Acceptance - 2023

In reflecting and selecting my word for 2023, “Acceptance” felt like a natural choice. 

Accepting and meeting others where they are at.

Accepting and loving myself as I am.

Accepting a difficult reality.

Accepting a challenge.

Accepting help.

Accepting praise, feedback, and different points of view.

Accepting new opportunities. Deciding what one cannot - and will not - accept.

Acceptance isn’t about giving up, or surrendering. It’s about getting perspective, and making a decision that is best for you at that time.

 

Acceptance supports us in making good choices. When we get thrown a curveball, it helps us move forward towards new goals instead of getting stuck in muck of regret or disappointment. 

The longer I live, the more I’ve come to accept that things rarely go the way we imagine. While we may get blown off course from time to time, we may also end up somewhere more beautiful than we dared to dream.

"I think tolerance and acceptance and love is something that feeds every community."
~~ Lady Gaga

Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Australia 2008

The Answer Maybe in the Question

Asking the right question in order to get ourselves thinking, really thinking - there is so much truth in this.

When we can ask that question, at the right moment, and that gives us clarity of direction, how powerful this can be in our lives.

These questions I found while surfing the web have no right or wrong answers, because sometimes asking the right questions is the answer.

1. How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?

2. If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?

3. Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?

4. To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?

5. Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?

6. What’s something you know you do differently than most people?

7. What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?

8. Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?

9. Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?


"I cannot stress enough that the answer to life's questions is often in people's faces.  Try putting your iPhones down once in a while, and look in people's faces.  People's faces will tell you amazing things, like if they are angry or nauseous or asleep"
~~ Amy Poehler

I took this photo in January 2011 when hiking with friends at Seal Cave, near Stoney Bay on the Banks Peninsula Track on the South Island of New Zealand. It would be a perfect spot to contemplate some of these questions.

WHY BLOGGING IS ESSENTIAL

Why do we blog??.......OR more to the point WHY DO I BLOG?

I have given this question considerable thought and concluded it is because I love being stroked, complimented, flattered, hugged........am I being shallow?

Probably!

Blogging has enhanced my creative side and expanded my knowledge 100 fold. I actually feel I am a better person since I started blogging.

I blog to be part of a community of people whom I respect; I want to understand your thinking and I want you to understand mine. 

I blog to be part of the conversation. I blog to remember. I blog to refine my thinking. I blog because I don't think I really understand something until I write about it. 

Finally I blog because there are truly remarkable people in the world, who perhaps would not be recognized by the world. I blog to connect with persons who share some (if not all) of my values. 

So I keep coming back to blogging because of YOU my friends, yes YOU, I keep coming back because of YOU. BLESS YOU. 

"A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked".
~~ Bernard Meltzer

One Little Word 2022

Twenty Twenty Two marks my 14th year of choosing one little word for the year.

My word for this year is FORWARD.

Words carry tremendous power, words spoken or thought produce actual physical vibrations.

When we think or repeat one word over and over it can directly impact our lives.

That's why I choose one little word (OLW) every year instead of making New Year resolutions.

OLW primes the brain to search for the positive and expands our consciousness to look for the blessings that already exist.

"Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace"
~~ Buddha

Languishing

As scientists and physicians work to treat and cure the physical symptoms of long-haul COVID, many of us are struggling with the emotional long-haul of the pandemic. 

This is called Languishing -  a sense of stagnation and emptiness. It feels as if we're muddling through our days, looking at our life through a foggy windshield. 

According to experts languishing is the neglected middle child of mental health. It’s the void between depression and flourishing, the absence of well-being. 

Languishing dulls our motivation, disrupts our ability to focus, and triples the odds that we'll cut back on work. 

The term was coined by a sociologist named Corey Keyes, who was struck that many people who weren't depressed also weren't thriving.

Part of the danger is that when we're languishing, we might not notice the dulling of delight or the dwindling of drive. We don’t catch ourselves slipping slowly into solitude; we're indifferent to our indifference. 

So folks it could give us a socially acceptable response to “How are you?”

Instead of saying “Great!” or “Fine,” imagine if we answered, “Honestly, I’m languishing.” 

"Inch by inch I conquered the inner terrain I was born with.

Bit by bit I reclaimed the swamp in which I'd languished. I gave birth to my infinite being, but I had to wrench myself out of me with forceps."

— Fernando Pessoa

Seal Cave in New Zealand 
Chairs in the Wilderness