 I hadn’t seen her in over 10 years. Occasionally her name would appear in a comment on my social media posts. A smiley face here -A thumbs up there - Once in a while asking me to call her. When I tried to call the number she posted, it was incorrect, and I was met with a recorded message that the number had been disconnected. Months went by and she again posted the correct number and asked me to call. I did and left a voice mail with my phone number in case she wanted to call me back. She never did. A couple of weeks ago another familiar name caught my eye in a comment under one of my posts. This time from her sister that simply said, “I don’t know if you heard but….” My friend had passed away. I was stunned. I sat back in my chair reading the sentence over and over. The sentence that took me back to 7th grade when we were best friends. When we spent summers swimming at the local pool and talking about boys. The nights we would walk around our neighborhood and look at the stars. The shopping, movies, phone calls and giggles. One day we were at a park and I climbed to the top of the playground slide. I held the sides of the ladder, looking out across the countryside and sang a song by The Who, “I can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles…. Oh yeah.” She laughed and laughed – partly at my horrible singing and partly because we really could see that far across the never-ending field and that far into the lives we had ahead of us. It was her laugh that I heard as I sat back in my chair not believing what I had just read. Interestingly a month earlier, I had been contemplating how friendship can be deep and yet time, location, and so many circumstances can change the dynamic of the relationship. I wrote about the ebb and flow of friendships and how difficult it is to keep these deep connections through the years. (You can read that writing here.) I regret not trying harder to call when she asked me to. I regret all the disconnected years since we ran through that playground. I feel the loss. The loss of a person who knew my teenage secrets. The loss of the person who stood up with me at my wedding in 1976. The loss of a friendship. The loss of that laugh in my life. I hope my sweet friend is in a place where she can see for miles and miles and miles and miles and miles…. Oh yeah. Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Make the phone call. It may be the last chance you get to hear your friend laugh.”(Click here to TWEET!) **If you don't know the song - here is a video. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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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 Summers are known for picnics, parades and fireworks. The rituals and traditions passed from generation to generation are an important thread in the family history that many of us cherish. Family gatherings include favorite stories and food that burn memories into our minds. Objects become triggers that take us back to a smell, a space and a time from long ago. When I saw the ice cream bucket, I was there. I was back in my grandmother’s kitchen watching her turn the hand-powered eggbeater. She whipped the eggs into a yellow foam before adding the vanilla, brown sugar, warm creamy milk and junket tablets. When the oven door opened the house was filled with the smell of chocolate cake. As the ice cream mixture cooled, she covered the cake with her homemade brown sugar frosting. This was the way we did family gatherings in the hot, humid summers of Illinois. When the cake was complete and the milky mixture cooled, it was time to bring out the guest of honor. The ice cream bucket. Then the ceremony began. The ice cream mixture was poured into the tall metal inner canister. The canister was slid into the bucket and surrounded by ice and rock salt. The handle was assembled, and a blanket was folded on top. 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. My hands and the hands of my cousins, brother and sister joined as we struggled 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 saltwater and drizzle down the side. And then, when all capacity to budge the handle even one more turn became impossible, more blankets were layered on top to allow the ice cream to become solid and our anticipation to grow. When the time was right, the bucket was uncovered. 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...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  We have a new friend in our yard. We have never seen him. He comes out at night to play, hunt and make messes. In the morning when we wake up he has created another deep hole and a new mound of fresh dirt on our property. At first I thought it was interesting, but with every new mound of dirt I see the problem getting bigger. My mind imagines the small mounds of dirt layering into a mountain of unmanageable size. I worry that our property will be destroyed. Worry is a natural human trait. We all have times in our lives when we worry. A little worrying can be a positive motivator. We worry about passing a test, so we study. We worry about doing a presentation at work, so we prepare and make sure our facts are correct. We worry about having enough money to retire so we save and invest money in our nest egg. When our grown children are struggling, or our aging parents are declining we support them in the hope of controlling and alleviating the worry we feel. These are normal life concerns that most of us share and have the power to control. We all worry. There are times when our worrying takes over our lives. We play the worst possible scenario through our minds repeatedly and with every viewing the outcome is worse. I call this type of worry, Negative Meditation. Normally we meditate to clear our minds to allow space for peace and calm to enter. When we run the film of negative outcomes continually through our minds we are meditating on the negative and filling our minds with fear. This kind of negative meditation can cause us to catastrophize every event. We exaggerate the situation and visualize the worst outcome. The test we could easily study for to control the result becomes a constant movie in our minds that ends in us failing and dropping out of school. The presentation at work that we could prepare for to feel confident in our ability is replayed in our minds until we believe we will be fired. We worry so much about saving for retirement that we live a life depriving ourselves daily out of fear for the future. And a couple of molehills in my yard grow into a mountain in my mind that cannot be contained. Our perception of normal difficulties becomes skewed. The smallest of problems become mountains that we see no way to climb. We layer one problem with another and another until we are so overwhelmed that we freeze or explode. How do we avoid the explosion? Ask these questions: Can I control the outcome of this problem? Is this my problem to own? Am I being realistic about the problem or am I catastrophizing it to be bigger and more difficult than it is? Many times, we can control the problem we are worried about. We need a plan of action and a strategy to solve it. Many times, it is not even our problem, yet we take it on as if we need to ‘fix’ everything for everyone. If it is not our problem to own, then let the ownership of the problem and the solution stay with the person it belongs to. Many times, our imagination and constant negative meditation can increase the size of a problem to an inflated unrealistic level. Many times, a mound of dirt is just a molehill and not a mountain. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Don’t let your imagination catastrophize every event. Sometimes it is just a molehill. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  It was the third cemetery I had walked through in less than 24 hours. While visiting the state where my grandparents lived, the passing of time lead me to where snapshots of my childhood were now tucked within the granite speckled grass. My mind flash-danced through memories as I walked. The laughter of my handsome uncle who I was certain I would grow up to marry until he passed away as a result of a truck accident. My aunt’s impish smile and her black cat-eyed glasses that were popular in the 60’s. She brought a new word into my vocabulary and world – Cancer. My grandmother whose kind, gentle hands taught me how to paint, decorate cakes and see the magical, spiritual side of life- and death. My cousin, one year older than me, that shared my memories of homemade ice cream on our grandparent’s porch and reminded us all that life can end with one attack to the heart. The man I called Grandad. It was a name that fit. He was tall, gentle, quiet and grand in the way he blended strength and kindness. My dad was 4 when Grandad came into his life and took over the role his dad had left vacant. Now, on my third stop, I searched for a name that held no memories for me. No snapshots of the past. I searched for the man who passed away from tuberculosis when my dad was 9 months old.  Up and down the grass I walked. Then in the area marked by a crumbling post that once read, Section 3, I found a simple flat stone. Loren Franklin Hunt 1904-1931 I am not sure what I thought I would feel or learn from this discovery. I am not sure if I expected a connection of heart or spirit. I was sure that I needed to, in some way, meet the man I never knew- yet without him fathering my dad I wouldn’t be here. I needed to feel the same love and respect for him as I did all the others I had visited in the grass that day.  I stood a long time to study his name. I wondered what his laugh sounded like; what his smile was like; what his hands felt like as he held my newborn Dad; and I wondered if he was as grand in his strength and kindness as the man who stepped into his shoes. Life repeats in serendipitous ways. When my son passed away, also at a young age, he too left a 9-month-old child, my granddaughter. As I stood there, I realized why I had been driven to find the marker of a man I never knew. It was for him. It was for my dad. It was for me. It was for my son. It was for my granddaughter. I closed my eyes and sent a wish of hope that someday someone will share love and respect for his life and the generations that followed him. I closed my eyes and sent a wish of hope that someday someone will care enough to search in the same way I did for the name of a man they never knew. Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Love doesn’t stop when you leave this life. Send gratitude to all who came before you.” YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  Many times in life we must prove that we are qualified. Job applications require you to have particular skills and knowledge to qualify for the job. You must be a certain age to qualify for kindergarten, vote or live in a retirement community. You must pass a test to qualify for a driver’s license. You must make a certain amount of money to qualify for a home loan and you must not make too much money to qualify for help with your college tuition. These are all quantifiable requirements that we accept, understand and have learned to live with. But how many times do we discount ourselves as not being qualified for something when we really are. We are all qualified to be kind. We are all qualified to help others. We are all qualified to love and be loved. We are all qualified to be grateful. Sometimes we pass up an opportunity to be our best because we fear we are not qualified. When was the last time you saw someone that needed help, but you didn’t offer because you weren’t sure you could help them with what they needed? When was the last time you walked by a homeless person because you thought your dollar wouldn’t make a difference in their life? When was the last time you didn’t tell someone you loved them because you feared they didn’t feel the same way? Here is all you need to know about being qualified for these acts- ask yourself what your intention is. If your intention is to show you care about another living soul, then you are qualified to make the effort to help, love and be grateful. When you see someone in need ask them if they are ok. You may not have the ability to give them what they need in that moment, but the intention of showing you care enough to ask could make a difference in their day. You are qualified to do that. Saying hello to a homeless person and giving them a smile and a second of eye contact could carry with it your intention of kindness in a deeper way than your dollar might. You are qualified to do that. When you say, I love you, and you bring the feeling from your heart and your intention is to share love, even if it is not repeated back to you- you are qualified to do that. When you say, thank you, with a thankful heart your intention of gratitude is understood. You are qualified to do that. These may seem like small insignificant actions, but they are important. Only a few people may be qualified to accomplish the huge splashy achievements we see spotlighted in the news, but all of us are qualified to achieve meaning in someone’s life. You never know when one small act will change someone’s attitude, actions or life. Maybe these skills of showing kindness, helping others, sharing love and being grateful are not listed on a resume – maybe they should be. They show your skill and knowledge of being a good person. You are qualified to do that! Pennie’s Life Lesson: You are qualified to be a good person. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  We are all on a search for "Emotional Benefits." We freely give "I love you's" with the expectation that we will receive an “I love you” in return. Everything we do, say, act on or experience is with the expectation of making us feel good, feel happy, feel important or feel loved. Our need to connect and belong is a driver in life. Emotional benefit is attached. Why do you think our world is so dependent on the buzzing of our cell phones? Because with every vibrational tweet, every chiming phone call, every new friend request on Facebook, and every follow on Instagram or TikTok we feel loved, needed, and wanted. We act with our heart and grab the phone! Emotional benefit is attached. Unfortunately, we do very little in life without the expectation of reciprocity. We have learned this mutual give and take expectation throughout our life. If I pick you for the volleyball team, I expect you will pick me next time. If I invite you to lunch, I expect you to invite me to lunch. If I ‘friend’ you on Facebook, I expect you to ‘friend’ me. If I tell you I love you, I expect you to tell me you love me. We expect this mutual exchange. Emotional benefit is attached. Imagine if we took the expectation out of the equation. Imagine if we friended, liked and loved just for the joy of friending, liking and loving. Imagine joyfully giving without the expectation of an obligatory comparable response. I believe the real law of reciprocity should be based on our intent. If your intent is - I will do this in order to receive that in return, then you are living your life in a self-centered way. If your intent is - I will do this with no expectation of return, then you are living your life in an other-centered way. You are making more deposits in the bank of emotional benefits than you expect to withdraw. Then the magic happens. By changing the expectation of reciprocity, the Emotional Benefit we give to others will increase. The conditions of the game will be removed. Your own Emotional Benefit account will begin to overflow. It will become clear that by acting with our hearts in an other-centered way the search for our own Emotional Benefits will begin and end with making others feel good, happy, important and loved. Pennie's Life Lesson: Unconditionally give and love for the joy of giving and loving. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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 am known as the happiness lady. My mission in life is three words: To Help Others. I teach you how to love your life- No Matter What! I share tips and techniques to bring love, gratitude, joy and happiness into your life in an effort to uplift and support you. But, my friends, as I write this my heart is hurting. We have spent years watching the death count rise from a pandemic. Fires and tornados rage through our country, destroying entire communities. The nightly news shows us the faces of fear as the reality of war is brought into our living rooms. Our friends and family members leave for church, school or grocery shopping and never return. Support for mental illness and the opioid crisis is not keeping up with the emotional devastation and loss of life it causes. The economy and stock market are sinking pulling with it savings, dreams and security. Civility, kindness, empathy and compassion have become words with weakened meaning. Our world is grieving. I know something about grief. I have written obituaries, planned funerals, fallen to my knees from the phone calls of death and laid battered, bruised, and broken in a puddle of helpless hopelessness. I have said goodbye to friends and wiped tears from the eyes of their families. I have held my Dad’s hand as he left this life and presented my Mom’s eulogy. I have left the hospital carrying an empty blanket that should have held my baby and stood over an oak box that held my 22-year-old son. Both times, I sobbed with the pain no mother should feel. I have walked the road of divorce, lost jobs, and said goodbye to pets that marked my heart as deeply as family. I know what hurts the heart, what cracks it open. I know how that hurt allows pain, disappointment, regret, fear, anger, guilt, and all the emotions associated with loss and grief to creep in. I can recite for you the stages of grief that the experts teach- denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. I have zigzagged through all of them. Grief is not a journey we choose, but it is a journey few of us escape. Once touched by grief we realize there is no cure or magic potion that allows us to ‘get over’ it. We learn to walk a picket fence with grief waiting for us to fall off into our fragile brokenness. Our world is grieving. Our world is bouncing through the stages of denial, anger, depression and back again. We try to understand. We ask the unanswerable questions. Yes, I am known as the happiness lady. I live in a space of optimism and hope, however, I am not so naïve that I believe that all of this can be fixed with positive thinking. But, I do have hope for our world’s grieving heart. I hope the world never reaches the stage of acceptance where the current emotional and physical traumas become the acceptable norm. We should never forget or ‘get over’ this grief, but we will learn to carry it. I hope that we all walk this path of grief and loss mindfully and with love and gratitude. I hope that our journey through this grief and loss will be gentle to each of our hearts and souls. I hope the healing will begin. I hope a day comes when we say that time has truly helped to heal our world’s broken heart- well, at least mend it back together. Our world is grieving. Friends, we are all grieving. I hope that kindness, compassion and empathy become our strongest emotions. I hope that as you move forward in this grief that you have the strength to reach out to help others with theirs. And I hope that we once again learn to love our lives- No Matter What! Pennie’s Life Lesson: Our world is grieving. It is time to heal together. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  Change. Do you love it? Do you hate it? I believe there are two types of change. The first kind you initiate yourself. I love to rearrange furniture and paint my walls new colors every few years. I become restless when I have lived in the same house for too long. I love the excitement of changing environments. I initiate these changes. Some people live in the same home for 50 years and are uncomfortable if their favorite chair is moved to the other side of the room. They don’t want or like change. At times we initiate big changes in our lives. Like a butterfly must break away from a tightly woven cocoon it created, at times we must break away and change a life circumstance that is of our own making and move to a new situation. This kind of career, relationship or personal change can be painful and hard work. Once you have changed from the feeling of being bound in a tight cocoon to an open lighter space, you will see how necessary the change was. Some people stay in the same job, relationship or living conditions for a lifetime. They are not happy or living up to their potential, but they are frightened of change. They will not initiate change because the unknown is uncomfortable. They will stay in a cocooned space even though they know it is stifling, unhealthy or dangerous because they are too afraid of the uncertainty that comes with change. The second type of change is the kind that is forced into your life. A house fire can force a relocation. Company downsizing can force a job loss. A partner may leave your relationship which initiates change for them, but forces change on you. An accident or diagnosis can force a change in health that limits physical abilities. The shocking phone call that brings devastating news of the loss of a loved one, forces an instant change to your world. No one likes the forced change. No one expects it. No one greets it with open arms. One thing that is certain about life is the impermanence of it. Everything that begins has an ending. A joyful event does not last forever. The most painful times will pass. Every experience ultimately vanishes from our current reality and becomes a memory. Whether you love change or hate change, I believe the happiest, healthiest people are the ones that can accept and adapt to change. We will all enjoy happy times. We will all eventually see gray hair and wrinkles in the mirror. We will all say goodbye to loved ones. Change is the natural order of life. There is always light after darkness and darkness after light. This is the ebb and flow of living. We will all be the initiators of change. We will all have change thrust upon us like a dark downpour of a sudden thunderstorm. We must learn to expect change. We must learn to adapt to the storms as they come and accept the sunshine when we can. Pennie’s Life Lesson: The happiest, healthiest people are the ones that can accept and adapt to change. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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’m a natural smiler. I smile all the time. Some people don’t. At 6’5” my husband’s size is intimidating. His natural serious expression adds to this intimidating appearance and can unintentionally make him appear angry, annoyed or uninterested. Recently, when I was encouraging him to SMILE, he responded with, “I am smiling on the inside. No one ever taught me how to smile on the outside.” As babies, we are taught to walk by repeatedly being stood in front of open arms and encouraged to move our feet in clumsy toddler fashion until we move across the room. If we don’t succeed, we feel and are reinforced that it “feels better” to walk than to fall. Were you taught to smile in the same way? Were you taught how to raise the corners of your mouth to form one smile after another like putting one foot in front of the other to walk? We aren’t taught that even the slightest lift of the corners of our mouths lessens the creases in our foreheads, removes the heaviness on our face, and allows our eyes to sparkle. We aren’t taught that a smile is a gift we give ourselves and the easiest gift to give to others. It is almost guaranteed that if you give one you will receive one in return. We aren’t taught that smiles have the power to change someone’s day, to lift a heart and to share love in a spontaneous way. We aren’t taught that a pleasant resting face with the hint of a smile creates a welcoming persona when others see you. We aren’t taught that a full-out smile when you meet people makes them feel important and ‘seen.” We aren’t taught that a smile opens doors, opens opportunities and opens hearts.” We aren’t taught that it “feels better” to smile. I am giving you the SMILE CHALLENGE. For one week practice smiling like you do any other health routine like exercise, brushing your teeth or sleeping. Three times a day stand in front of a mirror and lift the corners of your mouth. At first, you may have to use your two index fingers to push those corners up, but I promise you they WILL move! Try variations of how you smile. A pleasant grin. A happy beam. A full-out show-all-your-teeth smile. Then throughout the day let yourself smile. Smile at strangers as you pass them. Smile at the sunshine. Smile to and for yourself when you are alone. It just Feels Better to smile! Pennie’s Life Lesson: A smile opens doors, opens opportunities and opens hearts. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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 was excited to see her. I passed through the double doors, down the hall and into the dining room. I knew lunch should be almost done, so it would be a great time to have a nice visit. Tiny and frail, she was sitting at a table in the middle of the room - alone. I walked up to her, smiled and said, “Hi, did I miss lunch?” I knew it would be a surprise, not because I hadn’t told her I was coming, but because her memory could only hold thoughts for about 10 minutes before they disappeared. Since she moved into the assisted living facility, I had traveled 6 hrs from my home to visit her every chance I could. Every time I told her when I would be there. Every time when she saw me she would clap her hands, unfold a full-face smile and react as if I was the biggest surprise she had ever received. This time was different. She looked up from her plate with no excitement or surprise. Confusion crinkled her face as she raised her hand and used her pointed index finger to paint a circle in the air around my face. This emphasized the comment she was about to crush into my heart. “I think I know you, but I don’t know your name.” I knew this day was coming. The day that dementia would win. The day she would no longer know me. It was her finger in my face that flashed my memories. The memories of a mom who would shake her finger with a strong, “no, no, no” when I toddled over to touch something breakable or dangerous. The finger that she raised in my face when at 13 I whined and complained that I wanted to be older and do the fun things my siblings could do. Her finger shook in my face as she told me to never wish my life away- it would pass way too quickly on its own. It was the finger that tickled the tummies of my babies and tapped the noses of her great-grandchildren. It was the finger that adjusted the oxygen machine levels for my dad as he was dying. It was the finger that always added power to her lectures that began with, “Let me tell you something,” and ended with a profound proclamation of her opinion about life. It was the finger that pointed to her entire family as she aged reminding us that we were not the boss of her. I froze. I couldn’t breathe. The painful crack caused by watching the mom I knew disappear broke deeper through my heart. I reached for her finger, folding it in so that our hands clasped together. She was always proud of her hands. She informed everyone that her doctor said she has very young hands - much younger than the almost 90 years old that she was. Her nails were always manicured and the rings she was so proud of sparkled on her delicate fingers. I helped her stand and told her I would walk to her apartment with her. The lump in my throat was thick with fear. I wondered if she was gone forever. If I would always be a stranger, a visitor that occasionally stopped by. I chatted about the weather and how good she looked, while arm-in-arm we walked the hallway to her apartment. She sat in her chair by the window. The topic changed to her bird feeder and the number, color and size of the birds visiting her that day. An hour had passed when she looked away from the birds and matched her eyes with mine. Her blank stare turned to a smile, she clapped her hands and her eyes twinkled as she said, “I’m so happy you are here!” I hugged her burying my tears in the shoulder of her shirt and told her I was happy too. In that second my mom was back. She knew me! The month of May brings Mother’s Day, her birthday and a lifetime of memories. I can still see her hands as she raised that finger to my face and reminded me to not wish my life away. In my heart, I always wished her life would last forever. I will honor her wishes and do the best I can to enjoy life, not rush time and I will forever be happy that she was here.
YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  When was the first time you felt like you belonged somewhere? Does the memory push you all the way back to your childhood? Your family? Elementary school? When was the last time you felt like you didn’t belong? Was it recent? Were you embarrassed? Sad? Lonely? Afraid? Are you part of a group, a team, a school, a club, a crew, a tribe, a family, a religion, a generation or a community? Of course you are. We are all affiliated in some way to a collection of others with a common interest or bond. Humans have a need for inclusion and connection. We fear and avoid isolation. So we join. We conform. We wear the uniform. We know the handshake, the secret knock on the door and the private password. We are taught to mirror the actions and mannerisms of another person so they accept us as a reflection of themselves. We want acceptance and approval. We want to fit in. It is why as a teenager you may have tasted your first beer when you were at a party with friends. You probably hated it but kept sipping it until the taste was tolerable. You felt like you belonged. You felt like you were part of the cool kids. We mimic the actions of others because we don’t feel worthy to be accepted and included unless we do. We adapt and accept the expectations that the group has for us to be a member. Some of this is necessary. In kindergarten we learned how to stand in line, raise our hand, wait our turn and share in order to function in a space of civility and kindness. As we grew, we learned the basics of polite and compassionate living to be accepted as a member of our human society. For many people the need to belong is an instinct - a requirement for human survival. It can push us to act in ways that feel uncomfortable or are out of character. When we bend and mold ourselves to be such a contorted version of who we are that we don’t recognize our own reflection in the mirror, it becomes a problem. What if we could be ourselves? Our crazy, goofy, wild authentic self? What if we looked at each other not with our eyes, but with our hearts? Can you drop the expectation you hold for yourself and others and be open to the exploration of who YOU are… of who THEY are? Stand in your own light and learn to accept yourself. Find the people who will see YOU and love YOU. You may lose some people from your life who only liked you for who you were pretending to be. But when you step into your light and let yourself free to be who you really are, you will attract the people who should be standing with you. You will attract the people that love and adore the real you. You won’t have to work so hard to fit in. You will finally feel like you belong in a way you never have before. Pennie’s Life Lesson: When you allow yourself to be the authentic person you really are, you will attract the people you are meant to be with. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  My grandson drew a picture with a caption that read, “Peace Feels Like Sitting in a Warm Chair” At six years old, he understands his Place of Peace. It is a place where he feels safe, loved, centered and warm. His place of peace is in the safety of a chair with the sun warming his heart and looking into the magical wonders of the ocean. At a time when the news is filled with the opposite of Peace, our children – and all of us -- need the security of knowing what Peace feels like. We need to know what Peace sounds like. We need to know what Peace looks like. We all need to know where our place of Peace is. When I saw my grandson’s drawing, it reminded me of my meditation chair. It is growing old and tattered and with the wisdom of age. It has become softer, safer and stronger. It has held me for years of long hours of meditations, journaling and prayers. The spirit of these practices layer into every aging wrinkle of the chair’s fabric. I feel a sacred sense of love and kindness every morning as I sink into its safe arms… settling into my Place of Peace. What does Peace feel like to you? Where do you feel safe, loved, centered and warm? How often do you visit this sacred space to relax your heart and center your soul? If nothing comes to your mind, it is time to find your sacred space. It is time to find your place of Peace. Find a place to nestle into like a baby bird nestles into a feather-lined nest. It may be a space in your home or backyard. It may be your favorite coffee shop. It may be a park or library. It may be the top of a mountain after a long hike or floating down a river in a kayak. Or it may be a beach chair with the sun on your face as you look into the wonders of the ocean. You may be one of the lucky ones who has honed the ability to close your eyes and shut out the outside noise to find your place of Peace within - anytime and anyplace. Everyone has a different idea of Peace. It doesn’t matter where your place of Peace is. What matters is that you have one and you visit it often. It is in this quiet reflective space that you rejuvenate your ability to live in the moment you are given. To relax into the humanness you were meant to experience. To tune into the inner calmness without the distraction of the world outside of us. For me, I agree with the wisdom of a six-year-old, - Peace makes me feel loved, centered and warm. Peace Feels Like Sitting in a Warm Chair. Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Find your Place of Peace. Visit it often.” YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  Goals. We hear about them all the time. Goals at school. Goals at work. Goals for the new year. Goals for our finances, our love life and our status. Goals, goals, goals! This is not a lecture on how to write a goal and stick to it. I want you to think about the goal that matters the most – your Soul Goal. You may already be neck-deep in your life goals. You are probably already measuring them, tracking them and think you have everything under control. Yet, are you experiencing a little gnawing inside? Is there a tiny whisper nibbling at your heart? Has it been there for years, but you have hushed it? That whisper is your Soul Goal. The good news is this is one goal you don’t have to write down, track or measure. You just need to listen to your heart because it is already there. I believe the soul is the script of all we have been and all we will be. It has drama, action, comedy, heartbreak and love coded into this personal documentary. Yes, there is an intended outcome to the story. I believe the ending to your script is to successfully learn how to love yourself and others. The Soul Goal is our personal method of how we accomplish that. Have you always had a desire to paint, work with animals or heal? If we are here to learn how to love ourselves and others and your inner desire is to paint, then you learn to love yourself by painting. By painting you create art that is a gift you can share with others. In doing so you touch their hearts. You love others by creating your art. If your inner desire is to heal, you may become a doctor, nurse, counselor or Reiki Master. You love yourself by following your inner voice and by doing this you heal and love others. You touch their hearts. You love others by healing. Do you see how this works? Your Soul Goal is the technique by which you reach the outcome of loving yourself and others. Listen to your whisper. Pay attention to the gnawing. If it is unclear what your Soul Goal is – pay attention to when you feel the most alive, happy and content. This is the criteria for your Soul Goal. This doesn’t have to be difficult. I am a writer and a speaker. While working through other careers in my life, the whisper and the gnawing was always there. I would attempt to incorporate snippets of my Soul Goal into my work. I would speak about my work topics and I would write heart-filled stories and give them as gifts. I knew when I was doing this I felt the most alive, happy and content. My Soul Goal is simple. It is one line: To share my life lessons through speaking and writing. In the process, I love myself by doing what makes me feel the most alive. I love others by reaching out my heart to touch theirs. I’m not suggesting you give up all of your other goals. School, work, family and life goals matter. I’m not suggesting you quit your job to become a starving artist. What I am suggesting is that you listen to your heart as it whispers your Soul Goal. I am suggesting you find a way to incorporate this whisper into your life. You don’t have to create ideas that you format into action steps and turn these into strategies and objectives. None of this is necessary. You can tiptoe into accomplishing your Soul Goal. Take a painting class one night a week. Volunteer at an animal rescue center or a nursing home. Whatever your whisper is calling you to do, find a place and begin. Remember, your Soul Goal makes you feel alive, happy and content. It should be fun! It should bring you joy! It just takes loving yourself enough to do what your soul is asking you to do. Pennie's Life Lesson: When you fulfill your Soul Goal you feel alive, happy and content. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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 my husband and I were dating I learned a powerful lesson. He would occasionally say something like, “I need a couple of days.” What? I immediately took this personally and thought something was wrong. What did I do? What did I say? He must be angry at me. I would call him and stop by his house to see if he was okay, after all I must have said or done something to upset him. He would assure me I hadn’t and that it didn’t have anything to do with me or “us.” I soon realized he was right. It didn’t have anything to do with me. It didn’t have anything to do with us. He was not angry. He was not upset. We just have different ways of recharging. He needs downtime. He needs a quiet respite to rest, relax and regenerate. He needs to do this alone. For me, when I need recharging being alone makes it worse. I feed on the energy of being with people. Talking, laughing and companionship regenerates me, so of course when he would tell me he needed time to himself I felt pushed away. I thought there must be a problem. I took it personally. How many times in life do we take things personally and the reality is that it has nothing to do with us? Whenever a stressful situation occurs many of us default immediately to the negative. We blame ourselves. Let’s look at it differently. Let go of the immediate assumption and realize it isn’t always about us…it could always be something else that causes someone to be cranky, in a hurry or snap at us. It can always be another reason that someone needs time alone. It isn’t always about us. Here is a trick to help with this self-inflicted internalization of blame and stress. Use this with your family, spouse, children and coworkers. Q-tip it! Yes, Q-tip it! Quit Taking It Personally! As a reminder, take a couple of Q-Tips and tape them to your computer, your bathroom mirror, or your car visor. Look at them often and when something happens in life that sets off your internal blame game, remember to Q-Tip It! The lesson I learned from my now husband all those years ago has saved me from many hours of needless worry. It isn’t always about me. And guess what? Now we recharge using what works for both of us. We recharge together, laughing, talking and in the quiet space of each other’s companionship. We practice of the art of Q-Tipping It. Pennie’s Life Lesson: “When the stress of life sets off your internal blame game, Q-Tip It! Quit Taking It Personally!” YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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 bought one ticket. I bought the large popcorn and drink combo. I sat in the last row. Middle seat. I had never done this before. There is something about seeing movies in a theater. The big-screen mesmerizes me. The sound swallows me. The popcorn tastes like it could be the last gourmet meal of my life – to me it’s that good. I love going to a movie theater, but I had never in my life gone alone. There was a movie I wanted to see. The timing wasn’t right. No one wanted to see it with me, so I thought I would have to wait until it was out as a rental. The movie chased around in my thoughts. It was about someone who had lost a child like I have. Of course, that is what drew me to it. The common thread. The curiosity. I wondered if the movie would portray my thoughts and feelings. I wondered if I would learn something I didn’t already know about grief. It followed me around pulling my heart along, not allowing me to push it away. I couldn’t shake the feeling that I needed to see the movie. Driving an hour to the shopping area, my whole body smiled. The entire day was mine. A day of “me” time. After a little shopping and lunch at my favorite place, the movie flashed in my mind. I quickly looked on my phone. It was playing at a budget theater nearby and I had just enough time to make it there. But…I had never done this before -- gone to a movie alone. Is that weird? Is it weird that I am kind of afraid to do this? Is it strange that this movie has such a grasp on me, constantly taking space in my thoughts? My fear played ping-pong with the movie. The movie won. The back row wasn’t bad. It felt safe. No one could see me – or the giant bucket of popcorn I balanced on my lap. At 1:00 in the afternoon on a weekday there were 6 other people there to share my theater. None of them came alone. Except me. I shut off my phone. Two hours went quickly. The movie was amazing. I cried. I hurt. At times I wanted to shout at the screen. There were moments I wanted to pray. I understood why I needed to see the movie. The message was for me. I sat in my seat until the last credit rolled, the lights were bright and the workers came in to clean up any abandoned popcorn buckets. A few things became very clear. It was clear to me that I would not have received the message the movie brought to me if I hadn’t listened to my heart pushing me to see it. It was clear to me that although going to a movie alone may seem like a silly fear to some, it was real to me. Walking into that theater was empowering. It was clear I had missed opportunities in my life when I allowed fear to win. It was clear to me that I did need to see the movie. I needed to see it alone. I needed to be able to cry alone. I needed to absorb the meaning of the movie’s message - alone. Life is magical how it manipulates us, bringing us messages we need to hear, putting us in places we need to be, pushing us to do things that we are afraid to do. All of it is done with the intent of giving us clarity. And yes, I ate the entire bucket of popcorn. Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Listen when life is pulling, pushing and prodding you to do something that stirs fear. Until you walk into it, you will never fully gain understanding, clarity and strength.” YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  Have you heard of the Stanford marshmallow experiment? It was a study on delayed versus instant gratification. In this study, children were offered a choice between one marshmallow, that they could eat as an immediate reward, or if they waited a short period of time without eating the marshmallow they would be given a second one. The children who patiently held on to the first one enjoyed the delayed gratification of eating two marshmallows. It was an interesting observation of human behavior. The speed of our world puts our lives on a mind-swirling treadmill. We have been trained to move fast, accomplish now and not sit still or wait for anything. We want and expect instant gratification. We run from one event to the next, one occasion to the next and one obligation to the next. Our kids are entrenched in going to school, participating in sports and other activities. Parents are busy keeping them occupied and maintaining their children’s schedules. Add that to the obligations of our careers, taking care of our home and families and the expectation of volunteering. Then there are the extra things in life like trying to have fun or take care of ourselves. This spins the hamster wheel of speed and commitment faster. This speeding through life has taught us to expect everything instantly. We send a text and then stare at our phones. We expect a response in two seconds. When we send an email if it hasn’t been answered in an hour, we become impatient. What’s wrong? Aren’t others just sitting at their computer waiting to answer us? We are so busy that we rush through planning holidays, weddings and other events without enjoying the process. In the stress of hurried preparation, we miss the excitement and thrill of anticipation. Then we have this thing called FOMO - fear of missing out - because we want to be everywhere doing everything with everyone all at the same time. This speed and fear have taught us to want and expect instant gratification. It has taught us to give instant gratification. When we receive a text we stop everything to answer because that’s the way the world works. We want our food fast, our bank deposits to be instant, our communication immediate and our lives seamless. Do you remember two short years ago when we all sheltered in place? Life seemed to slow to a standstill. At the time I believed the universe was teaching us lessons. Forcing us to slow down. Forcing us to be grateful for the moment we were in. Forcing us to learn patience and enjoy the process instead of jumping from one outcome to the next. It was an unusually quiet time. Today I drove through traffic dodging cars controlled by intense drivers rushing to their destinations. I heard texts chime on my phone and scanned the list of emails that were delivered within the last hour. I looked at my calendar filled with appointments and obligations. The speed has returned. The fear of missing out has returned. The rush to the finish line has returned. I will admit that as a child if I was given a marshmallow, I would have probably eaten it and not waited for the second one. Maybe I still would. But as I write this today, I believe we need to revisit the lessons we didn’t learn well enough during the quiet time. We need to recognize that a leisurely phone call is better than a hasty text. We need to understand that very few things are so important that they should be allowed to interrupt the natural flow of our lives. We need to appreciate that an event is over in a blink and the preparation and anticipation can be more powerful and more exciting than the event itself. We need to slow down. The need for instant gratification has taken away the sweet luxury of enjoying life. We need to put as much joy and love into relishing the process as we do whatever the event or the experience is – even if it is just eating a marshmallow. Pennies Life Lesson: Lessons can be forgotten quickly. Allow what you learn to seep into the very being of who you are and how you live. If you don’t, you will be taught the lesson again. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  Who am I when I am not who I used to be? Who am I when my world has totally changed and everything I knew is gone? Who am I when I don’t know who I am anymore? It was more than a decade ago. I was sitting in my home office looking out the window and my phone began chiming with an incoming call. It was one of my son’s friends. I was excited to hear his voice and thankful that he had kept in touch with me since my son’s passing. He asked how I was doing and then he told me he would be graduating from college soon and was working on his resume. He asked if he could use me as a reference. My heart smiled as I thanked him for thinking of me and yes, yes of course he could. Then he asked the question, “What should I put down as your title?” I pushed away from my desk and forced my chair to lean back to catch the breath that had just been sucked from my chest. What is my title? Who am I? I had worked another year after my son passed, but it never felt right. I felt disconnected. I had been through the most horrific time of my life and knew I needed to use my experiences to help others. It had been a few months since I had resigned from my executive position and I was not yet sure how my plan to be a speaker and writer would fall into place. I had given myself a year to figure out what my new work would look like. I knew what my title used to be. I knew who I used to be. But sitting in that moment, I was not sure who I was now. I quietly paused on the phone while my mind held on to the bar of a trapeze that swung between the old me and the new me on the other side- afraid I might fall if I let go. Finally, I answered by telling him to state that I was the former Executive Director of the organization that I led for many years. When we said goodbye, he was satisfied with that. I wasn’t. I knew I wanted to write and speak. I knew I was going to help people. I believed that all I had been through in my life was training for this new work. I didn’t know how it would play out, but I knew it would. For a long time I lived in the comfortable stability of what used to be. I used to be an Executive Director. Anything else didn’t feel real. Then I began visualizing my new life, my new work and my new title. I practiced saying, I am a speaker and a writer. It took me a while to let go of that trapeze bar, swing freely in the untethered gap and begin creating who I was going to be on the other side. After many speaking events and a lot of writing, I felt confident enough to own the title of Speaker/Writer. I was at an event when someone asked me what I did for work when I realized it was more than speaking and writing. I answered with, “I help people Love Their Life- NO MATTER WHAT!” “Tell me more,” they said. This opened a long conversation about how I do this. It allowed me to explain my speaking, books, blog, newspaper columns and my personal reason for doing the work I do. It was at that moment that I realized exactly who I am. I had created my mission, my work and my new life. At some point we all find ourselves at a tipping point in life. When careers change, when death, divorce or retirement happens you may start asking the same questions that I did. Who am I when I am not who I used to be? Who am I when my world has totally changed and everything I knew is gone? Who am I when I don’t know who I am anymore? There are new answers. There can be a new you. Let go of the past and spend some time in the open space to allow opportunities and creativity to grow. You can change what you do, how you do it and who you are at any point in your life. You may not create the circumstance that leads to the questions, but you can create the answers. Pennie’s Life Lesson: You can change who you are, what you do and how you do it. Be brave enough to begin again. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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'll try to make myself as small as possible," she said as she pulled her arms close to her body and settled into the middle seat between me and the man sleeping by the window. When I fly, I have learned to take the aisle seat when I can. It allows me to exit quickly when the plane lands and to have one side free, giving the perception of more space. At times I enjoy the window seat, but I really hate the dreaded middle seat. That is the space that sandwiches you in with no room to lean, stretch, or relax. A flight in the middle seat can be agony. When my new seatmate made her comment, I laughed and responded with some fluffy chit-chat about how the middle seat is a tough one to sit in. The plane took off. I put my earphones on. Pretzels were delivered. The comment floated in my head… I'll try to make myself as small as possible. I thought about how many times I had done that in life. How often I had made myself small to allow room for others to have the space they need, to be comfortable, to spread their wings, to shine in the spotlight even if it was at the expense of my own comfort. An honorable thing to do, right? Well, yes, it can be at the right moment, for the right reason. The problem is it can become a habit. If you constantly pull back into the shadow of others you are not allowing your soul to shine. The beauty of YOU is hidden. The gifts you were brought here to share will never be known. I believe we are here to stretch our souls. To learn. To teach. To love. We cannot do this with our arms pulled in forcing our bodies to contort into a small version of our real selves. We cannot do this if we sit in silence or speak in whispers without shouting our message to the world. We cannot do this if we huddle into smallness without standing tall, reaching our arms up and claiming the space and spotlight we deserve. We are all worthy of a space large enough to hold us. Large enough to hold our ideas, our desires, our hopes, our needs, our ambition and our successes. Large enough to hold our message, our love and our light. Everyone deserves a seat on this trip through life. Don’t bind yourself into a partial version of who you really are. Don't make yourself small to make someone else seem big. Stand tall. Put those arms up. Speak your message. Celebrate who and what you love. Honor your successes by creating more. Allow your soul to shine in the spotlight of life. Only then will you gift the world with the real you. The YOU that you were sent here to be. The YOU that was sent here to be shared. Only then will the real YOU be loved. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie's Life Lesson: Don't make yourself small to make someone else seem big. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  We think life is hard. Work is hard. Raising a family is hard. Paying bills is hard. Stress surrounds us and we think we are at the breaking point. We gather with friends and family and complain about the weather and the economy. Then we become ill or someone we love passes away and we want to close our eyes and give up. We think life is hard. I know. I have experienced health issues and I have lost loved ones. I have had times when I wasn’t sure I could carry the burdens on my shoulders for one more step. The last two years have magnified the stress of life and forced our pressure points to extreme levels. The turbulent climate of our lives has pushed politics and societal values to the boiling point for many of us. Friendships have been destroyed, families have clashed and the stability of our schools, churches, and workplaces has been rocked. We think life is hard. I thought life was hard, until now. Now I see war. Not a movie where the actors are pampered with cool water and fans during the breaks from filming - but real war. I see families ripped apart. I see children clutching stuffed toys as they tearfully say goodbye to everything they know. I see husbands pushing their wives and families to safety as they stay to protect what they call home. I see women, children and the elderly in crowded train stations waiting to be taken to an uncertain place of shelter. I see tanks in the streets where people in cars should be driving to work and buses should be taking children to school. I see bombs light up a night sky like a fireworks celebration, but instead of creating joy they land with the powerful destruction of homes, businesses and communities. I see tears. I see fear. I thought life was hard, until now. Watching this I realize all we have can be taken in one moment. I have seen this happen with the destruction of floods, hurricanes and tornadoes. I have seen the devastation that can be caused in a moment. This feels different. Maybe it is the moment-by-moment updates on the news and social media outlets that bring it to instant life. Maybe it is the predictions we are given as if we are all in a game of Battleship and being told what the next move might be. Maybe it is the sobbing children and the faces of fear. Maybe it is the uncertainty that travels across the globe and lands heavily in my heart. I thought life was hard. Now I think of the abundance we have. Even in the last few difficult years we have so much to be thankful for. Did it take this world situation to open our eyes to how fortunate we are? We may not be able to buy avocados at the store and automobile prices are high. We may have health issues and say goodbye to loved ones at some point in our life. Life isn’t meant to be easy. It is in the challenges that the lessons are learned. Life is messy, but I don’t think life is meant to be devastatingly hard. Maybe it has been the boiling of the past two years that has brought the world to this point. Maybe the pressure was too much. Maybe the anger was too much. Maybe the uncertainly and dichotomy of beliefs was too much. I know I am an optimist. Call me Pollyanna if you like, but I believe to my very core that people are meant to be good. That we shouldn’t hunger for kindness, but it should be given freely in thirst-quenching amounts. I believe we are here to learn, teach, love and be loved. It is that simple. At times we all become so centered on our problems that we forget to open our eyes to the bigger picture. We overlook what we should be grateful for. We take for granted the simple things in life that are the most important. We forget to be kind, caring and compassionate. What does it take to open our eyes? Pennie’s Life Lesson: Open your eyes to see all there is to be grateful for and share kindness and compassion with others. We need this now more than ever before. YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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 server began clearing the dishes from our table and said, “Would you like to order dessert or are you satisfied?” This comment made me push back from the table and sit up straight. It wasn’t uncommon to be asked if you would like dessert after a restaurant meal. I’m used to hearing, “Would you like dessert?” “Did you save room for dessert?” “Can I tempt you with a sweet treat?” And so many other ways I’ve been asked that question, But… It was the way she asked it that caused me to pause. Am I satisfied? I had to rethink my plan. Many times, when I go out for a nice dinner, I automatically order dessert. Sometimes I am completely stuffed by the time I have made my way through an appetizer, salad, the main meal….and of course, dessert is part of the ritual of dining out. Being satisfied with what I had consumed so far had never played into the mindless response of ordering dessert. I always want dessert! The way she asked the question forced me to differentiate my want from my need; my contentment from my greed; my hunger from my desire. The truth was I was full. My hunger had been (by definition) satisfied. The way she posed the question humbled me. I had just enjoyed a lovely meal. The quality and quantity was more than many people in our world have to eat in a day. I was embarrassed to ask for more. This experience happened years ago, and yet, I have never forgotten that server. I have never forgotten the question. I have never forgotten the lesson. How many times in life do we automatically want more? We want a nicer car, a bigger home, a larger paycheck. We want more attention, more friends, more love, and more happiness. When did we become so unfulfilled with where we are? Why have we learned this behavior of never being content with what we have? Satisfaction comes from knowing when our belly is full, our thirst is quenched, and our life needs are met. The reality is, we can only drive one car at a time. We can only occupy one home at a time. And, no matter how much money we have, we can only eat one burger at a time. Satisfaction comes from knowing when enough is enough. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Be satisfied with where you are right now, with what you have right now, with the breath you are taking right now. Satisfaction comes from knowing when enough is enough.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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 bought new candles. The kind that uses batteries instead of a real flame. The description said they were realistic, and the flame would flicker. They even came with their own batteries. I could not wait to try them. I took them out of the package, turned them on and nothing happened. No light. No flicker. Nothing. My first thought was that I had fallen for a gimmick. After fussing with them for a while I realized the batteries were in wrong. When I switched them so the positive end of the battery went in first, the magic happened. It was a simple and easy switch that created a massive difference in the candles and in me. I had immediately jumped to negative conclusions about the candles, but with one quick adjustment, I suddenly loved them. How often do we instantly look at the negative in life? We can fuss about going to work and all the projects we are behind on. We can become frustrated with messes that our children make, or that our significant others do not notice the nice things we have done. We can engage our anger toward drivers on the interstate or our internet connection being slow. Negative. Negative. Negative. Or we can make one quick adjustment and look at the positive side. We can be grateful we have a job to go to and that the job pays our mortgage and buys our groceries. We can be grateful for the gift of our children and enjoy their messes for the short number of years we have them in our home. We can love our significant others and begin noticing what wonderful things they do for us. Positive. Positive. Positive. Then there is the news. Every morning the headlines seem grim. The weather is brutal. The political climate is divided. The stock market is precarious. There is a shortage of workers, lumber, automobiles, coins, and now wheat. Reading these dire reports puts us in the negative before we even begin our day. We can become as a pessimistic, gloomy, and depressed as Eeyore in Winnie The Pooh. The dark cloud will always be over our head and the sky will constantly be falling because Eeyore always knew it would. This is when we should switch our internal batteries and put the positive first. As you stand in a warm shower or drink that cup of coffee as the sun comes up put yourself in that moment. Think of the positives in your life. Think of what you can and cannot control. Typically, the list of what you can control will be on the positive side. You can control your reactions, your emotions, and your decisions. These can all be positive. You cannot control the weather, the political arena, or the shortages. These are things we can adjust our lives around and adapt to the changes. There is a reason batteries have positive and negative sides. There is a reason they have to be put in correctly before the energy connects to make things work. It is the same for us. If we always put the negative first in our minds and lives, we will be filled with fear, frustration, and anger. Our lives will not work well. If we put the positive first in our minds and lives, we will fill ourselves with light, an optimistic outlook, and a confidence in life. I love my new candles. They fill my heart with a calming light. They are peaceful to watch as they flicker. And, they only work if the positive goes in first. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: You can control your reactions, your emotions, and your decisions. Make them positive. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  We talk about love all the time. We love this thing and we love that person. Yet, how often do you really THINK about love? Most people spend more time deciding what to have for dinner than thinking about love. Shouldn’t this intense feeling of deep affection rally more than an occasional thought? What is love? What does it mean to love and be loved? Who do you love and what makes you love them? Who loves you and what makes them love YOU? How do you show love through actions, words, expressions, and service? Are you showing it in a way that makes that person FEEL loved? What makes YOU feel loved? How do you feel when you GIVE love? When you begin thinking about Love and asking these questions, your ability to express love and feel love will increase. That only makes sense, right? Take some time to study your habits of love. Study the way you love the ones closest to you and how they love you. Study how you show love to the clerk at the grocery store or the co-workers you interact with all day. Study how you treat yourself. Are you loving to yourself? It is easy to create a habit of nonchalant loving without ever thinking about LOVE. Maybe it is time to begin nurturing the way you love. Once you have answered the questions above and studied your love habits, it is time to take action. What act of love can you do first thing in the morning? Make coffee for your spouse or put notes in your children’s backpacks. Smile at other drivers on your way to work and allow that car to move in line in front of you. Buy the people behind you coffee in the drive-through. At work compliment coworkers. Send someone a note in the mail, just to say you are thinking of them. Be joyful when you pick your children up from school. Tell your wife or husband that you missed him/her and thought of him/her during the day. Call your parents. And never, NEVER go to bed or hang up the phone without saying, I LOVE YOU! All of those suggestions sound like acts of kindness. Loving kindness. It takes a while to create a new habit, but you can do it. February is the month of love, but it is time to THINK about love every day. As the song goes, “What the world needs now is love, sweet love It's the only thing that there's just too little of What the world needs now is love, sweet love No not just for some, but for everyone.” - Jackie DeShannon Begin today. Tell others that you love them. Show others that you love them. Start planning LOVE into your day. Don’t forget to love yourself in the process! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Do you ever THINK about LOVE? Maybe it is time to begin!” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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 send Love Notes. Some say, “Thank You.” Some say, “I’m Thinking of You.” Some say, “I Am Grateful To Have Met You.” And, some just say, “Hi.” They all say, “I Love You.” You see, I'm a conversationalist; A communicator. I love to talk. I love to write. I love words and the way they somersault out of my mouth and into the hearts of those who receive them. I love to give pieces of myself to others by sending a gift that carries with it my heart thoughts. Life may be too easy for us today. We simply type a note through our emails or texting and it is magically in the hands of the receiver within seconds. I remember the magic of writing a letter to my Grandmother asking for my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe and waiting in anticipation for the postal service to deliver her response. I remember waiting two weeks for a letter from my sister with the much-awaited pictures of my newborn nephew and then hurriedly writing her back to say, “Send more! Send more!” I have saved boxes full of the love notes. I have letters my dad wrote to my mom when they were dating. I have letters my grandmother wrote to her mom when she was pregnant with my dad. I have a bundle of memories tied with a ribbon from one of my best friends when we were exchanging letters weekly the year before she passed. I have a postcard my dad wrote to me when I was four and he was away on temporary leave with the Air Force. I have the first Mother’s Day cards my children gave me with their tiny crayon scribbles and the last note my son ever wrote to me. I have 20 years of Valentine cards from my husband that hold personal thoughts and moments of love. I have scraps of paper that my mom wrote notes on after a visit and hid for me to find later. I have notes and letters from people who have read my column or heard me speak and take the time to share their lives and thoughts with me. Today we have immediacy and instant gratification. But there is magic in holding a note created with love; Tracing the swirl of the handwriting with your finger; Seeing the smudges of the ink or noticing the faint smell of the perfume or cologne of the sender; knowing the message has traveled across the country or even across town to arrive in your hand. When I put pen to paper, I spill my thoughts and emotions with the intent of someone else holding them. My love and my energy travel with my words. From my hand to their hand, I want them to hold the gift of me. The gift of love. Heart-to-heart communication cannot be generated by a machine. This is personal. I send Love Notes. They all say, I Love You. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Take the time to write a love note to someone you care about– make it personal.” ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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.  Growing up I wanted to be a teacher. I got married right out of high school. I had babies young. My life moved forward, and years went by. I always wondered… what if I would have gone to college? Would I be a teacher? What if I went back to school now, could I still be a teacher? My self-talk would push back with, “well, I can’t do that now.” I always wanted to be a writer and publish a book. I had a busy job, a busy life and thought no one would be interested in my words and thoughts. I could visualize the cover with my name running across the bottom as the author and thought… what if I would have begun writing when I was younger. Once again that voice in my head said, “well, I can’t do that now.” What are your 'what if's' and 'can’t do's' in life? Do you allow yourself to believe that a golden opportunity has passed, and you will never be able to accomplish it now? Do you live in a space of wondering ‘what if I would have’ and telling yourself you can’t do it now? What if instead of living in regret for something you didn’t do or accomplish, you switch your self-talk and began daydreaming, fantasizing, and imagining what you could do? What if you tried? When I was what many would believe to be middle-aged, I began thinking what if I could. I found information about scholarships, loans, and colleges. My self-talk became, “what if I could.” One day when my courage rose to a confident level, I went to my local community college and signed up for a class. It happened to be creative writing. One class to test my ability and self-confidence. I loved it! I could do it! And I was pretty good at it. That one class turned into the next semester with a few classes and soon I found myself working towards a degree at the same college my two oldest children were attending. Was it easy? No. But with every step forward I became more determined, and my children were right there cheering for me as I marched across the stage and received my diploma. I walked off the stage into a busy work life believing there were not enough hours in my day to write. My inner voice kept telling me, I can’t do that. Then I wrote my first blog and hit publish. After five years of writing, my first book was published. I didn’t know that with every weekly blog, I was taking one more step toward my dream. I didn’t know that my writings would fold together to create that book cover with my name across the bottom as the author. I didn’t know that with every word I wrote I was telling myself, ‘What if I could?’ Looking at my life I did become a teacher of sorts by sharing my tips and techniques through my writing. It would not have happened if I kept believing that voice in my head telling me that I can’t do that. I ask you again, what are your ‘what if’s’ and ‘can’t do’s’ in life? I am asking you to change that to, “what if I could.” Take that first step and then the next. I know you CAN do it! Pennie’s Life Lesson: “Don’t allow your own self talk to tell you that you can’t do something. Change it to, What if I could?” YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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 came back from my walk frustrated. “I forgot to wear my pedometer, so I’m not getting credit for my steps!” My husband heard my grumbling and responded with, “It doesn’t have to be counted by a pedometer. Your body knows and gives you credit for it.” He was right. Just because a little tech device wasn’t calculating my steps and chiming when I hit 10,000 didn’t mean it didn’t happen. Every step we take, every move we make, every word we speak, counts – even if no one sees us do it, hears our words, or charts our progress. It counts! It made me think of how this relates in so many ways to our lives. How many times do you tell yourself stories like these?
YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: PennieHunt@gmail.com. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2022 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. |