Archive for the ‘Dreams’ Category
Resilience
Resilience is considered the ability to recover from or adjust to life change or misfortune.
Difficulties, changes and challenges are a part of life that we all will confront at one time or another. Turbulent, muddy rapids of change threaten to sweep away our spirit like rushing flood waters sweep away homes.
I am so impressed by the living examples of resilience that surround me. A dear friend who suffers from a chronic medical condition, but chooses to live the best life possible.
A man in his early seventies who has suffered three major financial setbacks in his life, is starting over again. His determination and attitude are inspiring. His success a testimony of resilience.
“Resilience isn’t a single skill. It is a variety of skills and coping mechanisms. To bounce back from bumps in the road as well as failures, you should focus on emphasizing the positive.”
~Jean Chatzky
I invite you this week to honor your spirit of resilience.
Hope
Just as we all dream, we all hope. Hoping is to ‘desire with expectation and fulfillment’ according to my trusted Merriam-Webster. Hope is reliance and trust; hope is the promise of a better future.
“You may not always have a comfortable life and you will not always be able to solve all the world’s problems at once but don’t underestimate the importance you can have because history has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own.”
~Michelle Obama
“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do, and something to hope for.”
~Tom Bodett
I invite you to focus on the hope for a better future.
Sanity
As our world plummets into the abyss of transformation, it is more important than ever to maintain our sanity.
It is vital to stay aware of the changing times. Staying connected with friends, family, and the Divine is the ‘plug-in’ that allows us to stay balanced.
Whatever your belief system, keep it active, fresh and alive through daily practice. It is a true and trusted path to sanity.
“In short, chronological connectivity puts us in touch with the holy. It is at once humbling and exhilarating. I say this as someone who has never followed any formal religious practice. Connection with the past and the future is a pathway that charms us in the direction of sanity and grace.”
~James Howard Kunstler
Birthdays
Birthday Season in my family peaks in June with six direct family birthdays, and an equal number of close friends. Add graduations, the occasional wedding, baby or bridal shower and it makes for a busy month.
I am blessed to have a large, close, nuclear and extended family and a beautiful garden of friends. And as the years go by they grow… so do the birthdays, minimally averaging three a month. I buy a lot of Birthday Cards.
Birthdays are a celebration of one’s entry into the Earthly plane. Birthdays and birthdates are celebrated in some fashion by virtually all cultures and religions. Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, Gandhi, George Washington, Martin Luther King and the Queen of England are a few of the better known.
Many cultures have rites of passage birthdays. The US and Canada celebrate Sweet Sixteen; the Upanayana or ‘thread ceremony’ in India; the Quinceanera in Latin Cultures; Japan’s ‘Coming of Age Day’ celebrates all who are turning twenty; and Judaism celebrates the bar mitzvah for boys at age thirteen and the bat mitzvah for girls at twelve.
At certain ages, birthdays confer upon us freedoms and responsibilities: registering for the draft, securing a driver’s license, marrying without parental consent, purchasing and consuming alcohol and tobacco products. At the age of majority, usually between eighteen and twenty-one, we become responsible for our own decision-making and our own actions.
Birthdays and birthdates are important markers of time. They are also opportunities to celebrate the company of our loved ones.
Wishing you and your families many Happy Birthdays!
Enrich
“…to improve the quality of (something), to make (something) better.” Merriam-Webster
There is so much around us that enriches our experience of living on planet Earth. And many opportunities to enrich the lives of others.
“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand.”
~Woodrow Wilson
“You will enrich your life immeasurably if you approach it with a sense of wonder and discovery, and always challenge yourself to try new things”
~Nate Berkus
This week I invite you into enrichment.
Unselfishness
“The man who practices unselfishness, who is genuinely interested in the welfare of others, who feels it a privilege to have the power to do a fellow-creature a kindness – even though polished manners and a gracious presence may be absent – will be an elevating influence wherever he goes.”
~Orison Swett Marden
May
April showers bring May flowers. The Earth awakens from winter’s sleep and moves into action. The Green Goddess unabashedly displays her beauty, alluding to glories yet to come.
Gratefully, winter rain has fed our parched landscape; the deep, rich colors of Spring vibrate with renewal and regeneration.
May is a perfect time to launch our plans for the rest of the year. A time of planning and planting. A good season to shed trite and stagnant energies. Spring cleaning is not confined to the physical aspects of our existence.
I invite you this week to relish the opportunities for cleaning and clearing making way for expansion and growth.
“The naked earth is warm with Spring,
And with green grass and bursting trees
Leans to the sun’s kiss glorying,
And quivers in the sunny breeze.”
~Julian Grenfell
Money
Former slave Harriet Tubman will replace Andrew Jackson on the $20.00 dollar bill, (Jackson will be moved to the back of the bill) and six leaders of the Suffragette movement will be featured on the back of the $10.00 bill. It is the goal of the U.S. Treasury to place these new currencies into circulation by 2020, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment
For the past decade the gender pay gap has remained static. (‘The Simple Truth About the Gender Pay Gap’, ‘Graduating to a Pay Gap’, Forbes magazine’s Lisa Maatz, Michelle Singletary, Washington Post columnist).
The U.S. Census Bureau cites that women working full time, year round, earn 77% of what men earn. Add to this the ‘pink’ tax or ‘gender’ tax, where women pay $1,351.00 more a year than men for equivalent personal care products and services like dry-cleaning. (According to 1995 CA study.)
The Paycheck Fairness Act, which was preceded by the Equal Pay Act of 1963, was first approved in 2009 and has been on the floor of the Senate four times since 2011. All four times it has been blocked by Senate Republicans. It does not appear women are going to get any help there.
According to the National Women’s Law Center long term financial effects of the gender gap are staggering. Over the course of a forty year career the loss for Caucasian women is $430,480. For African-American women it is $877,480. and over $1 million for Latinas. These figures are not adjusted for inflation. www.nwlc.org.
I have some ideas. To balance this economic inequality, women will only pay 77% on the dollar for ALL purchases. Women will only pay 77% to rent living spaces. Additionally, women will pay prices for shampoo, deodorant and razor blades that are equal to those of our male counterparts. For example, women will now pay only $2.00 to dry-clean a shirt (the price men pay) rather than $6.50.
With Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Alice Paul on the back of the $10.00 bill, and MLK Jr., Eleanor Roosevelt and Marian Anderson appearing on the back of the new $5.00 bill, perhaps it is time for women to renew the fight against gender inequality and economic injustice.
Placing Harriet Tubman on the face of the new currency is an honor to the resourcefulness, power and dignity of the feminine.
Harriet Tubman
Unplugging
We are a wired world. The amount of time each day that we are connected is growing as fast as the technology that it feeds upon.
A growing body of research is pointing to the darker side of this phenomena. Swedish studies show that folks, especially young people, who profusely use technology are at pronounced risk for depression, stress and sleep disorders. Indications are that the light from our myriad devices reduces the production of the sleep hormone, serotonin.
Kansas State University Researcher YoungAh Park says that not setting good tech/communication boundaries between work and home life creates a serious stress load, and that media multitasking reduces efficiency.
Although still up for debate, Internet Addiction is now a serious candidate for being classified as a mental health disorder. I am sure this extends to cell phone and texting also.
March 3-4, 2017 is National Day of Unplugging. You can take the pledge to unplug at the National Day of Unplugging website.
This week I invite you to look at how much time each day you spend plugged in. Schedule some planned breaks, create good boundaries, unplug and focus on the moment…BE PRESENT.
Unknown
As I was preparing for today’s post, I found a quote I liked. The author was listed as Unknown. In hot pursuit of this creative wit, I found a wealth of material. Below is a sampling, beginning with the quote that inspired my search.
“My life is all about math. I am trying to add to my income, subtract from my weight, divide my time, and avoid multiplying.” Unknown
“Our days are happier when we give people a piece of our heart rather than a piece of our mind.” Unknown
“You cannot find knowledge by rearranging your ignorance.” Unknown
“If you don’t take care of your body, where will you live?” Unknown
“People who cannot find time for recreation are obliged sooner or later to find time for illness.” Unknown
“Knowledge is realizing that the street is one-way, wisdom is looking both directions anyway.” Unknown
I invite you to carry these little pearls of wisdom into the week with you.
