Category Archives: life

And be truly thankful for blessings already received. There once was a man named W. Clement Stone who in my travels around the world of positive thinking I have run into again and again. So I looked that soul up and sure enough he had some pretty neat things to say like…

“Aim for the moon. If you miss you may hit a star.”

“All I want to do is change the world.”

“All personal achievement starts in the mind of the individual. Your personal achievement starts in your mind. the first step is to know exactly what your problem , goal or desire is.”

“Big doors swing on small hinges.”

“Definiteness of purpose is the starting point  of all achievement.”

“Everyone who achieves success in a great venture, solves each problem as they came to it. They helped themselves. And they were helped through powers known and unknown to them at the time they set out on their voyage. They keep going regardless of the obstacles they met.”

** I have a friend who was struggling at the very end of their Masters Degree, first the college decided to end the program they were in and tried to get all the students ( there were under 10 at the time) to change their quest to a different program and degree, one that was much larger and would conform to what the school generally taught. So here were these 8 young souls told at the very end of their quest that the rules were being changed and they must go along with it. But this strong soul held on to the fact that  a deal was a deal. And they pursued their goal with unwavering conviction. They spoke to the Dean, they presented their complaints and arguments to entire committees composed of the faculty and in the end, they were given permission to finish and achieve the degree they set out for. So it looked as if all was on track and when the financial hardship appeared. They would not graduate without thousands of dollars being paid on their account. Student loans had run out and  God knew where the funds would be found. But the goal remained the same and the prayers and the work continued when suddenly there appeared literally someone doing the work of one of God’s Angel’s in the guise of a Teacher, a Professor who is a tiny little woman with an immense soul who fought and searched and found $20,000.00 in a miracle grant that would allow this souls dreams to come true.

Another time, I had been working and saving and with the support and help of my Sisters and Dad I had finally  straightened out my Credit rating enough to purchase a home ( I was living with my twins in my Fathers house and my sister Mary was helping by taking over the responsibility of paying my bills in a timely fashion. I simply deposited each and every paycheck with her and she took care of all the financial monsters that had held me in thrall for years. I even had new clothes for the first time in years. But I simply didn’t make enough money to get a down-payment together. Then the miracle occurred. I was sitting in my car reading by the side of the road, legally parked when a little old lady drove into the back of my car and totaled it. She was alright, just a little rattled and her big old car had very little damage but my car was destroyed. I remember looking up from reading my book and checking on my twins playing in the adjacent playground and checking the rear view mirror and realizing that the big car approaching me wouldn’t have time to stop at the speed they were going. And I didn’t have time to exit the car. So I simply laid down across the front seats and prayed for the best.

After the impact I was able to straighten up and look in the rearview mirror and I could see the horror on the little old lady’s face. So I pushed and pushed and finally got my car door open and went back and asked if she was ok, and then when she realized I was alive and ok too, she burst into tears of thankfulness. I realized I had to keep her calm. And I did and in the end we were both ok and her insurance company paid for my back and neck injuries and totaled car and I was able to use that money as a down payment on my own home for myself and my kids.

 Only because my sister Mary had put me in to a place of financial steadiness, my father had housed me and mine and my sister Peg had taken care of my children while I worked a 3-11 shift.

So miracles can happen everyday. They might not be exactly what you expect, but believe and focus and as they say,

“Just believe and work towards your goal and the Universe will correspond to the Nature of your song.”

I just love that.

*** for more about “How to know the luckiest day of your life” type in Dawson Kelly in the search field.

My thanks to Wikipedia Commons for the images.

Yes, that little statue is of Mary and the baby Jesus. I just like to see her everywhere I look. I obviously hang out at the spice rack daily, and seeing that dear little face reminds me that she went through all the same challenges and more and she understands what we all go through. Gives a girl a little courage you know? I found her with her little legs dangling off the side of a shelf at the local Goodwill and at first I was upset that she would be portrayed so simply then I realized perhaps that just the way she would like to be seen, like you and me and that the work that we all do everyday is the same as she did and perhaps she would enjoy hanging about my house. I’m sure she does, especially in the kitchen that’s where we all sit and tell stories and share our meals. Such good times…

You have to hold on to that intention. Whatever your dreams you can only make them come true by holding on to them and believing in them and seeing them in your mind’s eye. Years ago while miserable and tired and overworked and overwhelmed I had a dream. A dream of living in Ottawa County, Ohio. I had been there on a weekend vacation provided by a friend and fell so in love with the surroundings that I was determined to someday come back here and settle where the area is so serene and beautiful. It was a far cry from the Cleveland that was slowly rusting away, that meant hours spent in rush hour coming and going to a job that I hated downtown where the job was a lifer and the benefits kept you in lockdown. But you need that when the kids are little and you need a regular 9-5 to keep food on the table. But in my heart I intended to get to Ottawa County and the Islands and Port Clinton and Marblehead as soon as my life would allow. What caused this particular chain of thought is again was the fact that I pulled out the DVD “The  Secret” and watched it again and left it feeling so positive so grateful for all the choices that I have made that worked out so well that they happen to be the best parts of my life. And they were all committed with full intent, (having children) and have turned out to be the best decisions I’ve ever made. In fact even the “bad” or “wrong” decisions had the amazing ramifications of teaching me something about this life and myself I couldn’t have learned any other way. (my first marriage) All this to say if you want it, dream about it. Envision it, breathe it and live it. Make your imagination take you directly to the future you INTEND and then speak and listen with joy to the things you’ll find there. It will happen. It did for me.

I dreamed and intended great kids; I have them!

I dreamed and intended to own a house: I did it!

I dreamed and intended true love with a kind and wonderful man: Everyday I live with my David I thank God for such a great soul.

I dreamed and intended for my children to be loved and in love.: They both are so lucky to have these amazing souls that laugh with them and love them and act as such a anchors to their lives..  

Dreamed and intended that I could write and research all day long. : Done!

Dreamed and intended I could work with kids and help them be what they wanted to be. Done!

Whatever you work at and put out there into the Universe is you. Only your work identifies you forever to the Universe. 

So do what you love, work joyously and hard. If it’s raising that family, do it well. Then you’ll live on always in the hearts and minds and souls of those you’ve so loved. Don’t waste your life doing patchy work you hate. For instance I have a brilliant kind relative and one Christmas Season he tossed all the files on foreclosure proceedings that were on his desk, just to give those families a few extra weeks before the banks could organize their files enough to evict them. To me he is a Saint, and he made his job something he could at least tolerate thru that Christmas season. 

Then there’s my Ex-Husband, years ago he used to deliver Meal-on-Wheels, it had started as a part-time job thru “Manpower” employment services but the little old ladies just loved him. And he them. It truly was a “mutual admiration society”. He ended up just loving working with the elderly. He was hired on full-time and retired from there after little better than a decade with them.

The ladies and gentlemen he delivered lunch to still talk about him although he’s been retired from that for a while. And God forbid anything happens to them or him, their children will talk about what a kind man used to deliver mom’s meals, just as my kids talk about the fabulous characters on his route. (Once in a while he would take them to work with him on his route, our little twins. And the ladies just loved them and the kids in return had an insight into their Daddy’s job and the real life adventures of getting old in our Society and learning how to be more than comfortable with and appreciate the elderly.) Come to think of it, prior to this he had an Ambulance Company where he would routinely go out into the world and be the guy who literally saved people.

 And even now in retirement he volunteers with his local police department and goes out there only occasionally and puts himself once again out there to help and aid other people. That what makes him tick, helping the next guy, being there when he’s needed. That’s his bliss, though I doubt he even realizes it.

As for me, I write because I love it, and I have to. My David worked in a Lumber Yard for 30+ years because he loved the smell of the fresh wood and being outdoors all day and seeing spiders shit, and hornets nests, wild cats and the occasional fox and snakes or any other wild critters that wander by the back lots of lumber yards. All sorts of spinning and creeping and just living out there in God’s creation. He loves working with guys in the building trades and sharing humor and comradery with those guys. He loves it. I know, what other jobs allow you to find frozen nests of mice hidden in a huge log of Lumber? It’s part of the reason I love that man, his constant close study of the Earth amazes me. He notices more in 30 seconds than I’ll see in a month. The world and nature and more than a few lifetime friendships this is the perspective he wanted and found.

Whatever your desires, the right job will give you. Perhaps that’s the biggest clue to finding the right job. Don’t look at it as if it’s a job… but really the only place you would want to be all the time if you could. Because you can. It truly is just like they say “Follow your Bliss”, and it won’t be work, it’ll be your passion.

And when people think of you they’ll think of that really calm happy settled person who is so comfortable doing just what they love that they approach life and other people with joy and kindness. Not a bad way to be seen or remembered, Eh?

“Watch your thoughts, for they become your words.

Watch your words, for they become your actions.

Watch your actions, for they become your habits.

Watch your habits, for they become your character.

Watch your character for it becomes your destiny. ”

Anon. via www.thinkexist.com

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.           Abraham Lincoln

To base any part of their self-worth on their appearance that can be modified and pushed or pulled or colored or bleached  or starved or padded until can be found acceptable to the American Barbie Doll standard. We are building them to fail. And do so miserably, comparing their real bodies and faces to airbrushed fantasies they can never really equal, or if they do come close with surgery and diet they find out once there it hasn’t changed their real world and fears one bit. 

 If they only had a brain…thats what should be pushed and pulled and stuffed with good stuff, and groomed to repulse  the bad stuff like any form of violence,  false values and shallowness. If only half the time and energy spent by our Society that values only appearances was spent on growing young girls minds what an impact it would make. Imagine if for every Makeup or Diet advertisement young girls found a gold nugget of information or a fun fact that would set that young pliant beautiful young mind into the wonders of the world like science or imagination . You would be unleashing the power of their minds, something that can truly with a passion and direction give them the lifelong gift of studying the world and treasuring their own self-worth and identity. No self-centered narcissistic life locked into a mirror of their own reflection, lost in space and time trying to match the unmatchable, ending in further self-study and years of therapy looking for someone to blame because they never were trained to take their eyes off themselves long enough to look at the world around them. To become the absolute plastic horrors you see exhibited on reality shows like “Housewives of Beverly Hills”. How scary is that? Do you want that life of fear and loathing for your daughters and granddaughters? No? Then don’t exhibit it. And the next time you out to buy her a really cute little top match it with something that will grow her mind, even if its only a bulb to plant indoors and watch grow or a harmonica that she can play the scales with. Take the thrust of interest off her closet and onto her other senses. Or get really crazy and stop by a Teachers Supply store and find her an interesting and fun experiment or toy that will take her mind places. Growing her mind will in the end be far more important than another pair of cute shoes. It’ll also teach her what you value. Not her appearance but her mind. You believe in it and YOU value it. 

 If you grow their minds there will be no fumbling the ball in the third quarter of life because your entire playing field has changed direction. No fears concerning physical aging, only that its shortened the playing field some and now their work and passions whether it be raising a whole new generation to be brave and brilliant or following their passion into another area must be pursued with more intense concentration as time is shortened. However they will like themselves and therefore  have lots of laughter and love in their lives and their hearts, minds and souls will be at peace with who they are. 

And isn’t that what you wanted the end of the story to be when they laid that little baby girl in your arms?

Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan

Photographs courtesy of  Wikipedia Commons.