Month: January 2022

Friday Smells Great

I Can Smell The Weekend

Happy Friday!!! Happy Favorites Things Friday!! On Fridays, I try to keep things light and on the surface. I typically list three songs, products, TV shows, books, etc. that have brought intrigue into my life and I strongly encourage you to tell us about one or two of your own favorites, so that we all have new fun experiences to explore. Please check out previous Friday posts for more favorites. Here are my favorites for today:

Yellowstone – If you haven’t gotten hooked on this series, get hooked this weekend. The character development, the scenery, the love stories, and the incredible writing (see this article for some amazing quotes from the show: https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/news-entertainment/a37211255/yellowstone-quotes/ ) make this a television show that is hard to stop watching after just one episode. Get caught up on all four seasons before season five (hopefully) arrives this fall. I have to admit that it took me watching two or three episodes to get captivated with Yellowstone. Watch a few episodes before you make up your mind about the show. It gets better and better as it goes along. (Fun fact, the writer of the show, Taylor Sheridan, also has an acting part in the series, and he also wrote one of my favorite movies of all time, Hell or Highwater. I think that Taylor Sheridan’s greatest gift as a writer is creating multi-faceted fictional characters who are deeply flawed, yet totally lovable despite all of their flaws. His characters have depth. They are all interesting and intriguing, in each of their own unique ways.)

Wordle – If you haven’t gotten hooked on this game yet, get hooked now. (Supposedly it’s all of the rage, even with celebrities, like Jimmy Kimmel.) Go to wordle.com and play the game. You get six chances to get the five-letter “mystery” word correct, and there is only one word to guess, each day. A great hint is to start out with a word like “adieu” or “audio” to get a feel for what vowels are in the word. This has been an excellent way to keep my hyper-competitive brood in touch with each other on a daily basis. We report (there is a share feature) our scores to the family chat almost every single day. Since you, my readers, love to read and to write, I think that you’ll be excellent at this game. I (sheepishly) have to admit that I am pretty good at it, myself.

Light-Up Flamingo Floats – I bought these hilarious floats at Christmas-time because my son said that our backyard Christmas decoration game, was sorely lacking. They are floating flamingoes with solar lights, so at night, they’re all lit up. We’ve long since put our Christmas decorations away up in the attic, but I haven’t had the heart to stop the flamingoes from floating away in our pool. The flamingoes have a festivity about them, that still brings a smile to my face, every night. I purchased mine on Amazon. Even if you live up north, I think that these pink flamingoes would look hilariously ironic in the snow, if you are wanting to make your neighbors giggle.

Have a great weekend! See you tomorrow!

“Your grandfather used to say you can’t fix a broken wagon wheel, but you can use the parts to make a new one.” —John Dutton, Yellowstone

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Golden Girls Then & Now

Wow. Times have changed. I can’t decide whether this is good or bad. I do remember back when I was a little girl, there were “rules” about women needing to have short hair before “a certain age” and also what was appropriate to wear “at a certain age”. I am happy that those “rules” have been thrown out the window. And of course, due to medical advances, people are now living longer and healthier lives. The life expectancy for American women has gone up about 4 years since the early 1990s when “Golden Girls” was a hit show.

But at the same time, there is a lot of pressure these days for women to hold on to “eternal youth.” In the past 19 years, cosmetic procedures for women has increased 429 percent. (Cosmetic Surgery National Databank) And the high tech filters on our telephones are made to make us feel like how we really look is not pretty enough . . . at any age.

I’m still pondering all of this in my mind, as I enter into this second half of my life. It’s interesting to observe how society changes, when you live long enough to observe all of the changes. I like these quotes on the subject:

“There is a fountain of youth: it is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.” ~Sophia Loren

“Your 40s are good.  Your 50s are great.  Your 60s are fab.  And 70 is f*@king awesome!”  ~Helen Mirren

“The trouble is, when a number—your age—becomes your identity, you’ve given away your power to choose your future.”  ~Richard J. Leider

“It annoys me when people say, ‘Even if you’re old, you can be young at heart!’ Hiding inside this well-meaning phrase is a deep cultural assumption that old is bad and young is good. What’s wrong with being old at heart, I’d like to know? Wouldn’t you like to be loved by people whose hearts have practiced loving for a long time?”  ~Susan Moon

“I am appalled that the term we use to talk about aging is ‘anti.’ Aging is as natural as a baby’s softness and scent. Aging is human evolution in its pure form.”~ Jamie Lee Curtis

“Aging isn’t about getting old it’s about LIVING… Learning that you can age well, will actually help you to age better… let’s start celebrating and living an engaged life, and stop punishing ourselves for not looking a certain way, and instead holding ourselves accountable for actually taking care of ourselves inside first, knowing the results on the exterior will be a shining side effect.”  ~ Cameron Diaz

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Say Cheese

“A second grader drew a picture of me today. I think it was me. It may have been a potato.” – Andi @smiles_and_nods, Twitter

This tweet brought a smile to my face. When our children were little, their preschool did a cruel activity every year where they would tell the children to draw portraits of their parents. We parents would then have to come into the classroom and find our own portraits, which were pasted all over the walls, for all to see. It was an excruciatingly difficult exercise. Most of the pictures appeared to be Picasso style. Our redheaded friend had a leg up. He would always just look for the only orange-haired, Ronald McDonald looking picture of a figure in guy clothes, and I think that he got it right, on the first try, 98 percent of the time.

I honestly hate having any kind of picture taken of me. I avoid pictures as much as I can. I’ve never felt like a natural in front of a camera. I am envious of today’s young ladies’ seemingly innate abilities to strike perfect poses, at the drop of a hat. I think this might be because they are so used to having their pictures taken. Since they were little, their parents have been pointing their phone cameras at them, a million times a day. Having their picture taken is as natural to them as blinking their eyes.

I know that they say that a picture paints a thousand words, but I’ve always been a word girl. If there is a video, I’m always looking for the transcript to the video. I read fast. I like to get to the point of things. I love words. I have always been able to express myself most easily in written form. I wish I felt that way about being photographed and videoed.

I read an article recently that said to get the best pictures of yourself, think of the people you most deeply love while having your picture taken. The article said that grandparents always look best in pictures where they are snuggling their grandchildren. Maybe when you are engulfed in feelings of love, you feel the least critical and judgmental about yourself and others, and that natural state of resting in love, gleams through the camera.

Having Your Picture Taken Quotes & Sayings | Having Your Picture Taken Picture Quotes

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Say Yes

I don’t have much to write this morning. It’s one of those mornings after a holiday weekend in which I am scattered in all directions and I feel like I am losing my mind. I am trying to get too much done, all at the same time, and in my frenzy, I am creating more “messes” to clean up. You never save time by rushing around.

I did want to mention/archive a quote that I saw in a book over the weekend:

“When they told me “NO” I thought “for you maybe, but not for me.” – Cyndi Lauper

This should definitely be a year of “yesses” in our lives. We’ve been living with so many “nos” for so long now. The saying goes that you mostly regret the things that you didn’t do versus the things that you did do. I think the saying is true. Even the situations, that in retrospect, didn’t go exactly the way I had planned and hoped for, the lessons that I gleaned from these experiences were priceless. I have always thought that having my curiosity satisfied is easily in my top five favorite feelings of all time.

Leigh-Chantelle - Friday's Final Say - Yes is More Quote

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Monday Fun-Day

23 Best Betty White Quotes & Funny Memes In Celebration Of Her Life | YourTango

(Because of Betty White’s love and advocacy for animals, a lot of her fans are giving to their favorite animal charity of choice today, in her honor. What a great plan!)

Happy 100th birthday to Betty White in Heaven! I can imagine that it is quite the celebration going on.

I am a long time subscriber to “Spirituality and Health” magazine. My favorite column is an advice column written by Rabbi Rami Shapiro. A reader recently wrote to Rami, asking for ideas for “standards by which to live.” Rami answered that it is written in The Talmud, which is an anthology of ancient wisdom from/for rabbis, that we will all have to answer these four questions when we die:

Did you take time to pursue wisdom?

Did you cultivate love and friendship?

Did you treat people honestly?

Did you yield to hope more often than you gave into despair?

In short, he told his reader, live your life devoted to these four tenets: wisdom, love, honesty and hope.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Soul Sunday

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Good morning. Welcome to the poetry day on the blog. I’m pretty direct when I speak my opinions. What you see is what you get, with me. So, writing a poem is sometimes hard for me. Poetry leans towards more mystery, intuition, and what the readers, themselves, bring to the poem. Poetry is like a painting. What it means to one person, can be interpreted entirely different by another person. It’s brave to write poetry. Poetry requires dropping some masks. Drop a mask today. Write a poem. You won’t regret it. Here’s my poem for the day:

The Starting Block

The starting gate is a little jammed, my friend.

But you’ll get through it in the end.

You want to run through with a clear mind and strong heart,

So that may mean mulling and resting before you start.

The solid, broad finish line will always be there,

but is the ending, really where you should put all of your care?

The journey is made of many new races,

Full of new things, and faces and places.

You’re eager to start a fresh, new race to the finish,

Having run many races, your fears are diminished.

But remember that each race that you run has its own unique gift.

Take your time. Take your pause. Don’t let yourself go adrift.

The starting gate is starting to break free to open itself wide.

To go beyond it, let your deepest innateness be your guide.

The One You Need to Forgive

“My love, if the mistakes you made in the past no longer represent who you are now, it’s safe to forgive yourself.” – Valencia, Twitter

If you have learned from your mistakes, and you have changed your ways, then you have used these gifts and lessons from the Divine to turn this world into a better place. You have inspired others to do the same by your beautiful example. What could be more sacred than that? The people who have taught me the most about changing bad habits, or changing unhelpful thought/relational patterns, are people who have walked hard, narrow roads before me, climbing the rocks of integrity and candor, with their brutal self honesty. Their brave actions, which support their clear, honest words, are more inspiring to me, than any lecture I have ever received from a gilded, coddled, protected cocoon.

Forgive yourself. You are the only one left who needs to do this. Everyone else (every One) who matters, has already forgiven you. Have you ever thought about the fact that by overcoming your own transgressions and by inspiring others to do the same, you might be an important part of the Divine plan to lift this world to a higher plane? You are a beautiful example of evolution and elevation. Take off the cloak of shame, now. Forgive yourself.

Forgive yourself for the bad decisions you made, for the times you lacked understanding, for the choices t… | Choices quotes, Forgive yourself quotes, Wisdom quotes
42 Forgive Yourself Quotes | Self Forgiveness Quotes images – tiny Positive

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Friday’s Trinkets

39 Funny Friday Quotes To Activate Your Weekend Mode

Hi friends! Happy Friday!! Many of us will be enjoying a wonderful three-day weekend! Isn’t that grand?! I have a busy morning so I am going to have to cut my usually Favorite Things Friday blog post, a little short. Today I will be only sharing one favorite of mine, but it is a good one! One of my mentees is really into stickers. She likes more of the anime sort of sticker, but in looking for a fun sticker book for her, I came across a sophisticated sticker book for my middle-aged (but still a kid at heart) self. I just had to buy it! Here is today’s favorite (New readers, please check out my previous Favorite Things Friday posts for more cool things to try and to buy!):

John Derian Sticker Book (hardcover) – John Derian is a curator of images and prints from 18th and 19th century natural history books. He has made this amazing book, full of beautiful, elegant images. What is even more special, is that many of these images are real stickers. I’ve already had fun with some of these stickers when writing out my Christmas thank you notes, and then adorning them with these quirky, beautiful stickers. I remember the days of a childhood, collecting stickers with my sister. Smelly stickers were all the rage then! These aren’t smelly stickers, but they are special and unique. Here is a quote from this delightful book which I totally relate to: “Sorry to appear insistant (sic), but I must have my trinkets. This is the last chance.”

You must have your trinkets this weekend, friends!! Enjoy your trinkets!! Be insistent about it. See you tomorrow.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Uniforms

The other night, when we were watching a football game, the color/honor guard came out and the announcer proudly introduced some members of our armed forces, representing our “Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard and Space Force.” I am aware of Space Force. This is not the first time that I had heard about it, but to hear it grouped into our armed forces, in such a natural, matter-of-fact way, kind of gave me a breathless pause. I thought to myself, what used to be only parts of science fiction and fantasy, has now become reality for all of the little ones coming up in this world. For the little ones, there is nothing strange and other worldly and awe-striking about Space Force, or electric cars, or your phone being able to turn on your dishwasher.

I have reached that age in life where a lot of what I took for granted as a little one, is now becoming (or has become) obsolete. It is such a strange mix of feelings to process this fact. Some people fight so hard to hang on to the things and ways of their time of being little ones. Some people desperately try to keep themselves uber-modernized, perhaps with the hopes of remaining “a little one” forever. I think that I am a little bit of a muddled-mix. I find myself liking to shock the younger ones (like my elders did) with stories of just how “crazy” the old days were, such as long summer days of riding bicycles, without wearing helmets, miles and miles away from home. My daughter was aghast to hear that I went door-to-door, in my bright green Girl Scout uniform, with my cute little matching beanie, selling cookies, when I was a little one. “Did anyone try to lure you into the basement?” she asked, when I admitted to going inside houses, while people took the time to handwrite their orders. But, at the same time, I also find myself admonishing myself to remember to not become a boring, old, stodgy, stubborn relic, “stuck in her ways”. There is a lot of progress in change. One of my mentees, the high schooler, who mostly leads a sheltered life at home, mentioned that she went on a trip over the holidays, and she was happy to see so many rainbow flags in stores, supporting gay people. I told her, “I’m happy about that, too. When I was a little one, many people hid the fact that they were gay, and there was so much hurt and brokenness created from people not being able to feel free to be themselves.”

The older that I get, the more I have come to the acceptance of the fact that there is so much in life that I have very little control over. What I can control is my reaction and my response to life as it is, and to life as it unfolds. I am trying to do this gracefully. I admit that I stumble a lot. But I always get back up again. At one time, early in my journey, I was a little girl in a little green beanie, and now I am way further up the road, watching people on my smart TV, in their smart Space Force uniforms. The beauty of aging is the breathtaking appreciation of how purely awesome it is to witness, with every sense in my body, Creation boldly unfold itself into the endless future.

Famous Quotes On Aging Gracefully. QuotesGram

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Are You Conscious?

I’m delayed in writing this morning. Usually, I get right to my writing space and my mind space, and I go right at it, but today I got distracted by some interesting texts with friends concerning interpersonal relationships and expectations. And then I got wrapped up in an thought-provoking conversation with my husband about how much the manner in which he works on a daily basis has changed in these last two years since the pandemic. My husband, a banker, now works remotely from home for at least half of the week, and this has never, ever been the case in the previous 29 years of his working in his industry before the pandemic occurred. Neither of these exchanges had much in common except for one thing: conditioned living versus conscious living.

There has been a whole thrust of information and interest about “living consciously”, which mostly means paying attention to what we are doing, and why we are doing it. It means becoming really honest with ourselves about our choices, and what is important to us, and the reasons why we feel what we feel, and do what we do. It means becoming brave enough to live our own choices and our own beliefs, without being concerned about what others think about these choices. Living consciously, means living in awareness, and being true to ourselves. We independent, freedom-loving Americans love to believe that we are renegades who are fully in control of our own lives and destinies, but truthfully, until the pandemic happened, a much smaller percentage of corporations and workers believed that remote work could happen and could happen productively and successfully. We didn’t consciously make this major change in our society. The pandemic forced it on us. If you are interested in this major swing towards remote working, this article is filled with interesting statistics:

Statistics On Remote Workers That Will Surprise You

If I am honest with myself, the times that I best lived most consciously, and most aware and true to myself, happened after major crises in my life. To center myself, and to navigate out of these crises, I had to get really real with myself, about the parts that I could control, and the parts that I couldn’t. I had to get humble enough to seek and to accept help when needed. Nothing will get you out of a “zombie” state faster than a crisis. Even good changes, such as a money windfall, or kids growing up and starting their own lives, or a new grandchild, bring about meaningful transformations that force us to consider our whole state of living – what we do, how we do it and why we do it.

I honestly believe, as awful as the pandemic has been, if each of us use this experience to get really conscious and wide awake about our own individual precious lives, and how we spend our time, and how we live our own individual, unique values (without trying to control others – our lives are our business, their lives are theirs), like all tragedies, the losses which we have suffered in this pandemic, will not be in vain. The beginning of the year is a wise time to get conscious/introspective/honest about everything in our lives: our relationships, our health, our daily habits, our jobs, our finances, where we live, our spiritual beliefs, what we buy, what we eat, what we watch, where we spend our time, etc. In each of these areas, are we living authentically? What changes would we like to bring about? What can we change, and what is out of our control? Are we true to ourselves or desperately trying to impress/control others?

Pondering deeply is never a waste of time. Give yourself the gift of pondering before you consciously move on with the precious gift of another year of your own one life. Be brave. Be curious about yourself. Help yourself to fall in love with your life that you are consciously co-creating with the Divine.

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”– Dolly Parton

“Our time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”– Steve Jobs

 “And how can we truly know ourselves unless we get still enough to listen to just ourselves? Unless we give ourselves the time and space to tune in.”― Shayne Traviss

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.