Author: Anne Dennish

“A Different Thanksgiving”

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Last year at this time I was getting ready to cook yet another Thanksgiving dinner, thinking of which chairs would be empty that year. 

And again this year, I miss my children that are scattered around the country who aren’t able to fly home for dinner because of their jobs or college classes, except this year they can’t because of a virus, of loss of jobs, or crazy college class schedules. I’m missing them yet again for the holiday, but realizing that even if they could come home right now, they can’t. 

My parents have come to my house for every holiday dinner. This year my mom was recently in the hospital and while she can still drive a few minutes up the street with my dad to have dinner, they can’t. She can’t put herself at risk of getting the virus.

It seems that we’re all spending a lot of our time complaining about this virus and how it’s affecting our holidays, but why? It’s such a negative mindset. I’m missing my family as much as you’re missing yours and I don’t want to put anyone at risk. 

Enough of what I don’t want to do. 

I’m going to focus my energy on what I can and will do. 

I will be missing my children being home, but I can video chat with them.

I will be missing the tradition of going around the table as each of us told our most embarrassing moments of the year, but we can share those stories by phone.

I will be cooking a turkey and all the trimmings, just as I do each year. My parents can’t be at the table with me, but I’m going to bring the table to them by delivering them a Thanksgiving dinner.

The tradition has changed a bit, but all that I’m grateful for hasn’t. It’s still Thanksgiving to me no matter what. The memories of past holiday dinners will always be in your heart and new memories of a “2020 crazy corona Thanksgiving” will be made. Life is a mindset and you have a choice to make the best of each and every situation you find yourselves in.

Find yourselves in gratitude. Find yourselves covered in blessings. Find yourselves together even though you’re apart this Thanksgiving.

Happy Almost Thanksgiving.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“The Trouble Is, You Think You Have Time”

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“The trouble is, you think you have time.” Buddha

The truth is, you don’t know how much time you have.

The time you spend being angry with someone is a waste of precious time, which none of us are promised. The time you spend not speaking to someone is a loss of time that you will never get back in this lifetime. The time you spend paying someone back for upsetting you is holding you back from moving forward with them.

People talk about missing loved ones that have passed, that they wish they could talk to them one more time. I understand that but what I don’t understand is why they wouldn’t feel that way about someone who is still here and in their life? I have lost loved ones throughout my life but their passing has taught me to embrace the loved ones who are still here. I don’t want to miss any time I have to spend with them or talk to them.

Don’t waste the time you’re given on this Earth being angry or ignoring someone you love. You’ll never get that time back and you never know if that’s the last time you’ll talk to them. It’s like that old saying, “Never go to bed angry.” And it’s true.

I don’t want the last thing I say to someone I care about to be negative, hurtful, or spiteful. I don’t want to treat someone badly because I’m upset. I don’t want to waste one minute of my life holding onto negative things and missing the good things.

Don’t waste this precious time you are gifted. Be grateful for each day that you wake up and use your time wisely, not wastefully. Let someone know that you love them. Tell someone that you’re sorry. Communicate your differences together with love and respect. Use your time to do good things that can make a difference in the life of another. Don’t waste it on negative things that will only hurt you or someone else in the end. One day you’ll wish you had that time back to do things differently but once it’s gone, it’s gone for good.

What difference do you want to make in this world with the time you’re given? One that people will remember with a smile or one that they’ll remember with sadness?

The choice is always yours.

The time you’re given is a gift. Don’t waste it.

And that’s just my thoughts today.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“My Life At The Beach House”

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It’s been a hectic few days of packing up one house, unpacking into another and working full-time, but it’s getting done. I’m beginning to settle into the “beach house” and can already feel the stress and anxiety fading away. I’m finding my balance and am getting back to my writing. Currently there is no internet or television at the house and I have to say, I don’t miss it. I can hear my thoughts, the sounds of the neighborhood and of course, I can hear the ocean! It’s beautiful. It’s quiet, peaceful and serene and it’s exactly what I was looking for.

I remember telling my son, Noah, the type of house I wanted to move into. I said that I knew it was a long shot and a dream, but I was going to think positive and hope that I could find something that would come close. When I first saw this house I thought “That’s it. That’s the house I’ve been dreaming of.” Noah and I went to see it and when we got in the car afterwards he said to me, “You couldn’t have manifested that any better if you had tried!” And he was right because it’s everything I wanted and more.

Life at the beach house is wonderful. I’ve only been there for 3 sleeps but I’m loving it. Last night was a cold and windy night so I opened all the windows to let the ocean air blow through. It was perfect sleeping weather especially when you can hear the sounds of the ocean.

There’s still some work to be done at the old house but we’re getting there. We’re hoping today is the last day of it. At first it was sad for me to see just how much of our belongings, of our lives, that we had thrown out at the curb, but now I see it as letting go and moving forward. It was definitely time for that chapter to close and this new one to begin for all of us.

Life at the beach house is everything I had hoped for and needed in my life right now. It’s my place of peace, serenity and healing and I’m looking forward to this adventure…And I’m looking forward to enjoying “each breath along this journey.”

(Here’s the view from my backdoor.)

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“You Can’t Put The Genie Back In The Bottle”

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“You can’t put the genie back in the bottle.” It’s a line from the movie “The Intern” with Anne Hathaway and Robert DeNiro. That line hit home with me as I watched the movie and it made me cry, and the tears fell like a waterfall.I think I cried because that one line signifies so much in my own life right now. You can’t put a genie back into a bottle, just like you can’t go back in time and change hurtful words or behavior. You can’t undo what’s already been done.

But what you can do is move forward. You can’t erase what’s already happened but you can move forward from it. You can change yourself and you can change your situation. You can change your perspective and you can change your reaction. You can learn from it and decide not to repeat the pattern.

And you can become a better person. No, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle and you can’t go back in life and change what’s already been done.You can only change yourself and where you go from here.

And I think that’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“Life Is A Series Of Choices”

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Sometimes we keep going over and over in our heads about what went wrong and how did we get to where we are now. Last night I had this very conversation and I said that there’s no use in wondering about how we got here but there is use in deciding where we go from here. I’m really starting to feel more comfortable with this adventure I’m on. I feel as though my mind is thinking more clearly than it has in months and that I have more answers than I have questions. I feel like I’m breathing for the first time in a long time.

I realized that I was living “in” a life, rather than “living life.” There’s a difference. We find ourselves living in a life that we’re comfortable with yet I’ve since learned that we all deserve so much more. We deserve to be “living a life” that we want, that brings us joy and that we’re grateful for. People lose sight of all those good things when they’re just going through the motions of “living in a life.” It happens when we become comfortable and take things for granted.

I’m not wondering anymore about how I got here, I’m focused on where I go from here. I know for sure that I want to live life to its fullest, embracing each and every day, surrounding myself with people who lift me up rather than those that bring me down, and move forward without fear, but with faith that everything will be okay. I’m learning that what happened last week has no place in what’s happening this week. I’m learning that there are some things in life I will never understand. And I’m learning that the more I select my thoughts into being positive ones, the better I feel.

I was in a state of complete joy last night over my oldest getting engaged and I loved that feeling. And I reminded myself yet again that I am in control of how I feel.

Life is a series of choices and each of us are in control of our own.

Just my thoughts for today.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“Don’t Lose Yourself”

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We’re never too old to learn something about ourselves and during this past week I learned something so valuable about myself that is life changing and will definitely help me in living my best life even more.

I always talk about “fear,” and that nothing good can come from it. I talk about standing in your truth and using your voice in a kind, respectful way to express it. I talk about how to understand any fear you may be facing and how to get past it.

Yet during this last week I realized that I had been carrying a “fear” which I wasn’t even aware of. Sometimes a situation happens in your life that brings a life lesson to you, that gives you an opportunity to see something in yourself that you hadn’t been able to see before.

I see it now and I want to share it with all of you.

I love and value the people in my life and I would never want to lose them, and that’s a human and normal way to feel. Yet I also realized that in not wanting to lose them I’ve become “fearful” of losing them. I finally saw that I wasn’t standing in my truth as much as I should have or saying what I needed to say to them because I didn’t want to anger or hurt them because if I did that, they’d leave my life. And that is so not the way to be with anyone in your life: friend, family member, partner or spouse. I realized that this was a fear that should never have been part of who I am because in the end, anyone who would leave my life because of who I am and what I say didn’t really value me at all. And that is the truth. And it’s my truth now. And I’m working on releasing that fear that was buried within me for much of my life.

We’re all humans who, at times, don’t even understand why we act the way we do or feel the way we do, yet once we address these underlying issues of our own and understand the “why” behind them, we release them…and we grow into our best sense of self. And we begin the journey of healing, of recovery and the road to truly “living our best life.”

“Don’t be afraid of losing someone by standing in your truth. Be afraid of losing yourself if you don’t.” AD

It’s a good thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“Feeling Lost”

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I’m grateful for all of you that follow me and you must know by now that I share a lot about my personal life with you, and I do so because I know that I’m not the only one going through a difficult time. Some of you may be going through a similar situation as well and by sharing my truth I hope that it helps you. said that I’ll let you know what’s going on with me. I’m feeling lost. The life I knew a few weeks ago no longer exists and I don’t know where I belong, how to feel or what to do next. I remind myself of a time when I wrote about this very thing and said that “it’s during those moments that we feel lost that we are actually finding ourselves.” And I have to believe that.

I feel uncomfortable, anxious, scared and lost. Life took a sudden turn overnight for me and I’m left with wondering what’s next. Where do I go? How am I supposed to feel? What do I do now? And I have to go back to my belief in that “everything happens for a reason.” Life has shaken me to my core and it’s up to me to figure it out and do what I need to do to move forward. None of this is easy, but I believe that in the end I’ll be in the exact place that I need to be in. I’m feeling more lost than I ever have but I know that this is a time to find myself more than I ever have, to grow into the person I’m meant to be and to move forward without fear. Life is changing and it’s changing quicker than I had imagined.

Some of it’s painful but I’m willing to trust and take that leap of faith to see where life is going to take me. It’s been a crazy year for all of us but I have to believe that we’re all going to be okay. And we’re going to come out of this better and stronger than ever. Just my thoughts for today.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“Three Sides To Every Story”

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My mother always said that “there’s three sides to every story, yours, mine and the truth.” And she’s right. There are three sides to each of our stories and I’ve learned from experience to believe the story that lies in the middle of your version and mine: “the truth.”

Sometimes we get so caught up in the emotions that are swirling around in our minds that we lose sight of the truth. We tell our story to whoever will listen, hoping that they’ll be on “our” side, not “their” side. We’re hoping for confirmation that we aren’t guilty of anything, that the other person is. And we’re hoping that telling others our version will make it the truth. It doesn’t.

The real truth lies out there in the middle. It’s one thing to tell your story to friends and family for support, which would be the right reason. It’s another thing to tell it for sympathy and to talk badly of the other person, which is the wrong reason. There’s enough hurt swirling around. You don’t need the opinions of others to keep it going. After all, they’re not living in your “truth,” they’re just hearing it from you.

Everyone has their own “version” of their situation, but when you get to the real heart of the matter, when you take your own accountability and when you forgive yourself and the other person, then you will have found the right version: the truth. It’s not always easy to face the truth, but it’s an important piece of healing and moving forward in your life. No one knows your “truth” but you. Be careful who you share it with.J ust my thoughts…Have a wonderful day.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“Healing A Broken Heart”

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Anger is one of the most dangerous emotions to feel. It pushes people into doing things that they wouldn’t normally do and the repercussions of those actions can be brutal. And the damage it can cause to another human being is oftentimes hurtful beyond repair, the effects lasting a lifetime. There’s no value in anger, only in forgiveness.

Forgiveness is a gift to yourself. That is why forgiveness is so very important. Forgiveness doesn’t mean that it is “okay” for someone to hurt you, or that you forgot what they did, it means that you’ve forgiven the person in order to let go of your anger. Heartache and hurt feelings take time to heal, but anger? You can get rid of it as quickly as you felt it…with forgiveness. Time does heal all wounds, and so does love, compassion, understanding, empathy and a willingness to take accountability for your part in all of it.

And time does heal all wounds more quickly when you have found forgiveness in your heart. Nothing heals a broken heart more than a heart that can forgive. And I know that to be true. Just my thoughts…

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“If You Can’t Be Kind, Be Quiet”

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Just my thoughts on kindness. No one has the right to be unkind to another human being. Imagine what the world would be like if we were all kind to one another? It would be awesome!

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~