During our recent vacation, our wonderful pet sitter/dog trainer was kind enough to send us pictures of our fabulous fur babies, while we were away. This is her picture of Josie, our collie:
This is the picture that she sent to us of Ralphie, our yellow Dudley Labrador:
And this is the picture that she texted to us, of Trip, our Boykin spaniel who doesn’t really care for anyone but us:
“Progress, not perfection.” This is our mantra, for the rest of our week, friends. Let’s make it a good one!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
The older I get, the harder it is for me to bounce back from trips and vacations. I feel like I am walking around in a perpetual fog. I have spurts of getting things done, but then a lot of downtime of staring into space. It’s amazing how quickly you forget about the particulars of your daily routine, when you skip it for just a week.
I saw a quote from the American author of A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle that I really liked, so naturally I looked her up and I found quite a lot of quotes of hers which completely resonated with me. I think that you will like them, too:
“Inspiration usually comes during work, rather than before it.”
“We can’t take credit for our talents. It’s how we use them that counts.”
“Just because we don’t understand, doesn’t mean that the explanation doesn’t exist.”
“The great thing about getting older is that you don’t lose all of the other ages you’ve been.”
“Truth is eternal, knowledge is changeable. It is disastrous to confuse them.”
We had taken down some artwork when we switched around our bedrooms this past spring. There was a print that had been hanging in my daughter’s room, which I had always liked, but she considered it too childish for her evolving teenage tastes. The print had been done by an artist from the past, named H. Willebeek Lemair. Lemair was a Dutch artist who later changed her name to “Saida.” Her artwork mostly depicts women and children and has a fanciful, cartoonish quality.
The wonderful thing about the internet, is that it is like having an art gallery right in the palm of your hands. The picture inspired me to peruse the internet for other pieces of Lemair’s art, which lead me to artists who had similar styles of painting, to hers. I started printing out any pictures which I really liked, to paste into my calendar and into my inspirational notebooks. In the end, I had a little pile of about ten pictures that moved me. What turned out to be the biggest surprise of my little exercise, was the insight which I received when I looked through the pictures that I had printed out. I thought that I had printed the artwork, with no real rhyme or reason. They were just individual pictures that had visually moved me, more than any others which I had perused. Interestingly, it turns out that the majority of the paintings (created by a variety of artists), depicted young women reading books. All but one of the pictures, had at least one book as a focal point in the painting. Unbeknownst to the conscious part of me, there was a real, true “theme” to my collection.
I think that our passions and purposes, pop out of us, every which way they can. Our passions are hard to contain, even when we try to tamp them down or to change them. The deepest part of ourselves sends hints to us, all of the time, if we take the time to be “self sleuths.” I have read that if you are having trouble figuring out your deepest passions and motivations, try to remember what you most liked to do as a child. When we were children, we were less conditioned by our experiences and the world around us. Our passions played more innocently on the surface, when we were young kids. Follow what really grasps your attention during your daily activities, and ask yourself “why?” and then, take your time to explore the answer. Keep a dream journal. Our subconscious is quiet, but persistent. It begs to be noticed, if we look for the clues.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Happy New Week, friends! These past two weeks I have been completely off of my regular schedule and my regular routine. It feels good to feel like the reset button has been pressed. I like time periods that are full of a lot of everything (activity, food and drink, excursions, people, events and celebrations, etc.). These time periods are lively and fun, but they are certainly unsustainable for the long term. When you finally return to your old routine, you welcome it back, like a long lost friend or a well-worn pair of slippers. What had become dull and boring, all of the sudden becomes the normality that you crave. And it feels so peaceful and good and joyous to be back to the natural, regular rhythms of your own daily life. Today, instead of feeling like it’s just another agonizing, manic Monday, it feels more like a new starting gate to the beginning glimmers of a pleasant summer to come. And there is no need to start sprinting out of the gate. Summer is full of long, leisurely days. It’s okay to slowly amble out, taking time to smell the roses along the way . . . .
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Are you passing on love, or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
This is one of my favorite magnets. I’ve had it for decades. I think that I’ve shared it on the blog before, but it’s worth another laugh. I’ve gotten hundreds of laughs from it, over the years.
Earlier last week, I went to visit my friend/confidante/spiritual uplifter/therapist/wise sage/mentor/consultant, otherwise known as my long-term hairdresser. (We decided that it is okay for my generation to still say “hairdresser.” The older generations than mine sometimes still say “beautician”, and the title in vogue right now is “hair stylist”. I have reached the stage in my life where I stumble on the “right words” for a lot of things. I have reached the stage in my life that many of the things that I say, may now be considered to be outdated and/or even taboo. I try to keep up. It’s important to notice the changes, and even more so, to try to understand why the changes have come about.)
My hair stylist is a few years older than me. We got to talking about retirement. I asked her if she had plans for what to do in her retirement. (Although, I am not encouraging her to retire. The day that my hairdresser retires will be a very upsetting and depressing day for me.) She looked kind of puzzled and sad. “I hope that I never have to retire. I love cutting hair. I’ll do it until I physically can’t anymore, but I hope that day never comes.”
Wow. Okay, simple lesson there. “LOVE WHAT YOU DO. “
These are called Pup-Cakes. They are almost too cute to eat. But on a Monday, these wouldn’t last until my second cup of morning coffee.
Speaking of food, I saw this on a sign the other day:
“Be soul food, not eye candy.”
I think it is okay to be both, but soul food is the preference. Soul food is much more nourishing. I’m wishing for all of us, the best Monday that we have ever had in our lives. (I’m setting the bar low.) See you tomorrow!
Are you passing on love, or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Forgive me, I love corny jokes. I mentioned that I am in the middle of reading a book called Life is Good: The Book. I got to a part in the book last night that made me run to my calendar, and to write the question down, so that I could share it with you today. I think that this particular question is a fabulous question to ponder as we start the week out. It is certainly a wonderful question to ponder in the beginning of the year. The chapter of the book where this question comes from, is the chapter called “Simplicity.” The Jacobs brothers, who wrote the book and started the Life Is Good clothing company, are big believers in simplifying your life down to the most loved and useful essentials, in every category of your life. They say to reflect on each aspect of how you spend your time with this poignant question:
“What do you give to it, and what does it give back to you?“
When the Jacobs brothers pondered that question years ago, it made them cut out a great deal of time which they had previously spent on social media. In fact, they chose to step away completely from their email inboxes, asking their assistant to only bring the most pertinent of emails to their attention. What I love about this particular question, is that it forces me to really look at my life, and to see where I spend most of my time and my attention. It makes me ask myself, “Am I putting the majority of my time and my attention towards what I most value in life?” and “Am I getting justly rewarded for the activities/relationships/habits, etc. on which I spend most of my time, and my mind space, and my emotional energy?”
This is a squirmy question, isn’t it? This is one of those questions that begs us to be brutally honest with ourselves and sometimes, being honest with ourselves can be painful and upsetting. Still, the question is such a good question because it forces us to focus on what we really want out of life, instead of just acting out aimlessly and unconsciously. It helps us to “clean out the clutter”, so that moving forward, we are living the lives that are most meaningful to the deepest parts of ourselves, and our own life’s purpose. This is one of those questions that helps us to lead our lives without regrets.
“What do you give to “it” and what does “it” give back to you?”
I will always keep this question in my back pocket, for when I feel like my life is getting a little off track. Questions like these are perfect tools for journaling and for planning’s sake. Don’t use it as a shaming implement (or it will always remain dusty and ignored in your proverbial mental “tool box”). Use the question more so as a compass and as a navigation app, to make sure that you are headed towards your own personal north star. Have a great week!
Are you passing on love, or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I love nerds. I’m pretty sure that I am a nerd. I think that we nerds are just oblivious nonconformists. People think that intentional nonconformists don’t care about what people think, but that is not true. Intentional nonconformists are rebels with a cause. These instigating people are often looking to get a lot of attention, and a rise out of people. Often the rebels care about what people think, every bit as much as the strict, careful conformists do. Oblivious nonconformists are just their authentic selves. My eldest son once dated a very confident young lady (I think that she was a physics major), who would sometimes wear a t-shirt that said “NERD” in lovely, fancy lettering. I loved her for that . . . . Nerds rule. We all have a little wee bit of “nerd” in us. Find it and embrace it. You’ll have more fun. Hint: your nerdiness can usually be found in activities that you enjoy so much, that you would do it to the point of abandon, if you allowed yourself to be free. Whatever activity which you like to do, so much, whether it be reading, or dancing, or painting, or singing, or wood carving, or fish keeping, or collecting cow figurines, that you might forget to eat, or to sleep, or forget where you even are, in the midst of doing said activity. When you leave judgment out of the equation (who cares if you are “good” at your favorite activity or not – in other words, who cares what anybody thinks??) and you do whatever activity speaks to the most joyful part of yourself, and you do it to pure abandon, you are experiencing your inner nerdiness and geekdom. Doesn’t it feel great?? Again, nerds rule.
Are you passing on love, or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I didn’t really start seriously drinking coffee until I was probably in my early forties. Before that, I drank gallons of Diet Coke. When I decided Diet Coke wasn’t healthy for me anymore, I substituted my three morning Diet Cokes, for coffee. Hmmmm. I am going to look up a word for replacing one bad habit for another bad habit. I’ll be right back. Okay, the closest thing I could find was “addiction replacement.” You learn something new every day.
Addendum:
Because Big Brother always knows what I am thinking about and what I am writing about, an article popped up on my feed. Look what is new on the market, below! I am going to look up a word for adding a bad habit, to another bad habit. I’ll be right back. Okay, the closest thing which I could find to describe coffee and coke together, is “comorbidity.” (It pays to come back to the website if you are a subscriber. I edit my blog posts all of the time!)
Are you passing on love, or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I don’t think that I’ll be getting one of these for the Christmas tree. How about you??
I’m on my last day of my trip in the mountains and I finally had an incredibly good night’s sleep last night. Why does that always happen? Just when your body gets settled into it’s new environment and routine, it is time to leave. 🙁
I have to admit that this is a really good way to do a Monday, however. Have a great day and I great week, my dear friends and readers.
