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WHY DIDN’T I? Her nail polish was cheerful turquoise. It matched the bright happy color of her headband, however, everything between the nail polish and headband spoke of sadness. Her teenage shoulders were bent from weakness as if they had carried years of stress. Her blue eyes rarely connected with mine as she took my order and prepared my sandwich. It was a quick lunch stop for me as I was driving home from a speaking event. In. . . and . . . out. That is what I wanted. It was late in the afternoon and only hunger could interrupt my determination to get home. A fast sandwich and then back on the road. I paid her, thanked her and hustled away with my lunch. The whole time her despair was knocking on my heart’s door saying, “Help, Help, let me in!” I ran through the rain to the safety of my car and began the drive again. With every bite I took and every mile I drove I thought of her. The knocking was still there. The heaviness of her sadness. The guilt grew with every swish of my windshield wipers. Guilt for keeping the words I wanted to say to her inside… beating them down deep into my throat because I didn’t want to take the time. My mind was going faster than the speed limit with thoughts of ~ Why didn’t I? Why didn’t I talk to her? Why didn’t I ask about her day, her family, her life? The shop was slow, I could have taken the time to talk to her, to help her, if only by showing I cared. Why didn’t I? How many times have I done this- missed an opportunity to help a stranger, or even someone close to me? The heart knocks happen in small ways. A word. A look. A feeling. They are easy to miss and easy to ignore. And yet, it is so easy to take a moment to smile, to ask, to give words of encouragement or a hug. It’s so easy to let someone know you care. Life lessons are hard to learn. Especially when you miss the opportunity and there isn’t a “do over.” This is one I won’t forget Her turquoise sadness I won’t forget. Next time I feel that knocking on my heart from someone in need, I will take the time. Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Never miss a chance to care, help and show kindness. Never miss a chance to love.” YOUR TURN... My intent in sharing this with you is to encourage you to never miss the opportunity to show kindness! 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 © 2013-2017 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. If you have any questions or comments, or for reprint permission please email: [email protected]
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LEAP OF TRUST
You know the feeling. You slide into the cool sheets, fluff up your favorite pillow, pull the soft warm blankets up to your chin and wiggle and squiggle until your mattress molds around you in safe secure comfort. You close your eyes shutting out all the problems of your world and drift into the luxury of sleep. All the while trusting. Trusting that wherever you travel --through pleasant dreams or nightmares, whether your body simply shuts down to rest or your soul journeys to unknown adventures-- at some point you will wake up. Wake up stronger, rested and ready to walk another day. And, if you don’t wake up, you trust that the space you move into will be one of greater comfort than the space where you currently are. This may be the ultimate leap of trust. To simply close your eyes, giving up all barriers of protection and give yourself fully to the unknown experience of unconsciousness that you know as sleep. A place of total vulnerability. Trust. What if you could learn to trust like this during your awake hours? Grief, sadness and life events are at times difficult to maneuver. You may feel like there is no end- no way out of the desperation. What if you could trust that you will walk through these times and wake up on the other side with new strength, new knowledge and ready to walk another day? Actually, it should be easier. When you trust that sleep is a safe endeavor you do it alone. No one can share the experience of sleep with you. And yet, you do it night after night always trusting it will be fine in the morning. All other life experiences, no matter how devastating they are, can be shared with others. Even if you feel alone, you don’t have to be. You can ask for help. You can reach out to others in similar circumstances. You can hold someone’s hand and they can hold yours. Tonight when you cozy into your cocoon of sleep, ponder this concept. Think about theleap of trust you take every time you close your eyes. AND, think about how wonderful it would be to live your daily life trusting in that same way. Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Take the leap of trust moment to moment understanding that you will make it through the challenges of life. Trust that you will be fine.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN... My intent in sharing this with you is to encourage you to trust. Trust in every moment of every day! 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 © 2013-2017 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. If you have any questions or comments, or for reprint permission please email: [email protected] ![]()
BREATH OF GREEN
So often I hear people saying they are rushed, tired and overwhelmed. They are running from one meeting to the next, stressed about paying bills and worried about keeping others happy. What they are ultimately doing is living in fear. Fear of being late. Fear of not having enough money. Fear of disappointing others. And the BIG one -fear of not being good enough. Do you see yourself in that scenario? If so, here is something that always works for me. Your mind cannot live in fear and love simultaneously. Therefore, the answer is to increase love. You must begin by increasing the love inside of You! Begin by understanding a new concept. Green is the color of love. Yes, Green! I know what you are thinking - wait a minute, what about red; the color of valentines, hearts and roses? Chakras, or energy centers, are located at strategic points in the body and are aligned with a color value. The heart Chakra is Green and corresponds with unconditional love, compassion and healing. Imagine a beautiful glowing emerald Green circle that radiates around your heart. To increase love in yourself, for yourself and for others, you must fill this energy center with love. This will in turn multiply and fill you with love. Love will then spill outwardly - to others and to every aspect of your life. This is where my "Breath of Green" comes in. How often do you see green? Green is everywhere! When you see Green, take in a slow deep breath. As you do, visualize breathing in Green; breathing in love. At first you may even say out loud or to yourself, "breathe in love." As you exhale imagine pushing out fear. Visualize fear as black, dirty, and ugly. At first you may even say out loud or to yourself, "breathe out fear." This only takes a few seconds. Breathe in fresh clean love. Exhale painful fear. With every breath you will feel calmer. No one will even know you are doing it, but they will notice a change in you. YOU will FEEL a change in you. Soon you will begin to see Green everywhere. Your eyes will begin searching for it. A woman will walk into a meeting wearing a Green sweater. A dog with a Green leash will walk by you on the sidewalk. The menu at the lunch deli will have the special outlined in Green. The junk mail you are throwing away will be in a Green envelope. You will see a Green light as you are driving -Go Now- breathe in love! Make an effort to try this for one week. Once you experience the cleansing of fear and feel the new calmness of love take over, you will want to continue this practice. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie's Life Lesson: "Love and fear are not compatible. Fill yourself with love, in order to diminish fear." ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN... I shared this with you to give you a tool to relax and calm your busy life-- in a quick and easy way! How many times did you see and think Green just by reading this. Tell us how this concept worked for you! 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 © 2013-2017 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. If you have any questions or comments, or for reprint permission please email: [email protected] ![]()
WHAT I LEARNED FROM BREAKING OFF AN AFFAIR
I decided to break off an affair I had secretly enjoyed for years. I would not eat sugar for 30 days. Coming from a woman who loves sweets and believes chocolate should be a food group, this was a big deal. I am going to share with you what I learned from this experience. 1. I get derailed by defining and justifying things. At first, I made the proclamation that I was not eating sugar for 30 days. Then I realized that is hard to do. Sugar is in EVERYTHING! It is not just in chocolate cake. It hides in foods where we least expect it to be- there it is tucked in our healthy protein bars and our breakfast smoothies. It became clear that it is close to impossible not to consume some sugar…even if it isn’t intentional. I decided, well, I won’t eat dessert for 30 days. What does that mean? In my mind dessert was an after dinner treat, so if I eat pie for breakfast does that count? I looked up the definition and found this: Dessert: A usually sweet course or dish, as of fruit, ice cream, or pastry, served at the end of a meal. My mind played games with this thinking… could I justify pie for breakfast or a donut at 10 AM because it wouldn’t be at the end of a meal…and fruit is healthy, I don’t want to cut out fruit. I became so derailed with trying to define my mission that I almost gave up. I came to the conclusion that what I wanted to do was cut as much sugar out of my life as possible, not eat sweets and definitely no more treats with my coffee after dinner. This included even sugar-free desserts. I would do this to the best of my ability without making myself crazy…a handful of grapes in the evening was not going to make me a failure! 2. My mind and emotions don’t agree. The first two weeks were a battle between the two! My logical mind knew that I have a history of diabetes in my family. My mind knew I was not getting younger. My mind knew that I didn't feel good when I eat sweet desserts. My emotions told me not to break up with sugar. The love affair had gone on too long, the romance and temptation of mint chocolate chip ice cream made me flutter inside, made me happy and made me feel loved. 3. It’s easy to listen to my self-talk and hard not to. My self-talk is nasty. It told me to be angry that my sweet delights had been taken away from me. It told me this was a stupid idea. It told me I could cheat if no one saw me. It told me I was punishing myself by taking away sweets and I deserved dessert! Then I remembered a quote from Jim Rohn, “What is easy to do, is easy not to do.” It has always been so easy for me to eat dessert, to say yes to not one, but 3 or 4 cookies, and to buy donuts to enjoy with my coffee after a grocery shopping trip. I realized it was in my power to make it just as easy to say, “No thank you,” when the waitress asked if I wanted to see the dessert menu. It was in my power to reach for a banana instead of a handful of cookies. It was in my power to walk by the bakery in the grocery store and head right to the apples and oranges. It could be just as easy to do. 4. Going back is painful. After my 30 days, I went out to dinner with girlfriends to celebrate one of their birthdays. Of course at the end of the meal 4 pieces of chocolate cake were delivered to the table. Not just slivers, but giant ooey gooey layers of chocolate goodness divided by oozing chocolate frosting. The smell was intoxicating. Memories of my past love affair took control as my fork attacked it, after all my 30 days were over – I never made a lifetime commitment. Four bites into it I stopped. I had enough and pushed it away. In the middle of the night my eyes flew open. My head throbbed, my legs were shaky, my stomach felt sick. My body revolted against the sudden shock of chocolate and sugar. I shuffled through the next morning like I was drugged. I remembered the old familiar feeling of regret for what I had done the night before and the sugar hangover that I had subjected my body to for so many years. As I write this it is now day 54 since I broke off my love affair with sweets. It takes time to learn hard lessons. On one other occasion I allowed the seduction of a few bites of chocolate to tempt me, playing out in the same outcome as before. This time I picked myself up out of the sugar coma and said, “Enough!” I am better without sugar and sweets. I like feeling good when I wake up in the morning. I like not worrying about blood sugar levels and insulin shots. I like not craving sugar and allowing it to control me. Will I ever taste chocolate again? Probably. But it is no longer one of my major food groups. I no longer dream of my time together with sugar like the adventures of a romance novel. It really is true, we can learn to retrain our minds and emotions. If it’s easy to do, it’s easy not to do. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: “If it’s easy to do, it’s easy not to do.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ***Since we all learn from each other, I would love to have you share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. Thank you!*** All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2017 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. If you have any questions or comments, or for reprint permission please email: [email protected] Thank you! |
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PLEASE NOTE: This page does not provide medical or legal advice, professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment or services to you or to any other individual. Through this site and links to other sites, Pennie Hunt provides general information for inspiration, encouragement and educational purposes only. The information provided in this site, or through links to other sites, is not a substitute for legal, medical, or professional care, and you should not use the information in place of a visit, call or the advice of your lawyer, physician or other healthcare provider. |