Steps Two and Three

Step Two:  We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

Step Three:  We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

Journaling prompts taken from Gentle Path Through the Twelve Steps.

Paths to Spirituality

Mindfulness:  I'm aware of mindfulness as a path to spirituality and serenity, but it's something I struggle with.  Like most other people, my life is full of what I often view as tedium.  I stay at home with four young children, so it's laundry, making meals, changing diapers, cleaning up messes, tending to boo-boos, breaking up fights, soothing hurt feelings.  I craft and sell on Etsy, and even that becomes rote, just another chore.  When I can stop and think about what I'm doing, be mindful and in the moment, I do notice a tremendous difference.  Making sandwiches for the kids, instead of grumbling about how long it takes and how boring it is, I can think about making food that will nourish my children's bodies and help them to grow, to have energy to play.  Instead of feeling exhausted at the prospect of breaking up another fight or soothing hurt feelings, I can be grateful to have the ability to teach my children better ways to relate and to cope with life, to be a more 'therapeutic mommy' (as my good friend calls herself) than my mother was.  To try to break the cycles present in my family.  When filling an Etsy order, instead of wishing I was doing something for myself, for fun, instead of focusing on the pain in my back or the cramp in my hand, I can envision how the buyer will use this gift, and appreciate it, and craft with a loving intention.

I also know that it's important for me to not check-out to the detriment of the present situation.  For instance, it's taken me an extraordinary amount of time to write this blog post because my four year old keeps coming up to me to give me snuggles.  I could get annoyed at him and tell him I'm trying to write, but instead I put down the laptop and give him all the cuddles he wants.

Nature:  Connecting with the earth is my best path to spirituality, the one I use the most, the one that gives me the most 'bang for the buck'.  In the last two years, I've really come to appreciate how important nature is to my well-being, and its importance is only growing.  This winter has been especially hard, with the endless cold and grey.  We moved to a new house in the fall, and while previously, I'd always been able to create a sanctuary for birds in our snowy backyard, I couldn't replicate it here.  To make up for it, I bought a lot of houseplants, and that helped some.  Now, though, spring is blooming, birds are coming to the feeders, and we've got lots of seedlings sprouting all over the place, in addition to our old friends the houseplants.  We've gone on hikes and to demonstrations at a wildlife center.  Even just taking the kids to the park is a spiritual experience for me.  I'm constantly looking for ways to 'plus' the experience - for instance, walking barefoot in the grass or sitting in the grass is better than just sitting on our deck in a lawn chair.  A park is good, but a park with friends is even better.  The beach is nice, but the dog beach with our lab is the best.

I can't state enough how important green, life, and sun is for me.  We're even considering moving out of the northeast to somewhere without a harsh winter, even if it means hotter and more humid summers.

Serenity Prayer:

Grant us the serenity to accept the things we cannot change,
Courage to change the things we can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.