I Love Going Back to High School

Feb 122020
 

Did You Love High School?

Valentine’s Day is a little unusual for me this year. The Amelia Island Book Festival chose The Inner Critic Advantage as a book for a large group of high school students this year — and I get to spend the day with them!

As I sit here making notes for that event, I feel full of gratitude and love for  200 high school first years I’ve not yet met. I wonder about how best to make meaningful connections and think back to some of the big groups I’ve worked with. Although high school was a very long time ago, I remember it as a very unsettled time with concerns ranging from boyfriends to big world issues, home room to hormones. Everything is up in the air. I want to be sure to acknowledge their concerns while sharing lots of love. It’s an opportunity to share love of literacy, love of kids, and, of course, strategies to love those inner critics.

Fun with First Years

The task is both humbling and exciting at the same time and I’m preparing with some reading. And I can’t go wrong by bringing along some candy hearts, can I?

As always, I’m sending lots of love your way.

No reason is needed for loving. - Paulo Cuelho Click To Tweet

“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.”― Elie Wiesel

“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”― Paulo Coelho

“To be fully seen by somebody, then, and be loved anyhow–this is a human offering that can border on miraculous.”– Elizabeth Gilbert

People Are Weird

“Love recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope.”– Maya Angelou

“There is no remedy for love but to love more.” – Henry David Thoreau

The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference.― Elie Wiesel Click To Tweet

“People are weird. When we find someone with weirdness that is compatible with ours, we team up and call it love.” – Dr. Seuss

“Love me when I least deserve it, because that’s when I really need it.” – Swedish proverb

“If you love a flower, don’t pick it up. Because if you pick it up, it dies and it ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. It is about appreciation.” – Osho

What are your thoughts on love? On Valentine’s Day? On spending the day with teens you’ve not met before? Or anything else you care to share. (I think that at the end of a long day, I’m going to need your comments!)

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Andrea Patten has managed to love her inner editor long enough to publish  The Inner Critic Advantage: Making Peace With the Noise in Your Head a little book full of big ideas about how — and why — you can learn to love “that voice.”   The Inner Critic Advantage is now available on Amazon.

 Posted by  Happiness, Inner Critic, Special Topics No Responses »

February. More Reasons to Love the Love Month

Feb 032020
 

I love February. It seems to me that the commercial world has been building toward Valentine’s Day dinner reservations, heart-shaped jewelers and over-priced flowers since January 2nd but my reasons for loving the love month are different.

When I lived in the north country, having a short month with slightly longer days was a glorious relief — and gave us some wonderful mid-week ski days. I love that it’s the shortest month — even during Leap Year. It’s quirky. It’s got attitude. And Groundhog Day. Think about it. Could any other month tolerate — let alone embrace — a morning that features men in top hats using a large rodent to predict the weather?

…With His Boots On. In February.

Could any other month tolerate — let alone embrace — a morning that features men in top hats using a large rodent to predict the weather? Click To Tweet

Growing up, the family typically spent winter school vacations skiing. I know, I know… the glitz and glamour of an annual ski vacation? Not so fast. Kids growing up in certain parts of Vermont and New Hampshire get to go skiing as part of physical ed and Gram and Gramp lived exactly one mile from a ski area in the White Mountains. It wasn’t the least little bit glitzy but skiing all day, every day? (And Grampa driving us there with his ski boots already ON???) The word ‘exhilarating’ comes to mind for both parts of that memory.

February is home to several other family favorites: some birthdays and special anniversaries, two of which take place on Hoodie-Hoo Day! (Relax. I didn’t know either.) And best of all? Friends from cold places reserving our guest room. It’s a lot of fun to share this part of the world with them and the azaleas in full bloom add to the brightness and joy. And aren’t there some award shows coming up? I love design and am a sucker for a good red carpet. In addition, despite the fun we have with the family’s annual NFL football pool for bragging rights and trash talk? Football.Season.Is.Finally.Over.

February is for Amelia Island Book Festival

My favorite book festival is here in February and the experience has been different for me every year. I’ve attended the author training, the kick-off luncheon, and the gala. I’ve assisted a good friend with the Teen and Tween Scene, helped start a ‘welcome’ reception for indie authors, and attended numerous inspiring talks and break-out sessions by wonderful authors. And the grand finale each year is the Author Expo.  (And, since the year it started, a week or two later, we head for the Jacksonville Library for a similar event!)

The Amelia Island Book Festival comes around in February and the experience has been different for me every year. Click To Tweet

This year I’m feeling some synchronicity about our local book festival, Black History Month, and Susan B. Anthony Day. Let’s just say that both my local grand girl and I are fangirling like crazy at the prospect of meeting Margot Less Shutterfly, the author of Hidden Figures.

And amethyst: those incredible purple quartz crystals that almost always make me stop and take a deep breath. I appreciate its range of hues, from deep pansy to a much lighter lilac. As a 30-year veteran of the addiction treatment world, I appreciate that  in Ancient Greece to was believed that it protected the wearer from drunkenness and enabled them to keep a balanced mindset. It’s also a symbol humility, spiritual wisdom, and sincerity — important elements of addiction recovery.addiction recovery.

Awareness of Joy

I just found out that February 4th is National Hemp Day and, frankly, probably wouldn’t care, except For having recently discovered the benefits of CBD oil as a dietary supplement.  Skeptical? Sure. At first. And then I learned that CBD is not the same as THC. There’s no “high” associated with its’ use — unless you’re one of my dogs, waiting for their CBD cookies. That’s a level of happiness that’s hard to ignore. (And that’s the point of dogs, right?)

I just found out that February 4th is National Hemp Day. Click To Tweet

And Happy Heart Health month to you all. What an incredible reminder to brunch up on your CPR skills as well as to check in with ourselves and our health care providers to be mindful of diet and exercise and all those other things we need to do to ensure that this incredible center is able to thrive. I have come to love yoga heart opening poses and believe that an awareness of joy supports heart health!

What are your favorite things about February? Will I see you at the book festival? Or on the red carpet? I’m looking forward to your comments.

 

 

 Posted by  Thinking 5 Responses »

The Power of One

Jan 292020
 

The first month. The first day of a new decade and… all that advice. Make resolutions. Don’t make resolutions. Set an intention — it’s different from a goal. Choose a theme. Choose a word. Make sure to have something in every part of your life. Stick with just one thing until you’ve created a new habit. I love end-of-year reviews and setting goals, but none of it felt right to me this time. I chose a word anyway.

I chose the word “one.”

I’ve already been asked a few times about my choice. As in ‘we are all one?’ Yes. As in ‘first things first?’ Yes. How about ‘keeping the main thing the main thing?’ Yes to that, too.

A Sole Focus

Turns out, the more time I spent with my word, the deeper our relationship has grown. I have a lot of ideas so it reminds me to be mindful, keep a sole focus, to attend to a single thing at a time. It helps with physical exercise when I remind myself that I can only do a single workout at a time.

But the best use of the word has been as a challenge: what one thing will I do today that will make my life better? That’s a wonderful question — especially when life is already pretty great to start with. Some days it has been setting a single appointment or making a phone call. Half an hour of meditation. Writing a blog post. Training a dog. I cleaned out a single closet. I repaired one piece of jewelry, cooked a new recipe. I reframed a picture before hanging another. Repaired a favorite old piece of clothing. Accepted an interview request.                                                    Took a nap. Watched a movie.

Maybe a month is not a long enough period of trial. But, since I think my experiment has been a success, I’m offering a few more reminders about the power of one.

The Power of One

 

One! singular sensation, every little step she takes. One! thrilling combination, every move that she makes. ~ A Chorus  Line

I just wrote one song at a time. Kinda like an alcoholic. One day at a time. ~ Neil Young

A lot of things have been thrown at me in life, and I’ve got through it all without a rule book, taking it one day at a time. ~ Yoko Ono

I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do. ~ Edward Everett Hale

I think there’s just one kind of folks. Folks. ~ Harper Lee

I am just one human being. ~ Dalai Lama

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. ~ Viktor E. Frankl

Ideas can be life-changing. Sometimes all you need to open the door is just one more good idea. ~ Jim Rohn

 Posted by  Thinking 5 Responses »

Sorry. Sometimes Sorry Doesn’t Cut It

Jan 212020
 

“Sorry, not sorry” is one of those expressions that makes me feel old. I don’t get it. Actually, I get it. I just don’t like it.

Professionally, I got to grow up in the addiction treatment world. I treasure that community, the changes I got to part of, and, most importantly, the life lessons that were so generously shared. It’s where I learned the difference between “apologies” and “amends.” And that sometimes “sorry” doesn’t cut it.

You’re Sorry. What’s Next?

I’m not sure that addicts are the only people who need to take a closer look. There are lots of people who say they are sorry but are unwilling to change the offending behavior. It’s meaningless. That’s one of the things that the recovery community has so right: folks are advised to steer clear of anything resembling an apology until they are fairly certain they will not repeat the behavior for which they are apologizing.

What’s an apology and when should one be sorry? When apologizing we express regret — sometimes even sorrow or sadness — for something said or done. We express regret for offending, insulting, or otherwise failing a group or another individual. That makes sense when we are aware of what we’ve done and are reasonably sure we can follow through by not repeating the offending behavior.

There are lots of people who say they are sorry but are unwilling to change the offending behavior. Click To Tweet

“Sorry” gets old when it is hollow and when it is repeated along with with the bad behavior.

What Will it Take to Make This Right?

Maybe that’s why I like the concept of amends so much better: the focus is not on the sorrow of the actor but on making things right for the injured party. When I am the bad actor, I can ask the person I’ve hurt to define what it will take to improve things. To amend is, by definition, “to change for the better, to improve.” Or, getting down the nitty gritty: words versus deeds.

If you broke, stole or lost something? Repair, return or replace it. That extends to relationships as well.

Sorry – It’s Rotten

I like to remember that, historically, amendments to the Constitution have been put in place to improve and strengthen it. We amend garden soil to nourish and enrich it — often using something rotten in the process. Injuries to those we love, however unintentional, are ingredients of that rotten stuff which, if used well, can be repurposed to help grow something better.

We amend garden soil to nourish and enrich it — often using something rotten in the process. Click To Tweet

I’ve had a ringside seat to a lot of family drama recently. There must be something in the air: people are talking openly about the family stories that keep them up at night. As I listen and love and try not to advise, I find myself wishing that my friends (or their family members) were in a program of addiction recovery largely because I don’t always know how to share the wisdom of those old-timey pioneers in recovery with others who would benefit from their foresight and compassion. I am reminded that however beautiful our words they can be easily overshadowed by our deeds.

What are your thoughts about apologies versus amends? How do you make the changes that improve and strengthen your relationships with those you love?

 

 

 Posted by  Happiness 3 Responses »
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