Lessons and Spiritual Thoughts Finding Balance & Nurturing Self

Purpose of Lesson:  To help women realize that they are the heart of the family.  If they do not love, balance and nurture themselves, they can not nurture anyone else. Preparations before lesson: Prior to the lesson, I purchased a chart of the Circulatory System from a local teacher's supply store.  I also found several charts on the internet that could copied and put on a poster board. I also located a doctor's coat, stethoscope, reading glasses and a pointer stick for pointing out the parts of the chart. Bring a Barbie doll to use in the section titled: "Perfect LDS Barbie". I purchased the CD, "What Mary Felt" by Wanda Lindstrom.  I used the song on track 8, "Revolution in Me".  (Purchased at Deseret Book.) Prepare a small ziplock bag of homemade bath salts and tag that attaches to the front of the bag to give to each woman at end of lesson. Lesson: Person conducting introduces the class to the guest speaker...Dr. Deb.  Dr. Deb then begins to discuss the poster of the Circulatory System - How the blood flows through the body. The heart is a four chambered muscle that pumps freshly oxygenated blood from the lungs to the rest of the body.  Which part of the body does the heart nourish first?  Is it the brain or the lungs or other organ? The answer is the heart.  The heart nourishes itself first, then the rest of the body.  Each of you sisters is the heart of your family.  If you do not nourish yourself, how can you help anyone else.  Do you feel like your life is a juggling act all the time and out of control most of the time? I would like to introduce you to Sister Perfect LDS Barbie. "Hi! My name is Sister Perfect LDS Barbie.  I am the perfect mom who keeps my own journal and journals for each of my seven kids.   I bake bread every morning at 4 AM and I keep a shimmering clean house filled with my own crafts.  I serve no fewer than three nutritionally perfect meals each day.  I have multiple acid-free themed volumes chronicling every event in the lives of each of my children/grandchildren/ spouses/selves with cropped photos, die-cuts and Victorian-trimmed corners.  I volunteer in the community and I do an awesome job in my church calling.  I play in a string quartet and keep up my Mandarin Chinese in case I have an opportunity to serve a mission there with my husband and I alternate water aerobics with weight training to stay fit and beautiful." Is there anyone here that can relate to Sister Perfect LDS Barbie?  Does this describe your life? Now I would like you to hear from another Latter-day Saint sister.  Her name is Sister Wanda Lindstrom.   Listen carefully to see if your life resembles her life.  Play song "Revolution in Me" on CD "What Mary Felt".  (This CD can be found on the web at Deseret Book or at Heartrisemusic.com .) (Note:  In the song, the artist starts out by talking about how out of control she felt, how she was lost to joy and how she started a revolution within herself to balance and nurture herself so that she could nurture the other members of her family.) How many decades of your life have you spent tripping over Sister Perfect LDS Barbie as she littered your pathway and blocked your progression.  I think it is time that she needs to take her perfectly proportioned body and all her perfect skills on a long vacation.  So let’s send her packing and decide that rather than having a goal to be the perfect women...We are going to be women who are perfecting our souls. (Chuck Barbie in the garbage can.) Now that Barbie is gone....where do we start to nourish ourselves?  Let's start by asking the question, “What do I want?”   (Ask a few women what they want to do that will nourish them.) Many times we think that even if we know what we want, there is no time left for US to accomplish what we want.  We don’t even get started because it sounds like one more thing to do that we have no time to get to. If I were to tell you to go home and write down five major life goals and then write down five major short term goals and then write down how you will accomplish these goals.....how many of you would seriously go home and do this?  I Don’t Think So!!! President Hinckley said, “The course of our lives is not determined by great, awesome decisions. Our direction is set by the little day-to-day choices which chart the track on which we run.” It’s the little things that we can do everyday for ourselves that will add up and nourish us.  And sometimes our lives are so out of control that it is necessary that we take a “TIME OUT” and get back in touch with ourselves. There is nothing wrong or selfish with having a “TIME OUT”.   Please read Luke 5:16. “And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.” Jesus withdrew himself from people that needed him and the people whom he loved, to nourish his own soul before he could nourish others. So let’s find some “SIMPLE” things we can do to balance, nourish and take care of ourselves. 1) Schedule a “TIME OUT”.  Like they say....there will never be a right time to do this.....JUST DO IT!!!  Take a long bath, go for a long walk and breath some fresh air, go for a drive with some inspirational music to listen to.  Do something that will calm your spirit. 2) Take Better Care of Yourself.  Make decisions about your life care and lifestyle having to do with eating and exercise and sleep that will improve your emotional and physical well-being.  It is better to take it slow and make it a life-long change that try to lose that 40 pounds in 30 days or start a new exercise routine by running five miles the first day. All these would wear you down and before long, you would quit and then you would go back to the old routine.  It is your choice to make the time to exercise.  It is your choice what you buy and prepare to put into your mouth. 3) Analyze Your Condition.  Perhaps that anxiety you are feeling is just the nudging of the Spirit reminding you of what you could or should be doing.  Take stock of behaviors, attitudes and thoughts and note where to make improvement. 4) Take Responsibility.  If you really want to nourish yourself, you must look yourself straight in the eye and work out your problems from the inside out.  Declutter your life with things that are of no importance. Evaluate where you spend your time throughout the day.  If you have spare time, fill it with good books, good music, things that will build your spirit. Realize that you are in charge of your own choices and the number of commitments you make.  It is as vital to budget your time, energy, and resources as it is to budget your money. 5) Find Interests and Develop Talents.  God gave you talents...not to hide, but to develop and share.  If you do not develop these talents....you will lose them.   Find interests and activities of your own that takes initiative to pursue, even when there are pulls from outside forces to dissuade you. 6) Enlist Family Members and Friends Support.  Remember what Wanda Lindstrom said in the song, "Revolution in Me".....family members got their own breakfasts, did their own homework, helped around the house.....and they learned from the experience also.  Learn to ASK for help...such as from children with household chores and from husbands with preparing and implementing Family Home Evenings.  Do not expect your family members to be mind readers....learn to ASK! 7) Use the tools that Heavenly Father has given us to find balance.  Prayer, fasting, scripture study, patriarchal blessings, Holy Ghost, Temple attendance, prophets and leaders.   In the February 2003 Ensign, President Faust said, “The basic program of the Church today is to strengthen the inner self.”   (See article: James E. Faust, "Strengthening the Inner Self", Ensign, Feb. 2003.) 8) Maintain Perspective.   We are not required to do more than we are able. Often the terror of trying “to do it all” is removed if we step back and make little changes and little choices every day. Big changes come with small choices.  Little changes and little choices add up to be revolutionary changes in your life.  Begin a revolution in YOU!! Dr. Deb’s prescription is to take a "Time Out" and have a “Calgon” moment.  End of Lesson Note:  As the women were leaving the class, I gave them each a small plastic ziplock bag of homemade bath crystals that I had made.  I created a tag which was attached to the front of the bag.  The tag said, "Big changes come with small choices.  Little changes and little choices add up to be revolutionary changes in your life!!!  Begin a revolution in YOU!!"   Homemade Bath Crystals Recipe 2 cups Epsom Salt (16 oz) A few drops of your favorite essential oil (Lavender is recommended) A few drops of food coloring (optional) 1/2 tsp glycerin for moisturizing (optional) Mix together and store in ziplock bag to keep moist.

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