An important reminder I recently learned: Smell the flowers, blow out the candle.

Just breathe. That’s what I need to do. I need to take a moment, take a deep breath in through my nose (smell the flowers) and exhale out of my mouth (blow out the candle). This will help me to stop. I need to stop my immediate and thoughtless reactions. I need something to help me really think before I speak or react.

Like this morning…rushing to get the kids to school and myself out the door with them. Danica wants to make a hot mamma roll (they are a brand of rolls that my husband insists on buying because they are delicious and he loves the name hot mama, there is a funny story here). She wants to do it all by herself and I’m happy to let her, supervised. She goes to put it in the toaster oven and wants to push it back. I tell her no, she doesn’t need to do that. And, the power struggle begins and then ends with her in tears. All over her wanting to push her roll a little further back in the toaster oven. Really? What is wrong with me? Yes, it was more difficult to get it out and I had to help her, but did I really need to react that way? The situation left us both feeling bad over a silly little garlic roll.

If I had just taken a deep breath I would have realized how silly this situation was and how ridiculous I was responding. I need to be more present in these moments. I need to take a deep breath and just let the little things go. Let my girls learn on their own and realize that I don’t need to be in control all of the time. Jeez, this is hard work. But, I already feel the tension going away.

Practice: smell the flowers, then blow out the candle. Just breathe. It works.