![]() I stopped at the restaurant for a quick lunch. I didn’t have much time as I was traveling to a meeting and had cut my driving time pretty close. The minute I walked in I felt it. All eyes were on me. I was wearing a business suit, which was obviously not the normal attire for this small town. As I was escorted to my table, I could feel all the thoughts behind the staring eyes… Who is she? Where did she come from? Why is she here? I could almost hear the music from an old western movie and a theme song called, There’s a Stranger in Town. It was clear- I was the stranger and didn’t belong there. I have never had too much of a problem eating alone, but this was different. I began looking at emails and messages on my phone. I ordered quickly, ate quickly, and left quickly. Maybe I should have stood up and introduced myself to the lunch crowd. Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped. Maybe I shouldn’t have cared— But I did. Now, years later, I still remember that day and the feeling of being an outsider. Being scrutinized. Being alone is one thing, but feeling isolated and alone in a crowd is quite another. It is intimidating and frightening. Recently I was at a large four-day conference. The number of people in attendance and the topic of the event could be overwhelming. As I walked down the hallways of the event center, if I saw someone alone, I stopped and talked to them. At every meal, I walked around the room until I found someone with that look on their face. The look of fear and loneliness. I sat with them. I talked to them. If they needed it, I held their hand and their heart. I could feel their uneasiness and insecurity of wondering if they belonged there. I knew that emotion and I hurt for anyone who was feeling that. I hope that in a small way I made a difference to those I took the time to be with. When was the last time you sat down with someone and listened to their story? It could be someone you know or a stranger. Don’t miss the opportunity to listen. Listen to what makes them cry. Listen to what is important to them. Listen to what makes their heart sing. Listen to their story. It doesn’t take long to give someone a moment of your time and it is easy to miss the opportunity. Pay attention to others. Strangers you see every day, coworkers, friends, and family members all have a story. Maybe you think you know it, but maybe you don’t. Maybe it is time to listen. Ask questions like: "What made you happy today?" "What sadness do you carry?" and "What brings love and joy to your life?" When you piece this together, you will take the journey with them through their story. None of us are strangers. We are all just friends that haven’t met yet. We all have fears, tragedy, happiness, and joy in our stories. Reach out to someone today and listen. Find out what makes their heart sing. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: No one is a stranger- they are just friends we haven’t met yet. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 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 © 2013-2024 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. #CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happincess
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![]() Life is short but it can feel very long if you don’t experience joy and happiness. You may be wondering why you do not have the joy and happiness you want in your life. You may be kind of happy, kind of joyful, but you want more. You expect more. You deserve more. I believe that happiness and joy are not given to us. They are not increased with possessions or money. Others cannot make us happy or wrap joy up in a gift box with a fancy bow and give it to us. If you want your life to change, you must learn how to increase your joy and happiness — from the inside. You are the only one who holds the power and ability to control your joy and happiness. No one can do it for you. It IS an inside job! It is how you choose to live, how you choose to react, and how you choose to process your thoughts and experiences that control your level of joy and happiness. You can move the needle, raise the bar, and increase your joy and happiness level. You and only you have the power to create and increase these emotions in your life. I encourage you to be the creator of your joy and happiness. You are in control. When you realize that joy and happiness are always available to you with every breath you take and every thought you think, you grasp the power of creating an amazing life. Joy and happiness become the natural state of how you live and who you are. When hard times come (and they will), you will return to this space of knowing who you authentically are. Your natural intention is to be joyful and experience this life with the happiness of a child. Make your life a moment-by-moment choice to live in love and gratitude. When you create a practice of gratitude your life will change. Try it for a day. Be grateful with every breath – be grateful FOR every breath. Then be grateful for waking up in the morning. Be grateful for your first cup of coffee. Be grateful for your body and its ability to exercise and carry you through the day. Be grateful for your job and the people you serve – not work for but serve. Be grateful for your friends and family and the love they surround you with. Be grateful for every meal you eat, every sound you hear, and every feeling you feel. Be so filled with gratitude that you love every moment of your life. When you become overflowingly filled with love and gratitude, joy and happiness then become their echo circling back to magnify and surround you with the goodness you deserve. You have been given this precious life. Life is short and it is not to be taken for granted. Never lose your gratitude for a sunrise or the awe of a sunset. Never miss a moment when you could create feelings of love for someone important to you. Dance in this one magical life you are given. Shine in the power of love and sprinkle every step you take with gratitude. Be a creator of joy and happiness for yourself and others. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Joy and happiness are within you and increase when you are grateful for all you have and all you are given. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 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 © 2013-2024 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. #CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happincess ![]() Years ago, when I began my work of speaking and writing, I had one mission – To Help Others. Those three words have remained my mission all these years. No matter where I am speaking or who I am interacting with, the number one question I am asked is, “Where do you get your ideas to speak and write about?” I thought I would share my answer. Most of my topics come from my real life. If I segment my life, I feel like I have lived many lives in this one. I pull on memories of my childhood. It might be my favorite experiences and memorable relatives, or embarrassing moments. When I write about them, the visual comes back to me as clearly as when it was happening. Moments of motherhood when my children were small tickles my heart in wonderful ways. The emotion of writing about these days is always a warm moment for me. And now, every time I am with one of my grandchildren I am enlightened by their intelligence and the fresh way they see life. I always have energetic conversations with them that often result in a column or a story in a speech. Then there are the comments I hear in passing. It may be a phrase I hear someone say as they pass me in an airport. It may be a line in a movie that touches my heart. It may be a remark on a podcast that lodges in my mind that I can’t seem to shake off. Once I massage these snippets of words in my mind, they fall onto the paper in ways that may be very different than the original thought I heard – but they land in a story that relates to life in the way I see it. And then there is the self-help aspect. I wrote my first book on gratitude and joy because gratitude saved my life after my son passed. I don’t say that lightly, but with total conviction and belief. The tips to incorporate gratitude into life were tips I taught myself to do to remain vertical during a devastating time. Many times, I see flaws in myself that I need to work on, so I write about them. It becomes a therapeutic process for me and others relate to the same issues I am dealing with. Sometimes it is a question that spurs my writing. A question that makes me dig deep to drag the answer from inside and lay it onto the page. At first, I wondered how I would put my thoughts into action to fulfill my mission of helping others. I have learned that we all have more in common than we think we do. The stories of my childhood may stir up thoughts of your childhood. My memories of motherhood may tug at your memories and place the reality of how fast the time of mothering goes right into the middle of your heart. If you have grandchildren, you understand my comments…and if you don’t, just wait. When you do become a grandparent, you too will become enlightened in a way you never expected. And the self-help part – well, we all need a little help at times. We all need our hands held and our hearts nourished. We all need to know we are not alone. That we share the same problems, predicaments, and heartbreaks in life. We all need to know that we matter and that our feelings are important. Where do my ideas come from? I share the stories of my life. I believe that sharing stories brings us together. It is what makes us human. It makes us understand the human mission. It makes us want To Help Others. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Do your part to help the human mission – help others. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 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 © 2013-2024 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. #CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happincess ![]() When you stand in front of the mirror, what do you see? Do you see someone who is critical, negative, and sad? Do you analyze every extra pound and flaw that you can find? Do you sit in front of a magnifying mirror to critique every wrinkle, freckle, and mole on your face? Then you tell yourself you don’t have a perfect complexion and don’t have an ideal body. And after that, you try on clothes and become frustrated with how they fit. You become convinced you are not as beautiful as the people on magazine covers and social media posts. Then you put a mirror in front of your relationships, your career, and your entire life, punching holes in every area that defines who you are. And if mirror time isn’t enough, you walk around 24/7 silently telling yourself that you are not good enough and need to be better. Telling yourself you need to do more and be more. Isn’t it time to stop hating yourself for everything you aren't and start loving yourself for everything you are? Stand in front of the mirror and take a deeper look. Look at the most beautiful human in the world looking back at you. You may not have blue eyes and blonde hair, but you weren’t meant to. You were meant to be the You that you are. You may not have the look of Beyonce or the chiseled chin of Bradley Cooper, but you weren’t meant to. You have your special one-of-a-kind look and style. You have the beauty of you that no one else has. Look at your bright eyes, which see the beauty in the world and navigate you on this life journey. Look at a loving smile directed straight at you. Look at the body that carries you and the amazing way it processes breath, water, and food. Look at the ultimate miracle of life which is standing in the mirror reflecting love and compassion back to you. How dare you criticize the beauty of this magnificent creation. How dare any of us criticize the body we have been given. Instead, be grateful for every finger and toe, every strand of hair, and every inch of the human machine that takes us through our journey of life. Look at yourself in the mirror every day with love and affection. With appreciation and awe. Be grateful that you have legs to walk with, fingers to touch with, and eyes to see with. Be grateful that you have arms to reach out to others for a hug and a heart to love with. Go back and put that mirror in front of your relationships, your career, and your entire life. Look deeply and slowly. Be grateful for every aspect of what you have -- the people, the opportunities, and the joy of life. Start cheering for yourself 24/7. Hush the negative talk and stroke your mind with positive loving affirmations. Become the MVP in your life. The biggest asset you have. You control what the mirror says and what the mirror reflects. When you click the light on for the mirror, suddenly you see what is right. You will see what is of value. You will see what you have and the desire for more fades to the background. Until you are grateful for who you are, what you have, and what you have been given you will never have more. Take control of your mirror. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Stop hating yourself for everything you aren't and start loving yourself for everything you are. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 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 © 2013-2024 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. #CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happincess ![]() I spent my childhood years far away from where my grandparents, cousins, and other relatives lived. They were all congregated in a close-knit area of Illinois. Most years we would pack up the white Pontiac Station Wagon and travel across the country to visit them. Occasionally these trips were at Christmas, but most of the time we would go in the heat of summer. I remember stepping out of the car into the thick humidity and broiling heat. My hair would instantly kink and frizz, and my skin and clothes would become glued together by the heavy moisture in the air. When we entered my grandma Pearl’s sunroom, she always offered us a cold RC Cola, and the smell of freshly baked chocolate cake with brown sugar frosting filled my nose. My dislike for the heat and humidity melted away. We would wake up to heavy fog, the wetness of dew-covered grass, and the morning noises of animals we weren’t used to hearing at home. The mooing of the cows, the alarm of roosters, the orchestra of birds, and the background of silence you only hear when you are in the country. Days were filled with activities like collecting eggs from the chicken coop and fishing in the cattle pond. We were taught how to pick up the eggs and gently stack them in a basket. We learned how to guide the slow-moving cattle away with our long bamboo poles and we dodged the cow pies on the ground to get to our fishing hole. Evenings were for sharpening the end of sticks to roast hotdogs over the fire and cranking the ice cream freezer to make the perfect creamy delight to be served with the chocolate cake. But my favorite memory came after that. When it was dark the fireflies came out. We didn’t have these magical creatures where I lived. I was fascinated by how they circled the night flashing their magic lights like silent beacons signaling the others to flash back. My siblings and I would run to catch as many as possible to fill mason jars that became magic flashlights alive with the rhythm of the creatures inside. We would do this for hours until we were drenched with sweat, humidity, and laughter. I never wanted to stop. It was as if we were catching dreams, ideas, fantasies, and our imagination. Blending them together in one small jar caused an explosion of delight. What I don’t remember is what we did with them. Did we let them go to fly through the sky flashing their magic once again, or did we set the jar to the side where they unfortunately found their final resting place? I feel like this happens to all of us. In life we all have dreams, ideas, and fantasies. We imagine how they will all come together and create an amazing life – an explosion of delight. We capture them in our minds and our hearts. But too many times we forget what happened to them. They can escape into the ether to land with someone else who allows them to grow and flourish. Or they may be thrown to the side to suffocate and never be allowed to live. But a few, a tiny few, we feed and water and keep them alive. These dreams become our successes and accomplishments. And when they gather together over the years they create the magic beacons of our lives. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Don’t forget where you put your dreams. Allow them to grow and flourish to create a life full of delight. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 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 © 2013-2024 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. #CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happincess |
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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