Tag: thoughts

Simple Somethings

“You never know when one act
or one word of encouragement
will change a life forever.”

When I came across this quote today, my heart did a mental rewind to Saturday when I came home and found a message “from” my chair. *giggle* I still don’t know who put it there, but honestly, I prefer it this way. Their little act of fun and kindness really touched my heart in a big way. (Read “To: My Favorite Booty” if you’d like the details.)

In fact, it touched me in such a way that I’ve decided to pay it forward – and not just once, but every time I get an inkling to do a simple something for someone else. If a moment presents itself, I plan to act on it.

That simple something might come in the form of a handwritten note sent to a friend who just happens to be on my heart that particular day. Or maybe when I’m in line picking up a special coffee drink, at a place that reminds me of someone else, I’ll get a $5.00 gift card to send to them. You get the gist…I just want to be better at slowing down and responding to thoughts of the heart.

I know that in my busyness I miss many opportunities like these. Someone will flutter through my heart and before I know it, I’m off to the next thought. Sometimes when I’m out and about, I’ll see a simple something that reminds me of a friend or loved one. I’ll have that thought of “Oh, I should get that for…” but again, my mind will move on to something else. The moment is gone.

Do you ever have moments like these? Do you ever wake up with a certain someone on your heart, or have a thought of someone just flutter through in the midst of other things going on in your mind? Like, just out of the blue? Do you think it might be possible the thought is there for a reason?

What if we were to slow down a little bit and just linger there for a few moments. Encouragement, sent to another, in any shape or form is always a wonderful gift. Right?! So, I want to encourage you to act on it in some little way. Because, you never know…what you may think is very small and silly could change a person’s entire day – or life.

As you can plainly see…someone’s simple something meant the world to mine. 🙂

Happy Monday, friends!
~CindyLu

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Monday Morning Chat / September 8th

Today I return to…

Work. It’s been a wonderful and relaxing nine-whole-days of vacation. We spent time with family and friends, but much more importantly (sorry family and friends), time together…just the two of us…reflecting on what’s behind us, deciding about what’s right here in front of us, and dreaming about what’s out there in the great beyond. A good vacation is one where you feel like you truly had one – and we feel like we had a great one.

Healthy Living. Along with vacation, we threw a little bit of caution to the wind (okay…a lot) and decided to just have careless fun here and there with treats we love (can you say “ice cream?”). We decided that there wouldn’t be any guilt associated with it, but that we would just enjoy each and every little moment. No looking back, because we knew that this would be a little speed-bump in the mix of it all. When I hopped on the scale this morning, the reality was definitely there…but my thought was, “But wow…that was fun.”

Writing. Somewhere along the line, I just fell off the wagon. It’s like the words just flowed out of me and then….nothing, absolutely nothing at all. Hopefully you’ve noticed through reading other articles, that I am an encourager. I believe with all of my heart and soul that it’s my God-given gift. I have to admit that the death of Robin Williams shocked me beyond belief, because I just had no idea he suffered so much. But the thing that really threw me, was how so many jumped on the depression band-wagon. Now, I don’t mean that with any disrespect, because I know it’s a real thing. Even big encouragers, like me, have had their moments in the gutter. But it seemed like everyone who had ever suffered, whether in a big way or a small way, started hopping on board. All of a sudden the boards were filled with depressing messages, and people were discounting the encouragers of the world with messages that said, “Quit telling us that everything will be okay.” “Quit telling us that there’s always hope.” Seriously…I read these things in people’s comments on their FB pages.

Well, good grief…what does that leave for an encourager to say?! I was stumped and quite honestly, all of the sadness and gloom made my heart sad. I had no words because I felt that no one wanted to hear them anymore. It seemed that everyone just wanted the world to hear that they were depressed and they all just wanted to linger there.

To all of those that suffer from depression…my heart truly and compassionately goes out to you. I’ve had moments of depression and anxiety, so I know it can be quite debilitating. But, something within me has always been a fighter and I don’t want this life to entrap me and hold me down. So I fight back at life. I’m someone who clings to the smallest glimmer of light. It’s survival for me. And so…I can’t just turn my head and leave you laying there in your sorrow and grief. I must encourage because it’s what I do – it’s who I am. And so…God pricked my heart again and encouraged me to write. I figure, if just one person out there reads my random ramblings and feels encouraged for even a moment, well then…I have succeeded.

So here I am again. Ready to get back to work. Ready to get back to pursuing a healthy and simplified life. And ready to share the words that fill my heart with the hopes that they will fill yours.

Wishing you ALL a wonderful light-filled Monday!!
~CindyLu~

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Pep Talks / July 21st

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“Strive for progress, not perfection!”

I came across this quote over the weekend and wrote it down because I like the optimistic reality of it. The article it was attached to was about weight loss and more specifically, running. But since I tend to be a “bigger picture” sort of thinker, I thought it was such a great quote for LIFE!

I mean, think about it. We set lofty goals for just about everything we do. My personal list consists of: eating better, losing weight, developing a walking plan, reading more, praying more…etc. When I don’t reach my goals, I can feel like such a failure and become discouraged in my efforts and tell myself dumb stuff like, “I guess this is just the way it’s meant to be.”

I remember years ago when I was successful in losing a lot of weight. I made the decision to resist the urge of looking at the goal – meaning, the big number. Instead, I would only look at 5 lb. increments. That didn’t sound or feel so overwhelming. Each week I would add something simple into the mix; like, drinking one bottle of water each day – or adding one vegetable. As I continued down this realistic and achievable road, my mindset began to change. I began reaping the benefits of my baby-step goals. My little efforts were becoming huge areas of progress.

Notice I didn’t say “perfection.” Truth of the matter is…we will never gain perfection, because life is not perfect. The target is always moving and so we will always strive for a little bit more. We need to be okay with that or we will always feel let down by our imperfect results.

But…we can gain huge leaps and bounds in making personal progress. So looking at this with that bigger picture in mind, isn’t this how we should approach all that we set out to do? “Strive for progress, not perfection!”

As I look at my week ahead, I have a personal list that I hope to accomplish – just as I’m sure you do. Let’s try setting the goal on “progress” and not “perfection.” Obviously, moving toward the finished product, but let’s not beat ourselves down if we don’t reach them. Instead, let’s focus on the progress that we’ve made, which is always further out than where we began. Right?!

So what’s on your plate this week? What are some realistic baby-steps you can take to progress in forward motion?

Remember…“Strive for progress, not perfection!”

Happy Monday, friends.
Hoping yours is filled with imperfect forward motion!

~CindyLu

 

Fresh Perks

Lately, I’ve been struggling with “commitment.” I think you just reach a time in your life where you feel like you’re all committed out. Well…that’s where I’ve been.

My introvert-self longs to draw in to where the world can’t ask me for anything. I have long suffered from a disease called “helium hand”…where my hand raises without any thought and causes my mouth to say, “Yes, I’ll do that.” But my teeny extrovert-self encourages me to resist the urge to retreat, because there are dangerous extremes to each side.

Everything in life requires a commitment of some sort…if I want to lose weight, I must commit to eating yucky good stuff  to reach the other side. If I need a cavity fixed, I must commit to the necessary steps to be pain free again. If I want a happy and healthy relationship with my friends, family, and hubby…well, it all takes commitment and sometimes hard work.

So, if I want my life to be filled with purpose and meaning – joy and happiness, I won’t find them by retreating into my cave. It means, stepping outside, getting my hands a bit dirty, so that once I’m on the other side I can look back and say, “Wow…I didn’t think I could do that. That wasn’t so bad after all.” That’s where my encouragement, strength, faith and hope comes from. It’s where the will comes to continue on the road in forward momentum.

So this week…I’m focused on the commitments ahead. I’m sure about some but nervous about some others. But I know that I won’t go anywhere if I just stay right here. So onward I go and Upward I stay focused.

Hope you’re able to embrace whatever commitments (both easy and difficult) you have in store for you this week. Get off the sidelines and get into the game. Because something more rewarding is waiting on the other side. 

Happy Monday!

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Simple Life – It’s About Time

Simplifying our home is beginning to take shape. We’ve paired down on the amount of stuff that we have. I’ve bagged up lots of clothing, and have boxed up décor items, appliances, dish sets and glasses that don’t have a true use in our home.

As I go along, I continue to come across things that I realize I don’t want or need any longer. Gee…is something changing in me? It feels good to have space – or air – on shelves and counter tops, as well as in dressers and closets. Who knew that de-cluttering could be so freeing?

But I do have to say one thing…even a simple home gets messy.

We thought that when we became empty nesters, our home would always be clean, figuring the mess was made by our boys and their friends. Well…this is not the case.  Truth is, HB and I can be messy at times and have found that we are perfectly capable of using up every dish, glass, and piece of silverware in the kitchen. I still manage to leave heaps of clothing and shoes on the floor. The heaps are just smaller now. Papers still pile up near the front door, on side tables and the counter tops. Dust accumulates on shelves and floors, and fluffs of dog hair still find their way into corners.

And at times, all of the above stays in this state of being for several days. In fact, it’s been the case this week. Our schedule has been busy, and while we’ve managed to throw a few meals together, we’ve left a lot around the home undone.

Last night we came home and because of the state of the kitchen, we decided to go have a salad somewhere. When we returned home, I decided that I was going to pick up the living room so we could settle in, without guilt, to veg in front of the TV for the evening. As I was carrying some paperwork to the dining room table (my gathering place where I sort) HB came into the kitchen and started unloading the dishwasher. I told him that he didn’t need to do that because I was just planning to clean the living room so we could relax. Honestly, I wasn’t in the mood to clean more than that. But he decided he would just do a little bit while I was finishing up.

Funny how sometimes it just takes that little nudge, because after I was done cleaning the living room I came into the kitchen to help with the dishes. He rinsed them off and I loaded the dishwasher. In about 10 minutes, our little kitchen was spotless. We even took the time to scour the sink and wipe down all the counters and cabinets.

Once that was done, we headed for the living room. But as we watched TV, I found I had new energy so I got up during a couple of the commercials and finished up the dining room table; grabbing the items that gathered there and putting them in their rightful place. I did a quick dusting (gotta love Swiffers!) and sweeping and then settled down to relax for the rest of the evening.

Our total time spent cleaning…about 30 minutes. 30 minutes! Our messy living room, kitchen and dining room were completely clean – in 30 minutes – and it felt…amazing!

Every day continues to be a lesson learned for me. I’m realizing that the idea behind living a simple life isn’t about having an immaculate home at all times. Because, regardless of how little we have, HB and I are just going to have those weeks where things get messy.

This is about time…our valuable and precious time. The less stuff we have, the easier it is to clean. The easier it is to clean, the more time we have available to do the things that we enjoy doing together…even if it’s spending an evening vegging in front of the TV.

~CindyLu~

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I’ll Remember…

….umm, now what was I thinking about?!

The reason I’ve started carrying a notebook everywhere!

But how many of you wake up with a great idea, vow to yourself to dream about it all night long, only to wake up and find that it’s gone?! Ugh.

I’ve thought about attaching a book light to my notebook for moments like these.
I should probably write that idea down!

~CindyLu~

the biggest lie

Coffee Anyone?

I receive a lot of pictures about coffee on my Facebook page. For some reason, when people see a funny picture or good quote about coffee, they think of me. I can’t imagine why?! *smile*

Okay…it’s true. I love coffee and I drink a lot of it. When I received this picture the other day, my imagination took off. I am now on a quest for a cup such as this.

My idea is to have a dessert get together, one summer evening, and serve up iced coffee in a cup like this. You know, punch bowl style. Maybe get two of them and serve sweet tea in the other.

Seriously…am I the only one that thinks it’s a great idea?!

large cup of coffee

Simple Life – True Accomplishments

I haven’t been able to accomplish all that I had planned for while HB is gone. After the whole toe incident, a week ago today, I’ve had to slow it way down. I did allow this to discourage me for a day or so, but I feel good about what I did get accomplished when I first started out on this quest; that is, an organized kitchen with one large box of kitchen items, and an almost completely organized bedroom with three 39-gallon-sized bags, ready for the local thrift store. In spite of my unplanned down time the past couple of days, I’ve kept up with a bit of surface cleaning. The house does feel tidy and I can live with that.

I seem to be all about clichés this week, but I’m seeing that hindsight really is 20/20. As I reflect back over the past six days alone, I’m seeing how this little incident opened the door to do things that I wouldn’t have otherwise done, because my list was all about tasks.

So here are the things I have accomplished this week:

Spent an afternoon with my brother, sisters and mom. We all have busy schedules, so it’s not often that we’re able to get together and to do something fun. My brother happened to be in town, so we threw together an afternoon to have a late lunch and go to a movie. My sisters handed out bags of sinfully delicious movie treats and we had a blast. ♥

Met a friend for an evening coffee date. After a long day of work, I could have easily just stayed home to veg. The plan was to meet up and chat up some details for an Easter brunch, but that ended up being the smallest part of the conversation. Instead, we chatted about everything and nothing that we had going on in our lives. After almost three hours, I left there realizing how much I needed that girl time. ♥

An impromptu pizza and a movie at home. One of my daughter in-loves wrote me an e-mail to see if I had dinner plans. Nope, I didn’t. I told her to call in a pizza and I’d pick it all up on the way home. She came over with two of my grandsons and we just vegged together; dinner in the living room while we watched a movie. It was so relaxing, I almost dozed off a couple of times. ♥

Dinner with family. Not only is HB gone, but two of our sons went with him. This has left my two daughter in-loves at home with the kids. Well, these two amazing girls are making me a birthday dinner tonight. Are you familiar with the story of Naomi and Ruth? Well…these two girls are my Ruth. It’s one thing to be loved by your own children, but when you are loved by children from another mother…that’s a bonus blessing. ♥

Slumber Party. When I saw my mom this past weekend, I just realized how precious this time is with her. She’s been a widow for many years now and I couldn’t help but think about how empty the house has felt with HB away. So I invited her to come and join us for dinner tonight and then to spend the night with me. To make it even more special, I decided to also invite my only grand-daughter, because I want her to have something I never did…a relationship with her great-grandma. So we’re going to spend the late evening eating too much candy and watching something girly…probably “Tangled” because my grand-daughter believes she is the lost princess. ♥

I actually took tomorrow off, so I could have a nice three-day weekend. My intent was to spend it alone…my gift to me. I figured I would have a quiet cup of coffee, turn on some tunes, and well…do more cleaning. But instead, I’ll be spending more time with many listed above and tomorrow evening, I’ll drink too much coffee while I wait for HB’s plane to touch down around midnight.

As for my weekend list, it says…nothing.
It’s empty…a clear page of more relaxing with my very best friend.

Shouldn’t that be a picture of what a simple life looks like? Spontaneous, impromptu, decisions to do whatever we feel like in that moment, which includes nothing at all? Here I made a list of all that I wanted to accomplish to “reach” this goal, while missing the entire concept of what I should be reaching for.

I guess I need to be thankful for my dislocated toe because I never would have accomplished all that I have. My quest to declutter is still a goal, but I think I’m moving it down a few notches so I don’t miss out on other opportunities around me.

The chores will always be there, but spending time with family, friends, a good book, or a quiet cup of coffee…now THAT’s a true accomplishment towards simple living. 

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Learning As I Go

Like many writers out here, this world of blogging is all very new to me. I mean, I do have profiles on Facebook and Instagram, and I’m known to post my little CindyLu-isms about everything and nothing, as well as the occasional “look what I’m eating” picture. But I’ve never really opened up the personal pages of my “life journal” to share the internal ramblings of my heart.

While I am a complete and utter optimist, I do write all over the place, because I just go as my emotions lead. I don’t know about you, but I often stop for a moment, before hitting “Publish” and think to myself, “Is this really worth it? Does this even make sense?” My mind sometimes tells me, “Don’t do it,” but usually my heart overrides and says, “Let it go…send it.”

So I’m venturing out into this unchartered territory and I’m beginning to see a little bit more of what calls out to others. I’m a people watcher and find it very interesting that I even “see” people here. I’ve read blogging articles that say over, and over, and OVER again…”Just be real.” I seriously need to print that and put it on the wall in my little study, because that’s what keeps ringing out to me in that moment of panic before I push that button.

I must say that I am truly humbled by the support I receive from fellow writers, as well as my little circle of friends. When I find out that someone “likes” what I wrote, my heart does a little dance knowing that they “got it.” And when I get a notification that someone new has jumped on board to follow along, well…I am just in awe by such an act.

Because of my optimistic, the-sun-will-come-out-tomorrow, attitude I often put things out there that have that same cheery tone and bounce to them. And then there are the other ramblings I write, where I pull back some layers of myself and reveal something very deep, very real, even painful…and I see the difference in the response.

I’m beginning to understand how much people love and appreciate it when we get to the very core of our hearts. It’s hard, sometimes, for me to be so vulnerable and expose myself in that manner. I come from a time where you swept your problems under the carpet. Where you move forward and you keep that smile on your face.

I suppose, in some ways, that’s what has helped direct the heart that I have. I stop and wonder…am I optimistic because I was taught to sweep things away and rise above? Or have I been able to sweep things and rise above because I’ve always been optimistic? Hmmm…now that’s deep!

Whatever the case…while I am good at rising above and seeing the good in things, there are times when, even I, need to vomit out of me the frustrations and disappointments of life. And I’m learning the value of both, as I go along this journey.

As an encourager, I know that others need to hear words of love, faith and hope…lots and lots of hope…but, I also see the true value of letting down my guard and just being real while I do that.

It’s amazing to me…we write because we feel this need to get it out of us…to share with others and maybe help someone along their journey. But the truth of the matter is, as we write, we also learn so much more about ourselves. The therapy seems to go both ways.

 

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Things I Take For Granted

It’s true what they say, you know. Distance really does make the heart grow fonder. HB (aka my husband) has been gone for four days now. He’s serving with a team from our church down in Mexico; building a small home for a family in need. Awesome, huh?!

I’m so proud of what he and the team are doing there and so thankful for social networks, like Facebook, because I can chat a little bit online and see the daily upload of pictures. However…I sure miss his presence around the home.

It’s amazing…the little things that I just take for granted. There’s so much that he does, big and small, in our daily life together that I never even stop to just say, “Thank you” for.

He gets up earlier than I do and always puts the pot of coffee on. Oh, how I miss waking up to the scent of coffee and aftershave. We usually sit and have our first cup together, before we both head off in opposite directions. I’ve slept in each morning this week because coffee alone in the livingroom just doesn’t feel right. I miss not having an early morning conversation and the sound of his voice.

We have certain shows that we watch together. I watch very little TV while he’s gone. I don’t know, somehow I feel like I’m having a TV affair if he’s not there watching it with me. Besides, it’s just weird watching something like, “The Voice” and not having him there to ask me who I liked best – or me telling him, “Oh…that one was chill worthy” (I get chills if someone is really good. I know…I’m odd like that, but he “gets” me). So I’ll wait until he returns and we’ll catch up on Hulu together.

I’m also certain the dogs miss him something awful because no one plays with them or scratches their ears quite like he does. And on a couple of mornings, they’ve followed me around, sort of moping, until I finally realize that they’re still waiting for me to fill their food dish. HB is like clockwork when it comes to feeding them. I’m sure they will be whimpering with delight when he walks back through the door.

He just does scads of things that are so helpful to our daily lives; like stopping at the store on his way home from work, starting dinner because I get home after he does, moving my clothes from the washer to the dryer… The list could go on and on.

But then there are other things…the little simple things, like, how I get into bed with my ice cold feet (which is just about every night, regardless of the temperature outside) and how he reaches over with his leg to draw them in between his to warm. Or how he’ll say something so funny that it gives me uncontrollable giggles and then we both end up in tears from laughing so hard.

I don’t know…maybe it’s good for couples to spend a little bit of time apart sometimes. It truly does make you take notice of just how much they do. You really see the “team” that you’ve become together and it gives you a new and improved appreciation for one another.

He is my very best friend in the whole wide world. I’m so proud of what he is doing and so thankful that he’s able to be a part of this team…but I really miss his presence.
Thank you, HB, for all that you do.

Sheesh – I sound like a lovesick puppy, huh?
But, isn’t this the way marriage should be?

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“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
~Matthew 19:4-6