Moving Forward with IT...

 Hello there readers,  As I prepared to weather the storm outside yesterday, I was reminded how many times in our lives we are weathering a storm in our hearts. The storms will come and oh how often we think they stay much longer than we invited them to. My gosh, many of the storms we weather we would rather they stayed away all together, right! But, unfortunately...or maybe not, part of life is learning how to live through it. It may be a sprinkle or mist of worry in your heart or maybe it feels like a tornado. Whatever the storm is in your life it may not seem big to someone else, but it is your storm. It is the path that you will walk to get out from under the cloud.  I am learning that the path I need to walk is hard. It is something I wish I didn't have to do, but I am beginning to find things to be thankful for through it. Surely I don't mean that it is all cotton candy and pots of gold, because it isn't! I would be a foo...

 Hello readers,  As I sit here to write today I am reminded of the constant mental chatter that goes on in our brains.  Today, there is that "CHIRP" we all know exists when the battery needs to be changed in your smoke alarm.  It happens about every 15 seconds to be exact...  Well, in our minds it is all the time. It is not just every 15 seconds, but the mind takes impressions in constantly when we are awake.  For many of us, it is that negative mental chatter we tell ourselves.  Things that may be from past experiences of our own or ones we have read about.   Many of us train our bodies physically to be in a healthy state, but we also need to train our minds as well.  We can be great at many things but have the chirp of a smoke alarm going off in our heads all day long.  To hear the chatter of thoughts that keep us wondering if we are doing it right, doing enough or should just stop doing it at all.  This can be exhausting!...

 We cannot afford to forget any experience...not even the most painful.                        Dag Hammarskjold Experiences, whether it is grief or something else you have been through is a part of our journey. It is hard as hell, but it molds and shapes us. It grows us while we are battling through the thick of it.   Embracing our life...all of it, is part of who we are. It is our story. Learning to grow with it and make changes along the way is such an important part of it.  Lets just be real here! I don't like it, actually I hate it! I would love for it to be different in some way, but I have to embrace it because the pain I feel each day is a sign of the love I got to give and receive for 22 years. Most of all, the memories of what I had with Montanna are right here in my heart. It is raw and it is real and it ...

 Hey there readers,  Been thinking about this quote and what it really means in my daily walk and wanted to share what I have found.  Maybe you will resonate with it in some way too, or be able to use it in your day to day grind. The first word in this quote is Bloom . The definition of blooming: "To produce something beautiful." In order for us to bloom we need to feed the soil of our souls, so we are able to grow. Flowers don't just bloom. If you want them to, than you must nourish them...right? The second part of this quote is where you are.  Often times we have the feeling that if only I was ________ than I could do so much better. If all my problems were solved...then I could bloom. What if where we are at is just where we are supposed to be? The last part to this quote is planted . The word planted means "placed there intentionally and meant to grow in that spot." Whatever season of life we are in, I think we can bloom t...

 Hey there readers,  Have you ever wondered if joy and suffering can co-exist?  I was told early in my grief journey by a good friend that they can and to remember that I could feel both.  Take a second to think about this today.  Whatever you may be struggling with,  it can co-exist with joy.  You can struggle and see joy in things at the same time.   I dug into this a little bit more and it is found that even in the face of pain, loss or difficulty, one can still find something positive.  You can still find a reason to be grateful, or a sense of purpose. It might only be little nuggets, but a little is better than none.  This can be easier said than done, of course!   We all know how hard it is when your in the midst of the valley...or tangled in the web of dismay.  I think this is why it is so important to have things or people in our lives that help carry us through these times.  Others who maybe have trave...

 Hey there readers,  So, what does it mean to flip the script?  Hmm, well I have heard this said many times but decided to dive a little deeper.  The actual definition of it is "to reverse a situation, often doing something unexpected or changing the usual approach, which can lead to a more positive or successful outcome."  This has a lot to do with taking back control and making different choices.  Lets be honest here.  We all have something in our lives that we need to take better control of.  Maybe it is something big or maybe it is just little things.   In my life right now,  it is easy to avoid the things that make me really sad.  I love listening to worship music, which Montanna called "church songs." I spent almost all my time with her and we loved listening to music together. Lots of funky fun music, but in the last year of her life she wanted church music on her ipad more than anything else.  It was something we s...

 Hey there readers, Yesterday I woke up with every intention to blog about a topic, but honestly I was having a day.  Yes, it was Monday but it was more than that.  I was feeling like there was so many things I wanted to get done(many of them mundane) but important in my eyes...or so I thought.  Our day to day, or week to week can get so full of the "stuff" that needs to get done.   I was reminded of this video I saw a long time ago.  It was about a professor who was teaching his students about the jar full lesson.  He was asking them what they fill their jar with.  The jar was empty and the first thing he put in there was golf balls.  These represented the important stuff in life such as family, friends, health etc.  The next thing was pebbles.  The pebbles represented things such as car, home and job.  The last thing he put in was sand.  The sand was everything else...the small stuff.  He explained how if you p...

 Hey there readers,  TGIF, right!  We have experienced true Wisconsin weather this week.  I am ready for some steady sun and warmth in the forecast.  Other than vitamin D in our daily lives(which feels pretty low lately) we all know we need a good dose of laughter.   Something my sister and I do many days of the week is share funny reels with one another through texts.   A couple of weeks ago we were able to stay at my parents house for an event we were going to with my mom.  I can't remember the last time we slept in the same bed at our parents house!  OMG we belly laughed until after midnight.  It was like little girls trying to be quiet so you don't wake anyone in the house.  The harder we tried to be quiet...the harder we laughed.   Who is your belly laugh partner?  Is it your best friend, a sibling, significant other or maybe a co-worker.  Whoever they are, make sure you are getting your daily dose...

  Hey there readers, Do you all remember being a little kid and playing with glue.  It was sticky, we always used too much for what we were working on and it transferred over to things it shouldn't have.   Well, isn't that a lot like life!   Depending on the season you are in and what you might be going through, our circumstances(our glue) can get intertwined into each part of our life.  It sometimes gets messy and stuck onto all the parts of our lives.  We bring it with us everywhere.  I will use myself as an example here.  Right now, my life has been a lot about grief.  It wraps itself into each part of my day in some way or another.  Sometimes it's just for a brief moment and other times its EVERYWHERE!  Everywhere I look, everything I touch and every thought I have.  I'm here to tell you that this is normal, and this is grief.  But, in the midst of it I am learning that what I am going through is my glue....