The Willpower Instinct... Do you have it?

Every January I make goals for myself and usually within a month or two. Those goals are forgotten and old habits take root once more. Yet, each year I resolve once more that this is the year that things are going to be different. I've always wondered about this pattern of my life and why despite my best efforts I didn't actually change.

Cue Dr. Kelly McGonigal's book The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why it Matters, and What You can Do to Get More of It. Dr. McGonigal discusses in her book the aspects of the brain and human nature that inhibit and enhance our will-power.

The book is broken into 10 chapters and Dr. McGonigal encourages people read it one chapter at a time in order to implement the exercise and advice included to help start training our body and minds around the "I will, I won't, I wants" of life.

Each chapter is full of scientific information but presented in an accessible way, backed up with research and data, and illustrated with individuals stories of change and success.

I loved this book and I've already started implementing some of the suggestions in the book to help improve my will-power around issues of health and procrastination. The suggestions are easy and practical, start meditation, be more aware of the decisions and unhealthy habits of our lives, along with information about why addiction and habits are so hard to break and how to start living a healthier more productive life.

If you have ever struggled to overcome temptation, procrastination, exhaustion, motivation or addiction this book is a gift and an answer. Find it, read it, and start living it!!

To read more, join the conversation, and start changing your life go here


*Compensation Disclosure: I was compensated for this BlogHer Book Club review but all opinions expressed are my own I'm serious when I say this is an awesome book and you should read it ASAP*

We Went to the Beach in December...

Last weekend (Dec. 28-30th) my dad called me up and told me he was on his way for a visit. (Good thing I was planning on being in town).

My dad brought his wife and my youngest sister Abbey. Since she's never seen the ocean off we went in search of the water. It was so hilarious to me that Eli & Emmy knew what was involved with going to the ocean. As we were walking out the door to leave Emerson said, "Wait we forgot our buckets and shovels to make a castle."

Where do they learn these things? Seriously? How did they know this is what you do at the beach? Anyways, it was actually a beautiful day, Eli & Emmy had a great time, and my sister finally got to see the ocean.

 

Looking at the water. 

 

Trying to make sand castles. Although Emerson mostly used her bucket to "collect" various things. Seaweed, seashells, dirt, sticks, etc. It all came home with us. 

 

Me & my Eli

 

Eli with my dad

 

Building

 

Running from the tide. Marcus just grabbed them and ran haha

 

Sea foam

 

My cute babies (notice Emmy still has a dress on but we did convince her to let us put some pants over her tights)

 

Chasing Auntie Abbey with seaweed

 

My family

 

Running from the tide again. It was very unpredictable 

 

Making sand castles 

 

My and my kids who weren't cooperating...

 

Then Eli knocked me over. I felt like a beached whale 

 

 

Walking on the trail

 

Me & my Emmy girl

 

She loved the ocean/beach. She was disappointed she couldn't get in the water. 

 

We found a lighthouse. They're much more impressive on the east coast. 

 

 It was a good day, and the best part is it only cost $10. The cost of parking our car. We need to go back when it's a little warmer though, since my kids seem to love the water and the beach. 

The rest of the visit with my dad mostly went okay. It's still a little hard for me to have his wife in my home. Given she was the "other" woman that my dad left my mom for. *sigh* it's hard. 

Plus my dad in the bay area of California is a little bit hilarious. He wore his NRA jacket the whole time. I kept trying to convince him to take it off and he complained that the roads didn't accommodate his huge diesel truck very well haha.

I'm so behind on blogging...

I'm not even sure how to catch up.

I need to blog about my mom's wedding, everything that happened in December, and our trip to the ocean last week. What to do what to do.

I also need more naps. I was reading about Crohns some more and found something that mentioned talking to your employer about allowing naps at work.

That sounds like the best idea ever haha, I do have a couch in my office...

I can only imagine the kind nonsense this would cause if people found out I was napping at work, but a girl can dream.

Here's to being more attentive to my poor neglected little blog in 2013.

Happy 2013....

 

From me to you!

A few of my hopes for the new year

1.) We don't move. Please God don't let us move I can't do it again for the 4th year in a row.

2.) Marcus finds employment.

3.)  Get my health and crohns under control, so I stop feeling so horrible all the time.

4.) Continue to plug away at our debt.

2012 Book List

What I read this Year:

January
1. Divergent by Veronica Roth
2. 11/22/63 by Stephen King
3. Second Helpings by Megan McCafferty
4. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
5. Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love & Redemption by Katie J. David
6. Gabby: A Story of Courage & Hope by Gabrielle Giffords
7. Of Mice & Men by John Steinbeck
8. Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
9. The Dance of Anger By Harriet Lerner
10. Charmed Thirds by Megan McCafferty
11. Fourth Comings by Megan McCafferty
12. Bumped by Megan McCafferty
13. Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell
14. A Thousand Lives: The Untold Story of Hope, Deception & Survival at Jonestown by Julia Scheeres

February
15. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
16. True Grit by Charles Portis
17. The Medium Next Door by Maureen Hancock
18. Change me into Zeus's Daughter by Barbara Moss
19. Possessing the Secret of Joy by Alice Walker
20. Anything We Can love Can by Saved by Alice Walker
21. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
22. In the Wake of the Plague: The Black Death & The World it Made by Norman Cantor
23. Daughter of Smoke & Bones by Laini Taylor

March
24. Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life by Ice-T
25. Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult
26. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Peterson
27. The Rivals by Daisy Whitney
28. This Matter of Marriage by Debbie Macomber
29. Run by Ann Patchett
30. Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. Grey
31. In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Drs Journey in the Saudi Kingdom by Qanta Ahmed

April
32. We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver
33. Home Front by Kristin Hannah
34. Sisterhood Everlasting by Ann Brashares
35. Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
36. The Last Child by John Hart
37. The Book of Jonas by Stephen Dau
38. Save Me by Lisa Scottoline
39. Charlie St. Cloud by Ben Sherwood
40. My Own Country: A Drs Story of a Town & Its People in the Age of Aids by Abraham Verghese
41. The Stand by Stephen King

May
42. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
43. The time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
44. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
45. The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
46. Where Men where Glory by Jon Krakauer
47. 14 Minutes: A running Legend's Life & Death & Life by Alberto Salazar
48. The Seven Next Words of Christ by Shane Stanford
49. One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp

June
50. Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson
51. Come Home by Lisa Scottoline

July
52. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach
53. Between the Lines by Jodi Picoult

August
54. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
55. This Common Secret: My Journey as An Abortion Doctor by Susan Wicklund
56. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
57. The Book of Mormon Girl by Joanna Brooks
58. The Gatekeepers by Jaques Steinberg
59. Summer Island by Kristin Hannah
60. Wild by Cheryl Strayed
61. Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom
62. Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen
63. Julie & Julia by Julie Powell

September
64. Black, White & Jewish by Rebecca Walker
65. Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey Through His Son's Addiction by David Sheff
66. It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong
67. American Grown by Michelle Obama

October
68. Marley and Mean by John Grogan
69. Resilience by Elizabeth Edwards
70. Diary of a Submissive by Sophie Morgan
71. Acceptance by Susan Coll
72. The Woman Who Wasn't There by Gaby Fisher

November
73. The Blind Side by Michael Lewis
74. I Beat the Odds: From Homelessness, to the Blind Side, and beyond by Michael Oher
75. The Racketeer by John Grisham
76. The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
77. Second Chance by Jane Green
78. Between Friends by Debbie Macomber
79. The Great Emergence by Phyllis Tickle
80. Calico Joe by John Grisham
81. Promise Me by Nancy G. Brinker
82. The Perfect Christmas by Debbie Macomber
83. Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande
84. The Absolutely True Story of a Part-Time Indian by Sherm Alexie
85. Plague year by Stephanie Tolan
86. If I Stay by Gayle Forman
87. Still Alice by Lisa Genova
88. Left Neglected by Lisa Genova
89. Where she Went by Gayle Forman
90. A Winter Dream by Richard Paul Evans
91. Ana's Story by Jenna Bush
92. Sex and the City by Candance Bushnell

December
93. Finally Free by Michael Vick
94. 1225 Christmas Tree Lane by Debbie Macomber  
95. Grace by Richard Paul Evans
96. The Gift by Cecelia Ahern
97. I never Promised You A Goodie Bag by Jennifer Gilbert
98. Running with the Kenyans by Adharanand Finn
99. Winning Sounds Like This: A Season with the Women's Basketball Team at Gallaudet, the World's Only University for the Deaf by Wayne Coffey
100. When Christmas Comes by Debbie Macomber
101. Addicted to Hurry by Kirk Byron Jones
102. Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found my Faith by Martha Beck
103. 700 Sundays by Billy Crystal
104. Silent Night by Mary Higgins Clark
105. The Christmas Train by David Baldacci
106. A Cedar Cove Christmas by Debbie Macomber
107. The Letter by Marie Tillman
108. Sex Changes: A memoir of marriage, Gender, and moving on by Christine Benvenuto
109. The Christmas Note by Donna VanLiere
110. A year of Biblical Womanhood by Rachel Held Evans
111. Love Anthony by Lisa Genova
112. Diary of a Player by Brad Paisley

I did it. My goal was to read 112 books and I did. November and December required a lot of catch up reading!

I'm a working mom...

and I am lucky that I often get to do my "work" with a child in my arms.

 

I think I'm going to be sad when they're too big/have no desire to 'help' me do my work.

Things my kids say...

I often write quotes of things my kids say on facebook but I figured maybe I should compile them into a different medium. In case facebook goes away or something.

Dec. 6th

~Eli accidentally stepped on my feet and Emerson's as he was walking by. He then said, "Sorry Ladies" haha I wonder where he learned that.

Dec. 1st

~I was talking to Eli & Emmy about advent in the car this morning.

Me: Do you guys know that tomorrow we start advent? Do you know what that means?

Eli: Yeah

Me: Okay what does it mean?

Emmy: It means a lot of work!

Haha I can't really say that she's wrong but we did talk about waiting for baby Jesus. Which sparked a conversation about who Jesus' parents are.

Nov. 29th

~I just got Eli's bill from his visit to the ER. (It's a lot). Emerson said, "Don't be sad I'll just make you some soup." haha

Nov 28th

~Just listened to "O come All Ye Faithful" Emerson was silent the whole time and when it was over she said, "mama that's a really good song. It's a Christmas song?" I love her.

Nov. 23rd

~Emerson jut came into our room and said, "wake up and come downstairs it's Christmas." (Gram and Granddad are putting up their Christmas tree and I think she's a little confused haha).

Nov. 21st

~My California babies are screaming every time they walk outside, "It's too cold it's too cold!"

Nov. 10th

~Emmy's newest question, "Where's Obama's castle?" haha I think she's still trying to figure out who he is exactly.

Nov. 9th

~Emmy: I want to be 20 like you?

Me: Why?

Emmy: I just want to be 20 so I can drink soda pop.

(She also seems to think that the American Flag belongs to Obama after all the election coverage. She just said, "Obama's flag is so pretty.")

Nov. 4th

~I asked Emerson what it meant that I was a pastor. Her response, "You sing, pray, talk to Jesus, and work and work and work." Eli's addition was, "and you go night night" Overall pretty accurate.

Oct. 6th

~I might have the best 3 year olds in the world. First they behaved in the front row of a 3 hour Tongan Misinali service, after we left they both said, "That was fun!" Plus they got to see a real princess from Tonga. Then we immediately went to Open Circle the Young Adult worship service. Eli fell in love with gospel music and as we left they yelled, "bye church, bye music, thanks for the cake."

They behaved the entire time. Thank you Jesus long but good day! Let's hope they're still enthused about worship tomorrow morning.