Last night after I posted the blog, I sat back and chuckled at myself. There are really a few things that resonate so deeply within me that I will constantly write about them.
Now there’s the obvious: Bellingwood, weather, sewing, my family, my cats. That’s just my reality.
But then there are the things that are so important to me I can’t help myself. Things like:
Love – being a loving person and expressing that love. For me, that is the epitome of humanity. When we truly love, we have become what we were destined to be. Everything else falls under that with ease.
Change. I believe that change is good, even when it presents a struggle. In fact, I believe that the struggle is important. We don’t grow if things are made easy for us, no matter how much we whine and complain. Challenges make us become more than what we are.
Creativity. It doesn’t matter if you believe you don’t have a creative bone in your body – bones aren’t meant to be creative. It comes from a completely different place. We were created by a Creator – in his image. We are creative. That’s all there is to it. The thing is, we often so narrowly define what creativity is and mislead ourselves and others.
Kindness. I can hardly bear the nasty things I see every day, so I make the effort to focus on goodness and kindness. I know that where my mind is, what my eyes see and what I take in – these things define me. I won’t let myself be defined by ugliness and petty garbage.
Hope. Today is not tomorrow. Yesterday is not tomorrow. Hope is that glorious gift that helps us put another foot forward.
Joy. Happiness is fleeting. A single circumstance can turn our happy-ness into sadness or defeat. I see joy as a river. It goes up and down, but it is always a constant. Always there. Even if it looks like it has dried up, that’s not true. If you’ve ever lived on a dried-up riverbed, you know that the least bit of rain causes it to swell with water.
Words. The foundation of our communication. Words mean everything to me and it is completely astounding that after a lifetime of reading, writing, education … on and on, I still learn new words. And there is always something extraordinary to discover about the background of different words. They make me smile.
Gratitude. Someone once said that the reason so many people talk about / write about gratitude is that they must be looking for it from someone else. Nah. I don’t buy that. I think that expressing gratitude is as important as expressing love. We must. That’s all there is to it. We must. There can be no excuses. Forgetting … socially uncomfortable or awkward … there are so many excuse that people make, but none of them are worthwhile. If you don’t say the words ‘thank you,’ it is as much of a loss as refusing to say ‘I love you’ or ‘I’m sorry.’ Say the words.
Faith. I probably don’t write about this as much as I could, should, whatever. This is different than religion. I refuse to judge someone based on their faith, or their lack of faith or a refusal to have faith. That’s religion. My faith is the strongest part of my being. It is the one constant in a sea of wildness. My life would mean nothing to me without knowing that I believe in God. He is the beginning, the middle and the end of my life. That’s all.
These behaviors, ideas … ideals … these are important to me.
