How I Capture a Year in my Boys' Lives
Every year on the boys' birthdays I take all the random iPhone videos and school performances and milestone moments I've taken from the previous year and create a montage. I've done it since both boys were born because I decided the chance of me reviewing all the random video files scattered here and yonder is slim as the years go by. However, sitting down and watching a couple minutes for each year is easy. I LOVE going back each year and watching how they've grown.... and by love I mean I cry my eyes out.
Do you do anything special each year on your child's birthday?
Twice a week, I co-host a political podcast with a Republican. I’m a Democrat. This means that twice a week I sit down and engage in political debate with someone who feels very differently than I do on a great many issues.
We start each show the same.
“No shouting. No insults. Plenty of nuance.”
Willingly volunteering for political confrontation is most people’s worst nightmares. It’s certainly my mother’s worst nightmare but I do it willingly because I believe we desperately need more civil discourse in the world. I believe that if we can’t discuss – even debate – the things we feel most passionately about then we are destined to fall for the siren song of rightness ringing in our own ears.
I've tried meditation on and off for years. I've practiced yoga for over a decade so I was familiar with the physical and psychological benefits of mindfulness but always struggled to make it an everyday part of my routine.
Recently, I posted on Facebook that I was trying to stop yelling at my kids. There wasn't one rock bottom moment but there were enough bad days that I woke up one morning and thought, "I'm not going to yell at my kids today." Then, the next day I made the decision and the next and the next. Some days are harder than others but none was harder than that first day.
Malcolm Gladwell, New York Times bestselling author of Blink and The Tipping Point, has a new podcast and I am OBSESSED.
Several months ago, my friend Jessica started raving about float tanks. Jessica - like me raves about all her new discoveries - and she's usually right (ESPECIALLY about Christmas prep). She began describing a sensory deprivation tank filled with 10 inches of body-temperature water and 1000 pounds of salt. You float in the pure dark with no sound for an hour or so. She described as rejuvenating and relaxing.
Sarah Holland