Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Encircled

I like to write down inspirational scriptures in my journal, so that I can look back over them and feel uplifted again. This morning this is what I recorded:

...I am encircled about eternally in the arms of His love.            2 Nephi 1:15
What a beautiful and comforting thought. I am a beloved daughter of God and worthy of many blessings. I choose to keep His commandments and to love him because it brings me joy.

Today I reflected on all the people who love me and have chosen me to be part of their lives. My parents and siblings. My children, their wonderful spouses and my grandchildren.

I realize that initially your family doesn't choose you, but eventually they can choose to be part of your life or not and I am profoundly grateful to know that all my family chooses to be part of my life.

My friends...I have the most beautiful and gracious friends. These are people who also choose to be part of my life. . I am encircled about by people who love me.

I am richly and abundantly blessed

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Nice

People are basically good. I have been talking with a variety of people today, gathering information for how I want to handle my finances, and everyone has been helpful and cheerful and kind. Manners and common courtesies smooth our daily interactions. It's good to meet good people. Oh! That reminds me of my favourite Frank Burns (M*A*S*H) quote:

It's nice to be nice to the nice.
You have to imagine Frank wringing his hands and Hot Lips rolling her eyes. It always makes me giggle.

Overall most people are doing the best they can and I appreciate that. I will not let a few deadbeats ruin my experience with the many who are good. I am very blessed.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Compliments

Today I received a genuine compliment. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside, and the feeling lasted for several hours, keeping a smile on my face. I wish I could bottle this feeling and keep it for a rainy day!

Note to self: Give out more genuine compliments to others.

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Making Music

I attended choir practice today. I love singing with a group of people, I particularly like to sit in front of the men, because I enjoy hearing their parts right up close. We are singing "Oh My Father" and it sounds lovely with the harmony. Making music is a beautiful thing.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Faux Spring

The sun shone brilliantly today and temperatures were in the mid teens, I want to believe it's spring but I have lived here 32 years and I know there are at least two if not three more large dumps of snow before spring really arrives.

As I drove home this evening from visiting friends who live east of the city, my heart was so happy. Everything feels right. My cup runneth over with blessings.

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Just Say Yes to Blessings

I walked over a manhole cover today that was completely decorative, it had vines and flowers in raised relief on it. It quite caught my fancy and I was thinking that it might be my weird and wacky but beautiful moment HOWEVER of course it was blown out of the water when I got home from Toastmasters and there was a phone message from the Stake President. Upon calling him back he asked me if I'd be willing to host the sister missionaries for the next two months. I, of course, leaped at the chance. One does not say no to big blessings like that.

I am exceptionally excited. They move in tomorrow! My home is completely ready for them, it's been just sitting here waiting to be used.

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Faith

I am learning to be happy and content in the place where I am planted. When I'm fully here, engaged in living my life to the best of my ability, there comes a sense of sweetness and peace. A feeling of joy to just be here.

I have absolutely no idea what the future holds for me. However, I have faith that my life is in God's hands and that whatever comes I will be able to handle it and learn from it and continue to move forward. So until notified of a change of plans, I will continue to do what I do best and pray for direction each day.

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Psalm 118:24

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Challenging Flowers

Tonight was the last class of my level one floral design program where we learned how to make a spiral hand tied bouquet. It was extremely challenging. It is so amazing to be doing something that I love but is difficult to learn.

Therein lies the secret to enjoying life. Taking on challenges that stimulate you and stretch you and allow you to learn and grow. While I was struggling to create my spiral I was totally engrossed in the task at hand and all other thoughts and worries disappeared.

Then at the end there is the satisfaction of learning a new skill. I will certainly need more practice at spiral bouquets, but they are lovely to look at and great as hostess gifts.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Long Distance Relationship

I called my friend Lucy who lives in Newfoundland this evening, just to chat. She's been gone 2 1/2 years, yet we can pick up a conversation like she lives around the corner. That's what good friends are all about. Talking to her was my sweet moment for the day.

Sunday, March 21, 2010

Triple the Blessings

We had a family dinner at my son's home this evening.  It's all about the family. I am so grateful for a wonderful family and it's so lovely to be together and share a meal. We are so blessed that we all love each other and get along and actually want to spend time together. I'm amazed that I've gone from two descendants to six, I've tripled my blessings!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Ponder Moment Epiphany

Today is the third month anniversary of my blog. For the past 90 days I have looked for and found something beautiful, something to savour, or the hand of God manifest in my life in some small way.

Some nights I sit down to write my blog and my mind is empty. I say to myself that nothing blog-worthy happened today and I might as well go to bed and skip it. However, I truly believe that something good happens every day, something to be grateful for, to be thankful for, to savour. That's when I go and brush my teeth while I review the day moment by moment. If nothing has arisen by the time my pearly whites are gleaming, I wash my face and get ready for bed. Always! by the time I'm ready for bed I have found something worth remembering about my day.

Which brings me to that ponder-moment...every single day I have found something, and I wonder if every day of my life has been this way and I never noticed or if because I'm noticing and recording that I'm attracting more goodness into my life. I feel like I've had more serendipity in the past 90 days than I have had in my entire life, all added up.

Take today for example. No plans of any kind except to be by myself, then my friend Karyn calls and invites me out to dinner with her and her husband. We had a marvelous evening of talking and sharing and eating Thai food. We stopped for gelato on the way home and then they came in and visited for a few moments. I have that warm happy feeling that comes from spending quality time with people I really like.

This is my epiphany: That focusing on the beautiful moments in life changes your heart. I believe it changes the very core of who you are and you begin to attract the things you focus on. Whatever you focus your attention on is what you get.

Friday, March 19, 2010

Happiness...It's a Great Thing

I had an hour long phone conversation with my daughter this evening as she locked up her work and drove home. Although we chat often, we don't often get to talk for long as either I'm working or her kids need something. Just like last week when I got to talk to my son, I feel equally joyful for the time that I spent talking to my daughter.

She has a wonderful husband, she's one of the luckiest girls on the planet. And her happiness brings me happiness.

When your children are happy, even when they're adults, it's a great thing.

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Feeling Good

I have such an abundance of interesting activities to occupy my time. This evening I was the Toastmaster for the International Speech Competition at my club. I had set a goal or objective to not read from my notes while speaking. I didn't even take my notes up to the front with me, which was risky because I was introducing speakers and their speech titles and interviewing contestants. I really enjoyed myself and didn't particularly mess up any portion of the evening so that was fun. I left feeling good.

I am so blessed to be surrounded by good people. I have great friends, interesting clients and fun people to interact with. I feel very happy.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Stones into Schools

I just finished reading the book by Greg Mortenson "Stones into Schools." It is the story of his efforts to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan for girls. What an amazing feat!

I was moved by the efforts of the many people who risked their lives and dedicated all their time to helping educate the poorest people in these countries. They go where no other agency, government or not, goes and empower the locals to help build and run their schools.

I am overwhelmed and boggled and in wonderment of one man's efforts and where they have taken him today. His philosophy is that to gain lasting peace you must educate the girls. He has a saying:

Educate a boy and you educate an individual, educate a girl and you educate an entire community.

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Angel Friend

Good friends are the angels in my life. I am blessed with a multitude of dear friends. I am surrounded by outstanding women who love me and care about me and lift my spirits.

My friend Karyn drives me to our floral design class every week. She says that I must be tired from working all day and that she's happy to do it. All my offers to drive are gracefully turned down. Truthfully, I am tired and it's lovely to be chauffeured. And I am enjoying our class together, it is so fun to learn something new with a friend!

Good friends are a blessing from God, and I have been blessed abundantly.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Lilies and Tulips

These white lilies have been perfuming my bathroom and bedroom for almost two weeks. This is the second set of tulips I've combined with the lilies.

To make the bouquet seem bigger, I've placed it against the mirror so that I have double the blooms!

I am so blessed to have flowers in my life. They truly lift my spirit and touch my heart.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Sweet Kids

Today I had the unexpected pleasure of teaching the eight year olds in Primary. I had the beautiful Kiddle twins, Emily and Elora, Riley Turner and Megan Sherwood. Such bright children with beautiful testimonies of Jesus Christ. It was a sweet blessing to be with these kids and they touched my heart and brightened my day.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Just Plain Blessed

I feel blessed today. I had the day off work. I dawdled over lunch with Brenda at the tea house as we talked and talked and talked. She has such deep insights into my life, it's wonderful to have a friend who knows me so well.

I thought I would be spending a quiet evening alone, but my son called to invite himself over while his wife attended a bridal shower. He brought dinner and we talked and talked and talked. It's so wonderful to have children who are bright and strong and leading extraordinary lives.

I feel blessed today.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Good Day

I need to savour the days when I experience a lot of success to buoy me up on the days that don't have high points. This was a bit of a crazy day. I sold a home package in the early afternoon. A big package, one I've been working on for months. It was unexpected for today. The clients just called me up and asked if I was free to see them. I fit them in and they pulled out their cheque book and voila! the sale was closed. Sweet serendipity.

In the late afternoon I brought a guest to Toastmasters where I was the Toastmaster. I enjoy running the meeting and felt good about the job I did. My guest loved the meeting and wants to join. How fun!

Then in the evening I went to the home of a client of one of the Realtors in our club to do a Home Staging Consultation. I felt like I did another good job, the clients seemed to be very happy with the advice I gave them.

I've been designing homes for 27 years now. I feel confident in my skills. I'm in a good place. It was a good day.

Basket of Fun


Another floral creation, this time a basket of flowers. It has lilies and carnations, daisies and other flowers. Flowers make me happy. This one is sittin on my desk at work and bringing pleasure to me every minute.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Son Shine

I had just sat down to write in my blog. It was going to be about the lovely basket of flowers I created at my floral design course tonight. Then the phone rang and it was my son calling. I so rarely get to talk to him these days that I savoured every minute of our half hour conversation while he caught me up on his life with his bride of six months.

As much as I love being an empty nester, I miss the daily contact I had with him when he lived at home and it's been a bit of an adjustment. So my heart is all happy that I am up to date on his job, schooling and life in general.

You never stop being a mother. Thank Heavens!

Monday, March 8, 2010

Creating Beauty

Another home cooked meal tonight, this time at Deb's home. Homemade French onion soup thick with cheese and a lovely chicken salad. I have truly been fed well this past week.

However, I had to earn my supper! I had Deb look through decorating magazines and a webpage of interior designs and just pick out ones she liked. She was flabbergasted to discover that she loves white wood and grey and silver accents. Her home has blue walls, oak cabinets and trim and red furniture and dark wood. No wonder why she doesn't like her home.

I enjoyed helping her discover what her tastes and style are. I wrote out two pages of things she could do to redecorate her home as time and means become available. It felt good to help her. I like doing things like that. I enjoy creating beautiful spaces that uplift the soul. I am blessed to have this talent.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Books

I went over to visit my daughter and her family this afternoon. Two year old Julianna was tired and ready for a nap. She was clinging to her mother and crying and giving me dirty looks. Every time I looked at her she'd turn her head away and say "no!"  Then suddenly she slid off her mom's lap went to the book shelf and got a book and climbed up onto my lap, happy as could be. That last maybe two minutes.

I'm very happy to be known to my grandchildren as the grandma who reads them books. If I can give them the gift of loving to read, it will be one of my greatest accomplishments.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Goodbye Old Friend

Today I said good-bye to an old friend. I bought this couch brand new 10 years ago to start off my new life as a single mom. Last fall it was relegated to the garage and finally today I put an ad up on Kijiji to re-home it. I gave it away for free, it was time for it to move on.

A young couple driven by their dad came by and loaded it into his truck. They said they were living in a basement and sitting on the floor.

The sun was shining and I opened up the garage and swept it clean. Spring fever has gripped me. What a beautiful day!

Friday, March 5, 2010

More Serendipity

This evening on my way home Maxine called and invited me over for dinner. I didn't have a chance to eat dinner last night between Toastmasters and the symphony so it was another sweet serendipity.

Two home made dinners in one week, that's gotta be a record for this year. And really, come to think of it, I'm going to a potluck dinner on Sunday and dinner over at Deb's on Monday...I'm on a roll! Free Food!

Tchaikovsky

Another day of sweet serendipity. I got home too late last night to record my beautiful moment, but I went to the Jack Singer Concert Hall to hear the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra play Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto and Symphony No. 6. My friend Deb had an extra ticket and I was her guest for the evening.

A lovely young Japanese woman, Mayuko Kamio, played the Violin Concerto. She was extremely talented and I was entranced by her playing.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Good Eats

It's always sweet serendipity when you get invited to dinner on the spur of the moment. Iris invited me to stay for dinner after my singing lesson. I am still savouring such an enjoyable homemade meal: steak and potatoes, steamed asparagus, corn & peas, garden salad and then fresh fruit salad and gingerbread cookies. MMmmMMmmMMmm. A good meal that someone else cooks can wipe away all the cares of the day. Life is good.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Fun Flowers

Another delightful evening learning how to design with flowers and daydreaming about filling my life with flowers.

 Karyn and I are going to take the whole certificate program together. We're planning to teach a flower arranging class for Relief Society together.

I'm so grateful for this opportunity to learn something new and to expand my horizons and to bring home beautiful floral arrangements! Life is fun.

Monday, March 1, 2010

Rapt

I'm reading a book called RAPT - Attention and the Focused Life  by Winnifred Gallagher.  The material is fascinating even if the writing is dull. The book reads more like a scientific report.  However, it confirms my little project here. She writes on page 49:

Even in very difficult situations, if's often possible to find something to be grateful for, such as others' loving support, good medical care, or even your own values, thoughts, and feelings.  Focusing on such a benign emotion isn't just a "nice thing to do," but a proven way to expand your view of reality and lift your spirits, thus improving your ability to cope.
The premise of the book is that what you focus your attention on helps create your reality. Therefore, if you tend to focus on the negative things in life, you experience life in a negative way. Certainly, my experiment with looking for the beautiful moment each day has enriched my life and lifted my spirits. By recording something every day I am creating a pattern of joy and happiness that carries into all aspects of my life.

I'm quite fascinated with the whole concept. Imagine four people hiking up a gentle mountain slope. One person has a bird book and binoculars and is focusing on locating and identifying birds. Another carries a wild flower book and is busily identifying flowers. Another stops repeatedly to take in the panoramic vista that presents itself from such lofty heights. The last person has a blister on their heel and is limping the whole way.

Each person has walked the same trail and arrived at the same destination at the same time, however, each person has had a vastly different experience based on what they focused their attention upon. It's amazing to realize that the person right beside you is experiencing life in a totally different way from you. That no two people experience life in exactly the same way. We truly create our own realities by what we focus on and equally by what we tune out.