12.28.2015 Walking in Winter Wonder

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With a temperature of 27 degrees f. outside, it was fun to walk around in crunchy deep snow because the mid-day sun was beaming down on Omak.  Extra confidence for safety was found by strapping spiked tread attachments on the soles of my boots. After an hour of sipping coffee over conversations with friends, it felt good to walk to the post office and the computer shop before the weekly trip to the grocery store on my day off work.  A Monday, three days after Christmas, with lights and colors of “Seasons Greetings” still glowing, and the spirit of a special birth still in the air.  

This close to year’s end, former New Year’s Resolutions come to mind, such as, Eat Right, More Exercise, Do Better… resolutions which were usually soon forgotten.  So this year-end, the aim is also sustainability of change.

12.22.15 More Blessed to Give than to Receive

12.22.15  More Blessed to Give than to Receive

My heart warmed each time I thought of the gift I had carefully prepared a few days ago for the white elephant party attended with friends today.  In that way the anticipation really did bless me more to give than to receive.  It was fun to add a written blessing to the gift for random exchange, with no way of knowing who would receive it.  Over the years, some very interesting items show up at these things, like the mounted singing fish that has been a big hit for several years in a row at  another annual white elephant party .  

The item I carefully wrapped in Christmas decoration was not as important as the message I wanted to give.  The blessing I really wanted to give someone, my prayer for that person, was what I wrote on the attached card: “May the magic of this season come alive for you, so you keep a song in your heart, and enjoy not only the best in 2016, but in many more new years to come.”  

12.21.15 Season of Winter Solstice

New fallen Snow measuring a foot or more, has provided a beautiful covering to the hard frozen ground, making everything look bright and clean.  At the same time, it also cautions us to respect changing conditions around us.  We need to watch for slick icy patches, or take a different route when the slush and snow is too deep on the hills, to be more careful as we travel about.  

Though the snow preceded the seasons change, fall will turn into winter Tuesday, 12/22/15, as indicated by the winter solstice, that phenomena of nature, based on the earth's relationship to the sun.

12.11.15 Momentum

12.11.15        Momentum

Reflections on Awareness and Joy

The force that keeps one moving, or keeps an event developing after it has started, is one definition of momentum.  A dictionary example is “once you push something, it keeps going under it’s own momentum.”  Thank God for commitments and routine that push me to keep going when my attention gets disrupted.

After receiving sad news about a close friend, disciplined habits got me through what felt like a few dark days .  For a time my thoughts became so distracted by worry that I forgot my focus.  Physical energy slowed down, strength waned, and fear gripped my thoughts.  The fright of losing things is small, when compared to losing peace of mind when things go wrong.

12.3.15 Shifting the Focus

Mindfulness is being fully present!

The question was posed after broadcast of yesterday’s violence, “Has the threat gotten that much worse, or has our awareness of the information changed?”   While some built backyard Bomb Shelters in the mid nineteen-fifties, public schools practiced local safety drills instructing us children to take cover under our desks.  Yet during those elementary school years, I heard of not one bomb going off, not anywhere.  Sixty years later, violent attacks on public gatherings are all-too frequent world-wide news-making headlines.

Repeated exposure to threats or detailed reports of tragedy can naturally produce fear if not anxiety and depression.  When reports of bad news are accompanied by blame and negative predictions, it can change our perception of people and of the world, but we must not let it change us.

12.01.15 "Giving Tuesday" or Giving It Away to Keep It

12.1.15  “Giving Tuesday” or Giving It Away to Keep It

Wisdom within Reach

Today, December first was designated as “Giving Tuesday,” but I started out receiving help first thing of the day.  My dog, Tuggy-bug-the-pug, was a 6:00 a.m. alarm clock, who helped me start the day by waking me up, and secondly I was looking forward to receiving the daily early morning live message for my meditation topic.

My work day consisted of taking the beautiful weekly drive in crisp winter weather to Tribal HQ, 40 miles east into Frontierland.  The drive, and the day, seemed uneventful until the significance dawned on me of sharing the routine ride with a young co-worker.  She, a new employee at my office, is new in her career, and new to the professional field that I’ve loved working in for about the last 30 years.

11.30.2015. First Step into Blog Adventureland

11.30.15  “It All Began With a Mouse”

Writing is easy for me in the company of six-year-old granddaughter who at age 5 was writing a story or two a day.  When visiting together, one of our favorite activities is to get out the paper and color pens to document our fun in homemade storybooks, complete with illustrations.  It’s not surprising that granddaughter is a gifted writer as she comes from a long line of relatives who have that same interest.  Her father, her aunt, and multiple other family members, both professionally and also just for fun, share their knowledge or experience through the printed word.

Inspiration for writing may be an inherited trait.  My interest was sparked by watching granddaughter’s father enjoying leisure time on vacation at the keyboard with his blog.  But the challenge was really issued during the late-night closing grand finale water and light show over Disneyland.   At the end of three days with family soaking up the magic, the happiness, the creative imaginings of exhibits and rides and cast of characters, I heard the challenge addressed to me in the words of Walt Disney, “Always remember, it all began with a mouse.”



Disney’s colorful words with the challenge to remember made it sound so simple to be able to unleash the creative juices and bring ideas into reality.  That’s when the decision was made.  I must try this.  I must discover the joy within that is shared by so many who communicate ideas, opinions, information and experience through their writing.  The desire has been percolating inside of me ever since.  It has been a constant pondering in my heart, “I must find my mouse.”

Thank You, I See It

Then one day the light bulb went on.  Something clicked as I looked to the right of my desk top computer keyboard, and and saw it.  There it was, and there it still sits.  There is my mouse.  We all have one, either literally or figuratively speaking.  We all have a mouse, or something, that will spark the creative juices that when primed, will spring forth an aspect of life from deeper within our souls.  A way of connecting thoughts and feelings, expressions and ideas in the process of growth.

Thank you granddaughter, granddaughters father, all my relations, a man named Disney and Mickey the mouse.  Thank you for guiding me toward the beginning.