Yeah, We Got It – You Can Get Belligerent : #trust30 Challenge

June 12, 2011 by

This is the Day 10 Prompt of the #Trust30 challenge.

Day 10 Challenge | Eric Handler | Your Personal Message

To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

What is burning deep inside of you? If you could spread your personal message RIGHT NOW to 1 million people, what would you say?

I understand that being a media junkie can have a negative effect on one’s personal outlook. Oh well – I will just have to remain vigilant. I am an information junkie. I am always on the lookout for a new story, a new view, a new blog, new method, whatever – well, at least new to me.

Living with immediate access to internet and a 24 hour news cycle, this is an easy monkey to feed. But the personal outlook assault is a very real danger. I am not going to name drop those who I feel to be the first offenders – you already know who they are. They never show up to promote anything. But man, they are always looking to tear something down – bashing, fighting, condescending, insulting, slandering, disrespecting, offending. Never mind that they do more to fuel separation, constrain ideas and stunt progress – they just continue to rip away. Nice – that works, we should keep doing that (sarcasm intentional).

I will be the first to admit that there are things that I don’t like I have no problem naming them – The sexualization of today’s children (namely girls) being on top of the list. Ask most people who know me if I can be a snarky smart…well you know…and they will laugh and say, “duh!” I am opinionated and passionate. I believe in a right and a wrong and understand that the gray has to be muddled through. I understand that injustices must be named in order to be righted.

I get it – you can be belligerent. But can you be benevolent?

It makes me nervous when I realize I am dealing with a person about whom I am not sure of the answer. I tend to disassociate when I realize the answer is “no.”

Now, I will name drop. The wrongs of the world are a fact of life. Wasting time and energy raging against their existence is futile – not to mention soul sucking. These folks know that things can be better. They have decided to spend time and energy doing that. The wrongs of the world stir the belligerent in their soul. The goodness of their hearts harnesses that energy into positive creation. And isn’t that the highest and best use of our energy – not to mention soul filling?

Mothers Fighting for Others – Yes, I will mention them as often as I can. This group of fighters saw the injustice. They chose to focus on creating an environment of love, support and empowerment.  Can we rage against the injustice that brought these children to this place? Sure. But what about these children? They need light now – and that’s what MFFO provides. A light, a love, a hope.

What I want for them is simple. I want them to feel loved. I want them to feel safe and secure. I want them to go to school and grow up to be great women. What I want for them is what their Mothers would have wanted. That is it. It’s that simple.

Creative Coast – Those who don’t know Savannah wouldn’t believe half of it if we told you. Like any family, we have our issues – we are working on that. Creative Coast has done amazing things in feeding the diversity and beauty of our beautiful city. The mission statement reads:

To nurture the members of the Savannah community engaged in creative or innovative endeavors and to cultivate an environment in which they can thrive.

Nurture, cultivate, thrive – seriously? How can that NOT be exponentially more effective that continually attempting to condescend and destroy?

Dinner: A Love Story – I love to cook. I have a big family, a big job and little unscheduled time. Some days, getting dinner on the table from something other than a bag or a box might as well be as challenging as milking the cow, churning the butter, killing the chicken and picking the vegetables. But I want to. Lots of us want to.

Meet Jenny Rosenstrach. This chick gets it

DALS is a website devoted (mostly) to helping parents figure out how to get family dinner on the table. You can assume I know how busy you are and how many other things are ahead of “thaw chicken for dinner” on today’s to-do list. I will never fault you for firing up a frozen pizza when you can’t bear to turn on the stove. I will never judge you for not coughing up the extra bucks for the organic broccoli. And I will never promise you that family dinner is something that can be figured out in five easy steps!

Yeah, she could belittle parents like me as parasites attempting to kill the children we secretly loathe. Curse us working moms who put career ahead of family. That would mostly certainly encourage me to listen to anything she has to say, right! Yeah, right after I daydreamed about punching her in neck, I would go find some other cooking momma to appreciate.

TED – Hands down, this group is the best example of building up instead of tearing down. Will TED call out wrongs? You bet they will. Do all the TED folks agree with each other? Nope. Do I agree with every TED idea? Haha – for certain not. But agreement is not necessary for meaningful discussion of ideas. Sharing a value of mutual respect is. And these folks have that crafted to an art. From the website and repeated on their facebook page:

TED believes passionately in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world. So TED is building a clearinghouse of knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.

Want to get belligerent – fantastic. Can’t wait to hear how that works out for you.

Want to do the really work of benevolence – fantastic. There is certain to be some effectual influence you are going to be proud of.

**Photo credit by Nancy McClure

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David vs. Goliath

March 17, 2010 by

I am currently reading Max Lucado’s Facing Your Giants. Let me go ahead and be on record saying it is a very uncomfortable read. I am constantly finding myself having to put the book down and make excuses to do something else. I can’t read it right now because I forgot what page I was on and it would simply take more time than I have to find my spot – you’re buying that, right?

This particular Lucado installment takes the story of David and Goliath and relates it to those things that makes you want to stay in the bed with your covers over your head. You know what they are. That thing that freezes you up, tightens your chest, stings your eyes. Those things that you have a hard time telling anybody about but are certain everybody – even strangers – know about you. These are obviously your “Goliaths.”

We are billed as David. Max walks us through the story of David and how we are probably more like him than we think. I am gathering this is a good thing. David is a man of many faults, but he is chosen. He messes up over and over again, but he is called “a man after God’s own heart.”

Sounds simple enough to maneuver through…yeah, if you have no giants staring you in the face. Unfortunately, I have them. I’ve named them Fred, Stanley…seriously, introspection into those things I perceive as weakness is not high on my feel good list.  In fact, the only reason I am writing this now is for personal accountability in moving through the process.

I am supposed to talk about the Goliaths I face. I am not ready to put that out here yet – I may never be…

I am supposed to talk about how majoring in God overcomes Goliath…still a bit personal at the moment…

So what can I talk about here? I can answer Max’s question

Is your list of blessings four times as long as your list of complaints? Is your mental file of hope four times as thick as your mental file of dread? Are you four times as likely to describe the strength of God as you are the demands of your day?

Sure I am – not. Oh yeah – publicly, I am putting forth the sunny face. I think it is important to be positive and uplifting. It is the way I want to feel. It is the person I want to be. My inner dialogue is something else entirely. Something tells me a good bit of us are that way.

So here and now, I am telling you that I am a blessed, hopeful, strengthened woman. I am thinking I need to set that up as an every five minute auto text to my phone…

Filed Under: Chrysalis Tagged With: ,

Attitude Changes Reality

June 15, 2007 by

I read a great post today from Tony Gallegos. It was about one of my favorite topics – the Importance of having a great Attitude.

In 2004, I was in the Navy stationed aboard the USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67). We deployed for the Gulf in June. I left behind my husband, my children, my life.  The  ship spent the majority of its time in the Persian Gulf providing air support for the troops on the ground.

I will take this moment to digress and thank, from the bottom of my heart, all the servicemen and women and their families for their awesome service.

Every person who has ever been deployed has their stories about phone calls to home where spouses are worn thin, important dates are missed, holidays apart, and three year olds asking if you are ever coming home. In a situation such as this, as you can well imagine, it is easy to hate everything about life.

Nobody can live like that – much less be productive and perform the mission at hand.  This is what I learned.

You can either sit here and be angry and gain nothing positive from the situation, or you can sit here and take pride in your work, learn from the experience, and become a better person – either way, you’re still sitting here.

Different times call for different forms of resolve where our attitude is concerned. When the market is good, business is booming, we’re spending tons of time with our family, and there’s left over after the bills are paid, a good attitude is easy. When the chips are down, the hustle is harder, and stress is the diet of the day, it ain’t as easy – but this is time when it is most important.

Your reality – the place in space that you occupy- is molded and created almost completely by your attitude towards it. Try these.

  • Business is slow – perfect time to work on the marketing plan that is going to generate more business.
  • Money is tight – perfect time to review your budget and plan expenses.
  • Not enough clients to fill a work day – perfect time to take some of those continuing education courses that make you better qualified to serve them when the list fills up.

Like Tony, I am not advising you to put on “rose colored precious moments glasses and ignore the realities.” I’m just saying that a perceived negative reality doesn’t stand a chance against a healthy positive attitude.

Filed Under: Chrysalis Tagged With: ,

Blog Freeze

March 16, 2007 by

The feeling. How do I describe it? You know when it is really hot outside and you say to yourself, “Self, let’s go get an ice cream.” So, you go get the biggest ice cream you can find because, after all, it’s hot outside. The guy dipping the ice cream has this way of doing it that makes you want to grab the cone and the scoop and do it yourself. He is taking FOREVER! By the time you get it, the sweet treat is melting all over itself and you hurry to lick it all up before it sticks up your hand. So, you take the big bite and then BAM! Brain Freeze!

That’s as close as I can get. I have Blog Freeze. I have jumped head long into a world where I know little more than how to type. I was fairly certain that being able to put nouns and verbs together in a semi intelligent way and the desire to write would be enough. So, I took a big bite. Now, here I am, holding my head even though I know I just have to wait it out. So I will type about whatever, surf wherever, and read whoever until the pain and swelling subsides. Then one day, when the dust settles, I can only hope the chaos will be beautiful and the new road an adventure.

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