Mind over Mattress

Time

One thing that I look forward to in the next life is that I will not have to sleep. Sleep is something that I wish I could skip. It is just such a waste of time. I know we need it, I know I need more, but there is just so much to do in the little time that we are given here. To me, sleeping in is a waste of a perfectly good morning. I want my children to learn that. I want them to enjoy being early risers and learning the true value of time.

We had a great talk at our church conference this past Sunday. It was directed specifically toward the young men, teaching them the preparations for serving a mission. One thing specifically caught my attention with his verbiage. He talked of "mind over mattress." He advised the youth to not sleep in. To learn to get up early and work. He advised them to not "sleep away their summer."

I really liked this. He told us to hang a sign over their bed with the phrase "Mind over Mattress." That is a great slogan. It definitely is a mind thing. It is so tempting to stay in bed . It is so tempting to pull up the covers and turn on the snooze button. However, what is the reward? A loss of time.

Time is one of the few things that is limited in this life. Almost anything else we can get more of to some degree. We don't know how much time we have. There is only a certain amount of hours in everyday for everyone. No one gets more, no one gets less. It is up to us how we use it.

I love this quote by H. Jackson Brown Jr.

"Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Theresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson and Albert Einstein."

As mothers, wives, employees, etc., we may not have the time to paint a masterpiece or invent something new and amazing, however, there is always ways we can use our time more wisely. Do we find ourselves sleeping in a little longer than we need to? Do we use our precious time given on this earth as we should? I remember one talk that I heard years ago that stuck with me. The speaker asked us to ask ourselves when doing an activity, "how is this benefiting my life or those around me?"

We need to ask ourselves this question on a day to day basis as we sit for hours on facebook, watch prolonged periods of TV, blog hop and other unwise use of media. Do we spend too much time worrying? Do we use our time too selfishly instead of thinking of others or using our time to develop talents?

I remember being a senior in high school and writing in my yearbook many of the things I wanted to accomplish in my life before I died. At that time in my life, It seemed I had nothing but time ahead of me. It was a blank slate. What I have learned is that time goes so quickly and that we have to grab it up. We have to be extremely organized and value each minute.

I am so not perfect with this. I do not use every minute like I should and I recognize that sometimes time is spent perfectly well sitting at a pool relaxing or reading a good book. We all need down time. But, I want my children to learn to seize the moments. To get up, get exercise to get their bodies and minds going. I want them to make plans, to plan their time, to use it up and enjoy life. I want them to develop all of their wonderful talents that they have been given in this life. This is one of the main reasons I detest video games so much. Such a waste of time. How many children, and adults for that matter will never know how much talents they have been given because they choose to waste time on electronics instead of developing their talents?

Another quote I love by Alice Bloch:

"We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves."

Let us not waste ourselves. Life is beautiful. I want to make a list with my family this week individually and as a whole what we want to accomplish. I want us to make a list of how to accomplish this and how to use our time wisely. My children are getting this. My 15 year old set his alarm for 6 am to go running this morning on his own. No prompting. He is learning the value of time. Now, if I can just get him to get his work done in a timely manner I will be greatly satisfied!

Seize the day. Do something great with it. Don't spend your time looking up past relationships on facebook or checking out old friends blogs; enjoy and develop the relationships you have today. Develop yourselves. Learn something new. I was just telling my husband the other day that I wished I had developed my musical talents more and he told me that I wasn't dead yet. So true. I have today. I will start there. I think I will go and learn a new piano song.

What are you going to do with your today? Make it a good one!