Friday, February 22, 2019

Fortune Cookie Friday: Be Willing

This post may contain affiliate links, by which I may be financially compensated. See Disclosures
Photo by Hannah Olinger on Unsplash


Welcome back to Fortune Cookie Friday! I hope you’ve all had a good week and are ready for a nice weekend. I’m excited about my weekend plans, as I’ll be taking my first-ever writing course. I’ll let you know how it goes, but I'm really looking forward to it!


Before we get to today’s fortune, I wanted to provide an update to last week’s post about Soul Wounds and Sacred Revelations. For those of you local to the Pittsburgh region, author Deneen Joyner asked me to share the news that she will be doing a book signing at Barnes and Noble at Settlers Ridge on March 30th from 1-4 p.m. I highly recommend meeting Deneen in person if you can! If you want to read her book electronically, it’s available from a variety of sources, including here:



Okay, announcement aside, let’s get to today’s fortune, shall we? This one is a reader submission that came in just this week, and it fits in so perfectly with the theme of the last two fortunes we had (Success; Failure) that I’m going to trust the timing and share it today:


“You must be willing to act today in order to succeed.”

I like to think of this fortune as a reminder that “there’s no time like the present,” as the old adage goes. And I think it's fair to say that we can apply this concept to just about anything, not just life’s “big stuff.”

Keep reading for three examples about how you can apply this type of thinking. Feel free to utilize these ideas in any area of your life.

Example 1: Chores & Daily Life
I can look around my house and feel overwhelmed by how much laundry I have to do. If I'm honest, it’s a lot! Did I mention our washing machine broke after burst water pipes in our house a couple of weeks ago? No? It rained inside our house, and then I couldn’t wash all the wet towels because the washer broke. I got those handled at the laundromat til our washer got fixed, but now I’m a bit behind on the rest of the laundry! I feel like I am always playing catch-up, which can feel a little overwhelming.

(image courtesy clipartpng.com)
Now...I can sit here continuing to feel overwhelmed, or the next time I get up from this chair, I could just go throw in a load and start the machine up. But I have to be willing to do that, right?

It’s not that big a deal, but as anyone who has a lot on their to-do list can probably relate, sometimes one more thing to do can feel like one-too-many things. But the nice thing about doing laundry is it can do itself, for the most part, so I should really just get on with it.

(Hang on, BRB—gonna go throw in a load of laundry!)

Great! Now my laundry is getting done. I just had to be willing to act on it.


Example 2: Life Goal
Now, let’s say there’s a bigger goal you want to achieve. What steps are you going to take to get there? Are you willing to explore this?

Let me just make up an example out of thin air, since I hear this one a lot in my line of work: you want to publish a book.

Are you going to sit in the land of “Someday I want to…” or starting today, are you willing to take the steps you need to take to get that book published?

You can be doing something every single day to get the “published author” title after your name. Want some inspiration?

  • You can take a writing class or join a writing support group in your local community.
  • Start writing. Write every single day. Set word count goals. (500. 5,000. Doesn’t matter how many.)
  • Read up on the publishing process so you know which direction you want to go in: self-publish or traditional publishing? What do you need to know about it?
  • Reach out to people who will help you with your goal, such as: other writers to give you feedback and guidance on your work, beta readers, editor, proofreader, agent, etc. (You do know I’m an editor and proofreader, right? You've got one resource handled, at least.)

Do you see how quickly I jotted down some potential steps for that goal? It only took me a few minutes to do that. Once you've noted the steps, you can take action on them.

Example 3: Something You Want to Have
A few weeks ago, a friend who wasn't a crocheter expressed the desire to have a shawl. There's one she liked on Ravelry. I said to her, "Oh, you can TOTALLY make that yourself, and I can show you how."

I offered to do a "besties crochet-a-long" with her, where we would both buy the yarn and get started on it on the same day and do it together. I offered to be there for her every step of the way to answer questions.

I'm happy to say that she is now several repeats of the pattern ahead of me on this shawl!

I am so happy for my friend! She was willing to do something she had never done before in order to get the end result she wanted. She had faith she could do it, and she had the resources (me, the internet, YouTube) to help her when she had questions.

She hasn't crocheted anything more than a granny square before. She has never read a pattern. She hasn't touched a crochet hook in 20 years, but she is making herself a shawl! And all because she was willing to entertain the possibility that she could.

The Takeaway
So after reading these examples, are you inspired to get started on something you've always wanted to do? If so, what do you want to accomplish, and what steps are you going to take—TODAY—to get there?

Be willing to have an open mind. Be willing to act. Be willing to know that anything is possible. Be willing to have faith in yourself.

Be willing.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by what the steps may be, there’s help available to you. From groups on the internet to local meetup groups to friends and family to books and podcasts and YouTube videos on how to do just about anything...you will have the resources you need.

Whatever it is that you want to do, just start. 

What are you waiting for?

Drop me a comment and let’s talk about this! Tell me your goals and steps; maybe we can inspire each other or brainstorm!

Until next time,

💛🐝



 ~positively b.e.e. is on FacebookInstagramTwitter, and Pinterest. Follow me there!~

Friday, February 15, 2019

Book Review: Soul Wounds & Sacred Revelations

This post may contain affiliate links, by which I may be financially compensated. See Disclosures


Hello everyone!

I thought I would do something a little bit different, today: I’m going to share my thoughts about a book I just finished reading, kind of like a personalized book review. I was positively affected by this inspirational book, and I think you’d get a lot out of it, too.
Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash
The book is called Soul Wounds and Sacred Revelations by Deneen Joyner. If it sounds familiar to you, that’s because I briefly mentioned it in my post accepting the nomination for the Liebster Award.

Deneen Joyner is based here in Pittsburgh, and I had the pleasure of meeting her at a holiday craft market back in December at the Green Heiress Yoga Studio. When I met her, I was immediately struck by her warm and friendly nature. We talked for a few moments, and I found out that her book, Soul Wounds and Sacred Revelations, would be the featured Soul Cafe Book Club book for February.

Anyway, I bought Ms. Joyner’s book in the Kindle edition and hunkered down for some reading in preparation for the meeting on February 6th. I thought I knew what I was getting into based on the description, but to be honest, I had no idea! What I thought would be a light, inspirational read turned into some soul-searching of my own.

In her book, Ms. Joyner takes you through a journey that starts with staring at herself in the bathroom mirror as she contemplates ending her life. In her darkest hour in that bathroom, she had a choice to make: surrender herself to God in order to fully heal, or end it right there and then.

She tells her story so vulnerably, transparently, and beautifully. Her voice is warm, accessible, and friendly. You feel like you’re getting to know her as you read. There may be points in this book where you find yourself crying along with her, but you will also smile with her or pump your fist in the air and yell “YES!” when she makes a breakthrough. (I legit did this!)

You may even feel chills as something she says resonates.

But most of all, you may see yourself in her story.

At about halfway through, I realized that this book was giving me an actual road map to root out and deal with some deep-seated emotional pain that I’ve been carrying. Because we all do carry pain from our experiences with us, right? Some of us more than others. If you ask yourself, “What emotional pain am I carrying?” I bet you’ll find something in there.

Does it feel comfortable carrying that pain? 

I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say: sure, yeah, in some way, it does, because it’s been a part of me for so long. But I realize that I don’t have to live like that any more. While I've done a lot of healing in my life, there is always room for more. :)

As she writes, Ms. Joyner details the approach she took to finally confront the pain she’d been carrying and then progress her life forward without it. It’s a story of hope, renewal, forgiveness, love (for others and self), and being real with yourself. It’s about connecting your past to your present and becoming whole. It’s about stepping into your full realization in life instead of blindly “living” it.

After reading this book and sitting back and taking a deep breath, I’ve started some more soul work. I feel like some kind of soul archaeologist right now, digging into myself to get to the bottom of things. It’s like I’m meeting me all over again: Beth as a kid. Beth as a teen. Beth in her 20s. Beth in her 30s. And onward...

This is kind of deep, ya’ll!

If you want to read someone’s amazing, inspirational and uplifting story, then this is definitely the right book for you! Who knows, you may even find yourself on your own journey to your whole, healed self.

At the time of this writing, it’s free on Kindle Unlimited or very modestly priced if you buy it outright in either the Kindle edition, hard cover, or paperback. If you live in the Pittsburgh area and meet Deneen Joyner at some point, I bet she’ll even sign it for you.

I give it a 5 out of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

If you read it, let me know what you think!

Until next time: Be Well. 💛🐝






 ~positively b.e.e. is on FacebookInstagramTwitter, and Pinterest. Follow me there!~

Friday, February 8, 2019

Fortune Cookie Friday: Failure

This post may contain affiliate links, by which I may be financially compensated. See Disclosures

Greetings and Happy Friday to you all! Guess what today is? It’s the one-year anniversary of when I first started posting Fortune Cookie Friday posts! Here’s a flashback fortune cookie for you to savor.

So how’s your week been going? I’m not going to lie: I’ve had a week. You could classify it as one of THOSE weeks. You know how things tend to happen in threes? Boy, did they ever! Between burst pipes and broken appliances and unexpected car work, my attention was taken up by other things this week, so I apologize for the lateness of this post. That said, I’m giving myself some slack about it, because it’s all going to be okay, and you’ll see why, below.

Without further adieu, let’s get right to today’s fortune!

“You’re never a loser until you quit trying.”

One of the things that I think makes humans cool is our ability to adapt in a variety of settings!

This fortune cookie may be worded a little harshly, but I think it’s true. No matter how hard you have to work, or how many steps you have to take, or how many attempts you have to make:

KEEP TRYING. Don’t give up! Failure isn’t the end of the world, and it’s not something you should judge yourself on, either. If anything, it should goad you to learn and do more.

As humans, we are uniquely situated to always be learning, either from our own mistakes or from others. We flex. We adapt. We look at things in new ways. We change the rules.

We innovate

But we’re not perfect, and we’re not going to hit it out of the park right on the first try every time we try something, right?

So please, if you take only one thing away from today’s fortune, let it be this: if you’ve ever failed miserably at something...you are not alone, and YOU ARE NOT A LOSER.

Take these really basic examples:

Did you learn how to ride a bike? I bet you fell off that bike a few times in the process, right? (Yup, I sure did! Got pretty good at riding it, eventually.)

Did you learn how to ice skate? I bet you fell on your butt the first time you hit the ice, probably multiple times! (I totally did! I eventually became a figure skater.)

Or do you currently drive a car? It's something you don't even think about when you do it every day, but did you scare the you-know-what out of the person who was teaching you how to drive back when you had your learner’s permit? (Ask my dad how teaching me to parallel park went the first few times! AND I failed my driver’s test the first time I took it! But now I’m a really good driver.) (No, really, I am! *g*)

The point is: we all make mistakes. Failure isn’t a thing by which we should judge ourselves. It’s a crappy metric. We are geared to learn from our mistakes. We adjust, iterate, or tackle the problem from another angle, either until we succeed or we decide to change the game altogether.

Failure isn’t a measure of success. I mean, do you know how many successful people out there failed at first? If you don’t believe me, check out this article by Business Insider about 29 people who failed in one way or another, yet still succeeded.

You’re not alone.

So how about trying this: stop judging yourself so harshly. Know that as long as you keep trying in life, you’re doing good. When you fail at something, don’t treat yourself like it’s the worst thing ever. Just keep trying.

I’ll give it a shot, too.

Let's pinky swear: “I do solemnly swear not to freak out when I fail. I will not measure myself by my failures."

Cool?

Cool.

Oh, and one more thing:

[Base photo by Joel Muniz on Unsplash]


xo,
🐝


Have a great week! 







 ~positively b.e.e. is on FacebookInstagramTwitter, and Pinterest. Follow me there!~

Friday, February 1, 2019

So About That Kindness Thing...

This post may contain affiliate links, by which I may be financially compensated. See Disclosures

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post detailing some potential scientific reasons as to why kindness appears to be contagious. Shortly after writing that post, I saw a piece that really highlights the concept, so please enjoy this feel-good story about a great random act of kindness that snowballed:

Duane Sherman, a 96-year-old WWII veteran and purple heart recipient, was not looking forward to his most recent birthday. Accustomed more to handwritten notes, cards and letters than to social media, he was not a man who would expect “Happy Birthday!” messages from his closest 200 friends on Facebook, you know? But most of his friends had predeceased him, and no cards were forthcoming.

His daughter, Sue, decided to make social media work for her dad, but in an unexpected way: she asked the internet to send her dad handwritten notes and cards for his birthday. And the internet said, “Ask, and you shall receive!”

According to the Good News Network, Mr. Sherman received over 50,000 cards from strangers in all 50 states and 10 countries!

"I’ll have a hell of a time reading them all," he said, delighted.

You can watch footage of Mr. Sherman and this epic birthday card story, below, courtesy of CBS.



So...how did this story make you feel? I know 50,000 cards is probably overkill, but it just goes to show how kindness can snowball. How amazing is it that 50,000 strangers all were touched by this veteran’s wish for a handwritten card? The generosity of people in general really gives me hope for our society.

Have a great week, everyone! 🐝



 ~positively b.e.e. is on FacebookInstagramTwitter, and Pinterest. Follow me there!~
Sources: Good News Network / KDKA / KCAL / CBSLA YouTube

Reflections on 2020

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, by which I may be financially compensated. See  Disclosures  for more info.  It’s finally...