I just wanted to say two things: visit From Smiler, with Love. and also
visit createthreesixty5.com

Quote of the Day

“When eating an elephant take one bite at a time”
~ Creighton Abrams

I’ve had to greatly slow down my activities this year and often get discouraged: “but how am I ever going to be the same again?” I keep asking. Of course my loved ones and acquaintances, wanting to encourage me, continually remind me to take small steps or “baby steps”. It’s a method I absolutely agree with and I use that expression a lot myself, but I just find this quote is a different and funny way of saying it. Of course it’s not meant to be taken in the literal sense, if it was I wouldn’t find it so very funny; I happen to love elephants and wouldn’t dream of chewing on one.

On Motivation

Lately I’ve been looking at the quotes coming into my in-box (I’ve subscribed to a few services) and while I love and relate to the great majority of those saying by brilliant people from various fields, it’s almost inevitable that the motivational quotes, or those that come from motivational speakers, just make me feel inadequate. I don’t like to be made to feel inadequate by something that is supposed to give me some measure of peace and well-being and so I either put them away in a folder that I will get back to eventually, or I toss them out.

It took me a while to figure out that I could do that. Because of course the message contained in much of the motivational literature is a valuable one. But I’m going through a period in my life where this “can do” attitude — and I’ve been a proponent of it myself — can sometimes feel oppressive more than helpful. There are plenty of people who stress how important it is to get out there, be active, socialize, “fake it ’till you make it” and so on. But I decided that this time around, I’m just going to sit, or lie, or sleep this one off, and not concern myself too much which “shoulds”.

I’ve been lucky that I’ve been afforded the luxury to just do as I please whenever I please, not to mention the greatest luxury of all: time. I’ve been given time to just figure out how to find my way again one tiny step at a time. Not that there was any choice, since for all the strong medication they’ve got me on, my mind and body refuses to cooperate and bounce back to full functionality. But I’m rediscovering those quiet activities that I used to love more than anything as a child: reading and writing, drawing, taking pictures. I feel so spoiled and so blessed to have those hobbies.

Sometimes I catch myself feeling that I don’t deserve the happiness that those occupations provide me. But of course I do. Everyone deserves happiness, even me. It’s a question of growing used to feeling true joy again. Not the kind of joy that shouts and jumps all over the place and fizzed out as quickly as it came, but the quiet kind. The kind that, when you take the time to listen to it... you realize has been there all along, but you haven’t noticed it because you were busy with other things. That’s the kind of joy I speak of. That’s the greatest treasure of all. No one can ever take that from you, and once you’ve experienced it, I’m sure it gives you the ability to find it again and again. I keep having this image of a flower growing among rocks in my mind as I write this.

I don’t remember once seeing a motivational text that mentioned anything about this quiet, deeply authentic and personal joy. But it’s there. It exists. Through the best of times and through the worst of times, we always have access to it if we allow ourselves to feel it. When we’re lacking in the will to find motivation, I say it’s fine to just go wherever our heart takes us, and do or not do whatever we want to. It’s in moments when the dishes aren’t made, the floors aren’t washed and I haven’t had a proper meal to eat for weeks that I’ve sometimes been visited by the most beautiful waves of joy I’ve ever experienced. Just allow yourself to feel it, I have to keep reminding myself. And when I do, my heart and soul do a little dance, and I smile.

Inspiring words from Gandhi

“Freedom is not worth having if it does not include the freedom to make mistakes.”

“It is unwise to be too sure of one's own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.”

“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

~ Mohandas Gandhi

A Slightly Embarassing Moment

After my son was born, two of my friends from High School came to visit me. Onyznite and X are very dear friends of mine, like sisters. I got to see very little of them after moving to Tennessee. Onyznite was in Nashville, attending Vanderbilt University, and my friend X was in Boulder CO, attending University there. I meanwhile had settled down into the family life, but was very self concious of my decision to do so, so was naturally doing my best to appear very Martha Stewart and all.

I went into my bedroom and laid my clothes out on the bed so that I could get dressed. Unbeknownst to me, K-Bug at 3 years old snuck into the room and stole my panties off of my bed, proceeding to take them out to the living room, and model them over top of her clothes and as a hat for my dear friends. As I was in the bedroom searching for the missing panties, gales of laughter floated to my ears, and mortification bloomed as I realized what happened. But making the best of the situation I waltzed out in my bathrobe, tickled my daughter, retrieved the panties and went to get dressed.

My friends were greatly entertained.

Words of Wisdom and Things That Make Me Smile

"When a truth is presented as the only truth, it can become a deception."

~Joyce Meyer~


1) People who give with no thought of return.
2) Babies who can't decide if the want to laugh or fuss, so they do both at the same time.
3) Placing a phone call to my mom to get the rest of a recipe, because my children made off with the recipe card.
4) Tax returns.
5) Daydreams.
6) Sappy romantic stories.
7) "That will be all, Mr. Data!" (Hopefully Trekkies will udnerstand the reference.)
8) My 3 year old daughter asking me, "Mommy am I driving you nuts?"
9) Thinking out loud, otherwise referred to as talking to myself.
10) "... Never go up against a Cicilian when death is on the line!"

Motivational Quote of the Day

"People become really quite remarkable when they start thinking that they can do things. When they believe in themselves, they have the first secret of success."
— Norman Vincent Peale: Author, The Power of Positive Thinking