![]() My name is Pennie Hunt and I am a Firewalker. That is probably not something you would expect me to say, but it is true. I even have the t-shirt to prove it! Several years ago, I attended a motivational conference. After days of inner work about personal power and strength, focus and motivation, the climax of the event was a fire walk. A huge pile of wood crackled and burned until it fell into a thick layer of chunky red-hot coals. We were instructed not to run, to walk at a slow, steady pace and don’t stop. Look up and forward at our destination, not down at the fiery hot coals. Others could stand behind the starting line, but fire walking was something we had to do alone. As I stood at the edge of this path of fire watching others successfully walk through and celebrate at the finish line, I wondered if I had the courage to do it. The previous days of learning (and believing) that I had the strength to control my own outcome circled in my head. Did I have the courage? The answer was, YES! As I stepped up to the coals, barefoot and ready, I heard the crowd cheering words of encouragement. Once I took the first step there was no turning back. The cheers became muffled behind me. I looked up, walked forward, and listened to my own voice tell me I could do it. As I stepped into the wet pad of moss waiting for me at the end, my hands flew up, my support team cheered, and yes, I may have cried with excitement-- I did it! I came home from that event exhilarated and believing I could accomplish anything, after all, I was a Firewalker!! Many times since then I have revisited the learnings of that event and the feelings of walking over burning hot coals. I realize how it has related to the many fires I have walked through in my life. Here's the thing... Everyone is a Firewalker! We all walk through fire at some point in our lives. These fires take many forms: divorce, health issues, loss of a job, or the death of someone you love. The lessons I learned that day on the burning coals work for all of life’s fires. I will share a few here. You must take the first step. If you stand at the edge of the fire yearning for the soft landing on the other side, you will either be pushed in or remain living in a place of fear. You must take the first step. You must take your time; walk slowly and experience the fire. If you try to rush the process believing that by running through you won’t feel the pain, hot coals will be kicked up lodging deeper into your skin. You will have to deal with the pain. You must feel the fire, but keep moving through. If you get stuck too long, the fire begins to feel normal to you. You become used to the burning and the attention you receive for being there. Eventually, others may lose interest in your burning and leave you standing in the heat. You must walk through your fires alone. You may have many people cheering you on from the sidelines, but ultimately you have to learn the lessons and walk through fires alone. You must look up and forward as you walk. As you walk, if you continually look down at the fire, the fear will consume you causing you to live a life of victimization and bitterness. You must look ahead to a future past the fire. You must check for smoldering sparks. Tiny pieces of hot coals stick between your toes and in the depths of your heart. These hidden sparks may seem harmless, but when left unattended may flare up again and again. Say thank you and celebrate what was good about walking through fire. When you have walked through the fire, look back at what you accomplished. Honor the fire for the lessons it gave you --strength, courage, patience and love. You must believe you can. Finally, and most importantly, from the first step to the last, you MUST believe in yourself! I am Pennie Hunt and I am a Firewalker. And guess what, YOU are too. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Believe you have the courage to walk through the fires of life and be grateful for the lessons they teach you. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: [email protected]. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2023 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward and share this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information.
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![]() Do you believe you have value? I don’t mean a monetary price tag. I mean a value of importance and worth to family, friends, coworkers, employers and your community. Do you believe you hold value to them? Do you value yourself? Hmmm. Never thought of that? We can become so caught up in our daily lives that we begin to go through the motions of work, school, caretaking, commitments, and obligations. All the things we believe we must do. We can become so mechanical in our actions that we don’t think about what value we are adding. We just move from one task to the next. This can desensitize us to feeling the emotions that attach to our movements and to the people we are moving for. We can block the acceptance of gratitude and appreciation from others because we don’t see the value we have given them. And they don’t tell us. Our self-worth can settle into a space much lower than it should be because we have blocked the energy of value from others that would feed our worthiness. If you asked someone what value you bring to them what would they say? A teenager may say things like – you take me to school and cook for me. A coworker may say – you get your work done on time so I can get mine done on time. These kinds of answers make us feel competent but might not make us feel valuable. What would your spouse or partner say if you asked the same question? Wouldn’t it be great if the answers were – when you cook for me it makes me feel loved and cared for. Or -- when you get your work done on time you make me feel supported and that we are a team that can trust each other. Your value to me is the mutual trust and support we share. Could you answer the question if someone asked what value they bring to you? It works both ways. If you want to feel valued, you must communicate to others how you value them. Action and body language communicate as deeply as words. When someone you care about walks into the room, look up from your computer or phone and show interest and happiness. Show that you value them enough to give them your full attention. In business we talk about ‘value added’ and how we can add value to our product or service. Can we use this same concept in our life and interaction with others? Can we pay attention and really think about what value we are adding? Can we pay attention to what value others are adding? Feeling valued and expressing how you value others becomes a dance of complicated simplicity. It is simple to tell people how important they are to you and why. It is simple to express your gratitude for them. We seem to make it complicated by couching our feelings in words of task accomplishments instead of words of value, appreciation and gratitude for having them in our lives. Begin telling others today what value they bring to your life. Use words of feelings and emotions. You may be surprised how they will reciprocate by telling you what value you bring to them. You will begin to understand the value you hold, and your self-esteem and self-worth will grow. Your confidence will expand. Your relationships will flourish. How you value yourself will become an important compass for your life. You will know you have value. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Express to others why they are valuable to you and your life. Believe you add value to them. Always, always, value yourself. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: [email protected]. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2023 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward and share this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. ![]() When he hit the ball over the fence, all the coaches seated two rows in front of me stood up and asked, “Where did he come from?” It was the third pitch and the third time in a row he struck a home run hit. We just moved to this new community and J.T. was trying out to be on one of the 10–12-year-old Little League teams. He had played baseball since he could stand on his chubby baby legs and carry around a plastic bat. He was proficient at hitting that hard and that far. It was a good thing, as he wasn’t a fast runner, so he had to hit it over the fence, or they would get him out at first base. I should explain, he wouldn’t just run the bases after he hit the ball over the fence. Every step was filled with a dancing combination of excitement, happiness and enthusiasm. He would jump on home plate with joy. He didn’t play for the score or accolades. He played to have fun and fill everyone who watched him with laughter and joy. This is how he lived his life. To have fun and spread joy and laughter. Music lit him up. He couldn’t stand still when he heard it. He would jump up and start dancing. His hands were always drumming on the steering wheel as he drove and sang along with the radio. He played his drums with a fire that came from somewhere inside of him and his guitar became an appendage of his body that he couldn’t live without. When he laughed, everyone laughed with him. He cared about family, friends and strangers in a deeply connected way. He wondered about everyone’s story. He carried the heartache and the heartbreak of others as if it was his burden to hold. And he could hug. Oh, he could hug. He would surround you in a circle of energy that would penetrate straight to your heart and back to his. Just when you thought he was done, he would squeeze a little harder for one more zap of love. You never wanted him to let go. When he was a teenager, we took him to Laguna Beach. Early one morning we stood on our hotel balcony looking out at the ocean. In the distance on a rock formation that had surfaced during low tide, my husband pointed to a figure and said, “That’s JT.” He was sitting as far out as he could at the edge of the largest rock. The ocean waves were slapping the rocks around him and the mist of the water spraying the air gave the scene a mystical feel. We watched him for a long time, imagining what he was thinking, what he was wondering about. My husband said, “He is an artist.” It was true. He was a true artist, a musician, an adventurer and a lover of nature and all beings. He had a deep connection to feelings and emotions. And an even deeper curiosity about life, the universe and what might lie beyond this human experience. After he passed at the age of 22, I found a crumpled paper in his wallet with a phone number scratched on it. I did an internet search for the number and found it belonged to a well-known artist. I sent him an email asking if he knew my son and why his number might be in my son’s wallet. His swift response included this: I remember JT coming to my Gallery. He seemed to really get involved in my work which is the greatest of compliments for me. I think his involvement in music connected him to my work. We fine arts people have a wonderful connection because of our mission. I am very sorry I didn't get to know him better as he did have that sparkle in his eye from his wondering about the Universe. I thought that was a magical way to describe my son. He did have a sparkle in his eye and always wondered. Wondered about life, people, heartbreaks, happiness, and all things that make up the Universe. To answer the question, where did he come from? Maybe someday I will find out. Someday I hope to join him in the special mystical, magical place I believe he went to… or should I say he returned to. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Some people, sweet and attractive, and strong and healthy, happen to die young. They are masters in disguise teaching us about impermanence.” - Dalai Lama XIV ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ In memory of my son, J.T. 1/14/1985—9/13/2007 YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: [email protected]. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2023 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward and share this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. ![]() Sometimes I hear a comment that makes me ponder. Recently I heard someone say if you have an hour of work to do and two weeks to do it in, it doesn’t matter if you complete it in the first hour or the last hour of the timeframe - as long as you get it done. I have been pondering that idea for days. I realize I have done both in my life. For the most part, I prefer to get things done sooner than later. When the task is done, I can relax and enjoy the rest of the time feeling confident that I am not running behind or putting myself under pressure at the last minute. This scenario works well for me. There are times when I relax first, believing I have lots of time to get it done. Usually, I keep thinking about it until inevitably something happens that fills that time leaving me in the pressure cooker. I become overwhelmed, nervous and afraid I won’t get the job done. I know people that the second scenario is their go-to. They wait until the last hour and then seem to work well under pressure. It is almost a game of chance for them to beat the clock right before the buzzer goes off. In most cases, I guess neither way is right or wrong as long as you complete the task. I did think of one exception. We have an entire lifetime to express love and kindness, support and encouragement, joy and happiness. If we use the idea that it doesn’t matter if we do this in the first years of our lives or wait until the last hour of our life to express these feelings, there is a difference. I don’t believe any of these can be done in the last hour or year and have the same impact. If you knew someone who was critical, mean, unhappy and never expressed love or kindness their entire life, but in the last moments tried to get it all done, would it hold the same meaning to you as someone who expressed it their entire life? Maybe this is a time when accomplishing it sooner than later is a better option. Maybe if you began expressing love and kindness, support and encouragement, joy and happiness at a very young age, it becomes a habit that you continue throughout your lifetime. It makes a difference. Maybe if you never learned how to express love and kindness, support and encouragement, joy and happiness in the early years of your life, it also becomes a habit of not showing these traits throughout your lifetime. It makes a difference. We have an entire lifetime to get this job done. The glitch is we don’t have a set time frame or know if that lifetime will be 22 or 103 years. So, I think it might be best to begin thinking about how you express feelings and emotions early in your life. If you are lucky, you were taught how to do this and began at a young age. If you are reading this and think you better start before it is too late. Don’t wait. This is one thing that you don’t want to wait until the last hour to get it done. It makes a difference. Sometimes I hear a comment that makes me ponder. I hope this one does the same for you. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Some things are better done sooner than later. It makes a difference. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: [email protected]. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2023 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward and share this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. |
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