Communication Troubles In Texting

The biggest problem in communication

is the illusion that it has taken place. 

~ Writer, George Bernard Shaw

Recently, I was having a conversation via text that went wrong.  It went straight down the wrong path into anger.  I knew it was because of miscommunication, but it escalated quickly.  Sure, it was a tricky subject we were texting about, but it was obvious we were coming from completely different viewpoints.

I admit, I was shaking because I was so upset.  I calmed down and regrouped.  I then reread the previous texts trying to pinpoint where it all went awry.  Then I found it!  The other person seemed to have completely missed a key message from a 3rd person in the group!  VOILA!

So I went back and texted – J, did you see M’s text?  Then I copied and pasted M’s blurb below it.  It was as if the heavens opened up and the sun came out along with rainbows.  The storm passed almost immediately and what J was so angry about had nothing to do with anything due to M’s text.  Crisis averted.

But miscommunication within texting comes often as we can’t hear the tone of the voice of the speaker.  We can’t tell if they are joking or serious and yes, that makes all the difference.  Sometimes a simple question can be interpreted as demanding instead of inquisitive.  A request can sound like a command instead.  Silence can be met by resentment in not answering when someone gets off task and doesn’t continue the conversation but leaves a read message that needed an answer, blank.

Don’t get me started on abbreviations because sometimes I can’t figure out what people are saying.  Or when Siri or autocorrect put their two cents in?  I’ve written some doozies that I didn’t notice autocorrect changed.  Lucky for me they were to friends who know I joke that I have fat fingers when I text quickly.  I seem to always hit the wrong buttons! LOL

Has this ever happened to you?

Shine On!

xo

 

 

Help! I’ve Been Hacked!

Dear Friends,

I’m distraught.  I never use the Instagram account that I set up a long time ago, but today a friend told me that there were some photos on there that she knew were not something I would post.  So I went in to see what was going on and found out that a hacker changed the password and email address associated with my account so I can’t even log in!

I’ve spent over 2 hours trying to figure out what to do and how to remedy the situation, but to no avail.  Instagram has no contact information that I could find on their website nor on their ‘help’ section that would help if your email/password for your account has been changed without your knowledge.  I am just sick over this as the photos are not something that I want associated with my blog.  Why in the world would someone do this?  It’s inconceivable to me why people spend time doing mean things.

Please help if you can!  Any suggestions, advice or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated!  I never heard from Instagram that my password or email was changed.

Shine On!

xo

I’ve Got the Secret…

I promise myself…

To be so strong that nothing can disturb my peace of mind.

To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person I meet.

To make all my friends feel that there is something worthwhile in them.

To look at the sunny side of everything and make my optimism come true.

To think only of the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as I am about my own.

To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievements of the future.

To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature I meet.

To give so much time to improving myself that I have no time to criticize others.

To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

To think well of myself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud words, but in great deeds.

To live in the faith that the whole world is on my side, so long as I am true to the best that is in me.

— Christian D. Larson
(Modified by The Secret 2007)

  Click on the book and you can get your own copy!

Have you read the Secret?  What do you think of it?

Did you see the movie?

I’d love to hear what you think!

Happy Wednesday to YOU!

xo

Face the Sun!

Strength. Turn your face to the sun and shadows fall behind you.

Many of us have had tough times.  By a certain age, most of us have endured moments or longer of hard times and with that, have some experience in disappointment, sadness, fear, loss and such.  What I find most interesting though is how some people have endured hardships and yet they don’t allow those moments to define them.

Having been dealt the hand of breast cancer at age 34, I have experienced sadness, fear, loss and disappointment among other things…but that’s not to say that I haven’t been able to enjoy every sunrise, every cloud formation, every season and the precious moments of spontaneous hugs from my sons and family.   I’ve seen the darkness and I’ve seen the light.  Perhaps you feel that it’s not easy living on the roller coaster of life, a sentiment which I understand.  However, what brings me comfort is that with every nightfall, I know that in a few hours, there’s a sunrise waiting for me and it’s that sunrise I choose to concentrate on and ‘turn my face to’ everyday.  I feel grateful that I am here to experience it all ~ for without having experienced the darkness, how would we ever know how spectacular the sunrise is?

You own the power to choose everyday how you are going to face the day…

Turn your face to the sun and shadows fall behind you.

You’ll be glad you did!

xo

A Single Courageous Step…

Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin,

and a single courageous step

would carry us clear through them. -Brendan Francis

Lately I haven’t been sleeping as well as I’d like.   I don’t know about you, but sometimes I go through periods of time where sleep evades me more often than not and right now I’ve not been sleeping well.  I wake up in the middle of the night, unable to fall back asleep because my mind continues to whir and mindless chatter of what I need to do and what needs to be done by others plagues me.  And then there is the fear of not getting everything done properly as I’m in charge of a lot these days…that fear alone can put me over the edge.   But what I’ve found is that the fears are usually paper thin and unfounded…but in the middle of the night, they feel like I’m carrying heavy bricks.

So what I’ve begun doing is imagining that each brick is one of my fears and I begin to walk ~ baby steps of course ~ and as I do, I let go of a brick with each step.  I simply drop it and allow my mind to tick it off the list that plagues me.  I drop the brick of named fear into the abyss below me and I imagine that it goes away into nothingness ~ that it simply evaporates.

Sometimes I imagine that Universe/God catches it and turns it into dust as well, but that’s only if simply dropping it doesn’t actually make it go away.  Sometimes those fear bricks have been known to not easily be released and that’s when my stepping out takes control because I’m still walking as I drop them and as I continue to walk, they are further away from me.

We all have fears which is sad because when we allow those fears to manifest, they can take over…which is why, I adore my baby steps!  Do you carry fears?  Do you sleep well?  Can you see that much of what we fear isn’t anything more than worry emphasized?

Join me in our stepping away from our fears and into the light…drop your fears, make them a kite and fly those paper-thin thoughts right out of your head today!  Let me know how it works for you ~ and what works for you!  I’d love to hear more options for my nightly episodes.

Happy Monday to you!  It’s the start of a new week!  Enjoy!!

xo

Strength…

“STRENGTH does not come from winning.

Your struggles develop your strengths.

When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender,

THAT IS STRENGTH.” —Arnold Schwarzenegger

Although I’m not a huge fan of Arnold, I do like this quote because it’s true…to look at me, to know me, to love me, is to know that part of ‘my charm’ is that I am not a big fan of pain and I have been known to yelp with a paper cut!  I am also a fainter at the sight of a needle which you would think after all of the needles that I’ve seen through my 1/2 closed eyes with fingers splayed across my face, I would be over that fear by now, but nope…again part of my charm.  Which by the way, my darling husband would love it if I were less charming (ahem), but I can’t be anything but me, so charming it is ~ much to his chagrin!

But what I lack in muscular strength, I have in spiritual and it is what gets me through life.  I would never win a prize for athleticism or physical endurance (although I do think there should be a prize given to those of us who have endured more than our share of illness/surgeries and all around ick), but the middle of the nights, all alone spiritual challenges may leave me weakened, but never completely without endurance.

I have endurance…it’s a small seed of endurance filled with love, laughter and an amazing amount of support from my family, friends, loved ones and even strangers.  I have faith which has increased over time…and I am HOPE above all.  I just never surrender.

So if your strength is waning these days, I’ll lend you mine…because that’s what friends are for.

We are all connected…you may be the weak link in the chain at the moment,

but the chain of love will protect you.

Never surrender!

Love you lots!

xo

Before the bloom fades…

Capture it before the bloom fades…

My friend CAngel took this picture for me and sent it to me yesterday and because I love it, I thought I’d share it via a card so here it is…a blue hydrangea!  Her comment resonated with me ~ “I thought you might like this photo. I thought it was so pretty that I wanted to capture it before the bloom faded.’

And then it struck me, ‘capture it before the bloom faded’ and this post was born…

Because that’s what we are always trying to do, aren’t we?  Capture life before it fades…but do we?  Can we?  Like the photo she took for me, we have snippets of moments that glisten in time for us, moments that perhaps we capture on film, on video, on tape or on paper.  Are we the sum of those moments?

On my home answering machine are 2 messages from my Dad which I keep saving.  They are the last vestiges of his voice that I have on tape and they are in fact messages that he left when he was in the hospital.  They are precious to me because of that fact but also because of what he said…he said he loved me.  Although I knew it, hearing how he felt has helped so much these past 3 weeks.  He appreciated my helping him with his business while he was unable to work and it is those 2 thoughts that hold my heart captive.

So today, before the bloom fades…

take a moment to let those around you know how you feel about them.

Send a heartfelt message in a card…

We only have today…

http://www.sendoutcards.com/126830

A Celebration of Life

If one should say to you that the soul perishes like the body,

answer that the flower withers, but the seed remains.

Yesterday marked 3 weeks since my Dad passed and at the time he passed yesterday, I was out to eat with my sons, hubby and in-laws, all whom were laughing and eating and enjoying themselves.  As I glanced at my watch, I said a silent prayer to Dad, hoping that perhaps his spirit could hear me.

For I know he would have loved to have been there ~ laughing, having a good time, teasing everyone.  That’s the Dad I knew and loved.  There are many complexities to my Dad, many attributes I didn’t care for, but the seed of love, well, that’s what I know remains in my heart now.

As I watch the sun rise over the lake this morning, I am all alone which I love.  Mornings are my favorite when the house is quiet and it’s just me and my thoughts.  That’s the time that I can mourn him, let a few of the tears flow and nourish my broken heart.  It’s the ‘me’ time of day when I am strongest and I can fathom all of the grieving emotions that undulate in my heart during the day.  My health hasn’t been so great lately ~ my body, heart, mind and soul have taken a beating ~ but I am still here and still mending ~ as always,taking it one baby step at a time.

The seed of Dad’s being still exists and I see signs of it everyday.  Emails I receive from his friends, many of whom I didn’t know existed, continue to pop up in my inbox.  Notes and letters continue to arrive in my mailbox as do stories recounted of what he had said and done when he was here.  It’s these stories that remind me of the goodness of my Dad ~ and those are the seeds I want to remember.

He scattered seeds far and wide ~ most of them good ~ and that’s why we’re all here isn’t it?  To touch others’ lives by our own in the best way possible.

So that’s what I concentrate on this morning as I write today’s post…a celebration of life and remembering the love.  And as I ponder what my family would think if I were to perish tomorrow, I keep hoping that the seeds that I’m sowing today will make for a lifetime of love tomorrow.

Happy Friday to You!

xo

Embrace your Uniqueness…

Unique. Embrace your uniqueness.

Time is much too short to be living someone else’s life.

~ Kobi Yamada.

I think as we get older, it becomes easier to be ourselves.  Perhaps it’s just me, but I feel that there’s an awakening, a releasing of caring about what someone else’s thoughts are about me and a freedom which makes life so enjoyable!

I spoke with CAngel yesterday whom I only just recently met.  She was very open in telling me about her life and the recent events which had changed her life so dramatically.  Instead of being negative about the events which changed her entire life recently, when I asked her how she was, she answered, “I am well.”  She went on to tell me that she was not going to succumb to negativity in thought nor in word.  She would accept the growth that the experiences were giving her and she would take this opportunity to get to know herself better.  She looks up, reads scripture and is delving into knowing herself better in order to strengthen herself.  She even shared with me that she has intuitive skills with spirits which I found fascinating and I loved that she was embracing her uniqueness in such a grand way.  Good for you CAngel!

We all have a UNIQUENESS that is OURS ALONE!  We all have talents, strengths and weaknesses which make us ourselves.  We can live our lives covering up what makes us unique or we can celebrate our uniqueness and strengthen it.  It’s all up to You!

For me, I love my Uniqueness ~ I’m not quite sure what makes me Unique though…

Do you know what makes you Unique?  Do you celebrate your Uniqueness?

Embrace your Uniqueness!

xo

Key to Success…Key to Failure…

I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. ~Bill Cosby

Happy Monday to You!  I found this card this morning and just knew it was for today’s message.  In digging through my Dad’s personal items, I’ve found a ton of keys ~ most of which I have no clue as to what doors they open, but I find it interesting that there are so many doors that they could open and I wonder if I’ll ever find them.

On my own keyring, I have a key which I can’t figure out whose door it opens.  It’s been on there so long that I am afraid to throw it out for fear that it is a key I need.  Do you have any keys which don’t serve you anymore because you don’t know to which door they belong?  Have you thrown them out or are you holding onto them like me?

I feel like many of us hold onto keys in hopes of finding the doors to which they belong and in doing so, we somehow hold onto that ‘key of failure’ in the process.  Trying to keep the peace, helping to keep everyone happy and perhaps not keeping ourselves happy in the process is a key to failure.

It’s Your Life…it’s My Life…and I’m a guilty as the next key holder when it comes to trying to please everyone from time to time.  I’m not advocating not smoothing the road of life from time to time for others, but living your life to please everyone is not a life to live.  Giving yourself up in order to make others happy doesn’t allow you to be happy nor to grow by experiencing life as it could be.

As for my dilemma with an unknown door key ~ I’m going to take my own advice today ~ for the next week, I will truly try to figure out to which door it belongs and if at the end of a week I am unable to find it, I will simply take it off my keyring and put it away in my desk.  It’s not serving me and I feel like it’s weighing me down.  Perhaps it’ll be my symbolic key to failure that I’ll finally lay to rest.  I’m still unable to throw it out, but I think there will come a time that I will simply throw it away knowing that the door to that key is permanently closed…and I’ll feel good about it.

Do you carry keys to success on your key ring?  Or do you carry keys to failure?

xo