Month: December 2019

A great place to meet

by worrylessjourney, posted in blessings, comfort, community, friends, fun!, gratitude, Uncategorized

Our knitting group meets on Tuesdays. The place we meet is so nice. The friendship Coffee Company. There are couches and comfortable chairs in addition to the regular dining tables. If we can we try to get the couch. Sometimes the group is just two or three and sometimes more.

friendship-coffee-2.jpg

The atmosphere in the cafe is such that it seems to encourage people to talk to one another. It is not unusual for us to meet new people almost every week. Reaching out to strangers we find so many with lots in common with us. The conversations and interesting and stimulating.

friendship coffee

It is a wonderful thing to have a place where people feel so comfortable that they can converse with those around them and meet new people.

Clean out those mental closets

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, choices, coping, enlightening, let go, life changes, Uncategorized

clean-out-your-closet-Wayne-L.-Misner-quote

Sometimes while thinking about our life we can see the places where we went off the track. It can be quite disturbing. Often we don’t want to open the doors of those closets where we have stored our missteps. The truth is that is how we learn. Looking back we can usually see very clearly how we stumbled off the path. The good news is we can also see how we got back on it.

Don’t be afraid to throw open the doors of your mental closets, sweep out the dirt, and leave it clean. Each day of life is an opportunity to learn something new. Take advantage of it.

let-go-mental-clutter-Vidya-Sury.jpg

Not at home yet

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, balance, blessings, centering, choices, church, consequences, courtesy, understanding

find the roadThere are some times when I wear my feelings on my shoulders. Since coming back to my husband’s church I have not really felt at home there. It is not anything about the church but about me. After 20 years of working in a church there is so much I could share but I can’t. I offer to help and usually end up stepping on someones toes. Other people need space to do things…my turn is past. I don’t want to be in charge if anything…just offer experience. Even after several years I feel as if part of me is missing. The only change has to be made by me. (the hardest person to change)

The frustration I experience when I am at the church is painful. The best thing may be to go somewhere else for a while where I don’t feel that pull. If everything is unfamiliar I may not have such a strong reaction. At least it is worth trying to see if it helps.

As we get older we have so much to share and don’t often get the opportunity to do so. This blog has been a wonderful way to at least offer my experiences in the hope that they may help others. It has kept me centered and moving forward. This is a blessing.

 

 

A sad outcome

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, choices, compassion, consequences, dogs, Uncategorized

The days have been dark, rainy and cold. Not fun for me. I am sun oriented. Tomorrow should be better. Last night I went out to a party for the first time since surgery. What I learned was it was too soon. It is so hard to remember that we do need time to heal. I am so used to being constantly on the go that I don’t seem to be able to stop.

It was a good lesson and I will be more careful. Christmas is a busy time and one that makes it hard to slow down.

good but sad choice

We also had a dreadful experience this morning. We heard our two bassets outside barking and howling frantically. When we checked that were facing a raccoon. Raccoons are not out in the daytime here and to have one not only out but challenging our dogs was a bad omen. My husband and I went out. I corralled the dogs and he approached the coon who did not run away. Also very unusual. It was very obvious that the coon was very sick. Couldn’t walk well, was disoriented and shaking as if with some sort of palsy.

The population of raccoons around us has had a problem with rabies and distemper. The raccoon was in distress and I suspect from his behavior it was distemper. He was going to die …and soon. He was at risk for encountering other neighborhood dogs who would also be at risk so my husband took the best outcome and shot him. We both felt so bad but it was best for everyone. We both hate killing anything and have both been sad about it but there was little choice. He would have died in pain and fear.

We are both animal lovers and want the best for any animal. We have near us a sanctuary for local wildlife. My husband spoke with them and they said what was done was best. It helps but we still feel bad.

Too far?

by worrylessjourney, posted in balance, choices, connections, humans need humans, learn

girl in grass holding her smartphone ordering fast foodSometimes I feel bad about ordering so many things on-line. But the truth is that no only can I get exactly what I want but without spending time hunting for it in the store. I know this is hard on the local merchants but I’m afraid it is going to be the way things go.

As things change we have to find new ways to work with what is happening. I’m sure the industrial revolution made life difficult for the workers who had previously been doing those jobs.

Computers have taken over so much and now on-line shopping is the norm. Even to ordering you food and your meals. The worrysome part is will we never leave our homes? Will be become hermits who live and dies by ourselves. It is a possibility. So much interaction between people is now electronic. We don’t see people face to face.

survive

Some changes must be made. Mankind is communal and doesn’t function well all alone. Somehow we have to incorporate the changes into our lives but maintain ways to connect face to face.

Who is to blame for this mess?

by worrylessjourney, posted in aggravations, answers, choices, consequences, funny, humor, Laughter, politics, viewpoint

This showed up last night on Facebook. It is so funny and a wonderful take on elections in general and the things that are going on in Britain and the US.

Beaker Folk Prayer for the General Election

Announced by Archdruid Eileen

Oh God, we pray for the General Election and that through it your will be done.

Albeit we’re a bit concerned that if we explicitly associate your will with the results of the election, there’s kind of an impression given that the winners have God on their side.

Which given the potential leaders we’re looking at currently seems, frankly, a bit worrying. We mean, we know you’ve worked through Cyrus, Potiphar’s wife, Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery and a talking donkey. But, you know, that was back in Biblical times when it was all a lot simpler.

And we’re a bit worried that if we say your will is equivalent to the results of a democratic election, then it’s arguable your will made a right mess of it in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Not to take party political sides, but we’ve not been a terribly high-performing country after any of those votes. Was that your will?

As if it was, we can only conclude that in fact your will is to punish us for something. Maybe the Empire, or making hot pants trendy in the 60s, or Strictly Come Dancing. Don’t get us wrong, we can understand the punishment is deeply appropriate. But shorter and sharper would probably be better than this slow death by lies and fantasy we’ve been going through lately. Just a plague of frogs, maybe?

Votes without end

Amen

Maybe we also are being punished for those we have put in office. Who else is to blame? We do, after all, vote.

When did lying become OK?

by worrylessjourney, posted in aggravations, answers, choices, ethical, Immoral, learn, morality, politics, truth

With what is going on politically in the US this quote popped into my mind, I may have used it before but it is so appropriate now.

In a time of universal deceit telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell

searching for truth

 

Yesterday I heard someone talking about the absence of truth in everything we see and read. It is a incredible indictment of how things function in today’s world. If we are smart we have to question everything and IF we are good at research we may find the truth….but there is no guarantee. It is so different from the world I grew up in. I know it wasn’t perfect but the “average” person could be taken at their word. It was not OK to lie. It was not all right to distort the truth until it’s unrecognizable.

 

It makes me realize that one of the most important things that should be taught in schools is to take nothing at face value but learn to dig for more information. What a thing to have to teach children….that so much of everything is false.

look for truth

I feel lucky that my first degree was in history which meant I spent a lot of time doing research. I know how to hunt for facts and sniff out exaggerations and falsehoods. That has helped me so much in my life.

I guess I will be passing that on to my great grandchildren now.

Share joy, hope, love

by worrylessjourney, posted in balance, choices, consequences, giving, hope, joy, love, share, wisdom

It is night but after the night comes the morning. And with the morning there are new opportunities . There is so much to be shared. People who need love, hope, joy. Each of us needs to do what we can to bring that to others. Our sharing can make all the difference in someone else’s life. It doesn’t have to be physical things. If we have things we can share that others need that is a blessing. But to share ourselves is more important. For by giving love to others we enhance our own lives as well.

share joy

It is easy to get tangled up in “why do we do things? For ourselves or for others?” There is no confusion… we do it for both. We are not free from receiving good from the ways we reach out. It happens. But we can’t dismiss it as being selfish alone. Out helping others can bring them love, hope and joy. It can also bring the same things to us. That is not a wrong thing. It is just the way it works. God wants us to derive pleasure from helping others. It’s joy will remind us to keep on giving.

In my life I loved getting gifts. Interestingly enough, I now get more joy from the giving of them. There is something about the faces we see when we share of our belongings and especially of ourselves.

Share, share share. Don’t be afraid. You will not lose….you will gain!

Small acts of kindness matter

by worrylessjourney, posted in blessings, help, kindness, little things, moments, powerful

 

Sometimes one small gesture can give us the strength to do enormous things. From “Call the Midwife” Season 7 Episode 4

small act of kindness

Recently I have gone through discovering my thyroid needed to be removed…setting up Dr. visits and having surgery. Not exactly what any of us want to do at any time….especially in the weeks before Christmas when there is so much that we want to do.

I wasn’t looking forward to it but knew it was important. I have also learned through the years that getting things done quickly is actually easier than dragging my feet. So I scheduled visits and surgery and began the process. I dreaded it…but what happened was unexpected.

The surgeon was cheerful and personable. (If you know anything about surgeons this is not the norm. They are nice but mostly see their patients asleep.) He put his hand on my shoulder (also unusual) and helped me to feel his caring about my case. He agreed that the surgery needed to be done.

I was sent to the scheduler who was friendly, pleasant and wanting to help me schedule so it fit my life. She knew I wanted to have it done quickly so as to get it behind me. A date was scheduled after Thanksgiving. The following Monday she called to say the surgeon had decided to work on Friday and she called me first to see if I would like to move to that day. That was perfect for me and I was touched that she remembered.

When getting the prep labs etc the nurse and I had an amazing discussion about our views of faith and God. She had been to Tibet to visit religious sites. She was another along my journey whose caring made my day better.

This all was more than one small gesture but each of them helped me to move forward with confidence and an expectation of success.

KindnessCanvas

Remember what your attitude and demeanor can mean to the people you connect with each day. We can make someone’s day better!