​If I asked you where you spend your time what would your answer be? Many of us have calendars, schedules, and agendas where we plan what we will spend our time on. How much thought do we give to where we spend our time? I don’t mean geographic locations or vacation spots. 
​I mean, where are you spending your time – in the past, the present, or the future?

We have all experienced being with someone who isn’t in the present moment. We have had conversations with people who are looking around the room in hopes of seeing or talking to someone else. They don’t hear the conversation or engage in the meaning of your words because they are too busy thinking of what might happen next.

We may know someone who is stuck spending time in the past. They relive regrets, what-ifs, and lost opportunities to the point of missing the beauty of the current life they could be enjoying.

Maybe we see ourselves in one of those scenarios.

Some of this depends on age and life experiences. If you are young you may naturally spend time looking ahead to plan a future, a family, and your retirement. If you are mature, you may naturally be spending time reliving memories of loved ones you have lost and experiences you have had.  

A problem arises when living in the past or future is a barrier to living in the present. We can be so obsessed with work, saving money, or planning for retirement that we miss our children growing up. We can be so encased in the sadness or grief of the past that we cannot feel the joy, happiness, and freshness of the life we are experiencing now.

At any age you can, as they say, Be Here Now! You can pay attention to the moment you are in. You can truly hear the words being spoken to you. You can clearly see the sky, the sunrise, and the sunset. You can take a moment to taste the bite of food in your mouth. You can intimately feel the hand you are holding. You can deeply breathe the breath as it enters and exits your body. You really can spend your time in the present moment.

We cannot change the past, but we can appreciate the lessons we have learned and use them to have a fuller and more complete life now. Life is not predictable. We cannot know how many years we will be here. Planning your education path or creating a retirement plan is a responsible action but obsessing about what your future holds is time wasted on unnecessary worry.

Without the ability to alter the past and no guarantee of a future, the only certainty we have is the present moment.
Where will you spend your time?
​
Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Don’t spend so much of your time reliving the past or daydreaming about the future that you miss the gift of life you are living in this moment.” 

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 © 2013-2021 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. ​

Years ago, when social media opened a whole new world to us, I was intimidated. I wasn’t exactly sure how it worked, but I tip-toed in. I created a Facebook page.
I would think about a message for hours before I hit the post button. Then I would be nervous wondering who was reading it, if they liked it, if it meant anything to them.
I also managed to master the magic of text messaging.
One day I was ranting via text to my daughter about how I had found a typo in one of my Facebook posts. In the beginning, text posts were impossible to edit. I was upset with myself. After all, how could I have missed something so simple and hit the post button which instantly transported my mistake to the world of Facebook and its billion users? I was embarrassed and frustrated. 

After a few back-and-forth acronym filled text interactions, she hit me with,
     “It just shows u r human and anyway people are already liking your post.”

We were both traveling in different parts of the country and I had little time to fuss with it, so I closed my iPad and went on with my day. But the typo continued to harass my mind. My daughter’s text, “It just shows u r human,” played mental push back to my self-inflicted criticism. 

Then it hit me – she was right! It was just a typo. A slide of my finger that hit one letter over from the one I intended. One hit of a key on my keyboard. It wasn’t as if that one keystroke was going to be tattooed on me as a permanent mark of shame across my forehead that read – I MADE A MISTAKE!

In an hour it was lost in the stream of Facebook banter and hardly noticed. The Facebook users who received it had let it go in minutes, maybe seconds, and continued to move on through the river of messages that flowed through their screens. So why didn’t I let it go as well?

How many times in life do we turn simple forgettable life typos into permanently inked tattoos that mark us for months, years or longer? So much of our life dramas are really small insignificant issues that we allow to be blown into tragedy by telling and retelling the story of how it happened, criticizing ourselves for why it happened, and bemoaning the outcome as if it were a monumental life-changing event. Most of them are not.

Now years later, I still cringe when there is a typo in my writings or social messaging. I still get embarrassed and frustrated when I make mistakes in life. But I have learned when to call a typo just a typo and not a tattooed mark of shame. We all need to allow ourselves to be seen as human.
Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Release the small mistakes in life – allow yourself to be human.”

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 © 2013-2021 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. ​

​In the past year, communication has changed. We have learned how to interact virtually. Screens have replaced face-to-face conversations. This has been a blessing, and at the same time so much is lost in this type of interaction. I was reminded of an experience I had several years ago and how important communication is.
 
We sat in a circle on the floor of my office. My daughter, her three sons, an 8-year-old and twin 5-year-olds, my 10-year-old granddaughter, and me. In an effort to slow down the running, romping, and squealing that usually occurs after dinner at my home I decided to introduce the Telephone Game.
 
I explained the rules-
To begin the first person in our circle would whisper a word or phrase into the ear of the person sitting next to them. They would listen and turn to whisper it to the person next to them and so on around the circle. The last player would then say the word or phrase out loud so everyone could hear.
 
They thought this was simple enough and as each whisper passed from mouth to ear the certainty of what they were saying beamed on their faces. It wasn’t until the first round had been completed and the initial
    “Gracie the dog is cute and furry” morphed into,
    “Gracie is a hog that eats in a hurry.”
Then the laughter exploded and they understood why this game was fun. Only one word from the original message had been communicated correctly.
 
In a perfect world, every message would be relayed to the receiver with accurate precision. They would understand the full meaning as the speaker expected. The speaker would be confident that their message was heard with the correct intention.
This is not the way communication works.
 
I have this line I say almost daily,
       "It’s All Communication.”
Everything in life comes back to communication.
 
We are born as communicators, crying and squealing as we take our first breath. We learn to understand the meaning of words, facial expressions, and emotions. We mimic them to be accepted and to gain what we desire. We learn how to use our voice and body to verbally and non-verbally communicate happiness, joy, love, and fear.
 
With age we learn to hide our true feelings and muffle our emotions. Communication begins taking over in streams filling our mailboxes, inboxes, and lives. The overwhelming amount of information becomes blurred as it layers in our minds. We try to decipher what is true and what is gossip and repeat what we believe we heard. We repeat second or third-hand stories that become skewed in the retelling.
 
Communication becomes complicated. And so, begins the grown-up version of the Telephone Game. Listening, repeating, listening, repeating.
 
We assume what we say is understood by the person we communicate with. 
Many times it is not.
We assume we hear information correctly.
Many times we don’t.
We assume what we hear is true.
Many times it isn’t.
​
Communication, the lack of communication or misunderstood communication is the cause of all of life’s problems. Fights, divorce, anger, hatred, battles – big and small all come back to communication.
 
How different would the world be if we asked the person we were communicating with if they understood what we said?
How different would the world be if we repeated back to the speaker what we believe we heard and asked for validation that we were receiving the message correctly?
How different would the world be if we communicated honesty, trust, respect, and kindness?
How different would the world be if we didn’t repeat distorted gossip, half-truths, and rumors?
How different would the world be if the whispers at the beginning of the game were repeated in the exact way it was intended creating a complete circle of accurate truthful understanding?
Words have power.
It’s all communication!
Pennie’s Life Lesson: “It’s ALL Communication!”

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 © 2013-2021 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. ​

Are you green with envy? Do you begin stewing over why someone else has advantages that you don’t? Do you tally up other people’s achievements, abilities, or possessions and compare them to yours?

Does an emotional rivalry push you to a deep and disturbing point of raw jealousy because someone else has a friendship or romantic attachment that you wish you had… or that you fear losing?

Your coworker has the job you want, just because they carry around a big heavy master’s degree that you don’t have. Your neighbor has the car you want, and his house is remodeled in a way you would love yours to be – not to mention how green his yard is. You are the bridesmaid for the 4th time wondering why others get the perfect man when you haven’t met a prince yet. Your best friend stopped calling and then you see on social media that she is out having fun with others and not you.

All these scenarios feed an unhealthy green monster that, left unchecked, can take over your thoughts and common sense. I have a solution for you.
​
The next time you feel your mind and heart heating up from that green monster, step back and look at the big picture. Tell yourself if you are envious of one thing a person has, for example their job, and wish you had it, then you must wish for everything else in their life. Maybe they have a great job, but their health is poor. If you wish you had that great job, tell yourself that poor health comes with it. If you are jealous of a relationship your friend has with her husband, tell yourself, then you must wish for everything to be like theirs. Maybe they have a great relationship, but they hate their jobs or they struggle financially.

You see, no one has a perfect life. I am known as the “Happiness Lady,” but that doesn’t mean my life is perfect. If you envy Pennie Hunt’s happy life and wish you had it, you will have to learn how to work at being happy. When you look at the big picture would you want my entire life, negative experiences and all? You would need to adapt to everything in my life- living through a divorce, dealing with the traumatic car collision I was in, and waking up every morning with the realization that my child passed away. No one has a life free of struggles.

You will always be able to find someone who has more, is more successful, and does more than you. You will always be able to find someone who has less, is less successful, and does less than you. The comparison game is what causes envy and jealousy. We compare our situation to the good fortune of others. We see the tragedy in our life as unfair. The reality is, we all have tragedy in some form. Stop feeding the green monster by comparing your life situation to others.

The antidote for envy and jealousy is gratitude. Stop looking at what you don’t have and look at what you do have. Until you are grateful for what you do have you will never have more.
Your problems won’t magically disappear, and a new car won’t miraculously appear in your driveway, but by counting your blessings your mind will be in a positive place of gratitude instead of the negative space of envy and jealousy.

​Pennie’s Life Lesson: Until you are grateful for what you do have you will never have more. ​

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 © 2013-2021 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. ​

Years ago I put a decal on the wall of my family room that said, “Learn, Laugh, Love.” I thought it was a wonderful thought to see every day. My family teased me about it. Did I really need to be reminded to learn, laugh, and love? Doesn’t that just happen? Aren’t those things we all just do?

During this past year, I have watched more home decorating shows than I care to admit. I notice how many times the homes spotlighted have words used as art. Large wooden “EAT” signs hang in kitchens. “WASH” and “DRY” are decaled on the front of washers and dryers, and “EXIT” signs are hung over doors. In some homes, decals, metal art, posters, and paintings of words cover every table, wall, and shelf, turning the home into a maze of self-help reminders.

In full disclosure, as I write this, I am looking straight at my bookshelves where the words, grace, love, and believe, lean against books as if popping out from the pages making sure that I notice them. My “family” sign mingles with smiling faces on my photo wall. A gold glittered Christmas ornament hangs on my office lamp sparkling the word “Joy” into my world. And yes, my word for the year, “HOPE,” is taped to the side of my computer.

I will admit that I am a word person. You see, I believe there are word people and number people. Although numerology interests me and certain numbers catch my heart, I am not good at remembering the year something happened. That doesn’t mean I don’t remember the event. I can describe it to you in detail recreating the image and feeling of an experience by puzzling together words of color, sounds, smells, and textures. For the most part, words are much more interesting to me than numbers.

This popular fascination with decorating our home and lives with words had me thinking about why we do it. Do we need to see a word to be reminded to feel a certain feeling or act in a certain way? Today as I drove through town doing errands, passing buildings and parks, I thought of a new twist to this interest in words. What if when we see something instead of thinking the name of the place or object, we think of a word that will attach meaning to it. For example, we could begin associating the word safety when we see a fire station and silently thank the men and women who are first responders. Can we think of the word, blessing, when we see a church to remind us to be grateful? How about the word, growth, when we see a tree to remind us to reach our full potential? What if drinking a glass of water made us think of the word, hydration- something our bodies need to survive?

This became a game for me that continued throughout the day. The orange I ate for lunch brought to mind the word, health. The sound of a baby crying- life. Rain – replenishing. Friends – support and loyalty. Family equals, love.

Maybe we do need a few prompts in our lives to trigger responses, but wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if we trained ourselves to respond with positive thoughts and words to everything we see. If we did, I predict we would all learn, laugh, and love more - without needing the words to be written on our walls.
​
Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Choose the words that guide your life carefully.” Years ago I put a decal on the wall of my family room that said, “Learn, Laugh, Love.” I thought it was a wonderful thought to see every day. My family teased me about it. Did I really need to be reminded to learn, laugh, and love? Doesn’t that just happen? Aren’t those things we all just do?

During this past year, I have watched more home decorating shows than I care to admit. I notice how many times the homes spotlighted have words used as art. Large wooden “EAT” signs hang in kitchens. “WASH” and “DRY” are decaled on the front of washers and dryers, and “EXIT” signs are hung over doors. In some homes, decals, metal art, posters, and paintings of words cover every table, wall, and shelf, turning the home into a maze of self-help reminders.

In full disclosure, as I write this, I am looking straight at my bookshelves where the words, grace, love, and believe, lean against books as if popping out from the pages making sure that I notice them. My “family” sign mingles with smiling faces on my photo wall. A gold glittered Christmas ornament hangs on my office lamp sparkling the word “Joy” into my world. And yes, my word for the year, “HOPE,” is taped to the side of my computer.

I will admit that I am a word person. You see, I believe there are word people and number people. Although numerology interests me and certain numbers catch my heart, I am not good at remembering the year something happened. That doesn’t mean I don’t remember the event. I can describe it to you in detail recreating the image and feeling of an experience by puzzling together words of color, sounds, smells, and textures. For the most part, words are much more interesting to me than numbers.

This popular fascination with decorating our home and lives with words had me thinking about why we do it. Do we need to see a word to be reminded to feel a certain feeling or act in a certain way? Today as I drove through town doing errands, passing buildings and parks, I thought of a new twist to this interest in words. What if when we see something instead of thinking the name of the place or object, we think of a word that will attach meaning to it. For example, we could begin associating the word safety when we see a fire station and silently thank the men and women who are first responders. Can we think of the word, blessing, when we see a church to remind us to be grateful? How about the word, growth, when we see a tree to remind us to reach our full potential? What if drinking a glass of water made us think of the word, hydration- something our bodies need to survive?

This became a game for me that continued throughout the day. The orange I ate for lunch brought to mind the word, health. The sound of a baby crying- life. Rain – replenishing. Friends – support and loyalty. Family equals, love.

Maybe we do need a few prompts in our lives to trigger responses, but wouldn’t it be a wonderful world if we trained ourselves to respond with positive thoughts and words to everything we see. If we did, I predict we would all learn, laugh, and love more - without needing the words to be written on our walls.

Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Choose the words that guide your life carefully.” 

Pennie Heart to Heart
THE WRITING ON THE WALL ​

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 © 2013-2021 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. ​