I just learned that there’s a new section for WordPress.com bloggers called FoodPress, where bloggers can share recipes and mouth-watering photos of food, too! What a great idea! I so appreciate having yet another internet-based place to go looking for ideas on recipes or other ways to prepare foods. I do love to cook so I’m loving FoodPress!
Check it out at FoodPress
I also appreciate the creativity of the bloggers and for those who created this idea! Thanks!
While I am a native speaker of English, I also know Spanish. I have to say that I’m very appreciative of the opportunities in my life that led to learning another language, too. One of the reasons I love Spanish so much is that I can appreciate the full experience of the music in Spanish. I’m a romantic and there are many romantic songs in Spanish that are true poetry set to beautiful music, with orchestras and great singers. Music is and always be a big part of my life and over the years, I’ve come to know many Spanish-speaking artists’ works and to appreciate them.
Here’s one I really like, sung by Luis Miguel for you to enjoy! It’s called Motivos.
At my day job, we order out a lot. We also occasionally bring in food and have a potluck. And, we often bring our own lunches. But what I like about my environment is how we often eat together. Now many people may not find eating with one’s co-workers that much fun, but I happen to really enjoy it. We spend so much time with each other, it’s almost like having lunch with our family: our work family.
Not everyone likes to eat together at work but I’m grateful that there are many of us who do. It’s a nice way to get to know each other, talk about “off-work” topics and occasionally share in each others’ food for that day, share jokes, stories and family recipes. We laugh and generally don’t “talk shop” when we eat, so it’s a good stress reliever, too.
Today I’m grateful for my work lunches with my office mates. I appreciate their company, and the fact that we all have jobs that put food on our work table every afternoon during the week!
My good friends at Good Vibe University recently reminded me of the videos of a Japanese cat named Maru. I’d seen them before, but it’s been awhile since I tuned in. Now I’m glad I did. Maru is such a cute cat and the videos are really fun! I appreciate all the people and the cats who make entertaining videos like this one. So here’s one of Maru, who absolutely loves boxes: no matter what their size! I’d say Maru is a perfect example of “out of box” type thinking! Enjoy!
Yesterday I had several examples of people being kind and caring in which to appreciate. The first was related to one of my daughters, who was in New Jersey with one of her college roommates for the weekend. She joined me in Manhattan for the Iowa Hawkeyes game watch (and while we had a great time, our beloved Hawkeyes lost!), and then she was to take a bus back to NJ to join her friend. While I accompanied her to the Port Authority and saw her off on what we thought was the right bus, it turns out that it was not. Added to that was the fact that her cell phone battery had died, so she had no cell phone.
Before I left the Port Authority (and not yet knowing that my daughter was on the wrong bus), I stopped to buy a juice from a store there for my ride home. A woman with a young child was ahead of me, along with a customer who was buying, too. The woman with her child was told by the cashier that she was 50 cents short, so she gave the cashier a debit card, which was declined. The customer next to her reached in her pocket and paid the 50 cents. Later, the woman with the child found a dollar and tried paying the other woman back and they “discussed” whether or not she would take it. I smiled as I watched this exchange of gratitude, happy for the kind, caring woman who helped her out.
A little later, as I’m coming off of the subway, I received a call from a number I didn’t know: it’s my daughter, using someone else’s phone on the bus that was taking her way out of her way into New Jersey to places I’d never heard of! She used this man’s phone several times to call both her friend in NJ and me. In the end, she was able to get off the bus and wait at a restaurant (where there were more kind people who offered her things and didn’t require her to buy anything) until her friend picked her up. In fact, she said she got to watch some of the Ohio State-Penn State game! After she was safely in the car with her friend, my daughter told me that the man and his wife offered to drive her to her friend’s house, too, if needed.
While one might look at that last offer with a word of “caution” about not accepting rides from strangers, I think it’s evidence of the kind, caring people who were part of our day yesterday. We’ll never know for sure, but I am very grateful for that man letting her use his phone and helping her figure out where she had gotten “lost.” This was the second example of kind, caring people who offered their assistance to complete strangers yesterday.
And while I’m still in shock over my Iowa Hawkeyes’ loss from yesterday, I’m grateful I had the opportunity to share it with one of my daughters.
Today I’m grateful for the beautiful weather here in New York City. It was a gorgeous day, and one wouldn’t really think that it is November 13th! It felt more like an October-kind of day. I love how everyone seemed out and about today, taking advantage of the warmer temperatures. There were bicylists around, kids with skateboards and mothers taking strolls with their babies in strollers. As usual, there were plenty of tourists, too.
Days like these (where I spent considerable time walking about the city) are beautiful reminders of how pleasant weather makes being outdoors a happy experience for all. Thank you, Mother Nature!
One of the best techniques I’ve learned for improving any relationship is the List of Positive Aspects by Abraham-Hicks. It goes something like this: When you are having difficulty with someone, get out a notebook and label it My List of Positive Aspects. At the top of the page, write the name of the person at the top. Now, thinking back over a time or times when you felt something positive about this person, list every positive aspect you can think of about that person. Only write the positive and then sit with it for some moments. Feel that positive energy about this person. When you think again about this person, remember your list. When you do this, people “miraculously” change when they are in your presence, only demonstrating those positive aspects you’ve focused on.
I have used this technique over and over again, with great success. Sometimes it can be a challenge to even start the list, but when you do and practice it, you will end up adding to the list of positive qualities about that person. Eventually, your list about that person will be so long that you no longer need to refer to it as everytime you think about that person, you will hold him or her in that good feeling place.
Even though you’re not feeling it right now, there is always something positive about that person. If you can’t get the feeling right away, focus on something positive about their physical appearance to start. For example, do they have nice hair? Do they have nice eyes? Or perhaps they have a particular skill that you admire, such as excellent editing, beautiful singing voice, or a great dancer. Just write something positive and focus on that.
Today as I’m reminded of interactions that could be challenging, I am grateful that I have a technique like this to shift that from a challenge to no challenge at all. When I am doing so, I know that I am holding them in a place of love and love really does make my world go round!
While I don’t drink it everyday, I do love coffee. I love its aroma, its flavor and I love to drink it especially after a good meal. I love a variety of flavors, blends and particularly love grinding my own beans. I particularly love a coffee in the mornings, but many times I’ll have one at night. The caffeine never keeps me awake at night and I love that, too. I love my coffee espresso, double espresso, cappuccinos, regular, coffee with milk, with sugar or without sugar. I’ll pretty much drink a coffee anyway it is prepared.
So today, I’m grateful for coffee and all of its flavorful varieties!
In times when some people are losing their jobs or afraid of losing their jobs, I really appreciate people like Wayne Dyer, who reminds us of the importance of infinite patience and trust. Often the upheaval of losing a job can be an opportunity for wonderful change in our lives that we had previously been too scared to pursue. He refers to it as a time when God tells us that it’s time to change.
I just got done with my regional conference and once again, I’m reminded of my fellow colleagues in the field of international education who make my work so meaningful and enjoyable. I absolutely love going to my professional association conferences because of the people! They are such interesting and passionate people and we always have a good time. Many of my colleagues over the years have also become my friends.
So today, as I reflect on these past few days, I’m sending out huge chunks of appreciation to my fellow colleagues around the region who are making a difference in peoples’ lives by serving in the field of international education. You rock!
Appreciation Magic 