Tag: Bloggers of WordPress

Farewell to Who I Thought I Was

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It’s Saturday morning in the first week of October and my home is so still and quiet, one could hear my stomach grumble.

I’m supposed to be attending a Jack Canfield, Breakthrough to Success weekend workshop. I was invited by someone who doesn’t know me very well, but sees me as motivated. Friday was the first day I attended, but it reminded me of a Richard Simmons workout, as the spokesman was trying to get the audience pumped up and motivated before Jack appeared.

It was a revelation that my nervous system couldn’t handle the energy of the environment created by the motivational speaker, but 20 years ago I thought I wanted to be him. Now I realize you can make an impact quietly.

Friday, I met a friend for coffee and on the drive over I asked myself if there were any problems in my life that needed to be resolved. The only thing that came to mind was that morning catching the dog with his head in the litter box, eating cat poop. He knew that was not acceptable as soon as he was caught, so that problem had passed. I shared this with my friend and we had a hearty laugh.

Finding people to love and to be loved is connecting with the chosen few who align with your kind of weirdness.

I’m making shifts, creating space, and purchased a book of blank pages to write the next chapter. I’m officially letting go of Letitgocoach, but continue to write. Letitgocoach became a name that others knew me by, but there’s no desire to fill those shoes. It was something I had to prove to myself that I could get certified and did, only to place another check mark on the ‘done’ list.

When I talk with people in my life today, they say, “Tell me about Barb’s world”, and I smile. I’ve been writing on that WordPress site, but want to share with you…I’m letting go of who I was thought to be, and to simply be. Thank you for your love and kind words of support through the years.

You are welcome to join me Inbarbsworld.

The Next Chapter

Send Some Love

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There’s no set schedule who to write to and when. Much like blogging, if something is on my heart to share, the letter is written. I received a call Friday night from a dear friend thanking me for the card. I didn’t know why she’d been so heavy on my heart and mind the last couple of weeks, but I dropped her a note in the mail. Little did I know she’s been recovering from Covid.

I don’t believe I’ve ever thrown a letter away. My sister and I would write to one another and I would keep her letters in a drawer of the console. As the enchantment with letter writing increased they required a space of their own. I remembered having this box that wasn’t being used for anything and saw it fitting for letters. As you can see, we’re going to need a bigger box.

In talking with Brian this week, I discovered he too loves to write letters. The name of his blog Is Writing From the Heart, which as heart writers, that’s what we do. Brian was doubting his penmanship which you can see here, but how you write isn’t the reason behind the letter. It’s in the message of what you wish to convey. It doesn’t matter how well crafted your handwriting is. You have to trust the words you send will be legible. A letter is to be written slowly, with ease and it’s not something to rush through.

Writing a letter is an opportunity to relax the mind and share from the heart. When I purchase a bigger box, it won’t need the word ‘love’ painted on it because from what I can see that’s what it will hold. Every envelope represents a sweet soul who took the time to send some love.

Previous posts in this series:

  1. Write a Letter
  2. The Letter Opener

Write a Letter

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There’s a sign hanging in my home that reveals my perspective has changed. It reads, “I am fairly certain given a cape and a nice tiara, I could save the world.” I no longer wish to save the world, but I do want to touch people’s lives and I’m perfectly content with one person at a time.

The day my daughter was loading up her Jeep with some of her belongings, she told me, “I want you to make this house look like your own.” Mostly, it already did, but I took her words to heart. Over the weekend, the coffee bar turned into a letter writing station because a couple of years ago, I published this blogpost and began writing letters. It’s simple, yet nothing compares to the joy it brings. This venture began with one letter to a fellow blogger and has expanded to touching hearts all over the world.

It reminds me of the pen pal relationships of the past. Strangers whose connection is based on their exchange of letters. In this case, we began to know each other through our blogs and now we do exchange letters. I am enjoying what I suppose, is a non-traditional friendship, in today’s world. We learn much about another person through a written letter. The penmanship, the color of the ink, type of writing instrument, stationary and even the stamp all are clues to the individuality of the writer.

Dawn of Aging With Grace

I’d never imagined by writing a letter to Dawn we’d be corresponding through snail mail for almost a year now and I’m grateful. My supplies outgrew their basket, hence the letter writing station. With everything out in view, I’m more apt to pause and ponder who needs some love. Then lean in to write a letter.

Here’s more on letter writing:

2. The Letter Opener

3. Send Some Love

4. Worth the Risk

5. Hope For It

Left Feels Right

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Sitting at the kitchen table Pandora echoes through the house. Pink and Chris Stapleton sing, Love Me Anyway, and my mind drifts into a dreamy state.

I haven’t been on WordPress much this summer and gratefully, my Blog hasn’t suffered during my absence. The stats remained steady, so God still led people here to read and follow. I smile and give Him a nod of acknowledgement for the millionth time, “Oh yeah…It’s not about me!”

I’m training my left hand to manipulate the wireless mouse connected to my laptop and it’s been interesting. Having used my right hand and index finger for decades, it’s deserving of a reprieve. The practice began by using a regular mouse with my left hand and switching sides of the laptop it resides on. Almost a week in and my hand is finally reaching automatically to the left instead of the right. It’s funny how fast our mind trains our body, but there’s ample opportunity to retrain it to suit where we are.

I’ve noticed the left hand glides more gently than the right hand ever did. Somewhere along the path, the right hand became about speed and clicking through whatever’s in front of me. The left hand is more steady, present while being watchful in the moment and will pause almost like it has more patience while offering a much lighter touch than my right. To celebrate this learning experience I purchased a mouse that can be utilized by the left hand or the right, but for now my darlings the left feels right.

Logitech Pebble Bluetooth Mouse M350 – Flora

Find Your Words

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I spoke with Hercules before lighting the firepit. He’s my neighbor and ‘good choice’ guru, but he’ll tell you it’s because he’s made a lifetime of not so good choices that he can offer better answers today. He said, “Barbara, if you want to light your pit, then you should do it. Just drop a hose nearby.” I mentioned writing about him in a Blog and our conversation went something like this…

Him: I didn’t think you were Blogging anymore.

Me: Yes, I renewed my website for another year.

Him: But, the last time we talked you were going to stop Blogging.

Me: I tell myself that all the time.

Him: Well, I stopped reading the Blog because you said you were going to stop. I’ll go find the Blog.

Me: Awesome. You are Hercules!

He laughed and said, “Barbara, it’s from thinking I was Hercules all those years that got me in the shape I’m in today!”

Hercules supports my crazy ideas and doesn’t mind that I write about him. When I first met him it didn’t take long to realize how much wisdom he holds and I told him, “You should write a book!” He laughed, and shook his head, but now he lives next-door to someone who will.

I ran across a Blogsite where a man stopped Blogging last year and wondered if he lost his voice, but blogging helped me find my voice and refines it. My disclaimer is, “If you’re in my life, you’re probably going to be in a story.” The blogger who lost his voice was in a season where family was involved in every storyline, and he didn’t feel it was solely his story to tell. As writer’s we get to tell our side of the story.

Finding your voice is a path paved by alphabetized keys, or pen to paper. This Blog began in 2014, and you’d never know by reading it that my divorce was one of the nastiest times of my life. As a writer, we get to choose the parts we want to tell and can uncover the good parts if we want to badly enough. I’d venture to speculate the blogger who lost his voice didn’t lose it, but instead someone voiced their opinion about his writing and silenced him.

We have a voice and writing is practice for finding it. You haven’t lost your voice my darling, but you may need to sit with yourself in front of the blank page until you find your words.

The Softer Side

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I changed my WordPress Theme again, and will probably keep changing it until I find one the right one, so bear with me. My friend Jeanne over at Still a Dreamer messaged me saying she couldn’t find my previous posts. Taking a closer look I realized there was no footer, just endless posts. Thanks to Jeanne speaking up, I enabled the search feature in the footer.

While there, I changed my tagline, and I knew a change was coming, just didn’t realize it’d be so soon. My previous tagline came from a small poster I purchased locally almost a year ago. It hangs by the coffee bar as a reminder to, “Never settle. Don’t even think about it.” I was looking at it the other day and it’s safe to say I have that one nailed, because I’m still single! 😂

One of my favorite women of the world was and still is Kate Spade. I have to be careful going down the Google rabbit hole because eventually I’ll start seeing some of her stuff. I love her style, it suits me, and Google knows it. I saw a quote by her recently, and this quote feels more like me.

The rabbit hole led to Etsy.

It’s softer and I want to nurture that softer side.

Considering I just went to the grocery store to purchase flowers, there is a softer side. I picked up a few groceries as well, but my main objective was flowers. I wanted to end my day by seeing flowers and start the day seeing flowers and who knows, a year from now maybe I won’t be single if I funnel some of the energy from being a strong woman over to the softer side.

Feel the Music

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Thank you for supporting my dating excursion.

This afternoon, I’ll be in a suite at a Bed and Breakfast for a couple of days. I can’t recall the last time I traveled by myself. It’s been 6 years since stepping inside a B&B, but my heart holds a never-ending love for them. I see two rows of stepping stones along the path. One is logical, paved by thoughts. The other is of the heart which can be scary, but God is there.

I booked the B&B a month ago, and have been watching as the weeks fly by. It’s in one of my favorite small towns, only an hour away. Travel doesn’t always mean get a passport and board a plane. It’s about a change of scenery, and being plucked from the normalcy of what you know.

I purchased this tote to use as a weekend bag and to inspire travel.

America and Beyond

It felt frivolous at first spending the extra time and money on this trip, and bag, but when friends and co-workers began asking, “When are you taking some time for just you?”, I listened. I’m looking forward to waking up in a different bed, and not having three animals pacing the hallway.

Thank you Stu, at Something to Stu About for sharing a Feel the Music in your Post Picks. I went to his Blogsite to pick up links to tag him in this post, and he had just posted about ‘Stillness‘. It was ironic to see his post since I’d booked this trip to dwell in some stillness with God.

Stu says, “Through stillness, we learn to pay attention to what God is doing in us and around us.” Make a space for what matters, which for me, is Him.

TobyMac-I Just Need You