mycollectivesoul

“Be Aware Of Your Surroundings”

/ Anne Dennish / Leave a comment

 

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I never gave much thought to this line, “beware of your surroundings” until I met Rob. His dad was a police officer and always taught him to be aware of his surroundings wherever he was. Needless to say, he’s aware no matter where we are.

Yet as a writer, I see that phrase as so much more.

I see it as a reminder to be aware of all that surrounds you in your life; the beauty of nature, the ocean, the skies and more importantly, be aware of the people that surround you.

Be aware of the love that surrounds you; of the roof over your head and the food on your table. Be aware of the feeling of the warmth of the sun on your face; of the feeling of walking barefoot on the sand or grass; of the feeling of closing your eyes at night counting your blessings.

Be aware of the friends that you surround yourself with; of the family you spend holidays with; of the sounds and memories of your children; and be aware of the love that someone gives you every day.

Be aware of your significant other; of the little things they do for you every day; of the support that they give to you; and of the love they have for you and how that love makes you feel.

“Be aware of your surroundings.”

And be aware every moment of every day…

You wouldn’t want to miss something wonderful.

Wishing you love and light,

~Annne Dennish~

“Gratitude For All Of You”

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impactThis story is for all of you who follow my blogs and my posts, who comment on my writing and have supported me throughout my journey. Your words mean more to me than I can say but the one word to describe my feelings for all of you is this: “grateful.”

I’m grateful to have people I know and people I don’t know engage in my posts, leave comments of encouragement and support and who are willing to share their own life experiences and feelings with the world.

I’m grateful that you have given me the platform to try and change the world, try and make a difference in it, and to try to make another human being feel better.

I’m grateful that you take the time to read what I write. I’m grateful that you share your opinions of a particular story that meant something to you. I’m grateful that you’re part of my life journey…if only through my writing.

I’m grateful for all of you. It’s amazing to me that some of your comments come from those of you right in my own backyard and others that come to me from other countries.

I’m grateful for all of you, especially in the last few weeks. You’ve allowed me to truly see and believe more than ever that “it’s time to make a difference and we can make that difference together.”

And you’ve all made a difference in my life.

And sometimes it’s “the smallest of things that makes the biggest impact” on our life.

My heart is filled with gratitude for all of you…

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

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“Gratitude For The Memories”

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One of the things I’m grateful for are the memories I hold deep within my heart: the memories of the birth of each of my five children; the memories of birthday parties and Christmas mornings; and the gratitude for the memories of the emotions that I felt.

Fits Like A GloveI’m grateful for the memory of the feelings of a first date and how it felt the moment I fell in love; for the memory of the excitement of a first kiss; of the feelings to be held in the arms of the one you love for the first time.

I’m grateful for the memories of my kid’s tiny hands in mine; for how wonderful it feltRuthless People that I could fix a boo-boo; for the moments of watching them sleep when they were younger; for the memories of their laughter when they were little and the laughter as they grew older.

I’m grateful for the memories of family parties filled with aunts, uncles and more cousins than you could count. I’m grateful for the memories of my school days and for the nights I spent with my best friends.

tommy-memorialI’m grateful for the memories of my loved ones that have passed on; for the love that I still feel for them and for the love they felt for me; and I’m grateful for all the memories of time spent with them and the difference they made in my life.

I’m grateful for the memories of my first book being published; for the memories of howbnwindow1 it felt the day I submitted my manuscripts to the publisher; and for the memories of the moment that I first held my new book in my hands.

I’m grateful for the good memories that are embedded deep within my heart and soul. No one can take that away from me and on the days I feel a bit sad it’s those memories that can wash that away.

Good memories are stronger than any bad ones.

Today I sit remembering all those wonderful memories and for that I’m grateful.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

open minded book signing

“Kindness Is Free”

/ Anne Dennish / 1 Comment

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I’m on a roll this week about kindness. Last week I was the target of people being incredibly “unkind” to me. It saddens me to know that people can be that way, yet we’re all wired differently.

Kindness is free. It doesn’t cost any money and it doesn’t cost a lot of time. In fact, being kind to someone else actually gives a gift back to you: it makes you feel good that you made someone else feel good by being kind to them.

Yet there are those that choose not to be kind; they choose to be mean and hurtful. Theykindness4 choose to judge you without knowing who you. And some choose to be mean because they do know you and want what you have: in other words, they’re jealous. Or they’re insecure. Or they just want to be mean because they hate you.

I try to spread kindness wherever and to whomever I can. I love to make someone smile, or feel better, or laugh out loud! I love to be there with a listening ear and shoulder to cry on if someone needs me. I love to sit with someone who doesn’t want to be alone.

But someone was mean to me last week. They wrote things about me that weren’t true. They hid behind a false name and email address. They couldn’t say those things to me in person because they didn’t have the courage to do so; they are a coward.

They are mean. They are unkind. They are hurtful.

And they must be one sad soul to want to hurt someone else.

I forgive them for what they did, and I can only do that so I don’t stay angry. But I will never forget what they said and did.

I believe in my heart that if everyone in the world was kind we’d be living in a much different world.

Be kind, share random acts of kindness to others, and be kind in the things you say.

Kindness can change the world.

As I always say: “It’s time to make a difference and we can make a difference together.”

Let’s start that difference today…

And let’s keep it going every day.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

 

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“Turning Off The Electronics”

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It’s been a quiet weekend at my house. My love and I have been relaxing and enjoying each other’s company with no distractions. We’ve ordered take-out, watched movie after movie, and just “chilled out.” We enjoyed the “sweetness of doing nothing.”

How did we do that?

We turned off our phones, our computers, and our social media. We gave ourselves some time without the distraction of electronics and maybe that’s why it’s been so peaceful. I took this time off from writing, he took this took time off from work (after all, it is the weekend!) At first I thought it was too quiet, yet I realized that this is the time that’s so important for ALL of us to have now and again…or as often as you can.

It’s more than quality time together, it also allows our minds to be still and free of texts, phone calls, and social media posts, all things that can potentially add stress to us. It’s time to just “be.”

It’s time needed to find our balance in life again and ground ourselves. It’s time needed to rest our bodies and still our minds. It’s time needed to relax and to dream. It’s time needed to be free of outside influences that can affect our mood and our day.

Tomorrow it will be back to work, to writing, to our lives filled with electronics…but for today, I’m going to embrace every moment without the sound of a notification, a text or a phone call…I’m going to embrace the sound of the voices of my family.

And that is a beautiful thing.

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

“One Small Positive Thought”

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How do you start your day? You wake up, you get out of bed…then what?

I like to start my mornings outside just before the sun begins to rise. Everyone in the house is still asleep and it’s my most quiet time of the day. I grab a hot cup of coffee and venture out to my favorite spot in my backyard.

My brain isn’t yet racing with thoughts of what to do and what needs to be done, as if it’s a blank canvas just waiting for the coffee and my intentions for the day to kick in. As I sit in silence, enjoying the sights and sounds of an early morning, I think about this new day that’s upon me and feel gratitude. I feel grateful for another day, grateful for my family, and grateful for this alone time that we all need to have.

I keep my thoughts positive and know that when I allow the negative thoughts in they will  put a cloud over the positive ones. It’s amazing how powerful your thoughts are, but it’s truth. I know that my best days are the ones filled with positive thoughts and intentions.

Start your day with just one positive thought and see what a difference it makes in your day.

It’s a good thing…

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~

 

 

“When The World Put’s Things In Perspective”

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You get up in the morning and get ready to start your day, whether it’s work or getting the kids off to school or simply going through your daily routine. You try and stay away from stress, drama and toxic people, yet somehow those things seem to slip into your day and into your life. You feel upset, sad, drained and tired…and then the world steps in to show you what’s really important: “the people in it.”

We’ve all seen the devastation in Texas and now all of us sit listening to the radio and watching the news to see where Hurricane Irma is going to hit and who is going to be affected by it.

Yet we’re all affected by it, whether we’re in the wake of the storm or on the outside trying to help those in it.

Let’s take a good look at the world and all that’s happened in the last week and what’s about to happen this week. Let’s focus on keeping each other in our prayers and helping those get through it.

Forget the drama, the stress, and the toxic people…they’re a waste of time and don’t deserve our time. There are people in this world that are hurting and that do deserve our time and help.

Please take a moment to say a prayer for Texas and to keep those in the path of Hurricane Irma in our prayers.

And remember: “it’s time to make a difference and we can make a difference together.”

Wishing you love, light and safety,

~Anne Dennish~

“Write Your Life”

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“Life is always changing, it’s time to turn the page; so the story continues and it’s mine to create. It’s all an adventure, my life is a song; I know where I’ve been, not where I’m going but I’m dancing along.”  ~Anne Dennish~

My life has been a series of ups and downs, adventures and restlessness, good times and bad, yet through it all I’ve accepted that it was meant to be that way. All those moments happened to teach me a lesson. They happened because I wasn’t living my life as I should and there’s times that the Universe steps in and whacks us with a two by four to “wake us up.” It stops us dead in our tracks to feel the pain and understand why it hurts. After all, we feel what we allow.

And when pain and heartache happen it’s because we allowed the behaviors that led up to that moment happen. We allowed someone to cross our boundaries and treat us in a way we shouldn’t be treated.

We lost sight of ourselves and in the process of caring for everyone else we forgot to care for ourself. We forgot to love ourself first, to respect ourself, to take care of ourself, and when other’s see that we’ve forgotten that, they cross our boundaries.

We have to draw a line in the sand that shouldn’t be crossed, yet maybe we should be drawing a line in the cement.

Broken hearts and pain don’t happen overnight. Sure, we feel blindsided when it happens yet when it does you begin to look at the behaviors that led up to it and suddenly you’re not so surprised or shocked that someone hurt you. You let them disrespect you long before they hurt you; you let them love you less than you loved yourself because their ego was larger than their heart; and you began to blame yourself and made excuses for them.

Losing sight of yourself and seeing only them strengthens their ego and robs you of your self-esteem.

But there’s hope in the heartache and purpose in the pain.

The hope is that the broken heart will mend stronger and the purpose in the pain is to teach you a lesson about yourself. It’s to bring the focus back onto “you.”

Life is always changing and the change is up to you. Your life is your story and you are the author. You create what you want.

Write your story well and if you need to make some edits along the way be sure they’re for your Highest Good.

It’s your story…

It’s your life…

Make it spectacular!

Wishing you love and light,

~Anne Dennish~