I am not sure how it happened. We did some landscaping. We added some rock work and a few trees and plants to our yard. A year later a single branch sprouted from the rocks. Then a second one stretched out of the ground. I wasn’t exactly sure what it was but for two years I watched it grow slowly. Last year it looked like a bush. I thought it was quite lovely as the leaves rustled in the wind. The green added a lovely touch to the corner of our driveway.  My neighbor asked me what it was and said it was the most beautiful thing on our street. A strong compliment for something that grew by accident.

The mystery sprout became a tree, so this year I snipped off all the lower branches and it grew with a power I never expected. Taller than me. Much taller than me and well on its way to becoming a large strong tree.  

How many times has something happened in life that caused us to unintentionally grow? We didn’t plan it. We may not have wanted it to happen, but it did and caused a growth spurt that we never expected. We grew in strength. Grew in experience. Grew mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.

In school you may have let your grades slip and the consequences were painful. You may not have been able to participate in sports or you may have enjoyed a little summer school time. Learning to be more responsible in the future with your schoolwork and appreciating the benefit of playing your favorite sport was the unintentional growth you gained.

You may have lost someone you love. The pain of grief can be unbearable. Living through, and with, this kind of pain can create growth in powerful ways. Your empathy and compassion for others grows. Your kindness and attention to the simple things in life grows. Your love for the time spent with family and friends grows. With deep pain comes deep (unintentional) growth.

You may have been laid off from a job. The panic of this type of situation causes stress, worry, and loss of confidence. As you search for a new job you begin to realize that you can find success elsewhere. In the future you plan your savings in case this happens again. You learn to be prepared for the unexpected. The learning and growth that comes from a stressful situation leads to confidence and strength. With time you realize it may have been the best thing that ever happened to you. What seemed to be the end of the world opened the door for a new beginning. The most difficult of times can cause the most dramatic growth.

I am not sure how our new tree happened to find us. Maybe a seed was dormant in one of the plants we intentionally planted and with the water and attention it decided to burst into its glory. Maybe it was a seed that blew from a neighbor’s tree swirling and dancing until it nestled into the safety of our rocks. How ever it came to live with us, its accidental growth has been a magical process to watch.

In the same way, our own unintentional growth can be a magical process to experience. We may not understand why it happens to us. It may take years before we fully realize the growth we have experienced because of it. The process may be painful, but as it expands our hearts it can become a beautiful benefit to our lives.
                                   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                   Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                The most difficult of times can cause the most dramatic growth.
                                   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

#CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt #YouAreGoodEnough
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. ​

​Fear is a big word.
A big bad four-letter word.
How many times does this word stop you? Probably more often than you realize. It stops you from taking a risk. It stops you from moving forward. It stops you from reaching for your dreams.

Try these 7 suggestions to help you be in control of fear:
1. Discover your hidden emotions. We have many emotions in our lifetime. Guilt, shame, anger, grief, love, joy, serenity, and so many more. Many times, we hide these in the deepest part of our being. We hide guilt and shame because we are afraid others will find out about our past. We carry grief in secret spots of our hearts. We may not want to seem too happy, too joyful, or too serene because we are afraid we will look a little wacky. We may be afraid to tell people we love them, so we hide our emotions. Dig deep into what emotions you are hiding and why. Step over the fear and share them. You will soon realize how bringing emotions into the light helps you connect with others and lessens fear. When we share our hidden emotions, we realize just how similar we all are.

2. Love. Allow yourself to love and be loved. I believe this is the reason we are here in this life. When you show love and accept love you will live in a loving way. When love is your guiding light, it outshines the darkness of fear. 

3. Failure is part of life. Accept that you will fail and stop fearing failure. Don’t fear making mistakes or taking a risk. Some will work out. Some won’t. But, with every failure you learn. With every step back you open space to see a new path forward. With time, you will realize that every failure comes with a reason why. 

4. Accept change. One absolute in life is change. Babies grow up. Our bodies age. Loved ones pass away. Warm summer days will turn into the cold blizzards of winter. We may not like the change we experience, but we cannot stop most of it. Learn to control the controllable and learn to accept the uncontrollable changes in life. 

5. Be grateful. Gratitude and fear are not compatible. When you feel the negativity of fear creeping in, be grateful for all you have. Start with the smallest of things and continue building your courage through the positivity of gratitude. The more gratitude you feel the less space you have for fear.  

6. Live your own dream. Everyone has an idea about how you should live your life, but no one except you will actually live it. Don’t live your life for someone else’s dream. Don’t allow others to fill you with their opinions about your life. Be smart. Do your research. Create a plan. Look at all the angles. A mentor is helpful, but don’t allow negative voices to create fear.  Don’t allow the opinions of others to stop your dreams.

7. Align your dreams, desires, intentions, and actions. When you do everything you can do to mold these together you will hold a belief that it will happen. Release the fear of how it will happen or if it will happen. Remember this quote:
        “And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to                   achieve it.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Yes, FEAR is a big word and disguises itself in many ways. It holds you back from your full potential. It creates anger, hate, depression, isolation, shame, guilt and so many versions of negativity. You will never be 100% free of fear, but you can control and minimize your fear. Fear can become a small word that holds very little power over you. You can replace Fear with words like Love, Acceptance, Gratitude, and Dreams.  Now, those are big words!
​                                        ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
                                             Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                               Don’t allow fear to block your dreams. 
                                         ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

#CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt #YouAreGoodEnough
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. ​

I hated them.
He loved them.
The small, knitted beanies were always on his head. He had them in a variety of styles and colors. In the early 2000’s they were not all that common. I thought they looked funny and much preferred him wearing a baseball cap, but beanies were his thing.

After he passed in 2007 photographs became important. In almost all the photographs taken of him during his last few years, he was wearing his beanies. The brown one he wore most of the time. The baby blue one that a friend gave him. A light brown wool one that he never wanted me to wash because it would shrink. And the striped Guinness one he was wearing the day his daughter was born.

I realized the beanies were part of his personality. He never cared what people thought. He played his own drum and walked to his own beat. The beanies were packed away with his special belongings. Carefully stored in a Rubbermaid tub full of memories.

Now, 16 years later everyone wears beanies. When I see a young man wearing one, I think of my son and how he was ahead of his time. Ahead of the fashion curve. This summer when my granddaughter, (his daughter) came to my house wearing a beanie I smiled and said,
“You know your dad always wore beanies.”
Her excitement was obvious when she responded with, “Do you still have any of them?”

Yes, yes, I did.
I thought about it for a few weeks and then I knew exactly which one I needed to give to her. The one he was wearing the day she was born. I wasn’t sure it was appropriate to give a 16-year-old a beer beanie, but it was the right one.

I washed it. I bought a pill shaver and spent a couple of hours carefully shaving off the tiny dots of fuzz that accumulate on knitwear over time. My granddaughter and I were out for dinner when I gave it to her. I told her it was a special beanie and showed her the photo of him wearing it and holding her just hours after she was born.

She was only 9 months old when he passed and has no memories of him. Over the years I have told her stories about him not to overwhelm her, but to keep him alive in a small way. To help her understand who her dad was. And to allow his memory to dance in my heart with every story I told.

As she accepted the beanie, I told her the story of her birth and how proud he was holding her in that photograph. I told her what a special time that Christmas Eve morning was when she arrived. She held it, looked it over, and laid it on her coat next to her.

We finished our dinner, put our coats on, and walked to our cars to go home. With the beanie in her hand, we hugged goodbye, and I said,
“You know, I am going to need a photo of you wearing that beanie.”

She smiled and said, “I love you” and ran through the wind to her car as I was reciprocating the feeling.
The wind carried my words away. “I love you too, sweet girl!”

Driving home I thought about the beanie and the journey it had been on. I thought about how years ago I hated it. Now I felt like I had just given one of my most precious possessions to one of my most precious people. When I arrived home, I sat quietly drinking hot tea and hoping she loved it like I did.

Beeeep.

It was the sound of a text message. I saw her name flash on the screen and opened the message. There were no words. Just a photo of her wearing the beanie.

The beanie’s journey was complete. It landed right where it was meant to be.
And I couldn’t love it more!
                                                   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
                                                     Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                                                Sometimes it takes a journey
                                    to understand the connected threads of love. 
                                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

#CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt #YouAreGoodEnough
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. ​

Do you know what your core values are? Do you even know what that means?

Many companies and organizations have a list of core values that guide their business and mission. They hold their employees and partners to the standards set by the core values. When employee evaluations are conducted the demonstration of the core values is assessed.  
 
Have you thought of what your personal core values are? If core values are important in a work and organizational setting, shouldn’t they be important in our personal life?
 
Core values are what you value in life. What is important to you. What you stand for. What you stand by when you make life decisions. They are nonnegotiable and you don’t waver from them.
 
I believe I have had core values but have never officially written them down – until now. I thought I would share them with you.
 
Love- I believe this is the main reason we are in this life- to love and be loved. I value love highly in my relationships and interactions with others. I try to be loving and push love to others- even if it is a silent wish for a stranger that I walk by.
 
Kindness- This isn’t difficult –be kind to humans, animals, and our world.  
 
Compassion- Being empathetic, forgiving, and compassionate to others and to myself. We all struggle. We have all failed. We all have burdens and heartaches. None of us are perfect. Show compassion for the imperfections we all carry.
 
Communication/Connection- I crave connection. I have an intense inner desire to communicate with others. Family and friendships hold a deep space in my heart. Helping, holding, and harmonizing with others is as natural to me as breathing. Without it, I become less than who I am meant to be.
 
Happiness- Happiness is my choice. My moment-by-moment choice. Why would I choose any negative state when happiness is an option? Why would I waste one precious moment of my life unhappy? I choose to be happy.
 
Trust- Acting consistently in a way that promotes honesty, reliability, and safety.
 
Creativity- I am a creator in the deepest core of my being. I must decorate. I must paint. I must put words together to form writings that touch others. My mind is constantly thinking in a creative way. What can I do next? How can I do it? How can I experience and add beauty to this life?
 
Spirituality- I am a believer. I believe there is more to this existence than what we can see and touch. I believe the love of the generations before us surrounds us now. I believe what we do ripples across this life and beyond - touching many. The mystical magic of spirituality is deeply engrained in my beliefs.
 
Peace- I dislike conflict. I really, really dislike it. I want everyone to get along, be nice, be kind, and respect each other. I spend a great deal of time navigating life to temper conflict, repair conflict, and avoid conflict. My intention is to create as much peace as I can for myself and for others.
 
Gratitude- Gratitude is not last on this list because it is the least important. It is last on this list because it is intertwined with all the other values. If I am struggling in any area of life, I ask myself if I am coming from a place of gratitude for my life and all the people in it. Do I show and express gratitude for every moment I am given? During times of deepest grief and despair, gratitude has saved my life.
 
There you have it. My Ten Personal Core Values. If you read my books or columns, you may have guessed some of these. I am not always perfect with each one of these expectations for myself, but I try. Now that I have them written down, I will try harder.
You may think 10 is a lot. Maybe it is You may have 3-5. My challenge to you is if you don’t know what your core values are, make your list now. If you have them written down review them and see if you are living in line with those values.
I would love to hear from you – share your core values with me!
                              ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                             Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                        Create a list of core values that guide your life.
                                             Review them often.
                               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

#CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt #YouAreGoodEnough
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. ​

#CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt #YouAreGoodEnough
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. ​