Getting off with a Warning

"Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it..."
RUMI

This morning a man who has written a daily thought for years put in his opening the following quotation about worry:

“How would your life be different if…You stopped worrying about things you can’t control and started focusing on the things you can? Let today be the day…You free yourself from fruitless worry, seize the day and take effective action on things you can change.”

---Steve Maraboli, motivational speaker, author, academic, social philosopher, columnist; age not provided

goodreads.com (website)

He went on to write about one of his readers, a woman who is addicted to worry, and encouraged other readers to reply to his post (sharing ways we have been able to overcome worry.)

I shared the Daily Quote from Aaron that I had just received:

"The emotions are a major catalyst for humans. They're very powerful. They're painful. They're confusing. The best guideline I know is simply to ask yourself, 'What is my highest purpose here?' If the highest purpose leads you to enact the emotion, try it and see what happens. Perhaps insight will come that the emotion can arise without expressing it into the world, and without shame that it arose."

 

FYI—I grew up with a mother addicted to worry. I have that as basic training. Meditation has been for me the ability to hold my worried emotions without shame, allowing them to rise and fall without my having to get caught up in them. 

Yesterday, on my way to mediation group, I was stopped for speeding (30 in a 20). I had seen the flashing light, and I had dropped to 20 MPH. However, I had returned to a normal speed before completely leaving a school zone.

As I sat in my car while the officer ran my information, knowing I would be late coming into mediation and would miss the coveted opening words of my dear friend who hosts the group, I started tapping. (See information on the FREE tapping summit) 

As I tapped, I was able to forgive myself for being reckless. As I did, I genuinely felt gratitude for the job officers do every day. When the officer returned my drivers license and insurance and registration, I was deeply appreciative to be let off with a warning!

I tiptoed in to meditation with another student, took my seat, began to breathe deeply while also hearing others breathing. I appreciated watching my hyper mind slow from its ordeal. 

As we moved from meditation to sharing, I was able to tell my story when the conversation came right around to how you can often change the outcome by managing your state of being.

Perhaps overcoming the addiction to worry is like getting off with a warning! 

Happy Birthday Blessings

“You have not lived today

until you have done something for someone

who can never repay you.”

~John Bunyan

When my sister came to Florida on Friday she could not have known the details of the warm welcome awaiting her. Oh, sure, the morning of her arrival the area experienced heavy thunderstorms (complete with a tornado warning), but Saturday Pine Island put on her most beautiful face and everyone enjoyed a fun boat tour—including a visit to Cabbage Key where she got to touch a Gopher Tortoise!

Sunday’s delicious potluck cookout took place on the lanai (heavy winds were blowing, keeping even the Michiganders indoors), but even so, several Michigan friends were here to help celebrate her birthday.

We had an unseasonably cool day Monday, but we know it is nothing like the Arctic blast that is happening at home in Michigan.  Our landlord sent a text message, “You certainly picked a good week to enjoy Florida. It is bitter cold here.”Our warm thoughts reach out to all of our family and friends there.

One of the amazing gifts given to celebrate her birthday is the total generosity of our captain who took us on the boat tour of the Sound. I met his wife a couple of years ago. I was a stranger, just someone riding my bike down their street as she was tending to her garden. I stopped to chat because her dog played in the yard. When she found out we had spent several winters here but had not been out on the water she said simply, “When you get down here next year, give us a call and we will take you out.”

What allows some people to be so kind? 

This may not be the most memorable birthday of my sister’s entire life, but the way my brother-in-law proclaimed his bliss as we docked back at the house says a lot, “That was the most awesome adventure I’ve had in a long time!”

Thank you, Captain Chuck, and First Mate Dorene. I don’t know how I can ever repay you for the happy birthday blessing of that awesome boat ride you were willing to do for my sister!

Great Things Come in Small Packages!

When I found out I was going to be a grandma, I went kicking and screaming. I was only 39 years old, and I was way too busy to be a grandmother. 

Everything changed 26 years ago today, when I held Bradley Joseph Zelenak for the first time. He truly is an "Angel Baby!"

“Hi, I’m your Gammie,” slipped off my tongue like velvet when his newborn eyes looked into mine, and the euphemism "Gammie" stuck. To this day, all three of my grandchildren, plus many others who know me as their grandmother call me Gammie. 

(See my previous post: Truly Meaningful Gifts.) 

It is not uncommon to resist some of the best things life is bringing our way. Perhaps that is because we truly do not recognize the blessings until we have received them. 

For sure, being Gammie has been (and is) one of my greatest joys. 

I will try to remember you can welcome what you resist. Great things come in small packages!