I was a Girl Scout. I also used to camp a lot with my parents. I learned many things about camping and cooking outside over the years. While I rarely do that now, today I’m reminded of the importance of knowing how to build a campfire. I know how to do it and I appreciate that I was given opportunities to practice it. While I’m still at my conference, we’re in a beautiful, wooded area, where the hotel has a fire pit. So tonight we roasted S’mores. The experience brought back many fond memories of building campfires, eating food cooked over the open fire, roasting marshmellows and making S’mores.
So today I’m appreciating knowing how to build a campfire. I found this video on YouTube so you can learn, too.
Today I am appreciating the value of a team. I am currently Chair of my professional association for New York and New Jersey and responsible for this conference that I am at right now. We have a core team of people from both states, each with their different roles. None of us get paid for this additional responsibility: we are all volunteers and most positions are at least two year commitments, and some are as long as three years (as in my case). So the commitment that people sign up for when they join the team cannot be understated.
I so appreciate the different personalities, work styles and leadership from this experience. I am learning a lot about myself as a leader from this process, as well about how varied each person’s style is as well. While team members don’t always agree when we are making decisions, each person brings a value to what we are creating. While some “do” more than others, I appreciate everyone for their role, no matter how much time they had to put forth or what their responsibility is. It really takes a team to pull a conference together!
Cooperation is a quality that I adore and cooperation is a quality that good teams have. I love my team members and wanted to take this space to tell them so! So no matter what type of team you are part of, I invite you to pause and take time out to appreciate each member for the value they contribute as part of a larger whole.
If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my conference!
Today I am in awe and appreciation of my abundant supply of water. It’s something I definitely don’t take for granted. I’ve been in places where water wasn’t so readily available and I’m so appreciative that it always is around when I want it: to drink, to bathe, shower, do laundry, water my plants, or admire it in a beautiful fountain. They say our physical bodies are mainly made up of water, so I routinely bless the water I drink. I know that blessing it and saying “thank you” before I drink it makes a difference in how I feel.
My posts will be short these days as I’m away at a conference. While there, I will be admiring the beautiful Lake George, an abundant supply of water by itself, amidst the backdrop of the Adirondeck Mountains.
I’d like to close today’s post with an invitation for you to visit my charity on this blog and to sign up for Social Vibe. My charity is called “Water” and it’s about providing clean water for people who need it. Right now there aren’t any activities listed but new ones are coming soon! Take a look on the right hand side panel and click for more information. The more you click on the products, the more wells and water is available for people that don’t have such an abundant supply like me. Thank you so much for your support!
You know that feeling at the end of a work week, in anticipation of a weekend of relaxation and fun? It’s that feeling many of us who work a Monday through Friday routine get on Fridays. The “Thank God It’s Friday!” comments we hear and speak conjure up feelings of relief that the work week is coming to an end, with an eager anticipation of what’s to come over the next two days. While I’m a huge fan of appreciating EVERY day of the week, I’ve dedicated today’s post to an appreciation of Fridays.
I love the feeling of Fridays – There’s often a more “casual” feel to Fridays, and people seem to be more relaxed. In some work spaces, employees actually dress more casually, too. You hear people talking about their plans for the weekend and it often means less meetings at work for me. There’s a lot of excitement in the feeling of Fridays, and often, at the end of the day, people rush out the door to go out for a drink, shopping, meet up with friends or family, take off on that weekend trip, or just to go home and relax. It feels different than the end of a weekday where you have to return to work the next day, because Fridays feel more like “mini-vacations” with two full days (and 3 nights) to play!
I love the feeling of Fridays because they feel “freeing” – where we can anticipate the weekend with eagerness as we go through our day. While we all have the power to appreciate ANY day like Fridays, many of us do not. (How many of you feel the same about Mondays as you do about Fridays?) Yet we would be so better off if we could master that feeling everyday of the week. After all, who doesn’t want to feel free, relaxed and excited for what’s to come? That’s the key to happiness, my friends!
So I heard Joel Osteen has a new book out called “Everyday is Friday.” While I haven’t read it yet, I’m imagining that he might be sending a similar message that we have the ability to make anyday like Fridays with our attitudes and faith. When I think about it, when I regularly practice appreciation on the other days of the week, Fridays don’t really feel so special because everyday is wonderful! After all, I’m alive! I can appreciate that on Fridays as easily as Mondays or Thursdays. But I admit there is something extra special about that Friday “feeling” and finding it on other days may be the key to loving your life more fully. So make the choice that everyday is freeing, fun, relaxed and joyful and your life will dramatically improve!
“Meow.” What’s that? I said, “I’m a cat lover!” How about you? I’m also a dog lover (but I’ll save elaborating on that for another post). I grew up with cats and had both dogs and cats in some of my adult life. At this moment in time, I have neither a cat nor a dog, but I have been thinking about getting a pet again for over a year now. With my busy travel schedule, I haven’t felt that the time was right or that I could give my pet the care that she or he deserves. (I also need to check with my landlords that it’s ok!)
Since I’ve been thinking so much about cats, they’ve been hanging out near my place a lot this past year. There’s been several, but I particularly have seen this black cat with white spots a lot. On one of the recent days when I was home sick, as I was washing dishes in the kitchen, I caught something moving out of the corner of my left eye. So I went to the window and much to my surprise, I saw the cat whose been hanging out around my home, her partner and adorable little kitties! So I pulled out my iPod and recorded a bit through my very dirty window.
I think we can all agree to look past the dirty window and marvel at the playfulness of little kitties! I’ve since cleaned the window up so I can get better views of what they’re doing. It’s clear they’ve made my back yard their home and I’m having fun enjoying all these cats while I can. It was especially enjoyable when I was home sick as they brought a big smile to my face and joy to my heart.
So if you like cats, (or even if you don’t), you’ve got to admit they are cute to watch, don’t you think? EnJOY!
There are so many great photographers and photos out there on the internet and I totally appreciate that. I would love to be a better photographer myself and to spend more time doing it. Even if I’m not a professional or even an amateur professsional, I’ve always loved to take pictures. I love my digital camera but haven’t had much time to really play with it. I also really love my old faithful, manual Pentax that I first learned on way back when.
Today’s photography certainly has expanded our world in infinite ways. The internet has certainly given a forum to photographers everywhere to showcase their work, while providing an art form for us to appreciate. And photo editing sites make “playing” with a photograph fun, too! So today I’m appreciating photography, the photographers and the internet sites where I can spend time admiring beautiful works of art.
I am particularly grateful for people who freely share their work, too, and would like to take this space to formally thank the owner at http://www.pdphoto.org for so selflessly making thousands of photos free for people to use in the public domain. While I use a lot of my own photography in my blogging, on my website and in my email newsletter, I have also used this site over the years when I don’t have a photo handy. So thanks to this website and its creator! I really appreciate you!
In honor of my appreciation for the site, I’ll just showcase a photo from there so you can all appreciate it, too.
Today I’m beginning my November month of blogging everyday as part of the NaBloPoMo’s challenge. I’ve done this before. Last year, I wrote on 2 blogs everyday during the month of November. But this year I’ve decided that it was not in my self-interest to over-commit myself, so I chose this blog. After all, this blog is the “youngest” of my blogs and doesn’t get a lot of love from me often. Yet the topic is so important: appreciation is one of the most loving things you can do for yourself and others. So in a way, this is an act of self-love on my part: I’m not over-extending myself with a 2 blog commitment like last year and I’m giving this blog some extra tender care, which means more TLC for me. (Yes, what goes around, comes around.)
To start my 30 day “blogging for blogging’s sake” challenge, I decided to appreciate illness. I imagine many may be shaking their heads about that as an appreciation topic today. Why would anyone want to appreciate illness? As someone who understands the law of attraction and as a deliberate creator, I know the opportunity that “contrast” brings for better things. “Being sick” is a contrast I don’t intend for myself, but I recently experienced it and I’m grateful. Let me explain.
I had a cold for about 10 days and stayed home for only one day in that first week (but ended up working all day), only to find myself out a couple of days the next week (plus a visit to the doctor) because I had a re-lapse. It was nothing serious, but it certainly did drain my energy. Having no energy and sleeping most of the days really was a wake-up call that I needed to slow down and get more rest!
So I was reminded of a snail, who by human standards doesn’t appear to move very quickly, often pausing for long periods of time before inching onward to a new leaf. Being sick is a reminder to be like a snail in that respect: slow down, take my time, pause, rest, then slowly move on again. My sickness and probably what created it (lack of self-care, over-working, little sleep, etc.) really emphasized how much I want to be well. It also served as a reminder to take better care of myself: by loving myself enough to say “no” to the increased demands in my professional life, by taking time for “me” everyday, by getting enough rest and making room for plenty of fun in my days as well.
So even though I hated being sick, I can sit back and appreciate the illness as it made me more aware to be present with myself each day: to take time for self-care and love. In doing so, I can detach myself from the illness: see it as a catalyst for personal growth and change and appreciate it for creating wonderful wellness and healing that leads to more good things down the road.
Life is full of contrast and if you can recognize the beauty of the contrast you’re in by finding an appreciation for it, it will open up wonderful, new opportunities and experiences later on. So while I probably won’t slow down as much as a snail, I can pause and be present in a spirit of appreciation and love, which creates excitement for what’s to come. I can’t wait to see what’s next!
I’m in Iowa City/Coralville for the Labor Day weekend and already I’ve had a close encounter with “Bambi.” Of course, it’s not the Disney “Bambi” movie, but with a deer that was grazing in my daughter’s yard in town. Deer around here are fairly plentiful. As I pulled into the driveway, Bambi was actually a lot closer and we had a “stare down” for about a minute or so, before I could get my phone camera out to take a photo. I even was able to drive the car up a bit, roll down my window, and stick my phone out the window without Bambi moving an inch! Then, right before I took the photo, Bambi got a bit shy and moved a bit further away (which is the image I’m posting).
I love how we can share spaces with animals in the “wild” and get along! I’m appreciating their beauty, even though I know there are many who find them a nuisance. I just find deer to be very beautiful creatures and this one is obviously very accustomed to being around people. So today I am appreciating the beauty of deer!
The other day on my way to work, I got behind a garbage truck on a hill. It reminded me how much I personally wouldn’t like that job: heavy lifting, smelly cans and bags of garbage, and little recognition for a job well done. In thinking about how hard that job seemed to me, I realized how much I appreciate the people who do this for a living. I watched in awe as they jumped off and on that truck, hurling garbage bin after bin onto the truck, all quickly and efficiently as they took away our “stuff” that we don’t want, leaving us with empty bins that we continue to fill again and again. And I smiled when the driver of the truck was able to move the heavy rig over, waving me on, so I could pass them to get onto my day job. I was reminded of the many times I’ve had that happen here, and how much I appreciate the kindness in that.
I’m so happy that there are people who do this work! Imagine our lives without them! What a mess we would have! So today, I’m appreciating garbage workers! I really appreciate their reliability several times a week in showing up for their jobs, in how they efficiently handle a job that I personally would never want to do, and how they help to haul away junk we no longer want and recycle materials that can be made into other stuff (that we probably eventually will no longer want!), so we put it in the garbage bin to be taken away again! Thank you, garbage workers! Life is so much easier with you in it!
Today would have been Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday. I think Lucy was one of the funniest people ever and I love the “I Love Lucy” shows. Today Google is showing a very cute show on the main page for those that haven’t seen it yet! You really should try searching something and click on the old tv set and its channels to take a look! Isn’t that such a creative thing?
For my appreciation of Lucy and the tons of laughter and joy she brought to my life, I’m posting the piece about counterfeit money in Paris. It’s hilarious and reminds me of how much I appreciate my work in international education, the learning of foreign languages and cultures and how much I will always love Lucy and laughter! EnJOY!
I’m in Iowa City/Coralville for the Labor Day weekend and already I’ve had a close encounter with “Bambi.” Of course, it’s not the Disney “Bambi” movie, but with a deer that was grazing in my daughter’s yard in town. Deer around here are fairly plentiful. As I pulled into the driveway, Bambi was actually a lot closer and we had a “stare down” for about a minute or so, before I could get my phone camera out to take a photo. I even was able to drive the car up a bit, roll down my window, and stick my phone out the window without Bambi moving an inch! Then, right before I took the photo, Bambi got a bit shy and moved a bit further away (which is the image I’m posting).
Appreciation Magic 