! I remember one Friday, a few months ago, there were a few set up around our neighborhood. The girls were ecstatic to go browse the treasures. But I had the girls’ chores cards set out and the jobs needed to be completed before the… Continue reading An Eight-Year-Old’s Message in Anger
Sadness, Depression, Anger, and the Devil
We are back. After the summer-end travels, the back to school flurry, and the long-expected funeral, we are back to starting our daily routines again. I now have the oldest four in school, and just to the two youngest at home. Amidst the whirlwind of the past few weeks, there were lots of emotions passing… Continue reading Sadness, Depression, Anger, and the Devil