My mother-in-law turns 100 years old tomorrow. Yes, you read that correctly: She will be One. Hundred. Years. Old. Her father was one of the last homesteaders in Montana. And she was born in a one-room log cabin — that her father built — during the 1918 Influenza Pandemic. She rode a horse to school, which was also a one-room …
In Others’ Words: A Work in Progress
As I moved the graphic over into this blog post, two words stood out to me in the quote: in progress. “In progress” means motion. Forward motion. We’re moving toward something — a goal. A dream. There’s action happening. When I was deciding on the graphic to use for the quote, I skimmed through lots of photos of staircases and …
In Others’ Words: Life has No Remote
I am always losing track of the TV remotes. Remotes, as in plural. Does anyone have just one remote anymore? We have one to watch TV. One for the DVD player. One for the sound bar. And another remote for … well, I don’t really know. It may be for the standing fan, but it gets put in the TV …
In Others’ Words: Living More Richly in the Moments
Stress is getting the best of me these days. We all experience times where we get overwhelmed and a bit frantic. Moments race by with things left undone and our frustrations mount. I don’t want to surrender to these kind of moments, as author Anne Morrow Lindbergh suggests in today’s quote. “If you let yourself be absorbed completely to the …
In Others’ Words: Rowing Through the Hard Times
Sometimes life is hard. And sometimes when life is hard, don’t we just want to quit? To stick with the boat analogy, when we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere and nothing’s happening — no wind filling our sails — it’s easy to just sit down and wait it out. Sometimes we tell us ourselves we don’t need a lot …
In Others’ Word: Don’t Jump — to Conclusions, That Is!
We all have different goals. Different dreams. Different opportunities. But no matter what we’re aiming for, we all hope to succeed. I’ve attended lots of writers conferences in years past. (Not lately. It’s been more about my daughter’s volleyball tournaments — and I’m okay with that.) When I’m with writers, we talk about the books we’re writing. The books we …
In Others’ Words: Mellow Time
A lot of people seem to like autumn. I’m basing my statement on a casual, highly non-scientific observation of social media comments. Most of them fall in the category of “I love fall” and “October is my favorite month of the year.” Maybe you’re familiar with this quote from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery: “I’m so glad I …
In Others’ Words: An Adventure in Forgiveness
Sometimes the most profound truths require the least amount of words. “Life is an adventure in forgiveness.” Six words. Life-changing truth, wouldn’t you agree? Forgiveness is an adventure that leads us into the wide open spaces of freedom. Unforgiveness leads us to a dark dead end of anger and resentment and bitterness. We have a choice: to forgive or not …
In Others’ Words: Listen and Learn
We all have certain morning routines — habits we’ve fallen into. Things like: waking up at a certain time eating the same breakfast drinking coffee or tea exercising or maybe taking our dogs for a walk getting out the door and on the road at the same time What if we started off each day determining to talk less and …
In Others’ Words: Choose Your Weapon
Our thoughts are powerful forces for good or evil. And no, I’m not overstating this truth. Think about a time when you were juggling some important tasks or facing a major deadline, but still having a good day. And then, for some unknown reason, you found yourself discouraged. Frustrated. Overwhelmed by all you had to do. You’re not sure how …