Sunday, August 25, 2019

Sunday Sunshine: Look Deeper


You've probably heard the adage that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. It's often true that what we see on the surface isn't the total picture. 

First impressions of people often don't give us a complete understanding of them.

When we encounter a difficult situation in our lives, it's easy to think it's all bad or all good. It's only when we look deeper that we see that our initial assessment was incomplete. Even the most difficult situation can hold a gift, something beautiful to take away from the experience.

Whether it's the first impression of a situation or of a person you meet, stop yourself before judging and making a sweeping decision. Instead, give yourself the time to look at the person or situation from a deeper, more complete perspective. 

By scratching below the surface, the beauty will reveal itself.


Today, this week: Look deeper. Allow yourself to see the beauty hidden where you may least expect it.






Sunday, August 18, 2019

Sunday Sunshine: Be Still and Listen


We're bombarded with information these days -- coming to us from all directions, all hours of the day, mostly thanks to the technology that is as accessible as in our hands.

While it's great to receive information and to readily connect with others, such constant communication doesn't leave much time for stillness, for silence, for introspection.

When you feel overwhelmed, your head will start taking over anyway, trying to rationalize things based on information and your previous experience. That's worry, fear and doubt reside.

Rather than rely on the information overload and the head-centered thinking, step away from the technology and step away from your "talking head."

Instead, become still. Become silent. Sit for a while or perhaps take a walk. When we allow ourselves to disconnect, we actually connect. We connect to that inner wisdom that has the answers.

In the stillness, in the silence, the answers come.

Today, this week: Make time to be still and silent. Listen to your inner wisdom. The answers are there.




Sunday, August 11, 2019

Sunday Sunshine: State of Gratitude


How do you normally begin your day? Is it a struggle to get out of bed? Or do you leap out of bed, ready for whatever the new day brings? 

Do you first think about your worries when you awaken? Or do you start the day with a happy heart?

Begin your day in a state of gratitude. When you are thankful, you set the tone for more good things to happen.

It's as if gratitude is a magnet. The more grateful you are for what you already have, the more reasons to be grateful appear in your life. It's all about your perspective. 

There's always, always, always something to be thankful for. Start your day thinking about those blessings. It changes everything.

Today, this week: Begin your day in a state of gratitude and watch your blessings multiply.





Sunday, August 4, 2019

Feeling Mellow by the Yellow

When I think of August, I think of the color yellow and I start to feel a tad mellow and even melancholy. Summer is waning. 

In May, June and July, the landscape is a vivid shade of green. Once the calendar turns to August, however, and we move through the month, that same landscape begins to turn a yellowish-green, as if it's tiring out and is tossing us some hints that autumn is coming and we'd better get ready.




August's hallmark feverish heat and brilliant sunshine are often accompanied by a dreamy haze of humid weather, including early morning fog and early evening mist. We hurry to get in some more lazy afternoons in the hammock reading a book. Or perhaps we pack up the kids and head to the water with a beach umbrella and a heavy picnic basket. 

The small garden patch's late summer produce is at its most abundant, including enough zucchini, tomatoes and cucumbers to feed an entire neighborhood. Among my favorite late summer yellow food is corn on the cob nestled in its brown-tasseled husk. In our household, we make a dinner of it, usually with juicy, thick slices of tomato. By month's end, pears and early apples are available at orchards and farmer's markets.




The flowers boast their yellow color, as well: Sunflowers with their big, cheery faces, black-eyed susans in rich abundance, goldenrod peeking through the tall grasses, sunshiny gladioli and more. 




The weeds seem to relax a bit in August - a gift to any gardener. 

The sunrises and sunsets are yellow and other sherbet colors splashing across the horizon. The sun pokes its head up in the morning a little later than a month ago and it decides to go to bed for the night earlier, too. As the sun sets, we open the windows to escape from the air conditioning and invite the cool breeze and the night sounds in. The sky somehow appears thicker with stars. August is an ideal month of star gazing.




The cicadas sing to us during the day and the crickets take over in the cloak of darkness. The butterflies dance around us.

School will start soon and summer will end, all the more reason to relish every single one of the precious days of August while we can.

How do you plan to enjoy these magnificent August days and evenings?




Sunday Sunshine: Let Your Light Shine!


There are days when I've felt as if nothing I've done is right. No matter how hard I tried, some things just didn't work out. 

My efforts have been ignored or at least not acknowledged. Others have received accolades for work I've done.

It's easy to grow disheartened if your efforts don't appear to be appreciated or those you do make still don't seem to be enough or don't turn out the way you intended for them.

Take heart. Don't become discouraged. Don't be hard on yourself. Let your hurts, your self-doubts and your discouragements roll off your back. 

Keep persevering. Do your best. Be positive. Let your light shine! You have it in YOU to do great things!

As you build confidence and give it your best, you'll release the hurt and self-doubt you carry. 

Soon, circumstances will have an amazing, unanticipated way of working themselves out. New doors will open, new relationships will be formed, new ways of seeing yourself will be revealed, and new opportunities will present themselves.

Today, this week: Do your best! Be confident! Let your light shine!