Connecting The Dots

Connecting The Dots

Connection is one of my favorite words because I know that connections are important in this life.  To make connections with other sentient beings, with ideas and philosophies and through the heart, mind and soul, for me, is connecting the dots of being.

Over twenty years ago when chatting on the internet was just starting for me, I met a woman named Jeanne in a cat chat room.  I was newly married and we had just gotten a rescue kitten.  Jeanne was a seasoned cat owner and when I had asked a question on the forum, she answered.  By sharing her knowledge and with me hungry for answers, we began to write back and forth and our friendship blossomed via email.  We talked about life and love and friendship and family….and of course, cats!

Fast forward 20 years and we are Facebook friends, having found each other again on the internet highway.  Occasional likes and messages have kept us in contact even though we had lost touch for many years.  When I asked a cat question on Facebook and quickly Jeanne answered, thus began our re-connection.  As we were messaging on Facebook, and then moved to emails, it was as if no time had passed.  We began catching up over the past years, quickly and easily.  The best part was that we knew what a blessing it was to reconnect again.

We’ve never met in person, yet Jeanne and I have been friends for years.  Life is so different from when we were children, as back then, our friends were limited to those we knew in person.  Much like modern-day pen pals, I guess life has evolved to internet friendships.

So today, I’m grateful for all of our connections, internet and otherwise.  I love how blogging has expanded our friendships globally.  I can now count friendships with all of you, in many different countries and across the USA.  We are gratefully united through friendship and caring.

Have you felt that instant connection with someone whom you’ve never met except on the internet?  Was it through blogging?  Please share!

Shine On!

xo

 

 

I Just Can’t Remember

I saw this posted on a friend’s Facebook page today.  What a poignant reminder!

With Alzheimer’s, people don’t forget how much they love you or how much you mean to them.  Sometimes it’s just that they don’t remember the specifics.  When I try to put myself in the mind of someone with memory loss, this is how I imagine I would feel.

To spend quality time with someone who loves you is a precious gift.  No matter who you believe they are, you are at peace feeling the love and comfort that you have with them.

Alzheimer’s is a great reminder to find The Presents of Presence in every moment.  Many times, those with memory loss live in the present moment and as long as we stay in the happy flow, all is well.  It’s when we dip into the past or sadness that things become a bit complicated.  I think it’s a choice to live in the present and to enjoy that priceless moment of being with someone we love and sharing that time together.

It’s an important lesson I’ve learned through being involved with those in memory care facilities.  With memory loss, life is stripped down to the bare minimum – health, food, clothing, shelter, love, kindness, dignity, caring, honesty, gratitude and blessings are what count.  Designer goods, class distinctions, holding grudges and all that vibrates at lower frequencies isn’t important.

What matters is love, plain and simple.

Shine On!

xo

 

 

 

 

Via FB post from a friend.

 

Have You Seen A Katydid? Grasshopper help!

A solitary katydid visited me last night.  At first, I wasn’t sure what she was (ok, I’m assuming she was a girl because after all, I researched and found out she wasn’t a grasshopper like I thought at first, she’s a katydid)!

She was as big as a small mouse, just sitting quietly on my porch banister.  Because she was so large, I wasn’t sure what she was at first from afar, but as I got closer, I thought she was a grasshopper.  But I was wrong.

She never moved as I took some photos.  Here’s another angle.  Nor did she make any noise.

So what’s a girl to do but to see what the spirit totem is for a visit from a katydid, especially right before a solar eclipse!

When I looked it up, here’s what I found from Facebook’s page called:  Animal Speak by Ted Andrews (who I found out passed away in 2009, but a fan of his keeps up the website).  Thank you to the fan!

Katydid:
Katydid teaches attunement to new vibrations and will aid in heightening intuition, sensitivity and awareness. They teach transformation in five stages as part of the molting process. Is it time to shed old ideas to make way for the new? Expect changes and new developments that will bring growth through reflection and patience as the sensitivity to mental, emotional and physical challenges are coming are your way. Katydids also teach the art of camouflage and the ability to evolve and use many survival techniques. Are you adapting to your surroundings? Are you blending in or standing out? Katydid will aid in strengthening senses and perceptions of the seen and unseen so whatever transformation stage you are in will be a time to be aware; mentally and spiritually sharp.

Well, that’s sounds about right for me these days.  I’m noticing all sorts of nuances in the air, in nature, in how people act and even our cats!  A fine time for strengthening the senses to transform as the new challenges continue to come my way.

How about you?  Have you ever seen a katydid up close?

By the way, I heard a bunch of her friends calling to her, but they were not seen, just heard.  She however, chose just the opposite – I saw her up close, but she never uttered a chirp!

Shine On!

xo

An Instagram Lesson For All

Whew!  My plight has been resolved.  Instagram took down my page that was hacked.  My heartfelt gratitude to those who helped by reporting the impersonation of my page and the images which were not mine.  What a fiasco, but I am ever grateful to those who took the time to help me and to those of you who reached out via my blog.

It’s a good lesson to learn that even though there are those out there in cyberland who choose to hack, to impersonate and to live on the dark side; there are also those who have your back, make the effort to do good and to help when needed.  For this, I am ever grateful.

Some tips I read on the Instagram site if you are ever in this predicament, and can’t log into your account for whatever reason, are:

Tell your friends to report it as “this profile is pretending to be someone” and not as pornography or spam.

• “The appropriate way to report an account is go to the person’s account, then hit the ellipse or the three dots on the upper right hand corner.
• Next, click “I believe this violates the community guidelines;” then “report account;” then “this profile is pretending to be someone else;” and then hit “someone I know.”
• If you are a person, tell your friends to do this. BUT – if you are representing an organization, give instructions to the right people within your company to report the account.”

I researched through the Instagram site, trying desperately to contact them to tell them that my page was hacked, password and email changed and there was no way I could log in to remove the hacked photos from my account.  I learned that there is a two step authentication process by which those on Instagram can protect their pages which I highly recommend you do if you are on Instagram.  I will not be using their services anymore, but I will say that am grateful that within a day of complaints by me and some of my followers, the page was deleted and will never be resurrected by me.

I know a lot of people who use Instagram for family photos, etc.  In my research there were tons of people who had been hacked as I had and they had to jump through hoops to authenticate themselves to Instagram and some of them lost their photos entirely.  It’s an epidemic now in this cyberworld that there are people who choose to arbitrarily hack into other people’s accounts and not just with Instagram, but I’ve heard with Facebook and other social media.

Be wary, be careful, and take precautions dear friends.  It can be a dangerous world out there.  I hope this never happens to you and I am grateful that the crisis is now averted for me.  But perhaps in sharing my story, you will be more vigilant so that you don’t experience this unseen, disturbing violation of your social media account.

Shine On!

xo

I Remember Paris ~ Je me souviens de vous

Praying for Paris

Our heartfelt prayers on this Sunday morning go out to those in France and all whom have been hurt by terrorism.  Facebook has erupted with France’s national colors in an outpouring of love for those whose loved ones have experienced the hate that is associated with terrorist attacks.

When 9/11 happened here in the United States, we mourned the loss of peace in our lives and now we mourn France’s as well.  It is unfathomable to many of us how terrorism holds no regard to the sanctity of human life.  The unspeakable hate which surrounds a terrorist’s heart seems limitless and their beliefs unshakable to act in such violent ways.  I do not even pretend to understand because honestly neither my mind nor heart can wrap themselves around the thought.

My thoughts, my prayers, my heart and mind go out to all of us ~ the peacekeepers.  I hold sacred the loving heartlights which are shining here and abroad, sending prayers and loving thoughts out into the world.  I am reminded that we are all connected, we are all one ~ we are all humans living on this planet Earth.

Please enjoy a musical reminder by Susan Boyle with lyrics below.

Make Me a Channel of Your Peace

Shine On!

xo

*My heartfelt thanks to Elizabeth for allowing me to use her photo. xo

 

Sunday’s Inspirational Gal

This morning, I happened upon the story of an inspiring 16 year old Irish gal who in September of 2012, was awarded the People of the Year Award in Dublin, Ireland.  Her story can be found on her website which I included below ~ as well as many pictures from her FB page which you can find at http://www.nolimbsnolimits.net/ which is her official website!  Joanne was born with a rare physical disability called Total Amelia which means she was born without all four limbs even though there is no medical explanation for this occurrence.  Neither Joanne nor her family have ever allowed this to hold her back.  In fact, she is quite inspiring and I highly recommend that you click on her website above!

Words fail me in telling you her story, so I’ll let Joanne do it on her website.  Please, take a moment today to fill up your spiritual cup with a dose of love, extraordinary human spirit and endless possibility!  The word is not impossible, it’s…

I’m Possible!

Shine On!

xo

Below are pictures of Joanne with her family and her dog Sally from her FB page and her video!

Technology is her other limb!

Joanne with her pup Sally.

Joanne and her parents!

Joanne and her parents!

Hurricane Sandy Help from Faraway!

So many people have helped those affected by Hurricane Sandy!  Recently I saw that a friend who moved to Ocala, Florida, inspired her children’s school and community to donate items to help those in New Jersey ~ her childhood home.  On FB, I watched as she asked and got help and donations and even got a truck to bring them to N.J.!  The power of one person ~ multiplied by hundreds of other like-minded hearts ~ can change lives!

I was inspired by them and so in just a few minutes, I made the following 3 panel card to thank them!  I thought I’d share to show you that sometimes I simply send one of our cards from our catalog and other times, I make the card myself.  It doesn’t take talent, or skill…it just takes a few photos or logo and a few minutes of your time.  There’s no limit to what your imagination can do with SendOutCards! (Green dotted lines that you see are not on the cards, they are just to show you the edges of your card ~ whatever is outside the green dotted box is not printed.  Because these are pictures of what I did, you will sometimes see the lines, but I can assure you, they are not on the cards received through the mail! 🙂

I chose a 3 panel card (see above) as I had a bunch of pictures and I wanted to send a video so I wanted a bunch of panels to fill up.  The 3 panel card cost $.93, all of the pictures cost $.31 (I could have had 100 pictures or just one ~ the price was still the same) and to add the video to the card cost $.31, postage is $.45 for a stamp so…

it costs exactly $2 with postage included

This is why I love what I do!  I just uploaded their pictures from Facebook and their website to my free SendOutCards (SOC) account, then I decided what backgrounds, fonts and colors I wanted, I then wrote a note from my heart and finally I found their address, filled in the blanks in the virtual envelope provided by SOC and voila!  I clicked send ~ within 24 hours, my card was printed, stuffed into the envelope, licked, addressed, stamped and mailed for me!

There is nothing easier, nor more fun, nor less expensive and yet priceless!

I had to share…so please indulge me!

Do you need to thank someone?

Click below…you’ll be glad you did!

Got Gratitude?

xo