Remember!

I remember the resolutions I made at the new year. Some of them seem to have been discarded along the way. I am not entirely discouraged, I just know I need to find time to remind myself again.

TIME: I remember when I had time! Where has it all gone? Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of life, I wonder is it all worth it, does it have to be tihis way? But then I remember when it wasnt this way and I was praying to God for a husband, a job, children...

Now I realise my prayers have been answered so I should remember to be thankful. Thank you Lord!

Interesting article about Doodle

http://clairediazortiz.com/how-to-use-doodle-to-coordinate-schedules/

Learning from the mouth of babes

My son who is 5, resumed the Spring term this year on 3rd January. By the end of three weeks he had gone through three  pairs of gloves and the last straw for me was when he lost the second pair of the two different pairs he had been wearing. Needless to say he had some telling off and another lecture from Mummy about the importance of taking care of your things and how to keep you gloves safe. About a week later, I lost a pair of one of my gloves and I felt humbled.

Lesson no 1: It can happen to anyone, don't feel superior and be sensitive to other peoples weaknesses

I went on a ropes course last year, you know one of those ropes things that you walk or climb through the tricky fist part and then swing down like Tarzan on the last course as a compensation for all the trauma of the earlier trails. It was fun, in the end, but when I first stepped on the rope it was very high up in a tree and I was really scared, I wanted to scream like a banshee goat and run as fast as I could back to my room. That experience reminded me then of when my son was trying to get to the top of the climbing frame in the park and I was "encouraging" him to just take that one step and he would get to the top. The boy was scared and having gone through something similar I now realize I wasn't sensitive enough to his fears at that time.

Lesson no 2: Put yourself in other peoples shoes you might realize how uncomfortable it is.

Sometimes when my son gets told off he starts to cry and the last time he was actually wailing uncontrollably. I always felt it was just self pity and I wasn't always sympathetic. Yesterday, I had a series of "tell offs" from different people that culminated into a final tell off from someone very close and important to me. I felt very low, worthless and guess what; I started to cry, and I did for a while. And this taught me the latest of my lessons in terms of dealing with my son.

When I got told off, I was full of remorse and yes, the crying was a form of self pity. At that time I felt discouraged that all my effort to be a better person, to improve in that situation has come to naught. I felt worthless, and a burden to the ones that love me and depend on me because I am not living up to their expectations. I felt lonely and tired and I wanted to give up. So I gave in to self pity and weeping from the bottom of my soul. I did this for a while, but in the end, all I wanted was for someone to reassure me that I am still a good person, a loved person and that we do make mistake sometimes but we need to move on and try better the next. I needed the reassurance that even though I failed this time I can succeed next time and that no matter what I am loved and a worthy individual.

At that time I felt like the lowest of the lowest and I gave in to self pity if you like. I started to think of all my recent efforts to improve and now it felt like I was back to square one. I didn't know how to go on, because I really want to be that better person and I thought I was getting better and I had been putting all my effort into it. In the end I calmed down and was able to think a bit more rationally. I had some understanding of how my son feels after being told off

My final lesson most of all was that after this bout of remorseful crying, what I needed most was reassurance and love not more condemnation. Reassurance that I am a worthwhile person and not a lost cause, that I am loved no matter what I do and that even though I failed this time I still have what it takes to be the best that God wants me to be.

on a wing and a prayer.: apps i love.

on a wing and a prayer.: apps i love.

I prefer this Me

Its been about 3 weeks since I started Just doing it and not wait, I have been doing things at the right time rather than leaving it till later. This includes doing things around my house and I discovered I have become lazy over time. I have been leaving my ironing, tidying up, cleaning up till later; I don’t know when this happened but my home is no longer up to the standard I had in mind for it to be. This attitude has filtered into other aspects of my life as well. My Spiritual life, my work!

After a week of Just doing it! and PDSAing my goals, I was on a high, I had a sense of achievement and fulfilment. By the end of the second week the  sense of euphoria had gone down, I started feeling tired and furstrated. I wanted to give up and I started missing  the more “relaxed” life I had before.

I still feel like giving up. But I keep thinking, I don't want to go back to the way I was before... I prefer being a goal setter, an achiever, I prefer not being lazy! I prefer this me to the way I was before. I cant give up now. I deserve to give myself the chance to be a better person, to achieve higher than I was before, so I can’t give up now.

Yesterday, I suffered another set back, my husband and I were refused something we had applied for. It had seemed so certain but then we didn’t get it. Though it is by no means the end of the world, it made me feel even more discouraged, but I keep thinking I just cant give up now. I read this in the bible today that has strengthened me

Romans 12: 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Some other versions of the bible say in verse 11, “Never be lazy”. There it is! Even the bible is telling me I cant go back to being lazy, so I cant give up now.

I might not be feeling  as confident as I was about being able to keep on doing it, but I have decided not to give up because I prefer being the person I am now, which is much better than I was before. Maybe that's part of the problem, my confidence has been in myself rather than in God. Its good to have plans and lofty ideas, but without God they tend to come to nothing.

I am still going to Just do it and not give up but I am going to rely more on God to strengthen me and help me to keep on. And with God’s help, I will continue and not give up!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

This is one of the interview questions i dislike most. I always think of myself answering with a sarcastic answer like “How on earth am I supposed to know, am I God?” or “Running this company...” but I always end up answering with some pat answer like, “I see myself progressing through the company and...”

I was at a Career Change/Development workshop last week and this question came up. I am not thinking of changing my career at the moment, so I didn't think the topic was relevant to me, but I came out of the workshop learning some new things.

The first is PDSA, Plan Do Study Act. I am one of those people that make an attempt at planning and try to follow it, but I have never made any serious effort to go back to the plan periodically, Study it to see how it can be improved and then Act on the plan again. It is a cycle you are supposed to repeat until you have achieved the goal. Another is filling the Skills and Experience Gap, which is how to identify your current skills and how to fill the gaps between your current career skills and your future career skills.

But the most important thing I think I took away from the workshop has to do with this question, Where do you see yourself in 5 years? The trainer mentioned that even if you are thinking you don't need a career change now, like I was indeed thinking, what about five years from now? Would you want to change your career? Apart from that, the current recession has taught us the lesson that you should always have a backup plan, do you have a backup plan for your future, in case the one you have planned doesn't work out.

That got me thinking! I have actually been thinking of a sort of career change when I am 40, which happens to be in 5 years time. With my current career as a software developer, I figured I might not be competitive as younger developers, especially when I look at the the very young graduates around me. They make me feel ooold, they are just starting out and they have all the time ahead of them and they don’t have the added responsibility of getting home to take care of kids and chores.... So I definitely need to think on my feet if I want to remain competitive. And I have to start now, to plan for that career change or career level. What I do now determines where I am in five years. Where I am now is because of the decisions I made five years ago.

This is not limited to just career, even if you are a stay at home mum, you still need to ask yourself that question. The question applies to all aspects of life,

• My relationship with God
• My children, what type of people I want them to grow up to be
• My marriage
• My relationship with friends and family
• My health

So where do you see yourself in 5 years? For some people they already have it worked out and planned. But some of us it is something we have to Plan Do Study and Act upon from now, so please don't wait for 5 years to start , start now. Just Do it, don't wait!

Just do it!!!

I am one of those people that tend to procrastinate or postpone doing things.

I have been planning to start a prayer routine for my children for a while. Recently, I have read or come across so many things about praying for your children that it has really been on my heart more than ever before. Not that I have not been praying for my children, I do, but I wanted to start some regular routine of praying for my children by following some well layed down prayer points. My first is 5 years old now and I am still planning to start..., I got this book someone recommended that is really good for praying for your children, I bought the book since January its March and I am yet to even complete the first Chapter

This morning, while praying I thought why not start now? You can do 5 minutes everyday. It doesn’t have to follow some grand plan, just write down some prayer points and then spend 5 minutes everyday to pray for your children. Start something! So I did, I prayed for my children for 5 minutes, wrote down a prayer list that I intend to follow and God help me I will continue to do it.

Which is why I am writing this, I have been planning on starting a blog for a while but I have held back because I was waiting for the right words, the right topic, the grand scene. I have  decided to just start writing something, I am no longer going to wait for the perfect time.

There are so many other things I have been putting in the back burner for a while

• Write an app for the Android market - I am going to start on it by writing up some requirements now.
• Call that my friend in the US - I will call her when I finish with the requirements, Just do it!

I can go on.

If you are reading this and you have been waiting for the perfect time to start pursuing that goal, or even for that perfect goal. Don't wait any longer! Just do it!