There was this one day when I got an invitation to attend a meeting. I was thinking about going until I saw that someone I was once very close to was going to be there. For a moment, I had thought about not going. I found myself making all these decisions out of fear. Fear of what they would say, what I would do, how we would react, and the scenario continued. Then I had to stop myself and ask myself what was I afraid of. Where was that fear coming from? Why was I putting that negative energy out there into the universe? Why was I thinking negative things about others or myself? It is true, I was not saying anything negative about others, or myself but I was thinking them.
Read moreI am not my job
It is amazing how a simple statement can make you stop and rethink your entire life. It was quite simple and I wish I could say it was something someone had said to me, but it was me who was saying it, I just had not yet internalized it. I am not my job. Maybe I need to say that again. I am not my job. I am me.
Read moreThe Day I Realized I Was Allergic to Drama
It’s funny how sometimes you go through life and do not even realize that you are allergic to something. For example, I was 54 before I realized I was lactose intolerant. I am a self-admitted cheese addict. I love cheese. I am not sure I could ever go from vegetarian to vegan because for me everything tastes better with cheese on it (ok, maybe not ice cream or cold cereal, but just about everything else). I never even realized I was lactose intolerant until I gave up dairy products for lent one year. Zoë, my life partner, very lovingly brought it to my attention that I was being a little less musical. Ok, for those of you who did not get it, I was not farting as much, did I think that had anything to do with my not eating dairy products. Lo and behold, when I looked up the symptoms of lactose intolerance there it was flatulence.
I discovered my allergy to drama in much the same way.
Read moreStop Snoozing
A few days ago, I received an email from someone thanking me for my last post. This individual needed the reminder that we have the power to make changes in our life. As I thought about this email, it made me think about what keeps us from making those changes. It seems that so many of us know what we want or need to change in our lives. Most of us even know how to make that change happen in our lives. Yet despite all this, we make excuses as to why we cannot make those changes now or make the decision we will make that change in three days. The only problem was that often times those three days turn into three decades.
Read moreThe Queen or King of __________
Recently, I have been listening to some of the people in my life claim some titles in their lives. A few people have claimed to be the queen of procrastination. Another person I know told me he was the king of trifling. I used to say that I was the queen of serious. As I have listened to my friends, colleagues, former congregants, students (past and present), family members, and people I do not even know how I know, I have come to realize that just about everyone has at one point or time in their lives earned the title of the king or queen of repetition. There are some things in my life that I have done for so long that I no longer realize why I do them or why I do them the way I do them. For example, I have specific days of the week that I clean each room in the house. Or I have to sleep on the left side of the bed. Whether I am with someone or not, I have my side of the bed. I can be sleeping in a king size bed by myself, but I always wind up in the same place, in the same position on the bed. I am not even sure how this became a pattern, but it is.
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