Keeping Mom Healthy!

5:00 am – up with baby
5:30 am – make his breakfast, feed him, clean up
6:30 am – wake husband, make breakfast, pack lunch
7:00 am – wake 10 year old with “You Are My Sunshine”
7:30 am – get self ready to meet the world (shower? sometimes...)
8:00 am – leave to drop 10 year old at bus, head to Tumble Bugs, Library,
Swimming, whichever, depending on the day...
What is it the Army says, “We do more before 8 in the morning...”
With the blessing of family I found myself drowning my authentic self in busy schedules and cartoon background noise. Yet, I knew that to give fully of myself, I must maintain a self to give. I was not maintaining, much less journeying toward any type of authentic self.
Yet, it seemed overwhelming to fit one more thing into my day. And what would I squeeze in? A class, a job, exercise, all of the above? When? So, I sat and I thought, and I narrowed what I, as a woman, needed to balance my life. I thought of what Women are:
First and foremost, women are Creators. Monthly, our bodies cycle through the seasons of life and death, gathering a spring of new life within us and shedding it like the earth in autumn. Because it is our very nature to create, we must seek creative outlets in our lives. Women create through all mediums: Mine is writing. My mother’s is her home. Every season she transforms her home with linen, dishes, decor, and especially, the most beautiful table settings. So, when a guest in her home, you are treated to a piece of artwork with each meal that brings the natural setting of the season indoors before you. A dear friend of mine who travels with work, found a travel size paint set to optimize the time she is alone on the road. There are as many mediums for creation as there are women, we must each find our own.
Secondly, women are Contemplatives. The benefits of a well rested and happy mother echo throughout the house like a child’s favorite song. Women have the ability to recharge in just a short moment of time each day, and without it, we are stressed and inundated with the sounds of the world. We need to step away from the songs of Sesame Street and listen to the music of our souls. Here is where we find our voice, our authentic self. With this in mind, I began to attend Yoga classes at the recreation center, and I pray the Rosary or do Lectio Divina in the middle of the night when I am up with the baby. I find the silence of midnight the most spiritual time of the day. My old spiritual director wakes before her family and finds prayer in the dawn. Contemplative time can be an hour or a moment, and I have found that when I seek this silence each day, the peace carries me through any chaos to come.
Being creative and Being contemplative rejuvenate and reenergize me so that I can give to my family as I wish to. Thomas Merton once warned us, “We are so obsessed with doing that we have no time and no imagination left for being.” This year, let us make time for Being.