Happy Thanksgiving!

May our lives be full of both thanks and giving!

Good morning to you!  If you’re celebrating Thanksgiving today, please allow me to wish you many blessings on this day along with my gratitude for our friendship and the connections we have made.  Happy Friendsgiving to you!

It’s a quiet morning here.  My children are still sleeping in their beds and as usual, I’m sitting here sipping coffee, thinking about life and counting my blessings.  Especially as I grow older, I find myself appreciating The Presents of Presence more and taking the much needed time to remember and to be grateful for all that I have endured to make this moment in time more precious.

Life continues to change with every passing year.  We lose friends and family along the way as we grow older.  Situations change.  People change.  Life can seem more complicated.  But the simplicity of gratitude which is what Thanksgiving represents makes the now, this present moment, all the more real, for we never know what can change in our lives at a moment’s notice.

So, take this day and remember to:

Speak from your heart and say I love you more often.

Appreciate those with whom you have a lasting connection.

Be thankful for all blessings – big and small.

Shine your heartlights.

Connect with kindness.

Be grateful for all of the kindness you’ve received.

Make sweet memories, for they are your legacy.

Enjoy this day that you’ve been given.

Shine On!

xo

What Does It Mean To Be Exceptional?

Exceptional is one of those adjectives which cause us to take note of their loving inner beauty and their bright shiny sparkly heartlight when we use it to describe a person.  Or at least, that’s how I used it.

So what does it mean to be exceptional?  Are you a saint because you’re exceptional?  Or are you just a plain ole person who shines their heartlight on others?  Is it innately easy to be exceptional or does it take hard work and planning?  Can you be exceptional in certain aspects and just plain normal in others or is it all-encompassing?

Can exceptional be ruled on an act that you achieve or don’t?  Or is it just a feeling?

Who do you know who is exceptional?  Are you exceptional?  Your kids?  Your spouse?  Your pet?  Your friends?  The Dalai Lama?  Mother Teresa?  Princess Diana?  A person who has overcome adversity?  Do you look up to exceptional people as role models?

How do you define the word exceptional?

  How do you define a person whom you would deem exceptional?

I think exceptional is a lovely description of someone who shines and you, my dear friends, shine exceptionally beautifully!  Big hugs to all today and always.  I can see your heartlights shining from here!

Shine On!

xo

 

 

Our Lives Are All Different and Yet The Same

We all live with the objective of being happy;

our lives are all different and yet the same.

~ Anne Frank

I believe this bears repeating.

The Objective Of Being Happy

Shine On!

xo

Keys to Harmony

I am learning the keys to harmony.  Perhaps in the back of my mind, I have known the tune all along, but had resorted to humming, instead of learning the lyrics.  I think that may be what many of us do in life.  We either stay silent or we hit a wrong note in an attempt to be heard.  Or we hum the melody without using our words.

And sometimes this serves us.

And sometimes, it does not.

The keys are to know the difference.

Often attempts at harmony are not met with enthusiasm for various reasons.  We sing in different keys and therefore to be in harmony with others, we need to compromise and find the middle ground in order to communicate easily.  One wrong note and the harmony ceases.  It’s often difficult for each person to be themselves, to sing their own part and somehow find harmony with those around them.  It takes practice, patience, understanding and listening from a place of love in order to harmonize with others.  We cannot come to the piano bench expecting to play life’s keys perfectly without listening for those around us as they play their tune as well.

Listening to others’ tunes, hearing how they hit the notes, noticing which ones they miss and how they feel about harmony takes practice.  Being in an observer mode, hearing our own notes and seeing the whole orchestral piece of music helps the players get along and helps the musical piece rise to new heights.

To be in tune with ourselves is a gift, like The Presents of Presence.  To appreciate the music in others is a precious gift as well.  It takes courage to play our own tune.  It takes love to harmonize with others.  But when it all comes together, love shines through the blended piece!

Today, listen to your song.  Take a moment to listen to Nature.  As you pass through the lives of others today, whether it is a brief encounter or a lifelong relationship, hum your song and listen as others tune in with harmony!

Shine On!

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

God grant me…a Thankful Thursday!

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;

courage to change the things I can,

and the wisdom to know the difference. -Reinhold Niebuhr

At various times in my life, I have, like a little pitbull, tried to change people, circumstances and situations to no avail.  I have, like a stubborn mule, refused to believe that if I just worked harder, showed how good I was, did everything perfectly, explained it better or got ‘them’ to see the light, that the desired effect would reign supreme.

And as you can guess, it didn’t work…maybe it did once or twice, but the majority of the time, my plan of execution fell short.

The above quote has been passed around many times, but I think it bears repeating because it’s a lesson that we all need to learn and sometimes relearn when we forget that the only thing we can change, the only person we can change is ourselves.  (not sure if that it grammatically correct, but you get the gist, right?)

Wayne Dyer has a quote which I adore ~ When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.

So now, when I see or feel the need for change, I don’t look outside myself or at my circumstances ~  instead I try to change the way I look at things and change myself, my way of thinking, my way of perceiving the situation, the people, the circumstance.  By no means is this an easy feat, but instead of feeling powerless, I feel powerful because I know I can do anything that I set my mind to and I can choose to just ‘be’ with what I find unacceptable knowing that it’s not about me.

That’s been a big change for me ~ one which I am still seeing the ripples of peace glide through my life because of it.

So on Thankful Thursday I offer this tidbit to you.

Be Thankful for YOU!  You have the Power to KNOW the Difference ~ so use it!

Be still ~ Be free ~ Be YOU!

And don’t let the turkeys get you down! 🙂

xo

Have an Udderly Wonderful Day!

Have an Udderly Wonderful Day!

Sometimes I just feel silly and this is one of those days!  So bear with me if you will as I share ~

Happy MOOday!

You see SendOutCards is not just for motivational cards or cards that send heartfelt messages…it’s also about funny, happy, joyful cards that can make you laugh.  That is why I love sharing my job with you…because in these times, we can all benefit from a morning giggle…

So grab yourself a MILKshake today and let’s toast to MOOday today…

May you have the BEST WEEK!

xo

Thankful Thursday!

The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we are,

but in what direction we are moving. – Oliver Wendell Holmes

I found this card under the Thank You’s in SendOutCards this morning and I just so enjoyed it that I’m sharing!  I’m reminded of the Jeffersons of the 70s or was it 80s when they sang that Moving On Up song…and not for the obvious reason of Moving On Up to the East Side…but to moving on up to feeling good, to inspiring others, to moving up in vibrational paths, in personal development, in higher thinking and in essentially all things…

Look UP ~look to the sky…it’s where I’ve found amazing sunrises, sunsets and clouds in rainbow colors with beauty that sometimes I find indescribable.  On my retreat last week, I began to do exactly that…LOOK UP ~ and I was rewarded by the most amazing skies!

Now that I’m back to the day to day pace of family living, I find myself Looking UP through the windshield as I’m driving the kids to their activities and pointing out the amazing skies.  It baffles me that so many of us don’t take that moment in our day to just notice the world’s beauty ~ because it’s there and we get so caught up in our own realities that we forget to notice the little things.

When was the last time you simply looked to the sky?  Take 2 minutes today to just look up and notice the world around you…the blades of grass, the sun, the clouds, the color of the sky…tonight, see the stars, the moon, the vastness of the night sky.  We are all connected my friends.  Breathe that beauty, that vastness, that connection into your soul today.  Take the peace that comes with that feeling and enjoy it ~ even for a moment.

Be thankful for the beauty that surrounds you…

You are a part of that beauty…

And for that, I thank you!

xo

I LOVE YOU!

I Love You!

Happy pre-Valentine’s Day!

Make sure that in addition to telling those special people in your life that you love them,

tell YOURSELF ~ I LOVE YOU!

And know that you are loved by me as well.

xo

Hike!

You may think that SendOutCards only has inspiring, motivating cards to choose from, but no…we have over 17,000 cards and growing which range in subject ~ even random cards like this one which works perfectly for the SUPERBOWL!

For less than $1 a card, you can choose a card, write your heartfelt message, press SEND and your card is printed, stuffed, addressed, stamped and mailed within 24 hours!

You can create your own card, using your own photos, logos etc as well ~ you can even use your own handwriting or use one of the many fonts available on SOC!

Don’t leave the house, stay on your couch, log onto your computer and simply send a card when you want ~ saying what you want ~ knowing that your recipient is getting a heartfelt message from you!

Need a gift as well?  No worries ~ simply add a gift, a giftcard, even Mrs. Field’s cookies to your card!

It’s a TOUCHDOWN!

Schedule cards to be sent up to 1 year in advance ~ even send the same card, personalized to each person, with the click of the SEND button in moments!

Don’t miss another birthday, anniversary or chance to tell someone how you feel! 

What’s holding you back?

1..2…3…HIKE!

Go for it!

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xo

GO GIANTS!!