Today I am thankful for gray skies and open spaces.
It’s been raining and the tennis courts are wet and my match today got cancelled. Instead, I went for a hike with Michele and S and A. It was exactly what the doctor ordered!! We hiked for 7 miles and enjoyed the conversation and views and exercise!
Life is good.I love the openness and the wild and coolness in the air.
Wild turkey
Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of. ~Benjamin Franklin
How do you choose to spend your time? Are you proactively setting up your days to do what you really want to do? This is what I’m thinking about today as I think about the gift of time we all are given. We are all busy, but we can always make time for what we love and want, if we know what it is we really want and how to plan for it and do the work.
We all are given equal hours every day. No one is different in this context. Whether you’re the President of the United States, a mom, a CEO, a student, an employee, a child, we all get the same number of hours. How fair is that? I kinda like that thought. So it’s up to us and our circumstances how we choose to live them up.
The other day I was listening to a 30 minute podcast by Jessica Herrin, the founder of Stella & Dot, in the car while I was driving home from the gym. She was talking about this subject of time mastery and I was totally intrigued how she described time as needing to be mastered versus managed. We have to link what we choose to do with our core values and be sure to set boundaries to protect our time. We have to learn to say no and to not feel guilty when we choose to say yes to time spent doing what we’re good at and what we want to do.
Right now I’m thinking about my time on the micro level and planning how I want to choose to spend my hours on any given day. I’d like to get better at this and practice mapping out bigger projects too, so they actually get done versus just me thinking about doing them. I practiced assigning tasks that I’ve been wanting to complete to the hour or half hour windows that were open throughout my day. The cool thing is that my task list suddenly became a priority and I have been able to say no to other distractions. And guess what? I am getting things done that I’ve been wanting to do and the procrastination and time spent on social media and gaming has decreased dramatically. I learned that many times when I don’t know what I want to do, time gets sucked into the vortex of online screen time and house cleaning. Those things are always there and “want” my attention. I want to be more accountable for my time and with the choices I’m making to make my time more meaningful. I want to carve out some time to be creative, mindful, to read, to be a better friend, to exercise, and to sleep more, in addition to my responsibilities. And so I am.
How are you choosing to spend your hours?
One last thought, before I get to bed early tonight since I’m actively choosing to get more sleep… I am fully aware how quickly a year goes by after living overseas for a year and being back again already for four months now. When you’re in the moment, it feels like forever. But looking back, I realize and can feel how fast that year sped by and it’s already gone. Where did the time go? I know… it’s just a rhetorical question… Good night.
“While we are postponing, life speeds by.”
Seneca
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
― Melody Beattie
Today I’m thankful for time for reflection. Reflection to me is a way to look in the mirror, or look inside and to be still and to see and feel what’s really there. It’s a time for meditation or deep thought or prayer. It’s a form of stillness and a time to be thankful for what and who we are and all we have and all we do.
If we stop to reflect, we slow down for a minute or two or three to actually think and process all of the events and circumstances in our lives. I think this is important to do, to be sure we’re actively making the right choices for ourselves as we continue to change and adapt and grow. If we can slow down to reflect, we can take time to be thankful for all that we have, and to dream and anticipate all that we will become.
So whether you call it reflection, meditation, prayer, savasna, pause, or mindfulness… take a moment to reflect on all that is good and feel the benefits you derive from this simple pleasure and see where you go from here. Peace.
“Be a reflection of what you’d like to see in others! If you want love, give love, if you want honesty, give honesty, if you want respect, give respect. You get in return, what you give!”- unknown
First rain of the season – I loved it!
“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”
Maya Angelou
Today is day 18 and I’m thinking about change. Change is not always comfortable, but it’s always happening, whether we like it or not.
I like to be aware of the changes that are happening in my life and hope that I’m learning to adapt quickly. Life is constantly changing and things don’t stay the same. Sounds so cliche, but it’s so true. And once we don’t expect things to stay the same, the happier we can be. We have to adapt to whatever comes our way, every damn day.
I wonder if that’s why I’m loving watching the trees every day. They are symbolic to life. I love watching how they change and I’m aware of their different states. I anticipate what will come next, even as I’m enjoying the present moment. Ahhh, trees. I like you.
Enjoying the end of the leaves
For those of us who have lost loved ones, this is probably the hardest change that we have to adapt to and probably takes the longest. Wishing you peace, especially to the Caselli family this week. Namaste.
It’s Gratitude Gift Giving, day 17 and I wanted to share a story of hope and joy.
Photo credit: Jeff Chiu, Associated Press
“It’s wonderful, wonderful. It’s great for the youngster and it’s great for the city of San Francisco and the whole region. Saving lives for the day, I love it. It’s so good. A good deed in a weary world.” — San Francisco 49ers’ Head Coach Jim Harbaugh
The world sucked a little less this week.
A 5-year-old little boy who has been battling leukemia was granted his wish by the Make-a-Wish Foundation with the help of over 13,000 volunteers and the goodwill of San Francisco. He wanted to become Batman and save Gotham City. And so San Francisco was transformed into Gotham and little Miles had his wish come true as a fantasy world was brought to life, just for the day.
Batkid started in California, but with social media, his legacy made over 442 million potential impressions around the world. There were over 13,000 volunteers and over 339,000 tweets related to his story.
Why is his story so significant and why did it touch so many?
I think it’s pretty simple. I think Miles overcoming leukemia represents hope when things are bad. I think people wanted to help make his dream come true, because everyone loves a super hero and the fantasy world where good always overcomes evil. It’s what we long for in everyday life. We want to be part of something good. We want to help others. We want to celebrate life with each other, and Miles allowed us all to show up to his party.
We have such a strong desire for community and connection and being a part of Miles’ dream allowed thousands of people to do something, even if that was just to share his story, or to be a bystander, or to be part of the story set.
Miles’ story represents our need for goodness and to give and to help others and to focus on a happy ending.
Humanity doesn’t suck. We are good. And we have good things to share, despite the bad that also exists. There will always be other causes and different ways to make a difference and we should not judge how we choose to contribute to the greater good of society.
I am hopeful.
Photo credit: Michael Macor, The Chronicle
References:
Photos from: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Batkid-Thousands-cheer-on-pint-size-superhero-4985651.php
Stats from: http://topsy.com/analytics?q1=%23SFbatkid&via=Topsy
“There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” – Jane Austen
My family just wants to be home. I understand. I get it and I’ve decided to join them. I’m the one that usually wants to plan family outings and shared experiences. The kids have told me we have enough togetherness and don’t really need any more special outings every weekend. I understand, really I do. At first, I felt a bit sad and disappointed. But I listen to them and know that you can’t force things and cling on to things as they are changing, and they are growing up. I don’t always want to push my agenda and so I adapt. And guess what? Life is really good that way, for all of us.
Soccer season just ended and we didn’t have any plans to go anywhere. I decided to embrace home life and just being home. I love to cook and try new things and so that’s what I decided to do today. I opened my Julia Child’s cookbook and spent the day cooking Beef Bourguignon. It takes several hours to prepare and cook this dish and the entire house has smelled delicious all day. It brought back wonderful memories of Marco and Kathy back at business school, when Marco would cook this dish and spoil us. I loved being in the kitchen and having my family come in to see what I was doing and to tell me how good it smelled.
While I was cooking, Charlie and Juliana were outside playing in the front yard with the fallen leaves and creating huge piles on the grass with our neighbor friends. They were so cute working for hours together, creating their stock pile and jumping on their mountain. They played hide the turkey and threw leaves in the air, laughing and diving in the piles. I enjoyed hearing them play and had to go outside to take pictures and share their joy.
Juliana and J came in to make carmel brownies for dessert and April and Steve came over to join us for a laid-back, casual/fancy slow-cooked meal.
And so today I’m thankful for my family for teaching me to relax and to just enjoy being home without having to go anywhere. And learning that sometimes what you’re trying to create can just come naturally and be so simple. Everyone was happy and relaxed and got to do what they wanted to do. And in the end, togetherness just happened. I am happy, at home. Life is good.
How did you spend your day? What do you love most about your home?
Gratitude Gift Giving – Day 14 – Acknowledgment
This may mean different things to different people. I think it means Namaste – the good in me acknowledges the good in you. Or the light in me sees the light in you. And together we shine.
We are all seeking attention and acknowledgement, knowing that we are important and that we matter. We might seek this acknowledgement through different means, but we all want it and thrive from it. Isn’t that an amazing thought? Some people seek attention through the way they look, how fit they are, how much money they make, good grades, how religious they are, which degrees they’ve attained, their job title or position, how loud they can be, how controversial they can be and sometimes even seek negative attention. We all seek to be loved and to be seen and there are different paths to attain this sense of being and to be acknowledged. I believe this to be a universal truth. And our definitions and needs for acknowledgement change as we mature.
Here I am. There you are. Life is good. You are good. Never forget that.
Facebook and Instagram and blogs are just a few platforms that allow us to share small parts of who we are and allows others to see us, to acknowledge us, to like us and to confirm our being. It’s a form of knowledge sharing, and sharing usually the good parts or the highlights of our lives and what we are passionate about. It’s a form of connection. We get to share who we are with our friends and family and we wait to see if they like what we shared or have something to add to the conversation. I love this process. And I love being inspired by others and learning how others are celebrating their days. I’m genuinely curious and grateful that people chose to share and connect.
It’s very easy to positively acknowledge others and spread joy. Click like on someone’s posts. Smile at the person in line near you. Genuinely compliment someone and feel the love that returns and know that you’ve pleased someone. Acknowledge others and they will acknowledge you. We can be the change we want to see in the world and it doesn’t cost a penny.
Today I told the lady at Costco that was sampling laundry detergent that I liked her voice. I liked that she was passionate about the qualities of laundry detergent and it sounded like she was singing it’s praises. I was strangely entertained by her voice while walking up and down the aisle. I didn’t buy the detergent, but I liked that she was enjoying her job and for some reason as I passed by her display, I felt like I should tell her. You should have seen her face and her body language when I did. She was genuinely touched and happy and told me that I made her day. Who would have thought? We both smiled.
My son likes to make noise constantly. I have a feeling that he actually wants to be acknowledged, so that we know he is there. For some reason it seems like if he’s quiet, that we don’t see him. I’m trying to acknowledge his presence in other positive ways and hoping that this habit changes soon, but I keep reacting to his incessant noises and giving him negative attention and the bad habit continues. I guess I’m still learning!
Sometimes I decide to play this game where I chose to love everyone I see. This sounds really weird, but it changes my perspective with the people that I encounter and I’m always amazed at the friendly, personal interactions that occur. For example, instead of being irritated with lousy customer service, I chose to think of the person serving me with love instead of with anger. I find something in common to share, or find something to compliment and try to create a connection versus a disconnect. I’m always pleasantly surprised how my attitude changes and the other person’s does too and everything is better.
I do this with smiles too. I smile at everyone, even the people that never smile back. And once in awhile, they can’t help but crack a smile too, which makes me happy. I have a neighbor like this. She never smiles. She always stares at me, but never smiles. And usually I stare back because that’s what she does and she doesn’t typically return a smile when I smile at her. A couple weeks ago, I was riding my bike past her house and she was staring at me again. I chose to sincerely smile at her and wave, because it feels different when you pass someone from a bicycle than when you’re slowly walking by, and believe it or not, she smiled back. Success! I wonder if she’s happy. Maybe for a moment she was.
Anyway, thank you for reading and sharing this wonderful life journey together, wherever you are. Consider yourself hugged and acknowledged!! Namaste.
This beautiful view is from Washington Park in Sunnyvale. Breathtaking, isn’t it?
“If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere.”
― Vincent van Gogh
It’s Day 12 of my gratitude gift giving and today I am giving thanks for the beauty of nature that surrounds us.
I keep smiling as I watch how the trees are changing daily.
I’m admiring the small blooms in my yard and appreciating the colors that brighten our yard.
I’m loving the light shows as the sun rises and begins to set.
And I’m aware, which is really cool, because how often do you really pay attention to your daily surroundings? The leaves are falling now and the grass is covered in colors of fall.
Life is beautiful, especially when you see.
Do you see what I see?
What do you see in your part of the world?
The Presidio, San Francisco. November 11, 2013.
“Duty, Honor, Country: Those three hallowed words reverently dictate what you ought to be, what you can be, what you will be. They are your rallying points: to build courage when courage seems to fail; to regain faith when there seems to be little cause for faith; to create hope when hope becomes forlorn. Unhappily, I possess neither that eloquence of diction, that poetry of imagination, nor that brilliance of metaphor to tell you all that they mean.
The unbelievers will say they are but words, but a slogan, but a flamboyant phrase. Every pedant, every demagogue, every cynic, every hypocrite, every troublemaker, and, I am sorry to say, some others of an entirely different character, will try to downgrade them even to the extent of mockery and ridicule.
But these are some of the things they do. They build your basic character. They mold you for your future roles as the custodians of the nation’s defense. They make you strong enough to know when you are weak, and brave enough to face yourself when you are afraid.
They teach you to be proud and unbending in honest failure, but humble and gentle in success; not to substitute words for action; not to seek the path of comfort, but to face the stress and spur of difficulty and challenge; to learn to stand up in the storm, but to have compassion on those who fall; to master yourself before you seek to master others; to have a heart that is clean, a goal that is high; to learn to laugh, yet never forget how to weep; to reach into the future, yet never neglect the past; to be serious, yet never take yourself too seriously; to be modest so that you will remember the simplicity of true greatness; the open mind of true wisdom, the meekness of true strength.
They give you a temperate will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of the emotions, a freshness of the deep springs of life, a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, an appetite for adventure over love of ease. They create in your heart the sense of wonder, the unfailing hope of what next, and the joy and inspiration of life. They teach you in this way to be an officer and a gentleman.
And what sort of soldiers are those you are to lead? Are they reliable? Are they brave? Are they capable of victory?
Their story is known to all of you. It is the story of the American man at arms.”
– General Douglas MacArthur’s Farewell Speech
Given to the Corps of Cadets at West Point
May 12, 1962
Today is Veteran’s Day.
It is a time to pause and think about the sacrifices that have been made so that we can be free. It’s a time to honor the soldiers and their families that have been separated by duty and war, sometimes for weeks, months, years and in some cases, life.
Do you ever think about what it would be like to be deployed far away from your home and family, in uncomfortable living situations, and hot temperatures, and away from your comfortable daily routines? Sometimes I try to imagine what that sacrifice feels like. I don’t know if I could do it. I am thankful for those that have chosen and choose to fight for our freedom and to keep us safe. Thank you.
Thank you for your honor and for leading by example and for being role models and pillars of our society. Thank you for making our country safe and protecting the individual liberties that were created by our constitution.
With gratitude, thank you.
Thank you Colonel Algin Hughes, Steve Hughes, Adrian Jansen, Jeff Hartley, Nate Hartley, Steve Maline, Lenny, Joe Garner, Dave Chavez, Mike Bridges, Ben Danner, And all the other service men and women. Thank you.
“Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
― Anonymous, Holy Bible: King James Version
Gratitude Gift Giving – Day 10 – What is your favorite treasure? What do you treasure?
First, let me say thank you for being here, following and reading along with me as we think about what we’re thankful for and why. Whether you’re thinking about what you’re thankful for or sharing your ideas here with me and/or with others, we’re changing the conversation. We are being the change we want to see in the world by talking about and thinking about all that is good in our lives. We have so much to be thankful for despite all the circumstances and events that might prove otherwise. Keep up the passion and sharing and thinking good thoughts. Because what we think, we become. Keep being great.
So today’s gift is to think about what you treasure. What are things that you look at or touch and feel that make you happy? And why does your treasure evoke positive feelings?
I have a treasure chest. It’s a real, treasure box that Jeff and I bought in Marin at an antique shop years ago before we had kids. I wanted a treasure box to store mementos from our lives as we started to build our family. I think it may have been an Indonesian wedding chest, that would have been used to store linens or treasures, but I haven’t really done any research on it and instead just use my imagination to make it what I want it to be.
I wanted a treasure chest to store little mementos and love notes from Jeff and the kids . My intention was to keep filling it with memories without looking back until some time in the future. I don’t think I’ve actually gone back and looked yet, although I know little hands have been found digging around in there as evidenced by what is stacked on top as I opened it to take a picture tonight. Someday I will enjoy going back in time and looking back and remembering the love we’ve shared and experienced together over the years. This is my treasure. My family and my treasure box that reminds me of all that is good.
here i am 