Choosing Peace

I just read a great article called "Want Peace?  Get Laryngitis" on The Power of Moms.  It really made me think about how I've been communicating with my family lately. 

I've been pretty stressed out off and on as I get ready for this Power of Moms Retreat next week.  I've been squeezing in a lot more work than normal during the day (the twins have rejoiced in some seldom-granted extra TV time) and I've been working on stuff every evening once the kids are tucked into bed.  I've been trying to set a bedtime for myself - but somehow that bedtime comes and goes as I keep working away, thinking this "one last little thing" will be done so soon and will ease my stress enough that it's worth a little less sleep.

Too little sleep and too much stress is generally a recipe for lack of patience and not-so-nice words from me. And as the saying goes "when mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy."  Our house hasn't felt all that happy in the last few days.

I KNOW that it makes a huge difference when I choose to speak peacefully to my children, choose positive words, and make sure to give them the time that they need (check out my post on Choosing My Words from a while back).  But sometimes I let things slide a little and before long, I find myself in a bit of a rut of saying not-too-nice stuff to my kids in a not-so-nice tone.

So before I get struck by laryngitis to force me to be sweeter, I'm going to go ahead and choose peace by choosing my words and my tone more carefully.