Family Rules

A friend of mine sent me a link to a blog called the Pleated Poppy, because she was interested in making this cute "family rules" canvas like the author made, for her home.

And that got me thinking.

What are my "family rules"?

At first, I thought I could use my happiness commandments. But those are individualized just for me, and didn't seem just right for my whole family. Now, I don't think I'm crafty enough to make one of the cute family rules canvases like the one in the picture (and that level of craftiness wouldn't really work with the rest of the kind of traditional vibe my house has). But I like the idea of developing a set of family rules that we can use in our home.

So, I've been working on it. I have a rough draft of some rules, but I'm not ready to write these in calligraphy just yet. Here's what I have so far:

Family Rules
1. We're on the same team.
2. Be respectful.
3. Say “I love you” often.
4. Share.
5. Notice little moments.
6. Pray.
7. Encourage one another.
8. Be lighthearted.
9. Work hard; keep trying.
10. Breathe deeply.
11. Say “thank you” every day.
12. Respond with a blessing.

There's something missing, but I'm not quite sure what.


What are your family rules? Or what were your family rules as a child, if you had any?

Words Have Power

As I was driving the icy roads between the thousands of speech sessions and IEP meetings I juggled today, with a crazy long mental to-do list that was in serious need of being written down, and therefore, with a pretty huge degree of worry that I'd forget something important, I realized something.

My stressed out moments weren't making me as insane as normal.

And I think I figured out why.

Instead of my normal thoughts like, "I'll never get all this done." or "How in the world can I meet all these deadlines?", my brain was saying little phrases from my happiness project, like,

"Do what needs to be done."

"Do your best and be done with it."

"Do it now."

"All you can do is what you can do."

Now, I'm trying not to get too "Dr. Phil" on you, but the power of these little phrases really struck me. They're actually changing my response to stress somehow. This is kind of groundbreaking for me.

So now I'm off to battle a mountain of paperwork. But somehow, thinking of it as "Doing what needs to be done" makes it a little more noble and a little more manageable.


What phrases keep you motivated when you're overwhelmed?