It’s not always easy to say “no” to someone you love or to call out behavior that hurts, but discernment isn’t judgement. It’s wisdom shaped by experience, boundaries and care for one’s own peace.
If someone hides things from you, excludes you or treats you like an afterthought, that’s NOT YOUR FAULT for noticing it. It’s their fault for denying transparency.
You’re not walking away because you want to hurt them. You’re stepping back because you deserve honesty and that’s not selfish. That is self-respect.
Gratitude isn’t just for the good days. It’s for the messy ones. It’s for the mornings when the coffee spills, the text you hoped for doesn’t come, or when your heart feels heavier than you had wanted it to.
It’s for the days when all you can say is, “At least I’m still here.”
Sometimes, the bravest thing we can do is whisper “thank you” in the middle of the storm.
Find one thing today, one tiny thing, and hold onto it like a lifeline.
“Adult.” I’m starting to believe that this is the word that makes us forget that the above two words are still possible.
I love being called a “dreamer” even though some of the people that call me that don’t necessarily mean it as a compliment, but more as someone with no grasp on reality. That’s so not true. It means that I still believe that all things are possible.
And “magic?” I believe in it. I have seen it on the faces of two people in love, and heard it in the laughter of a child. I have tasted food that reminds me of my childhood and smelled the familiar scent of a loved one that’s passed on. Those things are magical!
And” adult?” This is a term used to depict our age but I believe that we’re as young as we feel. All too often the labels we’re given dictate who we are, what we do or even what we believe in.
I believe that growing old is a gift and believing in dreams and magic is a blessing.
I am a person who is grateful to be growing older as a dreamer who still believes in magic.
I’m always amazed when life offers you a “you don’t see that too often” moment! I had such a moment this morning. The windows are all open and I decided to finish my book while having my morning coffee. I heard a car stop right in front of my porch and three men hopped out with a crate. One of the neighbors was walking by and I heard them say to her: “Do you want to watch us release our homing pigeons? We’re really excited!” Of course, she said “yes” and I immediately put my book down and went out onto my front porch.
They gently opened the crate door and two beautiful white pigeons, also known as “release doves,” flew out. I watched them fly far away and within minutes turned back. It seems that one was completely trained and is teaching the other one to return home. They lived a few miles from here and were going back home to where they would return.
This was truly one of those “you don’t see that too often” moments in my life because I have never seen that before.
It was such a beautiful sight to see, and I read that two doves flying together represent peace, harmony, companionship, support, hope and love. What a beautiful meaning!
Happy Sunday and I hope you have a “you don’t see that too often” moment in your life.
My desk is in front of two large windows in my house, giving me a wonderful view of the neighborhood. This morning as I sat here writing with my windows down enjoying the cooler weather, I saw a neighbor from down the street come walking towards another neighbor walking their dog. Their exchange was right in front of my windows.
The neighbor down the street walks up to the woman walking her sweet Bichon and hands her something that she dropped in her yard. The woman, who recently moved in here, thanks her with a smile.
I thought that this was a nice encounter between two neighbors, but it wasn’t. The woman begins to lecture her in a very nasty tone, telling her never to walk through her yard again and that it’s against the rules. The woman apologizes yet the other one keeps going at her.
This is a person that lives a few houses away that has a negative and nasty attitude towards her neighbors, including me, and for no apparent reason.
Why do people have to be mean and unkind?
I feel incredible sadness when people are not kind, whether it’s to me or to someone else. I truly don’t understand why anyone would choose to be cruel to another human being but they do.
I will never understand how someone can find pleasure in intentionally hurting another. I know that there are plenty of reasons WHY they’re like that, but they have a choice NOT to be like that. Life has handed me some painful and hurtful situations but I never let them turn me into a mean person. I don’t care what has happened to me in my life, I would never intentionally hurt someone else. I know how it feels and it’s extremely painful to be abused, be it emotionally, mentally or physically.
Be kind as often as you can.
And to my neighbor down the street: “If you can’t be kind, please be quiet.”
And that goes for anyone else who is unkind to others.
I believe that this year is going to be one of awakening. I believe that the Universe already has plans in place for us, that everything that’s happening in our lives right now is the beginning of what’s to come. It’s like a playbook for a football game hoping to get a touchdown. I believe that what’s happening in life right now is preparing us for what’s to come.
And I mean that in a good way.
I choose to believe that my PTSD is here for a reason. I believe it’s to show me that I still have more healing that needs to be done. I have decisions and choices to make that I may not have been able to before. Whatever the reason, there’s a lesson in it.
We’re only a few days into 2025 and I can feel that change is coming. My intuition has been on an all-time high for quite some time and now is no exception. I think that this year is the one in which we have to look deeply into ourselves and see why we’re feeling the way that we are. I know that many of us are feeling “out of sorts” and I’m one of them. I’m trying to figure out why I am.
I think that I’m still trying to find my place here in Florida. I felt valued back in Jersey but not so here. I had a great job, I wrote every day and I was blessed to see the ocean every single morning on the way to work. My book launches were filled with awesome people and I had a group where I was helping others to write and get published. It’s different here and that’s one of the reasons I feel “out of sorts.”
So this year I’m doing what it takes to find my place and my value here in Florida. Writing is like breathing to me and I need to find that motivation again. I’m sharing my most intimate feelings and thoughts with you because I know that I’m not the only one in the world that feels like I do and that together we can support one another through such times.
The house is so quiet tonight and my thoughts are loud so I decided to write them. Thank you for “listening” to them.
“Never let anyone steal your brave because of their fears and insecurities, never let anyone steal your pretty because they have an ugly personality, and never let anyone steal your sparkle because they don’t know how to shine.” ~Anne Dennish~
Sometimes all we need is a memory to pop up to remind us of a life lesson. This was mine from many years ago.
A good friend of mine had stopped by my house many years ago. We hadn’t seen each other in months, and it was a much-needed break for me that day. We had a nice visit, but it was something that she said as we said “goodbye”, that stuck with me for many hours that day. She said: “What happened to you? You lost your pretty, your sparkle and your brave! Go get that stuff back!”
Wow, point taken, and she was right. I had lost my pretty, forgotten about my brave, and had most definitely lost my sparkle. My task on that day was to figure out what happened to it all and the next was to go and get it back. It wasn’t the thing that I had wanted to do that day, but after all, if I’m going to share my experiences with all of you and tell you how I got through them then I had to practice what I preach or at least practice what I write about!
So, what happened to my pretty, my brave and my sparkle?
A lot of things happened.
Yet it isn’t so much about “what” those things were but “why” those things happened. And as always, I believe that what we allow will continue and that we have to set up healthy boundaries in our life and not allow them to be crossed.
It’s easier said than done.
So, on that day I had to look in the mirror and be truthful with myself. And yes, the truth, even our own truth, can hurt.
And it did.
I had work to do that day and I was more than ready to do it. I knew then why and how I lost my pretty, my brave and my sparkle.
I lost it because I lost sight of its importance to me and that those three things are a part of me. I forgot to love myself the way I want to be loved, and I lost sight of myself as well.
You see, I’m as human as you and even I have to be handed another experience in life to remind me of a life lesson that I had forgotten and needed to remember.
Only I am in charge of changing myself; only I am in charge of my feelings and emotions; and only I am in charge of my actions and reactions.
After all, don’t I always say that “everything in YOUR life begins with YOU?”
On that day many years ago, I remembered that “everything in MY life begins with ME.”
If there’s one thing that I’ve learned in life is NOT TO MAKE IMPORTANT DECISIONS when you’re mad or upset! You need a clear, focused mind in order to make any important decisions, wouldn’t you agree?
My friend posted the picture below and I just had to share it because it’s funny and it’s true! How many times have you made a decision when you weren’t feeling quite like yourself, only to regret it later?
I can name quite a few “not so good” decisions I have made over the years when I was in a bad mood. How about you?
Here’s to bad decisions that we can laugh at! They’re the best kind, especially when it involves your hair! LOL!
News sure travels fast when a person wants to spread it.
It’s similar to the movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life,” in which each life touches another in a positive way except this type of gossip is in reverse and with a much different outcome. Each story and negative opinion that they share with other people touches another in a hurtful way once it’s been found out.
I call it “The Domino Effect” of gossip. We’re all dominoes strategically positioned in such a way that the person that pushes the first one does so knowing how to take down the rest.
The difference is that we’re not dominoes, we’re human beings that trusted a person who broke that trust by sharing our intimate conversations and their opinions with other people. Most often, we don’t even know that they’re doing it until we hear about it.
Do we tell the people that are the topic of the gossip, knowing that it will hurt their feelings? I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings but then again, isn’t that how we can protect them from gossip?
What do we dominoes do without lowering ourselves to their level?
All I can say is to distance yourself from them and if you haven’t already stopped all communication, you probably should be extremely careful in what you say to them.
Everyone is a loser here, and the biggest loser is the person spreading it all. After all, nothing good comes from idle gossip.
I say that we “dominoes” should leave it alone because I truly believe that what we put out into this world will inevitably come back to us. It’s only a matter of time before the hand pushing the dominoes is seen for who they are.
Don’t be one of the pieces in “The Domino Effect” of gossip.
Anne Dennish - Writer/Author 