Take a listen! I’m back!
Do you ever hear a song on the radio that takes you back in time? One that transports you to a time when you were younger and life seemed much simpler?
It’s that song that brings you back to a precious memory, of a time when you remember being so carefree and happy.
For me it’s a song sung by Eddie Money that makes me think that “I wanna go back and do it all over, but I can’t back, I know.”
But I can’t go back. None of us can.
What we can do is hold onto those memories from a lifetime ago.
Keep them safely tucked inside of your heart.
And don’t lose sight of “now.”
When life isn’t going the way we had planned, or we’re feeling sad or depressed, or as though we’ll never be happy again, we often go back to those times.
We all do.
But don’t go back to those times and wish that you were there again.
Visit those times to remind you that you have been happy and that life was all that you wanted it to be at that time.
And let those times remind you that you can have that in the “now.” You didn’t leave happiness in your past. It was simply a different time in your life that taught you what “happiness” feels like.
Take those feelings of old memories with you into your “now.”
And let your “now” guide you into your “future.”
Life is a series of memories, good and bad, a series of life lessons, easy and hard, and a series of ups and downs. Experience is a great teacher and memories are gifts that we are given along the way.
Go back and visit if only to remind you that your “now” is just as precious as your “then.”
And remember to be grateful for it all.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
“You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.” Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
I don’t always get what I want, do you? So how do you react to that?
I get a bit frustrated but then I switch my perspective. I tell myself “maybe what you want isn’t what you need.”
Sometimes a Higher Power knows better for us.
And it’s true. Some of the things I’ve wanted in my life didn’t happen and as time passed I realized that they didn’t happen for good reason: it wasn’t in my best interest or something not so good would have come out of it.
We all get disappointed when we don’t get what we want, but if you really look at your life you’ll see that you get what you need.
What is it that you want that you aren’t getting?
Are you loved? Are there people in your life that care about you? Is someone there to help you through your difficult times and celebrate your good times? Have you woken up to another day that you were never promised?
Those are gifts and guess what? It’s all that you need.
Life may not always give you what you want, but it will always provide you with what you need.
And if it’s meant to be, it will give you what you want.
I have to believe that.
Be grateful for it all.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
I hear so many people say that they can’t wait until this year is over. I get it, it’s been a crazy year with this virus but why wish your precious time away? Why wish a year away that you were gifted to live each day through?
Why not just wish the pandemic away? After all, that’s been the problem, hasn’t it?
I always say that life is a mindset and this is more true than ever. Stop wishing the year away because those are days you weren’t promised but days you were blessed to have. Don’t take any of them for granted.
Wish the pandemic away and do what you can to prevent the spread of it.
Life is short enough as it is so please don’t let this pandemic make you lose sight of how precious each day of your life is. Don’t let the pandemic make you forget to live each day to its fullest.
And don’t let the pandemic make you forget that each day with the ones you love, whether together or apart, is a gift.
Go ahead and wish the pandemic away.
But please don’t wish your precious time away because of it.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
I love when the “memories” pop up on my social media. Some are sweet, some bittersweet, yet when I see them I take a moment to remember them and then I move back into the present. I’ll be honest, it bugs me to see other people post their memories with “those were the good ‘ol days.”
Okay, I get that line but there are people that believe their past was truly “the good old days,” and I wonder why they don’t see that the life they have “now” as the good days as well.
I have a past and I have memories just like everyone else, but I wouldn’t trade them for the life I have now and the memories I’m making in my life today.
Let me ask you this: “If the “good old days” were so good then why aren’t you still living in them?”
There are so many people that live in the past and I feel a sadness for them because they’re missing everything good in their present, and that hurts the people that ARE in their present life.
We tend to remember our past as this amazing time of our lives, but I would tell you that if you’re really going to think that that was the best time of your life, you should also try to remember what wasn’t so good about them.
And if you really believe that your past was “the good old days,” then you should go back to them or at least ask yourself why you aren’t living them anymore.
Life begins with your first breath and ends with your last, but it’s all those “breaths” in between that really count. Embrace “each breath along the journey” with each new day that you are gifted to live in.
Don’t live so far in your past that you lose sight of all the good in your present.
Make each day count.
It’s a good thing.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
It’s New Year’s Eve, the last day of 2019 and the last day of the decade. At midnight tonight a new year and a new decade will be upon us: 2020! How exciting, how wonderful that we’re blessed to be here for this night, how amazing it is that we have a chance to start over, to have a new beginning in our life, to change our lives.
I believe in taking the life lessons of the old year into the new year, but I also believe that New Year’s Eve is a mindset. It’s another day, another month, and a new year, yet why do we put so much importance on changing our life on that one day? It’s because it’s tradition. It’s what people all over the world celebrate and we do, too. After all, it IS a new year and a new decade and that does deserve a celebration of its’ own.
My point is that we don’t need to wait until that one day to make changes in our life. We have the choice to change our mindset from waiting for that one day to one of embracing all the days in between to taking the steps to have the life we want and deserve.
Celebrate New Year’s Eve and the beginning of a New Year and New Decade.
And celebrate all the days in between.
It’s a good thing.
Happy New Year!
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
Tonight I’ll be heading out with friends to the Paramount Theater in Asbury Park, New Jersey, to see the movie, “It’s A Wonderful Life.” I watch it every year on TV, as so many of us do, yet tonight will be a real treat to see it on the big screen.
It’s the perfect holiday movie and a reminder for all of us that our life affects the lives of others. Think about that…who would you be without the people you’ve met along this journey and who would they be without you?
There are some of you who have lost loved ones and are missing them, especially during the holidays. It’s good to remember them and the memories they left you with, but think about how their lives impacted yours. Who would you be or where would you be in your life if you never knew them?
And then look around at the people that are still here on this Earth. Think about them as well and ask yourself the same question: “Who would you be or where would you be in your life without them?”
You see, we have a chance to learn the same lesson that George Bailey did: “each man’s life touches so many other lives.” Make your life a “wonderful life,” because it is.
Remember that today and always.
It’s a good thing.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
I woke up this morning with gratitude for another day. I made my first cup of coffee and sat on my front porch to watch the sunrise. It was peaceful and as I was sitting there watching the burnt orange skies of the sunrise, I was writing my “to-do list” for the day. In fact, I write a list everyday! The truth is, I have many of those lists cluttering my desk, yet not one of them is ever completely checked off as “DONE!”
I began to think about “why” the list doesn’t get done. Some days I’m tired or my allergies have gotten the best of me. Some days I lack the motivation and energy to get those things done. Some days I allow situations that aren’t my problem or concern to distract me.
And I made a decision that there will be no more of that nonsense!
This morning a new idea was born in this already over-crowded mind of mine: “What about making a to-do list for ME?” Why not make a list of things I want to do or need to do to stay focused and balanced, to feel healthier, and to have more energy to accomplish the tasks on the other list?
So, today, instead of writing yet another “to-do list” filled with tasks such as “make a doctors appointment, go to the post office, run to the food store, reschedule the dentist,” I wrote a “to-do list” for me and I think it’s a good thing for all of us to do.
Write a list of things that are just for YOU! It could begin with morning coffee and meditation, a 20 minute daily walk, yoga, healthier eating, or changing habits that don’t enable you to live your best life.
Life gets busy and we may find ourselves distracted by outside influences that are not our concern. We lose sight of taking care of ourselves. I know that in order to accomplish anything in my life, let alone my day, I need to feel whole, healthy, focused and balanced. I’m sure many of you feel the same.
I’m starting my Monday morning in a different way today. I’m starting it with a “to-do list” for me.
What’s on YOUR “to-do list?”
Let’s see what YOU need to do for yourself to live your best life.
It’s a good thing.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
The drama that other’s cause is like a tornado sucking in all that’s in its’ path. No one has control over being caught up in the vortex of it, yet a tornado is a force of destruction created by nature.
Drama is a force of destruction created by another human being.
No one can control the forces of nature, but you can control the forces of drama.
Don’t allow yourself to be sucked into the path of human destruction and don’t allow yourself to be swept up into the vortex of the drama.
A tornado will eventually lose its’ power and end.
Drama will only lose its power if you don’t engage with it, don’t feed it and don’t fuel it.
You can’t control the behavior of others and you can’t always stop the person causing the storm, but you can make the choice to seek shelter from it until it goes away.
Eventually when the storm of drama isn’t being fed it will lose its strength and dissipate, the same way a tornado does.
And what’s left after the storm of drama loses its strength?
“The truth.”
And it’s a good thing.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
“Once upon a time there was a little girl who wanted to be a writer. Since the moment she learned to spell she would write stories.
One day she told her mother that she wanted to grow up to be a writer. Her mother said that it was a nice dream to have. The little girl didn’t understand quite what that meant but she kept writing.
Time marched on and the little girl grew older and went to college…and she was still writing.
Then the little girl got married and had children. She loved being a stay at home mom yet she still kept writing. She wrote little stories and poetry for her babies and made up silly songs to sing to them.
She wrote in her journal every day about her secret thoughts and feelings.
Then the children started growing up and leaving the nest.
And she thought about her “once upon a time” so many years ago.
And she thought about all the people along her life journey that told her that wanting to be a writer was a nice dream and a fairy tale, that real life wasn’t about doing what you love all the time, and that most times dreams don’t come true.
And for many, many years she believed them.
Until one day when she stopped believing them and began believing in herself.
She started to believe in fairy tales and dreams; she started to believe in magic; and she started to believe that everything and anything is possible.
And on that day she wrote her first book and had it published.
And she knew then that her “once upon a time” was a fairy tale that came true.
There was a happy ending and a beautiful beginning for her.
Once upon a time there was a little girl who wanted to be a writer….
And the little girl grew up…
And became a writer.
And that is not the end.”
What was your “once upon a time” story? What was your dream or fairy tale?
It’s time to remember that…
It’s time to believe in that again.
After all, “once upon a time” does come true.
It’s a good thing.
Wishing you love and light,
~Anne Dennish~
Anne Dennish - Writer/Author 