I was very blessed when my 2 friends gifted me with their personal productivity training a while back. It was fascinating. One important technique I was taught was to fast forward in my head to the end of a project and imagine what I would be seeing and feeling if the project had gone better than I could have dreamed.
It felt slightly strange and a little uncomfortable to expound enthusiastically on success - when I was feeling very fearful about even taking the first step of the project! However, my Instructor, James, explained that in doing this, I would be giving my brain the direction it needed to understand where I wanted to go. This would mean that my brain would automatically begin to wire itself to notice opportunities and resources that would help me to achieve this vision.
Now, I would never want to reduce Motherhood and raising our children to a simple project along with 'Get tax return done'!
However, perhaps giving some thought to how we'd like our children to look back on us and their childhood when they're grown and embarking on adulthood themselves, might get us into gear to start noticing all the things that would help us to be the Mum (or Granny, Dad, Aunty, Uncle......) that we'd love to be for them.
We might be very aware of things we don't want to do, but its often more positive to think about what we do want to do. And always remember, kids don't need us to be perfect, they need us to be real so they can learn positive ways to respond to all the many joys and challenges that come our way and how to handle the mistakes we (and they) will make - because we're human.
Spectacular holidays and amazing gifts are great things to give to our children when and if we're able. Be mindful, though, that it's usually the very simplest of things that children love; remember most; and treasure into their adult years.
