Tag Archives: follow your heart

In Awe of the Moment

You know I’m feeling better when I slip on a sarcastic saying t-shirt and go for a walk. That will be the one time you bump into a neighbor you’ve never met before and they’ll want to stop and chat, but you hold firm to no apologies for the shirt.

Afterwards, I really wanted a cup of coffee, but not just any coffee…I wanted a magical cup of brew, so that idea took me to the coffee shop where I first purchased the shirt. When I stepped into the shop, the girl behind the counter busted out laughing and commented on the shirt. I ordered my favorite drink, picked up a couple of funny cards to send to friends and came home.

The coffee tasted like magic.

During my walk, I couldn’t get over how perfect the outdoor temperature was. I stopped at one point in the middle of the street and looked up at the sky to marvel at the shade of clear blue. I could have stood suspended in that moment for an hour, but heard a truck coming up behind me and moved out of the way. If someone would have looked out their window and saw me wearing this t-shirt with my face tilted toward the sky they probably would have wondered what the heck I was doing, but that didn’t bother me.

If they asked I would have told them….

I’m standing in awe of the moment.

You can listen to me read this post here:

Butting Heads With God

I wasn’t sure when I’d show back up here, but today seems like a good day to return. Since the first day of the new year I’ve been sick, but two weeks later, I can actually form a coherent thought! I’m never sick, so having this lingering illness that refuses to leave is foreign for me. I’ll never take being healthy for granted again.

By day 12, I was pretty upset with God. Every morning I’d wake up with a speck of improvement, but didn’t feel like myself. I haven’t been able to drink any coffee which is scary enough within itself, but the terrifying part is I don’t even miss it. I discovered the pure joy in having groceries delivered to my front door, but fear I won’t leave my house as often anymore. I’ve become highly disciplined at meditation just to hear myself breathe and my daughter’s dog, Winnie usually joins me.

Yesterday was day 12 and I went for a drive just to make sure I still knew how to drive. I told God the most frustrating part of this illness for me was not feeling like myself and I miss her, so I pretty much begged God to bring her back!

I wasn’t willing to give her up.

And on this faithful morning, of Day 13….my favorite parts of her returned. Thank you, God.

Share What You Know

It was this time last year that I was walking though Wal-Mart when I cut through the grocery department and noticed two young girls, no more than 20 years old, walking toward me. They were squinting at a list that had been torn from a small notepad. No doubt handwritten and most likely in cursive. The vibe was they were exasperated trying to locate what was on the list. As our paths crossed, I heard one of the girls say through gritted teeth…

“Why do we need half and half? It’s just watered down milk!”

This was one year ago, but I still remember it like it was yesterday. I didn’t say anything at the time, but wish I had. You see my lovely reader’s…there are younger generations who need what we know.

My new neighbors still have their water hose connected to their outside spigot. The weather forecast is predicting below freezing temperatures later in the week. I’m not going to wait much longer before asking my neighbor if he knows what to do to winterize that outdoor pipe. They are young, so they may not know, but I don’t want to see water gushing out of that pipe and flooding his garage when I could have said something to prevent it from happening.

Share what you know.

And for the record….half and half is a combination of milk and cream.

These Three Words

The first time she left me a note, it was scribbled on a shipping label with black sharpie. This was the norm for a while, but as the months rolled by I went to retrieve the mail, and spotted a small, white envelope laying atop the mail. Nestled inside was an actual thank you note written in ink, but then today inside my mailbox there laid a postcard and her words filled me with a sense of ‘mission accomplished.’ I believe there’s three words which are more meaningful than the three we give away daily and they are…

I appreciate you.

Who is ‘she’?

My mail carrier.

Being a mail carrier is not for sissies, especially in the Texas heat, so all year long I’ve let my mail carrier know…I appreciate you. Sometimes I’d leave her a Starbucks card because it seems to me you’d need a torrent of coffee to deliver mail! If I had two of something, one was left in the mailbox for her along with these three words. If you hear the same words long enough they become believable, but it’s imperative the words you hear refresh your soul and help you grow. My mission was to put these three words in front of my mail carrier until she felt them and by the note she left today it’s confirmed.

Who is in your daily life that longs to hear these three words?

Feature Photo by Stéphan Valentin on Unsplash

The Christmas Tree

My neighbor whom I refer to as Hercules didn’t put his Christmas tree up this year. He shared he only did it for his granddaughter and since she moved away there’s no need. My daughter moved out this year, but the tinsel tree made it’s appearance before Thanksgiving.

I bought this tree the year my daughter went to England for Christmas and it’s absolutely obnoxious, but it brings a smile to my face every time I look at it. This morning I was sitting near the tree reading my devotional and gazing at the ornaments within view. The tree tells a story of a single Mom and her daughter and their love for pretty. There are still a few ornaments hanging on from years ago when we decorated our first tree while living on our own. Over the years, the ornaments became better quality, so you can tell my income increased.

This morning my devotional says, “I am working on your behalf. Bring Me all your concerns, including your dreams. Talk with Me about everything, letting the light of My presence shine on your hopes and plans. Spend time allowing My light to infuse your dreams with life, gradually transforming them into reality.” (Jesus Calling page 362) That’s where I am on this journey.

Maybe men have different viewpoints than women about the Christmas tree. When I first met Mr. Smith he didn’t have a tree, but he did the following year and my guess would be it’s become more elaborate over time. Then again, my daughter’s boyfriend loves everything about Christmas and they were thrilled to decorate my tree for me, so I’m perplexed. Feel free to share your views.

There’s still time to buy a real tree, or the closer it gets to Christmas, you can buy an artificial one at a really good price. The ornaments will start to go on sale and after Christmas they’ll be 75% off, so if you’re not feeling the Christmas tree this year, you can plan to have one next year. I have faith my life story is already written, but December is the one time a year we can see something larger than ourselves, holding snippets of our life and it’s mesmerizing.

Here’s a single Mom, in an empty nest, with an undying love for the Christmas tree.

Feature Photo by Bao Menglong on Unsplash

The Age of Absolutely

I drove into town specifically to purchase a pair of gloves. I’d seen them in one of my favorite shoppes over a month ago and was drawn to them then, but didn’t make the purchase. They only had two pair left of an interesting pattern that I probably wouldn’t have chosen at first glance, but sliding my hand inside the glove, they offered that same divine feeling as the solid colored pair I’d tried on previously. I knew right then and there, this was an absolutely.

Standing at the counter to pay I told the cashier, “I don’t need a bag”, but she smiled and said, “These gloves come with their very own box!”

My immediate thought was, it’s a shame to not be giving them as a gift, but the cashier recommended using the box to hold any gift. I shrugged off the glimmer of guilt and wished everyone a spectacular day to begin the journey home.

I was raised in a home where Mama never bought anything fun for herself. We had what we needed, but not much extra and then my marriage of 23 years was the opposite where everything was bought for me if I looked at it twice.

I don’t recall Mama letting her heart lead until she was in her 50’s, like I’ve been more apt to follow my heart in recent years. Decisions don’t have to be yes, or no because the heart knows absolutely. I’ll leave you with that my darling reader’s, but it seems I’ve reached the age of absolutely. Have you?

The Wall of Kindness

Today’s reading is talking about Celestine Moments. “Carl Jung called it “Synchronicity”: two seemingly unrelated events that cannot be explained by cause and effect but are uniquely linked by personal meaning.” ~Sarah Ban Breathnach-Simple Abundance

I walked into another Starbucks this week and this was maybe the second time I’ve stopped by this location. It’s at the end of a shopping center with no drive thru, so you have to walk in. It was quiet with one girl working behind the counter. I strolled around taking in my surroundings before placing an order and that’s when I saw it on display. The Wall of Kindness.

There’s a pad of sticky notes and ink pens provided to leave a note of encouragement. You can also take a note from the board if needed, but what really got me were the notes that said things like, “I come here everyday and this gets me through”, or “This makes my day!” Of course I left a note, but it’s been rolling around my mind ever since.

What if I created something similar in my community? There has to be a bulletin board somewhere not being utilized…maybe at the library, Community Center, Fire Department, or even outside the Police Station? The list of possibilities are endless, but I feel the need to put action behind the ideas. What if each of us did something like this in our own community?

If we’re going to a build wall…let it be a wall of kindness.

A Sacred Space Isn’t Only For Humans

I questioned my sanity for a moment, but what my heart prompted me to do, worked out beautifully. Our dogs don’t do well with thunderstorms, but one of them is even scared of rain. I found her curled up in my room and it was simply raining, but to her, it probably sounded like much more.

My room is the only room in the house that doesn’t smell like a Voluspa candle. It’s my sacred space and Winnie (doggo) knows it’s sacred. When she gets spooked, she hides in the bathroom, but when she needs comfort, I’ll find her in my room. She knows I’ll disassemble my meditation area just for her to lay on the rug, but today she was laying on the hardwood floor near the window. I picked up the box of incense cones and chose the one that carries a ‘mindfulness’ scent.

Jembrana Incense

Once I lit the incense and placed it in it’s holder, it dawned on me I’d just lit incense for a dog. 😂

My room is the only room that smells like incense since my daughter moved out. We had this little bedtime ritual where my daughter would light a stick of incense before going to bed. I would already be in my bed, but the smell of the incense would drift down to my room and I’d fall asleep peacefully. That feeling of sacredness works for dogs too. Walking by my room, Winnie was stretched out and looked relaxed even though large drops of rain pelleted the tin roof.

It seems being cradled in a sacred space isn’t only for humans.

When You Don’t Have To

When the flooring in your house is wood and tile, but you have one rug in the breezeway. That one rug is where the dog will choose to barf.

Sunday afternoons were once spent cleaning house, but I don’t have to anymore. Living solo, the house stays pretty clean and now when I walk through the house each piece receives a questioning glance of, “Will you be a part of the next chapter?” If the item doesn’t speak to my heart, it’s posted for sale.

There’s one table I absolutely adore and what sits on it changes quite frequently. A couple of weeks ago, my daughter noticed the change and said, “Should I be concerned you already have a silver tree on display?” We originally purchased it as Christmas décor, but I believe it’s pretty anytime of year. The metals are fascinating décor, so I went one step further and moved more silver onto the table.

A new fragrance by Voluspa in the middle.

This morning I was outside watering the plants and thought, ‘you don’t have to’, because they’re calling for rain tomorrow, which is unreliable, but taking it one step further the plants really didn’t need it. It was routine from doing it all summer and now the temps are cooler so the plants need less from me. Let me tell you my darlings…that is a mighty good feeling when your life needs less.

Maybe I’m past the ‘needs’ of life and my heart is calling me to listen to the ‘wants’.

When we first moved to Texas, we had to follow my then husbands job here. From that point on, every house we moved into we did so because we had to. Sitting here today some 20 years later, my daughter and I wanted to move here, but now that she’s living own her own, I don’t have to stay. With my type work, I can live anywhere, or travel around living in various places, but when I think about staying put, my heart whispers…you don’t have to.