671 WANNA WRITE ... GOSH DARN! NO TIME!

Though I want to write
Time is not on my side
So I'll steal a ploy from TV
And post a rerun, today :)

Since post 584:  I AM ANNIE, YES I AM
Is in line with much of what I wrote
In yesterday's post concerning
Leadership's independent spirit
I've chosen to copy it for review, below

I mean, let's consider an insight
As self empowering as this next one proves to be:
If you've not yet led yourself
Where you most want to go
Then perhaps it's time to discover
Strengths, hiding deep inside your mind
Which have been waiting to be developed by
None other than YOU! :)

So okay
Here it comes
Post 584

Want to hear I am woman hear me roar?
I sure hope so, because
I am no longer a simple 'maid'
Hiding behind defensive ploys
Better known as woman's wiles
Today—
I am Annie Sullivan, patient teacher
I am Ado Annie, who can't say no—if
Yes is where I need to go, and
If you ask what my series of stories
Aims to reveal?
If you ask what's left to write
That's not been said a zillion times?
I'll reply
My story is mine and mine alone—
My story is every woman's story
Every man's, every child's
If you ask, Annie, how can that be?
I'll reply
My quest for self awareness, peace of mind
Proves classic, universal, timeless in nature
Therefore my story, my quest for insight int
Love and  life is thine as well as mine
If you ask, Annie, how can that be?
I'll reply
Life is contradiction and so am I
And if thee be human, the same proves true for you
I am woman hear cry; hear me roar!
Hear me plead and take command
And as I welcome you
To penetrate both sides of my nature
Which seen, side by side, make me whole
Perhaps you, too
May find sound reason to choose to quest
More deeply into your depths than ever before ...
If you ask why might I choose to explore 
Ever more deeply into both sides of my mind?
I'll reply ...
No one escapes childhood completely unscathed
So how about we ease into our quest toward
Self discovery by highlighting insights
Common to one and all
And in this way we may
Take down defensive walls
Which narrow our attitudes and limit our perceptions ...
Thus blocking decisions, leading toward open access to highways
Where expanding comfort zones
Offer insight into courageous choices, culminating in success
Whew!
That proved to be one comprehensive train of thought! :)
If this step-by-step plan makes as much sense
To you as it does to me
Then please replace my name with your own
As we chant, good naturedly ...
I am Annie, yes I am
I am Annie, yes I can ...
Achieve goals, which have proved to be illusive
However, now that self confidence, diligence and resilience
Prove illusive no more ...
I'll continue to grow to be Annie ...
Soft and sensitive, self aware and stronger than ever before ...
I am Annie :)
See me sparkle :)
Hear me roar :)
Watch me transform dreams into
Long range goals, fully achieved, at last! :)

670. WANNA KNOW WHAT DRIVES ME TO WRITE EVERY DAY? :)

Each morning I awaken with a strong pull to write for many reasons.

First is my mission to inspire the world to acknowlege this fact:

If all people have the right to be treated with respect, that includes children.  I mean, once adults stop bullying children, children will stop bullying each other.  

Children, who absorb respectful attitudes at home develop self respect.

Children who develop self respecting attitudes offer mutually respectful attitudes more readily than those raised with authoritative put downs, too subtle to identify but not lost on instinct, which picks up on subliminal messaging as in ... I own the high road, you follow my lead or else ...

Most parents, who want to raise leaders have no clue how often squashed, young spirits turn into followers.  On the other hand, parents, who offer astute choices that inspire young think tanks to develop decision making skills—which focus upon improving quality of life for everyone concerned—raise leadership material.  Astute leadership skills are absorbed from astute leaders, who consciously role model with an eye on generosity of spirit and consistency.

Children, who feel respected at home, learn to respect others by following their chief role model's example for this reason:  Little ones learn by mimicking, as in monkey see monkey do.  Little ones who fear punishment may fall into line—until resentment builds past breaking points, causing emotional dams to burst apart—and then look out!!!

Though do as I do encourages mimicking, do as I say or be punished works for only so long before power struggles intensify, wrecking our most deeply valued relationships.

It's a fortunate child, indeed, who is taught to voice opinions, which are seriously considered at family meetings where a talking stick is used to move discussion from one person to another, peaceably, instead of using sticks and stones to insult and batter young minds into resentful submission, culminating in power struggling rebellion, driven by the spirit's innate need for independence.  Whew!

It's a fortunate child, indeed, who's misbehavior receives time out, meant to calm tempers down, rather than a punitive time out, which has no purpose other than to incite resentment to rise to new heights.

I write, daily, in hopes of encouraging adults throughout the world to learn how to develop mutually respectful family bonds rather than tying a child's self esteem into tight knots of submissive stress.  As that statement offers an apt description of my main purpose in writing this blog, here is what my mission aims to change throughout the world at large:  By way of word of mouth from home to home, on block after block, in towns, villages, states ... nation by nation—78, so far, and counting—my mission aims to inspire our generation to fill so many, young, impressionable minds with self respecting attitudes that our next generation of leaders will grow up to reflect mutual respect when various cultures commune in hopes of seeking solutions to conflicts, which have led thousands to lose life and limb fighting in war after war.
Double Whew!

Look at it this way:  If we can't attain mutual respecting attitudes at home, how can we hope to respect each other's differences, nation to nation?

By way of creating and teaching five simple communication tools, which have encouraged attitude changes in thousands of adults who've chosen to enroll in my classes over these past thirty-four years, I'm aiming to 'speak' to millions from the comfort of my home, by way of my blog.  :)

If attitude is everything, then children, who feel respected and who have absorbed a healthy respect for parents and siblings, are apt to grow up to be leaders whose attitudes reflect mutual respect—more naturally than most.

In hopes of conveying that balance between developing respect for one's own needs while also respecting the needs of others in bite sized pieces, I FEEL driven to write posts concerning self respect leading toward mutual respect, every day. :)

As an added bonus to me, each time a train of thought comes straight from my core, I come to recognize vulnerabilities within myself of which I was unaware.  I consider that a bonus, because common sense suggests that we can't strengthen vulnerabilities of which we're unaware.  So though the teacher in me sits down to write, every day, the student inside my mind grows more deeply self aware, post by post.  And with depth in self awareness, some aspect of my life in need of strengthening, improves, yet again.

Whereas to preach proves ineffective, all around ... to teach from yesterday's experience is to learn where need for improvement exists, today :)

At some point, I came to see that my mission to influence world peace and my personal quest for inner peace prove one and the same, suggesting that my drive to write has dual purpose, every day :) 

669 LOVE'S PURITY PROVES SURE, PATIENT, SATISFYING ... ALL AROUND :)

So good to travel to celebratory weekend
So good to be home ... :)
Even so, did not drift off to sleep easily, last night
Amalgonation of restless emotions unsettled my mind
Calm during turbulence, transitioning into emotional reaction
In the aftermath of inner conflict has become my m.o.
Not as in calm before storm
But rather calm and aware of puzzle pieces aligning until
Bigger picture appears
At first, when I could not fall asleep, irritation arose
Then insight hit, inspiring my train of thought
To circle this positively focused track—naturally:
Before the wedding weekend
My heart thought to contact and thus connect lovingly
With every member of my extended family
This means that, at first, certain people I love
Were wrapped in loving compassion ...
Then, having embraced their sadness
My awareness opened a separate compartment within my mind
Which allowed my heart to embrace heartfelt excitement and joy
Concerning the happiness of wedded bliss that was about to take place
In truth ...
Juggling both sides of emotion presents mind and heart
With quite a balancing act ...
And if asked how this came to be, I'd reply ...
Over these past twenty years
I've been absorbing Dr. David Schnarch's theory of differentiation
Meaning that my compassion and empathy for another person's pain
Does not weigh so heavy on my spirit that
I suffer their pain as though it was my own
It was hard work for me to get to this place of
Healthy, heartfelt compartmentalization where
My mind accepts the reality of both sides, in fact
This healthy, heartfelt compartmentalization is what pulled
The emotional tides of my love toward
Washing empathy over expressions of sadness until
My emotional pull toward another's joy offered my mind sound reason
To express pure sensations of heartfelt connection
With everyone involved
And though it's true that expressions of differentiation could not help but
Swing my emotions back and forth throughout the weekend ...
Upon returning home, I realized that
My expression of sadness and happiness had collided, at last
Within an environment of privacy
Which allowed me to consciously vent my emotional swings
And once insight cleared my mind as to the fact
That it was no longer necessary to control my reactions
I gave myself permission to lay wakeful and
Go with the flow of which ever rolling emotion
Was taking precedence ... moment by moment
And by accepting this healthy amalgamation of emotion to emerge
Naturally from deep within my core, eventually, all of me relaxed ...
Which is why insight emerged, again, in that
My heart, mind and gut felt, clearly and unequivocally that
I'd been able to take good care of everyone in my family ...
Including myself! :)
If asked how I know my perception lines up with reality, I'd reply
Certain people told me so, individually ...
And more than words can convey ...
I saw the truth of heartfelt connection emanating, eye to eye ...
Twelve years of heartfelt strife ...
Twelve years of mindful work ...
Twelve years of positive focus interwoven with hope ...
Twelve years of hitting sticks that kept me sane
By allowing me to release repressed temper in healthful ways :)
Culminating in joyful togetherness ... without so much as
A word of blame falling heavily on any one person's head ...
And once again, win-win does not mean all is well ...
Win-win means a spirit of mutual respect has been re-established
Suggesting that when the spirit of leadership looks forward
With attitudes of inner conviction holding hands with peaceful co-existence
That which remains unhealed will most assuredly resolve ...
If not today, then one day, little by little ... step by step ...
And once again, I celebrate making rabbit ears, believing full well
That the day will dawn when insight circles round
And everyone involved will take responsibility for
Mending and maintaining family ties, all around ...
And as sciatic pain is now clamoring for me to lie down
Your friend, Annie, leaves you, today 
Reveling in the magnetic strengths of love and self trust grown ...
Sure, patient ... deep :)
PS ... So call me addicted to hope if you must ...
Better hope than any other drug, n'est pas? :) :) :)




Sent from my iPad

668 AFGHANISTAN HONDURAS :)

Truthfully, can't remember if we'd bid welcome to Afghanistan and Honduras some time back ... if not, glad to have you aboard  :)

And welcome back to Turkey and Moldova ...
As we've not seen you for a while
Just want to say you've been missed :)

At some point ...
Most likely when my mind felt too busy to
Hold on to everything with thoroughness
I lost touch with tracking nations with consistency
Life is like that, you know
We think to know what's going on till we don't ...

667 WHICH CAME FIRST? GAIN OR PAIN? :)

Danced last night
Not too fast
Not too long
Just enough to heighten sciatic nerve pain, today
As I am now down for the count
Some might inquire
Was it worth it?
My reply ...
Resoundingly YES!
Why?
As soon as band starts to play
The shackles of my careful life unlock
Freeing my wild thing to feel FULLY alive!!!
And as dancing feet make my spirit soar
This morning's pain seems worth last night's gain :)

666. PAUSE FOR CELEBRATION! :)

Celebratory weekend
Leaves little time to write
No time to edit errors found in recent posts
Look for Part two of best friends go swimming
Which will pop up on your screen
After toasting with wine glass in hand stops addling my brain :)

665. CONTENTMENT :)

Contentment ... When one's heart beats in time with peace of mind :)

Special occasion in extended family leaves no free time for story telling, today.
Just time for insight above and several, which prove interrelated, to come:

During my youth I thought a quiet day equated with boring.
After several years of mental strife resultant of conflict, which left unresolved, continued to escalate until such time as camel's back suffered the weight of last proverbial straw, quiet equated with peaceful.

Today, when life is quiet and my mind feels peaceful, rather than bored, I am content.

Content means my mind is at peace for this reason:  Though conflict may remain unresolved,  I've learned to rely upon the positively focused bent of my mind to tolerate tension, thus reducing the stress of mental turbulence within.  And with the reduction of turbulence, my thought processocoos free to seek creative ways to resolve conflict with others who, thankfully, are still on this side of the grass ...

Bottom line, regardless of whether this conflict resolves or not, the fact that I never give up giving my all will, one day, allow me to reflect back without regret   And a mind at peace with no regret is a mind content, indeed :) :)