Finding the Calm

Today I am inspired to post a thought for ponder...

When its pouring rain and you can hardly see the road, have you ever noticed that calm you feel as you travel through an underpass.....that shelter from the rain just for a split second..... Just long enough for you to have that little break from the storm that encourages you to keep driving???  If you haven’t, I hope you will the next time it rains...... It’s quite powerful....

What shelters you from the storms you experience in life?  What calms you?  What gives you a split second of peace and encourages you to keep going?? 

Life is a Puzzle...

Ever since I can remember, I have always compared my life to a puzzle....... with  happiness being its heart.  I found a poem in my folder that I wrote when I was 16 and was reminded of where it started.  It’s been an incredible personal journey...... Revisiting............................

The Puzzle

I sat down

At my desk

Pieces all around

Trying to figure out the pattern

That would bring them together as one

All colors of the rainbow were lying there for me

To come to a solution and bring them to life, you see.

I picked up one and then another

Until they finally fit

Now, I am happy

But only for a bit

For you see, my creation is not nearly complete

I must go on until ALL the pieces meet

It’s screaming out to me,

I can hear it quite well

“Put me together” it yells

I’m almost finished now

Only three more pieces to go

Here’s one and then another

Oh no!  No more!  It’s gone!

The heart of my creation is lost, nowhere near

It can’t live without a heart, I fear

It’s speaking to me …

I hear it quite well

I can’t stop my journey until my puzzle’s heart is found   

I bury my friend deep inside its box

Until another day when a heart can be sought

-Mary E. Dorsett

August 24, 1984

We Can’t Stop Until the Work is Done

After many, many hours of hard labor, my daughter was just exhausted.  She was on the verge of giving up, but she couldn’t….not yet.  The work wasn’t done.  She looked at me, breaking my heart, with her cries for me to help her.  I knew I had to say something to encourage her to keep on going even though she did not have a single ounce of energy left inside her.  Giving up was not an option. 
 

She lay in the hospital bed, suffering…. Not knowing how in the world she was going to get through this … I remember her looking at me with such distress…. waiting….expecting me to save her…….. ah! It was breaking my heart! 

I am not sure what came over me in that moment but in an instant I knew what to say.  I leaned over her and with a firm but caring tone, asking her to look at me.  She looked at me and said, in a trembling voice, “I can’t do this… I can’t!”  I said “You have to do this!  You have a job to do and you have to finish. You are this baby’s mother and your job starts now… right now. When the doctor says it’s time, I need you to dig deep and push as hard as you can.  You can do this!”  With tears running down her little face, she nodded at me, letting me know that she understood….

The doctor asked her if she was ready and she said she was, even after pushing more than an hour already……. Three pushes into it and our precious little miracle was born…. I looked at him as he was coming into the world so limp and then I watched him come to life….ahhh!!  It was the most beautiful…. the most precious thing…He lit up the room just like he does now, a year later,  with his bigger than life personality.   I looked at my daughter with such pride as tears were flowing and she said “I did it!” and I said “Yes, YOU did!!!”    

Words of encouragement help us to achieve things well beyond belief…..resulting in great moments.  Have you ever been encouraged to do something you never thought you could do?  Have you ever encouraged someone else? 

Through the Eyes of a 15 Year Old

Through the Eyes of a Child

Through the eyes of an adult,

I see much, too much, reality

But through the eyes of a child,

I see the world as it isn’t but as I would like it to be

I visualize candy canes and sand castles

Replacing heartache and misery

I see love instead of hatred

I see happiness instead of anger

I see laughter instead of tears

I see honesty instead of lies

I see understanding instead of sarcasm

I see light instead of darkness

I see good instead of evil

I see security instead of fear

Most of all, through the eyes of a child, I see compassion

This is something I cannot see as clearly through the eyes of an adult,

It is gradually fading into another world

And, can only be seen through the eyes of a child.

-Mary Dorsett

January 23, 1984

WOW!!  I am sooooo glad I am still looking at the world through the eyes of a child.... that's the light!

Through the Eyes of a Child

I am going to save the “moment” I had planned to blog about today for tomorrow …. I have been inspired and wanted to share it with you all !!!! 

I was talking with a very special person in my life just the other day and in so many words, he said “if we looked at things through the eyes of a child, they would be so different.”  I had a very emotional moment when I heard those words. He had no idea how he had inspired me in that moment….  

It brought back memories of all the poems I had written over 25 years ago…..  they have been boxed up for years and years………..waiting for me to be inspired by just those words perhaps…… and I am so very thankful!

I pulled out those poems this morning and guess what I am doing today!?  I am reading all about what I saw and how I felt all those years ago..... The really funny thing is….. I wrote a poem entitled “Through the Eyes of a Child”………that poem is in the folder…and I can’t wait to read it!!!  Isn’t it ironic how the things we say really do have such an impact on others.……  every moment really does matter………….Cease the moment and be happy in YOU today and every day of your life!!

Another moment tomorrow……    

They Really Do Matter!!!

I know….I know…. I keep saying “every moment matters”……… let me share a few moments with you and see what you think…….okay?

When my son was just a toddler, I would take him to a nearby pond to let him feed the ducks.  He always loved going there.  It was such a  “treat” for him.  While we were there, I would always take a few moments and coach him …………letting him know him that he could do anythinggggg in this world he set his mind to doing. 

Many years later, dropping my son off at the recruiter’s office was on my list for the day.  WOW!  I remember what a hard day that was for me.  My son was leaving home for basic training.  He had signed up for 6 years. It was the first time he had ever been away from home.  Remember how hard it was to drop your child off at daycare or school for the first time?  Remember how nervous they were?  Remember how hard it was knowing you wouldn't be right there with them if they "needed" you.....................?   Remember how scared you were for them….??  I was feeling all those those things and then some even though he was 18. 

I told him I needed to make one stop before I dropped him off.  It was a bit out of the way…..it required a little extra time.  He said “I can’t be late!”  I said “You won’t be!”

I took him back to that pond!  As we drove up to it, I looked at him and said “Do you remember this place?”  He grinned and said “This is where you used to take me to feed the ducks, isn’t it?  I said “Ah!  You remember? This is where I used to tell you that you could do anything you set your mind to doing!”  We looked at each other with teary eyes.  He nodded, letting me know that he knew he could. What a priceless moment in time….

We got to the recruiters office.  I hugged him and as hard as it was, let him go.  I cried all the way back to work….. he doesn’t even know that until now perhaps as he is reading this….

My son is now 23 years old, a Staff Sergeant in the United States Air Force, stationed in Washington, D.C. and currently serving our country in Afghanistan.  He is strong in self.  He is vibrant.  And........he knows that he can do anything he sets his mind to doing, without a doubt. I am so very proud of him!

I truly believe every moment matters…..  let me share another….. 

Quantity vs Quality – Another Choice

So…. Tell me……. How many things did you check off your list???  How many things impacted others?  How many things did you do well?     

This was my next mission.  As I was making my list, I not only had to sort and prioritize by quantity.  I had to sort by quality. There is a big difference between going through the mail and teaching your child the value in being responsible.  Both are daily responsibilities with totally different relevance to the list. Make sense?  We have to allow adequate time to make sure we do the things on the list well. 

Seeing how many things we can check off the list is exciting!  Seeing how many things we can check off the list and feel really good about the quality involved in them is even better!!!

I had to learn to make my list with these things in mind. And, it is soooo easy to try to get through all the “easy” things that don’t really take a lot of time and energy and leave the more time consuming things until the end of your day ….. and then at the end of your day, we are less productive and just don’t want to put all the effort into them that is needed ….. 

I decided to put the things that demanded more quality minded effort at the top of my list!  This way I would get through those things and do them well when I was fresh first thing in the morning!  I saved the less time consuming things that I could knock out in no time for the end of the day.  This way, my quality was not affected….  Doing it right the first time saves so much time in the long run  …… don’t you think?? 

This can relate to everything in your life. Every moment matters….. the way we do things does matter….. Think about it….. you are in control of your list and you are in control of how you take care of the things on your list. It’s quite empowering really…..