Do You Believe in Fairy Tales?

Things That Went Right Today:

1) Signed up for the "Flylady" program again.
2) We were under tornado watch yesterday, but no tornadoes hit our house.
3) Tamed the tornado that appears to have hit the kitchen. Sink shining again.

Did you get up early to watch the Royal Wedding? My daughters did, but I overslept and had to watch clips of it after the fact. Still loved it though. What is it about this wedding that has captivated me so? I don't personally know these two young people. I am not from England, so they aren't directly my monarchs. Nothing about it will affect my life much at all really. So why then did I feel myself getting choked up as I watched them exchange their vows? Why did I feel so blissfully happy as I saw them take their carriage ride through the streets of London to the cheers of the adoring crowds?

I suppose it's because I am a hopeless romantic. Like many young girls, I grew up dreaming about one day meeting my handsome prince and moving into a castle and living happily ever after. I especially loved stories like Snow White and Cinderella where the young lady transforms from ordinary girl to princess because of the kindness of her heart. Because someone could see through her rough exterior to love the beauty deep inside of her. I even named my dog Cinderella (although we called her Cindy for short). I sang the songs and dreamed of fancy dresses that twirl. And true love.

Then I grew up like we all must do, and realized that there is kind of a shortage of actual princes out there.  And that palaces and tiaras aren't really what matters most in this life. I got busy with raising kids and paying mortgages. Cleaning bathrooms and hanging out with family doing nothing special. Just being together. Doing all the mundane ordinary things that add up to a wonderful life. A real life with real people, and real problems and real love. Laughing with my kids. Good friends to share my thoughts with. I'm not famous. Crowds don't gather just to see me walk by. But I am thankful today for this life I have built, and to be surrounded with people I love. To have the great privilege of pursuing my dreams as I understand them today. Richer and fuller than the wistful yearnings of my youth.

But the royal wedding, just for a few minutes, brought out that tiny little part of my heart that still longs to be a princess. For a moment I felt like a little girl again. It made my spirit soar to see a fairy tale come true before my eyes. Best wishes to the prince and his bride as they begin their new life together as man and wife.  They both seem to be beautiful people, on the inside as well as on the outside. They are a wonderful reminder to each of us to appreciate all the simple joys our lives have brought to us. To revel in the abundant blessings of day to day regular living - but to never stop believing in fairy tales. To always maintain that childlike sense of wonder and possibility. Three cheers to Will and Kate!!

Stars In The Darkness

Things That Went Right Today:

1) Easter Candy Hangover
2) KenpoX With Friends
3) Lunch with my friend Lynda today! Gotta LOVE Ruby Tuesday's salad bar and good conversation!

It's always amazing to watch the stars come out at night. One by one their lights begin to appear in the sky reminding us that there is so much out there beyond our earthly experience.  If you lie on your back and stare into the vastness of space, you really get a sense of how small we are compared to the expanse of the universe. You witness the majesty of God and appreciate anew the gift of light in our lives, in all of its many forms. Stars really are beautiful aren't they? Some bright. Some faint. Twinkling up there in the patterns of the ages. Leading ships home by the consistent North Star. Creating romance and mystery. Illuminating our lives with their soft glow. Stars are for dreamers to wish upon. They have a magical quality to them that has been charming storytellers since the beginning of time. The Sun's light is a wondrous thing of course, but is too bright to look directly upon. The stars are different. They are there for us to view and enjoy to our heart's content.

Funny thing about stars though. They don't really "come out" at night exactly. They actually are there all the time. We just can't see them during the day when the brilliance of the Sun overpowers their dimmer lights. The stars do not change as day turns into night. Only our ability to perceive them does. The blue-black canvas of darkness is ironically what brings them into focus for us. Providing a backdrop to highlight their delicate elegance. So you could say then that darkness is sometimes required to help us to see quiet light.

Isn't that true for people too? For ourselves? We all have a light inside of us that we were born with. The light of our own individual spirit that inspires our creativity and compassion. The source of our joy and wisdom. This is the light of who we really are deep inside. Our talents come from this place as does our ability to recognize and embrace both truth and love. It shines in our eyes and draws others toward us. It fuels our internal drive to succeed. To reach higher and further to attain our dreams and goals, and to lift others along the way as well.

Some people seem to have been born with a greater portion of the light. Their faces radiate confidence and happiness. Peace and contentment surround them and others flock to be in their presence because of the warmth they find there. Sometimes we can almost feel jealous of such individuals if we compare our smaller flames to theirs and feel at times like ours might just flicker out altogether when tough times come our way. Or perhaps we remember a day when we gleamed more brightly, but now feel like life is turning dark and we can't see as clearly as we once did. At these moments it is comforting to ponder on the lesson of the stars. Even though our lights may be temporarily overshadowed by the light of another, or hidden from view by the coming of the dusk, we can count on the fact that our God given internal light never changes. It is still there ready to shine again, even if we are having trouble seeing it right now. These are the times to rely on faith. And then watch and wait to see what the darkness reveals.

Times of trouble can teach us valuable lessons about forgiveness, love and endurance. They can show us where repentance may be in order so we can make the changes we need to. They can help us gain empathy for the pain of others. Inspire us to study and reach to grow stronger and learn from our experiences. They can teach us patience and thrift and self reliance. Affirm our true characters. Bring us to our knees in prayer to renew our hope and find comfort there. And if we pay attention, small glints of light will begin to come into view. One by one we will begin to see our strengths again. Hear laughter coming from our lips. Discover talents we didn't know we possessed.  Our unique beauty will once again glimmer through the darkness, even more lovely than before. I am thankful today for the starlight. And for the night that reveals it to me.

Things That Went Right

Things That Went Right Today:

1) Had fun working on a "prom hair" article with my friend Sylvia.
2) Driving my husband's smaller car while he is out of town. Nice to be out of my huge Suburban for awhile. So easy to park.
3) Pretzel sticks at the mall.

For those who may be new to the blog I wanted to take a second to explain the "Things That Went Right Today" that I put at the top of each post. When I began this blog I had some tough things happening in my life. It was easy to go through the days focused on everything that was wrong, but I knew that would not solve the problems. Wallowing would do nothing but make me uncomfortable and unhappy. We all have trials big and small. Every day brings challenges and troubles. Sad things or irritations either to us or to others we know and love. Turning on the evening news can be enough to make us feel discouraged and depressed as we hear story after story of war and disaster and difficulty. Pain is ever present in one form or another it seems. Life is just not always easy.

But the thing is that is only part of the story. The world is also a beautiful place full of fun and laughter. People are fundamentally good and the sun comes up every day like clockwork. We all have blessings. Love and joy are incredibly abundant if we reach for them. No matter how bad things ever get there is always something good we can find if we seek it.

Good and bad coexist side by side in all of our lives each and every day. What we see most clearly and which state we will experience most often has everything to do with where we choose to place our focus. If we zone in on the awful we will be miserable, but if we embrace the magic of life we will feel content and happy. It IS a choice that we each must make for ourselves. "Things That Went Right Today" is my daily reminder to myself of the little blessings that add up to a wonderful life. My shift in focus to the good things that surround me. Doing so makes a profound difference in my attitude and personal sense of well being. I would encourage everyone to take a moment out of every day to focus on gratitude. If we all could maintain a spirit of thankfulness, I believe the world would be a kinder gentler place. So let's each do our part to change the world, one heart at a time. Beginning with our very own. God bless!

Rewind

Things That Went Right Today:

1) Preschool Easter party today
2) Being the Grammarian at toastmasters tonight
3) Feeling inspired


Ever had a moment where you just wish you could press a rewind button and start over?  Yeah that was me this morning. My 14 year old son attends an early morning before school scripture study class at our church. He normally gets a ride with a neighbor friend of ours who also goes. For some reason she could not attend this morning, but he forgot to tell me that she couldn't drive him until about 5 minutes before he needed to leave. So I was not dressed or ready to take him, nor did I expect to be going out in the cold. Besides it was 5:45 in the morning, and figuring he was about ready to leave I had just settled back in to grab some extra zzz's before the next round of kids had to get up and moving. Needless to say I was not thrilled to get his frantic text that I needed to take him to the class...and we needed to leave right away.  I'm not proud to admit that I got pretty testy about it actually. Told him it was inconsiderate of him not to give me more notice. Sigh. Dang. Wish I had just taken a breath before opening my mouth on that one.

It was only a minute or two of grumbling before gratitude kicked back in though. The obvious realization that here was a teenage boy willing to get up at the crack of dawn to go study scriptures??? Wow. And he hadn't meant to be rude. He simply had forgotten. Don't we all forget things? So I backtracked as best as I could. Apologized and told him that I loved him and was grateful to him for being so faithful in attending the class.   I am thankful today for the power that the words "I'm sorry" have to help us rewind when our mouths work faster than our brains like mine did this morning.  And I'm grateful for a son whose only reply was, "It's ok Mom. Love you too!"

I Don't Have To Decide Today

Things That Went Right Today:

1) Tax returns DONE!
2) Met the author today of a wonderful book I'm going to read and review.
3) Learned about essential oils. Interesting stuff.


I was talking to a lady I met the other day who is a health and wellness coach. I was telling her about a decision that has been weighing on my mind causing me a bit of stress. Telling her the pros and cons and how I was expending so much energy on this issue and yet still could not seem to make a choice. Was paralyzed in a way. She asked me a simple and profound question. She said, "What if you just decide NOT to make a decision on that?" I hemmed and hawed for a bit, protesting that of course this thing that I had been stressing over was critical. But she persisted. "But what would happen if you just simply decided not to decide today?" As hard as I tried I couldn't think of really any earth shattering thing that would happen. It was a total lightbulb moment. I'd been stressing and standing still, because the timing was just not right. The reality was that it would really not matter at all to just shelve that decision until a later date, and in the meantime put the energy I'd been giving to it into other areas of my life. Such a simple shift in the way I looked at the issue made such a big difference. Usually we think that tackling issues head on and addressing them is the best way to eliminate stress, but for me in this case choosing to do nothing and put it out of my mind for a time was the crystal clear answer. So easy. So simple. After months of worry. Do we ever do that on other things in our lives? Put more emphasis on them than they deserve. Or force issues to conclusions before their time? I'm grateful today to give myself permission to just chill. Put the issue in a box until I'm ready to take it down and look at it again. And for the reminder that every question does not require an immediate answer. Sometimes we can just choose to let things go. Good to know.

Subtle Shifts In Thinking

Things That Went Right Today:

1) So nice to hug my family again. I missed them.
2) Came home to a clean house. So grateful.
3) Key Lime Pie Yoplait yogurt.

Sometimes it only takes a subtle shift in thinking to diffuse frustration and turn it to gratitude or resolve. For instance...on my flight back from Rome we got stuck sitting on the plane for over and hour before take off. It seems there was a problem with one of the passenger's passport so they had to be removed from the plane and then their luggage had to be found and taken off as well. This delay was going to cause problems for people with connecting flights and I heard a lot of grumbling going on amongst the passengers.  Given that we were facing a 9 1/2 hour flight anyway the extra hour was not overly appreciated generally. I too found myself getting fidgety and irritated while we waited seemingly endlessly for take off. Burt then the thought struck me that I really didn't know the nature of the issue. Maybe the person was a terrorist risk or something. When I looked at it that way I was suddenly quite content to sit there for a bit rather than face the potential alternatives. The delay caused my bag to be left in New York and delivered late which was kind of a pain, but really considering that I crossed an ocean for a fabulous vacation...if that was the biggest problem I had than I am very blessed indeed.

One of my favorite phrases that I use all the time is, "There is always an upside." I believe this to be true. And we'll be happier people if we choose to focus on the silver lining instead of the cloud. When it's raining outside remember that the moisture will help the flowers to grow. Going to work every day is hard, but helps us provide for our families needs. Changing diapers is no fun, but builds trust between parent and child as your serve your little ones. Getting sick can be miserable, but often allows an excuse for a much needed rest from our usual routines. Look for the "upside" when faced with challenges and the world will always feel like a happier place for you. Today I am immensely thankful to the Quezada family for hosting me on my wonderful trip to Rome. And I am grateful to have made it safely home.