Working hard...

Well, I'm half way through my memoir rewrite. Yes, I'm working hard on my book and finally making progress, thanks to the author Susan Richards and my BWG friends. Susan gave the writing workshop I attended last summer and has been invaluable to me, both as a mentor for my writing and as a friend.

One discouraging morning a few months ago I asked Susan if I should keep working on this project. Her answer.... "If this memoir is important to you, go forward with COMMITMENT. And I mean, COMMITMENT." That's all I needed to hear. Writing this book is what makes me get up in the morning! I feel its need to go forward.

I love what I'm doing, and this cute cabin that I write in helps me out. For Christmas this year, one of my gifts was given by a friend who also loves my cabin and believes in me. She gave me the gift of wood to finish the inside walls. Rough cut cedar is what I chose. Come spring, that will happen.

So, to all my writing friends I say attend a writing workshop. Also, join a writing group. I belong to the Bethlehem Writer's Group. My friends there have helped me enormously. Our facilitator is dedicated to each of us as writers, making sure our work is shared and critiqued.

Most of all...KEEP WRITING. Just do it! As the commercials say. Find a way to dedicate part of your day to passion. If that passion is writing, keep it up. Work hard at it.

In the end your heart will be satisfied.

Happy New Year!

As we whoosh into 2013, I think about the year that has passed. What was important to me? I make a little list.
...Family
...Friends
...Animals, birds, trees, and all living beings on my land
...Loving enough
...Health challenges
...Meditations
...Writing
...Loving enough
...Vacations and having fun
...Writing workshops
...Loving enough!

My prayer is to love more in the new year I've been given, live selflessly, and have a profound impact on the lives of others.

May it be so! Amen.

Merry Christmas to All.....

May your Christmas be filled with love, fun and laughter, family and friends, and did I mention love??

As we leave 2012 and enter our new year, take time to fill each space you enter with new energy and kindness.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HOLIDAYS, AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR.

Daybreak....

The dawn of each new day brings messages to our heart. Some are ones we can't wait to carry forward while others seem to carry a ton of weight. I guess the question is, how do we balance our self within each of these. Pensive thoughts are, at times, ones that end up giving us the greater joy. Often we keep them secret, thinking we cannot possibly bring them to fruition. But once we recognize them for what they are, letting go of their influence becomes easier.

Spiritual strength is born of weighty issues. Give them worth and acceptance. Then balancing becomes simpler and they lose their hold on us. In the mist of each new morning we can go forward knowing that clarity will follow.

Acknowledgement on our part brings a purpose....a reason. It is important to own these decisions because admission helps us understand ourselves.

Choose to live in a higher place within your heart. Figure out your own identity. Tomorrow's dawn will become easier.

A vacation to love...

A month in Maine! What's not to love...

The rocky coast with its gorgeous sunrises over the water, left me speechless. I woke each morning to them and each was different. Lobster boats left their wake as they motored by to inspect their traps, and I stood on my deck and watched. Books are written about this choice of work, it is not magical or mystical. It is hard physical work that lasts from before dawn to dusk. Many who do lobstering for a living have as many as nine hundred traps set out into the bay. They can haul about three hundred a day, thanks to the mechanics on the boats.

I spent the month doing many things, but most important was the work I did to regain my strength. I walked two miles a day and hiked at least another two. Recovering from cancer and chemotherapy is a very long road, but I'm on it! All the way.

Not one day went by that I didn't have a chance to meditate on all I've been given during my lifetime on this planet. Sitting, walking or hiking along the shore gave me strength for whatever is next for me. I will follow my path to its end, loving each and every moment.

Take a vacation from your normal life, it will give you new strength.

Coming fall.....

Fall is on its way, there is no doubt. My favorite pregnant doe from spring has had her fawn. Mommy eats from my feeding stations, while her fawn wanders by my cabin windows in search of new treasures. She is losing her spots now as we move toward autumn, and soon she will blend more with the foliage as it turns a rusty brown.

Each year at this time I yearn to leave on a vacation that will bring a different beauty than the one I view each day. One of majestic mountain ranges, ocean vistas, or slot canyons of the Southwest. Which one will I choose?

It will be Maine. Cadillac mountain, hiking, biking, sea glass hunting, or watching the boats come and go each day. I can hardly wait. Vacation is a little more important to me this time. I've battled my health issues and have worked hard doing it.  Now it is time to see if I can whip this tired body back into the strong active one that helped me win these challenges. I am alive. I have survived. And I will thrive with God's love for me.

If you listen carefully, you may hear me laugh and giggle in my joy from the East Coast of Maine. Feels like coming home each time I cross the border. Here I come, are you ready for me?

Change..

The workspace in my cabin was not exactly what I needed, so it was time for change. I came up with some ideas, and put them to use.

While I did that I realized the worth of making changes in our life. It is a good thing. Many of us complain too often that we need things to be different, and then we contuinue on doing nothing to make that happen. I think of Einstein's quote; insanity; doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. It makes me laugh each time I remember it. I know I'm guilty.

So, now I have a new desk arrangement. It looks out the back wall of windows. Fawns walk by daily, and birds feed from the feeder that's been here since I built the cabin. It has given me a new perspective as I do another rewrite on my upcoming book, From Scratch.

Think of something you need to change to make things better for you. And do it!