Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of My Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to seek out spots of calm in
Speaker 1: a busy life. It can be easy to feel frantic
Speaker 1: and unhappy, especially when things turn chaotic. If that's the case,
Speaker 1: it is important to notice the absence of chaos, mostly
Speaker 1: to remind ourselves that these moments of calm exist. They
Speaker 1: can become part of our story too. My life has
Speaker 1: been a bit more chaotic over the past few weeks
Speaker 1: than I tend to like. We adopted a puppy, in
Speaker 1: case anyone is wondering, toddlers and puppies are quite a combination.
Speaker 1: We had a big childcare change, We've had some normal
Speaker 1: non COVID illnesses, the toddler has been regressing on sleep,
Speaker 1: and the house renovation project is in the everything is
Speaker 1: ripped up stage. So there's just a lot of unpredictability.
Speaker 1: Such is life. The problem is when the chaos becomes
Speaker 1: our entire narrative. To combat that, I am trying to
Speaker 1: notice little spots of calm, like when I can read
Speaker 1: on the porch for thirty minutes after the toddler's bedtime,
Speaker 1: and before the six year old bedtime. When I am
Speaker 1: sitting on the sidelines of a kid's game by myself
Speaker 1: and can just listen to a podcast and relax, or
Speaker 1: if I've squeezed in a trail run and can listen
Speaker 1: to the birds, or if I've headed over to the
Speaker 1: new house to sit in the yard all by myself
Speaker 1: for a few minutes. These little islands of calm can
Speaker 1: feel small when you spend an hour playing phone tag
Speaker 1: with the pediatrician and the dog has ripped up a
Speaker 1: newspaper you thought was put away, but guess what, With kids,
Speaker 1: nothing stays put away. But these moments do exist. They
Speaker 1: happened just in the same way that the chaotic stuff happened.
Speaker 1: So notice them, and when you do notice them, you
Speaker 1: can start to try to create more of them. I
Speaker 1: have been pretty good about seeing what I've got, say,
Speaker 1: forty five minutes before the setter leaves, and after I've
Speaker 1: finished the days to do list, to do something calming,
Speaker 1: rather than lose the time to email, which will always
Speaker 1: be there. Best to do something that will stand out
Speaker 1: as nice, And if the calm finds me well, best
Speaker 1: to notice that too. The morning I wrote this, My
Speaker 1: husband had left early for work, and I was up
Speaker 1: with the toddler. As I sat in the living room chair,
Speaker 1: he got occupied with a toy and I realized I
Speaker 1: could just keep sitting. Sure the other kids would need
Speaker 1: to be woken up soon. Lunch had to be made,
Speaker 1: kids had to get going, but until they did, I
Speaker 1: could just sit and let him play and not disturb
Speaker 1: the scene. It lasted about four minutes, but that isn't nothing,
Speaker 1: so better to notice the four minutes then let them
Speaker 1: disappear in the meantime. This is Laura. Thanks for listening,
Speaker 1: and here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod
Speaker 1: that's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeartMedia dot com. That Before Breakfast is spelled
Speaker 1: out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look
Speaker 1: forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production
Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows