In order to help the many brains in my family I decided to color code and frame our schedule. This is an outline of our schedules for this fall:In order to fight back the anxiety that it will never work, I am using my favorite psychological technique to convince my brain otherwise: reframing. I am actually surprised at how quickly I can improve in reframing a situation.

Joe is really good at this, when he practices it. He will replace his assumption that people are jerks when pulling out in front of him or driving terrible, with images of people balancing hot coffee in their car. He is suddenly sympathetic and laughing to himself.

I am learning that my perspective (after my Wed. melt down following the kids return to school) makes the biggest difference in the world. My friend Pilar has often echoed in my head as I am making school lunches. She has shared how rather than see the task as mundane and terrible, I can be grateful I have little ones to make a lunch for. I can cherish their dependence on me for this season. They delight in a sandwich and some fruit, which I can delight in as well.

I am reframing my job as gift and a calling, rather than a chore. A chore would be any of those jobs I had before being a teacher: working fast food, waitressing, or a cashier at the natural food store. I am reframing my dirty dishes as the opportunity to practice silence and to scrub out any frustrations on the food chunks. Rather than the seeing the dishes as an obstacle that I have to overcome.

I am reframing my days and routine as the seasons change. It is not a permanent schedule or a “rat race.” Life is the moments we decide to focus on.