Posts by Pat:
Don’t blame the lettuce!
When you plant lettuce, don’t blame the lettuce if it doesn’t grow well! Look into the reasons why it is not doing well! Maybe it needs fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You don’t blame the lettuce! (The well-known spiritual leader, Thich Nhat Hanh is credited with this lesson!)
Yet when we have problems with our friends or our family, we often blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of others, they will grow well, just like the lettuce.
Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade by means of reason or argument.
At least that has been my experience!
Being alert to the necessity for balancing the need for “fertilizer, water, and/or sun” can help us come to understand the situation and the person.
And with that understanding comes love and the opportunity for growth and blessings.
Now, if you are the lettuce…
Blame, reason, argument still don’t help!
Very often we are harsh with ourselves, when we wouldn’t be with our friends. We need to treat ourselves as well as we would our best friend.
We are our own “lettuce” as well as the gardener for our patch of friends and life experiences with others.
So…
- let’s be kind,
- let’s be gentle, and
- let’s be smart.
And, just maybe, we can remember that we are not really in charge!
Life is like baseball…
Baseball anyone? I’m so glad that life is not a spelling bee where no matter how many words you have gotten right, if you make one mistake you are disqualified! Life is more like a baseball season, where even the best team loses a third of its games. Our goal is not to go all year […]
What’s MOLO?
Want to work less and get more done? The MOLO principle is simple, though maybe not easy! MOLO=More Of, Less Of It’s an impactful lifestyle design idea. To use it, take out a sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On one side, write “More Of” and the other side write “Less Of.” […]
Thankful for the fleas?
In her book, The Hiding Place, Corrie Ten Boom tells of a time she discovered that God was working even in the most horrific circumstances. Corrie and her sister Betsie had been imprisoned by the Nazis for hiding Jews. In the midst of their suffering, the women prisoners found comfort in the secret Bible studies they […]
Is the dark unappreciated?
Dark is just not appreciated enough! Light and dark clothes? We don’t fear the “dark” when sorting the laundry! Dark is not bad! In Genesis, the author informs us that creation was balanced with both the dark and the light. And…once the balance had occurred, there was order and… they both were called “good.” We, however, often attach […]
Ain’t English Funny?
As an ex-English teacher, I easily relate to how frustrating our language can be. If you’ve ever felt stupid, then just read on. (This little treatise on the lovely language we share is only for the brave!) Here are some sample reasons why the English language is so hard to learn (and to teach!) The bandage […]
Be the Hedgehog
Are you the hedgehog or the fox? The concept is drawn from a Greek poem in which a cunning fox tries and continually fails to eat a seemingly simple hedgehog. The fox keeps plotting the perfect attack. He keeps coming up with new ideas to eat the hedgehog. The simplistic and somewhat dowdy hedgehog goes […]
A dozen kind ideas!
It’s easy to be kind! It’s smart to be kind! It’s fun to be kind! Are you up to a challenge? If you missed the opportunity to celebrate Random Acts of Kindness last week, take this next week and perform some acts of kindness. These suggestions won’t take long and you’ll be amazed at how good you’ll […]
9 Amazing Kindness Quotes
This week, Feb 12-18, is National Random Acts of Kindness Week. It’s so easy to forget those ever-so-important small acts that can make someone’s day, as well as making ours great too! I’ve selected some of my favorite inspiring quotes on kindness to share with you. Please let me know which ones are your favorites! 1 […]
Use the Physics of Dominoes
Got any dominoes in YOUR life? The Guinness Book of World Records shows that in Leeuwarden, The Netherlands, the world record “domino fall” fell! With the lining up of more than 4,491,863 dominoes in a dazzling display, the record came tumbling down. In this instance, a single domino set in motion a domino fall that cumulatively unleashed more […]