Advice and Encouragement

Peace Within

Backstory

This story was written at Christmastime – the holiday best known for giving – and receiving. I was thinking about how little I desire, to be content. I scripted this to wish the same for you.

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Peace Within – #508

I have a very special wish for you. I wish that there be peace within you today. May you feel calm and serene in your world. May you trust that you are exactly where you’re meant to be in this moment of time. Wish not for more or less. Leave the wishing for someone less fortunate than you.

Resurrect the memory of the infinite possibilities that are born of faith in yourself and others. Use the gifts you have been given. Recognize those gifts for the treasure they are and pass on the love that has been given to you.

Remember that the gifts need not be huge. They can be small and fine and pleasure one person at a time. If you are using a gift that has been conferred on you, you are doing all that the universe could possibly expect of you. And God is pleased with you.

May you be content with yourself just the way you are. Let this knowledge of who you are settle into your very center. Allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.

What a wonderful day this can be as you follow your heart, use your gifts, and accept the opportunities you have to do something fine today and prepare for tomorrow.

P.S.

Even if this message finds you in turmoil today, take the moment to recognize the blessings in your life as well as the trials. If you can’t better your world today, add warmth and pleasure to another’s world. Help someone else to be content.

[Show #508]

Popovers

Backstory

It’s not like I’m the Kitchen Master. Kitchen Monster may be more like it. Once I was the mother who cooked seven meals on Sunday so there would be home-made dinner, the whole week. My recent forays into the cooking den, however, usually involve turning on the microwave. But this one baking challenge, I just had to conquer.

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Popovers – #487

I had been on a mission to learn how to make popovers. These are a very simple breakfast treat. Something like Yorkshire Pudding.

Very simple set of ingredients, but you have to get everything just right. The temperature of the pre-set oven, a special pan heated in the oven before the batter is poured in, the temperature of the ingredients, the length of baking, and of course, the foibles of my particular oven.

In over a dozen tries, my family put up with a whole bunch of popunders, while I mastered all the techniques.

Now, I have it down pat. When my family hears that popovers are on the way, they know they will be perfect. Golden brown, crusty on the outside, empty on the inside. It took a long time and many tries, but I learned something new by conquering the baking of popovers.

That was a few months ago though. Since then, I have learned lots and lots of new things. My goal is to learn something new each day. Do you do that too? When it does not come organically through my interactions during the day, I use the internet to connect me with some new learning.

Never a day should go by without you learning something; from baking the best cookies to learning Bill O’Reilly’s latest new word. Crown each day with learning and you’ll never grow old.

P.S.

It’s OK to give yourself credit for easy new things learned too. Like figuring out how to pull the ring on the soda can without ruining your nails. Pat yourself on the back and move along.

[Show #487]

Coping Skills

Backstory

Mothers of adult children are often involved when family members have issues with which to cope. Mothers are the soft place to land, so we get turned to, in times of stress. We cope and help others to cope. Don’t we?

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Coping Skills – #643

Someone sent a photo around on the Internet recently. It showed a dog prancing on its hind legs. You got the impression it was showing off. Then you realized it was walking that way because it had lost its front legs. The animal had figured out how to keep going. It’s an important lesson for people too; how to keep going.

Our town recently had a period of multiple young deaths. Week after week, we were offering sympathy and condolences to parents who could not understand why fate had let them down and taken away their child.

At one of the services, someone said wisely, “Life is not the way it’s supposed to be. It’s the way it is. The way you cope with it is what makes the difference.”

Gather up your own coping skills and be ready to put them to use.

As we get older or wiser, we seem to be often called on to cope. A friend loses a loved one, someone becomes seriously ill, circumstances make critical changes in a person’s life. They may all turn to YOU for support, advice and assistance.

You help them most by effectively conveying the need to just keep going. What you say can make a big difference in their ability to cope. Practice what you would say to someone who turns to you for help. Be ready, when the call comes.

P.S.

A philosophy helps to cope with adversity. It can be a cliché or a bolt of wisdom. Two things I have found to be true – 1) When one door closes, another opens. 2) People come into your life for a season or a reason. Listen to the story with that theme at https://considerthisradioshow.com/reason-season-lifetime/.

[Show #643]

Thanks For Doing Good

Backstory

This month we Americans will give thanks for all the privileges and opportunities we are offered in our beloved country. Most of us are smart enough to be grateful more than one day a year. Today’s story explores a different kind of gratitude for which we might offer thanks.

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Thanks for Doing Good – #489

The flowers you received were just beautiful and they lasted so long. Of course you wrote a personal note of thanks to the sender.

You are showered with birthday gifts. Of course each person will receive your thank you card or phone call or email.

Those thanks are tied to the receipt of something tangible, physical. How about thanking the people in your life for the greater gifts they give you – the gifts of their time, their talent, their energy. We often laud these people to others, conveying our respect and admiration for what they have done but we may forget to tell the person involved how much we appreciate what they have done or said or thought.

So why not call the friend who crocheted that special scarf for you last year. Let her know how much you appreciate it and how often you wear it. Call your mom or grandmother and tell her you have just been remembering happy memories from your childhood and wanted to share them anew with her. Call the new person who took over for you at the PTA gala, when you got the flu at the last minute. Send an email to the neighbor who shared her fruit or vegetables or her recipe.

Some people don’t hear nearly enough thanks, for the amount of good they do. They may not do it to get those words of appreciation, but they can’t help enjoying them, when they come along.

Oh, and by the way, thanks for all the things you do.

P.S.

Now that you’re thinking about those who have made a difference in your life, will you do something about it? Don’t wait and expect to remember. That person was important to you at a critical time of your life. Pick up the phone and tell them so.

[Show #489]

Personal Mission Statement

Backstory

I’ve always set goals and made sure my plans were in writing. It does not end when you retire. That may be the best time to map out who you want to be and where you want to go. You have a second chance to scratch things off that bucket list, get organized or mend fences. What will it be?

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Personal Mission Statement – #659

In my working days, I wrote strategic plans and helped organizations decide what their future should look like.

When I settled in the Shenandoah Valley to take things easy, I wanted a PERSONAL mission statement; something I could refer to, to see if my days are being spent on things that matter to me. It’s so easy to get side-tracked and whittle time away, when you’re not in a 9 to 5 job. I wanted to set a course and keep on it.

There’s a quote from Henry David Thoreau. It so inspired me that I have it in a picture frame in my office.

Thoreau says, “If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

Thoreau was saying to me – “Your Personal Mission Statement should aim you toward your own version of success and contentment. Yours – not anyone else’s.”

If you are interested in writing your own Personal Mission Statement and would like to see a sample, I’d be glad to share mine with you. It outlines the RESULTS I want to achieve from the things I do each day.

Just send me an email and I’ll get it out to you.

Once you write your mission statement, be sure to post it where you’ll see it every day so you can track your progress toward ”success unexpected in common hours.”

P.S.

To request the sample Personal Mission Statement, send an email to Annette@ConsiderThisRadioShow.com. Hope you enjoy the process of creating your own strategies.

[Show #659]

People Change

Backstory

Bill and I watched a British movie the other night. The lives of a whole family changed dramatically in less than a year. Some of the characters tried desperately to cling to the way things were; others rushed blindly toward change. Contemplation on those fictitious events led to consideration about how fast change occurs in real life.

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People Change – #315

Do you think people can change? I’ll bet you’ve seen it happen in your own life. Someone is grieving and unhappy and really off balance and yet, over time they straighten themselves out. Sometimes it’s the love of another person that helps them move on, or the person himself that may learn to live with the way things are. Or she may find new interests and a new way to participate.

Psychologists say that major changes in life take four years to accomplish.

For instance, a college graduate carries the person he or she was in school into the first four years of their career. It takes that long to lose the essence of being a student and adopt to the professional lifestyle.

They say it takes empty nesters a full four years to think like a family of just two.

It takes four years before the remarried person is totally comfortable with this new person.

Do you agree?

It probably seems the change occurs a lot faster than that. But we’re talking about change to the core. Change of your very being from the previous person you were to the skin and heart and soul of the person you have become; someone who has created contemporary values for their today, not their yesterday.

P.S.

What do you think? Are we humans so flexible that we can move from one corner to the next and take it all in stride? Or do we need to give ourselves – and others – time to adjust, become familiar, get into a groove that’s comfortable. Scroll down and jot down your thinking, please.

[Show #634]

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