Tagetes Marigold Flower. Autumn Flowers Background

If I’m not happy in this time and place, I’m not paying attention.

–Jodi Hills, American author

Sometimes I get upset about how life is going. It’s as though life should actually be the way I think it should be, and if it isn’t, I am personally offended and resentful.

This excerpt from a newsletter/magazine called MOTHERING, Spring 1991, provides a different and healthier perspective:

Life rarely runs as smoothly as we’d like. In our minds, we harbor the ideal: seamless days of stress-free work, play, and family – leading to nights of long, uninterrupted sleep. The reality of life is much messier than this ideal, but when we step back, we can sometimes see that it is also much richer. —Mary Beth Danielson

So when it occurs to you that life isn’t as it should be, find a way to remind yourself that it is the way that it is. And that is exactly as it should be. And it is turning out. Your life is working. There is no place to get to where then it will be working because it’s working now.

Your schedule will go the way that it goes. Don’t let your schedule determine whether or not you enjoy life. Look for the cracks in each day to step back and see how rich your life is.

Sure, life is definitely tough at times. Yes, parenting is oh-so-difficult at times. In fact, there are even times when life is almost too terrible to imagine. Let’s reserve heartache and stress for those times.

For most of the time, however, let’s remember everything that we cherish about our families and stay in touch with who we want to be for our kids