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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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.
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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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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. Have you ever run away? Run away from a place? Run away from a person or a relationship? Run away from a job? I remember as a little girl being mad at my parents and wishing I could run away from home. As a teenager, I couldn’t wait to be done with school and I just wanted to run away after graduation and not think about school again. I have had jobs I hated and situations I didn’t like and wished I could run away to something better. Some place better. I call it the Goldilocks Syndrome- constantly thinking one bed is too hard, one is too soft and searching for the one that will be just right. Then when you think you have found it you expect everything to be perfect. After time passes you realize everything isn’t perfect, so you are convinced that the porridge is too hot, or too cold, so you begin your search again. You run away to something new. When you run away you forget one thing -- wherever you go you take you with you. Maybe it isn’t the place where you live, the job, or the relationship that is the problem. Maybe there is something in you that needs to be addressed. Moving to a new location, finding a new job, or starting a new relationship all have one thing in common—you are still searching for happiness and perfection that will be given to you from the outside. You run away from what isn’t perfect in the hope of finding perfection somewhere else. You will never enjoy happiness if you always believe it is somewhere else. Before you run away, learn to have peace where you are. Learn to find happiness within you. Learn to be happy with yourself. You forget that joy and happiness come from the simple things. And the simple things are the important things. You can find them everywhere. You don’t have to chase them. The smell of lilacs, the taste of a chocolate chip cookie, the sunrise, the night stars- these are everywhere. Find the good in people where you are now. They are right where you are. Stop looking for happiness in other places. Until you are grateful for what you have now, you will never have more. Maybe you were planted somewhere for a reason. Maybe there are lessons you need to learn and experiences you need to have for you to grow. If you continually run away every time something isn’t just right, you will never learn the lessons. You will never grow. You can’t run away but you can move towards something. There are times when a job promotion requires you to relocate. A long-distance relationship may become permanent, and you move to be with that person. You must know when it is the right time to say yes. When it is the right YES for you. Learn to tell the difference between the right time and just another race to run away from your perceived disappointment to your perceived perfection. The right movement comes when you begin enjoying and being grateful for the simple things you have now. It comes from appreciating the experiences and the lessons in each moment. It comes from understanding that the porridge is not always going to be the perfect temperature but enjoying the flavor anyway. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Don’t run away every time you think life isn’t perfect. Take a good look at yourself. Remember, every time you run, you take YOU with you. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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. When my kids were small, I would tell them the worst thing they could do was lie to me. I explained that we could get through any mistake they made, problem they had, or whatever happened in life, if they told the truth. If they had problems at school, didn’t finish their homework, or started an argument with their sibling we could work it out if they told the truth. Lying about what happened was the worst offense and they knew it. Now my kids are grown and are doing an amazing job of parenting their own children. Recently as I was sharing this lesson with my grandchildren, I realized that lying to me wouldn’t be the worst offense they could do. Lying to themselves could be more harmful. The most dangerous and damaging lies are the ones we tell ourselves. Our mind can be a powerful manipulator. It tries to feed us negative thoughts constantly. Thoughts that stifle our self-confidence and smother our dreams. This part of our mind is an internal bully that beats us up. It punches us by saying things like - you are not attractive enough, smart enough, or worthy enough. We start to believe that we aren’t qualified enough for that job promotion, we aren’t smart enough to express our opinions, and we aren’t interesting or appealing enough to have the relationship of our dreams. We miss opportunities because we fear the lies are true. Is any of it true? No. It is the fictitious imagination of our brain bully. The brain bully tells us to do things because after all what harm is there? We listen to the bully in our head that insists that what we do isn’t hurting anyone. So, we make bad choices. We do things that we know are not right. If no one knows we are doing it, we aren’t hurting anyone. But is that true? No, we are hurting a very important person…ourselves. Our brain bully tells us lies that sound like the truth. This type of negative self-talk works so well because the lies are massaged and molded into a convincing narrative. It is repeated and repeated until we believe it. We pull back from our dreams. We accept what we are given in life and believe we are not deserving of more. We believe the lies we tell ourselves. The brain bully is part of us. An ugly, unreliable, untrustworthy, controlling part of us. Call it your brain bully or give it a name- Fred, Marsha, Anabell… whatever you want to call the bully that feeds you negative thoughts. Start listening to your thoughts and soon you will recognize the truth from the brain bully’s ridiculous rhetoric. You will begin to catch the thoughts that don’t pass the does-this-make-sense test. You will begin to reject the lies that are disguised as the truth. The more you push back your brain bully the quieter it will become. The more you ignore it and move forward with your dreams the less power it will have. It will no longer hold you hostage to its nonsensical banter. Your fear will disappear, and your confidence muscle will grow. Without the constant lies your self-esteem will increase and life will become a clear and clean place for you to explore. Lies are harmful things, but the most dangerous and damaging lies are the ones we tell ourselves. We believe and trust ourselves more than any other person. So, when we hear our mind talk we want to believe that it is telling us the truth. We don’t want to believe it would lie to us, but that brain bully does. Now take a minute and think… what was the biggest lie you have told yourself? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Don’t listen to negative self-talk. The most dangerous and damaging lies are the ones we tell ourselves. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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. “What are you up to today, Mom?” I asked. “Weeelll, I have the vacuum cleaner out. I need to vacuum the living room.” I don’t know the number of times those two sentences were included in a phone conversation with my mom. I lived five hours away from her. Many times when I visited her I would walk in her house and see the vacuum cleaner sitting in the middle of her living room. She would tell me she planned to vacuum before I arrived, but just didn’t get it done. I would vacuum for her and put the vacuum cleaner in the closet. At first, I thought she hated to vacuum, and she knew I would do it for her when I arrived. I am not sure when the clarity came to me that explained the real reason she never seemed to do the vacuuming. She was in her 80’s and living alone. Daily tasks were becoming more than she could handle on her own and the thought of vacuuming had become an overwhelming chore. One she could no longer manage. I think she looked at it. I think she wanted to vacuum and clean the dirt from her life. But she couldn’t. Mom spent her last few years in an assisted living community. Her apartment was cleaned for her. She stopped talking about the need to vacuum the living room. The vacuum stayed in the closet. She never mentioned it again. I still think of that vacuum cleaner sitting in the middle of her living room. I wonder how many of us have one in the middle of our room. In the middle of our life. It may not look like a vacuum, but the meaning is the same. A task that seems overwhelming. A project that we feel like we will never accomplish. A skill we are certain we cannot master. A hurt from our past that we don’t want to deal with. And so the vacuum sits there. We think about it. We know it needs to be done. We want to do it. But the size and scope of it overwhelms us. The idea becomes a large frightening monster that we hope someone else will handle. Or we give up on ever having the ability to accomplish it. We feel inadequate. We don’t believe we will ever be good enough to do the job. Our fear and insecurity grow. The project sits there right in the middle of the room. We walk around it. We throw a blanket over it to hide it. We ignore it and wish our desire to accomplish it will diminish. But it is there. We trip over it. We stub our toe on it. We move it around to keep it out of our way. But it never leaves. Fill in the blank with what your desire is. A new job. A new relationship. A college degree. Painting your house. Or is it something personal like rebuilding a bridge from your past? Apologizing or clearing out some internal trauma. What do you want to accomplish that you feel you aren’t good enough to do? If you stare at the vacuum in the middle of the room long enough without trying, soon years will go by. There will come a time when you can’t physically or mentally do it. Don’t wait. Stop tip-toeing around the issue. Do one thing today that puts you one step closer to moving that vacuum. Make one phone call. Research one class. Create a budget and begin saving for that trip. Write a letter of apology. Schedule an appointment. Do one thing that sets a plan in motion. As for me, what am I up to today, you might ask… I have some vacuuming to do. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Open your eyes to see the vacuum in the middle of your life. Take one step that puts you on the path of dealing with it. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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. Have you ever driven to work and as you parked your car you can’t remember even driving there? There is a term called Brain Autopilot which is the ability to perform a task or activity without any conscious effort. It is like we are sleeping while we do an activity and only when we wake up do we realize what we have done. This works because you have driven to work so many times that even if your mind wanders your unconscious muscle memory of repetitively driving to work takes over. When you park it can be a frightening moment when you realize you don’t totally remember the drive. Driving in mental autopilot mode is not recommended or the safest habit to have. There are, however, good ways to use this mental autopilot. Once you create a habit of always getting up at 7 AM and immediately drinking a glass of water and then working out, you will automatically do this every day. Your mental autopilot tells your body this is what we do, when we do it, and how we do it – so let’s go! Here is when automatic activity gets glitchy – when your entire life is on autopilot. When you wake up every morning to the exact same routine. Coffee, breakfast, work, lunch, work, dinner, bedtime, repeat. Your days are so predictable that you don’t think about what you are doing. You sleepwalk through life. You never notice flowers and certainly don’t stop to smell them. Your mundane life is not flexible and there are no cracks of time to allow feelings of joy or happiness to seep in. Words like creativity, imagination, innovation, inspiration, and vision do not enter your mind. Spontaneity is not in your vocabulary. None of those concepts fit within the pattern that your autopilot follows. You are bored, but does your autopilot even let you realize it? Do you see yourself in that description? Even a little bit? Now that you realize your pattern, is it time to change? Is it time to shake up the pattern and design the life you want? Some people like the predictable life. The set routine makes them feel secure and safe. That is ok. But if you see areas you would like to improve – let’s go! Think back in your life to things you used to daydream about. Don’t sleepwalk. Let yourself daydream. Daydreaming is when you relive happy memories, think about goals and interests. As a child what did you see in your future? As a teenager what plans did you have? Now as an adult which ideas can you reach back to the past and grasp. Pull them into your life now. Imagine all the possibilities and dreams that are in your mind. It isn’t too late, and they are not lost. They have just been waiting for you to dream again. They have been waiting for you to take action. They have been waiting for you to wake up from your sleepwalking. Switch that autopilot to off and take control. Design your life. Plan your route. Be the driver and the navigator of your journey. Become very clear about what you want to do, when you will do it, and how you will do it. You have dreams to chase. Let’s go!! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Wake up from life’s autopilot. Imagine possibilities and 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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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. Humans are amazing creatures. I study people. I watch their behaviors. I am not a creepy stalker, but I do watch, observe, and take notes about fellow humans. I watch people in airports. I notice people in grocery stores. I see others at sporting events, restaurants, and meetings. In all the places I watch people one thing seems to be the norm… everyone is listening to something. I remember as a child one of my cherished possessions was my small AM transistor radio. I played it all the time. Depending on your age, you may remember the days of people carrying a large boom box on their shoulders to keep their ‘tunes’ right in their ears. And remember the first cell phones? They came in a small suitcase and as you carried it everyone saw an invisible sign of status- you didn’t leave home without it. Technology changed rapidly to Walkmans and iPods. Noise cancelling headphones soon became the way we listened. It was easy to shut out the entire world and concentrate on the message coming through the headphones. Everyone has become very tuned in. Tuned in to music, videos, social media, movies, podcasts, and news reports. Humans are always plugged in. Now everyone carries a minicomputer in their hands disguised as a smartphone. These are attached through the magic of Bluetooth to the input of your choice. The recent trend I have noticed is the one ear headphone. Call it an in-ear headphone, ear pod, earbud, AirPod, headset, or earpiece, but it seems to be cool to wear just one. Sometimes you don’t see the wireless ear device, so you never know if someone is on their phone or talking to themselves. Either way is it good etiquette to interrupt their conversation? I also observe the dual listener. You know the ones… they are always listening to something through the one ear headphone. If you talk to the person, they don’t remove the ear device. They seem to be dual listening -- they listen to you while listening to whatever the ear device is delivering. Hello, is anyone really listening? Is it possible to simultaneously receive, understand and process multiple messages? Has our world become so fast, so busy, and so demanding that this multi-listening is the norm? Is it required to keep up with everything we need to know? Or are people so overwhelmed with life that we need some kind of white noise in our ears at all times to blur the craziness of life? Maybe we have all forgotten how to listen. We have forgotten the kind of deep listening that comes from sitting face to face and knee to knee while focusing our attention on another person as they speak. We have forgotten what it feels like to be outside without something in our ear. We have forgotten the pleasure of hearing the birds sing and the sweet sounds of nature. What if you tried this for a day? Commit to deep listening for one day. No headphones. No multi-listening. Concentrate on one message at a time. Just music. Just the sound of a waterfall. Just a phone call. Just a conversation. Listen to one thing at a time. One person at a time. When you focus and really listen, you may notice that humans are amazing creatures. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Give complete attention to the message you are listening to. Practice deep listening. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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 anything about bees? The only thing that ever crossed my mind about the yellow and black creature was an unhappy childhood memory. I innocently sat down on the bench of a picnic table too close to a wasp that immediately stung me. I screamed and wailed from the pain. From that day on any yellow and black insect that resembled a wasp, yellow jacket, hornet or a bee spurred instant fear in me. I have always kept my distance as I watched bees pollinate flowers and respected their space in this world. That is where my knowledge and interest in bees ended…until this week. I read something that caught my eye about bees, so my curiosity forced me to dig deeper into the life of bees. The first thing I found was that there are over 20,000 species of bees in the world, so I left the 19,999 variations alone and I narrowed in on honeybees. I wanted to verify the fact I read that stated: A bee lives a maximum of 40 days, visits 1000 flowers, and produces 1 teaspoon of honey. That statement gave a whole new meaning to the quote, “Busy as a bee,” and I wanted to learn more. I spent an afternoon searching for information about honey bees and concluded that the statement is basically true. The life span varied a little in many articles depending on the time of year the bee is born, weather, pesticides, predators, and the role the bee holds in life. For example, the Queen lives much longer than worker bees. The amount of honey also varied from 1/12 of a teaspoon to 1 teaspoon. My mind couldn’t help but compare the life of a bee to how we live. A bee seems to come here with the knowing and understanding of its place and purpose in life. It is simple – they are here to pollinate and produce honey. In other words, in my words, they are here to smell the roses and create sweetness. What a glorious way to live. As the poet William Blake said, “The busy bee has not time for sorrow.” They don’t waste time on jealousy, sadness, anger, or any of the trivial problems of life that we humans seem to sit in. There isn’t time for that. I like to think they know their time is short and finite. They know their mission and they get busy! What if we could live like that? Maybe in bee time 40 days is equal to a 90-year life in human years. Humans also have a finite time to live, but we expect to hit the 90-year mark. We think we have all the time in the world to get things done, but there is no guarantee that we will live to be 22, 74, or 99. We spend way too much time trying to figure out what our place and purpose is when it is just as simple as a bee’s. At least it is in my mind. I believe we are here to learn, teach, and love. When we have learned what we are here to learn, taught what we are here to teach, and loved and been loved we are done. It is simple. So why do we waste so much time on jealousy, sadness, anger, and trivial problems in life? Why don’t we focus on what is important and get busy living with intention? Why don’t we pay attention to smelling the roses and the little things that really matter? Why can a bee devote its entire life to creating the sweetness of a teaspoon of honey and we think it is never enough to spread on one piece of toast? Maybe it is time we learned something from bees. It’s time to get busy! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Live your days with intention- there is no time to waste. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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. Are you part of a group, a team, a school, a club, a crew, a family, a religion, or a community? Of course you are. Humans have a need for connection. We fear isolation. We want to be included and belong. We mirror the actions of others to gain acceptance and approval. As a teenager, you may have tasted your first beer at a party. You hated it, but kept sipping until the taste was tolerable. You felt like you were one of the cool kids. You felt like you belonged. We shift our shape and adapt our actions to match who we need to be in the moment we are in. One moment we are a parent. At work, we are employees and bosses. With friends, we are confidants and counselors. With a date we may try to be who the other person wants us to be. We go to a concert and become kids again. Even as an adult when we are around our parents we may act differently- conceding and needing approval. A different version of who we are exists in the minds of everyone who knows us. Our minds work hard to determine who we need to be and who they need us to be. Their minds work hard to decide if we are who they want us to be. The need to belong is an instinct. It can push us to act in ways that feel uncomfortable. When we bend and mold ourselves to be a contorted version of who we are, we don’t recognize our own reflection in the mirror. This continual shape-shifting is exhausting - and can become a problem. We are not paper dolls cut from flat, one-dimensional paper. We all have different roles in life and different flavors of our personalities. Many times we hide areas of who we are because we are afraid to share our entire selves. We disguise parts of our personalities that we fear will hinder our belonging and inclusion with others. What if we blended the parts of who we are into a big, bold, beautiful collage that reveals all of who we are? What if we could be ourselves? Our crazy, goofy, wild, authentic selves all the time? Inherently, we understand that we need to be rational and in control of our actions. We can’t be a constant disruption or nuisance and expect to be respected, liked, or welcomed. But we can bring all of those flavors of our personalities with us wherever we go. Henry David Thoreau said, “It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see.” What if we looked at each not with our eyes, but with our hearts and accepted the entire package of each other’s personality… flaws, quirks, and all? Begin using your heart to look at your family, friends, and coworkers. Look deep into their hearts. You may begin to see the layers of their personalities that they have kept hidden – afraid to share. You may see the fun-loving side. The joyful side. The layer of pain they have experienced that holds them back from being the shining light they could be. When you allow your heart to see their hearts you come to realize we are not all that different. We have different talents, experiences, and thoughts, but we all want to be seen, connected, and belong. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 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. You will belong. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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 wasn’t that angry. On a scale from 1 to 10, I was probably a 2. I felt like I was having a discussion and expressing my concern. The person on the other end of the phone line said, “When you draw your sword, you leave a long shadow.” What? What did that mean? I wasn’t yelling. I wasn’t even talking firmly. I was relaying my experience and explaining how it probably was happening to others. I had an easy suggestion on how to change the system. That comment didn’t hit me well, and my number immediately doubled to at least a 4. That conversation was years ago and ended with a mutual understanding of the situation. But I never forgot that comment. Now when I am higher on the anger scale I think about my sword and the shadow it could cast. I think about how my words, not only affect me, but the person I am talking to, and the people that hear it and share it with others. The shadow can be long, dark, and cloudy. I am not perfect. I have said many things in my life that I regret. I wish I could suck words back into my mind and never let my mouth give them to the power of the sword. I do try to be more aware of how my spoken words, texts, and emails hit others. Sometimes I fail. I have also come to realize this concept can work in the opposite way. The power of the sword can work for good. Just as anger, hateful words, and actions cast a heavy dark shadow, love, kindness, joy, happiness, and empathy, can cast a long, bright, clear glow. Think about the logical simplicity of this. If you give someone a smile and a compliment first thing in the morning, it brightens their outlook. They in turn may feel better about themselves and are nicer to others. If you allow a driver to move in front of you, they may not be late for their appointment and be more relaxed and kinder throughout the day. If someone is a witness to your act of giving or volunteering, they may be encouraged to give and volunteer too. And yes, if you buy coffee for the person behind you in the drive-through line, most of the time they will buy coffee for the person in the car behind them. And so it goes. The glow of love and kindness is long. These actions reflect as if the sun is shining on the polished metal blade of your sword. Words not only affect us but the person we are talking to, the people that hear them and share them with others. Instead of leaving a shadow, you give a bright gift of light to everyone. Actions are almost always given back to you. If you are angry, anger will be mirrored back to you in the form of defensiveness and aggression. Two swords are drawn. If you are kind, kindness will be mirrored back to you in the form of gratitude and love. The sword becomes a bright beacon that showers light over all those involved. During that phone conversation years ago, I wasn’t very angry. Looking back, I don’t think that was the intent of the conversation. As with everything in my life, the conversation was to teach me a lesson. A lesson of caution that I have remembered for years. The dark shadow of the sword is a real thing. I believe the power of light is even stronger. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: When you are ready to cast a shadow of darkness, be someone who shines light instead. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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 don’t remember exactly how it started. One of us did something we thought was great and announced, “I won the day!” The competition began. My husband would mow our acre and a half property in between rainstorms, and he won the day. I would try a new recipe and create an amazing meal and I won the day. This went on for weeks. Sometimes we both did something amazing and had to divide the day… one of us won the morning and the other won the afternoon. We even had a few days where our efforts created an equal tie. Somewhere along the way we had a revelation. This fun competition resulted in us getting so much more done. We began completing tasks we had put off for months or longer. We were moving more. We were feeling better. We were proud of what we accomplished. This made us want to do more. That was all great, but what we realized was it went way deeper than that. When we looked back at all the things we had done, something jumped out like a neon sign flashing in front of our faces. Most of the tasks we accomplished, we did so with the other person in mind. I wasn’t creating fabulous meals for me. I was creating them for him. It brought me joy to see his face when he ate them. He wasn’t detailing the inside of my car for himself. He was doing it because he knows I enjoy a clean car. We were doing things for each other that saved the other person time. Things that made each other smile. Things that the other person wanted done, but didn’t have time to do. Things that were a surprise and out of the ordinary. Things that brought joy and happiness to the other person. Some of this has been simple and easy. Some of this has been hard, sweaty, I-don’t-really-want-to-do-it work. Either way, this has become a habit, a ritual, a gift to each other, with an award at the end. It is now a big deal to be able to say, “I won the day!” Winning the day is a glorious feeling. An inner badge of honor. A reward for gifting love to the other person. That is really what it is. A way to show love. A gift of love. Usually when one of us sees what the other person did, we announce, “YOU just won the day!” If no one says that we check in with each other and ask, “Did I win the day?” I believe that is really code for, “Did I make you feel loved today?” What I know about my husband is that his top two Love Languages are acts of service and words of affirmation. So, if I do something for him it makes him feel loved. If he does something for me and wins the day, he will receive a boost of affirmation. It is a win-win either way. (See The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman.) This process has grown organically into something bigger than we could imagine. No, we don’t get up every day and stand at the starting line with our work clothes on and race to see who can do more and finish first. Most of the time it is done in a subtle manner - no whistles, no standing ovations, and absolutely no walk of shame or label of loser. I don’t remember exactly how it started, but I do know what it created. A daily gift of love. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Start winning the day – not just for you, but for someone you 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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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. Have you ever experienced a meltdown… the kind where you find yourself in a messy puddle on the floor? I have a concept called, Pennie’s DOT Theory, that states: “Any event that happens to us, around us, or concerns us is just one tiny Dot in the grand adventure of life. If we over-think one Dot it becomes magnified and joins with other Dots to form a mass of stress that creates imbalance and unhappiness.” If we blow one Dot out of proportion it can consume us, make us irrational, and ultimately we end up in that messy puddle. The problem is we overthink a little Dot allowing it to become a big DOT. Remember this – D-O-T- DON’T OVER THINK the Dot! It happened to me. It began with a flu shot. Well, the flu shot is not responsible for the entire meltdown, but it is the Dot that began the snowball rolling. For three days after the shot, I felt tired, drained, and far from the perky, optimistic, personality, I am known for. My fatigue turned into a colossal cold. Another Dot. I stopped working out, stopped meditating, stopped eating right… Dot… Dot… Dot. As the days continued my snowball began rolling faster. More stressful Dots showed up. The imbalance grew. I broke dishes, forgot things, and my blood pressure went up. As the Dots continued to connect, overwhelm set in. I began allowing the profanities of human emotions to marinate with the Dots. You know the ones… words like, jealousy, resentment, anger, insecurity, and finally the big four-letter word - FEAR! Then it happened. It doesn’t matter what the “IT” was, it was just another Dot, but the most dangerous kind for me… my feelings were hurt. The snowball aimed right for that new Dot. The snowball rolled around until every dirty bit of the new Dot was connected to the Dot party forming in my head. It was just the Dot to heat up the snowball enough for it to come to a full stop, a complete meltdown, and a Dot EXPLOSION! The pity party wasn’t pretty. The meltdown was ugly. The Dot explosion was epic, causing a massive heart attack. You see, when you over-think little Dots they join with other Dots in the same way plaque sticks together to block your arteries. You don’t function well and it eventually leads to an attack of the heart. Thank goodness Dot heart attacks don’t send you to the hospital. Yet, they have the power to do just as much damage. Accumulating and overthinking Dots stifle your happiness. Fear takes over attacking your heart and breaking down its protective covering until an explosive meltdown occurs. A crack is formed, and your heart is scarred in hidden ways. Finally, I stepped back from the dirty puddle I was sitting in and realized I had broken my own DOT Rule. By overthinking every little Dot, I had given them the power to become huge in my mind. I allowed them to connect one by one, stripping me of my calm, my contentment, and my happiness. They blinded me and I couldn’t see anything except the huge painful mass of Dots. I had carried the Dot mass around like a collection of boulders in a backpack. Only when I dropped the backpack did they tumble out before me so I could see the tiny pebbles each of them really were. Just tiny Dots in the grand adventure of life! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Any event that happens to us, around us, or concerns us is just one tiny Dot in the grand adventure of life. Don’t Over-Think the DOTs! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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 got a new pair of shoes. They are red, fun, and spunky. I texted a photo of them to my grandkids to see what they would say. The texts came back… “so cute,” “Oooo I like them,” and “very drip.” I had to look that one up. According to the new slang, if you have the drip, it means you have swagger, especially in how you look. You're hot. You're cool. You're on point. You've got the sauce. Success! I am cool in the eyes of my grandchildren. I have stood in a lot of shoes in my life, but this is the first time I have been successful at having the sauce. What is your definition of success? It is different for everyone and changes depending on what stage of life you are in. When I was a student success equaled graduation. As a young mother, I was satisfied if my children were healthy, well cared for, and happy. I was a successful mom. As they grew I went back to school for another graduation and reached for the success of a career. Bigger positions and bigger promotions were always the bells I stretched to ring. Along with that came bigger paychecks, bigger homes, nicer cars, and big vacations. Success! Success! Success! Now I enjoy accolades when my writing touches people. An email from a reader is a heartwarming success- no bell ringing is needed. And when my grandchildren think I am the coolest grandma they know, that may be the biggest heart burster of success I have had. You see, I realize success is ours to name. It all depends on what shoes you are standing in. Maybe you don’t want to always have on those climbing shoes as you step up the ladder. Maybe you don’t want to be the boss. Maybe you feel totally content and successful as an important cog in the wheel of the company. Maybe you are standing in the leader's shoes of a company, but you won’t feel successful until you have your own company. Maybe your dream life is to travel the country in a small motor home and make enough money to buy a burger and put gas in your tank. No house, no big paycheck, no fancy cars, but standing in your shoes you feel successful. Ring the bell! There is nothing wrong with reaching for more. There is nothing wrong with being happy where you are. You name what success is to you. You decide what makes you happy and content. It isn’t anyone’s business to judge your definition of success by their interpretation of success. They don’t stand in your shoes. As for me, I have been on top of the ladder, and I have been a happy cog. I’ve had homes that range from big to small. But today, where I stand now, I am happily wearing my fun, red, spunky shoes. I feel my swagger. I think I look hot and feel cool. I am the drip and have the sauce. And I have never felt more successful in my life! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Success is personal. Only you can label what your success should be. Be happy standing in your own shoes. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #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: PennieHunt@gmail.com. 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 have a hard time being still. I can sit with a cup of coffee in the morning with my dogs on my lap and slowly wake up. I can do my morning meditation, read something motivational and write in my journal. But once that quiet morning time is done, I am up and running. I rarely take a full day off. I am always writing. I am always planning my next speech or my next book. I am always thinking about ways I can help more, give more and do more. I think many of us are like this. We are caught up in the busyness of life. We hustle from one meeting to another, one commitment to another, one task to another. It is easy to become overwhelmed with life. When I am in this kind of perpetual movement, I forget to breathe. It isn’t intentional. It sounds odd, but I hold my breath as if that helps me go faster and get more done. When I catch myself doing this, I make myself close my eyes and breathe to reset the rhythm of my body. There have been times in my life when I didn’t pay attention and allow myself the time to be still. There have been times when I pushed too long and too hard. My body broke down, giving me no choice but to be still and heal. Occasionally, we are given a quiet time in life. It may be a moment, a day, or a month of stillness. We may become anxious. It’s too quiet. Too slow. Too boring. Don’t confuse boredom with peace. Occasionally, we are given a purposeful pause— to feel the empty space, to hear the quiet, to stop the movement. Be grateful for a full, happy, busy life, but never overlook the beauty of the purposeful pause. There are times when we are meant to pause. We are meant to take time. Sit still. Stand still. Be still. Be grateful for times of space, quiet, and stillness. Be grateful for a peaceful space of time just for you. Being bored is a gift. Boredom is a time to heal. Don’t reach for distractions or numbing diversions like screens, food, alcohol, or other people. Allow the space for healing. It’s a powerful peaceful place. Boredom is a time of quiet that can turn the volume up on our happiness. Boredom is where creativity is born. Boredom is when you can silence everything else in the world and be still. When you are running the race of life, going faster and faster, trying to keep up - stop. When you are overwhelmed with a problem and are searching for an answer – stop. When you are pushing so hard that you forget to breathe – stop. Stop before your body and mind are pushed to a limit which causes a health situation that forces you to stop. Allow your body and your mind the space to be still. To do nothing. It is in this space that your body rejuvenates. It is in this space that your mind clears out the messy problems. It is in this space that every step of life becomes easier… one breath at a time. One moment of stillness at a time. Pennie’s Life Lesson: When you allow your mind the space to do nothing, it is easier to do everything. #CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt
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 © 2013-2023 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 remember the feeling? Running out of the elementary school door with your backpack filled with the contents of your desk. Crinkled papers, worn crayons, and the coat you took to school but never wore at recess were all shoved inside. The zipper didn’t completely zip, but you didn’t care. You ran out into the sunshine shouting, “Free, Free, I am FREEEEE!” Summer break began. The air felt fresher. The walk home seemed shorter. And the days of summer ahead appeared endless. That is how I remember it. As a child both of my parents worked full-time, so summer meant my brother, sister, and I were on our own. I remember spending hours in the sandbox building roads and filling holes with water to create lakes. The cool, wet sand oozed between our toes, creating a cast of sand up to our knees. When we were done, we would run through the sprinkler in the backyard to rinse the sticky paste of sand off our legs and hands. With every year we grew older, and the summer adventures grew bigger. We would wrap towels across our shoulders and ride our bikes to the community swimming pool. Swimming and splashing hours away and then pumping our bicycle pedals with tired legs to get home just before our parents arrived. There were adventures when my brother and I would ride our bikes across the entire town on trips of exploration that our parents never knew about. I remember the summer days when I would hold the BB gun and a bag of pop cans on the back of my brother’s Honda 50 as he drove us to the open space behind our house. We stacked the cans on rocks and the competition began to see who had the best aim. We caught horned toads in shoe boxes and sat on the brick wall at the end of our street watching tornado clouds in the distance. We didn’t think about danger or fear. We just had fun. As high schoolers, we rushed to the lake to water ski in the early hours of morning when the lake was like glass. Then we fished until we caught enough to take home and cook for dinner. As jobs, car payments, and responsibilities became big parts of our lives, the sandbox, the adventures, and the freedom of summer grew smaller. The carefree feeling of childhood became blurred and filed as a sweet, simple - almost forgotten - memory. What if we could remember the lessons of that time? The time when summers were simple and easy. What if we remember that the warm days of sunshine may feel long, but summers are short? What if remember to run with freedom where the air is fresher, and the run is effortless? What if we took the time to let sand ooze between our toes and run barefoot through the grass? What if we got out of our brains and into our bodies to splash in the waters of nature and play until our legs are too tired to take another step… but then we pedal on for more fun? What if we harnessed moments of spontaneity and took secret trips of adventure exploring places in our own community that we have never experienced before? What if we collected treasures in shoe boxes and watched clouds dance across the sky? What if we didn’t think about danger or fear? -- We just had fun. And, what if we shared all of this with our children during their summer breaks? What if they become sweet, simple memories that they file away- never to be forgotten? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Remember the fun of childhood summers and share the simplicity of it with your children and grandchildren. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt
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 © 2013-2023 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 am not a great photographer. At least not like a professional photographer, who captures the ice cream as it drips off the nose of a two-year-old or the unpredictable belly laugh of a bride as her new husband kisses her neck. I look for frames. I see the world as frames that will hold my words, my feelings and my emotions. When I spot a frame, I snap it quickly to be used with my writing to illustrate the point I intend to convey. At times the frames I see create my words or allow my words to come together in a meaningful way to reach the heart of the viewer. One snapshot may hold a quote that speaks of peace and calmness. One photo may hold my words about love. These words travel through newspapers and through the internet to land with the person who is meant to see, and feel, the message. What if you looked at every moment in your life as a frame? How would you fill it to create a memory? Do you want to frame a moment filled with experiences of happiness, examples of kindness, and feelings of love? Of course, we all do. The problem is at times we become stuck in an uncomfortable frame. We all have snapshots in time that hold moments of being angry, sad, confused and even devastated. Many times people drift along believing that life is happening to them and they are helpless in the process. They feel like it is just the way it is. Their distorted view portrays a person who is an unlucky victim. They feel helpless and at the mercy of what life throws at them. We all have those sad, lonely, unfortunate photos of hard times in life. We know they are there. It is ok and healthy to share them from time to time, but don’t let them become the only story in your photo album of life. Don’t let them minimize the memory shots that illustrate the good times, the learnings, and the spectacular events of life. The control is in your hands. You direct the focus and what the lens of your life captures. It is up to you to search out the frames and fill them with the people and experiences YOU want to have. It is up to you to revisit the good memories and share the good times. It is up to you to remember the unfortunate memories and learn the lessons they bring. I am not a photographer, but I see my life in frames. I fill them moment by moment, memory by memory with all that life offers me. I fill my frames with meaning, with emotion and with feeling. How will you fill your frames? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Frame your world moment by moment, memory by memory to create a life of joy and happiness. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt
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 © 2013-2023 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 dream of traveling through Europe? Do you want to buy a boat, get a degree, or write a book? Do you have a list of ‘want to’s” or a bucket full of “some day’s?” Do you have an official Bucket List of things you want to do? Do you think you have all the time in the world to get them done? Do you play the game, What if it was your last day to live, how would you spend it? Would you skydive, climb a mountain, or bungee jump? I have never had a Bucket List. I didn’t think I needed to write my life dreams down. I thought it was kind of silly to carry my wild ideas in a bucket only to worry about them spilling over the top or dribbling out through a tiny hole in the bottom. They were safer neatly stashed in a wrinkle of my brain and not shared with anyone. Until last week. I was on an airport shuttle and heard the driver telling a passenger that he wanted to go to Hawaii before he dies. He described pictures he had seen of the tropical beaches in such detail that I could feel the breeze on my cheek and my feet in the sand. The passenger asked the monumental question… “Why don’t you go now?” The driver explained that he didn’t know if he could take off work and didn’t have anyone to go with. He went on to say how he was single and didn’t want to go alone. He said he had a sister that would join him, but he didn’t want to go with a family member. After he finished his list of excuses, the fifty-ish-looking driver ended with, “…but I’ll go before I die.” I was convinced that if the trip to the airport was much longer the passenger would have agreed to join him in paradise. Everyone has a reason for not exploring their dreams or experiencing the adventures they want to have. Everyone has excuses. Everyone believes they have time. You may think you are too young or too old to do it. You may be waiting for a partner or someone to join you on the adventure. You may just need someone to say it’s ok and to give you permission. You may be afraid. Fear can be stronger than hope. Are you afraid to do something and need someone to give you a loving push? Do you live waiting and hoping for the stars to align and for everything to be perfect in your world… and then you will do it? I also don’t play the last-day-to-live game. My logical brain thinks it is an exercise of frustration. How could we possibly fit everything we want to do before we die into one day? But now I realize that is the point of the game. Do not wait to do all you want to do until you are rushed to get it all done. We never know when that day will come or how many days we have in this life. Start going, doing, and experiencing now! Do not wait to begin filling and emptying that bucket. And please do not leave a bucket full of regrets, hopes, wishes, and dreams behind when you die. Plan now to leave an empty bucket. An empty bucket to remind your friends and loved ones to follow your example of experiencing life to the fullest. Leave only memories of the adventures and dreams you experienced. After hearing the conversation in the shuttle that day, I couldn’t shake the feeling of how behind I am. I realize that I have done many of the common Bucket List items. I did go back to school and received a degree. I have written a book- 3 to be exact. I have been to Hawaii many times. But, I have so many things I still want to do. I also realize that with age my bucket items have changed. For example, my desire to skydive disappeared after I was in a major car accident. The risk of bodily harm is no longer appealing to me. I did come up with several experiences for my before-I-die list. This week I started writing down my official Bucket List. I didn’t think in terms of wanting to do them, but in terms of, I WILL do them. As I wrote, I also began planning how to make it happen. I took all excuses off the table. Instead of thinking “I couldn’t do it because,” I changed my self-talk to, “I will and this is how.” The most important concept I have in mind is this — If not now, when? Our Bucket List is something only we can control. It is personal and unique to our desires and dreams. Only we can control what we want to do in this life and when and how we are going to do it. Only we can decide if we will leave a bucket full of regrets or a bucket full of memories. I know which one I plan to leave. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: If not now, when? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt
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 © 2013-2023 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 play this little game. When I am going on a walk, shopping, or sitting in a coffee shop, I listen to snippets of conversations. It goes something like this… I am walking in a fairly busy area. A couple walk past me and I hear the man raging about a contractor they used. His anger comes out with, “When is he going to be done? This project was supposed to be done months ago! I have had it!” A few more steps and a teenager passes me as she rages into her phone, “I swear I can’t stand my parents, they won’t let me do anything!” Around the next corner a crying woman is walking with her mom, “But Mom, I loved him so much, how could he be so cruel and just leave like that?” As I reached my car two men are standing close by in a heated argument about politics. “Are you kidding me? You are going to vote for that idiot? He is going to bury our country!” It used to be when I played this game, I would hear fun snippets about love and life. I would string them together in a funny little scenario that ran through my mind creating a happy and hilarious story. It seems like now everyone is angry. Everyone is raging about EVERYTHING! I see angry faces and hear raging arguments. I used to think road rage was out of control, but now I believe we are all surrounded by a fireball of Life Rage. People rage about politics, inflation, the cost of living, war and whose fault the battle is, jobs, families and the crazy weather. People rage over simple things. The server is too slow, the food isn’t hot enough, the piece of pie is too small and the checkout line is too long. And people don’t agree on anything. Everyone has their version of a situation or problem and their version of how it should be handled or solved. Rage is met with opposing rage and so the fireball grows and becomes hotter. Some of us try to jump away from the heat, but rage touches all of us. Even children feel it and mimic it with their friends. Do you see the children watching and learning the pattern of rage? Becoming angry is okay when it is expressed outwardly in a thoughtful, meaningful way. A way that leads to mutual discussion and mediation. A way that sets boundaries and uses controlled emotions. When anger feeds anger and spreads to rage it is not okay. When the fireball rolls like a snowball picking up speed and growing in size it is not okay. In the midst of the collective, red-faced, angry rage all the good in life goes unnoticed. Rage causes blindness. Blindness to the goodness of people. Blindness to the idea of working together to solve problems instead of battling against each other and creating more. Anger, rage, and fear block the possibility of respect, love, and kindness. What has switched in our world that any of us thinks this is okay? I have faith in mankind. I believe we are made to love. I believe we are meant to be kind. I believe we have the tools to be caring and thoughtful. But I admit, my fun little game that used to be happy to play isn’t fun anymore. This contagious outbreak of Life Rage needs to stop. You and I can only control one person at a time --the person in our mirror. Think of what you are raging about - and stop. Practice being peaceful and feel the power in your peace. Pass that peace and power to others. Go back to gratitude. Being grateful for one small thing at a time starts the snowball rolling in the right direction. I heard a quote from Michael J. Fox this week that said, “With gratitude optimism is sustainable.” I believe this is true. I believe we need to be optimistic. I believe gratitude and optimism are contagious. Begin now before rage takes over your life. I look forward to my little game being fun again. And now, what are YOU grateful for? ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Control your rage before it controls you. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt
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 © 2013-2023 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. Most of our moms had one. As a little girl, I remember how the smell of cedar filled the room when we opened it. It felt like a secret treasure box filled with photos, linens, and memories. Although Hope Chests can be traced back to the 15th century in Europe, the tradition of a Hope Chest became popular in America in the 20th century. Hardworking parents would give them to their daughters as birthday and graduation gifts. Young women filled them with linens, cookbooks, dishes, and special items wrapped in the hopes and dreams of their future marriage. I can only imagine the items my Mom filled her Hope Chest with. The pillowcases she embroidered. The crocheted doilies that would cover the tables in the home she would share with her future husband. The secret treasures wrapped in hopes and dreams. Years ago, my Mom gave me the chest. For a long time it sat in the corner of a room with little fanfare or attention. The one broken leg was replaced with a block of wood so it would sit level. It was something I didn’t think much about. It was just a place to store blankets. It was when my Mom was in her last years that I saw the chest patiently waiting for me. Waiting for me to notice her under the pile of blankets that had overflowed from the inside to completely cover the top of her. Maybe it was the impending loss of my Mom that made me think of her. Maybe it was hope that drew me to her. Maybe it was the power of memories that pulled me to recognize her as the special piece of history she was. I threw the blankets off her and raised the lid. The smell of cedar circled me with memories. I could see the chest once again in my Mom’s bedroom positioned in a place of honor. She was like a princess that held treasures of her kingdom and my Mom had treated her with the deserved respect of royalty. I remembered as a child opening it and seeing my Mom’s wedding book and her wedding dress folded neatly and wrapped in plastic. My fingers would stretch a hole in the plastic to feel the lace and imagine my Mom wearing it as she walked down the aisle to meet my dad. I realized I had not treated her with the same reverence as my Mom had. She was deserving of much more than to be a blanket holder. I arranged to have her professionally refinished. When she was delivered back to my home, her glow of royalty was back. Now she sits proudly at the foot of my guest room bed as if the princess is back in a fitting place of honor. Her broken leg is repaired and back to its original strength and position of holding her upright and level. The hinges and ornamental hardware are polished and looks as if her shining crown is once again proudly displayed. She is now filled with photos, antique linens, and memories. Memories of my Mom, me, our life together, and my life as a Mom. Someday this special chest will belong to my daughter. My hope is that she will see the importance of the Hope Chest and the power it holds. The power to not only hold memories, but to bring them to life in the deepest part of your heart. The power to hold and cherish your hopes and dreams in order to pass them into the hands of the future. My hope is she will place her in a space of honor and respect, fitting the princess she is. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Remember the memories, hopes, and dreams that your Mom passes on to you. Cherish them and treat them with the respect they deserve. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt
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 © 2013-2023 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. If you know me, really know me, you know my dogs’ names, their story, our story, and what they mean to my heart. After my Dad passed away I was asked to accept an award that was being presented in his honor from the school where he taught. During the presentation, the speaker outlined programs my Dad had started and the accomplishments he made. I learned how he left his heart prints in the life of the school and in the lives of the students he taught. I didn’t know any of this before he passed. After my son, J.T., passed two years later, I heard stories of how he touched people. I heard from many people that he taught them how to play guitar. I heard from a minister that J.T. had contacted him and convinced his church to give financial support to a young family in need. I learned how he had befriended an internationally recognized artist and over coffee, they would talk about the Universe. I didn’t know any of this before he passed. How many times in life do we believe we know someone, yet we haven’t taken the time to know what makes their heart sing? We hurry through our days, our lives, and our relationships without knowing who and what they love or what is important to them. We don’t know what impact they are having by investing a piece of themselves in the hearts of another. I regret not knowing these remarkable details about my Son and my Dad when they were alive. How I wish I could go back and share with my Dad my pride in his accomplishments when they happened. How I wish I could have shared in the conversations with my Son and the artist as they talked about the Universe. How I wish my heart had sung with theirs during those magic moments of their lives. It isn’t that hard, really. We need to slow the pace of our lives. We need to take the screens away from our faces. Screens that include televisions, computers, phones, and the emotional privacy screen we put up to keep us from getting too close or revealing too much. We need to sit knee to knee, eye to eye, and connect. We need to care enough to listen and learn each other’s heart songs, likes and loves -the simple ones and the grand ones. We need to share their magic moments. We need to really know them. As for me, a dog came into my life when I was desperately lonely and alone. She saved my spirit. She was with me through a divorce and the loss of my Dad and my Son. Her name was Yogee. After 16 years she left me, but I wasn’t alone for long. I am convinced that Yogee maneuvered a way to bring a piece of herself back to me. The path to my sweet Gracie is a story of magic and love. After a year of loving Gracie, her little sister Zenee joined our family. Yes, our home is filled with Grace and Zen. Yogee, Gracie, and Zenee make my heart sing. If you know me, really know me, you know my dogs’ names, their story, our story, and what they mean to my heart. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Care enough to really know someone – know what makes their heart sing. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt
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 © 2013-2023 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. It’s a state of awe. One of the deepest and most powerful aspects of the human experience. It changed their self-concept, their connection with others, and the way they see the world. These are examples of how this overwhelming experience of emotions and feelings is described. This phenomenon has been experienced by astronauts when they see the Earth from the distance of space. It has been named the Overview Effect. It is an experience that shifts the perspective of what the Earth is and makes the viewer feel interconnected with the planet and all who live there. I try to visualize what this would be like. What it would feel like to see our Earth from that distance. It must look amazing to see it as an entire sphere where every country, every ocean, and every person is joined. Where everyone and everything is connected. The feeling of how everything affects the other must be powerful. From that distance, you wouldn’t notice the small things- the issues and problems that don’t matter. Most of the time we only see our world from a very small view. We see what pertains to us. What will benefit us? What will create profit for us? We don’t look past our own feet. What if we could step back from our life and look at it from a distance? What would we see? When we are close, we just see ourselves and feel our feelings. With every step back the picture would become larger and we would become smaller. We would see our families and our friends. We would feel how our thoughts and reactions affect them. We would realize how the little things we worry about or struggle with seem to fade. Take another step back and we would see our homes, our streets, and our communities. Another step to see our state and our country. Keep moving back and see the entire world. We would see how our actions affect all who live there. A few more steps and soon we see what a small speck we become in the whole picture. We would see how we all connect to create the puzzle of our lives. We would notice how each speck creates the picture and if a speck here and there disappears the puzzle would have missing pieces. This is how, even without knowing it, we all work together. We would see how the actions of each person affect the entire picture. What if this new view changed our self-concept, our connection with others, and the way we see the world? Maybe we would work better together. Maybe we would release the anger, resentment, and disagreements we carry. Maybe we would drop the small, petty problems and work to be the best puzzle piece we can be so that we connect in a complete picture. I don’t live in a bubble of fantasy. I know that life isn’t all rainbows, glitter, and unicorns. But maybe we need to listen to the astronauts. The ones who have seen us from the distance of space. The ones who have seen the magnificent puzzle put together in a glorious sphere of beauty. Maybe we all need to feel connected in that state of awe. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Step back from yourself and see bigger view of life. Stand in a state of awe. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt
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 © 2013-2023 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 am curious. I ask a lot of questions. I want to know how things work. I want to know the story behind the story. I want to know what others think, how they think, and why they think the way they do. I collect information. We watch the news and read the papers for the top stories. We go to the library and read books to find out how things have happened in the past and learn new ways of doing things. We spend hours searching the internet to learn, verify and satisfy our desire to absorb more, know more, and see more. Information surrounds us. It is easy to feel bombarded by it. Have we become too involved in the bells and whistles of how information is presented to us? Does this cause us to miss what is right in front of us? What if we slowed down and listened to the information that is being given to us in quiet and unspoken ways? Are you searching for a life partner or a friend? When you meet someone, you may instantly connect the dots of commonality. You both like to travel. You both like football and share a favorite team. You both love sushi! You quickly think it is a match made in heaven. However, this is not all the information you need. Watch for the unspoken information. Watch how they treat the server when you are out to dinner. Pay attention to their kindness in difficult situations. Does their temper flair with road rage? How do they treat their family? You may be hiring a new employee and their resume is outstanding. On paper they are amazing. Maybe they are, or maybe they just know how to write an amazing resume. When you call them to set up an interview how do you feel talking to them? Are they polite, enthusiastic, and happy to hear from you? When you interview them, do they tell negative stories about their past jobs, or do they seem grateful for all their experiences? Does their persona fit with the culture and environment of your workplace? All these unwritten cues are free information being laid right in front of you. Information that speaks to their character, values, and personality. These are qualities you cannot train or teach a new employee. And if you are the applicant, it goes both ways. What information are you being given about this future employer? If you are fired from a job don’t look at it as failure. You have just been invited to find success elsewhere. This experience gives you information on how to do better or act differently in your next job. If you find yourself exhausted, ill, and unable to function you are receiving information. We humans have an incredible body system, but if we allow it to be abused, overworked, and overstressed it will break down. Headaches, fatigue, sleeplessness, weight loss, or gain is your body’s way of giving you messages. You may be stretching yourself too far. Pay attention when your body is signaling information to you - before it becomes a serious health issue. If someone is abnormally quiet or is uncharacteristically short-tempered, you are receiving information. If someone emotionally hits you the wrong way, take a breath. Listen and watch. Look into their eyes and into their hearts. Hear what they aren’t saying. You may not know what is happening in their life, but there is more to the story. Don’t judge until you have all the information. Be an information gatherer, seeker, and collector. Be curious. Ask questions. Watch people when they don’t know you are watching. Pay attention to the information that is right in front of you. Find the story behind the story. Don’t label the experiences of life as good or bad. It is all information. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Everything that is said, done, and happens in life gives you information. Listen to it. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt
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 © 2013-2023 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. It was the best hug ever! It was long, filled with meaning, and cut right to my heart. The hug was saying things that went way past words. I was surprised by it, which is odd because I am a hugger. I hug everyone. I hug friends every time I see them. I hug people I meet. I hug strangers. This hug was initiated by one of the people I love the most in my life. One of the people I am closest to. One of the people I cherish. I was surprised by it because this person and I rarely hug. The hug stayed with me for days. I relived it over and over and each time I enjoyed it like it just happened. I savored the feeling. If you research hugging, you will see the same bullet points repeated. Hugging can reduce stress by reducing the hormone cortisol. High levels of this hormone can cause health issues like sleep problems, obesity, low immunity, and more. Hugging can boost our mood and make us feel happier and supported. Hugging can improve heart health. Frequent hugging can lower blood pressure, which may reduce the risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Hugging can boost self-esteem. The power of touch can convey feelings of safety, love, and connection. When we are feeling lost or depressed, a hug can help ground us and give us a feeling of belonging. Hugging can improve all types of relationships. Hugs express an intimate connection that goes deeper than words alone. This type of physical touch causes the release of oxytocin. This “love hormone” or “cuddle hormone” as it is called, creates a feeling of closeness. Hugging can reduce pain. When we hug, our bodies release hormones called endorphins. These endorphins are natural pain-relievers that just make us feel good. I know all of these facts and as I said, I am a hugger, but what this special hug made me realize is, sometimes I overlook the people I care about the most. I feel like this happens often in life. We are more polite to strangers than to our own family. We volunteer our time to worthy organizations when maybe we need to be spending time with loved ones. And maybe for me, I miss the opportunity to hug the people closest to me. That special hug made me feel warm and loved. Why wouldn’t I want to show this kind of physical touch to the people I love the most as often as I can? I believe physical touch is essential to our well-being. I remember sitting for hours holding my babies as they nestled in my arms feeling safe and secure. As they grew, I held them as they cried with scraped knees from bicycle accidents and the pain of young love and broken hearts. When I would visit my mom in the last years of her life, she wanted nothing more than for me to hold her hand. When the visit was done, she would hold me tightly never wanting our hug to end. It doesn’t matter what age we are, we all need hugs. From the moment we are born until our last day, it is an essential form of physical touch that we all need to give and receive. We all need physical connection and the feelings of love, trust, and comfort that a hug gives. When we hug energy is given and received. We need this transfer of emotional energy. I read once that humans need four hugs a day for survival, eight hugs for maintenance, and twelve for growth. I don’t know if that is true, but it sounds good. Maybe it is a guideline we should all follow. Who can you hug today? Make it the best hug ever! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: A hug is something you give and almost always receive in return. Make hugging a habit! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ #CornerofSpiritandBrave #loveyourlifenomatterwhat #journeythrough #PennieHunt
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 © 2013-2023 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. |
AuthorThere is a certain magic about where I live both physically and spiritually – on the crossroads of Spirit and Brave. Archives
March 2024
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