Category Archives: Sharing Life Stories

United We Stand; Divided We Fall

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Thank you to all of the bloggers who show courage during these ugly, dark times and still speak in a voice that doesn’t follow and still maintains their heart convictions and integrity.

joyful2beeblogs

American Flag American Flag

                                                                                                                                                                           I’ve lived almost 71 years full of varied and interesting experiences with people of many different races, cultures, and religions, which I feel gives me a broad understanding of a large sampling of people’s attitudes, lives and feelings about life.

Through traveling I’ve met other people of different cultures  from Mexico, Canada, Germany and Switzerland. Traveling is a mind expanding experience.

I’ve traveled…

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Me in the Middle ~ Crushing It ~ Part I

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At the beginning of 2022 I was gifted with a year-long mixed media on-line workshop ~ Crushing It ~ Artfully Inspired Life by Joanne Sharpe.

Mixed Media means all types: Acrylic, Watercolor, Gouache, Inktense Pencils, Watercolor Ink, Gel Press, Stencils, Fountain Pen/Ink and Watercolor grounds.

Six months have passed and I can’t say enough how much I look forward to each month’s lessons. It’s helped me to find focus during the uncertainty of all that’s swirling around me.

So here is Part I of the past six months of artwork in my journal:

If you’re interested in finding out more about Joanne’s workshops, here’s the link: https://joannesharpe.com/online-classes/?doing_wp_cron=1655930741.8427019119262695312500

See you in Six Months for Part II

Me in the Middle ~ WordPrompt ~ June

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“The eagle opened its wings and circled up into the air”

OPEN ~ unfold or be unfolded; spread out.

The WordPress WordPrompt for June is OPEN.

For me, the word OPEN has an accepting and welcoming feel to it. Life experience has taught me that it’s good to be accepting and welcoming of the lives, opinions and choices of others as long as I don’t lose my own integrity. Being open to life as it is and living in that worldly reality needs boundaries that protect our own life and our own reality. To Openly embrace the reality of the world and humanity while standing courageously in what we’ve learned in our own life is the definition of OPEN. To hold space for ourselves and others as our lives unfold. This is freeing! It leaves us open to learn and understand while still deciding where we fit into that learning and understanding. This is freedom!

“Open your eyes! Look within! Are you satisfied with the life you’re living?”

~Bob Marley ~

“Be open minded but not so open minded that your brains fall out!”

~ Groucho Marx ~

“The open heart sees, feels and absorbs the beauty of the world.”

~ Sonia Choquette ~

Me in the Middle ~ WordPrompt ~ May

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“You never know how STRONG you are, until being STRONG is your only choice.”

~Bob Marley ~

I found this writing by Brené Brown while visiting a post by Jennifer Juneau ~ Looking Back While Looking Ahead.  It’s only been recently that I’ve embarked on the journey of ‘Looking Back’ all with the intent to continue moving forward and ‘Looking Ahead’.  Writing about our life story, the good parts and the not-so-good parts, pulls together a pattern that reminds us of who we were all along the way.  A pattern of strength and courage through our struggles that becomes clearer when we become an observer from the present  time and allow ourselves to look back.  We can do this at any time and at any age.  The insights we gain and the freedom we experience keep us ‘rising strong’.

~ Manifesto of the Brave and Brokenhearted ~

“There is no greater threat to the critics and cynics and fearmongers
Than those of us who are willing to fall
Because we have learned how to rise

With skinned knees and bruised hearts;
We choose owning our stories of struggle,
Over hiding, over hustling, over pretending.

When we deny our stories, they define us.
When we run from struggle, we are never free.
So we turn toward truth and look at it in the eye.

We will not be characters in our stories.
Not villains, not victims, not even heroes.

We are the authors of our lives.
We write our own daring endings.

We craft love from heartbreak,
Compassion from shame,
Grace from disappointment,
Courage from failure.

Showing up is our power.
Story is our way home.
Truth is our song.
We are the brave and brokenhearted.
We are rising strong.”

Brené Brown

♥

Me in the Middle ~ WordPrompt ~ April

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I’ve been waiting for the April WordPrompt from the WordPress Team. It’s been a slow process of getting back in the groove for blogging. And now I begin! Pondering the word GREEN!

The Green Heart emoji 💚 depicts a classic representation of a heart, colored green. It is commonly used to represent love, support, close bonds, and admiration for things that have some relation to the color green, from nature to sports teams that use green.

Looking back over the years I find the color green leading me forward to LIFE and RENEWAL. A little girl learned the miracle of a small seed sprouting into a green plant by placing the seed in cotton and placing it in a glass. Each day carefully watering it and checking to see any signs of life. In Girl Scouts our uniforms were green. We’d work toward badges that included nature.

Junior Girl Scout Nature Badge

Ireland is the heritage of my family and green reminds me of Ireland in many ways! On my two week visit to Ireland we travelled the back roads of beautiful green scenery especially on the West Coast. The Shamrock is: ‘While trying to convert the Irish into Christians, St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the holy trinity with each leaf representing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The three leaves of a shamrock are also said to stand for faith, hope and love. A fourth leaf is where we get the luck from.’

a low-growing clover-like plant with three-lobed leaves, used as the national emblem of Ireland.

Even our society has recognized the color green as a sign of well being, moving forward and healthy growth. Our traffic lights are Red on top, Yellow in the middle and Green on the bottom. Red alerts us to those red flags, signs of danger to our well being. Yellow encourages us to proceed with caution and be aware of possible risks. And GREEN tells us it’s safe to proceed and move forward. Sometimes some unforeseen event will happen as we’re proceeding and moving forward. And that we can’t control.

‘Traffic signals control the flow of traffic through intersections. Even young children are taught what the three colors of the traffic light mean: Red means stop, yellow means caution, and green means go. Although traffic lights are now used for automobile traffic, their initial use came before the car’s invention.’ (TitleMax)

So there you have it! Why GREEN means good things for me (and you?). I like to wear green and more likely in March. I’m always thinking of Spring and Ireland!