Tag Archives: gratitude

Words Are…..Magic

Deep Thoughts and Musings, , , , , ,

I read J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books and thoroughly enjoyed them.  I enjoyed her use of words and her imagination.  I loved all the places and scenes she created.  I enjoyed being carried along on one adventure after another.  I enjoyed the innocent and uninitiated being educated by their mentors.   I held on to my seat in fear and anticipation as they experimented with words and actions to realize their full power.

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But it was in reading The Casual Vacancy that I really came to appreciate the way she developed her characters.  There were places where I had to get up and do something else or fall asleep.  But that happened with Harry Potter too.  So…..maybe it had more to do me that her writing ability.

When she says that words are our most inexhaustible source of magic,  I agree with her.  I’ve read what she had created with her imagination and words.  She’s transported me to a magical world paralleling ours and to village life in England.

I believe the words we speak and write to each other are magic.  They can create all kinds of things.  Words can create warm fuzzy feelings.  They can create proud moments.    They can turn hard hearts to mush.

The words we speak and write to ourselves can change our day to day existence into a happy, exciting place to live.  We can be kind and gentle to ourselves.  It is all in our minds, after all.  I’m thankful that our minds can do that for us.

 

What Do You Want?

Deep Thoughts and Musings, , , , ,

I was thinking this morning how grateful I am for the people in my life that helped me see what I want.  That sounds pitiful I know.  Who doesn’t know what they want?

I was guided through a thought process that helped me look at what I’ve enjoyed doing all of my life and which talents I have.  That doesn’t sound so life changing, does it?  But, I was in such a dark place.  I kept thinking the same negative thoughts, over and over, and couldn’t find my way out.  So for me, it was life changing …..even life saving.

In an effort to get me to focus on something positive, I was given a challenge:  to start painting again and to start blogging.  I was resistant at first.  I hadn’t done any painting for years.  I was  totally computer illiterate.  But over a period of 12 days I was helped to let go of some guilt and encouraged (at first gently and then gradually pretty forcefully) to get out the paints and get the help I needed to overcome the computer problem.

As I began to share my experience with the people in my life, family, neighbors, gym friends, the dry cleaner lady,  I was hit with an unexpected response.  Many of them looked fine to me, some even happy.  But the more we talked, the more they shared, they didn’t know what they wanted.  They were busy having kids, raising kids, and working to pay bills and earn a living.  They were looking forward to movies and eating out on the weekends and a vacation sometime this year.  But, what did they want?  I had discovered a cavernous mystery.

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Once again I came up against it:  we appear on the outside to be very different: but, on the inside we are very much alike.

Mark Twain said:   “I can teach anybody how to get what they want out of life.  The problem is that I can’t find anybody who can tell me what they want.”  I didn’t actually hear him say this, but it is attributed to him on the internet…..so it must be true???  My own small survey does bear out the second part.

Do you ever tell yourself to forget what your parents, your friends, or  your spouse wants from you or for you.  Forget what you think is expected of you.  What do you want?  It’s time to take a good look at your life and think about what you want…..what makes you happy.  What makes you smile and your whole being light up when you think about it?

What do you want?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lost Art of the Thank You Note

Deep Thoughts and Musings, , ,

It had been my habit, when I received a thank you note, to put it in the cookbook I was reading as a bookmark and there it would stay.  Well, yes, I read cookbooks like novels.  I figure the author has a unique  philosophy he/she wants to share and a story about the restaurant, the education, the culture or the mentor that inspired the book.  I want to know this story.

This morning while looking for a recipe, I opened a cookbook and there was a note.  In fact, there were four notes in that book.  I reread each one.  They brought back so many memories:  two new babies, moving into a new house, and a birthday gift.  It’s fun to run into these notes occasionally and reminisce.

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And right then, an aha moment:  It’s been ??? how many years since I received an actual physical, paper, thank you note?  In the three or four year range anyway.  Thank you notes  and letters have gradually faded from consciousness.  Today we email and text.

When was the last time you bundled your emails  and texts with a red satin ribbon and carefully placed them in a special box stored on the top shelf of your closet?   When was the last time you stopped by a neighbor’s unannounced and spent the afternoon visiting?  I remember my Mother lamenting about the disappearance of meat markets as the supermarkets came on the scene.  Change.  Day to day things seem the same…..but look back over just the past year and yikes! so much has changed.

Today we share news on facebook and twitter.    Yes, everything is always in flux…..ebbing and flowing.  The average American moves every five years.   Our neighborhoods are expanding to include the whole continent.  We have friends all over the world.  This is an exciting time to be alive.

Socrates is quoted:  “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new”.  So…..I’m not going to throw out those thank you notes.  I’ll still enjoy running into them at odd moments and having them trigger memories.  But…..I am going to enjoy blogging, facebook, twitter, etc. and try to remember to express my gratitude more.