I made this project while my family and I were living in Brasil last year. I dyed the burlap sunshine orange and then added blue, purple, translucent gray, silver and green beads. I then spelled out the world Cultivate with passion fruit seads on paper with white glue. That got mounted on hot pink micro-corduroy and copper. I placed the denim pocket in the center and had my father make leather tags that sit inside it, each with a word pressed into it. The words are joy, love, peace, faith, hope and courage. Just for fun, I put a secret message under the flap of paper on the front of the pocket.
As I was putting this piece together, I was listening to John Mayer sing Why Georgia. I remember the part where he was singing, “Am I living it right?” That got me to thinking and so I asked myself “What am I supposed to be doing?” The one-word answer that came to my mind was cultivate.
I must confess I get scared sometimes. Life seems to get busy and complicated and I find myself rushing to catch up. It’s in that rush that I feel life slipping between my fingers. I get short with my loved ones and push my way through the day, just to get it over with. I miss out on the very essence of what life is supposed to be about. Life isn’t supposed to be about getting everything done. Life is supposed to be about creating the life I want and the happiness my family deserves. My family deserves to feel hopeful, loved, peaceful, joyous, faithful and courageous. As long as I practice cultivating at least one of those 6 things every day, I know I will be making the most of my experience and fulfilling my purpose.
What do you think? What are you cultivating?
Have a marvelous week!
Pam
p.s. the secret message is a quote from Albert Einstein that reads
“Imagination is more important than knowledge”.
Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 7:00 pm. Add a comment
Today is Wednesday, which means it’s time for the Inspirational word of the day.
Fortify : (verb) 1) to strengthen or protect 2) to increase the effectiveness of 3) to give strength or vigor.
The single best piece of advice I ever received came from my little sister.
The year was 2000 and my son was less than a week old. My sister came out to Michigan from California to visit and help. As a first time mom, I was overwhelmed, hormonal and clueless. I needed help in all areas of parenting and fortunately my little sister is not only a first-class MOM , she is also a well-educated pediatric nurse and practicing lactation consultant. She showed me how to breast-feed my son (prudently, in line at the grocery store no less!), and she held my hand when I had to take him in to have his frenulum (that little piece of skin that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth) clipped and cauterized. (yeah creepy, freaky and eeeewwww) Even today, she is always available to listen, be strong and help me when I get stuck. She is just all kinds of awesome and I’m not ashamed to admit she is one of my biggest heroes.
She told me“Don’t worry about him so much that you forget to take care of yourself. In order to be the best kind of mom you want to be, you have to make a priority to take care of yourself.”
Today is Monday, which means it’s time for the Inspirational song of the week.
This song has an amazing tempo that just kickstarts my heart into hi-gear. Along my walks around the lake with Tootsie, I always do a little skip when this song comes on the speakers in my IPod. If you ever see me out walking, arms swinging, head bobbing, singing at the tops of my lungs, there is a very good chance this song is carrying me along.
I hope it sets you off to a Wonderful week!
tchau,
Pam
Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 6:59 am. Add a comment
Today is Wednesday, which means it’s time for the Inspirational word of the day.
Prosperity: (noun) a successful, thriving or flourishing condition, especially in financial respects; good fortune.
Thanks to Dictionary.com for the definition.
For those of you who don’t already know, I live in South East Michigan, about 20 minutes south of Flint. To say the economy sucks would be an understatement.
However, I firmly believe it is NOT always going to be like this, and that with time, focus and the right attitude, good fortune will return to this part of the country. I’d like to start with the right attitude and go forward from there. I was reading Seth Godin’s blog the other day and he wrote about the hierarchy of success. (you can click the link and read it for yourself) What I really liked about it is how he points out that the very foundation for success is attitude. Everything else is built upon that one concept. A crappy attitude will guarantee failure. A good attitude will at least get your foot in the door.
So, in the mean time, I am having Art Classes for my lady friends every Tuesday night from 7-9pm. Last night we made Cornucopia’s (a sign of Prosperity ) and wreath’s. The wreath’s are the prizes for the DDA Scarecrow contest to be held Halloween Night in Downtown Ortonville. Our esteemed president, Robert Renchik will be handing them out at 7:30 at the Ted Baker DPW complex. It should be a “howling” good time!
I hope you can find something in your life that makes you feel prosperous. A good attitude would be the best place to start when looking for it.
What do you think? Let me know.
Have a marvelous week,
Pam
Posted 2 years, 3 months ago at 9:56 am. Add a comment
Today is Monday, which means it’s time for the Inspirational song of the week…….except today I’m going to offer something different! Today I’m offering a soundtrack called Songs of Prosperity!
I love putting together soundtracks to accompany me along my daily walks. After 10 years of walking, I’ve found some songs that really put wings on my feet, a boogie in my bunda, a kick in my knickers, if you know what I mean!!
I’ve gathered them together to share with you. Like usual, I will link them to YouTube so you can go check them out.
If you have a favorite song that really blows your skirt up, Please share it in the comments!!!!
Click on the link to go watch “JK Wedding entrance dance” on Steve Errey’s post “the power of the unexpected“.
As a fan of the show “the Office”, I was glued to my television this past Thursday night to watch Jim and Pam get married. The show referred to “this thing from YouTube”, which since I hadn’t seen before so didn’t make sense to me. The very next day, I was reading Steve’s post “the power of the unexpected” and there it was, the video they were talking about, and I’ll be darned if it didn’t look very much like the show. Cool!
Steve wrote in his post” Seeing these people having the time of their lives doing something new challenged me to enjoy what at first I thought I’d hate.” I love that! He was “challenged to enjoy“.
Anyone who has watched the Office recognizes the awkwardness and difficulties posed to the characters of this show. I found myself “watching from between my fingers, a grimace of embarrassment on my face” (thanks Steve, you sure do right purty!) unable to turn away. When Jim accidentally makes reference to Pam’s pregnancy during the rehearsal dinner toast the night before the wedding, I actually screamed! How is Pam going to handle this? I was absolutely riveted to my seat as I watched Jim and then Michael both just keep talking and make it worse. This challenge to enjoy the celebration despite the distraction of Pam’s grandmother MeeMaw’s righteous indignation is what makes this show one of the best on television (my opinion). (This week I also read Seth Godin’s post about “righteous indignation” and laughed my ass off imagining Meemaw with a green face! Priceless!!)
Pam just sat there gracefully, unable to fix anything, and hopeless to explain to her Meemaw (grandmother) how being pregnant at her wedding was acceptable nowadays because she and Jim truly love each other. As a fellow “Pam”, I felt her pain and anguish and marvelled at the writing in this show as well as the truly wonderful acting of the entire cast.
Which brings me to why I needed to write this.
Every day poses different challenges to enjoy,opportunities for fulfillment buried beneath the distractions of responsibility and expectation. It is up to me (and you) to dig out the nuggets of beautiful, hold on to hope and go find the pink things that make life truly worthwhile.
Thanks to Steve Errey, the confidence guy online. Your website is marvelous and always helpful. And thanks to everyone who puts together the Office. Your show is smart, funny and fresh. Thanks to Seth Godin for a really great laugh, and for the JK Wedding party, I wish you all a future full of happiness and joy!
Peace,
Pam
Posted 2 years, 4 months ago at 9:59 am. Add a comment
Like last weeks word (Desire), Love is both a noun and a verb, which I think gives it twice as much power!
Love has inspired millions of people for thousands of years.
For example, this quote from the Bible “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always preserves.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
Or Maya Angelou’s poem “Love Arrives”
“Love arrives
And in it’s train come ecstasies!
Old memories of pleasure, Ancient histories of pain
And yet if we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls
We are weaned from our timidity, In the flush of loves light!
I made this project while my family and I were living in Brasil last year. I dyed the burlap sunshine orange and then added blue, purple, translucent gray, silver and green beads. I then spelled out the world Cultivate with passion fruit seads on paper with white glue. That got mounted on hot pink micro-corduroy and copper. I placed the denim pocket in the center and had my father make leather tags that sit inside it, each with a word pressed into it. The words are joy, love, peace, faith, hope and courage. Just for fun, I put a secret message under the flap of paper on the front of the pocket.
