 I opened the door and the assortment fell on my head. I picked them up off the floor, grabbed the step stool and climbed up to shove them all back into the overflowing cabinet like I had done hundreds of times. As I jostled and pushed the bowls, pitchers and pickle containers back into the black hole of plastic, it occurred to me –WHY don’t I let go of the Tupperware? Thirty years ago Tupperware parties were the acceptable girls-night-out. We all took turns hosting the gatherings where we listened to the sales pitch, ate cake, drank coffee and shared the secrets (okay, gossip) of the day and then ordered the obligatory plastic item. At the time it seemed expensive, but the justification came with the durability of it, the perceived usefulness of it, the cool factor of the new products AND the lifetime guarantee. It was virtually indestructible, but if some major mishap did occur it would be replaced. Along with this came a free add on with every item -- guilt. I am convinced it was molded into each piece during the factory creation. It was an unwritten code that you WOULDkeep it forever. After all – the investment . . . the lifetime guarantee…and someday I will need it! What do you have in your home that you won’t let go of? What ties up the space in your heart and mind that is bound with the guilt of investment and a someday but, never-to-be-used promise or guarantee? Is your closet overflowing with clothes? Is there an unhealthy relationship in your life? Are you in a job you hate? Do you hold a victim story in your heart that you retell over and over? The Tupperware of our lives comes in all forms. We invest in all of them with time, money and energy in the hope of a future pay off. And then there is the elusive guarantee of need –someday, of weight loss – someday, of love –someday, of a promotion – someday, and someday this victim story is going to explain why everything happens to me. Maybe it was the 700th time of having a load of hard plastic fall on my head that finally spurred me to make a change. Maybe it was the recognition that it will never wear out so the guarantee doesn't matter. Maybe it was the realization that I will never use it – not even someday. The why doesn't matter, but now it is packed in a box ready to be donated. My cabinet is organized, clean and clear. My guilt is gone. I feel free! When will you let go of your Tupperware? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: "We have things in our closets, hearts and minds that we hold on to in hopes of someday. ~ Let them go!" ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
My intent in sharing this with you is to encourage you to let go of things that no longer serve 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 © 2013-2020 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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 Are you tired of hearing the words, The New Normal? I am. I have always disliked that phrase. It is a filler that people use in conversations when they don’t know what to say. When you get married, divorced, move, have a child, retire, and at funerals, you can expect to hear this comment, “Well, you will need to get used to the new normal.” I don’t believe in this concept. I remember as a kid listening in on our telephone party line. For those of you much younger than me, a party line was when one telephone circuit was shared by multiple telephone service subscribers. In my case several homes. I would pick up the phone to see if anyone was talking before I could make a call. Our party line consisted of many families, but my favorite to listen to was a lady who spoke only German. I didn’t know what she was saying, but it was fun to listen until she would hear me giggle and insist that I get off the line. Being caught, I would immediately hang up. A party line was the only phone communication I knew so it seemed normal. I remember when my family received our very own line and I only had to worry about my brother picking up one of the extensions in our home while I was talking to my girlfriends, or more humiliating for me, talking to a boyfriend. Was this the new normal? The day my Dad came home carrying what looked like a shoe box sized suitcase, my family was instructed to sit on the couch while he demonstrated his newest treasure. A phone that you could carry with you everywhere you went. To our embarrassment he did just that. I don’t actually ever remember it ringing, but it was often taken out of the box and shown off while his friends gasped in amazement. Was this the new normal? It was just 20 short years ago that everyone began carrying the fancy new flip phones. I was not an early adapter. I felt the only reason to have one was to be able to order pizza on my way home from work and synchronize the delivery person with my arrival at home. Soon enough, I was ordering pizza. Was this the new normal? Fast forward to today. I no longer have a flip phone, but a hand sized computer that holds my appointment calendar, address book, digital wallet, music, camera, and years’ worth of photographs, and important messages. It is truly the digital version of my entire life in my pocket. Is this the new normal? I could relate this kind of progression to the television, fashion, or our aging bodies. I don’t look at it as if our “normal” has become new. Instead, I believe this evolution is change and there is nothing more normal than change. Change can occur slowly or hit us with the speed of tragedy. Either way we should expect it. Our lives don’t stay the same on any level. Babies are born. Children grow up. Illness occurs. People age and die. Products are invented. Art is created. Trees grow and mountains erode. The world coordinates compromise and begins battles. Change happens. Is any of it normal? Is all of it normal? Our world has seen a lot of change in the past few months. We have been asked to accept many new ways of living. What if we stopped saying, this is the New Normal and realized that nothing is stagnant, and change is part of life. And yes, change is normal. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~ Pennie's Life Lesson: “Change can occur slowly or hit us with the speed of tragedy. Either way we should expect it. Change is normal.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
My intent in sharing this with you is to encourage you to think about how change happens. 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 © 2013-2020 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.  There are words printed on the passenger side mirror of your vehicle that read, “OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR" Have you ever noticed it? Have you ever really read it or given any thought to the meaning? This is a warning for you to be cautious of a potential problem. You see, the mirror is convex, or curved, to increase the field of view, which also makes the objects seem smaller. Since smaller objects seem further away it is easy to misjudge the space you as a driver have to maneuver when passing another vehicle or changing lanes. The warning is required by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards and yet, we hardly ever notice it. We drive, pass other vehicles and change lanes as if we are in autopilot. How many other areas of our life should we be mindful of this warning? We hold our newborn for the first time listening to their baby sounds feeling like we will hold them forever, but we blink and they are graduating from high school. We believe our parents will always be our rock of strength and support and then, one day, we become their foundation of safety as they become smaller, weaker and can no longer accurately tell us stories of their life. Our life. We think we have all the time in the world to accomplish our dreams of going back to school, writing a book or traveling to a magical destination. The problem is we misjudge the space of time we have between now and then. We think there will always be time. Lots of time. We forget that objects in the mirror are closer than they appear. We will wake up one morning and that time is gone. The space has closed. We have passed the opportunity. None of us know how much time we have here in this life, but whether you are given 22 years here or 100 the future comes quicker than we think. That tiny speck in the distance that you think of as so far away is closer than it appears. Heed the warning. Do what you want to do now! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: “The future is closer than it appears. Do what you want to do NOW.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie Heart to Heart OBJECTS IN MIRROR ARE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR YOUR TURN...
My intent in sharing this with you is to encourage you to think about how fast time goes by - do what you want to do now before it's too late! 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 © 2013-2020 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.  Well friends, today I am tired. I am feeling drained and guilty. Drained because my body feels weak, my mind feels overwhelmed, and my motivation is missing in action. I have tried 20 times this week to write something encouraging, something witty, something optimistic to share with you. Each time I gazed at a blank screen. It is not like I have been running marathons or overworking my mind. I feel guilty because I am not accomplishing or producing. I feel guilty because I have no logical reason to be in this state. But you know what... it is OK. And then I realized.... This is exactly what I should write about. If it is happening to me, it is probably happening to others. I believe we are so bombarded with news reports, numbers, and negativity that we are overwhelmed physically and emotionally. Throughout this roller coaster, I think we have all had ups and downs. Bursts of energy and slumps of sadness. All. Of. Us. Even me- the happiness lady. And it is OK. Several months ago, I was talking to a friend of mine about aging. She made a comment that went something like this - you sit in a chair because you don’t want to do anything, then you don’t do anything, then you can’t do anything. It was one of those comments that stuck in my mind following me through my days and my dreams. I realized this morning that it isn’t just about aging. It can happen at any age. Then I recognized the answer to my quandary. When we let circumstances that are out of our control take over our lives, we allow the things we can control to fall apart. There is so much going on now that we can’t control. If we allow this to be our every thought, our every conversation, and our every breath we will immobilize ourselves. We become emotionally and physically exhausted and overwhelmed. All we want to do is sit in a chair. We don’t want to do anything, so we don’t do anything. If we do nothing long enough- we can’t do anything. Atrophy sets in. This is not just a problem of the aging body. Atrophy can attack the body, mind, emotions, and motivation at any age. Looking at myself objectively, this is exactly what has been happening to me. My days have been slipping away as if the sun comes up and immediately goes down with nothing much of substance in between. My days are lost in a blur of showering, getting dressed, and getting ready for bed. I don’t want to do anything. So, I don’t. This revelation frightened me because I know what comes next. If I don’t change my pattern soon, I move to the last step - I can’t do anything. This has been a wake-up call for me. I may not be able to control what is happening in the world or outside my home, but I can control what is happening in my mind and body. I know what works for me- meditation; limiting my intake of news to enough to be informed and educated, but not saturated with overwhelm and negativity; exercise; eating healthy; connecting with people; sunshine and fresh air; loving my dogs... and so much more. I know that doing these things will get my mind and body moving. The outside world will shift to a perspective that I control. My inside mind and emotions will shift into a place where I want to do things, so I do things, and I CAN do things. I may still have an occasional lost day, but now I know the antidote. And, it is OK. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~ Pennie's Life Lesson: “When we let circumstances that are out of our control take over our lives, we allow the things we can control to fall apart.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie Heart to Heart IT IS OK! YOUR TURN...
My intent in sharing this with you is to share how I am feeling and help you understand that how ever we feel is ok. 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 © 2013-2020 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.  The rusty handle fit every hand. The hand of my grandfather as he turned and churned the milky richness inside. The hand of my uncle as he packed ice and salt in the open space between the wooden slats and the metal cylinder, then taking over the chore and pleasure of the cranking. The hand of my father as he impishly pushed his brother-in-law from the crank so he too could take credit for blending the anticipated delight. The hands of my cousins, brother, sister and me struggling with joyous giggles, layering hand on top of hand to create the strength to turn the crank. Taking turns, we sat on the blanket covered throne watching the melting ice turn to cloudy salt water running down the side. And then, when all capacity to budge the handle even one more turn became impossible, my grandmother’s bony hands pulled the frosted silver chamber from the bucket, opening it to reveal the deliciousness of my childhood. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~~ Pennie's Life Lesson: “The simplicity of life becomes the boldest of memories.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
My intent in sharing this with you is to spur a memory. What do you remember about summers of your past? 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 © 2013-2020 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. |
AuthorThere is a certain magic about where I live both physically and spiritually – on the crossroads of Spirit and Brave. Archives
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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. |