conditioning

I am a fan of deepak chopra. Something that he says really strikes a chord with me. He says that in our lives, as we grow up we must overcome the conditioning that we recieved as children. Hmmm. Just like a dog of Pavlov. And what conditioning am I forcing on my innocent children.
I see my kids' foreheads furrow and tone of voice deepen angrily and I know that they get that from me.
When I was young, when they were young there was so much innocence and curiosity and joy in us. Is anger conditioning? How do you overcome that? How do you help your children overcome outlooks that you have inflicted upon them?

things to start

on my road to self betterment here is my things to do list and it goes like this:
I want to start:
painting again (in curvy simple lines that create moving pictures for my own happy, yes happy)
writing in my journal or on this blog that only I read anyway (all the views are my own)
hiking in the appalachian mountains and actually pushing myself
watching less television (my life is being tevo-ed away)
exercising more and loving it
playing the guitar again, even if I sound horrible, I will play and sing until my voice and fingers are raw
scrapbooking (I have genealogical photos to put in a book, old ones just sitting in my closet)
going back to college (WHY AM I LETTING FEAR RULE ME?)
meditating (close my eyes and breathe)
expanding my mind (I feel my IQ dropping on a daily basis)
canoeing with my boys (there is nothing more bonding than hours of teamwork in a confined space)
taking more pictures to document these times in my life
listening more aptly when others speak
loving people more generously

outside

I eat too much.
I drink way too much.
I find that I am trying to fill the voids in my life with things that only create more voids and hangovers the next day.
I miss having babies and purpose and wonder.
I am sad and moody.
I lie to myself and think that I used to be happy back in the day, but I was sad and moody then too.
I lie to myself and think that if only:
I had more money, I could be a stay at home mom, I didn't have to work, I read more good books, I kept my house cleaner, and I spent more time with my kids, and made love to my husband more often, then, yes, then I would be HAPPY! But, it is a lie.
I am trying to change my outlook. Instead of listening to hateful music, I bought a Jason Mraz c.d.
Yes, it sounds shallow and non-life altering, but maybe if I start my day with Lucky or I'm Yours instead of Razor (foo fighters) I will be a little more optimistic. I find Jason Mraz is annoying as hell, but cheesy happy too.
I think maybe I miss having religion... Jesus, in my life... I'm sure that most Christians would say oh Yes Yes, if you were saved.... But, I remember how imperfect and stuffed into a box I was when I was Christian even though the thought of a higher purpose and a loving God is a shiny,
gleaming, wondrous, fairy-tale notion. I am a skeptic by nature and I suspect that even if an angel appeared at my bedside to tell me that God loves me and handed me a flaming haired baby girl, I would only shrug it off as a trick of the eyes and heart.
I need to get outside my own dirty, dilapidated mind and be more than a cesspool of diseased thought.
I don't understand why I am so good at the facade of being happy, but happiness does not absorb me.
I know I have SO MUCH do be grateful for, the list goes on and on and on, but still I am this, me.
I heard somewhere that it is programmed into the human psyche to never be satisfied and always want something more. It is a survival mechanism. Well, all I have to say to that is how shitty! I want to be satisfied. I want to just be... I don't want to have all this anger and dissatisfaction and mostly I do not want the indifference.
So, I guess I will start with Jason Mraz. And, maybe I will just hug my kids more than I usually do, or maybe tickle my 15 year old and ruffle the hair of my 14 year old. I will definitely cover my 12 year old's face with kisses even though he protests yelling gross with a huge smile on his lips. And I will definitely tell my 10 year old how amazing he is and I will go on that nature walk with my 9 year old and a camera to take pictures of the flowers of spring. I will find inspiration in a flower's new beginning and become cleaner and crisper and more vibrant in the spring sunshine and maybe even more optimistic. I'll find time to just revel in being.