Blog
Perspective
On Christmas Eve, I ran up to the convenient, near-by Walmart for a “quick” item or two. What I didn’t think about was that everyone in the 3 surrounding zip codes would have the same idea. It felt like the whole state of Texas needed vanilla. Most of the Walmart guests were on the baking isle with me. Needless to say, I was not all that ho-ho-holiday happy!
Fast forward one week…..New Year’s Eve. You’d think I would have learned, but no – I needed a “quick” item or two, so off to the convenient, nearby Walmart I went…AGAIN! The same people were there, this time all searching for black eye’d peas!
There was a big difference in the way I felt about those two trips to Walmart. One was a nightmare. One rolled off my back like snow on a Minnesota Duck. The later trip felt like I was one of only a handful of shoppers, even though it was just as busy.
As I drove home, I kept wondering to myself, why those two trips were so different. I finally realized it was perspective. I had just done surgery on an out of control, over commited, 2009 schedule. I had sliced and diced and gotten it back into a healthy and manageable place. The “hurry up, get out of my way, don’t you have somewhere to be” attitude had yielded to an authentic smile and a “happy new year to you too”.
What about you? Have you made some hard choices, perhaps ones
that are essential for your schedule to work for you?
Remember, sometimes you gotta say “NO“, to be able to say “Yes” to
Something better!
2010……….It’s time to Begin……….
My Own Mozart
I’m sitting here drinking in the unbelievable sounds of my own personal piano concert. It’s got to be as good as front row seats at a Mozart concert of old.
This summer, a friend’s daughter-in-law was in town for an extended stay and needed a place to “practice” the piano. My baby grand Steinway aches for someone to challenge it to it’s best! Because of that, her need, and my all time favorite thing to do, (listening to piano music), I invited her to use our piano anytime she wanted. Christine would just come over and come in whenever she wanted and thrill us with her extraordinary ability to tickle those ivories.
I sit here today listening to the sounds she graced the world with. It was my gift for letting her use our piano during the summer. I am reminded 3 months after that beautiful season that giving always comes back to you. Always. Maybe not in the way we expect, but goodness finds you when you do something for someone else with no inkling of receiving something in return.
Roll over Beethoven, (oops, I mean Mozart)
I’ve got Christine!
Did You Take Your Medicine Today?
Got the kids off to school today. Unlike my normal routine, I did not have to take them in so I was all ready to scream into my day! Couldn’t wait to get to my to do list that would make a marathon run look like a jog around the block. Something weird taped me on the shoulder and whispered to take advantage of the rainy Friday. I went over to the big comfy leather chair, turned on the fireplace, lit a candle and spent the next 30 minutes reading,. (Interludes, by Linda Anderson).
What a fantastic way to start out a day. This was very much out of the ordinary. It was a complete interruption in what was normal routine! Sometimes breaking the routine, bending the “rules”, or jumping outside of that box is purely medicinal.
Take two teaspoons and feel better in the morning!
Give Me a Brake!
“Look, it lights up”! In front of us on the way to school, was a white jeep with a glowing, yellow, smiley face on the bumper. As the driver pulled up to a stop sign and applied his brakes, the small round smiley face which had previously gone unnoticed, was now glowing bright yellow. As I started to reply that I wish I could just step on the brake and my face would automatically smile, I realized…………I could! It was like that same light went off in my head.
It is much like life! If I do apply the brakes in my life, I would most certainly be able to smile more. With fewer demands, all pulling me in different directions, life would be so much happier. When you’re happy, you smile! Apply the brakes, smile more! Now there’s a thought!
Give yourself a Brake!
Where Are You Going?
I just returned home from a 3 week trip to Australia. What a trip it was! In order to enjoy that beautiful land down under, I had to take a shuttle to the airport, an airplane to Sydney, a rental car (only when my husband was driving…on the “wrong” side of the car, on the “wrong” side of the road), up and down the wonder filled Gold Coast, a cab in the cities, a train to the 2000 Olympic Stadium and a Cruise ship to the Great Barrier Reef.
Now, had I not known very specifically where I was going, particularly on the train with all the different Lines, I could have ended up anywhere and missed those places I so desperately wanted to visit. As I stood on Platform 5 waiting for the City Harbor train with my 12 and 14 year old “travel planners”, I realized that if you aren’t sure where you’re going, you really could end up anywhere! It’s also critical to know with much certainty where you are starting from. If you want to get from point A to point B, you gotta know HOW you’re going to get there or you’ll end up somewhere YOU didn’t plan on going, OR you’ll stand on the platform ’til the trains stop running.
- Decide what YOU want and make it happen or life will quietly pass you by.
- Plan your own life before someone else plans it for you.
- Live the life YOU design instead of one that just “happens” to you.
