This time of year has a way of pulling us in every direction – plans to make, places to be, and people to take care of, but somewhere in the middle of all that hustle and bustle is YOU!
And YOU matter, too!
So, today, give yourself permission to slow down. If you’ve been working all day, come home and let the world quiet itself for a moment. Slip into something soft, breathe deeply and allow yourself to unwind.
And if you’re in the middle of a busy day, carve out even five minutes just for you: read a few pages of a book, sip something warm, listen to calming music, or simply sit in silence and let your mind rest.
Self-care isn’t selfish – it’s necessary. When you nurture your own heart, you make more room for joy, patience, and love to flow into everything else that you do.
Take a moment today, and everyday because you deserve that much – and so much more.
December 1st always arrives with a certain kind of magic. It’s the first day of the last month – the final chapter of a story we’ve been writing all year long.
And maybe this year wasn’t perfect.
Maybe it held moments that broke your heart and moments that helped you heal.
Maybe there were lessons you didn’t ask for, blessings you didn’t expect, and changes you never saw coming.
But here’s the beautiful thing:
You made it here…
To this morning.
To this moment.
To this quiet breath at the end of a long year.
December is a gentle reminder that there’s still time.
Time to make peace with what happened.
Time to embrace what didn’t.
Time to forgive, to release, to soften and to open your heart to whatever is waiting just around the corner.
The page has not closed yet.
You still have 31 days to write something new, to surprise yourself, to choose joy and to rediscover hope.
So today, on this first day of the last month, be proud of who you’ve becomes…and excited for who you’re still becoming.
I’m 64 years old and after the tragedies of yesterday I sat here and wondered “when did this world change so much?” Where did all of this judgement and hatred come from? When did the world split apart into different teams? When did we lose compassion and empathy for our fellow human beings?
On September 11th, 2001, all of our differences were put aside and we all stood together. Neighbors met in the street to console one another, children stood on their streets holding up the flag and signs that said “honk for America.” On that day there was no race, color, religion or political differences. No one cared what your job was, or your financial status or what you believed in. We all stood together as one, consoling one another and standing in love, kindness and compassion for each other and for a world that was terrorized on that day.
What happened to that? What has happened to the people of this world? Did anyone deserve to die on 9/11? No, so why did someone deserve to die yesterday at the hands of someone else, or why does anyone deserve to die at all by someone else?
There is no one person or particular situation that changed this country or the people in it. WE are in control of the way we act and react. We have a choice to sit in judgement and spread hate to the people whose beliefs we don’t agree with OR we can choose to accept that we’re all different and that it’s not our job to judge someone just because they don’t believe what we do.
I believe that the problem is that we don’t hold OURSELVES accountable. We blame. We blame whoever and whatever we can. You need to hold YOURSELF accountable for what you put out into this world. Look in the mirror and ask yourself: “Am I trying to make this world and country a better place or is my judgment of others clouded by anger, fear and hatred?”
Is it so hard to accept that we’re all different? Is it so hard to let others be different? Or is it easier to judge and hate? In my 64 years I have never seen judgement or hate change anything. I have been witness many times to what love, compassion, empathy and acceptance can change and I’ve seen it change things for the good.
We, as a people, can move mountains and achieve greatness but it begins with each one of us.
Today is a day to pray for all of us and decide that it’s time for change. Today is a day to remember what happened on this day 24 years ago and to remember how healing it was when we all stood together as one.
Let today be the ending of hatred and judgement and the beginning of acceptance, compassion and changing the world “together.”
I love the first day of the month, no matter the month. It’s a feeling from childhood of the excitement of the first day of school, or how you felt on Christmas morning, not knowing what “Santa” brought you. The memories of those emotions always come back to me on the first of each month because there’s an excitement of not knowing what the month will bring. It’s as if we’re given another month to get things right or do them better than the month before.
It’s a new month with no mistakes in it. It’s a new month to change things, to do things differently, or to do what it takes to live your best life.
Here’s to the new month of July and all that it can bring to you…to all of us.
Welcome this first day of July with open arms, a delicious iced coffee and a mindset that this month will be filled with all that you want!
Life is filled with endless possibilities and with each new month there’s a renewed sense of gratitude for receiving the gift of another month to live your best life.
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.
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.
Anne Dennish - Writer/Author 