Seeking Permenance

My hard drive crashed. Actually it was my back-up hard drive. On my desk sits a computer hard drive that just three weeks ago served as a backup to my system. In a flash, it failed. It was full of useful and important information and it’s all gone. Now it is just a metal paperweight.Many of us have likely experienced a computer malfunction in which important data has been lost. Data from our lives such as financial records, letters, addresses, or pictures stored as electronic bits of zeros and ones on a magnetic platter that spins at dizzying speeds. One zap and it is gone. It seems so fragile and temporary.

What is really lasting and permanent? My answer to that question is that relationships and family matter most. Placing our energies into our family relationships has the potential for long term generational pay-offs.

Here are some suggestions to help ensure you are not wasting your efforts on the temporary.

1. Spend time with your spouse. Have a regular date night. Write each other notes.

2. Spend time with your children. Take family walks. Play games in the backyard. Make sure you have extended periods of time together (over an hour) to make sure you are not forcing “quality time.” Quality is a result of quantity.

3. Conduct an audit of the family’s schedule and notice where you spend much of your free time. Can you cut out an activity? Is the family too busy?

Coming in the next two weeks – “Listening to your Children.”

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