goals | itsawonderfilledlife

Posts Tagged ‘goals’

Back to Work

Posted in life, WONDER, tagged #backtowork, #christopherrobinmovie, #excitementanddread, #winniethepooh, goals on August 30, 2018| 1 Comment »

Screen Shot 2018-08-30 at 6.55.56 AM At ten in the evening I was exhausted and ready for bed, and by eleven o’clock I was hunting down Melatonin to help me get to sleep. At around one in the morning (and again at five thirty) I was awakened by the Wonderdog, as he paced and moaned beside my bed. Half an hour later I let him outside to relieve his suffering with gastric distress.

My return to sleep seemed to take forever.

Such is often the way a night goes before returning to work after a break.

There is the fine mix of excitement and dread. Excitement to reconnect with the work community and dread that the first day might be filled with extrovert-friendly get-to-know-you games.

I have a routine each year that the evening before the first day back to work, I go to a movie. This year my movie choice was Christopher Robin.

It was truly a wonder-filled story, with redemption a strong theme.

As might be expected, Winnie the Pooh had the best quotes.

As I reflected on the words of Pooh, I found my own goals for this school year, which I hope I can learn, practice and teach to the students whose lives intersect with mine.

“I always get to where I’m going by walking away from where I’ve been.”

To pursue our goals we need to be willing to move away from our comfort zones. There is no such thing as growth without leaving where we are.

“I’m playing say what you see.”

Pooh, while sitting on the train played this game which was simply to name what he say … tree, stone, house, etc. I need to keep my eyes opened, to keep my head lifted up so that I don’t miss anything. I may even need to name what (who) I see, using their names, because we humans benefit from hearing our names.

“Doing nothing often leads to the very best kind of something.”

It is okay to do nothing, to leave margin in our days with no plans. Not ‘nothing’ time with our phones, folding laundry or surfing Netflix, but time to sit outside at night, eyes focused above in anticipation of a falling star, or time to walk out your door, and just walk, with no goal or destination in mind, Perhaps it could become the catalyst for creativity, for growth, new adventures and dreams.

These are not the goals of our society today. Though they do not guarantee financial or career growth and success, I think they may just challenge and inspire us to be ready for change, acknowledge those around us and take a break each day.

Not bad advice from a silly old bear.

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 8

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, diaBLOG, diet, Exercise, goals, losing weight, myfitnesspal, Old to New, pounds, Shaun T, weight, Weight Loss on March 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

More than any loss of pounds, I am excited about how much more physically active I have gotten on a more regular basis.

I walk at least three times a week, for twenty to forty minutes. Finally, after months of physical stagnation and lack of motivation I have gotten my butt in motion!

So, with all this new-found activity, one would think that I would have lost a significant amount of poundage … sigh …

Well the four pounds that I added in January are gone 😀 . It seriously took until yesterday to finally be able to see it on the scales and declare it. Like house guests who came unannounced, and undesired, I thought they would never leave!

So, now it is on to March, and my five pound loss a month goal.

I am realizing that I am going to have to get really focused, both in regards to what I put into my mouth, and what I do to get active.

images-1 Next month I will focus more with regards to the area of food. For now I want to introduce a video. This video is only 15 minutes (truly we all can find 15 minutes each day … or at least 15 minutes three to four times a week). I discovered it on Pinterest, but it comes from an episode of Dr. Oz.

Shaun T is a fitness expert … and he looks the part (sorry ladies, I tried to find a photo of him wearing a shirt, to no avail). He has two exercise programs, Insanity and Hip Hop Abs. I am not sure, but I believe that he is the male version of Jillian Michaels.

What I loved about this particular video is that it is just 15mins. … a small chunk to get started with.

So, though March may come in like a lamb, I am hoping it (and I) go out like a lion!

Shaun T’s Miracle 15min Workout

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 7

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, diaBLOG, diet, goals, losing weight, modelmydiet, myfitnesspal, Old to New, pounds, weight, Weight Loss on February 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

So, confession time has arrived …

I have not started the year out very well!

As is often the case, I do very well over the Christmas season, and even as the new year gets started. Then January gets in full swing, the busyness resumes, back to work, rains pick up and the dark of winter seems … darker, now that the Christmas lights are packed away. The winter blues set in, images and carbs are the only thing giving satisfaction.

Over the month I’ve packed on 4 pounds 😦 … that’s a chihuahua!

So, back to the weight loss part of this DiaBLOG!

I am going to pretend this month did not happen and look towards the future!

In the six months of 2o12, I worked hard and lost 24lbs! Although that does not seem like a big amount (I have a friend who lost about 50 in the same amount of time), I am ahead of where I was. So, as I was thinking about that 24lb. weight loss, I found myself thinking, ‘what if I made my goal to lose 26lbs. by the end of the school year, making my total loss 50lbs. after one year of living, thinking, and eating differently?’ So, that is my plan! I want to lose 26lbs. from February to the end of June. That is a goal of losing 5lbs. each month …. very doable!

So, this past month was not so successful, and my goal of walking three times a weeks is still unmet. I did manage to get in a nice long walk each weekend, but during the week has not been successful. So, I will continue on with that goal for February.

This month I discovered a web sight that is kind of fun!

www.modelmydiet.com

If you click the link above, you will see a virtual me, the heaviest I have ever been and the lightest … sigh, how does that happen? If you play around with the details on the right of the page, then click on ‘update’ you will get to see you. It was encouraging for me to see the differences from where I am now to where I was seven months ago.

Best wishes with the month of February!

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The Book to Complete

Posted in Guest Post, Unfading, WONDER, tagged Alzheimers, Amara, book, FAMILY, fictional story, goals, goals for 2013, guest post, things to accomplish, Unfading on January 11, 2013| 2 Comments »

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Today I am featuring a guest post, who is not a guest.

The guest today is not the author, because the author is myself. Instead the guest is the main character in a fictional story that I have written.

About a year ago I began writing a fictional story that I thought would be a weekly feature for a few short weeks … really just a short story. What happened instead was the beginning of a relationship with this fictional woman, named Amara, for my readers, and for myself.

The story of Amara, her past and present, grew and has gone from a short story to the fictional novel that I am writing still.

Back around the New Year I mentioned in my post, Goals for 2013 – Things to Accomplish, that one of my goals was to complete the book that I had started writing. Since then I have had so many people ask me about the book, that I decided to feature it here, so that you could take a look. You will find a link from each segment to the next. There are twenty segments available in this story, so make that warm drink, put your feet up, and get to know Amara, Joy and their family.

Unfading

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Old to New: The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – Month 6/7

Posted in Weight Loss DiaBLOG, women, WONDER, tagged accountability, diaBLOG, diet, goals, losing weight, myfitnesspal, new years resolutions, Old to New, pounds, prizes, Resolutions, Reward, weight, Weight Loss on January 1, 2013| 2 Comments »

Happy New Year! images-4

The Weight Loss DiaBLOG – month six, we have survived trying to diet through the Christmas holidays and the New Year! Were you able to use any of last months suggested action plans for not blowing all the sacrifice of the months before on piggy pudding?

For me, the greatest weight loss happened within the first week of this month, when I shed four more pounds!

It has been half a year of concerted efforts towards living healthier, and now we are beginning a brand new year, with the pressure to make resolutions. So, are any of you making resolutions? Are they health related?

When it comes to resolutions I have one suggestion, don’t make unrealistic or unattainable ones!

So many of us will set out to lose a huge amount of weight, or to start intense exercise programs only to get discouraged in the early weeks of the process by not being able to keep up the planned regimen. How about making short term goals? Ones that are only one month or one season at a time. That gives us opportunity to reassess our original goals, and tweak where necessary.

It is believed that it takes twenty-one days to break (or start) a habit. This could be why most New Years resolutions are forgotten by the end of January. How about making a twenty-two day plan? Maybe, if sugary treats are your weakness, challenge yourself to twenty-two days of eliminating them from your everyday diet? If exercise is a goal you have, plan out twenty-two days of fitness? And don’t forget to celebrate when you have reached your goal (and I don’t mean at an all you can eat buffet).

Goals with ‘prizes’ for success are great motivators! How about a goal of money for pounds lost? If the road to weight loss is going to be a long one, something like $5 for every pound lost, and that money can only be spent for new clothing, and only after losing ten pounds. If you only have ten pounds to lose, you might want to increase the per pound amount to $10. What a carrot to dangle in front of us, it makes the goal rewarding on two fronts, we benefit from looking and feeling better, plus we get to dress ourselves in flattering new clothes!

Personally exercise is tops on my priority list for this first month of the year. And if I lose just five more pounds, I am heading to my favorite thrift shops for a few ‘new’ pieces to add to my shrinking clothing collection … and I can’t wait!

2013 will be a good year! Lets continue working together to live our lives in a more healthy fashion!

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Top 10 Goals for 2013 – Things to Accomplish

Posted in WONDER, tagged 2013, Alone, book, Dreams, girlfriends, goals, hopes, New Year, physical activity, plans, procrastination, read, Resolutions, think before I speak, top 10, Writing on December 31, 2012| 2 Comments »

Today is the end, and tomorrow the beginning of a calendar year.

If I were to make one New Years Resolution that I need to follow through with, it would be to awaken EVERY day viewing it (that day) as a brand new start.

Last week I got a head start on resolution-type promises. I attacked areas I could improve in my marriage, as a parent, and tried really hard to put my goals on the page that I might have with regards to my walk with God. Today is the easiest list to write, but maybe the most difficult to get around to actually completing … the goals I have for my own life.

So, here they are, my goals for my own Earthly existence for 2013: images-4

Finish editing my book – Well I thought that it would be completed by the end of summer, but it is so far not done. I need to finish it this year … for me, and then I will see what I want to do with it after that.
Continue with weight loss – Last June I saw the picture and was sickened by the image staring back at me. That photo brought me to tears also brought me to an awareness of my need to lose the weight that has been hindering living fully, and I must continue in this downward direction.
Increase physical activity – This has been the most difficult part of trying to improve my overall health. I know that weight would drop faster, and more consistently if I was more active. Surely I can make time for three walks a week to start.
Read one book each month – Another goal that means I need to ‘make time’ for something.
Think before I speak – Is there any more that needs to be said about this? I think not!
Call my parents more regularly – This is one thing I need to do, for them and for me. I will aim for every two weeks …
Stop procrastinating – This one really applies to all of my goals for 2013! In all things in my life, from finishing my book to responding to phone calls, I need to just get it done.
Take more time for girlfriends – This one does not come naturally for me, but it is one that I know I benefit from when I do it, and it feeds my heart and soul so greatly.
Get away for a writing weekend – Just me, my laptop, a place to walk, and time to pray …
Dream – I need longer term goals to plan for and dream about, not just surviving, but aiming for more out of life, this I need.

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20 Instructions for Life

Posted in Guest Post, life, WONDER, tagged 20 instructions for life, Dalai Lama, goals, H. Jackson Brown Jr., life's little instruction book, Love, New Year on December 30, 2012| 3 Comments »

I first saw the following list of “20 Instructions for Life” credited to the Dalai Lama, but have since discovered that he is not the creator of the list, but that it comes from H. Jackson Brown Jr. in his Life’s Little Instruction Book. images

Whoever this list originated with, it is a brilliant list of goals, of things to aspire to each day as we live our lives. It is a great list to ponder as we prepare to turn the calendar on the end of 2012, and into the beginning of the New Year.

1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.

2. When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.

3. Follow the three R’s:

– Respect for self,

– Respect for others and

– Responsibility for all your actions.

4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.

5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.

6. Don’t let a little dispute injure a great relationship.

7. When you realize you’ve made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.

8. Spend some time alone every day.

9. Open your arms to change, but don’t let go of your values.

10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.

11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and

think back, you’ll be able to enjoy it a second time.

12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.

13. In disagreements with loved ones, deal only with the current situation. Don’t bring up the past.

14. Share your knowledge. It is a way to achieve immortality.

15. Be gentle with the earth.

16. Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.

17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.

19. If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.

20. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

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Top 10 Goals for 2013 – Walk with God

Posted in GOD, WONDER, tagged 2013, Dreams, goals, GOD, hebrews 13:5, hopes, Micah 6:8, New Year, plans, Resolutions, top 10, walk with god on December 28, 2012| Leave a Comment »

As the Christmas celebrations wind down and the New Year looms nearer and nearer I am in the midst of saying good-bye to the successes and failures of 2012, and saying hello to the goals for success in 2013.

The goals for 2013 that I have shared so far have been about my Earthly loves … my family. They are the ones who I consider to be such sweet gifts from God.

images-3 For today, though, I am considering my goals in my walk with God.

These goals are not easy to come up with, compared with my goals for my marriage and goals for my children. Maybe it is because I feel rather ‘pious’ in considering trying to improve in my walk with God … as though that is possible, not because I am so ‘good’, but because He is truly so good to me.

I could say that my list includes goals like reading my Bible everyday, witnessing to at least one person each week, or doing random acts of kindness for total strangers. All of those are good goals, but is that what God desires of from me?

The more I have tried to write goals, the less valuable them seem to be, in comparison to the grace, the freedom and the love that God offers to me (to us).

As I understand that the point of doing this in regards to my relationship with my husband or my relationship with my kids, I realize that my goals in those relationships are intended to improve my relationships with those people … they are self-improvement goals, for my benefit. I hope to improve something in their lives, thereby improving my own.

As I ponder my goals in my relationship with my Savior, and consider how I might improve my relationship with Him, I realize that there is nothing that I can do to change it, increase it, improve it. My relationship with my God is not dependent on my changes, or my actions, or my goals. My relationship with God has always been complete from the first moment that I handed the keys of my life over to my heavenly father. From that wonder-filled moment I was reunited with my Creator, and there was no altering my steps from that moment on.

Each day I awaken with Him in my first breath. He guides my every step, and when I side-step Him, He is still right beside me. He makes me aware of His presence in the wind through the trees, the joy of watching my children grow and learn, the scent of my hubby when he kisses me goodnight. He never leaves my side, whether I walk through rain or sun.

My goal for 2013, in my walk with God …

is to believe Him when He says, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5)

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Top 10 Goals for 2013 – Marriage

Posted in Marriage, The Hubby, WONDER, tagged 2013, decisions, don't let the sun go down on your anger, Dreams, Forgive, Future, goals, GOD, hopes, Hubby, husband, Love, Marriage, New Year, Past, plans, Remember, Resolutions, responsibility, Stress, top 10, Trust on December 27, 2012| 1 Comment »

So, I am now at day number two of my Top 10 Goals for 2013, and this time the focus is hubby.

He REALLY does not appreciate posts about him, that mention him, that use him as an example … so, in honor of his preference that I not write about him … heck, I’m just going to do it anyway!

P&C Cropped

He has to forgive me … comes with the whole “love, honor and … forgive” 😉

Here are my Top Ten Goals for my Marriage for 2013:

Do not go to bed angry – I mentioned this yesterday in regards to our kids and it doesn’t hurt to say it again, “do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” (Ephesians 4:26).
Get away – make time for at least one night each season to get away together, sans children, as a couple. It is so easy, with all of the demands of life, to forget that the family we created started with us, just us, and for this family to continue we need to invest in us.
Respect him – As I write it I just know that some poor, misinformed lady is going to interpret respecting your husband as some kind of response to an archaic male dominated patriarchal society or religion. That is NOT what this is about! He is a child of God, like me, and as such I need to respect him …
Make his life easier – I am sure that there is at least one thing I can do each week to make his life easier … from answering the phone (instead of letting him, because it is always for him), to doing his dinner clean up once in a while (not too often, as I do not want him to get too used to being relieved of ‘his’ chore).
Thank him – so often when we live with someone it is so easy to forget our manners. Please and thank you are words I know I need to use more often with my man.
Let him decide – … and be okay with his decision! My hubby knows that if I say “you choose” his whole future is at stake. I need to trust him to make a decision, and trust the outcome!
Surprise him – there is nothing like veering from the normal, everyday, meatloaf every Monday stagnant way of living to bore a couple to mediocrity! Start seeing excitement and refreshment in someone else. I WILL surprise him … and the details of that, well those are between the two of us 😉 .
Remember the past – I need to reflect on those days, so many years ago, when we only knew adoring love (aka, before we were married 😉 ) … not bills, crisscrossing schedules, and to do lists.
Forget the past – we have baggage, and that is a reality, but the past is the past, and needs to be left there. We cannot move forward if I keep looking back.
Plan for the future – “Where there is no dreaming for the future, the marriage relationship is dead” (that is the Carole Wheaton interpretation of Proverbs 29:18) … enough said.

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Top 10 Goals for 2013 – Children

Posted in The Kids, WONDER, tagged 2013, Blessing, Boxing Day, Children, Dreams, gifts, goals, GOD, hopes, Intentional, Love, maturing, New Year, new years resolutions, plans, Prayer, pride, Resolutions, responsibility, top 10 on December 26, 2012| Leave a Comment »

If you are reading this, then yes, you have survived the chaos that can be associated with Christmas Day.

For me, Boxing Day means two things; one is that I am ready to take down the tree, and clean up the house, and the other is that I start to think about next year.

Over the next few days, my posts will be related to my thinking about next year. Each day I will share Ten Goals that I have for myself, my children, my marriage and my relationship with God.

Today, I am starting with my ten goals for 2013, related to my three children.

Wheaton+Family-38-2-1602627366-O

God has blessed hubby and I with three healthy, productive, God-fearing/loving children. There was a time when we wondered if we would even have children with our own DNA. There was a time when we understood contentment with one, believing that our chances of carrying another to term would never be. There were dark and sorrow-filled times, times when we cried out to God, times when we grew to understood that today we only see a part (1 Corinthians 13:12) …

As parents we have taken those experiences, that pain, of the past and promised to not forget the gifts that these children are to us. Oh, we fail – daily we fail as parents, but our hearts desire is to not take them for granted, not forget our responsibility to be active in their lives, and to daily hand them back to their Creator.

My goals, as their mom, for 2013 are:

Be intentional in spending at least one time per month with each child – they are individuals, and I need to know them individual
Pray with each more often – so easy when they were young, but it is still such a beautiful thing to lay our burdens at His feet together
Be more involved in assisting them with school work (even unsolicited … mostly unsolicited) – I often am so desiring that I give them independence in their school responsibilities that I forget that they still need help, and I am able to help them!
Tell each child, every day, that I love them – I cannot just think it, for their benefit I need to give wings to my thoughts
Do not end the day, or go apart angry – this applies to so many relationships (every relationship). There is wisdom in “do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” (Ephesians 4:26)
Laugh with them – Oh how sad to spend a day living under the same roof and not sharing a laugh together … what sweet memories laughter provides!
Tell them why I love them – not just ‘I love you’ but ‘I love how you ….’, ‘I love that you ….’
Tell them that I am proud of them – I do believe that success breeds success, and if I let them know of the successes I see in their lives, I believe that it will magnify their ability to do even greater things
Praise their father, in their presence – although hubby and I do not parent exactly the same, we are one, united front when it comes to our kids, and our kids need to know that we love each other, and that we respect each other … and thinking it is not enough … I need to give words to my thoughts.
Give them wings – I cannot hold them too tightly, I need to hold them with enough flexibility that they can come and go. God’s example to us is to give us the choice to come to Him … there is no better parenting example! And there can be no greater gift than having my child choose to share their life with me.