Rhythm: the heartbeat of our days

I’ve been following an informative series over at The Parenting Passageway about the Eight Facets of a Healthy Family Culture. To kick off the series, Carrie has been talking about rhythm- a topic near and dear to my heart- as I have seen the transformative power of a solid rhythm firsthand. Here are a few thoughts I'd like to add to the conversation:

I keep a little note in my kitchen windowsill, above my sink, and this little paper means the world to me- it is the heartbeat of our days. Sometimes friends come over and comment on it, and say they’d like me to share it. So today I’m very happy to do that here….with one caveat. As Carrie said in her post today, “My only caution is: rhythm is specific to your family and your family’s values and life. Therefore, please don’t spend TOO much time looking. Get out your piece of paper and write down a flow to your day. Live with it, tweak it, change it, but start.”

Winter Rhythm 2012


So, are my weeks as perfect as they look on paper? Not really! But I'm not actually striving for "perfect."  I'm striving for predictability and purpose and peace of mind.  Some days we can’t pull off all of the little tasks, and some days we don’t want to because we’re having fun doing something else. But the point is that this IS our underlying rhythm either way. There is flexibility and we can skip or substitute parts of the day as we wish, but the truth is that if we stretch too far, or ignore too much, we begin to feel out of sorts. That uncomfortable feeling lets us know its time to come back in step with the gentle rhythm that we’ve come to know and trust and count on.

I want to tell you that this beautiful rhythm has given my life purpose. It has helped me understand life at home with little ones, and it continues to help me create the warm, loving home that I want for my family. If you have not yet looked at rhythm in your own home, I would love to help you start!