Category: Food For Thought

Food For Thought

How Rare Is This?

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Pinterest

How rare is this for you?

For me, this is my “Unicorn”. In today’s world people SAY they are open minded and all inclusive, but what they mean is: THINK LIKE ME.

THINK LIKE “ME” Is impossible. Unless you are a computer. A computer only has the information YOU add. The WORLD doesn’t work this way.

Every person comes with their own unique personality traits, which shape and are shaped by their personal life experience and the perspective of the culture and place in which they live. This puts us each in our own way of perceiving the world and the information we take in. And… Holy Moly!! There is a lot to take in! All the time, everywhere!

Add in our culture, place of origin, family upbringing, social setting, and personal life experience… and you have an individual who could be working, living beside you with different outlook on life and every little piece in it. None of this makes them, their thought, belief’s, understanding of incoming information “Wrong” if it is different from yours.

I find it’s a rare person who can listen without judgement. It’s rare to find anyone I can have an open honest discussion about…anything, agree or disagree, and still respect each other as unique and beautiful people we are.

I feel blessed to have met 2 people (one being my husband) who I can share any thought or feeling, thought out or still in development process, without fear of judgment.

We may not agree, but we always respect each other’s thought process, life experience, and learned knowledge that has brought us to the discussion “table” as valid and honest.

Have you been fortunate to have a family member, spouse, partner or friend who has let you be yourself in all aspects of your “being”?

Share! ❤️

Food For Thought · Personal Growth

The Lessons I Learned, AGAIN

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Five Minute Journal App

Not gonna lie. 2021 really challenged my @fiveminutejournal attentiveness.

For the first time in three years I was not very good at doing my daily gratitude. I found myself trapped in a depression I couldn’t “Gratitude” Practice my way out of and everything I was in the pattern of doing for over 2 years came to a screeching halt.

I know what it’s like to feel stuck in a dark, unrelenting place. I was so burnt out from work, world noise, and the everyday negativity that seemed to permeate everyone and everything around me that I couldn’t see a way out…not even a way through. I got stuck in the “quicksand” of my hopeless thinking and all my positive practices slipped away.

  • First to go: yoga.
  • Then art/creativity.
  • Months later by my Daily Gratitude Practice.
  • Last was my daily water consumption (I always hit 64-80oz).

I finally admitted in October that I had hit bottom.

Here I have to say my therapist kept me from totally drowning. Weekly sessions, working on tiny “No’s” was truly my first step.

I had lost all sense of boundaries. I was an empty shell trying to still get through increasing stress at work, failing to be there as the mother, wife, and friend that I so love being. All because I had stopped “filling my cup.”

Peeps, I cannot stress enough the importance of caring for yourself FIRST.

I continue to learn this lesson the “Hard Way.”

Please, if you take away anything from my experience, let it be this:

  • BOUNDARIES
  • Acts of SELF-CARE
  • GRATITUDE

Keep these ALWAYS.

Then GROWTH is possible. And growth is necessary to our human experience. Growth keeps us moving forward. Keeps our minds elasticity and our body strong.

I pray that I never give up my desire and joy in learning new thing: skills, lessons, practices.

May 2022 bring you back to yourself, if you were lost; bring you positive energy, if you are feeling stuck; love, if you are feeling alone.

Blessings❤️

Food For Thought

The Beach

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Cozy Beach on a foggy day

Lately, The Beach has been my temple. Before you think I’m crazy, hear me out.

The beach is a calm place where I connect with: Nature, The Universe, and God.

Do you have a special place?

When I feel lost, lonely, scared, angry, confused, stressed, depressed, or anxious; I turn to nature – most often the beach. Even in my mind, I can picture the sand, hear the waves and the seagulls, feel the breeze on my skin, smell the ocean water. The peace washes over me and a sense of calm is restored. This is when I can here God’s answers most clearly.

New Year’s Day was foggy and wet. Still a walk and the beach was healing and full of hope for the New Year.

Seagulls, Sand, and Saltwater

I have spent most of my life living on one coast or the other in the USA. For this, I am blessed and grateful. I know this because I’ve spent short stints living in places that were land-locked… and my soul cried out constantly for the sea.

I know not everyone can live by an ocean. Even now, I technically live on “The Sound” which means no BIG WAVES.

Still, I am interested… is water your element? The ocean, the sound, the bay, the lake, the river, or the stream.

Is Earth your element? The woods, the mountain, the prairie, or the desert.

Are you a people-person who needs a building and a congregation? Church, Temple, Mosque.

Are you an Atheist or a Believer?

Where do you find healing? Is it God? Buddha? Hindi Gods & Goddesses? Mohammed? Christ? Nature? Mystical Energy? The Universe/Nature?

For me, I see “God” in all things. I love the teachings of Christ, The writings of Buddha, The energy of Nature, and the Mystery of Native and Celtic Mythology.

Wherever you are in your Faith Journey, I hope you feel the presence of a guiding Spirit holding you close and carrying you through these troubled times.

Food For Thought

Let Them Be Little

AngieLeave a comment

What can I say??

ALL THE CLICHES…

  • Time Flies
  • They grow up too fast
  • Enjoy each moment

The TRUTH is… at 3-years-old (2008), little Miss was Hell On Wheels. She tested EVERYTHING. The day this picture was taken, we had a 4-hour Showdown over cleaning up a mess.

There have been many moments I thought “I can’t do this, be the Mom she needs.” At 16-years-old (2021),I still sometimes feel the same way.

Still, it’s been an beautiful journey. I’m so proud to be THIS GIRL’S mom.

We guarded her childhood like we were on a MISSION. That Mission: for her to be a child for as long as possible.

2020 kinda blew that out of the water. Being bombarded with so much stuff and all of us “hanging on” for dear life. It seems like this almost 2 years have gone in Fast-Slow-Motion.

All of the sudden she’s 16, a Junior in High School, and one foot out the door to “Real Life.”

We’re now talking College and careers and all sorts of grownup things. She’ll be 17 soon, then I’ll BLINK and she’ll be 18 and heading off into The World.

GAHHH! Some days I really do want to go back to 3. It’s sounds crazy even as I say it… because 3 was HAIR-RAISING! But the challenges were smaller.

Today I worry:

  • Did I teach her enough?
  • Is she going to be ready for the things life throws her way?
  • Am I going to be ready to give her up to… LIFE?

As much as “people” like to wax poetic about “Enjoy Every Moment” parenthood is a non-stop Rollercoaster Ride: sometimes exhilarating, often terrifying, full of laughter and tears, a ride that ends at 18.

Of course, you NEVER stop being a parent, but the job is very different. You’re on the sidelines not in the event.

As someone who’s childhood was not protected, who “grew up” WAY too young, I am glad that my daughter has had the childhood I couldn’t have: carefree, play dates and imagination run amok.

I love the young woman she’s becoming and the evolution of our relationship. I also love reminiscing about play-do and dress up, glitter everywhere and slime, the excitement of “Firsts.”

So, even though I KNOW it’s cliche…

Enjoy the moments, let them be carefree.

Food For Thought · Personal Growth

I Am A Recovering People Pleaser

Angie2 Comments
Barry M Sherbal

I’m doing it! One step at a time. Sometimes I falter. Sometimes I backslide. Sometimes I’m completely successful and walk away… knowing I will be ok.

This lesson of “I am Enough” is a hard one to learn when I’ve spent a lifetime pleasing others to gain acceptance and love.

Today, I do have unconditional love in my life from the people most important to me.

STILL, I haven’t completely put to rest those voices of my childhood that told me through repeated actions, inactions, verbal and nonverbal cues that I had to earn love, earn attention, earn worthiness.

If anyone feels this way now or has struggled with it in the past, my heart goes out to YOU.

YOU are Enough!

YOU are worthy of the life you want.

You are worthy of the love you want.

You are worthy of the career you want.

Whatever you can dream, you are enough for it!

We are always a “Work in Progress” and at the same time ENOUGH.

We are Enough to meet that challenge that scares us.

We are Enough to take that opportunity we secretly tell ourselves we don’t deserve.

We are Enough to be loved flaws and all.

We are Enough to walk away from relationships and situations that no longer serve us well.

As I type this, I say these things to myself: A reminder that I AM ENOUGH!

YOU ARE TOO ❤️

Food For Thought · Other Blogs

How Media is Legally Allowed to Lie to You – Smith-Mundt Modernization Act w/ Alex Hilton

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Mundt Act was passed after World War 2 for legal propaganda against all other countries except the US. The US never stopped propagandized the public but the statute allowed us to hold them accountable.

The Patriot Act is unconstitutional, in 2012 right before Christmas, this Smith-Mundt Modernization Act was sneaked through a partial Congress with the National Defense Authorization Act. 2 weeks later Sandy Hook happened. This needs to be reauthorized every few years because it is so criminal.

— Read on govbanknotes.wordpress.com/2021/09/29/how-media-is-legally-allowed-to-lie-to-you-smith-mundt-modernization-act-w-alex-hilton-acas46/

Food For Thought

Quotes That “Spoke” to Me

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Albert Einstein on Pinterest
From Pinterest
Food For Thought · Personal Growth

Taking A Much Needed “Time Out”

AngieLeave a comment

I’m in Athens, Georgia for 2 weeks to help family. I love them and I’m happy to have a job that allows me to work from anywhere so I can be here to help when they need it.

Those who are in the Healthcare profession or are caregivers for loved ones know what this means. It’s an act of love, done gratefully and (hopefully) gracefully. It is also emotionally, mentally, and physically draining.

This is a reminder that it’s time to take a BREAK, or as I call it a “Time Out.”

I’ve been here a week and today I needed that “time out.” Luckily, the weather has started to turn for Autumn and the temperature/humidity has let up and cooled. So today, my time is being spent outside.

The Georgia Botanical Gardens has always been a favorite place for me, when I lived here and now when I visit.

Botanical Garden Beauty
Water Feature at Visitor Center Entrance

As I sit by this beautiful water feature at the entrance to The Visitor Center, I feel my stress, sadness, anxiety and exhaustion melt away…

I hope you take a “Time Out” if you need it. Remember: you’re no good to anyone if you’re not good to yourself ❤️

Blessings.

Food For Thought

Secret to Happiness: Stay in Your Lane

Angie2 Comments

Such simple instructions. I go even more pared down:

Stay in your own lane.

Pinterest

Why does human nature find it so hard to follow?

It seems on an individual level, less difficult; but add up to a group, society, or community…now it’s different. The almighty “WE” wants in your business and WE want to tell you what to do, what to think, how to do it and how to think.

Take a step back. It’s great to “Think Globally” but we must ACT individually.

ACTIONS speak louder than WORDS

Do you really understand what that statement means? It means:

  1. People won’t change because you tell them to or YELL at them to.
  2. People are change by how they see you behave.
  3. Act responsibly in your own life.
  4. Others will follow.

The caveat to this: Another’s responsibility is not the same as yours. It won’t look the same, think the same, act the same as yours.

Be ok with that. Stay in your own lane. Be the person who understands and takes to heart “Personal Responsibility” and you WILL make a difference. The kind of difference that changes the WORLD.

Blessings ❤️

Food For Thought · Personal Growth

Fall Down… Get. Back. Up!

AngieLeave a comment
Pinterest

Fall down, Get back up!!… even if you need to rest first.

That’s ok.❤️

Life is hard. What makes it a blessing is what you do with your experience!

Use your challenge as opportunities to learn and share your experience!