Spread the Message

I'm sharing this blog post with you today because I believe this message is something worth sharing, and remembering every single day.

Last week, I read this article. Briefly, it is about a man who suffered a brain injury that affected his entire family, and their life for many years, until he fully recovered. They had a booming business that his wife had to take over, and after a while they suffered from many financial hardships. During one of the mans random back-to-normal-mentally streaks, he rented a sign and filled their yard with every one of the family's big ticket items in order to sell them to help his family. An angry neighbor called to yell at him for the gigantic sign, and the man told him what was going on with his family. The neighbor apologized, but felt awful for the things he had said. The moral of the story is not to judge people because we have no idea what they are going through.

I believe this is something every one needs constant work on. It is so easy to judge someone based on what's going on in our life, when in actuality, we know nothing about their specific journey and situation. Even if we are lucky enough to know their situation, we are not them, and have not walked the same journey through life that they have. 

In the article, the author, Melody Ross, states that she wishes people could walk around with signs hanging around their neck telling people what is going on with them. Signs like "I lost my job", "My house is being foreclosed.", or "My husband gambles all our money away."

Because everyone has a story. Because every story is different. Because not all situations are black and white.... We need to be gentle with each other. We need to be kind, and generous. 

After I read this article, Jackson and I read the book Stone Soup, one of my favorite books from my childhood. It shares a similar message about kindness and sharing. In the beginning of the book, the people in the town only work for themselves. They don't share anything, and when three monks come to town, they all shut their doors and refuse to answer. In great efforts to teach the people of the town a lesson, the monks begin to make Stone Soup. They start with just three stones and water. A little girl comes to watch and is eager to help. In turn, all of the towns people come outside to see what's going on, and everyone ends up contributing a little something to make the soup. At the end, they have a hearty Stone Soup to share, and there is a huge feast. The towns people learn that everyone must pull together as a community so they can all reap the benefits. 

(You can click the link above and purchase this amazing book for you and your children to read and discuss together. It is linked to my amazon affiliates account.)

That's what I want for our world. That's what I want for my town, and especially for my children. I want them to grow up helping people, and being generous, but also knowing what it's like for others to do the same for them.

I'm calling all of you, big, and small, old, and young, to make the changes within yourselves to accept people as they are. Love one another always. Be generous, be kind, be gentle, even if someone doesn't deserve it. It is those people who don't deserve it that need it the most.

Please spread this message with everyone you know. We can only benefit from making this change.
Have a lovely day.

Someone always has it worse...

Someone is always worse off than you are. This has been my mantra the last two days. I've had to say it to myself many times. Have you ever had one of those days that never seems to end, and everything seems to go wrong? This has been my WEEK so far. I keep reminding myself that its not actually that bad, and thinking of the positives, but its hard. I wrote a post last week about the mind + positive attitudes, and rereading that post today has helped me so much. Here's what's going on:

Yesterday morning I woke up at 6:40AM to my phone going crazy- it was a tornado warning. Great. We don't typically get tornadoes here in Delaware. I've never seen one and I've lived here my whole life. But in the last year or so, it seems we've had lots of instability in the atmosphere in certain storms and we have actually had some minor tornadoes in our area. Super scary. The last warning, a few weeks ago, when I hid in the basement with Jackson, scared both of us, and now when there's a storm, Jackson won't sleep in his bed.

So, right after the tornado warning expired, we had a really severe storm that dumped 3-5" of rain on us within an hour. I was just getting ready to go get a shower and get ready for work when I noticed the basement was flooding. Our sub pump wasn't working, then the back up one wouldn't work either. I figured out it was the outlet I was using that wasn't working, and plugged the pump into another one to start pumping water out of the basement. Kyle's uncle ended up having to come over to help me because Kyle was at work and couldn't get home. {We are currently renting our cute little house from Kyle's cousins. They are on vacation this week so they weren't able to come help, but  thankfully Uncle Tommy was around this morning. This is the beauty of renting and living close to family}.

Today, the basement is completely dried out thanks to the dehumidifier that Uncle Tommy purchased yesterday. But the basement is now a mess again. We will probably have to spend half of our weekend down there getting it organized again.

But today I woke up happy. I did the dishes, I swept the floor, I tidied up the living room. I will have a happy day. I hope you have one too :)

Check back tomorrow to see the second post on the first dance and song lyrics wedding picture: how to make a photo canvas.

Elizabeth
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A little inspiration for you {+ me too}

A good friend of mine, and a great mom is constantly telling her kids how powerful the mind is. & she's right. Your mindset determines your whole mood, and your mood shines outwards in the way that you present yourself.

 

That is why it's so important to take care of yourself mentally in addition to physically. I talked before about eliminating anyone negative from your life.  Avoiding negativity is the first step one must take to begin leading a happier life. Negative feelings fester inside us, and bring us down, little by little.

 

Sometimes I feel myself getting into a negative mood. As soon as I realize it, I make an effort to smile more, and change my mindset. Did you know it takes more muscles in your face to frown than it does to smile? I often tell the children this. It's hard work to frown. Let's be lazy, and just smile :)

 

 

It helps me when I wake up in the morning to think of some of the things that are going to make this day great instead of thinking about what I don't want to do that day. I tell myself {even if I don't feel it} that today is going to be a good day. Starting the day off on the right foot, and not letting anything get in the way of your positive thoughts is so important.

 

So next time you feel like you're getting a little down, or the negativity starts creeping up on you, only allow yourself to think positive thoughts. Remember, the mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts, your life will start to change.

 

Elizabeth

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{my thoughts for today}

Here are my thoughts for today: 

//One thing I feel like I am constantly being reminded of is to cherish the healthy relationships I have with the people who are there for me, and who are the positive influences in my life, and to spend less time with the negative ones, the people who bring me down, the black clouds.

//I think most everyone has those people in their lives that for some reason or another just have negativity all around them. Distancing yourself from these people is the best thing to do.

//For me, I try to always remember the people who have been there for me unconditionally, throughout the years no matter what. These are the people I put my energy into.

//On that note, I am going to bed tonight thankful for the loving and supportive family and friends we have. We are so blessed to have such great positive people surrounding us and cheering us on.