Tag: empty nest

Monday – Funday

Monday Memes - 50+ Funny Memes To Start Your Week

We had a nice weekend. I read two interesting books, and my husband took two long bike rides on his favorite trails, and we planted a couple of new flowers in our garden and did some mulching together, among other things. One of the books that I read this weekend was about the Japanese concept of “ikigai”, which roughly means living in the flow, with a sense of passion and purpose. We lived a lot of our own “ikigai” this weekend, and I hope to put even more of my ikigai, into the week ahead.

❤️ What is Ikigai & How to Redefine Purpose | Management 3.0

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

Soul Sunday

Good morning. No problems logging on today, thank goodness! Sundays are devoted to poetry on the blog. I either write a poem or I share a poem that I have found to be intriguing and mystifying. I hope that you will spend some time today playing with your own words. Poetry is a great way to release what you feel, and your poem only has to make sense to you. Today’s poem is written by Alex Dimitrov (who is one half of the infamous Astropoets). If you go to his Twitter page you can find many of his wonderful poems. (@alexdimitrov) Have a delightful day!

Image

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

Better Late Than Never

“So, in an age of acceleration, nothing can be more exhilarating than going slow. And in an age of distraction, noting is so luxurious as paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is so urgent as sitting still.” – Pico Lyer

I know that I may have some long-time, loyal, everyday readers, who might be a little bit concerned about me right now. I understand. I pride myself on consistency. I am late writing this post because my host server, Bluehost, was experiencing “Gateway” problems all morning. (don’t ask me what that means, I’m a writer and certainly not a technical one) And I can’t complain. I can count on one hand how many times Bluehost has caused me issues on being able to get on to my WordPress blog site to write my daily blog. In my experience, Bluehost has always been reliable and consistent. I can’t complain. Nothing and no one is completely without fault in this world. C‘est la vie!

So, in the meantime, I have been deliciously lounging outside by my pool, reading a wonderful book, while every 45 minutes or so, coming into the house to see if I could finally log on to say “hi.” I have been living Pico Lyer’s quote above, this morning, and it has been exhilarating and luxurious, and in my case, probably also “urgent.” I have been living more distracted and disconnected lately, than I usually like to go about living my life, and I have suffered some consequences for this lack of attention to the present. Perhaps, even Bluehost knew to force the issue, to make me take a pause.

I hope that you all didn’t go immediately to “the negative” in your minds wondering why I didn’t post. I only write this because unfortunately, this is something that I have the tendency to do. A good friend of mine took her elderly dog to the vet this week, and I didn’t hear back from her when I texted, asking how the appointment went. I’m ashamed to admit that I immediately envisioned the worst possible scenario, and I was already comforting/hugging her in my mind. Well, what really happened is that she changed her cell phone provider and her texts weren’t coming through. Her wonderful, longtime fur companion is just fine! And so am I.

Have a luxurious, exhilarating, urgent “sit still” with me today, if you can. It will do us all a world of good, which ultimately, makes for a good world.

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

Treats! It’s Friday

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

This contains an image of:


Happy Friday!! Happy Earth Day!! Happy Day to let your hair down and to relax and to take life a little less seriously! On Fridays, I discuss the frivolous. On Fridays, I try to list a few material things, songs, TV shows, books etc. that have enhanced my life in fun ways, and I encourage you to add your favorites to my Comments section. Friends, after writing this daily blog for going on almost four years, I have to admit that it is hard to come up with three favorites a week. I have shared a lot of favorites over the years, and as much as I love my things and my frivolities, I am going to have to subtract an “s” from my “Favorite Things Friday” posts. From now on, I will be doing “Favorite Thing Friday” and I will list only one favorite a week, versus three favorite things. This is not bad. In many cases, “less is more.” So without further adieu, here is today’s favorite:

“Old Enough” Netflix series – I thought that I would hate this Netflix series. Its premise sounded ridiculous to me. “Old Enough” is a Japanese show that has been aired for decades in Japan, in which Japanese children, ages 2-4, are sent on long, detailed errands (sometimes even involving public transit) for their parents. Before I watched it, the show sounded absolutely dangerous and preposterous! But of course, I was coming at the show with an American frame of reference. The TV show clips are relatively short. They are amusing, entertaining, and honestly, enlightening. Kids are capable of so much more than we realize, and seeing these young children being empowered to be independent was kind of awakening to me. It also makes me a little sad, that in comparison, our American society seems to be a lot more dangerous for our children, than it is in Japan. If you like to understand other cultures, and to learn about other countries’ customs, you will be surprisingly amused and entertained by this show.

That’s it! That’s today’s favorite!

“I look forward to Fridays because I know I have spent the week offering encouragement, solace, assistance, and good-will to everyone I have met through my journey.” – Byron Pulsifer

Be Byron. Let’s all be Byron in the weeks to come!

My “Stuff”

The last few days I have been processing old “stuff”. We all have this “stuff” – aggravations, hurts, pains, annoyances, disappointments, outrages, etc. from the past that poke up their ugly heads out of nowhere, like moles out of holes. It is annoying when this happens, because usually, you forget that you still have this “stuff” lying around in your psyche, until something happens that screams, “Do something with your “stuff”!!! Your “stuff’s” still here!!!” And then, you emotionally react and you start playing “Whac-a-mole” as the “stuff” pops up all over the place, taunting you, and making you feel completely out of your mind.

Now, I’ve mentioned many times that I am a fire sign. I have an ugly temper. So my “Whac-a-mole” hammer goes at lightning speed and with great force. I go all out, when dealing with my “stuff” and my poor, dear, trusted loved ones get to hear all about my “Whac-a-mole” adventures, with all of my “stuff”, until their patience runs thin and they are ready to “whac-a-me.” And I don’t blame them. I just hope that they realize by now, that this is what I do. I stare down my “stuff” when it makes its appearance. I get angry, sad, frustrated, indignant and I yell and I scream and I talk and I cry and I text and I rant and I try to make of sense of it all, as I hammer down all of the “stuff” popping up all over the place. I exert my fire energy heartily. But, of course, we all know what fire does. Fire burns things. Quickly. So instead of me keeping on with chasing down and hammering away at all of my “stuff”, in order to push it into the underground, pretty soon my fire energy ramps up and it starts to burn my “stuff” all away, and I still smolder for a little bit, until all of the “stuff” is burned away clean. And then I feel better again. I feel more even keel and in control. I feel clean and clear. Certainly, I am not naïve to think that “my stuff” is all gone. There is a lot of “stuff” living under the surface holes, this I know. Once you have lived for over fifty years, “stuff” accumulates. I just hope that I have burned away some of my “stuff” for good this time. And I am grateful for the kindness and the love and the empathy and the patience and the forgiveness that my loved ones have shown me throughout the process. Their example helps me to give that kindness, love, empathy, patience, and forgiveness to others, and to myself, from their beautiful examples of love.

Got Stuff? George Carlin Says You Need An Estate Plan! | Georgia Estate Plan: Worrall Law LLC

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

Truth

“You’ve gotta stop expecting honesty from those who lie to themselves. They can’t give you what they don’t give themselves.” – Inner Practioner, Twitter

The best liars whom I have ever known, I don’t think for the most part even mean to be malicious. I truly believe that these people believe most of the yarns that they spin. The best liars whom I have ever known tend to live in their own little worlds. Their fantasies are their realities. And they love the attention that their fantasies bring to them, like an audience to a magical show.

“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” This English proverb says it all. The people who lie to us want to believe their lies, because they, too, desperately want to believe their own lies. And we all get caught up in the excitement and the drama of it all. It’s fun to fall into the wardrobe and enjoy a little bit of Narnia fantasy world where everything is perfect and exactly how we all want it to be. But coming back to reality, can be a hard fall for those of us who face truths, live in the truth, and who want to make the most of the “what’s what” in life.

In today’s world, it is hard to know what to believe. There is so much information coming at us, at every level, and all of it seems to be tainted and slanted by opinions and perceptions and agendas. I was a marketing major in college and it was always preached to us, that when it comes to marketing and selling anything, “Perception is reality.” That is why there are often beautiful people in car commercials. Our perception becomes that if we drive “such and such” car, we become one of the beautiful people.

It is really hard to drive in the truth to someone who has no desire to hear it. This is always a frustrating experience, isn’t it? And even more upsetting experiences, are those “a-ha” moments when you realize a truth about something or someone that you have been denying to yourself. When you finally face how something is, versus how you want it to be, this is nothing short of a gut punch. But then you are liberated. It is the pure truth, that the truth will set you free. When you face the truth, the decisions you make become based in the reality of a situation, and therefore you can get concrete results and answers, versus more tied up and tangled into the never-ending, ever-growing ball of yarn of lies and deceit. When you start living the truth, you trust yourself. You become your own best friend and mentor and then you are able to steer clear of other people’s fantasies. Or at the very least, you are able to admit to yourself that you are indulging in a little bit of delusion for a moment, which deep in your core, you know is in fact, a fantasy or even an out-and-out a lie.

Quotes about Truth and media (34 quotes)
149 Truth Quotes To Make You Live Rightly
Quotes The truth is still the truth even if no one believes it. A lie is still a lie, even if everyone believes it. | Words quotes, Lies quotes, Words

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

Monday – Funday

Image

credit: @Baseball_Fan_34 (Twitter)

I’m back!!! I hope that you had a “wonderful” weekend with whatever “wonderful” looks and feels like to you.

Over the weekend, I read an article about a therapist, who is transgender herself, who is concerned that young children and teens are making the choice to change their gender, too early, and not as thoughtfully and carefully as she thinks is healthy, having done the change herself. She is concerned that “transgender” is currently becoming a little “trendy”. She said that constantly she says to her patients, “When in doubt, doubt.“

I like that statement: “When in doubt, doubt.” It’s a good reminder to get quiet and listen to that still small voice inside that speaks to us, if we are willing to hear it. When in you are in a quandary, doing nothing is doing something, and doing nothing might be the wisest choice for the moment in question. Trust yourself. Trust your instincts. Trust that still small voice.

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

Good Friday

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

Dear Readers,

I started this blog in the summer of 2018, and I have written at least one short post practically every single day since then. However, every Easter weekend, I take the weekend off from writing on the blog. I consider Easter to be my annual reset button. Easter represents hope, and renewal, and fresh growth and life, like no other time of the year does for me. It is a reflective time for me. And taking this time off from writing has been a tradition that serves me well, even when I still feel the (sometimes even fervent) urge to write.

As always, thank you for being here, reading and supporting the blog with your time, understanding, love and comments. This blog is sacred to me, and you, my readers, are a vital part of that sacredness. Thank you. I love you.

I will be back on Monday. Sending blessings your way!

“Every day is a renewal, every morning the daily miracle. This joy you feel is life.” – Gertrude Stein

“God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.” – Vance Havner

“The cyclone ends. The sun returns; the lofty coconut trees lift up their plumes again; man does likewise. The great anguish is over; joy has returned; the sea smiles like a child.” – Paul Gauguin

“There is in us an instinct for newness, for renewal, for a liberation of creative power. We seek to awaken in ourselves a force which really changes our lives from within. And yet the same instinct tells us that this change is a recovery of that which is deepest, most original, most personal in ourselves. To be born again is not to become somebody else, but to become ourselves.” – Thomas Merton

A Little Lost

I’m writing this on Wednesday night. We are leaving early in the morning again for yet another high school tennis tournament that could easily end up being my last big high school sporting event ever, out of the last 26 years in which I (with my husband) have raised four children and supported their schooling, and their activities, and their sports, every single year. Year after year. And this is blowing my mind. And it is blowing my heart. Into a million little pieces.

I never wanted my children to feel like I lived through them. I never wanted my children to feel like I was an endless blackhole pit of need, for them to fill. I always wanted us to enjoy each other as individuals, who are happy and fulfilled separately, but also eager to support, and to enjoy each other. Still, I dove in. I dove in deep into this pool of mothering. I love my family that we have created like nothing I have ever loved, and I love the friends whom my children love. I’m a natural mother hen. I protect those whom I love, and I protect those people whom my people love. One of my favorite boys on the team told me yesterday that it wasn’t likely that his parents would come to the tennis banquet. It wouldn’t interest them. This is a man-child who worked so hard to lose at least 50 pounds, and he worked endlessly to earn his number five spot on the team. All that I could think to say to him was, “Well, aren’t they stinkers?!?” And we hugged each other hard. And I thought, “Wow, your parents have missed out on so much, and they will never, ever get it back. And they will never know what all that they have missed.” And I thought that I am so grateful that I have savored these moments. Because now, “these moments” are almost done. “These moments”, that sometimes, quite frankly, I often wondered, in a frazzled state, if they would ever, ever end, are actually coming to what feels like a sudden, and abrupt close, and honestly, I feel a little lost. Honestly, I feel a little lost. I feel a little lost.

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