When I was young… I was sure that I was going to lead a big life and change the world. I was sure that I was here to do something big, something important. I kept waiting for my mission to show itself. Until it did, I just focused on living… But my life seemed relatively …
Tag: Mindfulness
Finding Balance
To be kindWithout being a doormatTo be generousWithout being ridiculous To walk the line betweenAssertiveness and aggression To be creativeWithout being redundant I feel the wobble and the trip and sometimes the fall as I try to navigate these in-between places It feels like the pavement has become a friend because we have met so …
Being Human
Being human So many worlds collide in order to create each human life. The coming together of two people, two bodies, at least two cultures and families and on and on. We start this journey by being taught, being molded, being corrected and trying and trying and trying. So much learning. So much striving. …
Change Happens 
Swings and shifts happen…whether I’m aware of it or not. I should be aware because I’m riding the movement and holding on for dear life! I forget that the changing wind transports me from one extreme to the other and then back again… How can I be on such a wild ride and not be …
Running on Empty….Day 24/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Hello friends! I’m going to be honest with you. I feel like I’m running out of words this month. There’s only a week left in Nanopoblano and I’m not sure if I’ll make it. I’ve been wondering about this lack of inspiration for days…and I think I just figured out a …
Pics…Day 23/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Words escape me today. But I’m trying to keep my commitment of a post every day in November. So, rather than bore you with drivel, I’ll let nature do the talking…. Thanks for visiting. Wishing you peace. I’m glad you’re here 💜 This post is part of the month long blogging …
Dinah’s Coffee Chat…Day 22/30
Hello and thanks for stopping by. These virtual coffee chats are a nice way to check in. How are you? If you’re in the US, are you planning to do anything for Thanksgiving next week? Holidays can be such a mixed bag of emotions and expectations. I can say that, for me, the holiday that …
Musings…Day 19/30
Today was a challenging day. Fear gripped me by the throat and wouldn’t let go.… At least for a while. Fear is not a place that I visit often. I’m usually pretty grounded and pretty levelheaded. If I’m fearful about something, I’m usually able to figure out what I need to do and the fear …
Remembering…Day 18/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Remembering I’ve spent a good deal of my life, choosing to forget, to release to move on Remembering was unproductive at best… Damaging at worst. But remembering has once again become important, a necessity now So I’m choosing to remember… who I was before I became who I am I’m recalling …
Sisters…Day 16/30
I was the youngest of fourI had three older brothersI always wanted a sisterFamily was always a challenging subject for meI was the one that didn’t fitEver We were the proverbial rock and hard place meeting and refusing to yield As strange as it may sound….I'm actually proud of thatI didn’t compromise myself to gain …
Happy Birthday Don…Day 13/30
The tree he planted 20 years ago has This is the 4thu year of my blog and of my involvement in Nanopoblano. So it’s also the 4th year of me doing a Happy Birthday post for my husband, Don. Today is his birthday, an opportunity to celebrate him! Don is…. -A strong, quiet presence that …
Lake Michigan….Day 12/30
Photo by Dinah (c) I have always lived near big water… Either the Great Lakes or the ocean. I feel like that has been a huge gift throughout my life. I’m not at all inclined to be on or in the water. But I do love being near it, seeing it, and feeling its soothing …
Life…Day 11/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Life is getting ahead of me.I’m woefully behind in everything…You name it…I’m behind in it And I’m realizing that, before I was behind, I was numbAnd before I was numb, I was overwhelmedAnd before I was overwhelmed, I was hurt, deeply hurt Hurt was never valid in my family of origin. …
Surrender….Day 10/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Surrender can mean many different things. When I was a child, watching TV, surrender was something that every bad guy had to do by the end of the show. Back then, it meant that good had triumphed. As an young adult, it meant something deeper. I listened to Sarah McLachlan singing …
Emphatic Connection ….Day 9/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Being connected to people and animals and places has always been immediate and imperative. But the word by itself is inadequate. It’s actually more than just an awareness of the other being or place. It’s a deeply rooted feeling, a knowing that is undeniable. For as long as I can …
Time to Heal…Day 8/30
Photo by Dinah (c) "This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal. I know the world is bruised and bleeding, and though it …
Celebrating….Day 7/30
Photo by Dinah (c) I want to learn to celebrateTo celebrate everythingThe way the birds celebrate the morningThe way the sun celebrates every day by rising and going strong I want to learn to appreciateTo appreciate even the hard thingsBecause it’s the hard things that taught me more about who I am and who I …
I Am Love…Day 2/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Life…We all know the truth….its beautiful and heartbreaking and thrilling and terrifying. And sometimes it’s all of that at once. So we all find ways to cope. Some people stay busy. Others stay still. Some read or watch tv or do yoga and some ride their bike until they’re ready to …
Infinity
Love and light Live in the body But are never limited by it Love moves past form Light carries it to infinity Infinity is who we are Form is just a resting place . . . I’m glad you’re here💜 April is National Poetry Writing Month. Check out my friends’ posts Here
Being
So many worlds collide in order to create each human life. The coming together of two people, two bodies, at least two cultures and families and on and on.We start this journey, being taught, being molded, being corrected and trying and trying and trying. So much learning. So much striving. We feel lucky if we …
Dinah’s Holiday Hello
Hello my friend!So….the holidays have arrived. They tend to do this every year whether we’re ready or not. This year I feel acutely aware of the vast differences in where we all are emotionally during this time that Hallmark has branded as joyous and magical. And, for some people, it really is wonderful….to those folks, …
Disability -Day 29/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Disability means something different to everyone. For some, disability means “those people”. For me, disability means an ever-changing me….and it seems to be swallowing up more of me every year. As a child, disability meant that I didn’t walk well…that was the biggest thing. There was more but I chose to …
Surviving Winter -Day 27/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Much to my chagrin, it appears as though winter has arrived. This may be good news for some. But not for me. Winter has always been challenging for me…ALWAYS! Many people that live in tundra-adjacent climates like me, say that there is no bad weather. There’s only poor clothing choices. Of …
Dinah’s Chat About Continued Gratitude -Day 24/30
Photo by Dinah It’s the day after Thanksgiving and I’m still grateful. I’m grateful that our day was quiet and drama-free. This wasn’t always the case. I’m grateful for peace. My friends have become my family. They support me and challenge me. They help me to keep trying to be a better person. I’m grateful …
Continue reading Dinah’s Chat About Continued Gratitude -Day 24/30
Happy Thanksgiving -Day 23/30
It’s Thanksgiving here in the US. That means different things for different people. For some people… It’s a welcomed chance to get together with family from near and far. It’s an opportunity to continue family tradition.For others…. It’s a reminder of family dynamics that didn’t/don’t work or of family lost… Either physically or to dysfunction…or …
Alchemy- Day 21/30
Photo by Dinah (c) I’m sharing this for all of us. I’m sharing it for myself because I want to internalize it. I want it to move from my head to my heart to my bones so that it’s not just a memory. I want it to become a knowing, a truth that my body …
Boomerang -Day 18/30
Photo by Dinah (c) I am a boomerang I almost always come back Perhaps this is my own personal Right of Return We were young and married and forgot that love can only flourish where appreciation dwells We ended our storyAnd then returned 2 years later and rebuilt everything Starting with ourselves Boomerang I worked …
Friendship -Day 16/30
Photo by Don (c) Photo by Don (c) I saw an old friend today Not a text Not a Zoom call Actual face to face time It was wonderful Why do we wait so long to see the people we love? We sat in a restaurant for 3 hours Talking, laughing, Our past/present/future blended into …
Body Talk – Day 14/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Some days I can barely stand to be in my bodyThere was no break upI don’t know why we stopped speaking My friend also has a body that plays hide and seek with her We talk about this Sometimes Our bodies pendulum Without our consent We feel the tick tock of …
Shifting-Day 9/30
Yesterday I wrote about needing to sort things, release things, send things back out into circulation, rather than keeping them in boxes and closets and drawers.…. It made me aware that holding on is ultimately about fear… Fear of not enough, fear of not being ready, or prepared, fear of not being able to meet …
Sorting -Day 8/30
We are all such mosaics, aren’t we? Within each of us lives all of the versions of ourselves from all of the years we’ve been alive. In addition to that, we also carry pieces of all of our friends, family and even strangers who somehow impacted us significantly. As I age, I’m becoming increasingly aware …
Adulting—Day 7/30
I’m adulting…not happily, but I’m doing it. I had two medical appointments today that I wanted to blow off in the worst way…(sigh)… I kept the appointments because I’m trying to be a grown-up. I don’t really have the luxury of ignoring my health anymore. Routine visits become about more tests and more visits. My …
What I see -Day 4/30
Photo by Dinah (c) The man leaving the gas station holds the door for the next person going in. I see small acts of kindness And the habit of mannersIt makes me smile The mom in the yard, watching the little one on the bikeI see love and fatigue in almost equal measure And the …
Exploring Procrastination-Day 3/30 (Dinah’s Wkend Chat)
Procrastination has been my companion for my entire life! We’re seemingly inseparable. The sad part though is that, even though we’re lifelong companions, we really don’t understand each other. If procrastination truly understood me, she’d realize that constantly putting things off isn’t doing me any favors. In fact, it’s actually quite anxiety provoking. Facebook Meme …
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Making Magic-Day 2/30
Photo by Don (c) “To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. …
Dinah’s Chat About Bocelli
Photo by Francesco Baistrocchi This will be the last official coffee chat of 2022. Our host is taking the next two weeks off. I hope to continue posting but… Just in case… I thought I would leave you with a Christmas gift of music. I’ve never had a sophisticated pallet in ANYTHING! The food I …
Silent Sunday
Welcome to silent Sunday. Just taking a moment to share some beauty. Enjoy! Photo by Dinah (c) Photo by Dinah (c) Photo by Dinah (c) Photo by Dinah (c) Photo by Dinah (c) Wishing you peace and beauty today and every day! I’m glad you’re here💜
Life Said No
Photo by Don (c) My plans were solid, my resolve rock hard And life said no So I rewrote the script and committed to the revised plan, the direction that seemed to be the next right move And life said no I’ve lost count now. I can’t remember how many times I’ve journeyed in good …
NanoPoblano Wrap-up–Day 30/30!!!!!!!
Photo by Dinah (c) Everyone knows that athletes and artists … (And probably a bunch of other groups that I can’t think of right now)… practice a lot. Most practice daily… For hours! And why do they do this? They do it to build muscle memory. In order to be good at what they do, …
Scooter—Day 26/30
Photo from Unsplash It sat there for years. I refused to use it. Using it would affirm my inability to keep up; would make me different when all I wanted was sameness. It would make me look DISABLED.I chose to miss out…on a lot…rather than appear disabled. Pride! Time and disability march ever onward. My …
Dinah’s Coffee Chat—Day 25/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Hello my friend.It’s been a while since I’ve done a coffee chat. It seems like a good time to try again.So… Come on in and make yourself comfy. Let’s chat…We had the Thanksgiving holiday yesterday in the US. Whether you celebrated the holiday or not, I hope your day was lovely.Ours …
Big Life—Day 20/30
Photo by Dinah “Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” —-Mother Teresa My husband and I just watched the Netflix miniseries called… From Scratch. It’s a true story adapted from the memoir by the same name written by Tembi Locke. If you haven’t seen it, …
Strange Day (NPE/MPE)—Day 19/30
Photo by Don Today has been a strange day for a number of reasons. The weather has turned too cold too quickly. We’re trying to plan for some holiday stuff and personal stuff. And I just feel a bit “off" today. Then I remembered that today would have been my mom’s 87th birthday. And tomorrow …
Shining Light—Day 16/30
Photo by Dinah (c) “Do not be dismayed by the brokenness of the world. All things break. And all things can be mended. Not with time, as they say, but with intention. So go. Love intentionally, extravagantly, unconditionally. The broken world waits in darkness for the light that is you.” L.R. Knost (Copied from a …
Magic—Day 14/30
Photo from Unsplash The memory is still there. It’s still vivid. Magic was so real to me. Magic seemed as real as rain or snow or wind…. just as real and just as elusive… Like the weather, I didn’t understand where it came from… But I knew it was all around me. I knew that …
Happy Birthday—Day 13/30
A warm September day on Lake Michigan Today is an auspicious day. Today is the anniversary of the day that the world was gifted with this kind and generous Soul. And he is indeed a gift to all who are fortunate enough to know him. This last year has been unbelievably rough. I’ve said many …
A Really Good Story About Angels—Day 11/30
Thanks for visiting. As a way of keeping us both interested in this 30 day blogging challenge, I’m going to tell you a story about something that happened last December. I really felt like it was a gift. And gifts are meant to be shared. Last Fall I was completely exhausted. Life events kept happening …
Chameleons—Day 9/30
Chameleons…I have vague memories of one of my brothers having pet chameleons. I remember him telling me to watch them as they turned color. It was never as spectacular as my child self expected. It was more gentle, more subtle. I have vague memories of realizing that people do this also. I don’t know when …
Flowers—Day 8/30
THE EARTH LAUGHS IN FLOWERS.……Ralph Waldo Emerson Today is a big election day in the US. Many of us will be on pins and needles for the next several days awaiting the results. On days like today, laughter is truly the best medicine. I can’t tell you a joke because I can never remember them. …
Healing and Reframing the past—Day 7/30
OK… So here goes… I’ve decided to write about things that I have learned by analyzing my memories of the dynamics of my family of origin over the years. I’ve debated this for quite some time. Wondering if it’s appropriate because they’re all gone. My parents, stepmother, and three older brothers… All deceased. I …
Dinah’s Coffee Chat About Accessibility…Day 4/30
Photo by Dinah (c) ~~This is going to be a dual post. It is part of the month long NanoPoblano blogging challenge. It is also part of the Weekend Coffee Share. Please see the last couple of paragraphs for explanations of both of these groups.~~ For those who are new to the space, I have …
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Fall Pause—-Day 3/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Time seems to be moving so quickly now. Just a few weeks ago it still felt like summer. Recently though, I started to notice all the subtle changes. The light was changing. I tried to ignore it but that really didn’t work. The sunlight hit the windows differently. The yard seemed …
We Hope….Day 2/30
Photo by Dinah (c) Today… We did a lot! We hoped… And that is big, big work! Hope is not a standalone emotion. Hope is a mixture of so many things. It is faith. It is belief. It is wonder and magic and it makes living possible! We hope, so we voted today. We know …
Complexities
***Photo by Dinah Lately, I seem to alternate between being completely enchanted by life and then completely befuddled by it. And both of these extremes seem to deepen with every passing year. I feel like I genuinely love people more but I see them less (thanks partially to the pandemic). I care about the world …
Connections and Community
The above is a Facebook meme I’ve craved community and connection for most of my life. Some have it naturally through family. That has never been my story. College provided it for a while and I loved it. And then we scattered to find jobs and build lives. Some of us stay in touch on …
Compassion for ALL….
The events of the world have been swirling around in my head. I’m sure I’m not alone in this. We seem to be living that old Chinese curse… You know the one, it says: May you always live in interesting times! My musings, however, may be a bit different than yours. Because of my physical …
Dinah’s Coffee Chat 11/20/21
Photo taken by Dinah on the way home from Don’s outpatient surgery! Hello my friend. Thanks for stopping by for another coffee chat. How are you? How are you adapting to the changing seasons? I hope you’re taking good care.If we were having coffee… I would be having an internal debate about whether to be …
Dinah’s Coffee Chat 11/12/21
Photo by Dinah Hello my friend! Good to see you again. I hope you had a good week. I know mine flew by quickly. Come sit. Have some coffee and we can catch up. If we were having coffee… I’d tell you that this is my husband’s birthday weekend. So this is my birthday card …
Cadence
Photo by Dinah I play with words the way a potter plays with clay. I roll them over and around in my mind and then my mouth. I repeat them to see how they feel and to see how they sound. How do those words fit into the world? I look at how they apply …
Dinah’s Coffee Chat 11/5/21
Photo from Facebook Hello my friend! It’s been a while since we’ve had a coffee chat. How are you? I’m hoping you’re staying happy and healthy. Grab a cup of coffee and I’ll fill you in on life in my neck of the woods…. If we were having coffee….I’d tell you that it’s been a …
Friends and Teachers 💜
Photo by Dinah I knew Carol first. She and I had been friends for about six months before she introduced me to Sue and Benji. I met Sue when I was 16. I’m not sure how old she was. But I did know that she had a difficult past. Consequently, she was shy and a …
More on the NPE/MPE Journey
Photo by Dinah I wrote this piece originally for DNAngels blog. You can see more of their blog posts and services here https://www.dnangels.org/blog NPE/MPE = people with misattributed parentage such as… Adoptees, Donor Conceived, people who are the product of affairs, rape, or incest… There are so many uncertainties in any NPE/MPE situation. Let’s look …
Wondering…..
Photo by Dinah I used to wonder… Who would I be without their disapproval? What would I look like? What would I do differently? Now they’re gone… So who am I now? Am I the person I thought I would be back then? Or have I morphed into something completely unexpected? The answer to this …
Happy Birthday to WA&E
Birthdays are important! I like saying Happy Birthday to friends and family….even though I’m almost always late. The sentiment is real even if it isn’t timely! True to form, I’m acknowledging another birthday with sincerity but not with timeliness….. With Angels and Elephants turned one year old in October! Yay! Thanks to Ra Avis (blogger …
Dinah’s Chat About Horses
Photo courtesy of Sandy Sharkey Photography Not Your average coffee chat… Thanks for stopping by. Hold onto your hats, I’ve got a lot to say… I know that all of us are road weary. The pandemic, the political climate, the challenging news that we hear day in and day out… It’s exhausting. I get it. …
9 Favorite Things ….#10minchallenge Day 7
Photo by Don (c) Prompt: 9 Favorite Things….. Nine of my favorite things in no particular order: 1-Grace—Grace, to me, is synonymous with kindness, gentleness, forgiveness…I’m always grateful when grace is visited upon me…whether through serendipity or through the openheartedness of a friend or stranger, grace helps me to believe in tomorrow. 2-Serendipity and synchronicity …
The truth is….#10minchallenge Day 6
Prompt: The truth is…. The truth is….that we’re all just finding our way. I used to believe that there was a kind of clarity that people reached at a certain point. And I was sure that I would find it too. For a while I think I confused consistency with clarity. But they’re not the …
Right Now…#10minchallenge Day 3
Prompt-Right now…. Right now…. I’m a mixture, a muddle of wonder tinted by cynicism, gratitude sprinkled with irritation, gregariousness mottled by introversion so that it has the look of Swiss cheese….making it hard to tell if I’m more hole or substance. Right now….I bless the long summer days while simultaneously resenting the 86 degree heat. …
Dinah’s Coffee Chat & #10minchallenge Day 2
Prompt: What was fun in childhood? Hello my friend! So glad you could stop by for coffee. It’s always so nice to connect. Once again, grab a glass or a cup of some thing you love and let’s chat… If we were having coffee…. I would start by telling you that I have entered into …
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#10minchallenge Day 1
Photo by Don Prompt: One man’s trash…. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m very much into metaphysics and all things “woo-woo.” It’s what feeds my soul. When I was just discovering the various avenues leading to metaphysics, my friend showed me a new quartz crystal that she’d bought at a stand in the mall. …
The big “IT”
Photo by Dinah (c) It sits there, like the face of someone I should know but can’t quite place. It sits there like a name or a word…on the tip of my tongue but just out of reach. It sits there like something I should know or like something I’ve forgotten and shouldn’t have. It …
Another “Awareness” Month
Photo courtesy of DNAngels (This post was written for DNAngels and can also be seen on their blog at http://www.dnangels.org) We all know that every month is an awareness month for something. There is Alzheimer’s awareness month, cancer awareness month, disability awareness month… And so on. And let’s face it… For most of these things, …
An Update 💜
Photo by Dinah (c) The latest...When I started my blog, I thought that I SHOULD try to keep it upbeat and inspirational. And, to some degree, I still do. But, here’s the thing...life happens. And as it happens, it’s tough and complicated and exhausting and messy. So I haven’t been writing much because I've been …
Dinah’s Coffee Chat… 5/9/21
Good morning and happy Sunday… And Happy Mother’s Day. Today’s coffee visit doesn’t contain a lot of words. This one is all about pictures of the things I’m looking forward to this summer. I hope you’ll join me in looking forward to beautiful weather and wonderful days ahead… Our daisy bushes Don caught this visit! …
Wisdom Wednesday 4/21/21 Hope
Photo by Dinah (c) “The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” – Barbara Kingsolver Today, I’m thinking about hope. It’s been …
Wisdom Wednesday 4/14/21 Activism!
Photo and information by Sandy Sharkey Today’s Wisdom Wednesday is about activism. I believe that we must take care of each other. And we must be a voice for the voiceless. I happened upon a Facebook post that has disturbed me all day. I called the number listed and it’s all true! Wild horses are …
Wisdom Wednesday 4/7/21–Rumi
Photo by Dinah heading south on the freeway. The sky was stunning! “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,there is a field. I’ll meet you there.When the soul lies down in that grass,the world is too full to talk about.Ideas, language, even the phrase “each other”doesn’t make any sense.The breeze at dawn has secrets to …
Wisdom Wednesday 3/31/21 Friendship!
Taken from Elizabeth Gilbert’s Facebook page Elizabeth Gilbert posted this on her Facebook page some time ago. She said that she saw it on a friend’s wall and she believes that it is a Druid friendship greeting. In case the above is difficult to read, here’s what it says: I honor you are gods.I drink …
Wisdom Wednesday-The Invitation
Photo by Don I’ve been dealing with the declining health of a family member for the last 4 months. But things have ramped up and demanded much more of my attention over the last 3 weeks. So I don’t currently have the required brain power to write something worthy of your time. So instead, I …
Wisdom Wednesday 3/10/21
Photo by Dinah (c) Shame Hello Dear Friends! Welcome back to Wisdom Wednesday. Obviously I have some work to do around this since I completely forgot to post last week Wednesday… Everything has its learning curve I guess! I was recently interviewed for a podcast. The podcast is called Sex, Lies and the Truth. Each …
Wisdom Wednesday 2/24/21
“Mirroring & Mindfulness”-Photo by Dinah (c) Welcome back to Wisdom Wednesday!Last week we briefly discussed mindfulness. Mindfulness is about learning to pay attention. It’s about paying attention to what goes on around us and to how we choose to respond … Remembering that we have the ability to choose a thoughtful response rather than a …
Wisdom Wednesday 2/17/21
Mindfulness 💜 Introducing Wisdom Wednesday! My thought is that this will be an opportunity to explore different thoughts/beliefs/insights from various Wisdom Traditions that can add to our individual peace of mind and heart. Let’s face it, the world isn't getting any easier to navigate any time soon. So, since we can’t control the outside chaos, …
With Angels and Elephants 