Category: #motivation

Specially Standard…

~ blacklilymusings ~ Leave a comment
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Both Words are being used around the office describing Thanksgiving on the weekend.

“It was nice, you know…Pretty Standard…”

“Oh yeah, it was Super Special this year…”

And when it comes to Traditions, Standard is, in my opinion, Special.  It’s Standardly Special to have Mom’s Stuffing Recipe.  Squash because it was Dad’s Favourite.  Ambrosia Salad because what is Thanksgiving Dinner without the cheesy tacky marshmallow cherry salad?

Special in the Way of New Friends Made.

Old Ones Treasured.

Catching up and Reminiscing.

Children’s Laughter.

A lot of Remember Whens…

So Grateful for Family and Friends.  Old and New.

 

 

Kudos From The Top

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Yesterday my law firm put together a 1.03 Billion Dollar Deal.  My job was organizing their many boardrooms and making sure their breakfast, lunch and dinner were catered to.  Many a late night snack as well as they Worked Out The Kinks.  A Rather Small Role in the whole Scheme of Things.

So I was deeply humbled this morning to come to work and find three emails from our Top Managing Lawyers for my exceptional service.  Thanking me for the “extra mile” hospitality.

I’ll tell you what is Extra Mile…

Out of all the people they could thank and remember in a Billion Dollar Deal going down, is not the catering coordinator.

That’s the Extra Mile.

Again, a Lesson Learned.

You don’t get to be in these positions in life without knowing how to Pass the Kudos Down.  People that Get Somewhere Special in Life are True Leaders.

Empathic.  Kind.  Humble

They Recognize the Extra Mile, because they are Extra Mile People.

So Inspired Today…

xo

Warm Happy Chatter Is My Favourite…

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There’s  a group of caterers setting up for a University of Calgary Seminar for First Year Law Students. When I Hit the Kitchen, I Realize I’ve Hardly Ever Heard Such Happy Chatter.  Reveling in the Last Wedding in Canmore.  The Old Mine being the Venue.  How Beautiful the Bride was.  How the Rain Stopped Miraculously.  One Server is Talking about her Diploma Course in Supply Management she’s Completing.  Another her Darling Daughter.  I’m Warmed by the Rapport between Them.

Then I watch Their Boss.  His Eyes are Kind.  He Smiles Wide and Genuine.  He Describes  Each Canape on His Menu with Excitement.  His Passion for His Craft is So Evident in His Demeanor.  He Engages with His Staff with True Interest.  He Stops in the Chaos to Offer Support and Encouragement. Even before I met the staff,  his words were “You’re going to love my staff.  Every one of them is great!”

He’s a True Leader.  He’s Kind.  Empathetic.  Energetic. Self Sacrificing.  Encouraging.  His Staff Glow with Their Love for their Job.

Once Again, a Lesson is Learned.  Bosses Set the Tone.  Like Attracts Like.

We All are Leaders in One Way or Another.  Unless You Live Under a Rock.  We All are in a Place of Inspiring Others. We All are Either Helping or Hindering the Journey of Others.

Thanks, Catering Boss From Food Works.  You’re My Hero Today.

xo

Natural State of The Mind

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Nothing Left to Natural is Better.  Weeds Take Over.  Rodents and Varmints Invade.  Helter Skelter is Never a Good Look.  The Mind is No Different.  The Mind in its Natural State is Messy.  Weeds Grow Quickly.  Those Little Foxes Move in Quick.

Every Day it’s a Beautiful Thing to Tend to Our Minds.  Clear the Weeds of Doubt, Fear and Worry.  Plant those Beautiful Flowers of Faith, Hope and Gratitude.  Take a Few Steps Back from this Precious Garden and Survey the Condition of Your Mind.  Is it Neat and In Order?  Is there a Clear Purpose and Direction of Thought?  Does it Radiate Purpose?  Is Your Mind a Place that were it Physical, would you want to Leisurely Sip Tea?  Would there be a Beautiful Fragrance to Enjoy of Love, Joy and Peace?  Or would you have to Clear a Spot on the Forsaken Bench of Resentment, Anger and Fear?

I’ve Learned to Love to Tend to My Garden.  I Stretch My Heart’s Limbs Up to the Warmth of God’s Love Every Day. I feel His Sun on my Face. His Kindness makes me Excited for the Day’s Adventures.  To Allow Him to Once Again Woo My Heart with His Precious Miracles Meant Just for Me in Every Day.

For Some, they may see the Dirt on My Knees and Under my Fingernails.  They may see Labour.  But if they Come Close and Join Me in the Garden of My Heart, I want my Guests to have Something to Enjoy.  A Little Rest Spot.  A little Sweet Fragrance.  A touch of Beauty.

For me, Natural is Certainly Not Better.  I know the Inclinations of My Natural Heart.  So I will Treasure the Labour.  For I am the Greatest Benefactor of what Grows There. Or Alternatively, the Great Sufferer.

Happy Gardening Dear Friends,

xo

 

 

Clean the Dust off Your Life Filter…It’s Just Dirt, Folks…

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My Filter can Get Pretty Dirty Real Quick.  And it Makes Sense.  If the Dust Storm of Doubt comes Rolling Through, it Can Clog Your Filter Almost Instantaneously.  Some Storms are Pretty Fierce and Can Hit Out of the Blue.  One Moment You’re Walking on Air in a MultiColoured Fairy Land of Optimism and Hope.  Then a Phone Call.  A Text.  A DejaVu Memory. The Clouds Roll In.  The Wind Starts Kicking Up Dust and Pretty Soon the Windshield Wipers of Prayer and the Water of His Word is Needed. There’s Always an Antedote.  Let’s Not See our Lives as the Colour of Brown when it’s Just the Dust on Your Glasses.  Nothing Changed.  Your Unicorn Land of Dreams is Still as It is.  Maybe a Storm Went Through and Things are Repositioned.  But it’s Still Unicorn Land My Friends.  There’s Still Magic. There’s Crazy Opportunities to Explore.  Unopened Doors to the Coolest Paradises to Be Discovered.

Don’t Let Some Silly Little Brown Particles of Doubt Keep You From Seeing Beauty…It’s Just a Little Dirt on the Filter Honey.

Life is Pretty.

xoxo

Cargo Up!

~ blacklilymusings ~ 1 Comment

 

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Every Day we Either Sail or Take on Water.  Staying Still will Always Swamp the Boat.  Most of Us are Pretty Low Riders.  Our Boats are Pretty Cargoed Up.

Burdens, Responsibilities.  All Good Things.  But Unless we are Purposeful and Making Progress, Those Waves are Coming On Over the Bow.

So How Do we Keep the Sputtering and the Stalling to a Minimal?  How do we keep the Clean Fuel Burning and Engines Firing Steadily? For Me, Clean Fuel is Courage.  The Greatest Engine Oil is Hope. Gratitude.

Some Resent the Burdens Laid Upon Their Ship.  And Yes, Too Much is Too Much.  But the Boats with Heavy Burdens are the Most Stable in Stormy Seas.  When there’s Not Enough Cargo,  too much of Our Hull above the Water Line.  We become Top Heavy and Easily Capsizable.

Allow Your Burdens to Hunker You Down on the Sea of Life.  There’s Safety in Our Burdens.  And Plus, the Captain Trusts You with Your Precious Cargo. And we Have the BEST Captain.  Our Burdens are Our Privileges.  Our Responsibilities are Precious.

Love You All So Much!  Can’t even Explain It.

xo

 

So You’ve Been Bullied…

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Everyone at some point has Dealt with a Bully.  Taking your Gentleness as Weakness, they Push You Around.  They Need to Feel Powerful.  Loving to Oppress.  For a Moment they Feed their Need for Power and Relevance through You.

Silently Observe…

Look in their eyes….

You’ll Often See Fear.  Bullies are Afraid Insecure People .  When you can Understand this, it takes their Power Away to Hurt You.

Disarm them with Your Quiet Confidence.  Stay Comfortable in Your Own Skin.  Two Things Often Happen…

Their Attention goes Elsewhere…or as you Role Model Strength and Courage

Sometimes…

The Fear in their Eyes Melts away.  Confidence finds a New Spring in Their Step.

They’ve Become Inspired…

and…

The World Becomes a Little Kinder.  A Little Brighter.

One Bully at a Time.

It’s Worth a Shot…

The Proper Kinda Shot…

 

Watch Out For What You Need

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need – verb

require (something) because it is essential or very important.

Whatever we Need will Control us.  We think of these things like Our Breath.  Without it we Feel We Die. Fade Into Oblivion.  We become Invisible.  Irrelevant. Purposeless.  Our life  Feels In Vain.

For some its External Validation.  Admiration.  Others, it’s Wealth.  Status.

Some Days we Have It All.  Some Years.  A Golden Decade. An Admiring Tribe of Supporters.  Money and Status Comes Easily.

For Some,  Circumstances Change. What we’ve come to Believe We Need, Slips Away.  We aren’t As Shiny.  Passersby Don’t Look Twice.  Our Bank Accounts Dwindle.  Our Status is a Few Levels Below Amazing.

None of it Matters.  Unless you Need it.  And Need is a Nasty Rollercoaster in Maybe Land. Maybe Today’s the Day.  Maybe this Will Work.  Maybe …Maybe…Maybe.  It’s like a Sipping a Straw in the Very Bottom of a Draining Well.  Mostly Nothing, but Frantic Hope.

So Today I Need Serenity.  It’s Free for the Taking.  I Need Joy.  It’s All Around Me.  I Need Simplicity, and that’s Up to Me.

What we Actually Need is Everywhere in Abundance.

Feeling Grateful.

xo

 

Those Dreaded Uninvited Guests Are Here….

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They Make Tears Run Down My Face Like Rivers.  The Wind as I walk Charlie Whisks them Away.  The Stain Still Smeared on my Cheeks.  Sometimes, they just Show up Unannounced.  Demanding Entry.  Smashing Down my Bolted Heart’s Door.

Shame.  Regret.  Grief.  Longing.  Fear.  Pain.

Gosh What a Family.

 Obnoxious.

They Rip the Living Room Carpet Up Every Time.  Exposing the Elephants in the Room.  There’s a lot of Elephant Excrement too under that Dang Rug.

They Demand my Attention.  That they be Acknowledged.  Their Needs Attended to.  Which Always Includes that Dumb Elephant.

When they Show their Ugly Heads Around, I know my Dream Day is Gone.  That I will now be Engrossed in this Flipping Family Fraught with Failures.  Feelings.  I will Cry Inconsolably.  I will Wish.  I will Repeat “I’m So Sorry” to No One and Everyone Inparticular.

But You Know What, Each Time They Come, They Lay Claim to an Elephant.  They Drag its Lumbering Behind Out the Door with them.  Like they’re taking Some Treasure.  If They Only Knew.

I Feel Lighter.  The Living Room Rug is One Less Elephant Lumpy.  And A lot Less Smelly. I Got More Heart Leg Room.  Room to Stretch.  Room for Good Guests.

And hey, Look Who’s At the Door….

Humility.  Forgiveness.  Gratitude.  Love.  Joy.

Come In, I’ve Missed You.

xo

A Silent Lesson…

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Yesterday on my walk, I passed a Little Tree.  It Stands Up to My Chin.  Indescript.  Almost Fragile.  It could be said Almost Sickly.  But Yesterday, I Almost Cried.  I stood there Silently Staring at Little Twiggy Tree.

On it were Big Fat Apples.  Beautiful Soft Green Orbs of Gorgeousness.  More Apples Than Branches.  Dear Little Thing.

Small But Mighty.

It Fed My Heart looking at That Little Thing.  I Learned a Giant Lesson.  Gods Quiet Voice Said…” Fruit is Never For the Tree.  But For Others.”

That Sweet Little Flimsy Tree spent Its Energy Nurturing Sweet Fruit for the Nurturing of Any who Desired.  It wasn’t Building Its Branches.  Making Its Leaves Glorious and Full.

There it Was.  Silently Offering to This Hungry World its Essence.  Filling its Precious Purpose. So Quietly Offering its Precious Fruit.

Speechless  by this Silent Lesson I Walked On.

Changed.

Humbled.

Even this Morning as I turned my Fireplace On for the First Time in the Chill of the Oncoming Autumn.  I thought of Autumn Joys.  Fires.  Lamplight.  Trees Shining Golden.  Apple Pie.

A..pple…Pie.

And I thought of Blessed Little Tree.

My Heart…

xoxo