True to Yourself

True to yourself. 

When author Ray Bradbury was a boy his classmates made fun of him because he collected Buck Rogers comic books. He reacted by tearing them up and throwing them away. But by the next day he felt incredibly sad because he felt as if someone had died; namely himself. 

It was as if he had torn up not only his beloved comic books, but his future as well. He soon began a new collection of Buck Rogers comic books, and went on to devote his life to writing including science fiction.  From then on he refused to listen to the voices of his classmates when it came to what he loved to do. "What did I learn? To be myself and never let others, prejudiced, interfere with my life." He went on to encourage others to do the same. "Be your own self. Love what YOU love." 

What do you love?

Goldfish Crackers

Goldfish crackers. 

Have you ever wondered about how the goldfish cracker was invented? Prior to its existence we were subject to the standard cheese cracker; a square, cheesy piece of goodness enjoyed by many. 

I can only imagine that initial pitch for the goldfish shaped cracker.  You see novelty sells. Why not change the shape of the cracker and open up a whole new cheesy universe. Well apparently that's what happened when Pepperidge Farm introduced their little gold mines. 

My first experience with these little fish was after my brother was born in the mid-sixties. My mom used to bring a baggieful of them to church on Sunday him occupied during mass. They worked like a charm and kept him quite content. Even today the newer mini-goldfish crackers are one of my grandson's favorites. 

Novelty goes a long way so don't be reluctant to think outside the box, or more appropriately the bag! 

Reboot

Reboot. 

Back in the eighties when personal computers were first becoming available, the word on the street was that you better not push the wrong button or you would make the computer crash. Crashing a computer was like the worst thing ever. Hopefully you had saved your information every five seconds or it would be lost in the cyber world forever. Or so they said. 

Needless to say, my generation was initially very fearful of doing something wrong and risking the crash. Fast forward about thirty years, and today you find kids who are fearless on the computer. I don't know for sure if there ever really was that infamous wrong button or if somehow over time computers evolved to just become more user friendly. What I do know is that I have become a lot less fearful when it comes to the computer. 

I have also learned that sometimes when your computer does not seem to be cooperating, the best thing to do is just reboot it; in other words start over. A fellow blogger friend of mine mentioned the other day about how she relys on the tech savvy of her young students when she needs assistance. One of them gave her the following advice; "You can fix most issues by just rebooting it."

Now this got me to thinking that if it works for the i phone, would it work for life in general? After all, basically rebooting is just restarting the computer after making an error. How many times in our life have we wallowed about the error we had made instead of just starting again?

I'm beginning to feel inspired by the power of the reboot. Most of our errors are relatively minor, falling into the category of annoying more than anything. So the next time when you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by a task take a minute to just reboot. That crash you were so worried about was probably never going to really happen. 

Flourishing

Flourishing. 

Although I do not know the author of the words, "What you feed will flourish, what you neglect will die," they are empactful to me. 

There is much truth in that the things that devour your time and energy become what is important to you. Unfortunately, this is not always a good thing. 

Sometimes we become completely blinded to what may have become second nature to us, and if not recognized will possibly remain unchanged. If we continue down this path we may be inhibiting our ability to fully flourish. Like a flower deprived of enough water, our bloom may result in only a trace of what it could have been. 

For this reason it is critical that we are aware of what grabs our thoughts and attention. If you are feeling a sense of inertia, and losing enthusiasm begin to feed your mind with something worthy and inspiring. Become more intentional in your actions and choices, and watch your life begin to flourish. 

The Psalms remind us, "As a man thinketh in his heart so he will be." It is not too late for flourishing. 

Here Today Gone Tomorrow

Here today gone tomorrow.

I stepped out my front door the other day, and was greeted with the most beautiful purple blooms in our sage bushes. Its beauty begged to be photographed, and considering the blooms were gone a few days later I was grateful I had snapped those photos. 

Literally here today gone tomorrow. It reminded me about a few times in my life when I had put something off thinking I would get to it tomorrow, only finding that it was no longer available tomorrow. This has happened to me especially when it comes to limited exhibits offered by local museums. I have all the good intentions in the world, but never actually get around to attending the event. 

The reality is that sometimes you just have to strike while the iron is hot. Your stamina may no longer keep up with where you want to go. The area you want to travel to may no longer be as safe as it once was. We just can't assume that someday will arrive. 

Just like the sage in bloom we must drink it in when it is made available to us. Luckily this little plant continues to bloom more than once, so I'm getting to enjoy it over again. Don't let here today gone tomorrow be the story of your life. 

Be Careful

Be careful. 

I found myself the other day repeatedly saying these words to my grandson.  He is mobile now, and between creeping, crawling and pulling himself up he requires constant attention. As soon as he is up you better keep a close eye on him because gravity will soon be taking over. My natural instinct is to want to protect him. 

I certainly don't want a bump or scrape to happen on my watch, but at the same time I don't want to discourage him from his natural inclination to explore his world. I don't want him to become fearful that he might hurt himself. I don't want him to be so tuned into being careful that he stops taking calculated risks. 

So I'm finding myself biting my tongue, and instead encouraging him along the way. Of course, at the same time keeping a close eye on him to make sure nothing really bad happens. I've even taken to fining myself twenty-five cents every time I slip up. His rodeo fund piggy bank has had a few quarters added to it, but not enough to make him rich. 

I'm realizing that every step along the way I am helping to mold the young man that he is becoming. I want him to be brave and take those risks along the way that will enrich his life. So, even though he's still a little guy right now, I want to remain mindful of the influence I do have through my words. 

Right in Front of Your Nose

Right in front of your nose. 

Now my mother would kill me if she knew I was getting ready to disclose this information. I remember getting scolded once for announcing to the neighborhood that we were having hotdogs for dinner. She was all about keeping things within the family and not broadcasting our personal information. 

Now the other day I noticed an unusual odor coming from the pantry. I sniffed around a little, but to no avail, so I asked my husband with his highly refined olfactory abilities for some assistance. He sniffed around as well, and concurred about the odor, but not its origin. His solution was for me to remove everything from the pantry shelves to determine the culprit. My immediate thought was that there were about a million other things I'd rather be doing then emptying out the pantry. 

What I was able to detect, though, was that the odor seemed to be coming from the bottom half of the pantry. Everytime I reached down I would get a whiff of the unpleasant smell.  I rummaged around looking for possibilities, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. And then it occurred to me that the smell actually was coming from right in front of my nose. The guilty party was the terra cotta garlic pot sitting on the shelf. Inside I found a recently purchased pod of garlic which reeked to high heaven! It quickly made its way into the nearby trash and voila, problem solved. 

After giving it a little reflection, it occurred to me that the solution to my problem was literally right before my nose. Sometimes starting with the most obvious solution might be the smartest way to go.