New Year, New Beginnings

I am so happy to be bringing in a new year! My sense of hope and excitement for things to come seems to have bubbled up in surprising verve. A recent trip to Australia must have cleared a few cob webs from my brain!!
This photo was taken at Australia Zoo. Isn't she cute?!!

We had a very tough beginning of the school year with Matthew, which I will reiterate in another post all the details. Needless to say it left me drained, depressed and feeling like my life was forever going to be about fighting the system for Matthew's sake. I can only fight so long before I just crumple up in a pile and give up completely. I don't have endurance that way.
Thankfully my fight actually made changes and things are improving rapidly. whew!

So with this new found hope comes a long list of resolutions. Last year I opted not to write out resolutions feeling more the need to live in a state of acceptance for how things are and feeling like things change enough with out putting pressure on myself to change more.
But this year I feel like I want to make positive changes in my life and create new habits that will benefit my life and my family.

So here it goes:

1. Blog more. One blog post every 6 months does not constitute a blog!
2. Listen more, talk less. As I stated on my Facebook up date I often get myself in trouble with what I say, or how I say it, and I am often left feeling misunderstood.
3. Be less judgemental. This will be tough because I am just so curious about why people do what they do. And, lets face it, I am just too perfect!!
4. Connect - be still, aware, hear God, see God, in all things.
5. Drink less.
6. Eat less.
7. Exercise more.
8. Recycle more.
9. Clean and organize more
10. Create more.
11. Surf the net less.
12. Implement 'sanitation' plan (I will explain this later, to those who are not grossed out enough to read about it)
13. Implement '15 min' plan (see below)
14. Spend less money (my husband will love this!)
15. Have more sex ( my husband will REALLY love this!)

In all seriousness all intentions need a good solid plan in order for them to work. So here is where I explain #13, the '15 min' plan. Years ago my mother in law told me that she heard of a tip where you spend 15 min a day tidying up each room in the house to maintain it. Really she was just trying to get me to clean up!
But I have often used this tip when feeling overwhelmed by the mess. I set the timer for 15 minutes and just stay in one room cleaning, until the timer goes off. I am often amazed by what can be done in 15 min. And I am surprisingly focused when I turn the timer on for myself. When I just watch the clock, I am not as focused. There is something about having to beat the timer that gets me motivated. So I have been thinking of other ways to use the 15 min plan. It could be applied to exercise, cleaning, studying, blogging, reading, meditation or anything that requires a little focus.  And it doesn't have to be 15 min. It could be 10 min to start, or if its for exercise it could be for 30 min.
So my plan is to set the timer 4 times a day to help me stay on tasks with the house hold chores, with the exception to the laundry and dish washer which just get done regardless, that is if we want clean undies and dishes to eat with!!

I find this method so effective that I hope to teach it to my kids when they are ready. Hopefully they don't start hiding the timer!!

I wonder if I could apply it to #15???