GET BACK TO HAPPY!

I was driving home tonight and I looked up at the sky.  The clouds were amazing!  The sun was beginning to set and the clouds were filled with a beautiful golden light.  I realized in that moment that this is one of the ways that Heavenly Father speaks to me.  I felt like this was His way of telling me..."Jodie, I'm still here." I love all of God's beautiful creations!  I think this is a big reason why I love being outside in nature.  Maybe this is why I love hiking and biking so much. Sometimes I have to stop and look for the good.  The tender mercies of the Lord are all around.  It's just a matter of taking the time to ponder and truly see.

I have been reading a book called "Time Management from the Inside Out" by Julie Morgenstern. I thought I'd share some of my notes with you all. First things first though.... WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION? What are you missing from your life? I want to have a balanced life….time for work, home, social, physical, spiritual, etc.  I want to feel content and not feel anxious every day. I want to feel caught up and not always feeling one or two or a million steps behind.   WHAT’S HOLDING YOU BACK? What is throwing you off? Level 1 Technical Errors - Maybe you never learned a particular skill or technique. 1- You haven’t set aside a specific time in your schedule to make it happen.  Put it in your daily schedule. 2- You set aside the wrong time to do something.  Recognize concentration and energy levels, as well as sunshine, time of year, life circumstances, etc. 3- You miscalculated how long tasks will take.  Need to plan a realis...

Last week I had four days of professional development meetings.  The last two days of it were about reading and writing.  I really enjoyed it and got some great ideas.  One idea was THOUGHT BOOKS! You give each student their own composition notebook.  This notebook is a place where students can write their own thoughts and opinions about things.  They can write about whatever they want.  They can add pictures, quotes, movie stubs, magazine clippings, recipes, poems, etc. I think my students will really like them.  They actually gave us teachers each a notebook to use while we were at our meetings.  They would give us time to write our thoughts in them.  I feel like I was able to get more out of my meetings because I had time to ponder and think about the things we were learning. When I was at church on Sunday, I had the idea that I should create my own thought book for spiritual things.  It could be a place whe...

Welcome to my new blog!  I wanted to find a way to document my progress on my goals.  I feel like I have so many ideas running through my head.  Right now I am passionate about doing things that make me happy and will make my life better.  This past year was really hard for me.  I dealt with a lot of stress at work, illnesses, lack of motivation, anxiety, etc.  This summer is all about getting my life back, being happy, and accomplishing my goals. I'm going to focus on... - learning time management strategies - getting prepared for the next school year - increasing my spirituality - healthy eating and losing weight - going on lots of hikes and bike rides - and having a fun and relaxing summer!