Month: January 2020

Mistakes

by worrylessjourney, posted in advice, choices, consequences, learn, mistakes

I have three children. They are all in their 50’s now and that is hard to believe. They were born 3 years apart making the oldest 6 years older than the youngest. When they were about 10, 13 and 16 there was fun conversation going on at dinner one night. The kids were taking about each other’s mistakes…the older two pointing fingers at each other debating who had made the worst mistakes.

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Somewhere during the conversation the two of them realized that they had not said anything about the youngest…..and they couldn’t think of anything to say about her. One of them, frustrated that they couldn’t point at her asked: “Why don’t you make many mistakes?”

 

 

She responded: “I watch what the two of you do and don’t make the same mistakes.” An amazing piece of wisdom from a 10 year old. We could all learn from her.

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Too often we can’t see the wisdom of learning from the mistakes of others. If we did the world would be a better place. That is what history teaches us if we are willing to pay attention. Don’t make the same mistakes with the same outcome. Learn from the past and from the mistakes of others.

Courtesy

by worrylessjourney, posted in aggravations, courtesy, habits, kindness, little things, selfish, unkindness

Today we went to the grocery story. It still amazes me how many people do not put the carts away. These are not people parked in the handicapped places but others. There are many cart return places and no one has to walk far to take a cart back.

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This is just one of many small things that we can do to make things better for everyone. Possibly these are the same people who throw trash out of their car windows, leave trash on the beach and are unconcerned about who has to clean it all up.

Consideration is the name of the game. Nothing huge but small things that make life better. When you think of how long most of these small things take it is minute. I can see the worker coming out of the grocery store and looking around in disbelief as all the carts are in their proper place.

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Remember small courtesies make a BIG difference.

An ordinary day

by worrylessjourney, posted in acceptance, appreciate, enjoy, expectations, gratitude, thankful

As days go this was an ordinary day.There is something comforting about an ordinary day. It can seem to be a boring day.Nothing unexpected happens.The day goes as planned.

With the way that things have gone lately it is nice to have an ordinary day. Sometimes we go for quite a while with days being strange.When that happens it is nice for the day to be quiet.

The dictionary says ordinary is “with no special or distinctive features; normal.” It is interesting that it says normal since normal seems to be such a relative term.

I really enjoyed having a day where everything went as planned.That doesn’t happen very often.I have heard it said that time seems to go faster when everything is normal.Today that did not matter.It was just nice to have a day where there were no worries.Like most people, I probably would be bored if everyday we’re like that.I do find that once in a while it is nice to have boring.

Unfortunately, this seems like a boring post.I did you a good night.

Food and kind thoughts

by worrylessjourney, posted in blessings, comfort, compassion, help, kindness, little things, needs, understanding

Our church makes up bags of goodies for homeless people. It has a variety of items in it…some food items, hygiene things (like toothbrush) and a $5.00 bill. I try to have one in my car at all times. Several places that I stop at a light there are people wanting a hand out of some sort. Every single person that I hand a bag to has said “thank you and God bless you.” I know the bags don’t solve the problem but even small things can make a difference.

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If you can manage it keep something in your car to give to those in need. It doesn’t have to be as complex as what the church makes up but it will be received with gratitude. I have a friend that has some small food items she carries. For those who are hurting anything will help. Add a note with a kind thought to it. “God loves you, you are important, you matter.” Whatever you can come up with. Those notes do make a difference.

A lost day?

by worrylessjourney, posted in compassion, friends, help, humans need humans, kindness, understanding

Today seemed lost. My friend’s husband ended up in the hospital and I spent the day sitting in halls, cafeteria, wherever waiting for answers. Because of the flu outbreak they are only letting one person in at a time. I found places to stay away from the sick, read, knit and watch things on my Kindle. It was a day for kind thoughts and waiting.

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We arrived there about 10:30 and got some answers at 4:00 pm. He has a kidney infection and will be kept over night and assessed in the morning. I hope they send him home as the hospital is a source of infections.

So often I have struggled with what I am needed to do in my retirement but I think this day puts it in place. I am able to drop everything to be with a friend and that is something special. I am doing what is needed.

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Sometimes it is hard to see what is right in front of us. We all want to do something that “counts.” Counts how? Something that everyone sees? That is not what is important. Important is answering a need. Important is being there. So no one knows this is how I spent my day. It doesn’t matter. I was there when needed.

Be there for someone’s needs.

Live your beliefs

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, belief, choices, compassion, consequences, frustration, misunderstanding, problems, true story

A number of years ago my husband and I had a house that we rented. Some people moved in and at first it was perfect. They paid rent on time and the house (from the outside) looked good.

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As time went on the husband told us that his wife was sick and they would be late with the rent. This went on with them occasionally paying something on the rent. My husband and I felt sorry for them to be going through such a tough time.

Then it got to where they were paying no rent but continued to tell us their many problems. We were worried but we were too kind to put them out. Two of their grown sons came and went along with other relatives. Now we were more worried. Then one day they came and told us they were moving. This actually was a relief. They left and we went into the house. Things were damaged everywhere. It took much money and lots of work on our part to fix the house up to rent again. We later learned that the sons were selling drugs from the house.

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Now we could haunt ourselves with how stupid we were to let this happen. And you are right…we shouldn’t. But here’s the thing…we consider ourselves to be good people….worthy of being called Christian and that is how we live. We wouldn’t let that happen again but they were the bad people not us.

I know that they left saying how dumb we were but being told of the wife’s illness ( and she really was sick) we lived out our commitment to be compassionate. It gives us a twinge once in a while but we lived what we believe.

Time to rant/ Wrong choice

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, aggravations, commitment, consequences, Uncategorized, wrong

I don’t usually complain about decisions made by the president (and that includes any president…it doesn’t matter who). This is one time I take seriously this simple choice that really affects very few people.

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It is my understanding that the president decided that those football players who go to one of the academies can bypass military service and be drafted for a professional team. I see this as totally wrong. We, the people, have paid for that education with the expectation that military service would follow. It is also not fair to the other students. What in the world makes football players special? We all know the answer to that but if they are going to be allowed to escape their commitment they should have to pay back the cost of their education.

My rant is done.

Will we learn?

by worrylessjourney, posted in accountable, commitment, consequences, decisions, divided world, peace

I heard this song just the other day. It brought back so many memories. I love folk songs and the stories they tell. I was lucky that the era when they were so popular was during my college years.

This song was written by Pete Seeger who was a long time activist. It reminds us that we are the ones who cause wars. His question always gets to me: “When will they ever learn?”

We haven’t learned yet. Is there any chance that we will learn?

Cancer aftermath

by worrylessjourney, posted in comfort, compassion, connections, coping, healing, life changes, understanding

I have several friends who have had cancer and are in remission. When this happens people begin to see them as back to normal. Most people are unaware of how much courage is involved in continuing to move forward. There are periodic scans and you have to wait for results. It can be a time of nail biting and stress.

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Chemotherapy also can have devastating consequences. The medicines that make you well can also cause major problems with the well systems in your body. There are many things that can go wrong from failure of other organs to hair, skin, teeth problems. It is not an easy path.

Hopefully the future will bring us closer to our own immune system removing the cancer from our body without hurting anything else.

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Remember those who struggle with the aftermath of cancer treatment. They need our continuing compassion and support.

Knit Wits

by worrylessjourney, posted in abuse, accountable, animals, dogs, feelings, help, Immoral, knitting and crocheting, sadness, unbelievable, violence

Today our Tuesday knit/crochet/whatever group decided to knit blankets for the Humane Society. We all love animals and they need all the help they can get. We feel that we get so much joy from knitting together that we can share that joy elsewhere.

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I spoke to the humane society and they are thrilled that we will do that. It is one way to pay it forward. I can’t believe the way some people treat animals.

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Of course I also can’t believe the way children/adults are treated also. I guess my comprehension of how someone must think to abuse anything/anyone is something out of my understanding. I don’t even like to step on a bug and when I can I will put them outside. Where we are we get small lizards in the house and I have been known to chase all over to catch them and get them outdoors where they can thrive. It hurts my heart (actually) to think of the abuse some people/animals suffer.