I am not a numbers person. I have written many times about how words fascinate me, but I find numbers less interesting. Yet, there is one thing I do that is totally number based. I create a quarterly report of my husband and my finances.

I have done this for years. Over time I have honed a concise and easy-to-understand spreadsheet. Every three months I collect all the statements for any bank accounts and investments, as well as the current value of our home, vehicles, and any other large assets. After inputting all the information, we have a report that reflects our financial life situation.

I have become known as the family secretary. I make sure all bills are paid and keep on top of all things financial. That sounds like a lot of work, but it isn’t as difficult as it used to be.

The world of technology has changed the way this is all done. We can set up most of our financial transactions through autopay or with a tap on our phones.  I remember the days of balancing a checkbook, writing out checks, and mailing payments for bills or driving to the utility companies to pay them in person.

Now, I log into my accounts to verify that the few checks I write are accounted for correctly, and I pay attention to any incoming funds that we are expecting. All of this is simpler than the tedious way I was taught in 9th-grade business class. I will admit that at the time I thought it was so grown up to practice signing my name elegantly at the bottom of the pretend checks in class.

The quarterly report takes me back to that time of writing things down and tracking money. It is fascinating to watch the total net worth of our assets fluctuate. As we have all seen large swings in interest rates and the stock market, there have been totals that were less than I’d like and totals that made me smile.

You may be wondering why I do this if I am not a numbers person. I do it because uncertainty makes me uncomfortable. I like to understand exactly where we are in our spending and our income. I like to feel safe and secure. I like to feel in control by knowing if we need to change the way we are spending or saving. The point of the quarterly report is to know. To know the exact number on an exact day and to compare it to the last report and to a year ago. It is a picture of our life. A click in time that is accurate. It is certainty.

You have probably heard the saying - you can’t manage what you don’t measure. These reports measure our finances so we can manage them. Many things in life can be tracked in the same way. Our health, our exercise, our weight. What about measuring our relationships, our friendships, our time, and our efforts in life? What if on a regular basis we took a good look at our lifestyle and how we are living? What if we measured how kind we are? How friendly we are. How helpful we are. How giving we are. How loving we are.

These kinds of honest assessments of ourselves may be eye-opening and allow us the opportunity to improve. To be certain that we are being the person we want to be. To be comfortable with who we are. Maybe it is time for all of us to do a quarterly life report.
                                  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                    Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                           You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
​                                               Start measuring your life!
                                  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information.
#CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happincess

“You are the plant grandma.”
Said my grandson from the backseat.
I always learn interesting things when my grandchildren are in the backseat of my car.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
“Well, you are the grandma with plants all over her house and you always give them to mom.”

This conversation came on the heels of my husband mentioning that our house was turning into a jungle. I immediately corrected his assessment of my plants and explained why he was wrong. After hearing the comment from my grandson, I wondered if my husband was right.

I have always loved plants. I remember having a plant in my bedroom when I was in junior high. When my grandmother passed, I inherited her Christmas cactus. I am not sure how long she owned it, but I successfully kept it alive for over 20 years.

I realize I attach meaning to plants according to how they came to me. I have plants from my dad and son’s funerals. I have violets that came from my mom’s best friend who was like my grandmother. Over the years I have propagated them and shared their violet flowers with friends and family.

The oldest plant I have arrived in a small planter in the shape of a bassinet and was delivered to me in the hospital the day my oldest son was born. When my mom sent this plant I doubt she thought it would still be alive 47 years later. Like so many of my plants tiny snips of leaves from it have grown into beautiful plants for so many others.

When I heard these comments, I realized I have been acquiring, producing, and increasing my plant numbers in the past few years. I put some thought into why. I have come to a few observations and conclusions.

I have a real connection to the fact that plants are alive and living. Indoor plants cannot survive on their own. They need to be nurtured, fed, watered, and cared for. They are dependent on a person to do this. I am a peacemaking caretaker, so sign me up – I love taking care of plants. Plants fill us with nurturing hearts and the knowing that because of us they thrive.

I love the ritual of picking out pots and containers, feeling the dirt in my hands as I am repotting plants, polishing their leaves, and finding just the right space for them to flourish.

I understand that if the soil isn’t healthy and the roots aren’t strong the plant will not be strong or healthy. This is much like a person- the foundation, health, and strength of our human roots play a major role in our lives.

Plants need light. The biological process of photosynthesis allows plants to convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy that they can use for food and growth. Humans need light. Sun on our faces and light in our hearts bring energy to us and to the way we live.

Plants bring the outdoors in. Having small pieces of nature in our homes fills our eyes with the breath of green that nature holds.

There have been studies that say plants purify the air and reduce allergies. That plants can reduce stress and depression. That plants create a more comfortable work environment. That a plant in a hospital room can shorten the patient’s stay. And that horticultural therapy successfully uses plants and activities with plants support healing and rehabilitation.

Yes, I am a plant lady and I have several plants in my home. They will continue to grow and produce more. I have a difficult time clipping leaves and throwing these live clippings away, so they go in a jar of water to grow strong roots and flourish into beautiful new plants for me to care for. They become gifts of love to others.

I will proudly be the plant grandma and my jungle will continue to grow.  I encourage you to get a plant of your own.  
                                  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                    Pennie’s Life Lesson:
             Welcome the calming presence of plants into your home and heart. 
                                   ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information.
#CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happincess

Do you ever visit someone’s home and it may not be as tidy as you think it should be?  Or you see someone’s house and think it is sterile and immaculate – more like an opulent museum than a livable home. In both circumstances, they are okay with how they live, but you are uncomfortable and are not okay with being there. Their okay is not your okay.

Have you had a friend who was so overjoyed when something good happened to them and you didn’t understand the importance of it? Or have you shared a happy event with someone and they seemed less than interested? Their joy is not your joy.
Have you ever known someone who has been stuck in trauma for years? You can’t understand why it continues to be so painful for them. Maybe you are suffering and are tired of people telling you that you need to get over it, move on, and forget about it. Their pain is not your pain.

In all of these scenarios, one person is using their own standards, values, and beliefs to judge the other person’s feelings, emotions, and lifestyle. This is not fair. We can only use our standards, values, and beliefs to judge ourselves and our lifestyle.

When we compare and contrast our beliefs and standards to how other people act and live, we are judging. The results of this judgment are not good. Either we look at them as less than us because they do not live up to our beliefs and standards. Or we feel inferior or envious of them because they are on a level above us. When this judgment occurs, everyone is uncomfortable.  

Everyone gets to make choices in life. They get to choose where and how they live. They get to choose the lifestyle that fits their needs. They get to choose what makes them happy and brings them joy. And they get to express that joy in the way they want to. They get to decide what is okay for them.

Trauma, heartache, and pain may not be something any of us choose, but the way we process it is. We all feel pain differently. The way we carry it is unique to each of us.
We may not agree on how life should be lived. None of us are right or wrong. There is no best way or bad way to get through this life. We all do it in our own way. What is working and okay with one person may be off-the-charts unacceptable to another. But guess what, it is all okay.

Comparing your standards to others is a lot of work. Constantly judging others against your life drains your energy. The next time you are ready to have a verbal explosion about how someone is living or how what they are doing (in your opinion) is totally wrong, stop yourself and remember this simple little mantra…their okay is not my okay.

It will slow you down. Stop you from judging. And it will simplify your life. Everyone gets to make their own life choices. Make sure that your choices are okay with you. Let the choices other people make be okay with them. It is all okay.  
                              ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                 Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                 The next time you are ready to judge someone, remember this:
                                                Their okay is not my okay. 
                               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Happy July!
It is time to change the calendar. We are beginning the second half of the year. Where did the last six months go?

We are halfway through the 366 days of this leap year. We have enjoyed 22 weeks. What adventures did you have? What goals did you meet and what did you accomplish? We enjoyed 26 weekends. How did you spend them? Who did you spend them with? Did you spend any days with the people you love and care about?

Let’s dig a little deeper… how often did you see the people you love? Some of you might say every day. Some of you might say you see them once a year. Is it often enough? Do you wish you could see them more often? When you do see them is it quality time?

Ponder this equation. If your parents are 80 and your hope and expectation is that they will live to be 90 and you see them once per year that means you will see your parents 10 more times. Is 10 times enough? Do you need to make an effort to see them more than 10 times? And what if you are wrong and they live to be 85… then you have 5 times left to see them.

You can use this formula for many situations. If you are invited to your grandchild’s birthday party, but the idea of toddlers and messy cake and ice cream isn’t your idea of fun… Ponder this- how long will it be before that grandchild is spending all their time with friends and doesn’t want you at a party? You may have 8 or 9 parties before that baby is a teenager. That is 8 or 9 hours of your life. Do you really want to miss a party?

Now let’s think about you. Let’s say you plan to live to be 90. So, from the day you are born, you have 4,680 weeks and weekends ahead of you. You will enjoy 1,080 months. You will celebrate 90 Christmases, Easters, and 4th of Julys. That sounds like a lot of time, right?

If you are 45 now, divide all those numbers in half. That still might sound like a lot but think about how fast the first 2,340 weekends of your life went. Were they memory-making events? Do you remember how you spent them? Who did you spend your first 45 Christmases with?

We plan many things in life. We plan our education, career paths, where we live, and when we want to retire. But do we plan how we allocate our time to those we love?  
We have changed the calendar and with every change, there is a beginning. It is a new month, a new week, a new day. In the next 183 days what will you begin? What will you change? What will you look forward to? How will you spend your time? Who will you spend your time with?

Happy July! Happy second half of the year! Make it important. Make it a memory maker with the people you love!
                                    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                       Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                                       Time goes quickly. Use it intentionally. 
                                                 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information.
#CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happincess

I love reading a good book. I highlight thoughts that I want to remember and refer to. I dog-ear the corner of pages and keep a bookmark handy to save where I paused my reading. I have bookshelves full of books I have completed. A family member calls these trophies- the books that you have spent time reading and placed on a shelf as if you won a prize. I have stacks of books I have yet to begin. And because I am a writer, I usually have at least one that I am writing.
 
We are all writing a book. Year by year and memory by memory our manuscript is written. All the moments of our lives connect to paint the picture of change that tells our story. Even a brief moment of connection is enough to make a difference, generate movement, and create a new chapter. You may not always feel connected or see the changes, but as the chapters progress you will. As we grow and as we live our book continues to be written and when our life ends, the story of our life is complete.
 
No one has the same story. Don’t compare the beginning of your book to someone else’s ending. They have different experiences and events in life that may cause their book to progress faster (or slower) than yours. The only time for comparison is when your book is complete. Compare yourself from where you began to the progress and accomplishments of your life at the end.
 
In life, you'll be left out, talked about, lied to, & used, but you have to decide who's worth your tears and who is not. If the lesson you learned from the experience is worth permanent documentation, include it in your book as a reference. If not, let the situation, person, or event go – don’t give it the importance of a chapter in your life book. If it is not worthy, edit it out.
 
In life, you will experience kindness, caring, and love. The people who share these emotions with you are worth a chapter in your book. Never discount the times you gave and received love. Take special note of the people who touched your heart in ways you never expected. Acknowledge the angels here on earth who held your hand through tragedy and the ones who filled your heart through happy times. You are not a single character in your book. Your life is enhanced with many family members, friends, coworkers, and strangers. They share the pages of your book.  
 
Reading your own story should cause reflection and review. As you do, it is natural to highlight thoughts of memorable moments and dog-ear pages of happy events. But be careful where you place your bookmark. Placing it in a section of sadness, tragedy, or an event that should have been edited out can cause you to become stuck in one chapter of your life.
 
Manage your memories. Don’t dwell on the most difficult times. Don’t remember the bad without remembering the good. Your life book should be a flow of good and bad, highs and lows, love and loss. And at the end of your life, it should be a trophy worthy of a spot of honor on the bookshelf.
                                            ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                    Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                      Chapter by chapter you are writing the book of your life.
                                             ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information.
#CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happincess

The traffic was crazy. I was late. People were waiting for me. My stress was building as I pulled into the parking lot only to circle six times before finding a parking space. Running into the restaurant, I blurted out a rather uncharacteristic rant of a not-so-nice kind. I saw the shock and surprise on the faces of my friends.

Later, I couldn’t get the image of my rant out of my mind. I thought of how I wanted to live my life. Sometimes I fail. I fail at being the person I want to be.

I want to be PATIENT and KIND with others, with life situations, and myself. Sometimes I fail.

I want to be LOVING by sharing love and positive energy with everyone I meet and in every space I stand. Sometimes I fail.

I want to be OPEN to all views and opinions because I believe everyone has a path to walk and it is not my place to judge, criticize, or blame. Sometimes I fail.

I want to be AWAKE and AWARE of the small and grand messages of Grace that I receive. Sometimes I fail.

I want to be someone who WALKS HER TALK and models the lessons I have learned and the concepts that I teach. Sometimes I fail.

I want to be CONFIDENT in knowing who I am --and that I am Good Enough! Sometimes I fail.
I want to be SILENT and LISTEN to my heart sing the messages of my soul that peacefully guide my life. I want to listen to the voices of others and understand what they believe. Sometimes I fail.

I want to be CAREFUL with my voice. Words Matter and carry power when they are sent out into the world. I want to choose them with care as I know that once said or written they cannot be taken back. Sometimes I fail.

I want to be GRATEFUL for the people, things, and experiences I am given. Sometimes I fail.

I want to be FORGIVING of others and myself and let go of the past so that it doesn’t take away my future. Sometimes I fail.

I can’t return to that day and erase my rant or the unkind words I blurted out to those I care about. The best I can do is realize that sometimes I will fail at being the person I want to be and to love and forgive myself-- as in every failure there is a lesson.

Maybe we don’t talk about failure enough. Maybe we don’t talk about the lessons we learn from failure enough. Maybe we need to admit that we are not perfect to be seen as vulnerable and human. Maybe we need to understand that failure doesn’t mean we are bad people- we are just learning from life. Maybe we learn more from failure than we do from success. Maybe we need to accept that sometimes we all fail and failing isn’t always bad.
                                    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                      Pennie’s Life Lesson:
          Accept that sometimes we fail and with every failure there is a lesson.
​                                                 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​It took me an entire day to undo what I had done last fall. I unhooked bungee cords and tie-downs and piece by piece I unwrapped all the deck furniture. Shaking off the dust from the winter wind, I folded each tarp and stored them in a box in the garage. I then took 24 cushions from the patio furniture down the stairs, around the house, and laid them on the front driveway.

Once the cushions were sprayed with cleaner, I power-washed them. The sun was warm, so every 30 minutes I flipped them over and over to ensure they would dry.
During the drying time, I power-washed the deck and furniture. This was a time-consuming, dirty job that needs to be done every year.

When the cushions were dry, I carried 24 cushions 2 at a time back around the house, up the stairs, and positioned them on the appropriate furniture. When I was done it was a work of art. An outdoor space worthy of a photo in a home decor magazine. I was happy and proud of what I had accomplished.

For a week I enjoyed my morning coffee on the deck while my dogs laid in the sun. Life was good. Until it wasn’t. One morning, coffee in hand, I opened the door to enjoy my space of paradise to find the invasion had begun. Miller Moths!

Miller Moths had started their migration and decided my deck was the perfect hotel to rest for the night. The side of my house typically has a calm cream-colored brick exterior. It was now heavily speckled with miller moths. I moved the back cushion of my swivel chair and a group of them flew out. Lifting the bottom cushion, I realized twice as many had congregated there. It was disgusting. My clean space of peace had been invaded.

I quickly yelled for my dogs and the three of us, and my coffee, hurried back into the house. For the past 9 days, every morning has been a repeat of the horror show. Every morning the number of miller moths in the herd, flock, fleet, troop, team, or whatever they are called has increased. Twice a day my husband blows them away with his leaf blower in the hopes of sending them on their way, only to find a new group in the morning.

At night, birds from far and wide have given my deck a 5-star review as the best all-you-can-eat moth diner in the area. You can guess what birds do. That’s right, they doo. The more they eat the more they doo, doo, doo! So not only do I wake up to a deck full of miller moths every morning, but also a deck decorated with bird doo doo.

Every day we clean it. Every morning, we wake up to see the clean deck again covered with bird blessings, miller moths, moth spots, and dust from their wings. I am trying to be optimistic. I am struggling. I understand that they are pollinators and are a food source for birds, reptiles, bears, and bats. I feel like we have gone above and beyond the call of duty by allowing the birds to use our deck for a nightly feeding frenzy and now it is time to go.

I am trying to find something to be grateful for about this situation. I will be grateful when they move on to their mountain home. When they do I will spend another day cleaning the deck and cushions so my dogs and I can go back to our happy morning routine.
I am also grateful I do not live where the cicadas live.

                                    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                       When life gets messy, be patient, clean up what you can,
​                                             and believe the pain will soon pass.
                                     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information.
​#CornerofSpiritandBrave  #loveyourlifenomatterwhat  #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt  #IAmGoodEnough

A geological fault line is a long crack in the earth's surface. Earthquakes typically occur along fault lines. The U.S. Geological Survey works with hundreds of scientists and engineers to find these fault lines and create maps of their locations. These faultfinders watch the areas closely for any negative change. Any movement they notice is analyzed, critiqued, evaluated, and judged.

Have you met any faultfinders in your life? Not the geological kind, but the kind you meet or are with every day? Are you one?   

Fault-finders obsessively find fault in others. They often criticize, complain, and judge others based on trivial issues. Fault-finders are constantly telling others what they are doing wrong or what they should be doing. No one is ever good enough for their standard of perfection. And they love to blame. Nothing is ever their fault or mistake. There is always someone else to blame and shower with shame. Any negative movement is noticed and called out. They keep a mental spreadsheet mapping all the faults they find in other people.
 
This type of fault-finding is not a way to nurture a relationship. How often do you watch your spouse, partner, children, family member, or friend and call them out on what they are doing wrong? Even making a mental note of it is detrimental to the relationship. Do you mind-map your partner's most sensitive fault lines knowing that if you point them out it could cause an argument? A relationship earthquake!
 
What if you took this challenge- pick one person in your life- preferably the person you are closest to and for one week do not point out or verbalize anything they do wrong. Please don't comment on anything that is not up to your standards. Don’t criticize, complain, or judge them or their actions. Do not blame anyone for anything. Do not even say the words, fault or blame. Do you think you could do that for one week? Seven short days?
 
It would be interesting, because you may not have consciously been doing this, but when you are paying attention, you will become very aware of how often you are mentally judging this person. You will become aware of how often you are verbally correcting things they do or criticizing how they do it.
 
You will also become very aware of how often they are finding fault with you. When you are intentionally not fault-finding, I believe you will find your relationship improving.
​
When you stop using mental maps of where the most tender fault lines are in your relationship in a negative way, you can use the knowledge to safeguard and protect these weaknesses and imperfections in you and them.  
 
For one week be in the ‘no fault zone.’ Remember when you first got married, the first time you locked eyes with your child, the first time you laughed with your friend… you weren’t looking for their faults. You were noticing what you loved about them. What you concentrate on grows. When you stop concentrating on faults and begin concentrating on a person’s good qualities and what they do right, you will appreciate and love them more and more. You will see their faults less and less. Your fault-finding may turn into love-finding.
                                 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                   Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                            Look for the good in others, not their faults. 
                                           ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gratitude would land on a list of the most used words today. I don’t think we can go through a day without using it, reading it, or hearing it.

I am a huge believer in gratitude. I teach gratitude techniques and promote gratitude as a happiness builder. I believe people are trying to be more grateful and incorporate the practice of gratitude into their lives.

Gratitude journals and gratitude lists have become common in our daily routines. But I have one question… Do you practice selective gratitude?

It is easy to be grateful when all is right with our world, when everything is going our way, and when others are acting the way we want them to. Is your gratitude conditional on your expectations of how life should be? Selective gratitude is contingent on our criteria and judgment of how closely life mirrors our expectations of what we deserve and want.

Pain occurs when life doesn’t meet our expectations. It is hard to be grateful when we are in pain. It is much easier to allow anger and fear to block our gratitude and hide our blessings during hard times. All blessings do not bless the same way. No matter what happens there are good things about every situation. There is always something that we can be grateful for.

There may be a delay in seeing the blessing, but eventually, we will begin to feel glimmers of gratitude. In school, we had to take a test before we received an A. Sometimes testing comes before appreciation. At times we struggle before we are given the ability to see the lesson and the blessing.

During those difficult times, our selective gratitude tries to take over. We begin evaluating things by our criteria and judgment. We begin listening to our selective thoughts. Thoughts are real to us when we are thinking them, but are they true? We think it is a real thought, but is it true and possible?  Or is it our imagined perfection of how people should act, and life should be? Our imagination is good at overwhelming us into believing nothing bad will happen and the expectation that life is perfect. When it doesn’t work out that way, anger and fear jump in to smoother our gratitude.

Concentrate on what is right in your life, not what is wrong. What you are grateful for, not what you didn’t get or don’t have. Even if you failed at something you can be grateful that you tried. Be grateful when you (or someone else) make a mistake, because when mistakes happen- lessons are learned. Be grateful for the test, for the struggle, and for the learning. If a tragedy happens in your life, you can be grateful for the love of your friends and family and the way they came together to comfort you. The smallest things in life make a difference. Even if you are in grief and despair be grateful for the small things. It is all in the power of perspective.

Gratitude is not complicated. Don’t allow your gratitude to be contingent on the way others act or the ups and downs of life. What you practice, you grow in. If you practice anger and fear, you grow in anger and fear. If you practice love, forgiveness, and kindness, you will grow in those and yes, if you practice gratitude, you will grow in gratitude.
​
There is an energy exchange in life. If you push gratitude out into the world, it will be returned to you. No Contingency, no conditions… just pure, powerful gratitude.  
                                     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                           Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                                      Do not make gratitude a selective process.
                                              Make it an unconditional practice. 
                                     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information.
​#CornerofSpiritandBrave  #loveyourlifenomatterwhat  #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt  #IAmGoodEnough

It was a lonely time. I was going through a divorce. I was living alone for the first time in my life. And it was the holidays.

I stayed with my parents for Christmas, which I usually did, but this year was different. The holidays seemed quieter, less festive, and sad. When it was time to open gifts I sat in a circle with my parents, and family members taking turns opening one gift at a time. When it was my turn, I opened one from my mom, a shiny 12-quart soup pot. I remember hearing a family member say under their breath, what is she going to do with that?

For years I had watched my mom make soup. She would begin in the morning happily browning meat and chopping vegetables to fill her pot. She would open her cabinet of mystery spices, adding shakes and pinches from different bottles until she was happy with the taste. The lid went on the pot and within hours the slow simmering smell filled the house. The kitchen window would fog over from the steam and the house felt like a cozy home. The scene was delicious.

The magical blend of spices and smells created many more servings than our family could eat. My mom would happily take some to the neighbors and drive across town with plastic containers of soup for friends. She loved inviting people over for pots of soup, crispy crackers, and warm bread.

I had wanted a soup pot like my mom’s. I wanted to create the same feeling of home for my family. Years went by without a soup pot and now living alone and cooking for one, this seemed like an odd gift.

I opened the pot and heard oohs and aahs as I showed it to everyone in the circle. Tucking it back in the box I silently repeated to myself, what will I do with that?
The soup pot stayed in the box on a shelf in my laundry room. Much like the pot, I sat alone and isolated in my apartment for months. 

Then one day when I was tired of eating ramen noodles and pouring a bowl of Cheerios for one, I looked at the soup pot. I took it down and washed it. It sat on my stove top with a shine that made the darkness of my kitchen seem happier. I looked through my cookbooks for soup recipes, went to the store, and came home with all the ingredients I needed. I began browning meat and chopping vegetables. I added them to the pot with broth and then began adding spices. I remembered some my mom used and added some from the recipes. I stirred and tasted. Stirred and tasted.
 
The lid went on and soon the simmering smell steamed the windows. The sterile emptiness of my little apartment began to feel cozy. It felt like home. When it was done, I filled plastic containers. I took some to neighbors and friends. The delivery included chatting and laughter. When I returned home, I enjoyed my own bowl of delicious contentment. 

Over the years soup has become one of my favorite things to create and serve. I make chili and chowders, vegetable soup, and stews. The process of chopping, tasting, simmering, and sharing is therapeutic for me.

For years I watched my mom make soup. But it wasn’t until I began making it myself that I understood why she gave me the soup pot when she did. She knew that I felt isolated and alone. She also knew that soup had a healing power that went far beyond the idea of chicken soup helping a cold. The healing was in the chopping and the spices. In the simmering and the sharing. She knew that the pot held more than I could eat and that I would invite others to share the soup with me. She knew it would push me not to be alone. During the hardest times my mom knew that more than anything, I needed a feeling of home in my heart. I needed comfort and connection. I needed a soup pot. 
                                     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                        Pennie’s Life Lesson:
       Moms teach lessons of comfort, connection, and home in simple ways. 
                                                  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information.
​#CornerofSpiritandBrave  #loveyourlifenomatterwhat  #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt  #IAmGoodEnough

This summer my husband and I will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary. We were together 10 years before that, so we have practiced what does, and doesn’t, work in our relationship for a substantial amount of time. My husband says marriage is a team sport. I agree and will share a​ few relationship secrets that work for us.

We realized long ago that we are a team, and teams need a name. Ours is team Ken/Pen. Creating a name, saying it out loud, and using it in your life creates an understanding of being together. It is not me and you, it is US. We are a team, and the team needs a unified name. You could use your last name or pick something meaningful to you both. Name your team.   

Be friends. Best friends. Friendship is a nonjudgmental, trusted space where you can tell secrets, share fears, create dreams, and feel secure and safe. Never forget you were friends first.

Remember your partner is not a clone of you. They are your best friend and teammate. You can have interests and friends outside of the team. Individuality is important. You can like different kinds of pizza and enjoy different types of music and movies. Have your own interests, hobbies, and connections. You don’t have to do everything together, but never forget that your home base is the team.

When my kids were young, their grandfather would tell them, “If you are going to fight, fight nice.”  When you get angry, never forget your teammate is not your enemy. Teammates don’t fight. They isolate the problem and work together to find a solution. Remember that you are fighting for – a resolution and mutual happiness. If you disagree don’t call each other names or use hurtful words. Words spoken in anger will remain in your partner’s mind long after the argument. Over time, the layering of hurt from arguments can destroy relationships. We always remember this saying, that is not the way people who love each other talk to each other.”  If your words will jeopardize the relationship, be silent. If you are going to fight, fight nice.

Be polite. Years ago, I witnessed how a woman I worked with interacted with her husband.  I saw how polite she and her husband were to each other. They used words like, please, thank you, and excuse me. Remember those are the words we learned as toddlers and we use them with friends, acquaintances, and even strangers, but we slack when it comes to using them with the one we love the most- our partner. Being respectful and polite with your partner makes a difference!

Play and laugh. Life can become filled with, well, life.  Work, obligations, and responsibilities can take over our time and energy. Always allow time for fun and memory-making. Go out for dinner, or a movie, go bowling, or skiing, take weekends away from all the life stuff. Be silly. Laugh at yourself. Laugh together. When you play, you restore your relationship’s energy. Teams need play time.

It's the little things. When I put laundry in the washer and walk away to do something else, my husband will hear the timer buzz and put the laundry in the dryer for me. We pay attention and help each other in small ways. Teams work together.

Support the bench. The bench is the backup team. The people that add to your relationship. The bench holds the children, family, and friends that are attached to both of you. They are your supporters and cheerleaders. Respect each other’s backup team.

Check in. Once a month or week, check in with each other. We call this our “15 minutes.” We put away all distractions. We take turns telling each other how our partner has made us happy, lifted our spirits, and how they have made us feel loved. We also sift through the things that didn’t work so well. What disappointed us or hurt our hearts​. It is a safe time for discussion. Your team is worth Fifteen Minutes!

What do all these ideas have in common? Communication. This is what bonds the team members together. Try some of these ideas from our playbook in your relationship. GO TEAM!
                                 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                   Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                           Relationships are a team sport. Support the team! 
                                 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maybe it is a little voice you hear inside telling you what to do. Maybe it is a twinge in your heart or a tightening in your stomach. Maybe it is a sudden outbreak of goosebumps, shivers, tingling, chills, a glimmer of a vision, or just an overwhelming knowing. Your inner compass has a way of communicating with you. It tells you what is right and wrong. It points you in the direction that is meant for you.  

These messages come to us in times of despair and depression. In times of uncertainty and confusion. In times of difficult decisions and changes in life. If you listen, you will always be given the answers, and your inner compass will give you the next step. Your inner compass will lead you to the path forward, the path of self-discovery, and give you a sense of intuition of what your next step should be.

This is not a new concept. In 1933 the psychiatrist, Carl Jung wrote letters to people who asked him how to get through life. He wrote,

“…if you want to go your individual way, it is the way you make for yourself, which is never prescribed, which you do not know in advance, and which simply comes into being of itself when you put one foot in front of the other. If you always do the next thing that needs to be done, you will go most safely and sure-footedly along the path prescribed by your unconscious. Then it is naturally no help at all to speculate about how you ought to live. And then you know, too, that you cannot know it, but quietly do the next and most necessary thing.”
“…In every littlest thing you do in this way, you will find yourself. [Everyone has] to do it the hard way, and always with the next, the littlest, and the hardest things.”
Notice that Jung said your unconscious will tell you what the next most necessary thing to do will be. Your inner compass gives you the direction.

Go forward 86 years to 2019 and listen to the lyrics of the song, “Next Right Thing” from the movie Frozen II. Some of the lyrics are:

This grief has a gravity
It pulls me down
But a tiny voice whispers in my mind
‘You are lost, hope is gone
But you must go on
And do the next right thing’…
…And with the dawn, what comes then
When it's clear that everything will never be the same again?
Then I'll make the choice
To hear that voice
And do the next right thing.

Who would think that decades apart a psychiatrist and a children’s movie would both be speaking about listening to our inner compass? They would both be speaking of our path forward. The path toward self-discovery led by our unconscious. Our inner voice. Our sense of intuition. Our inner compass.

Whether it is a little voice, a twinge in your heart, a tightening in your stomach, goosebumps, shivers, tingling, chills, or a knowing- your inner compass has a way of communicating with you. It catches your attention and nags at you until you listen. And every time it is telling you to do the next most necessary thing. The next right thing.

When you listen and follow the directions you will feel content. Life will feel right. When you ignore your inner compass long enough you will feel off balance, uneasy, and continually feel like something is missing or wrong.

Your inner compass doesn’t lie. Do you listen?
                               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                  Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                                            Listen to your inner compass.
     Do the next most necessary thing – even if it is just taking one step forward.
                                  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“What if we have been forced to slow down? To listen. To see things again- the things we take for granted and the things we miss in our hurried lives.”

I was feeling lonely, isolated, and confused. It was three weeks into the Covid shutdown of 2020 when I wrote a column titled, “What If?” I wrote about all the things I was missing. Hugs from my family, lunch with my friends, date nights with my husband, and running to the grocery store without thinking about risking my life. It was an unusual, frightening, and confusing time.

One day I ventured outside for a walk. A walk that spurred me to write this:
                                                    ~ ~ ~ 
I looked up to the bluest sky I have ever seen that was speckled with cotton-white clouds. In the silence of not hearing traffic or the noise of daily life, I heard birds. Birds singing glorious songs with their choir of friends. I saw carefree bunnies scampering through yards. 

It felt slow. 
It felt quiet. 
It felt peaceful. 
It felt fresh and new. 
It felt different.

What if this is the message of this virus? The message to slow down. To listen. To see things again- the things we take for granted and the things we miss in our hurried lives.
What if the speed at which our life and world had gotten to was spinning so fast that we were heading for an implosion? What if this is it?
What if we needed a shake-down? A wake-up call to be grateful for what is important.

As the days go by, I realize how grateful I am for simplicity. How grateful I am for food, water, and the shelter of my home. How grateful I am for the security of love from my family and friends. How grateful I am for dinner and movie dates with my husband at home with our sweet dogs snuggled next to us.

I realize what I miss. I miss smiles and hugs. I miss cheek kisses. I miss the touch of my loved ones and voices that are not muffled by technology. I miss the freedom to move in whatever direction I desire.
The uncertainty of not knowing how or when this will end is nerve-racking and I don’t have the answers. I do know that the most important lessons are taught in the most difficult of times. I do know that the sky is bluer, the birds are singing louder, and the world has slowed to a pace that we need to remember when this time of hunkering down ends.
What if it is time to listen to the quiet?
What if it is time for you to take a walk?
                                                 ~ ~ ~

That was four years ago. Some thrived in the quiet and the slowing of time. Some felt financial and mental pressure to the point of disaster. Either way, life changed.
Relationships changed. People got divorced. People got married. A spotlight was put on mental health care. The way work is done changed. Working remotely and flexible work arrangements became more common and acceptable. The supply change disruptions of food and products caused us to plan better and adapt and adjust to cost, availability, and delivery times.

For me, I believe the most important changes are the ones I feel. The time of quiet and solitude that the pandemic forced us into has become a memory. The learnings of being grateful for what we have and slowing down the out-of-control speed of our lives have faded. I feel an undercurrent of anger and a weakening of trust. Uncertainty has become a feeling we carry. Skepticism and suspicion nip at our feet. The speed of life is back or even increased, and we cannot predict or prepare for where it is going.

It has been four years, and now more than ever we need to realize that we are all in this life together. I still believe that the most important lessons are taught in the most difficult of times. And I feel these are difficult times.   

What if we have already forgotten the lessons?
What if this is still the message? The message to slow down. To listen. To see things again- the things we take for granted and the things we miss in our hurried lives.
What if the speed at which our lives and the world move is still too fast?
What if it is time for you to take a walk, find some quiet, and once again be grateful for what is important?
 
What if it is time to remember what we have so quickly forgotten?
                               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                  Pennie's Life Lesson:
            The most important lessons are taught in the most difficult of times.
​                                          ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​I think a lot about life.
The highs and lows.
The successes and failures.
The pleasures and pains.
The suffering and celebration.
We travel through these stages at different times and for different reasons, but we all travel through them.
 
I remember a time when my children were young and the innocent moments of floating on air mattresses on the lake or living room floor picnics held the magic of the simplicity of happiness. Hard struggles were happening in my life, but in those moments I didn’t notice. My head was up enjoying the sunshine and the flowers of my life. When things are going well even weeds can look like flowers and life seems grand.
 
I also remember a time when my dad was suffering from a terminal illness at the same time my son was struggling in life. I was so deep in the weeds that I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t think. And at times I gasped for a breath. Good things were going on in my life during this time, but I couldn’t see them. My head was down, and my heart was buried in the weeds. When life is difficult it is as if the weeds smother the flowers and hide them from our view.
 
I have witnessed this many times in life- in my friends, in my family, and in myself. It may be the loss of a loved one, loss of a job, or a physical illness that causes us to become so lost in the weeds that we hunker down pulling ourselves closer to the dirt of the situation. We tuck our hearts inward for protection and close our eyes to block the pain. In doing so we become deeply lost in the weeds.
 
When life is so heavy with heartache it is hard to see the flowers. They are there, but the burden of carrying pain makes it difficult to look up. Every step is a step through the thickness of weeds. The roots are tough and treacherous wrapping themselves around our ankles and the stalks grow tall and surround us so that all we know, all we feel, and all we see are weeds.
 
The reality is life is a mixture of flowers and weeds. Some years we have gardens full of bright colors, blooming in our lives. Some years we have more weeds and are bogged down in the trenches of walking through them. We all get a combination throughout our lives.
 
The longer we live the more distance we have to look back on. The miles of happy times and the rough terrain of pain. When we look back, we see from the vantage point of an experienced observer. We can see the pattern of life and the lessons we have learned.
 
There have been many happy times in my life. There have been many times of sadness and pain in my life. I have now come to a space of understanding that we need both. Both happy and sad. Both the weeds and the flowers. We will all face suffering and setbacks. Without pushing through the weeds, we would not appreciate the delicate beauty of the flowers. We will all experience joy and love. Without the flowers we would not be motivated to survive when we are lost in the darkness of weeds, knowing that beyond the difficulties of life, there will be the sweet blooming once again.
 
Start thinking about life.
The highs and lows.
The successes and failures.
The pleasures and pains.
The suffering and celebration.
 
Where are you standing in life?
Are you lost in the weeds or are you smelling the flowers?
                                             ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
                                                       Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                        When you are lost in the weeds, begin looking for the flowers.
                                 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

​When was the last time you were angry? How long did the anger last? Sometimes when you are angry for a long time you can’t even pinpoint what you are angry about, so you become angry about everything.

To identify the core reason that you are angry, you need to ask one question… What are you afraid of?

For example, are you angry when your spouse shows up late for your work event? Or are you afraid your boss will notice? Dig deeper. Are you afraid your boss will notice or are you afraid you will be embarrassed when your boss notices? Being embarrassed may be one of your biggest fears, so anything that happens in your life that may cause you embarrassment will light that fire of anger.

We build walls to protect us from our fears. If someone tampers with our walls our fears strengthen. Our mind tells us, “I knew it, my fear is coming true.” Anytime the wall gets bumped the protective reaction is to fight. We get angry. Your spouse being late was never the reason you were angry – your anger was a reaction to your fear. You feared being embarrassed.

When you struggle with what you are afraid of you create your suffering. Your suffering will only last as long as you let it. Repeat - Your suffering will only last as long as you let it.

Pinpoint what your fears are. Remember times in your life when you have been angry and examine it until you find the basis of fear. After you find one, keep digging, what else are you afraid of? Once you know your core fears, take down the walls. When you do, you will learn to control your anger and not let it last long. You will still have experiences that may trigger your fears, but you will begin to see them as part of life. You will begin to see that everyone has fears, and everyone learns from them.

Let’s look at filling in the blank in other ways. If you are tired, being tired will last as long as you let it - until you rest. Loneliness will only last as long as you let it. Disappointment will only last as long as you let it. Do you see the pattern? You are in control.

Now this is where it gets good. Flip this in the direction of happiness. What if you realized that happiness will only last as long as you let it? Let’s say you are at your wedding or a holiday celebration. You feel happy. But what is making you feel happy? What is the core reason for your happiness?

Are you happy because of the decorations, the party clothes, or the cake? Is it the presents that make you feel happy? When you dig deeper, you may find that what makes you feel happy is the feeling of love from family and friends. When you pinpoint the core reason for your happiness you will understand how to control it.

When the wedding or holiday celebration is over, your happiness does not have to end. Just because your family and friends are not gathered in a balloon-filled room, doesn’t mean they don’t love you. Knowing you are loved by them becomes a core reason for you to be happy every day. Happiness will last as long as you let it.
Fill in the blank with positive emotions. Joy will only last as long as you let it. Peace will only last as long as you let it. You have more control over the emotions you feel than you believe you do.

We can’t control everything that happens in our life and there will always be ups and downs, but if you want permanent happiness and permanent joy you must understand the core reasons for your happiness. You must learn that these core reasons are with you all the time, not just situationally. It won’t matter if it is a Monday, if the weather is gloomy, or for whatever reason you have allowed to take away your happiness in the past.
Remember, happiness will only last as long as you let it.  
                            ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                 Pennie’s Life Lesson:
           Once you understand the core reasons for your emotions,
                              you will have the power to control them. 
                               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information.

My brother didn’t want a dog. He didn’t pick him out at a pet store or receive him as a Christmas gift. He came to my brother, Martin, as a temporary houseguest. His stepson was going to visit and asked if he could bring his 2-year-old dog, Knuckles. My brother agreed to a short visit if the dog stayed off the furniture.
 
A few days into the visit, Knuckles broke the rules by jumping onto the couch landing right next to my brother and laying his head softly on my brother’s lap. Martin’s blue eyes locked with the beautiful brown eyes of a dog. It took one eyebrow lift from Knuckles (which became his signature move) and Martin was in love. In that moment Knuckles was home. In that moment Knuckles, Martin, and his wife Julie became a family.
 
Julie became the dog mom that gave Knuckles baths, brushed his teeth, gave him his medicine, pulled stickers from his paws, and did physical therapy with him after his leg ligament surgery.
 
Martin and Knuckles became inseparable adventure buddies. Their daily hikes always included chasing squirrels. On lake days, Knuckles would lay in the back of the boat and watch Martin waterski and fish. They were best friends, comrades, and confidants. Martin was Knuckle’s Person, his man, his leader. And Knuckles was Martin’s best buddy, his good boy, his dog child.
 
Dogs don’t love in a flashy Valentine kind of way. A dog’s love is steady, solid, and unshakeable. Dogs don’t have to speak because love and loyalty come through their actions and not words. Knuckles was always right next to Martin ready to play, ready to help him shovel snow, ready to support and love him, and always ready to please him. Knuckles and Martin shared a mutual devotion to each other. An understanding that they were in this life together, connected with the binding of trust.
​
If you are a dog person, there is always that one dog. The one that stands out from the others. The one that can lift one eyebrow and change your life. The one that sits by you through the dark times and runs with you in the light. The one that is your soul dog, sent to you in an unusual or mysterious way. The one that is undeniably meant to be with you.
 
My brother didn’t want a dog. Not because he didn’t love dogs, but because he knew he would love it too much. He didn’t want the heart crushing pain of saying goodbye. In the last months of having Knuckles, when arthritis and age kept him from walking, my brother selflessly carried all 50lbs of him where he needed to go. When the medicine could no longer alleviate the pain in Knuckle’s joints, my brother would lay on the floor with him as they both cried.
 
The goodbye was painful. With Martin and Julie by his side, my brother held his hand on Knuckles chest feeling love through the beat of his heart. The all-familiar rhythm pushed love into Martin’s hand, beat after beat… until it stopped.
 
Martin and Julie welcomed Knuckles into their home when he was sent to them in an unusual, (possibly mysterious) way. Maybe it was his assignment to be Martin’s best buddy. Maybe it was his job to teach Martin it was okay to open your heart and love deeply – even if the time together was not long enough.
 
Dogs are not gone when the bowls are put away and the last of the fur has been vacuumed. They linger in your life with every breeze of wind, with every hike, with every new puppy kiss or bark you hear from another dog. They remain imprinted in your heart, in a photo on your mantel, or tattooed on your arm. They leave us with the memory of their love, trust, and loyalty – more than we deserve and too much for us to ever repay.  

And when just for a moment you forget your pain and reach down to pet them, but your hand finds only air, they are there- just out of your sight. You see, their job is not complete. They are patiently waiting for when the time is right, and they are once again by your side.

My brother didn’t want a dog.
What he didn’t know was that he needed one.
Job well done, Knuckles.
Job well done.
                              ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                                 When you open your heart to love a dog-
                               it seems like a short time, but it is forever. 
                               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In business the term Touch Point refers to the number of times a customer will see a logo, hear the company name, or listen to a jingle. Any engagement or communication between the brand and the customer is considered a Touch Point. The more Touch Points the company can create, the more familiar and trusted the company becomes the customer.
 
Let’s think of our personal Touch Points. Watch a baby who is learning to crawl. They will slide their legs and move their arms for a short distance. Then they look back at their Mom and return to her. They need to touch her to make sure she is close. When they begin walking, they take a few steps and then crawl back to Mom. She is their Touch Point. The place of safety. The place of comfort. The place of trust. The place they recognize as familiar.
 
We add more Touch Points as we grow. How many of you can sing your high school song? The high school you graduated from is a Touch Point. Our minds can drift back to teenage memories, our favorite teachers, football games, school colors, and pep rallies. When we think of high school, we remember it as familiar.
 
Now move on to college where you earned a degree. Are you a member of the alumni club? Do you still attend sporting events there, even though you graduated years ago? If you do, it is because it is a Touch Point for you. It is an important institution in your life. It made a difference in the life path you took. You want to stay connected.
 
If you have moved during your life, your hometown will always be a Touch Point. The place where you grew up. The place you trust to hold your memories. A place of comfort. When you visit, you retrace the memories. You drive by the house you grew up in, your elementary school, and the park you played in. Touch Point, Touch Point, Touch Point.
 
You may have cemeteries or memorial sites that you visit because tracing your loved one’s name on the stone with your finger is comforting. There, surrounded by peaceful quiet you have found a Touch Point. 
 
Now let’s twist this a little more. Who needs you as their Touch Point? Your children may be adults, but they still need you as a Touch Point of safety and trust. As our parents age their circle of connection shrinks. Their friend circle becomes small and they may not have the ability to reach out to others. We need to be their Touch Point. They need physical touch and comfort. They need the security and familiarity of you.
 
Look at your friends. Sometimes the ones with the biggest smiles need hugs the most. Sometimes the ones helping everyone else need support. They need you as their Touch Point of understanding. They need to know you care enough to be a stable and steady Touch Point in their life.
 
If you piece together your Touch Points, they become a timeline. A map of meaning that tracks the most important people, places, and events of your life. These personal Touch Points, just like the marketing Touch Points, are based on engagement, communication, and the effort you make to stay connected.
 
Never forget the significance of your Touch Points. They helped you become the person you are today. And never forget the importance of being a Touch Point for someone else.
 
Who do you need to connect with today? Who might need the comfort of knowing you care enough to reach out to them? Be someone’s Touch Point. 
                                           ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                     Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                      Nurture the people, places, and things that are important to you.
                                         They are the Touch Points of your life.
                                  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Have you made worry and stress habits?
​It is easy to do. First, you begin by worrying about everything and everyone. Then you start catastrophizing everything you are worried about and imagining the worst-case scenario and outcome. Finally, you begin believing that it helps the situation if you are stressed and worried about it. That’s it. These three steps are repeated, and the habit is formed.
 
Every time someone you care about is having a life struggle, you worry. Every time you watch the news you layer the worries of the world onto your shoulders. Politics, the economy, disputes between countries, tragedies, and the wild weather all become your worries. The three steps are repeated. And you worry, worry, worry. Stress grows and the habit of being stressed becomes stronger.
 
I know because I have done this many times in my life. And every time I have paid a price for my self-inflicted worry and stress. For many of us, habitual stress plays out as a health issue. When you create such a habit of stress, it builds up in your body. It finds a comfortable place in your body to live and at some point, it will show itself outwardly. You may begin having migraines or stomach issues. It might be hair loss or weight gain or loss. It might show itself as a more serious issue. Stress can do crazy things to your body. If you don’t take care of yourself and manage your stress, your body is going to act out and force you to notice.
  
We all have difficult times when we are in real-life situations that cause us occasional stress and worry. This is normal. It is when the habit of worrying and stressing is formed that it is a problem. Worry is a negative meditation. Instead of meditating on clearing your mind and finding inner peace, you are meditating on worry and creating inner stress.
 
Athletes understand the technique of visualizing winning the game or crossing the finish line in first place before the competition begins. Through clear visualization, the mind doesn’t know if you are imagining it or if it is happening. By visualizing, the mind believes you have already won before the opening whistle blows.
 
This happens negatively when you worry. When you visualize repeatedly the worst outcome to a situation your mind believes it is happening. Stress builds in your body. When you get upset about everyone’s problems, and everything on the news, your mind doesn’t know if you are just thinking stressful thoughts or if you a “in” a stressful situation- it reacts the same way. Our body and mind begin living in survival mode. The mind believes the worst will (or is) happening, so the turmoil becomes the fuel for more and more inner stress.
 
You can turn this around. You can break the habit of perpetual worry and stress. Learn to control what you put in your mind just like you control the food you put in your body. Stop visualizing the worst outcome for every situation. Instead, visualize winning the game. See yourself and others in the best possible outcome. How would you look, how would it feel to have the problem solved, and how would you act? Play this visual over and over in your mind until you believe it could be true. This is a positive meditation. This will relax your mind and your body. Stress will no longer be invited to create health issues.
 
Have you made worry and stress habits? It is easy to do. But if it is easy to do, it is easy not to do.
 
Pennie’s Life Lesson: Learn to control the thoughts you put in your mind. Don’t allow worry and stress to become habits. 

​#CornerofSpiritandBrave  #loveyourlifenomatterwhat  #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt  #IAmGoodEnough
YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information.

Time.
It is a gift we are all given. We each get the same amount. Sixty minutes every hour, 1440 minutes every day, 10,080 minutes in a week, and 525,600 minutes in a year. None of us know how many years we will be given in this life, but for the time we are here we all receive the same number of minutes. It is a fair distribution without preference to anyone.

How we spend it may be very different. As a child playing in a sandbox, the thought of time didn’t cross our minds. We just went through our days carefree and living life. As we age, we talk about how time flies. With every year it seems to pass faster. We allocate time to every commitment, appointment, job assignment, and responsibility we have. As our calendars, planners, and schedules fill up our time decreases. But wait… it can’t decrease. We are all given the same amount. The amount of time never changes.

Time can be shared, spent, wasted, tracked, suffered through, and enjoyed. It is our choice. It all depends on who we give our time to. No, we don’t keep time. We give it away.

We are the ones who ‘give’ time to commitments, appointments, job assignments, and responsibilities. Our life can become so busy that inside we feel like Swiss cheese. We give our time away bite by bite until we feel out of control and less than a whole person. We suffer through time.

And then there are the nibblers. They eat away at what little unscheduled time is left. These are the ugly places we give our time to that we don’t write in our calendars, planners, or schedules. We do it unconsciously and don’t realize how much time we give to worry, procrastination, gossip, anger, and other unhealthy habits. These are the places we give our time to that create feelings of pressure, pain, and suffering. Time is wasted.

Now, remember the sandbox and that carefree feeling? We were ‘giving’ our time to fun and enjoying life. That fun time can become lost in our busy adult world because we don’t pay attention to who and what we give our time to. We can be so overwhelmed with responsibilities that we forget how to weave fun and joy into the minutes of our days.

As you rush to take your children to school, can you use the driving time to have an enjoyable conversation with them? As you cook dinner, can you make a game out of who chooses the menu, who sets the table, or who creates dessert? Can you incorporate enthusiasm and fun into work projects and job assignments? Time can become enjoyable.

Don’t forget to add fun time to your planners and schedules. This is not free time. This is memory-making time. Time for coffee with friends, a fishing trip with buddies, a grandchild’s sporting event, or a movie with the family. This is the time when we invest in our self-care and personal growth. This is the time we feel carefree and happily living life. This is the time that energizes us. This is sandbox time.

Time is given to all of us in the same quantity. Time is free and yet priceless simultaneously. The value of every moment we are given is in who we share it with and the memory it makes.

We are all given the same amount of time. It is in our control who we share it with. Who will you give your time to today?
Will you give it to people and things you love... family, friends, pets, and hobbies?
Will you give to work, interests, and goals?
Will you give it to worry, procrastination, gossip, anger, and unhealthy habits?
​
Think about it...
We all give our time away, but are we giving it to the best areas of our lives?
Who do you give your time to?
                                               ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                      Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                                                 Time is free and yet priceless.
                 The value of every moment we are given is in the memory it makes.
                                     ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

​#CornerofSpiritandBrave  #loveyourlifenomatterwhat  #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt  #IAmGoodEnough
YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information.

I have a stairway in my home. It isn’t a normal straight-down or L-shaped stairway. It floats in a majestic curve. The oak arches as if the tree it was created from swayed in the wind like a ballerina practicing this permanent pose. When I walk down it, I feel like royalty with my diamond-studded gown flowing behind me while the ballroom waits for me below. Each golden step glistens and cascades to the next. It is a masterpiece of construction.

That fantasy is not quite reality. Most of the time I am running up and down my stairs to let my dogs in or out, looking for my husband, or doing household chores. The idea of a flowing gown would be a disaster as the wooden stairs are slick and can be dangerous. But it is a masterpiece of construction and beauty.

For the eight years we have lived in this home we have ping-ponged the idea of carpeting them for safety with the fear of covering the beauty of the steps. After a couple of near slips, we decided carpet would be a wise move.

We contacted our local flooring company. The appraiser came to measure. After an hour of looking at the staircase from every angle, he was baffled as to how to carpet the steps and match a pattern with the curve of the grand staircase.

We ultimately connected with an out-of-town company that had experience with staircases like ours. When they arrived to measure and assess the job they were confident they could accomplish what we wanted. The father, Bob, and son, Heath, were caring, and thoughtful. I soon became secure in their expertise.

After waiting for the carpet to arrive, the holidays to be over, and the weather to clear, the installation day came. Bob, Heath, and an additional installer named Jim arrived shortly after the sun came up. Carefully they brought all their equipment inside and carried it downstairs. They set up a system of one measuring and laying the pad, one cutting the carpet and running the serger machine to finish the edges, and one installing the carpet.

One stair at a time they measured the curve, matched the pattern in the carpet, finished the edges, and secured it firmly to the wood. Methodically they worked throughout the day.
I listened.

I listened to the pounding of the nails, the snap of the tape measure, and the humming of the serger machine. This created a harmonic background to the gentle voices of the three men.

Occasionally I would peek down the stairway to see the progress. The carpet was creating a path of beauty. The pattern turned perfectly with the curve of each step. Our fear of covering the wood was pleasantly squelched. On each side of the carpet the wood still glistened, and the railing and riser of each step was more than enough wood to appreciate the curve and beauty of the construction.

As they finished the top and final stair the coolness of evening had arrived. They collected their equipment, took a few photos, and were ready to leave. We gathered at the front door for a long goodbye. By the time the door closed behind them I felt like I was watching friends drive away. Throughout the day we shared stories, compared lives, and became friends.

They weren’t just workers who had come into our home to do a job. These were masters of their craft. They were artisans skilled in the techniques of their art. They had an ear for listening and understanding our needs. They had the talent to manipulate their machinery to match the level of their skill, equal to a master painter gliding a brush across the canvas.

But most importantly they had an understanding of the human heart. They put their hearts into the project and worked with pride and precision. And they understood the desire of our hearts to keep the integrity and beauty of the stairway while making it safer and even more elegant.

I will never walk down this stairway wearing a diamond-studded gown, but I will never walk down my stairway without thinking of my friends, the master craftsmen who taught me lessons that day. The lessons of how to listen, how to create, and how to do it all with the understanding of the heart.
                                  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                     Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                                              Search for the craftsmen.
                                     The ones who work with their hearts. 
                                             ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am not a big fan of self-checkout. Maybe it is because I am not quick at it. Maybe it is because I would rather interact with a real person. Maybe it is because it usually takes longer than having a real person check me out. Maybe it is a combination of reasons, but I am not a fan.

Today I went to the store to buy 4 things. There was only one checkout line open with a real person and the rest was self-checkout. Since three people with overflowing carts were waiting in line for the real person, I moved to the self-check line. It was longer, but I hoped it would move faster. It didn’t.

When it was finally my turn, I punched in my phone number for the good customer discount and began scanning. Milk, bread, bananas…everything was moving fine until I scanned the pears and put them on the conveyor belt. Suddenly the system locked up. The belt wouldn’t move. The number 11 on the pole above me began flashing. I waited. Did I mention I am not a fan of self-checkout?

After some time, a clerk came over. “I am not sure what I did, it just stopped,” I told him. “You have too many items on the belt.” The clerk said, with a monotone voice, motionless face, and no eye contact. He clearly was not enjoying his job.

My bread and milk had happily made their way to the end of the belt, but my bananas and pears sat together right next to me and hadn’t moved. What? Those two things are too much for the belt? I was confused.

The clerk punched in a code and walked away. My eyes followed him, wondering if I could continue or if I needed to wait, or if I had broken the machine. I touched the pay button on the screen, put in my credit card, bagged my 4 items, and left.

On the drive home, I was growling in my mind thinking about how much I don’t like self-checkout. How rude I thought the clerk was. How 8 other check stands could have had real people working them but were closed. And why was it my job to scan my groceries, bag my groceries, and wait for the unfriendly clerk to fix a problem that I didn’t understand?

What happened to a friendly face by the register, friendly chit-chat about how my day was going, a bagger gently placing my bagged items in my cart, and then pushing my cart to my car and unloading it, and thanking me by my name? Yes, I am sure all that dates me back many, many years, but those were good times, right?

I walked into my house and the first thing out of my mouth to my husband was, “If I ran a grocery store I would put my friendliest, happiest person in charge of the self-checkout area. Every customer that stands under a flashing sign is frustrated and needs help and should be greeted with a friendly face.”  He just smiled and nodded. He knows I am not a fan of self-checkout.

I stewed about this most of the morning and then I realized I was looking at it all wrong. I did a little check-in with myself. Everything I was frustrated about was unimportant. The important thing was the happiness level of the clerk who helped me. Maybe my only job was to see if I could increase that person’s happiness.

Ok, maybe it wasn’t my job, but couldn’t it be my goal to make others happier? This is a Happiness Game I have played many times. Will you join me?

Every time you see someone having a difficult day or seems to be unhappy, can you make their day a little better? It doesn’t take much effort. A smile for your barista. A hug for your friend. A “how is your day going,” for the clerk at the self-check area. A joke with your lunch server. And try the magic of telling someone how you appreciate what they do. All of these give you points in the happiness game. With every point and every expression of care, YOU will feel happier - and hopefully so will they.

I am not a fan of self-checkout, but the next time I use it I plan to be friendly and appreciative of the clerk even if they do not return the same happiness level. Especially if they don’t.
​That is how the game works.
                                  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                     Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                   When you are the most frustrated by the way you are treated,
                        it is time to treat others with compassion and happiness.
                                                     It makes a difference.
                                  ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I am a cocker spaniel. I want everyone to like me. When I receive positive emails and messages about my columns or my books it makes me a happy cocker spaniel. I appreciate new ideas. A critical message sends a dagger to my heart. I never want to hurt feelings or send negativity in my words. If that happens, I want to correct it, I want to jump in your lap and make you my friend.

You have heard of FOMO – the Fear Of Missing Out? Well, I heard a new one the other day, FOPO. It is the Fear Of People’s Opinions. This was coined by sports psychologist, Michael Gervais. I believe we all suffer from this on varying levels. The judgment of others can at times be cruel.

I remember writing my first blog over a decade ago. My finger was shaking and my heart racing, as I hit the ‘publish’ button, knowing that I had just placed my words and feelings on the mysterious internet to be read by the eyes of the world. I felt excited, exposed, and vulnerable.

Within minutes I began hearing clicks. I ran to my husband and said,
“Ten people have read my blog!”
“Ten people you don’t know?” Was his response.
“Yes, I wonder who they are.”

My fear grew. I had just given these unknown people power. The power to judge me, to like me, to hate me, or to fly right by my words without noticing. FOPO. I had a strong Fear of People’s Opinions. Michael Gervais calls this the “greatest crippler of people’s potential.”

What did I do to squelch this fear? I kept coming back to my mission, which is three simple words: To Help Others. I share my thoughts, feelings, tips, and techniques with the intention of them landing in the hearts of those who need help. I hope to help them heal, grow, and succeed in life. My purpose is to inspire and encourage. I want to help.

Those first ten people became the beginning of a tribe of thousands. They live in different corners of the internet and world. I realize that not every one of my writings or every speech hits the heart of every reader. But the next one may be just the one you need to hear. With every writing when I hit publish or send, or when I stand on a stage to speak, I send along my wish, – may my words reach who needs to hear them. 

So here is one that I came up with, PUMP. Power of Understanding Mission and Purpose. I am still a cocker spaniel. I still want everyone to like me, but on the rare occasion my FOPO kicks in, I PUMP myself up by standing firm in my mission and purpose. Everything I do is with the intention of my mission and my purpose. I jumped into the arena, exposed and vulnerable, but my mission and purpose helped me succeed. It PUMPS me up and keeps me going.

What do you want to do that the Fear Of People’s Opinion is holding you back from? Spend some time on what your intention is. Why do you want to do this? Create a mission statement and know your purpose. Write them down. Stencil them on a plaque. Make it your screen saver. Embed them into your heart. Don’t let the opinion of others cripple your potential.

Let this quote sink in:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly…” Theodore Roosevelt

I am a cocker spaniel. I want everyone to like me. Not everyone will. But I continue to jump into the arena every day. I play there. I learn there. I make friends there. And I do not fear the opinions of others.
Will you join me?  Will you jump into the arena?
                              ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                       Don’t let the opinion of others cripple your potential.
                              ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

#CornerofSpiritandBrave  #loveyourlifenomatterwhat  #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt  #IAmGoodEnough
YOUR TURN...        
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below.  And please feel free to email me  at:
 [email protected]. 
                                                                 Thank you!  ​
                                      ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
                                                         All Rights Reserved
                                          Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt
                             This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt.
Feel free to forward and share this post.  Please keep the entire message intact, including  contact, logo, and copyright information. ​

Karma is a witch – or something like that. We have heard that hundreds of times. We associate Karma with bad things happening. If someone does something, we believe is wrong or bad we assume Karma will catch up to them at some point and give them a difficult experience in return.

​Karma is like an angered tiger that hides around the corner waiting to pounce and pay back the unfortunate soul who did wrong.

Most of the time the idea that your actions come back to you seems to be couched in the negative. It is believed that the energy and actions of past lives follow you into your current life. This is used as an explanation of why bad things happen to good people. It is a Karmic lesson from a past life where bad deeds occurred.

Karma is a concept deeper than can be covered in a few hundred words of a column. The concept of Karma dates back to 1500 BC. The 12 Laws of Karma include the Laws of Cause and Effect, Creation, Humility, Growth, Responsibility, Connection, Force, Giving and Hospitality, Here and Now, Change, Patience and Reward, and lastly Significance and Inspiration. Each law is interesting to study and compare how it relates to your life.

I would like to concentrate on the good side of Karma that is explained in each of the Laws of Karma. You may notice that each law has a positive title. Karma is rich. Rich in opportunity. Rich in reward. Rich in positivity if we understand the power of goodness. If the energy you put out into the world or the universe is the energy you will receive in return, why not make it positive energy? Why not receive positive energy in return?

If cutting someone off in traffic, being rude, treating others with disrespect, being a mean and hateful person creates a negative return in your life, why would you do it?
Think of having an imaginary Karma bank account. Every time you help someone, thank someone, volunteer, donate, hold the door open for a stranger, or buy coffee for the people behind you in the drive-through of a coffee shop, you are depositing into your Karma bank account. Acting in a negative hateful way deducts from your Karma bank account.

I believe intent plays a role in this. If you are intentional with your anger, hate, and bad behavior, the negative withdrawal from your Karma account is larger. You know better, you have the power to control yourself, but you do these things anyway… watch out. Karma is a witch.

In the same way, when you see a need, an injustice, or a space of suffering that hurts your heart and you intentionally try to improve the situation, the deposit into your Karma account is larger.

If this concept is more than you can handle and you don’t believe the theory of your good and bad energy building and transferring from life to life, let’s make this simple. We all know the golden rule- Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Or Treat others the way you want to be treated. What the golden rule is saying is the definition of Karma. If you treat others badly you will be treated badly in return. If you treat others with love and kindness, you will be treated with love and kindness in return.

A fight is never settled by escalated yelling and anger. It is when you are kind and compassionate that you can communicate and diffuse a situation. As the saying goes, you get further with honey than vinegar. It is easier to be polite and positive than it is to be angry and negative.

Karma doesn’t have to be a witch. Karma done correctly can create a positive, loving beautiful cushion to land on. You can align your life with being the best person you can be. You can control your actions, words, and gestures with the intention of kindness and compassion. You can harness the power of Karma. If you want love, be loving. If you want respect, be respectful. If you want success, begin being successful at little things and your success will grow.

Look in the mirror and what do you see? Do you see a kind, caring, loving person smiling back at you? Or do you see an angry, depressed, unhappy person looking back at you? How you act, how you talk, and how you live your life will be mirrored back to you. The life, love, and energy you are given is a direct reflection of what you are giving.
​ It’s simple. You get what you give. Karma can be a witch…or Karma can be your biggest ally and the strongest power that increases goodness in your life.
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                                                      Pennie’s Life Lesson:
                                            It’s simple- you get what you give.
                                                         The choice is yours.
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