As my momma would say, “Life is a balance between holding on and letting go. Sometimes we just don’t need to get stuff done; we just need to be.”  Gratefully, today was one of those unexpected times to just be…temperatures so sublime, the bluest sky imaginable, crisp breeze to propel us onward, and a path of surprises around every bend along the trail.  This is the season, after all, when nature suddenly bursts with its last colorful beauty of this year, saving up for a grand finale and final bow.  As Emily Bronte observed:  “Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree…”  St. M and I were positively giddy to go forth into the woods and trees to explore, ponder, problem solve, and wonder.  Even after we left the trail, the powerful effect of this time “just to be” remained.

Among much conversation, we marveled at the realization of how rich we are at this time and place in life.  Oh NO; I’m not talking about the bank account (as a retired public educator, trust me; that’s depressing).  I’m referring to the realization of the RICHEST things in life being free.  Actually, the richest things in life aren’t things, are they?  The rich abundance of daily gifts and bounty of simple blessings turn the ordinary into the extraordinary.  Within each day, we experience multiple opportunities to share hope, JOY, peace, and love with those around us, and if we’re observant, have them returned to us.  A simple smile, a kind gesture, exploring a new trail, sharing time with friends and family, breaking bread together, finding ways to help others…these are all a rich part of living our grateful life. So…

What RICH things (that aren’t things) are you grateful for today?

Will you please gratefully indulge me in a teachable moment?  While I might never admit it in open conversation, my own children (and the thousands of children I worked with for years) taught me so much more than I ever taught them.  Allow me to gratefully sprinkle a few child-like insights of how smart, funny, innocent, and sensible most things in life really are…

Giggles grow dendrites:  Even before we can talk, we can laugh.  We chuckle around 4 months of age in response to those around us.  Laughter creates a powerful human connection and young children laugh more than adults because of their many social interactions; laughter literally grows the brain.  Sharing a great belly laugh is, after all, one of life’s greatest JOYs, so giggle often.

Practice not perfection:  There are tricky things to try to master as a young child:  hula-hooping, using chopsticks, doing a cartwheel, catching a snowflake on your tongue, skipping stones, hanging a spoon off your nose, doing a yo-yo trick, making a paper airplane, and whistling.  Which ones have you done lately?  Which ones have you taught lately?

Ask WHY until you understand:  You probably won’t be surprised to learn that children ask an average 350 questions per day.  Asking WHY digs deeper and challenges conventional wisdom to reveal true reasons and alternative solutions.  Never be afraid to ask WHY.

Look at things upside down:  Anything is possible to a child because they see things we can’t and look for things we don’t.  They soak up new information and adapt quickly and cleverly to changing situations.  Hang on a jungle gym or swing on a swing and get a new perspective.

Sign your name BIG:  A child is his/her own champion; her/his focus is on all the things she/he does well, like learning to sign a name.  Believing you can do anything makes all the difference in the world; young children are willing to try just about anything and always believe they can.  So be proud of your name and sign it BIG!

A hug goes a long way:  Little ones love us just as we are, not as we should be.  They are quick to forgive, move on, and don’t tally the mistakes.  Naturally empathetic, kids respond quickly to someone in need and understand how the smallest gesture can make a big impact.  In all honesty, our country needs a really BIG HUG right now!  Just like Winnie-The-Pooh noted, “Sometimes, the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”  Hug it out, people!

While I speak only for myself, I naturally gravitate to those who engage, enlighten, inspire, and empower me. Especially in retirement while providing daily care to my dad, I gratefully continue to find ways to appreciate fresh wisdom. Here’s your challenge today…

Who are you grateful for today who sprinkles fresh wisdom and perspective your way?

Find a way to sprinkle it forward!  Oh, and one more nugget of insight… ALWAYS ask for extra sprinkles! 🙂

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere…

As my paternal grandfather would say, “It’s All Hallow’s Eve, Bethy!”  While I have few memories of him, the ones I do have are powerfully strong.  I fondly remember growing pumpkins with my Pop Sam (Sr.) in his backyard and then, in turn, growing some with my daughters.  Our family’s annual harvest of pumpkins is usually the fruits of labor from my sweet husband’s favorite late autumn activity:  pumpkin smashing day (more on this later in the season).  It was my grandfather who first shared with me the life advice from a pumpkin’s point of view:

Be well-ROUNDED.  Enjoy the SONshine.  Grow a THICK skin.  ROLL with it. Be grateful for the HARVEST.  Always PATCH things up.  CARVE out your goals.  Stand out in your FIELD.  Learn when to hold onto the VINE and when to let go.  Add SPICE to your life.  Always dream BIG.  

Ironically, he found something profoundly spiritual in the ritual of preparing a pumpkin for each Halloween.  From washing off the dirt and opening the pumpkin up to scoop out the inside “goop” to carving on a smile and filling the inside with a warm, glowing light… Pop Sam felt the pumpkin represented each of us from God’s unique perspective.  He told me, “we all need to occasionally wash off the dirt in our lives and then open ourselves up regularly to scoop out the yucky seeds of doubt, greed, hate, and more in order to allow our inner light to shine.”  While I seriously wonder what he would say about our world today, I’m grateful for his nuggets of practical advice in my memory bank.  And indeed, it begs the question today:

What “pumpkin” advice will others gratefully receive from you?

Happy Halloween, y’all…may the glow be with you!

During a recent conversation with a dear friend, this profound question was posed to me:  “Beth, what fruits are you bearing these days in your new environment?”  WOW…what a way to start a powerful conversation!

My voice (literally and figuratively) has been somewhat silent this past year as I process, ponder, adjust, and adapt to new pathways for the future.  Settling into a new community, unpacking and purging bins and boxes, and organizing my dad’s daily world with his growing needs have consumed much of my time.  Some volunteer opportunities and a couple of short travel experiences have brought JOY to my days as well.  Re-consumption of favorite books, movies, music, and more have pushed the nostalgic buttons into therapeutic overdrive.  But ‘fruits?’  Then it dawned on me…”the ‘fruits’ of the spirit…” Ahhh…

This particular cross-stitch piece was one of the first I completed years ago under the watchful eye of my mom.  She started the project about the time I was carrying our youngest daughter; I finished it three years later. 🙂  For years the piece hung in a quiet corner of our kitchen as a daily reminder to bear fruit in the best possible ways.  These nine succulent “fruits” allow us to gratefully grow, nurture, and serve others from the heart and soul.  In these uncertain times, these “fruits” are the ones I strongly cling to and gratefully garden each day…

So, the question today:  How are you gratefully bearing fruit in your life?

It’s a fact (according to my internist)…I’m not the skinny freckled-face ginger-haired short little imp I once was. What?!? While this is not breaking news, it’s a definite reality I choose to ignore. Unfortunately, gravity has taken over parts of my body I didn’t know still existed and if certain parts sag much more, my support undergarments will need to file for medical assistance.  I’ll also be truly impressed when science figures out a way to make a body thermostat pre-programmed for hot flashes.  And Mother Nature, as far as I’m concerned, you can just keep the change. 🙂

DNA, lifestyle, eating habits, exercise, environment, stress, sleep patterns, and such literally weigh into our overall health and well-being.

Eat less and move more to even the score.

This is my daily mantra.  One of my favorite and easiest forms of exercise I gratefully embrace is walking.  Even during my toughest days of treatments and surgical recoveries, I was always allowed to simply walk (even slowly while pulling an IV pole with me; just ask my sister).  From taking dad’s little dog each morning (whom I call Princess Sassypants) for a daily stroll in the neighborhood to traversing the various trails and marked paths near our wooded home and nearby lake, simple walking refreshes, rejuvenates, and regenerates my body, mind, spirit, and soul.  Long after I’ve left the trail, the positive effects remain.

So here’s the question on Day #14:

What form of daily physical activity are you most grateful to do?

Here’s hoping you gratefully embrace your ability for physical activity each day as part of your own well-being; you deserve it!

It’s no secret how I purposefully listen to the lyrics; they are, after all, the unique poetry within a song.  We sing them, quote them, use them in stories, and more.  Being a complete word nerd and ponderer, lyrics speak to my soul.  I often joke how when JOY fills my world, I appreciate the music, but when sadness visits me, I better understand the lyrics. 🙂

This was no exception earlier today when the American rock band, Alternate Routes, came on the radio singing their 2013 release, Nothing More, during a guest spot on SiriusXM’s “Pulse Hour” (my musical tastes run a complete gamut, especially when I’m stuck in traffic).  Ironically, I remember first hearing the song during the Winter Olympics in 2014; the lyrics resonated in a powerful way…and still do today…

To be humble
To be kind
It is a giving of the peace in your mind
To a stranger
To a friend
To give in such a way that has no end

We are love
We are one
We are how we treat each other when the day is done
We are peace
We are war
We are how we treat each other and nothing more

And to be bold
To be brave
It is the thinking that the heart can still be saved
And the darkness can come quick
The danger’s in the anger and in the hanging on to it

We are love
We are one
We are how we treat each other when the day is done
We are peace
We are war
We are how we treat each other and nothing more

And tell me what it is that you see
A world that’s full of endless possibilities
And heroes don’t look like they used to
They look like you do

We are love
We are one
We are how we treat each other when the day is done
We are peace
We are war
We are how we treat each other and nothing more

(Read more: The Alternate Routes – Nothing More Lyrics | MetroLyrics )

There are so many profound lyrics in our favorite songs!  So here’s your question on Day #12:

What song lyric gratefully sings a powerful message to you? 

Sing your heart out today; it’s great for your soul, my friend!

With only two months left until Christmas (being reminded of this fact by St. M as he rolled over first thing this morning), I started thinking about greeting cards before meditating once again on gratefulness.

Since I could write my own name, I’ve traditionally sent a greeting card, note, letter, or such each year to family and friends, sharing the year’s highlights, JOYs, sorrow, newsy tidbits, and best wishes along with hope, good will, love, and blessings for the coming year.  With close friends, I send cards or notes “just because” throughout the year, especially because all of us can use a surprising boost now and then.  A couple of us exchange funny, sarcastic cards in hopes of garnering the biggest laugh (then the real competition is on).  Even as a classroom teacher, my students and I wrote individuals letters each week to mail to family, friends, legislators, and more to not only practice letter writing, but work together in keeping alive a dying art form (yes, I paid the postage).  Several of my students still correspond with me even 36 years later!  One precious church friend sends a card that arrives every Wednesday in the mailbox (68 straight weeks now); this is dedicated tending, y’all! (Thank, CK!)

I know; I know…social media, texting, and emails should suffice and have become acceptable norms; I’m guilty of this too. My mother and both grandmothers are most likely rolling over in their eternal resting places just thinking about “social media” as an acceptable form of anything, especially in place of “the luxury of a handwritten note or letter to someone you love, respect, and admire…”  ~Granny B and Brenda B Folsom~                                 The southern steel magnolias in my family were correct:  “a handwritten treasure is a gift in itself.”  I’m not just talking about writing those important thank-you notes either.  Precious time and written thoughts eloquently shared from the heart helps to make new friends, tend to old friends, and simply sends a jolt of JOY into another person’s world.  The mailbox is depressingly full of bills, ads, political endorsements, and more; spying a handwritten card or letter is the FIRST thing to tear open and savor when found! What a quick way to turn a frown upside down!

So here’s a grateful challenge to us on Day #11:

Who will you choose to gratefully share a handwritten card, note, or letter with during the next week?  

Here’s hoping the mailbox you choose to overflow with love fills yours in kind!