Tuesday Slice of Life : July 19, 2016.
It is one of those days.
I clearly know what needs to be done. And I’m ready to get busy.
Oversized sheets of paper are on the table. Colored pencils are sharpened. My notes are gathered. Some mentor books are stacked on a chair.
I begin.
Erase.
Write more.
Strike through.
It’s tough going. Hard to keep my focus.
I find myself gazing out the window, getting another cup of coffee, walking from room to room, folding some laundry, even pulling a few weeds in a flower bed.
Finally, I just push my work aside and go out to sit in the shade of our old walnut tree. I let my thoughts tumble without direction; there’s been so much going on in my life.
What makes life good?
Laughing
Laugh out loud. Studies show that laughter will reduce stress hormones, fill your lungs with air, and strengthens your immune system. Yep, laughter is the best medicine. So have a hearty, healthy laugh at least once a day. For a week, I had my students write and post each day one thing that made them genuinely laugh in the past 24 hours; no jokes allowed.
Taking time to wonder
Wonder is the breath of creativity. It is a curiosity that fires the imagination and flings open the doors of learning. I like the @Wonderopolis slogan: Where the Wonders of Learning Never Cease. I like to take my students outside on a warm fall day just to wander and wonder.
Enjoying simple things
In the simple things of life, I find clarity. My mom watched the ladybugs and listened to the birds, and loved her life with a ready smile in spite of difficult circumstances. She taught me to drink deeply of life’s simple things.
Forgiving
There will be an offense. That is a given. Intended or unintended. So, decide right now how you will respond. Then when it comes, you can forgive. –that is what my mom taught me. Without forgiveness, anger simmers, bitterness grows tenacious roots, and vengeance births an endless destructive cycle.
Giving thanks
Gratefulness always changes my focus and dispels dissatisfaction and despair. It is hard to grumble when I am being grateful. Have you ever kept a grateful journal?
Hoping even when it seems hopeless
Hope brings the promises of the future into today’s reality. A man once told me, Don’t set aside hope. If you do, your heart will be sick.
Believing
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Believing is what I do so I can be who I am.
Loving
Love never fails. In it there is no fear. Because of God’s love, I am alive.
I am living the good life!
Slice of Life Tuesdays
Thanks to Two Writing Teachers for hosting this weekly writing event.
Hebrews 11 (believing)
1 Thessalonians 5 (giving thanks)
Proverbs 13 (hoping)
1 Corinthians 13 (loving).
Forget oatmeal! This recipe is a keeper. Here’s a line I’m taking with me: “Hope brings the promises of the future into today’s reality.” Thanks for the lift, Alice.
Thank you, Brian. Let’s keep on hoping!
You make so many important points here! Perhaps I need to go sit in the shade and ponder how good my life is! Thank you for your inspiring thoughts!
You are so welcome, Jaana. I’d love to share my shade tree with you.
It is so nice to walk away from our must-do’s to focus on our thoughts.
So true, Stacey!
I love each point, so clear and hopeful, and I love that you help your students see the positive too by finding laughter. I’m grateful for your words.
Thank you, Linda. I do believe that we must teach our children to look for the good and the wholesome.
Your post just brightened MY outlook on the day….thank you
And my day is brightened knowing that, Anita.
What a great way to turn your writing struggle into triumph.
🙂
Sometimes the best thoughts come when we stop forcing our thinking. My guided meditation on creative living yesterday was about struggle versus flow. We’ve somehow come to believe that we must always struggle for an outcome to be valid and worthwhile, but that isn’t always the case. Working in and through flow sometimes brings us wonderful results–as your post has shown.
Thanks for stopping by and your good thoughts on struggle versus flow. Let me know when you write more about it.
This is a powerful understanding and reflection point, Alice: “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Believing is what I do so I can be who I am.”
Thank you, Kevin. The first sentence is from Hebrews; the second, from my heart.
Your line about forgiveness: “There will be an offense. Intended or unintended, that is a given…” has resonance with me. You share your good philosophy with us, much of it from your mother, I notice! Thank you and keep writing.
(I also love your assignment to your students to write something that made them laugh, no jokes allowed. great assignment- I might try it myself. Have you done it?)
I have. It was a time when there was too much somberness; we needed some lightheartedness. We had done grateful posts to promote thanksgiving, why not humor posts? I didn’t anticipate everything that emerged, like when is laughter appropriate/inappropriate; laughing with vs. laughing at; humor in the eyes of one isn’t always humor to another; silliness; joke overkill (that’s why I made the no joke rule); practical jokes; etc. Gave us opportunities to develop some important social skills… 🙂 And embracing laughter added a layer of warmth.
Love this positive post!