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Soul Sunday

Sundays are devoted to poetry on the blog. I thought of this poem yesterday, as I was pondering during a car ride, about just how few current and historical figures any of us know anything about. Currently, there are over 7.5 billion people in this world. How many of these people who you know, do you know by sight? And even if you know a sprinkling of public and “famous” people by sight, do your children know them? Do your parents? Will your great grandchildren recognize these “famous” people? Do people on the other side of our world know these “famous” people? Ego tricks us into believing that our individual selves are so incredibly important, and in a sense, we are extremely important to the people who love us, and who share experiences with us. Still, in the end, all that is left of any of us, that makes any kind of mark on our world’s history, are our shared and collective actions and inactions. We are just one tiny dot of energy that helps to create this One evolving experience called Life. Here is my poem:

The heart of the story is this,

The actions have all of the significance,

The actions are what creates the story of the world.

The people who do the actions are rather insignificant.

The actions have all of the significance.

The characters are interesting, but they are just the tools,

For making the actions to happen and to occur.

Actions create our history.

Love is an action.

We all create Love.

We are Love.

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

The Childish Stage

The first half of life is learning to be an adult-the second half is learning

When I was away last week, I didn’t look at the news. I didn’t scroll through Twitter. I eased into my mornings. I savored delicious food and I reveled in long, meandering conversations. I didn’t look at my phone immediately and at all times. (This is partly because I recently read an article which was an interview with Good Morning America anchor, Robin Roberts. Robin said that someone recently told her that if you look at your phone first thing in the morning, that’s like inviting 100 screaming people into your bedroom. That resonated with me. I like my bedroom to be my quiet, peaceful place.)

Being childlike isn’t just about being silly and playful and goofy and blunt. Being childlike is mostly about paying attention to the immediate. Being childlike is following your whims and what is capturing your fascination, mostly because it is just so interesting and captivating to do so. Being childlike is being enthralled with the process of being alive.

I think the second-half of adulthood is when you really hone in on what actually matters to you. You wake up to the realization that you are on the downward slope of the mountainside of your own life. And the climb that you trudged on the upward slope of your early adulthood is sort of a blur. You don’t remember a lot of the upward climb. You were so busy running up the track and following the signs that were dictated as directions for you, and for everyone else, to follow and to follow quickly, as if on a race. On this downward trek, in your second half of adulting, you aren’t convinced that you need all of the baggage that you climbed up with, and collected along the way. A lot of this baggage isn’t even your own. So on the downward slope, you drop a lot of stuff that you realize isn’t necessary for you to carry, and you take frequent stops along the way to just notice and take in everything. Everything. You meander off of the beaten path more, because life can be really interesting off of the beaten path. And you make no apologies for it. You become like a child again and you remember what those first wondrous steps and breaths of life really must of felt like, and you realize how amazing and wonderful and awe-striking this second half of adulting will be. Learning to be a child is wonderful.

“Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” – Luke 18:17

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

Fancy Friday

Funny Happy Friday Images With Quotes for Facebook, Whatsapp, Pinterest

Good morning! Happy Favorite Things Friday! My regular readers know that Fridays are devoted to the frivolous, here at the blog. There is nothing wrong with frivolity. We are meant to enjoy pleasures in life, big and small. Today, I am still getting my ducks in a row since returning from my trip. (We all bring home mountains from wherever we go, mostly Mt. Laundry and Mt. Chore Pile-up.) Therefore, today I will only be sharing one favorite. I purchased BuDhaGirl bangles from a wonderful boutique when I was away, and I am in love with them. As a woman with a small wrist, I have always loved the looks of bangle bracelets but they have rarely worked for me. They tend to be too big and too jangly and noisy. I discovered these bangles and I am sure that I will be purchasing even more in the near future. They are quiet, comfortable, beautiful and weather proof! The bangles come in three different sizes, plus they even have children’s versions. Here’s a description of the bracelets from their website:

“Handcrafted in Thailand by our team of really nice people. Each Plume All Weather Bangle is made by a team of 20+ artisans, each bangle is hand made, each is a labor of love. Plume All Weather Bangles® (AWB®) are made with organic products, at times a slight color differentiation might occur, this is only natural as humidity and temperature conditions do affect the outcome. Our Serenity Prayer Bead is made with uncoated brass which as time goes by, might develop a verdi-gris patina. Our point is that Plume All Weather Bangles are a product that will age, develop character, and will remain beautiful…just like our BuDhaGirls.

BuDhaGirl Plume All Weather Bangle bracelets are made of polyvinyl carbonate tubing that is a semi-flexible material, so there is a little give when you slide the bangles over your hand. The key to deciding your size…how the bangles go over your hand, not the size of your wrist.” 

Here is a link to a particularly pretty set, but frankly, they are all pretty:

Plume All Weather Bangles® (AWB®) – Serenity Prayer

Enjoy! I doubt that you will be able to keep it at one set, once you purchase these lovely baubles.

Have a fun weekend! See you tomorrow!!

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

No Place

Hi friends. I’m home. And I’m soaking it in. And my dogs won’t leave my side. And my energy is filling in the space that I left when I went on my trip, like the perfect last puzzle piece fills in, and completes the puzzle. I love travel. I love the people whom I traveled to visit, but man oh man, I also love home. That’s what’s wonderful about taking breaks from home. New slippers look fancy and fabulous and interesting and are really fun to try on and to wear for a little bit, but there is nothing like your long worn, classic, never to be thrown out slippers which mold your own feet perfectly and help you to breathe more deeply and more comfortably and fully, than you ever breathe, when you slip your feet into them and nestle into their warm, soft, nurturing welcome. Home. Love. I’ve brought a few new things, and ideas, and inspirations, and personal expansions with me to Home. And Home says “Thank you! We have room for these wonderful new extensions of you!” And she hugs me, and she welcomes me back with the warmth of familiarity, and coziness, and peace. There is no place like home.

60 Best Family Quotes 2022 - Short Quotes About the Importance of Family

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

Roll With the Punches

John Lennon Quotes 3

It’s Groundhog Day. I’m sitting in the same spot where I was sitting yesterday, writing my blog post, in a café right across from my gate. It’s wonderful to be back to travel, but it’s not so wonderful to be back to the snafus and complications and mess-ups that often come with traveling. You take the good with the bad, I suppose. I promise to get a little more wordy towards the end of the week. See you tomorrow where I hope to be writing this from my cozy little writing nook at home!

Roll With Punches Quotes: top 24 famous quotes about Roll With Punches

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

Journeys

****Happy Birthday to my beautiful first child!!! You are the one who inspired our family and made it our biggest desire to have even more children! (And don’t remind me that you are closer to age 30 than 20 ever again.) 😉

I am travelling right now. It is the first time that I have travelled in a while. It’s such an interesting experience to be out of your usual routine and element. I think that you become more self aware when you travel. You see contrasts to how your live, contrasts to your own environment, and climate, and schedule, and you delight in the novelty of new places, experiences and customs. You get ideas and inspirations for change, and you get a focused insight on what you miss the most in your own everyday life. Travelling is always beneficial for mind clearing, personal expansion and for getting a newfound appreciation for what makes your own life special to you. Tomorrow, I will be home and back to my normal routine. I feel refreshed, affirmed and a little tired. I feel expanded, enriched and grateful. See you tomorrow, friends!

“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer” – Anonymous.

Monday-Funday

credit: Quotesworks

Good morning. I have to give a shoutout to my wonderful husband. Happy Birthday, love of my life!! Sorry that it fell on a Monday this year. 😉

I am having one of those rare, really fun Mondays, so I will just keep it to the meme for today. Have a great week, friends!

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

Wisdoms Abound

This is Water’s Soul, an eighty foot sculpture unveiled in Jersey City, NJ back in October. She was designed by the artist, Jaume Plensa. When you look from a distance she appears to be shushing New York City.

It has been suggested that the sculpture is not just telling New York to quiet down, but more a message to all of us to remember to relax, quiet down and stop being in such a flurry of activity all of the time. I love the visual of a mothering spirit telling us to find our calm.

Here are some more wisdoms that I found as I explored shops and towns that are new to me: (Wisdoms are all around us if we are looking for them.)

It is so true, isn’t it? We all recognize style, but to describe it, is a very difficult thing to do. Style is just so innate, intrinsic and unique to each individual soul.

And my dear friend was at a Van Gogh exhibit yesterday and texted this:

It’s true! Beauty and wisdom abound. This world is a wondrous place. If we listen to Water’s Soul and we find our calm, we are more likely to notice the beauty and wisdom in everything. Have a wondrous weekend, friends! Find the beauty and the wisdom within and in the external! Soak it in.

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

Friday Gypsies

200 Happy Friday ideas in 2022 | happy friday, its friday quotes, happy friday quotes

Don’t worry. I won’t do a repeat of last year’s April Fools pranks. I got a little too much flack for that one. Plus, I think that you all might be too prepared this year. 🙂

My weekend is pretty filled-up with quite a few fun activities, so my blog posts will likely be a little shorter than usual for the next few days. Please forgive me if I seem distracted. As always, though, thank you for your support and validation. I love the connection that we have here at the blog. It is a constant in my life (and hopefully yours, too). I treasure my blog and I treasure you, my readers.

With that being said, today, I only have one favorite to share. My husband and I were recently at one of our favorite local hangouts and they had hired a singer, whom I found to be particularly good and soothing and entertaining. She has one of those deep southern drawls, with a bluesy edge, which is my favorite kind of country singers’ voices. Please give Aubrey Wollett a listen. Apparently, she has a decent following not just in Florida, but also in Nashville. Have a fabulous Favorite Things Friday!! Enjoy at least one of your favorites today or discover a new favorite! This is a precious day of your life.

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