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The Journey (Archives)

I’ve talked about my journey many times before. It is a journey designed to get me somewhere. Where do I want to go? I want to get to the top of that mountain. I want to say that I made it there leaving all the things that did not serve me behind and I want to feel the freedom of knowing that the “journey” was worthwhile and I can finally breathe again.

“Over time, I have come to believe that “brave” does not mean what we think it does. It does not mean “being afraid” and doing it anyway. Nope. Brave means listening to the still small voice inside and doing as it says. Regardless of what the rest of the world is saying.” Glennon Doyle

I still have a long ways to go but then again easy doesn’t cut it. It takes soul-searching, giving up what holds me back, knowing what I want and the courage to move forward not knowing what that path forward holds. The unknown is always scary but what if there is a “better” than where I am now? A better life, a better existence and perhaps even a better love. I am looking for that needle in the haystack but he is well-hidden and if he is there staring me in the face, I don’t see him yet.

Recently, I shared with a friend that I’m on the verge of giving up as far as that special someone is concerned. I told him I am tired of making treks in the wrong direction and that perhaps love is not in the cards for me. Perhaps, I should just say enough already and give up altogether.

He listened quietly as I vented and then said, “In German there is a saying, you find happiness when you least expect it.” It was profound, perhaps even holding a modicum of truth and coming from a guy wearing a bandana, it made me sit up and take notice. Not that I have anything against bandana-wearing men, I just didn’t expect this kind of deep thinking from him. He’s the rugged outdoorsy type but obviously has a soft core which he keeps well-hidden not visible to the naked eye. That said, nope he is not my guy. Anyway, the light went back on. I realized that I had met my ex when I wasn’t looking. It was my first night out after a long while of mourning over a break up and there he was. Our paths crossed and unknown to us both, the wheels had been set in motion and there was no stopping the path we were on. Perhaps, the inevitable happens when you least expect it and when the time is right.

If that is true, could we make it just a tad easier please? And if it does happen let’s make it forever this time around.

“Breathe through it and release anything that does not serve you.” Unknown

I’m no stranger to breathing. I do all kinds of different breathing techniques, I don’t believe in leaving it to chance so why not try everything there is to try and I might just hit the right one, the breathing technique that is, at some point in time. I’m also hoping that my intuition will take over and point me in the right direction but then fear, my best friend, comes in and blows it all to pieces. This journey has not been easy and making the wrong move from time to time always brings me back to square one. The message is clear, move slowly, one foot in front of the other. Patience is a virtue but not in my case. I’m like a petulant child who stomps her feet and demands that she gets it NOW! Life is not putting up with my temper tantrums so here I am again wondering where I went wrong this last time? I have to learn to bide my time, move with caution for the way forward is not easy to navigate and one false move and I am back to where I started from and I don’t want that.

“I was lucky enough to have been to rock bottom before, right? So I know for a fact, that rock bottom is always the beginning of the newness. It hurts and its painful, and then there’s the waiting……where you don’t know what the hell is going on and you don’t think any of it is going to make sense and then,

THERE’S THE RISING.”

I am waiting to exhale. I am waiting for “the rising” when all is made new again and I am given another chance at life, at love, at living and finally breathing freely again. I am looking forward to saying, “It was tough but I made it!”

-Say the thing you must say.

-Go where you must go.

-Learn what you must leave.

-Do what you must do.

-Trust yourself.

When They Say:

You seem out of control…..

You Say:

Thank you. That’s the plan.

For the rest of my life.

Glennon Doyle

Have an amazing day.

–

LOL!

I wasn’t in a good mood yesterday so I went looking for something to lighten the mood and came up with these. It sure did the job so thought I’d share.

Wife: “How would you describe me?”

Husband: “ABCDEFGHIJK”

Wife: “What does that mean?”

Husband: “Adorable, beautiful, cute, delightful, elegant, fashionable, gorgeous, and hot.”

Wife: “Aw, thank you, but what about IJK?”

Husband: “I’m just kidding!”

Do you think he lived through it?

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Q: Is Google male or female?

A: Female, because it doesn’t let you finish a sentence before making a suggestion.

Hmm?

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A lady comes home from her doctor’s appointment grinning from ear to ear. Her husband asks, “Why are you so happy?” She says, “The doctor told me that for a forty-five-year-old woman I have the breasts of an eighteen year old.”

“Oh yeah?” quipped her husband. “What did he say about your forty-five-year- old a**?

Wife: “Your name never came up in the conversation.”

That’ll teach him to be quiet the next time around.

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Why did I get divorced? Well, last week was my birthday. My wife didn’t wish me a happy birthday. My parents forgot and so did my kids. I went to work and even my colleagues didn’t wish me a happy birthday. As I entered my office, my secretary said “Happy Birthday boss!” I felt so special. She asked me out to lunch. After lunch, she invited me to her apartment. We went there and she said, “Do you mind if I go into the bedroom for a minute?”

“Okay,” I said.

She came out 5 minutes later with a birthday cake, my wife, my parents, my kids, my friends, and my colleagues all yelling, “SURPRISE!!!” while I was waiting on the sofa…..naked.

Obviously she wasn’t that kind of secretary but he obviously was that kind of boss!

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Have an amazing day.

A Positive Change in My Life

If there is one positive change I have made in my life then it is that I don’t let outside events control how I react to things. It used to be that if something didn’t go my way or if something turned out bad or if a relationship didn’t work out for whatever the reason, I would play it around in my head until it became a monster problem and it was able to wreck my days for weeks on end.

Those days are over with. These days I look at the problem and come with workable solutions. It may take days before I get a handle on it but I don’t let it, whatever it is, get the better of me. I am at a point where I am getting clarity as to what I want and what doesn’t work for me. I am also taking the attitude that if something doesn’t work, it is alright. There will be other opportunities to make it better and this attitude is working in my favor. Gone are the days of taking everything and shredding it to pieces and looking for the answers within that scope. My thinking has evolved and I am much stronger but I also realize that things will always happen, it is life, but I don’t have to take it for a ride each time it happens. I am calmer, more at peace and there is a sense of achievement there.

Daily writing prompt

Describe one positive change you have made in your life.

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Trump Jong Un

It’s not enough that he has tanked the economy and blown up the WTO system of global growth and stability. The man who loves jumping at anything he sees as a money making scheme is off and running to another debacle, one which is more to his liking.

Rumor has it that he wants a military parade for his birthday. Nothing new here, he has been hinting at it ever since he attended one in Paris for Bastille Day in 2017. If it takes place at all, it would fall on his birthday which is Saturday, June 14 and coincidentally it just so happens to be the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. It is rumored that the Trump administration is “reportedly looking to add a parade that would stretch nearly four miles, from the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, across the Potomac River, into D.C. How about Hegseth leading the charge, bare-chested and flaunting his tattoos and wearing the Amerian flag? Patriotic enough? Let’s not forget Musk doing the Nazi salute and Trump grinning from ear to ear.

The cost of such a parade would be phenomenal but didn’t he say they’ve got 2 billion coming in each day from tariffs alone? Should be enough to cover the cost don’t you think?

Global economies are hanging in the balance and a full-blown Trade War is looming and hissing at the fringes so what’s missing? Let’s add a military parade to the mix why don’t we? One that proclaims America’s might as a superpower with a message that says, “Don’t fool with us!” Remind you of anything?

Enough said.

The Scam Charade

“There are so many scams on the internet now a days.

Send me $19.95 and I will tell you how to avoid them.” Unknown

I’ve been dealing with scam calls, scam dating invites and yesterday it came in the form of a message supposedly from my bank about a problem. The problem was it wasn’t even my bank! I deleted the message.

It seems to be a thriving business this scam thing and they are getting cleverer by the minute. Messages asking for money comes in the form of sorry stories such as they are somewhere and can’t access their money or someone close to them is very sick and they need cash urgently. One message took the cake. He claimed his daughter had been on vacation in Africa when she was captured by a tribe and held captive there. The release would require a certain amount of money.

The only thing these losers want is to make you part with your hard-earned money and unfortunately they are finding better and better ways of doing it and that is the scary part!

SIGNS OF A ROMANCE SCAMMER

Professes love quickly. Claims to be from the U.S., but is overseas for business or military service.

Asks for money, and lures you off the dating site.

Claims to need money – for emergencies, hospital bills, or travel.

Plans to visit, but can’t because of an emergency.

There are many varieties of scammers. Last week, I received a call about my book. The caller offered me a slot on a radio show or was it on TV, anyway it would take place in the form of an interview with a celebrity host plugging my book. The catch, payment was required! A few days later, a very sweet voice (they usually are) on the other end offered a film deal! When I asked for which book, she stammered and quickly turned the conversation to how great it would be to see my book on screen. Of course it would be, however, scammers beware, I’ve got your number and here’s my message to you.

By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you….blocked and deleted.

You may now……

…….kiss my a**. (Unknown)

Here’s another message, get a JOB!

Been There, Done That! (Archives)

How often have you used the words above to describe the “deja vu” feeling of having experienced the exact same event or incident over and over again with the very same and often painful outcomes? I know I have and I’m sure many of you have. So why do we keep repeating the same cycle over and over again? Perhaps, it’s because of this.

“Been there, done that. Then, been there several more times, because apparently I never learn.” Unknown

I’ve done this many times over. This meaning, “I told myself I would never go through this and find myself in the same uneventful place again.” Like dating the wrong person with the exact same habits as the one I left behind. Then I find myself months down the road faced with the exact same situation but with another individual. I told myself I would never do cheaters, liars, control freaks and narcissists ever again but lo and behold, it never fails. They seem to come out of the woodwork as far as I am concerned and I am faced with the self-same situation only to scream, “What am I doing wrong?”

I think we are creatures of habit and therefore love embracing familiarity more than commonsense! What feels familiar is comforting. It gives us a sense of warmth and maybe even a feeling of “home.” You’ve heard the saying, “Home is where the heart is?” Well, not in this case! According to Isabel Buchbinder, “repeating patterns do not happen by coincidence. Repeating patterns are merely lessons which can be seen as an opportunity for us to evolve and grow.” The question remains, how often do you have to fall in order to grasp the lessons you have to learn? Unfortunately, there are no clear-cut answers. Some learn quickly and others not at all. I hope I am NOT in the “not at all” category but it sure feels that way at times.

Here again, Ms. Buchbinder has some good tips on how to break free and to move on to greener and more acceptable behavior traits. She says, “the reoccuring external situation is trying to get our attention so that we focus within and change this internal limiting structure and thus break the pattern. She adds, “don’t bleed on those who didn’t hurt you.” It just means heal yourself first before entering a relationship. This also means, “once you heal your subconscious limitations and traumas, you no longer repeat patterns and you will start attracting life situations which are more suitable for your well-being and more heightened state of life!”

“Life will keep on repeating the same situation through different circumstances until we have learnt the lesson.” Isabel

How do you break this self-fulfilling prophecy? Here are five steps from Isabel, not easy but worth the try.

The first step is to become aware of the pattern.

The second step is to observe the situation but don’t react.

The third step is to identify the lesson it is trying to teach us.

The fourth and perhaps the hardest step is to accept the situation, integrate, heal and let it go. Letting go takes forever in my world and even when I do, I keep looking back with one foot in the past and one foot in front.

The fifth step, if you’re confronted with a “repeating pattern” again, it’s just life wanting to know if you’ve learned the lesson and have fully let go. Lord, have mercy!

Be gentle with yourself, accept what you can’t change, learn from what you can and take the next step in the right direction. If you find yourself faced with the same old stuff from another individual but in a different body, don’t walk but RUN! and don’t look back.

“Break through that imaginary ceiling you’ve placed over yourself.” Unknown

AND

“Life has a way of making you repeat the same patterns until YOU choose to break the cycle.”

Have an amazing day.

The Most Fun Way to Exercise

I think anything is fun if you enjoy doing it. I love walking and I walk almost everyday and what makes it fun is that I am surrounded by nature which is an added bonus. I am not only getting fit but I find peace and calm while I’m doing it.

Yoga is another go to method of getting fit. I can do this beautiful fitness routine in the privacy of my home and that makes it fun. Chachi, the cat, joins me most days and sometimes doing the Downward Dog pose gets challenging with him running in and out and some days I burst out laughing and we wind up cuddling. I think that was his goal all along. 😉

Cardio and weight training is a must. I say a “must” because in my mind it is. I am a fitness fanatic and I workout seven days a week. I’ve been told to back off and take a break but it goes in one ear and out the other. Workouts keep me energized and those cheesecakes I keep talking about don’t have a chance of adding a pound or two meaning I am where I should be weight-wise but it takes effort and focus to keep it going day in and day out.

I love working out so whatever I do to keep fit is fun and I don’t need props or anything else to make it fun. However, I love having Little Chachi as my trainer or rather he thinks he is. Some days he sits on the bed and watches me and when there is a break, I reach over and plant kisses on his forehead and that is his reward for staying out of my way. He loves it and it makes working out fun.

Daily writing prompt

What’s the most fun way to exercise?

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The Long Journey (Archives)

Update:

The journey is complete and a new chapter has started. Life is no longer what you used to know. It is no longer about staying up late, doing what you want and whenever you want it. It is now about getting up and showing up for work. Responsibility and accountability are not to be taken lightly and you will have to learn to adjust again. “I have zero life now,” is not going to do it. You are an adult and you will have to do adult things. We all had to and I know that through the complaining a new person will emerge, one fully capable of handling anything, of this I am sure.

“Every worthwhile accomplishment, big or little, has its stages of drudgery and triumph: a beginning, a struggle and a victory.” Mahatma Gandhi

I remember the beginning well. It seems like only yesterday when you made it through high school and the next step was looming large. I wasn’t ready to let you go, not then and not ever! When I looked at you, I didn’t see the young man who had graduated from high school, all I saw was the little boy I had coached through life.

You, on the other hand, were ready to spread your wings. You wanted freedom and so the search for the right university began. I didn’t know at the time that it would take you far away from me. I felt fear clutching at my heart but I had to let you go whether I wanted to or not. You were leaving and there was nothing I could do about it. You found the perfect university, than you got an apartment and the move began. I hugged you goodbye and watched you leave with tears in my eyes.

Law was your first choice but that would change a year down the road. Drinking, partying and staying out late was part and parcel of college life. The struggle started when you got your jaw broke coming home late one night in a botched robbery attempt. You landed in hospital and I was shocked but you decided to stay where you were at and I had to let you go thinking it could have been worse. You could have lost your life had there been a weapon involved.

However, the psychological effects of that attack were plenty. You turned from a sweet and innocent boy into an angry young man. Studying and keeping your grades up was the last thing on your mind. You wanted revenge but there was none to be had. You learned that life is not always fair and some times the good guys DO get hurt. Letting go and moving on came slowly but it did come and I learned that your survival and overcoming the attack would depend on how we handled you. Your strength would come from your ability to stand back up and from knowing that we were standing with you every step of the way. It was a long and slow recovery but you did it.

You are now standing on the cusp of achieving what you began five years ago. Soon you will have your degree with a better than average grade under your belt. I heard the pride in your voice as you told me your grade two days ago but you didn’t see the tears running down my face. It has been a long journey for all of us but this is not the end.

“A great accomplishment shouldn’t be the end of the road, just the starting point for the next leap forward.” Harvey Mackay

Victory took a long time coming but you, my son, have made me proud. You’ll be moving again and this time around you’ll be working towards standing on your own two feet.

“Nothing builds self-esteem and self-confidence like accomplishment.” Thomas Carlyle

CONGRATULATIONS! You are on your way and I couldn’t be prouder. Just one last word, I still see you as that little boy whose hands I held as we walked to and back from kindergarten but then again I guess I always will.

LOL!

A child asked his father, “How were people born?” So his father said, “Adam and Eve made babies, then their babies became adults and made babies, and so on.”

The child then went to his mother, asked her the same question and she told him, “We were monkeys then we evolved to become like we are now.”

The child ran back to his father and said, “You lied to me!” His father replied, “No, your mom was talking about her side of the family.”

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Bob was in trouble. He forgot his wedding anniversary. His wife was really angry. She told him, “Tomorrow morning, I expect to find a gift in the driveway that goes from 0 to 200 in 6 seconds AND IT BETTER BE THERE!”

The next morning he got up early and left for work. When his wife woke up, she looked out the window and sure enough there was a box gift-wrapped in the middle of the driveway. Confused, the wife put on her robe and ran out to the driveway, brought the box back to the house. She opened it and found a brand new bathroom scale.

Bob has been missing since Friday.

Yup that will do it!

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A woman was taking an afternoon nap. When she woke up, she told her husband, “I just dreamed that you gave me a pearl necklace. What do you think it means?”

“You’ll know tonight,” he said. That evening, the man came home with a small package and gave it to his wife. Delighted, she opened it to find a book entitled, “The Meaning of Dreams.”

I bet he’s missing too!

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Have a day filled with laughter.

The Thorn Birds

According to Colleen McCullough, “the thorn bird spends its entire life tirelessly searching for a thorn tree. Once the tree is located, the thorn bird impales itself on its thorns and sings a beautiful song as it dies,” and it will be the first and only time the thorn bird will sing.

This is a book that kept me riveted to the very end. I’ve read it three times now and I know everything there is to know about it. It is one of the greatest novels of our time and McCullough does a magnificent job of taking us through a journey of forbidden love but most of all it is about a young girl who refuses to give up her dream of being with the wrong guy and the saga that ensues.

Four-year-old Meggie meets Father Ralph and the wheels of destiny starts turning. He is much older than her and a priest at that but there is an instant connection. Father Ralph faces a losing battle as he tries to steer away from her but she is like a beacon that keeps beckoning. The relationship and conflict will take you on a journey, one that will have you rooting for them. I did. It is a heart-rending story which will also keep you spellbound to the very end.

It is definitely a good read if you are into romance and into the kind that will have your tears flowing. I’m a romantic at heart and if a story grips my heart, I’m all in. This one did and I would definitely read it again!

Daily writing prompt

What book could you read over and over again?

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