My "Ten Little Things"

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." ~Aristotle

Over at CJane today she wrote about having "Ten Little Things" that if she accomplished them each day, she would feel like she had done her best. I've been thinking about how it's summer vacation...the kids are home...and it gets very easy for me to feel like I'm flying by the seat of my pants. I want each day to feel successful, even during summer vacation. So I came up with my own list of "Ten Little Things" that I would like to accomplish each day to make it feel successful.

1. Morning/evening/anytime prayer. This is a must for me, and something would definitely be missing if I didn't accomplish it.
2. Scripture immersion. Yes, I said immersion. We had Stake Conference this past weekend, and one of the speakers talked about immersing ourselves in the scriptures. This was good for me to hear, because my scripture reading,  though I'd been doing it, had been a little lacking. Thinking about immersing myself has helped. A lot.
3. Exercise! This has become a must for me, and although it's a 5-6 days per week thing, I'm still including it here. I feel it if I don't exercise. It's a must for stress control.
4. Patience. I'm working on having more patience in my life. With my children, with life in general. 
5. Positive self-talk. I've learned that there's no room in my life for pity parties. Who do they help? Certainly not me. If I can keep my self-talk positive, the day is much better.
6. Express gratitude. To my husband, to my children, to anyone who has helped me that day.
7. Tell my hubby I love him. I'm pretty good at this, and he is, too. But marriage takes daily work so it's not something I'm going to take for granted. 
8. Lift someone else. Let's face it, sometimes it's hard to think of others, but when we do it, we feel better about ourselves. Lifting someone else doesn't have to be hard, either. Sometimes it's as simple as a smile. A phone call. A hug.
9. Read scriptures as a family. This gets harder the older the kids get and the more they work and play away from home, but it's still important. I'm grateful for children who say, "We need to read scriptures!" It definitely helps keep us going.
10. Family prayer. Another must. We have a rule (that we try to enforce every day) that we must tell Heavenly Father "thank you" for at least 5 things before we ask for even one. Gratitude is SO important.