Category Writing

Conquer your FEARS!

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So, I have a question…

When you are faced with FEARS, how do you respond?  Like this cartoon of the man, do you charge ahead ready to fight?  OR…  Do you become immobilized like the cat?

challenge-73325_960_720Here is the BIG question. How long do you allow yourself to stay immobilized?

I was thinking about this, because I got laid off from my job. Of course, for anyone who has been laid off, you know our first reaction is HOW that cat looks!  It’s fear of the unknown!

Aren’t all fears comprised of the “unknown.” If we are afraid of flying, it’s because we don’t know if the plane will crash. If we are afraid of heights, it’s because we might fall. In general, we want to know the outcome, then there is no fear.

cat-fearSo fear, like seen in the cat’s expression, can immobilize us. The goal is to conquer our fears as quickly as possible. As soon as we do that we are not in “self pity mode” anymore and instead we are focused on “our goals.”

When does that shift from fear to taking charge happen? It’s different for everyone, but we need to recognize the positive signs that our energy force is shifting. For me, this might sound silly, but as I was exercising, I started finding “lucky pennies” in the strangest places. Then a recruiter who was sending my resume in for a job, boosted my confidence by sharing her journey of her recent job search. She made me laugh, because she started out by saying, “interviewing sucks,” especially when we think we have the job and we don’t. I appreciated her willingness to share her feelings. By making me laugh, it changed my day!

Next, I was at the library and came across this book called, “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway,” (Dynamic Techniques for Turning Fear, Indecision and Anger into Power, Action and Love) by Susan Jeffers, Ph.D.  YES, I did have that feeling of “wow” perfect timing for finding this book. I got home, downloaded the audio version, and listened it to while I job searched. Very motivational! I would hope I wrote my best cover letters that day.

One more, my sister happened to forward me a job fair event for Amazon. That was “out of the blue.” I went and they were talking about a new initiative to attract applicants who need flexibility in their work schedules, which was in the news the next day!

What is the “moral of this story?” Make an effort to get out of your FUNK as soon as possible! Once you do, the Universe makes things HAPPEN!

AND… Be willing to share your story with others, similar to the recruiter sharing her story with me. She made me laugh and changed my day!

How have you gotten out of your funk?

We motivate each other!!

“Guardian of the Spirit”

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Sharing with you some photos from my walk this weekend up by Discovery Park, where my friend and I came across the “Guardian of the Spirit” statue here in Seattle. There was a write up below the statue, which I hope you can read.

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Have you ever seen a Dream Catcher?  Here’s one…

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If you visit the Pacific Northwest, you will notice that this area is rich in Native American history. There is a lot to learn and explore and for sure you’ll come across a totem poll and you might even see a Pow Wow taking place!

Sleep well — your dream catcher will take the bad dreams away!

Guizhou – Sister’s Meals Festival

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A few months ago I started following a Blog called, “Enjoying Life… don’t quit.” I am not sure how I came across it, but the blogger had posted some fantastic photos of birds. They were amazing and as I looked at some of her other work, I was hooked. So, now I look forward to seeing “what” photos she will post next.

Well, this week she posted some really beautiful photos from the Guizhou – Sister’s Meals Festival in China. Due to copyright rules, I did not take this photo from her website, but it gives you an idea of the type of photos she has posted this week. I encourage you to click here, and see her pictures of the festival.

This is something I would love to see, so I did a search to find out more about this Chinese village and the significance of the festival. The China Highlights website describes the festival and has an itinerary for a tour you could take. They say that the Sister’s Meals Festival is known as the Oriental Valentine’s Day.

This festival allows Miao (Hmong) youth to possibly find their marriage partners through rice. Disclaimer: The photo I have is of young children. You need to click on site above to see the photos of the older “mature ladies” who participate in this exchange of rice ceremony. I didn’t want to mislead you with the photo I have.

Back to the rice exchange…  The ladies come out in traditional costumes wearing their elaborate silver jewelry. The Miao believe that silver dispels evil spirits. At the dance party, the young men present a parcel of rice to the lady they are interested in. In return, the lady gives the young man a parcel of rice, which gives him her answer. When the young man opens his package if he finds 2 chopsticks, it’s an acceptance. If the man finds 1 chopstick it is a refusal and if he finds a chili that is a definite, “No.”  There are other activities at the festival like dragon boat racing, bull fights, wooden drum dance, etc.

So glad I opened this lady’s post this week. I want to learn more about the “Guizhou Ethnic Minorities Festival Tour.” In fact, see China Discovery, if you are interested in more information as well. The world is full of traditions and special customs. Let’s keep sharing!

Mighty Girls – strong and powerful.

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Ginny Thrasher 2016 Olympic Gold Medalist

Ginny Thrasher, 2016 Rio Olympics Gold Medalist in Sports Shooting, photo from “A Mighty Girl” website.

Have you noticed lately there is a push toward “girl power?” A few months ago I started following “A Mighty Girl” on Facebook. They are a great resource for girls of all ages on being strong, confident and courageous.

The website shares all sorts of books, movies, TV resources featuring girls/women who have made a difference in their lives, community and/or the world. When I was young we didn’t have a special resource like this. What a wonderful website for girls!

As I follow “A Mighty Girl” on Facebook, I am pleasantly surprised by their inspiring posts every day. Share this website with young girls/women you know.

TODAY their message was really special. They honored Ginny Thrasher, a nineteen-year-old American sports shooter from Virginia, who won the FIRST GOLD MEDAL of the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 10 meter air rifle competition. I got lucky and I happened to turn on the Olympics during the shooting competitions, so I saw Ms. Thrasher in action. It takes a lot of concentration to win, especially when the crowd, instead of being silent, was loud and started clapping, which is distracting…. BUT she kept her FOCUS and finished with a 10.9 beating two-time medalist Li Du of China.

The story gets better. Ginny Thrasher only took up this shooting sport five years ago and was ranked 23 in the world as she entered the Olympics and not favored to win gold. Clearly she has a special skill and her passion and determination brought her the GOLD medal. She’s a sophomore at West Virgina University and became the first freshman ever in history to win the NCAA individual air rifle titles.

2016 Rio Olympic history was made!  Another Mighty Girl was revealed.

Congratulations Ginny Thrasher, we’re PROUD of you!!  Go Team U.S.A.!

Advance Movie Screening

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lighthouse-Blog

I went to my first Advance Movie Screening for “The Light Between Oceans.” Excellent movie. I belong to an Historical Fiction Book Club, which I found on Meetup.com. This was one of the books we read.

The movie will be officially released on September 2, 2016, so it was exciting to see the movie ahead of time. I felt like a “movie critic,” especially when the announcer came in and told us that normally they take our cell phones, but as they had not done that they were “requiring us” to “power off” all cell phones. No photos or videos allowed AND if they caught anyone turning their phones on during the movie they would be immediately escorted out of the theatre. At that moment there was a lot of noise as people made last minute texts, etc. before powering down. They had almost a full theatre. It “was” refreshing to watch a movie without people checking cell phones constantly.

Good news for those who like to read a book “before” they see the movie. There is still time! The book has the same title as the movie and was written by M.L. Stedman. This is a romance / drama / mystery and for sure you should have tissues handy while you read the book, it’s a tear jerker.

The title was clever, because the story is about a man who manages a lighthouse off the coast of Western Australia. He gets married and … well, I don’t want to give it away!

If you don’t mind a “spoiler” then click here for a quick preview of the movie trailer.

I give it a thumbs up, or is it 4 stars…?

HECK I am new at this!  Just read the book and then see the movie!  IT’S GOOD!

My First Race – Dragon Boat Racing

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IMG_3594I heard a team captain say they were “short” one woman to be able to form a team for the Dragon Boat races that were coming up, so I shyly raised my hand.  DONE – I was part of the team!

Our day started at 5 AM on Saturday. We had to drive to the location, set up and prepare for the day’s events. A group got there before us and set up our tents. We all brought food for a pot luck and stored our bags, paddle, etc.  FYI: Never forget your towel and change of clothes. You do get wet, it’s fun, but not if you can’t change your clothes on a cold day.

IMG_3601When we practice we do not have a dragon head on our boat, so I was curious to see how this would look.  I didn’t realize that there is a real drum on the boat too. For those of you who do not know much about dragon boat racing I’ll fill you in. There are 20 paddlers to a boat. The first two paddlers at the front of the boat are called, “the strokes,” they set the pace for the boat.

The drummer uses the drum to set the pace of the strokes, so this person must have a loud voice for all of us to hear. When we are paddling it’s easy to get distracted by the boats next to us and their drum beats. I also learned that you lose time if you look up to see “how” you are doing in the race, best to stay focused and give your strokes ALL you’ve got. Finally, there is the steerperson at the back of the boat, who steers the boat and also gives IMG_3609commands to the paddlers. Here is a glossary of Dragon Boat terms.

We raced about 500 meters in 2.5 minutes. There were four boats racing at once and it took a little time to get us ALL lined up. I know 2.5 minutes might not seem long, but imagine how you feel when you are doing “planks” at the gym. You start out strong and then your arms get tired and it takes everything you’ve got to keep in the plank position. Same with paddling, you force yourself to continue paddling through the pain and finish STRONG. That’s where the drum beat comes in, it keeps the team focused.

BAD NEWS – We didn’t win!

GOOD NEWS – We had a lot of fun, we worked as a team and after our 3rd time out, we improved our time, and we finished STRONG!  It was a great day!   GO TRY IT!

Coyote versus the Fox

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imageMy brother took this photo of a coyote in his backyard. Beautiful picture!

When I saw the photo, it made me think of a few children’s stories, i.e Little Red Riding Hood, Aesop’s Fables: The Fox and the Grapes and Pinocchio. However, I realized those stories use a “fox” as a character and not a “coyote,” but I thought how similar these animals look. So, I found a photo of a fox to compare to the coyote, you can see as well.

I am in the process of writing a children’s book and it seems that the animals most used are mice, bears, foxes and frogs.. not a coyote very often and if it is used it seems to be in a story related to the Southwest. Although, now the coyote has ventured to normal neighborhoods like our small town in Indiana.

imageAs the Universe would have it, I was reading the WSJ the other day and there was an article about coyotes by David Roberts called, “The Original Bolshevik.” It did not paint a pretty picture of the coyote. I enjoyed the article as it gave a little history lesson on who the coyote is and where he has come today.

I smiled when Roberts said in the past, the settlers would “fear” the howl, whine and chatter of the coyote and now when we hear the howling on a camping trip, we are not afraid, but more interested in catching a glimpse of this animal with the vision of the moon behind him, which is the picture etched in our minds. I guess it would be like catching a glimpse of a bat or a vampire… we want to see “what they are up to” in the dark of the night, from a distance, of course, so we can write about it!

In my Google search I read that coyotes/foxes do not normally hurt or eat humans, but they have been venturing toward neighborhoods in search of food. Many people leave cat/dog food out and they like it. They also eat squirrels, rabbits, mice, rats, insects, fish, frogs, berries and different fruits.

The howling is a group exercise I read and a form of communication between them, but nothing more and they are sneaky and smart with a keen sense of smell. I think this is why we find them intriguing, we just don’t know what they are “up to.”

For example, when I lived in Chicago the media was in uproar when a “coyote” walked into a Quizno’s sandwich shop during the day and went to lie down in the cooler where they had the cold drinks. That caught everyone by surprise.

I told you… they are sneaky!

Happy 4th of July!

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imageAs we celebrate 4th of July this weekend, I thought how American this house looked. I came across this house on my walk and was happy to see the American flag in the window. It reminded me of when I was young, celebrating with a barbecue and fireworks afterwards. Of course, we were always told to “be careful,” so we wouldn’t blow our hands off or burn the house down.

The little community where I lived in Indiana always had a Fireman’s Ball for the 4th of July. They would open the firehouse for the evening, provide some food, hire a band and all of the neighbors would come. A nice way to bring the community together and also to honor and acknowledge our fire department.

I was reading Life In A Word’s Blog. He wrote about the “4 Miles in the Forest” yearly run that he participated in recently which honors and benefits the Black Forest Fire/Rescue Department. A few years ago 500 firefighters were in Colorado battling the Black Forest Fire, which was devastating. You can read the story on his blog.

I live close to a fire department and every weekend, as you can see in the photo, they are taking care of the fire trucks and doing different drills, so they are prepared for any call they might receive.

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With summer here and lots of fireworks this weekend, there is that possibility that a fire might break out. As my fellow Blogger mentioned in “Life In A Word,” the firefighters put their lives on the line every day for us.  It’s true, they are the “unsung heroes.”

So, this 4th of July, if you come across some firefighters, tip your hat to them or treat them to coffee/lunch… for sure, they will smile and feel appreciated!

Climbing Mount Si

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imageI climbed Mount Si this past weekend. I’m sure you are wondering about it, so I will refer you to Washington Trails Association’s (WTA) website where they have a write up about this climb. WTA is the nation’s largest state-based hiking non-profit organization. They do a great job of promoting all the different hikes in Washington.

Mount Si is a 8 mile hike round trip. I wanted to challenge myself by climbing a mountain, but this was a tough climb. Some of the reviews referred to this hike as a “challenge,” I thought it was more than that, at times, “tortuous.” I guess it depends on what shape you are in, and if your boots are working properly. Some people were whizzing by, obviously having done it before.

The picture I took is of the view from the top. It was spectacular and a perfect day. I even got an interesting bird in the photo.  Anyone know what it is?  There was a cute chipmunk who was running around, not afraid and hoping for food along with some small birds.

chipmunkThe climb took us about 3 hours up the mountain. Going down was tough, because it was steep and my shoes were not cooperating. I didn’t have enough cushion in them and my feet kept moving forward. There were a few times that I hoped a rescue team might come by, my feet were hurting so much, but that miracle did not happen. My friend made a joke that I was not going to be able to manifest it. So, I gave up on the wishing, and focused on getting down.

There were quite a few hikers with dogs and even some who were carrying babies in their packs. I hoped they were in good shape climbing up, because it could get rocky and one stumble and over the cliff you go. One poor dog was so little and panting furiously. I wasn’t sure he/she should have been on the climb. For sure this dog needed some water and “fast.”

Last night, I was sore and stiff and not able to think about my next hike. Now, it is a day later, pain in the legs is subsiding and I am READY for the next challenge. Although, other hikes at 4 miles round trip are going to be easy compared to Mount Si. I hear Rattlesnake Ledge is a good one.

Mount Rainier, the BIG HIKE, that will have to wait!

The Red Quill Pen

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With my red quill pen in hand, I can officially say, “it is time to write.”

My daughter recently asked me how my children’s book was coming along. I told her I was at the cliff hanger part… “You know, where you think the character is doomed and won’t make it out alive, so you sit at the edge of your seat, KNOWING there is ALWAYS a way out, but HOW?! This is a James Bond situation.”

So, I made a joke with her that it was the computer that was holding me back from being creative. If I “just had” a red quill pen, I could think like a Pirate!

I was missing the days of the old typewriter where you had to really THINK of every word you typed; otherwise, you would be yanking the page out of the typewriter constantly, crumpling it up and throwing it in the waste basket only to start again.

So… I was pleasantly surprised when my daughter gave me a red quill pen for Mother’s Day!

NOW, you can write, she said. I really laughed, but where was the ink well and the thick paper that makes a scratching noise when the Pirate writes? Can’t have everything at once, right.

THE UNIVERSE IS AT WORK!

Another interesting thing happened last week. I was laid off work, so it would appear that the Universe is setting me up to write the end of my children’s story “in between job searching,” of course. No excuses now!

I’m following a few good writing Blogs. Visit “A Writer’s Path,” and this weekend on “Live to Write – Write to Live,” there was a wonderful Blog about facing our inner critic for any topic in our lives called, “Weekend Edition – Battling the Writer’s Inner Critic,” by Suddenly Jamie.  You’ll read that and be inspired!

So, with quill in hand I write… “You dare to touch the nose of a sleeping tiger!?”