Be Honest...With Yourself

Sometimes the hardest person to "speak truth" to is yourself.  Isn't that funny?!

So often the right answers are right in front of us yet we remain oblivious to them. Why is that?! 

Fear...

OR

...a giant desire for what we want over what is best for us...what is intended for us.

I saw some pictures yesterday that made me face something I already knew...something I had always known.  I didn't laugh or cry.  I just smiled...knowingly.  What a blessing. 

What are you not acknowledging in your own life?  What are you oblivious to...intentionally or unintentionally?  Bite the bullet.  Face your fear.  You might be surprised at your reaction.

"Be of good courage..."

Sometimes the hardest person to "speak truth" to is yourself...Smile, you don't bite. :)))

...this is for me and Sam...:)))

Sunshine Dreams to You ~ Today and Every Day! :) 

To My Team ~ My Rock Stars :)

“You were not born to be average, normal or typical

You were not born a carbon copy.

You were born unique, born to excel, born to manifest the glory of the universe in your authentic truth.

You are not weak.

You are stronger than you imagine, wiser than you know, and have vast powers that you have yet to actualize.

... Stop playing small.

Be YOU. Tell your truth - now, today, this very moment.

Manifest your true self - not a poor reflection of your circumstance.

Don’t walk through this world unconscious of your greatness, sleep walking, surrendering your light to the bland grey around you.

You were born to be brilliant,

To be light,

To be fire.

Infuse your glory into this moment, into your choices, into your deeds, into the habits you create.

Consciously choose.

Choose your body through conscious consumption,

Choose your attitude, through conscious thought

Choose your destiny by being present right now – for remember: Mindful moments multiplied, totally transform tomorrows

Today choose integrity, choose discipline, choose joy, choose joy, choose joy.

Rejoice in your blessings AND, most importantly, know that EVERYTHING is a blessing.

And your blessings are rich soil.

So choose to grow into the boldest, proudest, most glorious version of YOU.

You were born for this.”

Cory Booker

Sunshine Dreams to You ~ Today and Every Day! :) 

Squeeze A "Mother" Today :)

I have been given the unique experience of having had the highs and lows of a natural mother, a stepmother, and an adopted mother.  For the rest of my life, I will not experience Mother's Day without remembering the best and worst about having all three in my life. 

*Sigh*

That said, being the Pollyanna I am, I struggle with writing my heart on this subject.  I thought about writing about what it is like to be childless on this holiday, but the fantastic Melanie Notkin handled that beautifully leaving no need for me to add or take away from her stunning piece.  I thought about musing about my Sis' children who have been like my own, in so many ways, and how much their love has sustained me through the lows of the last twenty years while exalting me further during the highs.  I thought and I pondered...

An oldie but a goodie.  Jordan is now 18, Sam 14, and Jon 12.  They are my heart.

I was left with this...

I am grateful, and I am blessed.  Today is a reminder of the very best and worst of all things motherhood.  From the politics to the loving reminders.  From the stories of heartache over loss to those of mother "heroes" who saved their children, their communities, their lives.  From those that bore their children to those that adopted their children to those that save children in other ways every day. 

Squeeze all women today...for in some way every woman is a mother...we are all called to birth and mother differently.  Some simply lose the opportunity.  Some squander it.  Some....

Squeeze all woman today. :)

"Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away." ~ Dinah Craik 

Sweet Sarah posted this quote earlier this morning for Mother's Day, and I could not agree or love it more.  To be this to someone whether child or stranger, is in essence, what it is to mother.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Love, Heather Ruth aka "Pollyanna" :)

Sunshine Dreams to You ~ Today and Every Day! :) 

Graduation Musings

Yesterday was a day of good-byes and new beginnings.  The final board meeting of the year for the Arkansas Alumni Association National Board of Directors always occurs the Friday before graduation.  It is an all day board meeting with a luncheon in the middle where we say good-bye to our graduating alumni scholars.  It is always emotionally charged as they are caught between the sadness of saying good-bye, giddiness over what lies ahead of them, and intense gratitude as they thank their family, friends, professors, and the alumni who helped support their education the last four years. 

As one of those alumni, and a passionate advocate for the scholarship programs that help these students, I am usually misty-eyed and humbled throughout the event.  Yesterday was no exception.  I am always amazed by these 22 year olds (average age) with their presence, attitudes (great attitudes), optimism, gratitude, and humbleness.  They should be shouting, "I'm king of the world!"  Instead, they are saying, "Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you."

Ahhhh....

I am quite well aware of the challenges we face every day internationally, nationally, statewide, and in our local communities.  Very well aware.  That said, if there is any ray of sunshine for any of us, it has to be the bright, shining faces of a group of 22 year olds ready to take on the world. 

It must.

I absolutely love and hate this time of year.  It forces me to look at my own life and reflect of what the 22 year old me did with my optimism.  Did I squander it?  Use it?  Abuse it?  Grow it?  Invest it?  Savor it?

What???

This morning as I awoke at an unreasonable hour, for someone who could sleep in (*Sigh*).  Okay, I must digress a bit....the day was capped off by a group of us older, (maybe) wiser, idealists, crazy alumni sitting out on a deck listening to the Hogs win across the road at Baum Stadium, smoking cigars, laughing like a bunch of 22 year olds (and our average age was....well not 22 :)), watching fireworks, listening (okay some were singing...not me) to great classic rock music, and discussing the future of our Alma Mater, our alumni association, the Hogs, the state, taking over D.C. (I believe Underwood is going to take over the Department of Education. :)), and dreaming of more great days where every child in this world that wants an education...that wants to change the world...can and will. 

I digress. :)

The point is to let those 18 year olds graduating from high school (next week I will watch my sweet Jordan make that trek) and those 22 year olds graduating from college...and those older adults going back and graduating with their first degree, advanced degrees, etc.  The point is to latch onto all of that enthusiasm, optimism, and overall giddiness....and let it envelope you and seep into your pores.  Let it move you to recapture the 22 year old idealist, dreamer in you.  Let it re-charge your old dreams and make them new dreams.  Let it be the spark that creates brand, spanking, new dreams in you. 

Bottom line....let it change YOU.

"Never let your soul be silenced. Live life out loud. Every day tell your truth not with words but with actions from your heart." ~ Cory Booker

To all of the graduates in my life...to all of those graduates I do not know....Congratulations!!!  You inspire me...Every. Day. :)

Walton College marketing professor, Dr. Molly Rapert ~ My inspiration for over 20 years. :)

Sunshine Dreams to You ~ Today and Every Day! :) 

Live From Intention

I am having a strange couple of days.  I wish I were ready and/or able to write about it. 

Give me time.

Bottom line...I must live more like this.  Otherwise, I am convinced I will drown.

Pollyanna Glad Game ~ Even Barnes & Noble is "speaking" to me. :)))  You gotta love it! :)))

Intention or habit?  Which are you living from?

Sunshine Dreams to You ~ Today and Every Day! :) 

What I Do ~ Who I Am

Here is a news flash.  What I do is not who I am.

Recently, in comparing me to someone else, someone used my occupation to make the point that the vast divide between my occupation and another's was too great to be bridged...for our friendship.  What?!?!

It was one of those moments, that I readily admit are rare for me, when I was utterly and completely held speechless by my shock.  Speechless. 

Two weeks later I read a post by a co-worker discussing their weekend plans in a way that let you know they were stripping down the layers of their week and taking a swim in lake me.  That said, their phrasing concerned me...because I am an over-analyzer.  We have already made that point...somewhere back in the archives of this blog...I am sure. :)

I digress...

So, shockingly, I have been pondering on this for a couple of weeks now.

Then I had today happen. 

Holy Smokes Batman!

I was furious, but in that eerily calm way that, for those that know you well, is even scarier than the raging lunatic version.  For a moment, I questioned eleven months worth of work, and then...like a lightening bolt...I remembered all that has come out of the past eleven months. 

What I do is not who I am.

If I prove to not be successful, by the world's standards, in this life, it will surely be traced back to the fact that I simply cannot close the deal.  I cannot be something that I am not, even if it means more money, more opportunity, more accolades, etc.  I simply cannot NOT be who I am. 

I was told recently that I was risking losing a big potential accolade because I had been speaking out against something and someone that...well let us just say...you don't do.  I point blank stated that I did not care.  I was going to speak out for what I believed to be right and just, and if it lost me the opportunity so be it.

What I do is not who I am.

...or is it?

This life holds a number of paths for any and every individual that walks the face of this earth.  There is never any one choice for any of us.  Never.  We have options.

I don't believe for a second that I am any better or worse than any other person on this earth.  In fact, I would dare say that I fail more often than most.  There is no greatness, or lack thereof, in the number of times we fail or succeed.  The greatness is what do we do with the choices we have in front of us...at any given moment.  Dare I say, the lessons we discover in the highs and lows of our lives.

I believe part of my problem is that I am led, by something, to be who I am in all that I do.  I envy those who can compartmentalize their lives.  I always have, and for the record, I have tried valiantly to attempt that way of life.  Time and again, I fail at it.  *Sigh* 

The problem with me is that I have had too many mentors, and I have listened to them too well.  I do believe that you can be "real" and be successful...in life, in work, in church.  The problem is
only when I fail to believe that myself...if only for a time.

What I do is not who I am...yet.  It will be.  It must be.

In each of us, lies a deep burning desire to be more, to do more.  I wonder if all of us shouldn't listen to our higher selves more often???  What dream are you passing up because you listen to the world and the promise of worldly accolades instead of what burns inside your very soul?  I often say, "I don't know no better than to tell the truth."  I am thinking it might be nice to start with telling the truth to myself. *Sigh*

What I do is not who I am, but it is an extension of who I am....at every stop along my path.  There is no great sin in U turns, yield signs, or the scenic view.  There is a sin in subjugating who you are while doing something you are not.

Life is about choices....in love, in work, in everything.  I don't want to be anything but me....God help us all...whoever that might be.  I want every part of my life to reflect whoever I am.  Whoever I was intended to be. 

Excuse me.  I have a lot of work to do.  :)))

Watch out...Pollyanna is loose again. ;)

Sunshine Dreams to You ~ Today and Every Day! :) 

Garage Sale Time?

If I could get this one thought...this one belief...across the thick skulls of just a few people in my life.  Okay, I am greedy...I want it across to everyone in my life. :)

Every single time you speak negative or allow a negative thought to fester for more than a second in your head, you are allowing it by default to permeate into your heart and soul...and that negativity is (and will) slowing taking over...in YOU. 

Let that sink in.

I know being positive...being Pollyanna...is not always easy.  Sometimes it is an out right chore, but trust me.  Please, trust me.  It IS worth it. 

Challenges come and challenges go.  The love that was born in you...your spirit...it isn't evil, it isn't negative....so if you have that....YOU have allowed that in, and YOU have a choice whether or not you let it camp out there OR if you kick it to the curb so as to make room for your truer, purer, sweeter, more positive and loving self. 

As the old saying goes, "God doesn't make junk.", and so my question for you is...why did you open a junk yard in your mind and soul???

It might be time for a garage sale.

Just sayin'. :)

"Change your stars and live a better life than I have." ~ John Thatcher, A Knight's Tale

I love this quote, and I wish we could grab every child and embed this belief deep inside their soul and mind at the youngest of ages so that they would have it during the highs and lows of the life ahead of them. 

The other day I bumped into two of Wesley's grandchildren and their sweet mother, we stopped right there in the road and talked for quite awhile through our car windows.  Kaden, who has one of the sweetest spirits I have ever seen, is looking at me and suddenly says, "Can I come give you a hug?"  Why of course...hugs?  Pick me! :)  He then got back in the car, we all kept talking, and then we both needed to get going, and Kaden suddenly pops up, "Can I come give you another hug?"  I must have had a funny look on my face because Kaden said, "I thought you were leaving before, but you didn't, so I want another one."  There, boys and girls, is a kid who is going to absorb the most out of every moment.  I hope he never loses that...that is my prayer for him...keep seizing the moment.

I digress...

Look around today...have you given up?  Maybe without even knowing it.  Snap out of it!  Change your stars...change YOUR stars!

Then...go help someone else change theirs...:)

Sunshine Dreams to You ~ Today and Every Day! :)