All that mattered

It really is all that matters. Looking back at memories with people who are no longer with us what is it you remember? I don't remember things, but I do remember situations, happenings, emotions. With each person there are always 'general' feelings and memories but also specific things. 

Does it change how you treat those around you now? For me, yes, mostly. There are exceptions and moments that I just don't have anything left and want to be left alone to regroup. Something that I don't often have a lot of. Alone time. That will change, eventually. In the meantime all I can do is the best I can so those memories are good on both sides...

Peace within yourself

Finding true peace is often difficult. All around  us is noise, activity, with people and things literally "calling us" demanding our attention. If we need silence to hear the voice within, it is a far cry finding it in these times. 

I often seek 'peace'. I am not just looking for quiet, but that feeling of peace within. I think that when we find it at first, we have to go about the same routine to find it again. After a while I believe that we are able to carry it with us 'most' of the time, but not all. I am not to that point yet unfortunately. I am still trying to achieve it at times. 

I also think that peace comes after healing. Healing from past hurts, wrongs, grief... not a quick fix by any means. Don't stop healing, don't stop searching for peace. You never know when it is just around the corner.  

My wish for you this evening: may you find the peace you seek within yourself.

Celebrate life

I often wonder if anyone's life is exactly how they want it to be. Mine is not. Anyone I know and have asked, it is not. Always something they would change. 

I think the key is not to focus on what is not, but to focus on what is how you want it to be. Focus on the positives you have in your life. This is a daily, sometimes several times a day reminder that there are good things in your life. The more you remember to do it and find those positive the better things get. That said, the more you focus on the negatives the more you are unhappy about what is not good. Like complaining. The more you complain the more you seem to find to complain about. I am called to look at that when someone I come in contact with does nothing but complain. I realize how I would sound if I did that. 

Take a bit of time and think about what is good in your life. Find as many positives around you that you can. Keep your eyes and heart open for more in the coming days. Maybe make a list that you can look at for a reminder. Focus on the good and celebrate the fact that you are alive... make today count!

Beauty in life

Wow. How often does your day go as planned, let alone your life? Mine, rarely. I get up and make a general overview for the day but often it gets changed. Sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for hours. I guess we don't live in a bubble. If I did I could plan and have it work the way I wanted. 

Our life is more like a weaving...and each person is a thread. Perhaps I should say each living thing could be a thread in that weaving. Lets carry that even further. Each thing, living or otherwise that we come in contact with somehow each day could be a thread of a different color. Imagine what your weaving would look like. If we took out all of the other threads but people, the weaving would look much different. 

There is a memorial service tonight for a very old friend who passed away. She was a thread in my weaving that showed up at different times over the last 30+ years. Sometimes she was there very predominantly, sometimes that thread was missing for months, even years. I know her life never went as planned. I am not sure how much beauty she found in life at the end. I know before she found it in things all around her, but not later. 

I think the key is to find beauty in your life each day, go one day at a time and make the best of things. We are not in control of things, we may as well make the best of what we have and enjoy the life we have! 

Happy Thought

It is so peaceful. 

I see the wind chimes all moving in the breeze, sun is shining in the window, music is playing softly and the cockatiel is singing his song in the background. Is all right with the world? No, but I am grateful for what is. 

Home

This tends to go with the "Bloom Where You Are Planted" theme as well. It is true. I think you carry your home in your heart. It is where you are. There are places you have lived, the place where you are actually from, places you visited, but home? Wherever you choose to 'nest' is the place you can be calling home. 

Understanding life

I certainly do not consider that I understand life. I used to plan, plan, plan. I spent 15 years in France, planning for retirement and being back in Michigan. The move, all we would see before leaving Europe... and my husband died and all of those plans went up in smoke. 

It made me realize you can only deal with one day at a time. The day we are in. You can do some things to plan ahead as well as keep focused, out of debt (as much as possible), be positive, and I could just keep going. But understanding life? This post has it right as far as I am concerned. Talk to a 2, 3, 4, even a 5 year old. Get the idea. Then just do the best you can with the info you have been given and enjoy life a day at a time.

Thankful

I am thankful for today. The joy I feel from cat purring in front of me while I type. The beautiful sunrise I saw through sleepy eyes this morning. The fact I got so much done in the yard yesterday. That is just the beginning of my day...what are you thankful for?

OK to be you!

Be proud of who you are and always remember it is OK to be YOU!! Period. No excuses. 

Appreciate what you have

I personally think it is the hardest to appreciate what you have when you want something bigger and better. That said, it is what we really need to do. We can have our dreams and work toward them, but we really must also appreciate what we have right now. Otherwise, we are always looking for something better and what we have may be the best! Make it easy on yourself, start with little things and find at least 5 things about your life right now you appreciate. Add more as the days go on. It gives you a whole new outlook!  

Look beyond...

Look beyond your own problems. I have always heard that no matter how bad it is for you, there are others that have it worse. 

Instead of looking at your problems, look at all the things you can be grateful for. Lets do the positive instead of the negative starting now! 

I am grateful

Perfect? Not at all. I woke up at 3:38 a.m. this morning and could not go back to sleep. On a day I would be driving and hitting the stores, needing my energy. And it rained. All day! Got a late start as well, trying to round everything up and remembering last minute things. Driving an hour to go to larger stores with a list at 4 different ones, and stopping to see my daughter and granddaughter. A big truck threw a stone that hit the windshield. 

But, I had a wonderful day!  All went better than planned, the windshield did not even get a chip. I got back sooner than expected and was able to get in to have my back worked on. Also went and visited my mom for a couple hours at the nursing home and then picked up chicken for dinner so I did not have to cook. I am grateful, more and more to have things go so smoothly. As soon as I stopped trying to manage and let things flow, being grateful for the good things, more and more went even better! 

No, my life is not perfect, not even one day is, but I am grateful and very thankful for all of those little moments that are perfect!

Never give up

This says it all....

As I am

Have you ever woke up in the morning and realized the minute you opened your eyes it was not going to be a good day. Something inside you is off... maybe a nightmare or some unbidden thoughts shifted your mood? Those around you do not often understand when you are not your usual smiling happy self? 

Sometimes those thoughts can be shifted and a better mood can take over, other times you hope those who love you and come in contact with you during that day will just love and accept you the way you are... until that mood changes. I have been on both sides of that coin and know it is not always easy to deal with the bad mood either in yourself or the other person but that does not change how we feel...

Make a point to give acceptance and love, not only to those around you but also to yourself! 

Let YOUR troubles drift away.

I am looking outside at a beautiful day, just like this one looks to be. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, the pets are all relaxed laying in the sunshine. All I hear is an occasional car and the sound of the click click click of the keyboard as I type. 

It doesn't feel like I have a trouble in the world, they have all drifted away. For the last 2 days we have been raking and moving piles of leaves, picking up sticks and burning pine needles, willow branches and pine cones in our firepit. At night it gives a pleasant glow and a wonderful crackling noise that is so peaceful. I find at that time I have been going over the day and a feeling of accomplishment comes over me. Something got done. Maybe not a lot, maybe a huge amount, but something. 

Worrying about your problems is not going to make them disappear. You must work at them. Some days you may make only a tiny step forward, but that's ok. Know you are working on it and let the problems drift away... because worry just uses energy that you need for you. Stay positive and let those problems just drift away...

Silence

Silence. That time where there is no sound. Some of my favorite times is when the power goes off and there is total and complete silence in the house. That is the time when you can hear that inner voice within speak to you. I often think that part of our problems come from the fact that we don't have much silence anymore. Something is always making noise. How can  you even hear yourself think if it is never quiet? We all need it at times. I am finding I need it daily...so I can hear my spirit speak to me. May you enjoy some silence in your life to be able to listen....

I am unique!

Yes we are but how often do we believe it?  My goal today is to help you to believe just this. What are your gifts and how will you share them today?

What do we need to learn?

I was just talking with a friend about a similar subject via email this morning. She had said to me that it seems through suffering we draw closer to God. I think we also grow at those times. Like the lobster, we need to be under pressure to revise who we are, which also causes growth and learning.

But what do we need to learn? We find that out as we are being forced by time and circumstances to move from where we are to where we are supposed to be within our selves and our surroundings. We will see after the fact what we indeed did learn from the experience...or we resist and learn nothing but continue to fight. Our choice, our life, our learning situations...

Enjoying the journey!

I have not looked at it quite like I did this morning. I had always looked at the larger picture, life. This morning I thought of each small journey we make, always in a hurry to get there and back home while enjoying it at each destination, not really enjoying the actual journey. That to me means taking time to really look at what is around you on your journey even if a very short one. If someone is with you, enjoy it with them. Not always easy to do, but a goal to try and attain! Do you see something different? Feel free to share if you do!

Hospitality vs Entertaining

Hospitality. A word that I have always tried to not only say but do. My motto has always been that I like to show hospitality, not entertain. I can't be bothered to really 'entertain'. To me that is trying to impress, not make someone feel at home. I am not comfortable entertaining, but I am very comfortable showing hospitality. 

People have always been free to come over without calling and know they were welcome. There is also that old saying that strangers are people we have not met yet. 

My husband used to bring home guys that were stranded on the road when their trucks broke down...or they needed a hot meal or a shower, "come on over" he would say, "not a problem". Throw a couple more potatoes in the pot and we were good to go. 

Wouldn't it be wonderful if one of those people that were given hospitality were angels? Guess we will never know if we don't offer the hospitality to begin with... I know I will. How about you?

You are special!

This is something we should be telling ourselves each morning and each night and several times in between. We should also tell those around us that same thing. Perhaps someday we will all believe those very words.

Perfection

This post is great for everyone. Not one single person alive today is perfect. Some may think they are but they are not. Lots of us try to be perfect at 'everything'. Not possible. We can do some things really well or really badly. What is important is we be who we are (which is not perfect) and do the best we can. It is OK not to be perfect, it really is!!

The planned life

Ah yes. The way life never goes as you have planned. At least it doesn't for me. I waste so much time planning only to have it all change in an instant. I need to find the beauty in the unplanned. Keep the faith when all goes up in smoke and life does a 360. Stay positive when all I want to do is set in a corner and cry. This post definitely hit home tonight...back to being positive and finding beauty in this unplanned existence called life.

Feeling vs Knowing

I can see how that could happen, especially where other people are involved. Even involving yourself and feelings. You logically know something is true, but your feelings tell you something else. 

Stop and think about a situation where that has happened to you. How did you deal with it? Which part won? Was it the right decision?  Remembering these types of 'battles' often helps us in the future to make better choices or to validate those we made. 

Staying positive

It is snowing, again! I just shoveled off 4-5 inches of really heavy, great snowman making snow from the deck...the entire time trying to look at the positive side of this weather. 

But we don't need to just be positive about the weather, we need to try and be positive about every aspect of our lives. Set yourself a goal... try and find at least 5 positive things each day, or 10 or whatever number you choose. Then each few days or week increase that number. It does make a difference.

I remember when doing digital scrapbooking we set a goal to take 1 photo a day and do a layout. At first it was fun, then it was work and then, low and behold, we all started realizing what beauty there was around us that we had just never noticed before and had no problems taking and doing one each day. 

So, start small and work your way through what ever goals you set for yourself, the main thing is to do something about positivity in your life each day!  

Take every chance, drop every fear

Fear is not a tangible thing, but it should be. It would make it so much easier to deal with. I would venture to say we all experience fear, some on  higher levels than others. 

I have fears. Strange sounds during the night. Confrontation with authority (the boss on a job for example). Fear of not measuring up to ??? standards. I can continue but you get the idea. Those are some of the ones I can put a name on, but there are those that I know I am feeling fear, I just am not quite sure what triggered it or what to do about it. 

I call on God a lot, put the situation in His hands. Sometimes I freeze and don't really do anything, figuring if I don't, the situation causing me fear will go away. Usually it gets worse. Just taking chances and going out of our 'comfort zone' can cause fear. 

I see posts like the above all the time, and others, which tells us to confront our fears, drop our fears, don't allow our fears to control us. Like all things we have to deal with, sometimes a tiny step at a time is all we can do. Sometimes we need professional help to deal with those fears. Some can just look their fear head on and move on. Whatever your situation is, the main thing is you do SOMETHING about  your fear. That tiny step, help, facing it head on or just trying to figure out what is causing it when you are not sure. Try and do something, anything. The more you deal with it, the easier it gets. I have always found the worst thing about fear is actually the fear itself and what it causes. We all have fears. It is up to each one of us to do what we can to deal with them. Just remember,  you are not alone. You CAN do this!!

Give and take

Sometimes that is all you can do in a day... give what you can and take what you need.

A very good question. What is your happy thought? As I started to write I stopped to think and realized that I had many and could not pick just one. 

In trying to start a new routine for the animals each morning I realize it also brightens my day. Life has settled into a very comfortable, happy place. Things are taking shape around the house, the pets are settling in. I get lots of purrs, wags and love. I also realize that I have been getting very burned out the last 2 1/2 years. Taking care of a loved one with dementia is much more difficult than I ever imagined. I also know her fall could have been so much worse than a broken leg and I think it was a wake up call to me. Also giving me a much needed break with her going into the nursing home for  rehab and healing.

I find myself needing "something" from those who come into my life in the form of a visit or a call, but not knowing what. At the same time I did not want that phone to ring or people to come over because I just did not have the energy to "give" anything or anyone. I used to find I was like a light and people like moths were drawn toward my energy. This last year especially I found myself searching for that light in others. Now I think that something was a form of a lifeline because I felt like I was drowning. It is not just the physical energy you expend taking care of someone, in my case a parent, but also mental and at time it felt the very essence of my being was slowly seeping away. 

I don't know what is going on in  your life or how you are feeling. All I can do is share some of what I have gone through and hope it helps someone to know they are not alone, those feelings they have are not foreign or wrong. They are our bodies trying to tell us something and we need to listen. It may mean we need more help and it is not a betrayal to our loved ones to get that. If we don't help ourselves, we cannot help others. 

My happy thought? I am thankful to have been given the chance to refind my light and energy that I may be able to help others find theirs. 

How often do you plan to get a 'whole list of things' done only to find at the end of the day you may have managed some on the list, but not all? My days are like that. They pass with amazing speed and I look back and think, I have not gotten anything done! What I forget to look at is all of the small things I do every day. Cook, dishes, light cleaning, laundry, take care of the pets, fire in the stove...  Not a lot but these things take time regardless. I have a couple hours a day where I visit mom in the nursing home. Before I know it, the day is gone and another one is starting. Life flies by so quickly, the birthdays, holidays all come much faster than before. We just need to remember that the little things we do each day also count, even more when they are done with great love!  Put love in those things you do daily and be thankful for the opportunity to be able to do them each day. 

How  true is this?  
First, let me wish everyone a Happy Easter. This is my first post in a very long time. I obviously have gotten off track and need to get it back together. Mom ended up in a nursing home last week due to a fall here at home breaking her leg. After she is used to being there a bit more, I will miss a day or two a week in going and giving me more time to play catch up here at home and out in the yard. Time to find all those things under bushes, in corners and out of sight. That brings me to those hidden things within us.

We are always hiding things from ourselves. Our minds often don't let us see the things that are true about ourselves as others see us. It is hard to accept that we are not perfect and never will be. We have flaws, vulnerabilities, bad habits. I think the key is to always being trying to be better. Looking at the positive part of our lives. Thinking positive thoughts. As Lent is now ended, I hope you were able to take those 40 days and look more inside yourself to see what changes you needed to make. I know I have.  Again, Happy Easter and my you begin your positive journey today.