Latest Technology, Gadgets, Services Keep Us in Community

My daughter thinks that in some cases my friends are too old for me!  She says this in jest of course and hopefully she sees the value of being friends with people of all ages.  What she's talking about specifically is that I hang with women in their 70s, 80s and 90s.  I think it's because these women are very, very active and I want to be like them when I grow up.

One reason I admire them is that they stay current with the latest technology, gadgets and services. For example, these women all use social media, have smart phones, laptops or similar devices, e-readers, and so forth.  I must admit, I am not an early adopter to technology.  In fact, it took me a bit to want to learn how to blog and when my TV wants to "update" I find it a little frustrating.

I ask myself why do these women learn these new technologies?  Well, I think it's because it helps them stay in community, especially with younger generations, including their family members and friends, new and old.  For me, this is enough to put up with the ever-changing landscape of technology.  If you hear me complain about this (something else my daughter says I do a lot LOL - see the irony in the LOL?) then please remind me that it keeps me in community.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Do you feel that you are in community?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH March 2017 Pennypack
www.cardinaltouch.net

Gratitude, To Journal It or Not?

When I am stressed to the max I often wake up at night for nights in a row and I can't get back to sleep. That period most recently was when a loved one was being staged with cancer.  It was during the period when we didn't know how advanced it was or what the treatment recommendation would be. It's at these times that I utilize a mental gratitude list.  I do not get out of bed.  I simply work towards coming up with 36 things from the day before that I am thankful for and I use my fingers to keep count.  The benefit is that I generally fall asleep.
After such periods are over and I do not wake up at night anymore I feel called to do the mental gratitude list before I get out of bed.  For me, having gratitude on my heart is praise for God.* For this reason, it really sets a positive tone for my day.  I will do this for a period and then at some point my life gets busy and I am distracted by something that calls me out of bed right away every day.
Once the call to do mental gratitude lists have stopped I will sometimes get the message during my journaling that I need to praise God.  It's at these times that I write down my gratitude in my journal. There's no magic to the number 36, but I work to get to at least 36 things.  It's generally not hard to do.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  What are you thankful for about yesterday?  Can you think of 36 things?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH
www.cardinaltouch.net

Dreams Provide Insight

Sometimes I have periods where I remember my dreams daily and other times not so much. Sometimes my dreams are rich and exciting and other times they leave me uneasy.  When I write them down in my journal and make an attempt to interpret them in writing, too, it can provide great value to the state of my spirit and what God wanted me to know.  The added value is that I am able to look back on my journey.

Someone once told me that everyone in your dream might actually be a different part of you.  So when I dreamt of me and two grade school friends in an industrial kitchen I considered they were all me.  I was going about my own business, one friend was picking up Madagascar cockroaches and putting them in a soup pot laughing all the while because they kept climbing back out.  The other friend was looking on agitated.

My interpretation was that sometimes I am frustrated when I backslide, sometimes I laugh at my humanness and sometimes I just keep moving.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Do you remember your dreams?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH of lichen and moss
www.cardinaltouch.net

Looking Forward is a Gift

When I look back I recognize that I have quite a few items that repeat often on my gratitude lists. First and foremost are these several items:  God* in my life, my husband and children, eggs and things to look forward to.  I have found it humorous that eggs are listed so often but I imagine it's because of their versatility.  The last item, "things to look forward to," is the same wording, but has different meaning every time because, as time goes by, what I'm looking forward to is always changing.  It might be that I'm looking forward to a vacation, hosting a dinner, having family member return home or something as simple as an up-coming episode of the blind auditions on The Voice. Whatever it is, there is excitement in the anticipation.  This is a lovely part of our existence.  
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Do you feel that there are ample things for you to look forward to?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH of Miami palm tree 
www.cardinaltouch.net

Final Class of this Spiritual Journaling Series

My regular posts will resume this week following the last class of this three part series.  Thanks to all who made the first class, it was really lovely! I look forward to seeing you again and invite new participants too!  I am sorry the second class was canceled due to the snow, I hope you were able to delight in it.  This session on March 21 will stick to the original plan and will hone in on desires of the heart.
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As part of the Growing in Grace program offered at Gloria Dei Church I will be teaching spiritual journaling the first three Tuesdays in March. Spiritual journaling is one of the ways I have found to be very helpful in developing my inner spirit wisdom.

Dates:  Tuesdays March 7, 14 and 21
Time:  6:45 to 8pm
Where:  Lower Chapel, Gloria Dei Church, 570 Welsh Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA
Cost:  Free
RSVP:  Please RSVP so enough materials will be readily available for participants

Come to one or all of these events.  Each session will start with an overview of the general practice and then the second and third week we will hone in on a particular type of entry. Specifically, week 2 will be journaling about our experience before and after doing a walking-with-a-word meditation practice and week 3 will be about desires of the heart.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Do you feel called to attend this program?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH of a PERT trail

You're Invited: Spiritual Journaling Classes in March

As part of the Growing in Grace program offered at Gloria Dei Church I will be teaching spiritual journaling the first three Tuesdays in March. Spiritual journaling is one of the ways I have found to be very helpful in developing my inner spirit wisdom.

Dates:  Tuesdays March 7, 14 and 21
Time:  6:45 to 8pm
Where:  Lower Chapel, Gloria Dei Church, 570 Welsh Road, Huntingdon Valley, PA
Cost:  Free
RSVP:  Please RSVP so enough materials will be readily available for participants

Come to one or all of these events.  Each session will start with an overview of the general practice and then the second and third week we will hone in on a particular type of entry. Specifically, week 2 will be journaling about our experience before and after doing a walking-with-a-word meditation practice and week 3 will be about desires of the heart.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Do you feel called to attend this program?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH

Losing

My mother-in-law gave me and her son a beautiful teacup and saucer with a plant arrangement inside it.  Eventually the plants died back and I took the arrangement apart, tape from the saucer to hold the cup in place, dead flowers and leaves, a green flower-arranging sponge in the cup’s bottom.  This left the saucer empty.  

Empty is how I felt because the gift was in sympathy.  We had lost a pregnancy.

I think of this teacup and saucer sometimes.  The cup was beautiful, with flowers painted on its sides.  I seem to remember a decorative silver rim around the saucer and the cup but I can never be sure.  I asked my husband if I could throw it away because it made me sad to look at it.  He did not hesitate to agree.

Years later I began my own business and I sold gift certificates as part of it.  For no extra charge I would put something extra in the packaging.  One of the first times I did this it was with teacups and saucers, found at thrift stores and yard sales.  I preferred ones with flowers on them and rims of silver.

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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Is there a loss, once too painful to look at, that you can view now from a different lens?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo by MH of fallen tree in Pennypack

Not Seeing in Color

By now many of you saw the heartwarming story about the two kindergarten friends who wanted to play a trick on their teacher, but in case you didn't, it's worth repeating.  The two boys thought that they looked enough alike that if they got the same haircut the teacher wouldn't know who was who. After the haircuts and back at school they couldn't believe the teacher could distinguish one of these boys from the other.  Turns out they were different races.  How great is it that they didn't see in color?

Recently I was in Miami Beach where there's what I call international harmony. On the beach you couldn't tell where people were from by looking at them.  You can begin to guess either when they speak in what is probably their native language, you hear an accent you can identify, or they are reading a book and you recognize the language that the title is written in. But even then, you can't know for sure.

For example, the hotel employee who helped us had an accent but turns out he grew up and went to college just 30 minutes from where I live.  I never learned if he was actually born in another country, had parents who spoke another language or he picked up the accent somewhere along the way. Instead, because he said he had been there five years, we talked about living close to the water and found out what we had in common:  we both own kayaks and love the Everglades National Park, one of us uncertain about ever kayaking there because of the crocs and gators.

But I will admit, it's very, very hard to not see in color.  I had another experience recently where I was in a restaurant that was mostly not my race.  I felt uncomfortable because I had just come inside after speaking up in the parking lot expressing that I was there first for the spot.  I am not happy with myself that I saw the person "in color" instead of just seeing them as someone who I could readily express my opinion.   It's very interesting when experiences like this happen really close together.  It makes me stop and pause and realize that I don't not see in color.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Are there things you did better when you were in kindergarten?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Miami Photo by MH

Say Yes, It Makes a Difference

Not long ago I had the wonderful experience that resulted from me and others saying yes to invitations. It started by registering for a day trip with a local arboretum.  My husband said he'd go with me and we traveled to the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge to do some birding, led by a woman who guides bird tours around the world.  Within a week of that trip I contacted her to ask if she had any recommendations for us for our birding trip to the Everglades National Park.  She said yes and offered to show us slides of the birds we would see and give us some guidance on where to go in the park.  I asked her if we could make dinner for her in exchange and she said yes to the invitation.  We laughed about it then and later because when I gave her the address we learned we live in the same township.  What a small world!  The lovely thing is that we asked her if we could include some other fellow birders and she said, "Yes, of course!"  Her saying yes to dinner with strangers is a great lesson for me in putting myself out there too.  The result is that it was a lovely evening of community and common interests.  I am so glad we both said, "YES!" It makes such a huge difference and results in a sense of belonging in this actually huge world.

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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  Do you put yourself out there or would you rather not see anyone you know when you are out and about?

2.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Photo of Miami Beach by MH

Ability to Swim

I mentioned in the last post that I write poems about what seems mundane at first glance, but actually can be beautifully complex because they are snared with nostalgia.  One of my shortest poems is exactly that.  It's called Ability to Swim and the only line is Thanks Mom!

The back story of that gratitude is that my mom, like so many moms out there, cared enough to help me and my siblings learn so many things.  Specific to my story is that my mom didn't want us to be afraid of the water like she was because she didn't feel confident around water.  She wanted us to enjoy swimming like she saw so many other people do. She took us to lessons even when we didn't want to go.  She encouraged us when we wanted to swim in the deep end, but were afraid to take the deep water test.  She took us to the Y near my great grandmother's house so many Friday evenings in the winter because it was an activity that all her children loved.

I guess what it boils down to is that this is another post about gratitude.  At the end of the day, that's what holds me in place in what can be a very difficult, complex world, where we deal with sickness and death and all the fears in between.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  What are you afraid of?

2.  What are you grateful for?

3.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Picture of fallen Pennypack Tree (underside of root ball) by MH