Tag: together

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Victory

Puppy Power

So we have joined the puppy bandwagon. After listening to the pleas and a 30 minute power point – yes you read correct – aimed at convincing us to say yes to a new family member – we finally caved.

Say hello to Scout. Cute to look at and puppy like in every. single. way. The interesting thing about introducing a pup into the family – is the ”not yet trained” part. The kids especially my youngest cannot understand why the pup is not sitting when asked, not shaking hands or even listening to when her name is called. All of these things and more need to be learnt. We as humans need to learn things, we begin learning the minute we are born. Our brains are so incredible. Trying to explain to the kids, how the pup is untrained, and unknowing has been an interesting process. These conversations have been met especially by our youngest with questions like “why not”, “how can I teach her” and her simply repeating herself until the pup loses interest and runs off…

How many times in our lives have we come across people ahem others, who are ‘untrained’ or not trained yet like my pup? (Rest assured she is going to puppy school!) When we come across those in our lives who don’t know what they don’t know – how do we treat them? How do we perceive them? Do we give them grace, the same way we give an untrained pup? Do we use patience and care to teach them, show them, mentor them, encourage them?

So here lies the challenge – we all have areas in our lives that we don’t know what we don’t know… How will we respond to those who show us our blind spots – the areas we need to improve ( be trained in)? Likewise how will we treat those who like us, have blind spots? The answer I dare say is with kindness, grace and a whole lot of patience.

What are your thoughts on this?

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Victory

#homesofvictory

That’s what I consider true generosity –you give your all and yet you feel as if it costs you nothing

Simone deBeauvoir
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Victory

#homesofvictory

How many times have we caused ourselves pain because we failed to pause and think. ‘How would my best self view and respond to this situation?’

Brendon Burchard
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Victory

work vs deed

When have we as a society stopped doing deeds for others and thought of generosity, acts of kindness and thoughtfulness, as work?


Is it just me or do you feel our culture in general is becoming more inward focused, selfish, and unkind? Is the rush of life, the desire to be somewhere, the overbooking of calendars etc… making us weary, without a capacity to think of others?


I’ve been mulling over these two words deed and work for some time, as the meaning of both words has ‘ accomplish’ in both definitions. I would argue although the definition of work has the terms ‘ exertion’ and ‘ effort’ in the definition, at times, when we carry out a deed towards someone else ( I am referring to this in a positive sense) it also does take ‘ exertion’ and ‘effort’.


work – noun: exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something. (labor/toil)

dictionary.com

deed- noun something that is done, performed or accomplished; an act… often deeds, an act or gesture, especially as illustrative of intentions, one’s character.

dictionary.com


What are your thoughts on this? I find as a leader, we can easily set the example by doing random acts of kindness that don’t often take much effort or exertion – but make a huge difference to the day of someone else. When was the last time you send a word of encouragement? When was the last time you thanked someone at work for organizing an event or meeting? When was the last time you noticed something your kids did well or did without being asked?

Don’t see kindness as work. See kindness for what it is – intentionally making some ones day that bit better. It may not take a lot of time, it may not take too much effort but what it does is brightens the world, encourages the ripple effect of smiles and kindness in a world that truly needs more kind in it.

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Blue Print

dream a little dream

Category Six:

Future: dream a little  Where do you see yourself and your family in five to ten years? What could you start planning for now, that will come to fruition in that time frame?

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Blue Print

Valuing what’s coming in

Category Five:

Finances:  Finances can be a big topic and one that can cause stress. The whole idea of including finances in this activity is that they link to almost everything we do and want to do. It may be worth setting a time frame for this conversation and covering this topic over two or more conversations. This activity is aimed at creating a strategic list of priorities. This is not the time to be working out the ‘ how’. Use this conversation, no matter how long it takes to think big, dream and add a bit of reality – together.

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Victory

# homesofvictory

A strong woman looks a challenge in the eye and gives a wink

Gina Carey

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Blue Print

Valuing what’s inside our walls

Category Four:

Children:  Write down the values you think of when you read the word ‘children’. It may be how many you want, your dreams for them, schooling, where they grow up, and in what environment…

Dream big for them.

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Victory

# homesofvictory

One minute of anger weakens the immune system for 4 to 5 hours. One minute of laughter boosts the immune system for 24 hours.

Robyn Pryor

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Blue Print

Valuing what’s outside

Category Three:

Business / Career: This week explore what your individual goals are, and how you expect to steer your business/career looking forward? What is important to you at present and in the future?  

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Victory

Can you see it?

We often joke in our marriage that my husband is the dreamer and I am the realist. To further describe it, he is the risk taker, I’m not, he is Mr Adventure, I am Mrs Risk Assessment first. After 16 years of marriage and many jokes about our personality types, I’ve come to realize, that he can see things that I can’t see and vice versa. Another way to put this is, he chooses to see things I don’t and I choose to see things he doesn’t. The next realization is – do I trust what he can see, even if I can’t? The answer is yes, but it’s always tentative, why – because I want to be able to see what he sees.

My better half will put risk into the equation because he knows / sees / believes the outcome will more than likely outweigh the risk. Can I add that he is spot on 99% of the time…

In life, what is it that you choose to see? What is it that you are encouraged to see? What is is that you may not be able to see straight up?

I’ve been really challenged by this thought lately. What is it that I don’t see – that perhaps if I did, could lead to a different outcome. As a mega organized, ahem reformed control freak, I like to plan and know how things are going to work. These last few months I’ve been testing myself in a way to see how I would cope if my comfort zone was to be pushed out – by me. The results – the kids did run out of milk one morning – not sure why running out of milk was a fear but anyway – thanks to an early morning servo run, the kids had breakfast, I applied for a dream job and was appointed in the role… I was even able to wake up with the kids on the holidays and not have the day planned. For me this is a huge achievement – for some it maybe normal – for me a huge shift

Hear me out – what you don’t see – is exactly that. When you begin to become aware that there are things unseen – things in life such as behaviors, attitudes and thought patterns that could be holding you back… why not try to see them. Why not explore a change in your comfort zone – push yourself a little. My example may not resonate with you, but think of a way to make yourself uncomfortable – I’m sure you will be fine – more fine than you give yourself credit for.

Categories
Blue Print

Valuing home

Category Two is:

Home Environment – notice here house is not the theme, rather home environment is. List 5 values that describe how you want your family to interact, how you want your family space to be for your family. This is similar to family values from week one, however more practical items will appear on your list.

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Victory

What are you empty of?

I don’t know about you, but in the hustle and bustle of life, how full does your brain feel? Mine feels… overflowing. I’ve recently started a new job which is AMAZING, and our family has been adjusting fairly well to the changes with that. But one thing my husband said to me over the weekend caught my attention. You see, in taking up this new role, I went in with eyes wide open, and a mindset of not only doing the task well but making sure my family and marriage came first and remained first. All other things would flow from that. The thing he said to me was, “I didn’t tell you…… during the week, you looked like you had too many tabs open in your mind”.

Now I am a sucker for starting to read two or three books at a time, I’ve always had a busy mind. I will write shopping lists, to do lists – and exhaust those just watching me get organised. But… what I need to realise – and wish I had done so earlier was that my brain – actually needs space to be my brain and simply function. I overload it with things that really shouldn’t come anywhere near the priority list. Are you with me? I realised I worry about people and events I read about in the news, I scroll through snap shots of other peoples lives and start to grow stories in my mind of the what if’s and could be’s. All of this is unnecessary. All of this is just overwhelming – especially when we add it to our daily intake of stuff.

Not only am I trying to work out dinner for my family, and listen to the battles of their day, work out the bickering between the kids and so on, I am taking on the worries of the world – when really, I don’t need to and really, I shouldn’t. This may I add is different to empathy – empathy is great and amazing – at the right time and place. What I am talking about here is taking on the worries of the world and carrying them like a burden – a backpack of worry.

How many of us are guilty of this? Filling our minds with what isn’t ours to worry about? Filling the gaps of precious down time we have with everything else but just being still and enjoying the moment. I came across this quote which came at a very apt time, when all of these thoughts about what I take in each and every day. Augustine once said

We must empty ourselves of all that fills us so we may be filled with what we are empty of. 

Augustine

Now ask yourself, what is it that fills up your brain? Work, living, chores, anxiety, worry, feeling overwhelmed? What is it that you need to take away or empty yourselves from, so that you can be filled again?

To put Augustine’s quote to the test, and to personally challenge my scrolling addiction, I jumped off the social media bandwagon for 21 days. Can I just say, it was hard at first, but it got easier and better. I filled my usual scrolling time with reading and chatting to my kids and being more present that I already was. I feel I have started a new habit of scrolling less and connecting more.

What are you going to do?

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Victory

#homesofvictory

Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than one with all the facts.

Albert Einstein

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Victory

forget for 15

Have you forgotten how to dream? How to think big? How to think beyond this season?

Here at Homes of Victory we encourage you to spend 5 to 10 minutes a day with your loved one, asking what if, with no restrictions, no can nots, no parameters. Don’t be afraid to think big – think beyond the unknown. Have a bit of fun and get to know each other better. You never know where the conversation will take you.

We started doing this for a period of time earlier in the year, we were inspired by this book ‘ What if’ . We would fill out a page every day and leave it on each others pillow. Eventually we started to make time to talk about our answers. It’s interesting, as we began to answer more questions we realised my beloved is a dreamer and from my answers I am clearly a realist. It has taken me some time, to drop the barriers and restrictions I put on my thoughts and dreams, but these conversations certainly have helped.

Here are some what if questions to get you started.

  • If you could design a building what would it house?
  • What if you were given a million dollars and had to spend it today what would you buy?
  • If you could have any hairstyle what would it be?

Enjoy learning about each-other and yourself, and have a conversation that is not about the kids, or work or life for once… We would love to hear how you go.