So I have not yelled in 19 days (almost) and it feels good. About the almost…yesterday I came home with a load of groceries in my arms and lugged them onto the kitchen countertop, spilling a glass of red juice all over the cabinets and floor I had just spotlessly cleaned. Without a moments hesitation I yelled out “Oh Fuck!” which immediately put me in the running for ‘Mother of the Year Award.’ So while I did yell I did not yell at any living breathing being in my home I did send that utterance out into the universe. It should be bumping into you just about now!

One of the many ways I have been working on not yelling is by swimming for 30 minutes per day and as I swim I say positive affirmations in my head like “I am calm, I am loving, I am content with things as they are, I no longer yell, I am joyful, etc.” I find this very easy and it keeps me occupied while I swim so that the result is that I swim longer. The biggest bonus is that while underwater I can not hear my children bickering. For when I hear the fighting it  makes me want to grow gills and fins so that I never have to get out of the pool and hear, “Sheeeeee touchedddddd meeeeeeee!”  in stereo sound again.

Everyday is a challenge but thus far I have succeeded when no one thought I could. That said, I have been spending more time in my closet listening to Chel Hamilton meditation podcasts. I figure that is a small price to pay for not yelling and feeling better about life in general though it also means that I need to find another place for my husband’s smelly undershirts. For me, sweat and serenity do not go together and should not inhabit the same place.