Sacred Life Sunday: Perseverance and a Father

This video is quite inspirational. I found it on Facebook via Patti Digh. Don't give up! I'm taking this as my own inspiration this Sabbath Day. If you haven't seen it, spend the 3:15 to be lifted up by Derek Redmond, as you will be:

I am especially moved by Derek Redmond's father in this video. In the past I'd often wish I'd had a father who would come alongside me as I'd go through life; I am blessed to have had a father-in-law who did this for me! 

Today I am also blessed to remember that I have a Father in Heaven who is like this, as do we all...for those of us that believe in a Universe, a Higher Power, and/or a Divine Center, you know what I mean! 


To each and every one of you, I pray that you experience joy and Sabbath rest today, and the companionship of those who love you; today, I am grateful for YOU!

Not Only Joy

A follow-up to yesterday's "Share the Joy Thursday":

"We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world."~Helen Keller (and she should know)

I want to feel it all, be grateful for it all, have a full life...God, grant me the strength and courage to accept the hard things as well as the joy...

~Photo by LoveHubbie Mark edited by me

Share the Joy Thursday: Setting the Intention

It's time again for Meri's "Share the Joy Thursday". Consider joining in and spreading joy around every Thursday or whatever Thursdays you want to pop in and participate. Read about more joy, including from our own Kim, The Queen of Arts and others listed at the end of Meri's post if you want to feel more joy today.

You know, writing about joy first thing on a Thursday morning does set the intention for joy for the whole rest of the day. It is a beautiful spiritual practice, and I'm grateful to Kim and Meri for thinking of it. It also reminds me of Kelly Kikipotamus the Hobo's practice of Grace in Small Things and Laundrygirl's Five Senses Friday. All of these are ways of being more aware--they change the author as she/he writes the blog post!

What brings me JOY today?

A warm house on a cold day

Necessary medication that is working and that I can afford which allows me to function

My husband who works hard every day to provide for us

Thinking about the full day ahead of me, filled with possibility

Feeling rested from a really good sleep last night

Going to bed earlier for the 3rd night in a row

More rain (this one is harder, living in the PNW, but in a certain way it DOES bring me joy!)

Catching the sun for just a moment peaking through before it goes away

Fresh salad greens from my garden and eggs from my five chickens 

Fond memories of my trip to Arizona and my special friend Rose Marie

Knowing that I have continued to do art almost daily since Kate's (The Queen of Creativity) class and that I'll take the time to do some today

Being awake in the early morning (5 am) and getting to watch the sun come up

Being alive still another day

Anticipating the day as being "good" :)

Being able to see

Feeling like we are all connected (because we are)

YOU

If you are reading this...today...I wish you JOY!

~Photo by LoveHubbie Mark edited by me

Ask For Help

One lesson I learned while visiting my friend in Arizona was to ask for help when I need it.

I am not used to traveling alone. On this particular day (Thursday before last) I was on a long bus (two whole buses joined together) trying to get off with a very heavy carry-on and another heavy personal bag. I needed both hands though to get down the steps of the bus and to then jump the distance to the curb. I tried various ways to pull both the suitcases and myself down and out and just couldn't do it. There were many people around me, mainly young men, and they watched, which made me feel even worse.

Finally I threw my personal bag out of the bus. It landed right-side-up with everything intact. With a push I let my carry-on tumble out of the bus and onto the curb. I then held onto the rails with both hands and got down the stairs (I have a leg problem that makes it hard for me to go down stairs). I pictured the young people laughing at me for having so much trouble (this was a total figment of my imagination). I jumped from the last step to the curb, which was quite painful. Then I burst into tears as the bus hurried away. I allowed myself to cry for a minute or so, then picked everything up and continued on. The mechanics of traveling had worn me down and I'd needed to just stop and let things go.

When I was telling my therapist about this after the trip, she asked me why I hadn't simply asked for help. I could have asked the bus driver (even though he was far in the front section of the two-section bus) and offered him a tip, or I could have asked any of the many people in the bus. It honestly hadn't occurred to me at all. I of course would help someone in my situation, but who would want to help me? Obviously, people might want to, or would want to, and so my attitude of just assuming they wouldn't told me a great deal about myself here.

Some people want to help. Others don't. That's okay. And it's fine to ask for help when we need it.

In many ways, lately, this late bloomer is just starting to feel like I'm beginning to grow up.

Share the Joy Thursday!

I am back from my visit to Arizona. I will write about this later, so much to share, so many lessons from my elderly friend and her even older friends at the retirement village!

Right now I wanted to participate in Meri's "Share the Joy Thursday". Please enjoy her post; it's wonderful. I found out about her from Kim, The Queen of Arts. Please also visit her blog and the others listed at the end of Meri's post if you want to feel more joy today. And who doesn't want to feel more joy?

What gives me JOY?

Today it is three big things and I wanted to share them right away in the hope that they might inspire you today:

(1) Knowing that God/The Universe loves me, cares for me, and it intimately concerned about my life. He/she feels the same way about each and every one of us.


(2) Feeling Grateful for everything, especially:

Being able to see

Being able to walk 

Having no pain much of the time

Having enough to eat

Being able to eat without assistance

Being able to take care of myself

Material blessings galore

Having a sound mind

Having a car

Living in a wonderful home

Living in a small town

The sun today

All the little things I ignore and take for granted

Grace

Kind people everywhere

My husband

My friends

YOU

(3) The ability to Dwell on the Positive:

Negative things happen to all of us every day. I discovered in Arizona that I feel much, much better when I dwell on positive things and positive people. When I forget about the nasty, toxic, ignorant people (who are actually just hurting, wounded, fearful folks) who intrude sometimes. When I refuse to dwell on them, but instead refocus on the many, many kind and considerate people. 

If you are reading this...today...I wish you JOY!

~Photo by LoveHubbie Mark

Wellness Wednesday: Processing the Past With Art and the Queen of Creativity

Two weeks have flown by since my last post. I still haven't written about the "tough times" I'm going through, but I promise I will.

I am leaving for a short trip to visit a close friend of mine in Phoenix and wanted to leave you with this before I go. I took a class called "Mixed Media 101" from Kate Robertson, the Queen of Creativity, and just loved it! Even though I'm not technically a beginner, as I've been doing art for several years, I needed a fresh start and this was it. I've invigorated my art! I wanted to share my art journal from the class with you.

The photos are somewhat small for privacy's sake for some of the pages. I used my art journal to vent and to process deep emotions and childhood issues.

This next page was particularly interesting as it was to teach us how to draw (especially if we felt we couldn't draw) from a photo. The little bird is what I drew and the photo is at the bottom.

This is a pocket I made with an artist trading card on top. Inside the pocket I have a poem I wrote.

Kate taught us to do all of these things so "Thank you, Kate!" I recommend her class to you if you'd like to make an art journal like this and get started (or re-started) in mixed media collage and art!

See you next week when I return from Arizona :) Much love to you...I'll miss you all! xoO