Awareness

So since the beginning of the year I have added some routine or discipline to my life. And I'm liking the results. What I am beginning to see is that discipline in one area of life begets discipline in other areas as well. I have considered myself one of the most undisciplined persons on the planet. I attributed that to a sort of reaction formation to my mother's OCD personality. Her discipline expressed itself in a rigidity that I totally rebelled against. I seemed to revel in my disorganization and procrastination. Now, just shy of my 55th birthday, I am finding comfort and even enjoyment in the presence of discipline forming in my life. I started by chosing to read the Bible daily. Several years ago I had purchased a copy of the NLT version of the Bible in One Year. Knowing my patterns I opted to tear out the months of daily readings so that I would have no excuse to not have the book with me to read. (Apologies to all those who might find such "destruction" of a book offensive.) I began exercising daily. I have either walked, walked the dogs, ridden my bike, or worked out with the wii every day. I'm a bit excited that I'm up to 20 minutes of running in the morning and evening. Today I "ran" 3.8 miles. And it feels good! I'm cleaning my house weekly. In fact, right now, I'm writing this having vacuumed and getting ready to clean the bathrooms, to be followed by dusting. In part this has been facilitated by a gift I received for Christmas. Nelson bought me the Dyson Ball vacuum that is touted to be good for picking up pet hair. I love that little sucker! It makes vacuuming quick and easy--and thorough! I have always cleaned on an "as needed" basis. This was definite reaction to my mother's absolute rigidity of her cleaning schedule. Jesus could be at the door and he would just have had to wait until she was done. It's not that I didn't like a clean house--I just couldn't make myself get into a routine. Until now. Today I even organized the toy area of the family room. Honestly, I like it better than the way that Nelson had it done. Mom always said, if you want something done right...do it yourself. She is one smart chick! And I'm reading. I decided that this year I would write down the titles and authors of the books I read. I've already read 16 books. I went to the library today and took out four more. I did a little research and decided to check out some new authors. So I have four new authors. And I'm open to suggestions. I'm not big on romance or fluff. I don't want books that are bawdy or crude. And just I think about movies, I don't think vulgar language is necessary for communication. I guess I'm just a little old-fashioned that way. Well, this is not getting the bathrooms clean and Asher will be here in an hour so I will close and get 'er done. :)