Hi friends,

 

In the midst of all that’s happening, the helplessness we are bound to feel from the comfort of our warm homes, full fridges, and safe streets as we are seeing new levels of horror that our brothers and sisters are facing in beloved Palestine, I am sending you this note wishing you would keep watching, sharing and demanding an end to this madness. All words feel empty, but we can not give up saying them over and over. We should never give up, not in our prayers or our actions.

 

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This week, I tried something new. I encouraged my kids to do all our homework for the upcoming week on Thursday instead of our usual Friday routine so we could do more family activities on Friday. Three things inspired this experiment:

This experiment took effort since I usually lazily wind down on Thursday evenings. To be able to do it, I needed to check all school emails and prepare homework lists as usual, but most importantly, I needed to prime kids for it. 

 

On the way to school that Thursday morning, I got their buy-in by having them imagine a carefree Friday and promising something they love after we finish: a movie night. We watched Orion and the Dark, which they were excited to watch for a while. Of course, my younger son was about to bail out on the whole idea and wanted to play instead that evening, but then he came around. As a result of this effort, we spent a fruitful Thursday evening that ended with connection time over the movie and a full and pleasant Family Friday. 

 

Homework on Thursday evening was an experiment I would love to repeat, especially in non-exam weeks. It definitely enhanced the weekend for my family.

 

What is something that you can try to improve your weekends?

 

A snapshot from my week: My podcast is now on YouTube! A huge milestone.

These 2 episodes are performing so well. Show me some love and Subscribe now please😃

Here is your weekly dose of The Sunday Spark ⚡️ a newsletter listing 3 sparks that I thought were worth starting your week with*: 

 

1. 🎁 Your monthly gift is back! Download your March Habit Tracker customized to your workweek (Your week starts on: Sunday, Monday) and a productivity-focused monthly calendar to help you plan your month, both designed by yours truly.

 

2. 🎧 Listen to How to Turn 1000 Hours Outside Into a Goal with Ginny Yurich. What she said about outdoor play aligns with what I believe, and I would like to do much more with my kids. I love the title of her new book, which I still have not read: Until the Streetlights Come On. What a title, right? Check the hashtag #1000hoursoutside and the app, too.

 

3. 💬 This week's quote:

 

"Aristotle described virtue as a kind of craft, something to pursue just as one pursues the mastery of any profession or skill. “We become builders by building and we become harpists by playing the harp,” he wrote. “Similarly, then, we become just by doing just actions, temperate by doing temperate actions, brave by doing brave actions.””  

― Ryan Holiday, Discipline Is Destiny

 

(Thank you Readwise for helping me find this quote from my readings)

* Note: To the best of my ability, I am trying to share content by authors who have not disappointed me, and they are hard to come by! Please let me know if any author I share about was disrespectful to Palestine.

 

 

 

 

 

See you next Sunday First name / my dear friend