my thoughts: on seasons in life

The circle of life... sorta.  I mean, the seasons are like circles.  The seasons of life are rather similar to the seasons of weather on our planet.  Although, at least for me, the seasons of life seem a bit more erratic.  But, then again, folks everywhere are talking about how the weather is out of kilter for their area.  So, maybe my personal seasons are a lot more like the weather seasons than I thought before sitting down to write.

Regardless of that, I've come to a deeper realization I want to share with you.  It's this: for me, chaos is an integral part of spiraling up my mountain, as it were.  The mountain being life... improvement... growth.  You know, the big stuff.

It makes perfect sense, of course, since darkness is likened to chaos and it has it's assigned part of the day.  So, too, then it makes perfect sense that chaos must have it's time in my personal/mental/emotional life, too.

Lately, I've been thinking that my time in chaos usually comes after my babies are born.  Usually it seems to start around the time they are three months old and lasts different lengths of time with each babe.  I'm pretty sure the differences are, at least, partially due to nutrition and sleep.  Unfortunately, this time of chaos includes varying degrees of insomnia.

Thankfully, chaos passes.  Like in labor, when I don't fight the times of contracting/chaos, this time is far less painful.

As with goals in THIS TEDx talk, focusing on the rough stuff makes it far too easy to feel every bit of roughness.  Strange, since Reggie Rivers is explaining why focusing on goals causes us to NOT accomplish them.  Instead we should focus on behaviors.  That's true for getting through the seasons of chaos, too.

In my life, as I focus on my behavior, rather than the rough stuff, I'm able to feel more control and authority, rather than less.  Yeay for that!

Bear Can Dance by Suzanne Bloom

Another very quick and easy read by Suzanne Bloom. Bear Can Dance is also most intended for very young ones or early readers.  This is another author illustrator!

Bear wants to fly. He can't. Maybe there's something he is able to do that's almost as good.

My children enjoyed this picture book. It is very quick, easy read.

What do you think of Bear Can Dance by Suzanne Bloom?

observations: materialism is pervasive

Materialism as in: focus on the material, rather than belief that matter is all there is.

Pervasive... the very first definition.

I often think of myself as a really low maintenance kind of chick.  I don't wear makeup (for many reasons).  One of my many reasons is not wanting to be sorta addicted to something that runs out and must be replaced.  I have enough health-maintenance stuff that has that problem.  I don't want to also have appearance maintenance stuff, too!

My husband and I choose to live very simply to reduce financial burdens that would otherwise have crushed us, especially given how things have played out during 2016!

As it is, some things have come together to show me just how much I rely on THINGS. 

Take for instance a cell phone.  How does one function in this world for long without a phone... cell phone is taking the phone thing to the max... but even just a regular handset phone that has only a certain range from its base. 

A week I can do.  Beyond that and I start to feel anxiety... and think something is going to happen and I'm not going to be able to hack it because I don't have a phone of any sort.  Why even think such things?  I mean, that really doesn't help things at all.  But that is definitely my most constant battlefield: my thoughts.

It doesn't feel good to realize my degree of materialism is higher than I've been working for it to be.  Very disappointing.  And, of course, there are good parts in the bad.  Good realizations... good to know ways I need to change my thoughts.

Now... to change them!

The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski, a book review

The final book in the trilogy, The Winner's Kiss by Marie Rutkoski, is an easy and good read. Kestrel has played well in the previous books, yet finds herself in the fight of her life for her life, her identity, and what she believes is important. Will she win?

Again, there are a couple steamy scenes and I will allow my twelve year old to read the conclusion after the other two when she's sixteen at the earliest. More because of the mature subjects broached than the intimate scenes.

Kestrel faces new challenges.  Will she lose her mind?  Will she ever see Arin or her father again?  And what about her fiance?

I like this book and the story as a whole.

What do you think of this story? What about the whole trilogy?

my thoughts: on motivation revealed

So, last time I really only shared what someone else thought about motivation.  I thought I would do it differently, but when I was typing it up, I felt like I should just share what someone else said and ask if you agree.  Many thanks to those who replied.  I appreciate your time and thoughts very much!

As for me, I believe that the three motivations shared in the last installment of my thoughts is really pessimistic and not really accurate, anyway.  Perhaps I'm overly optimistic.  I just believe that if I had to limit folks' motivation to three it would be: love, security, and legacy.  Probably in that order, too.

What to you think of my three?  Am I overly optimistic?

The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski, a book review

The Valorian Kestrel, in The Winner's Crime by Marie Rutkoski, struggles in the heart of the empire: Valoria. She is a member of the emperor's house now, engaged to his despised son. Kestrel's soft heart finds good in the young man and the two become friends.

Intrigue surrounds her and follows her like a stench one cannot bathe away. She is working diligently to play the 'game' she has set in motion. Will she win?

I enjoyed this second book in the trilogy. I accidentally read it first.

Most authors include many, perhaps most, details from their preceding books in each subsequent book. Rutkoski did include many and the major ones, of course, but when I read the first book, I learned many details barely, if at all, alluded to in the second or third books. I like this because it shows a sort of confidence in the author. Confidence that each part of her story is worthwhile and if you want to know the whole story, you better read all of it.

This is young adult fiction. I might let my eldest daughter, currently twelve, read it when she's sixteen. There are only a couple steamy scenes which are not graphic. However, the whole book is riddled with inter-relational thoughts I'd rather my children not consider until they are a little older.

Have you read The Winner's Crime? What did you think?

observations: we humans don't like to leave our comfort zone

What makes a zone comfortable, anyway?  I've come to believe it's a combination of time and ease.

Beings prefer ease.  Even plants.  We humans are no different than the rest of this planet full of beings.  And when we've stayed in a way... sometimes uncomfy... we get comfy in it... so it becomes the comfort zone.  In some ways, this zone can be and probably often is heavily influenced by generational curses.

In myself and my marriage, I observe financial struggle cycle.  In the past, the problem times were often caused, at least in large part, by my own choices.  As I've grown, the cycle continues as a result of circumstances.  Thus, I'm left to believe that it's deeply a generational thing. 

I've been working out how to end the curses because I believe I agreed to do just that. 

It's a difficult process for me... a bit like feeling around in the dark for a light switch I believe is there... I just don't know WHERE and I can't discern how large the space is in which I must search for a possible switch!

Generally, I've observed similar sorts of things in others.

I wonder frequently if we'll be surprised to learn how deeply and broadly our lives have been influenced by choices our predecessors made.

Who's Got Game? The Ant of the Grasshopper? By Toni and Slade Morrison, a book review

I love children's books with good rhyme. I love the way it flows off the tongue and the way images come to mind with the rhyme… even if there are no pictures in the book. Of course, I love pictures in picture books. The rhyme in Who's Got Game? The Ant of the Grasshoppper? by Toni and Slade Morrison is not the kind I prefer.

When a children's picture book starts out seeming to have rhyme, I want it to flow through the whole story. The rhyme of this story is stilted and spare. It doesn't steadily flow through the whole.

I kept asking myself, “What's the point of the story? What does the title mean?” Those two questions kept me reading. If not for them, I would have put the book down in aggravation because of the unsteadiness of the rhyme.

Reading the whole story so that I could understand the message of it is worth the frustration I felt about the rhyme. I like that the story ends with a question, rather than telling the audience which choice has the greatest value. In all honesty, the greatest import lies in what a person values most highly.

Presented in comic strip style, the illustrations by Pascal Lemaitre do support the story very well. In fact, they sometimes helped me figure out what the text (odd font) was supposed to say as I read it aloud to my children. And my children enjoy looking at the pages as I read, too, which is helpful to the peaceful environment I'm working to cultivate during our reading times.

If you've read it, tell me what you think of the story AND whether you've already read it already or do after reading this review, tell me which you are more like… the ant or the grasshopper?

As for me… I guess I'm a bit more like the grasshopper, though… working like the ant at it!

my thoughts:motivation

So, it's still pretty recent, but not in the last week that someone told me there are only three things that motivate people.  This person said those three things are: money, pride, and fear.

I do, of course, have my own thoughts about this subject, but I want to hear what you think before I share what I think.

Do YOU think this person is correct?  If not, and you are limited to three things that motivate people, what would you say are the three primary things that motivate people?