Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts

Friday, October 2, 2020

What have we become?

 

Look Away

 

What have we become? How did this happen?

The discontent has  been brewing  for quite some time or maybe it began when Europe thought the solution to solving what was wrong in their country would be to send their condemned  criminals and misfits to live far, far away in the wilds of the new world.



What is happening is as old as time. As government takes over more and more, we become less involved and less invested with one another. We become separated. We see only the differences in one another. And we are afraid.

When we live in fear, we cannot be loving. We lose our perspective that we are all a part of the whole, that we are connected.

When we distrust  the man across the street who doesn’t drive, but rides the bus  --- when we become suspicious of the apartment dwellers across the tracks, and those who reside in the small little town huddled in the woods who keep to themselves   --- when we  compare those who live in the southern part of the state to the northerners, the east coast to the west coast ---  

We see only an endless list of  differences.




In nature, differences abound, but when united they create a rash and intrepid life force!  Every river contributes to the ocean’s mighty tides.  What happens when one tree joins together with the myriad of others and share their space? An eight hundred-billion-acre canopy of shelter and a cornucopia of nourishment is born for the various herds, nests, dens and packs of animals and species.

And what happens when we cease to experience and understand nature’s endless and herculean demonstrations of strength in unity?  We disgrace ourselves; we ignore her message and we look away. We find ourselves  focusing only on the  six inches of blue light of our phones, the seventy-two inches of our TV screen and the print on our Kindles which tell us what  we should want and what we shouldn’t do, what we should love and what we must fear. And because we see nothing else, we believe that is our reality.    

What happens? There is no imagination. No wonder. Nothing left to debate.

 


What remains? Only argument, accusations, denouncing, and denial.  And we are left to believe our safety, our security and our faith are in the hands of only  two blatant and embarrassing examples of our humanity,  vying for control of what is the largest and most powerful economy on the globe.

When we lose our focus, only fear remains which takes of down the path of anger, distrust, and depression. None of those whom we have looked to have restored our confidence or our faith, nor have they have acted as leaders.   None have built trust or hope. The world only saw two fighting dogs in a small ring behind the barn.

When we believe only two can make us strong, when we believe billions of dollars will unite us and create a safe and secure future, we have forgotten or never known that the only  real and lasting power is in unity. Billions of energies coming together.   

It is time to look away, to learn  from the raindrops which formed the endless seas, to learn from the plush and bountiful forests which give, you and me, and all earthly creatures, the air that we  breathe, the food for our families, and shelter from the storms.

 We only need to look away from   our screens – look away from the fake chaos paid and produced to steal our attention from the non-profitable but peaceful and caring reality that still exits -- if only we look away.





 We  need to be accountable for  only our small part in this world’s big picture. Be the raindrop, be the tree. Reach out. Become a part of the whole, like the raindrop is to the ocean, and like the tree is the forest.  And then we can become as the universe is mighty.

What happens  if  you and I  face our obligation to the whole?  What remains when we walk across the proverbial street and shake the hand of a stranger?

 All of us, not just two, but  all of us, and the strangers whom we have not yet met, become a unit of strength mightier than all of the oceans and more nourishing than all of the forests.

United we become like the Almighty.




 Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.





Oh, and don’t forget!! Readers’ reviews  keep writers motivated.

USEFUL LINKS 

Other books by Judy Howard: JUDY’S AMAZON  AUTHOR  PAGE


Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.






Safe travels!



 

Monday, August 31, 2020

Do you know what today is? Today was your future yesterday!

 

  Today was your future, yesterday.

Welcome September! Growing up in Illinois, fall became my favorite time of the year.  I welcomed the brisk, crisp air after   the long, hot and humid summer,  a season when my sis and I would rake up the musky leaves, amassing their shades of red and gold and earthen browns into towering heaps that  made the most  perfect of world of tunnels.  

And when the afternoon shadows stretched across the lawn,  the fresh fallen leaves crunched as we fell backwards onto their bed. And then we wasted  the  afternoon away while we studied  the magical clouds as they  painted kittens and puppies and  lions across the backdrop of  a perfectly blue sky.


For the past four years, I have planned my road trips so that I would arrive in Illinois to enjoy fall’s rapture.

But today, as fortunate as I am to be savoring the sound of the crashing coastal waves of the Pacific as I write to you, I am saddened  that this 2020 fall season  I will be  missing  the experience of reliving my childhood memories … and also regretting  that I never packed a rake on one of those visits.

Missed opportunities.  I vow here and now! Next year I'm bring a rake!

During today's  trying times, when I've  considered the adventures that  I believe I am missing,  I have become  engaged in a brawl between clinging to my optimism, or joining the vast crowds of the bitter and blaming.

This girl, whom you all have called inspirational, a firecracker, and an adrenaline junkie, feels as if she’s been at war with her soul.


At first, in March, I relished the chance to waste my days away, dreaming of tomorrow when things would go back to normal.  I treated the stay-in-place order like I had the long, humid Illinois summers.  I waited for the misery to pass. I made the best of it.

 Through the month of  April I grabbed hold of the opportunity to write  day and night undisturbed. April became my adult version of lying in a bed of fresh fallen leaves and getting lost in the journey of the clouds.

But soon my patience waned and the thunderous clouds of anger, hate, negativity and fear shadowed me everywhere I went. The new limiting circumstances made it impossible to escape.  It seemed as if there was nowhere to go.

And now it is September, and even though I am enjoying fall in Oregon, my heart yearns for the classical season of an Illinois fall.

 What to do?

 With only four months left of this  unusual year, I am ready to rake up the last six months of claustrophobia, loneliness, anger and regret,  gather up the multitude of mixed emotions into a heap,

 and then, 

like my childhood pile of old musky dead leaves …

Jump in!

This novel experience that we all are sharing?   I say, it is like Bette Midler’s, song, The Rose. This untried and unfamiliar encounter is not a river made to drown us, nor a razor leaving us to bleed, nor does it have the power to fill us with a hunger or aching need.  Instead, it is  a season of transformation, like the fall.

Perhaps we are experiencing is an audition, a shakedown, a prelude for a   glory even more spectacular than Bette Midler’s The Rose.


When the trees bare their leaves, I do not see the leaf’s demise as a death, or the  forest’s appearance as stark.  Instead I choose to see the trees  have offered up a gift of gratefulness, for the summers’ nurturing heat that contributed to their abundance of fruit … and thus, their seeds to be strewn upon the ground. 

 Do they know that through their sacrifice, they will become heroes in the spring? Do they know their blanket of warmth across the cold barren ground offers an opportunity in the spring for The Rose to perform its miracle?  

I look back upon the big picture of my life, and the struggles I thought I would never be able to endure, and yet somehow, I did.  

All of those troubles and tragedies brought me here, to this life I am living, a life I love. A life  created out of the  ashes  of my troubles that  I could never have imagined.

So, I will confront this novel  unknown  as I have always done. I will refuse to be afraid of a heartache, or to learn to dance, or to take a chance. I will not be so afraid of dying that I forget to live. 

So who's with me?  I say, “Bring it on! Show me what you’ve got!”

Oh, the new friends you will make!

Oh, the people we will meet and the miracles we will create! 

 We are all under the same blanket of fear. Let's not see it only as dead smelly leaves.  For me, I’m changing my perspective.  This season, which yesterday seemed dire, I now see as a promise and we are the seeds. 

And if we are the seeds, then we are also the future. We are full of tomorrows which are offering us  unlimited opportunities. And through these opportunities we will be  transformed into someone  more amazing  than we were yesterday.

Making Friends while riding the rails in Ione, Washington.

Sportster is winning friends (meet Tadd) and influencing people in Kalispell, Montana while our new refrigerator is being installed at Gardner's RV .
.

How long will it take? Who knows?  But the journey is an exciting challenge and the makeover will be spectacular! 

Today is the first day of your future.

 

                                    The Rose



Bette Midler

Some say love, it is a river, that drowns the tender reed
Some say love, it is a razor, that leaves your soul to bleed
Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need
I say love, it is a flower, and you, its only seed

It's the heart afraid of breaking, that never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking, that never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken, who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying, that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter, far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love in the spring becomes the rose.


Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.






Oh, and don’t forget!! Readers’ reviews  keep writers motivated.

USEFUL LINKS 

Other books by Judy Howard: JUDY’S AMAZON  AUTHOR  PAGE


Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.






Safe travels!



Saturday, October 26, 2019

Live Wholeheartedly!



No failures. Feedback Only!
January 1st! 
A day in the life of....

The first day of the rest of my life!  Who’s game? Let’s hit the deck running!

I absolutely LOVE January!

It’s my time for new beginnings and new habits.  It’s my time to review last year’s feedback. (Notice I did not say “failures.”)


It’s time to get real.
What was my average day like last year?
How does it differ from my IDEAL DAY?
Here’s what I imagine….

A Day In The Life Of Judy Howard.

2018 marked one year of recovery since my hip replacement surgery in 2017. Before surgery, the focus of my desires was only to be healthy again. I wanted to be able to put my shoes on, to walk and to sleep without pain. I wanted to get back on a productive writing schedule but waiting five painful months for my surgery date led to bouts of depression.  I belabored my future, wondering if it was downhill from here on out.
With surgery a distant memory in my rearview mirror, in 2020, I am even more excited about 2020. I am living the life! I travel fulltime in my motorhome with my cat, Sportster. I visit awe-inspiring places and meet the nicest people on earth!

There’s no room for excuses and procrastination. Well, except that my mind wants me to me comfortable, and urges me to sleep in, eat that sugar loaded cinnamon roll, and to zone out, marathoning on the latest Netflix series.

But there is my soul -- longing and seeking, like the force of the river, pushing at the obstacles in its path so that I may thrive and become the best Judy Howard she can be …. whoever that is.




 Every new year I want to look back on the past year and say, “I can do better.”

I imagine my ideal day in 2020 which supports a schedule and will include blocks of time to write a blog to keep in touch with my family and you, my friends and fans once a week.

 I envision eating healthier and dropping that last fifteen pounds I’ve been trying to lose for so long.

I want to acquire a new habit of hiking two to three miles a day. Last year, my average hike was one mile a day.

And finally, I want to support to write a new book every year that will excite my readers.

Other resolutions which make the top ten list for most folks every year include   the categories of healthier eating and cooking, traveling, and always, always, always -- more time and more money. And I am an American so, they are on my list too.

How do you envision your ideal day? 
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!
AND MY WISHES   GO OUT TO THOSE OF YOU WHOM I MET ALONG MY JOURNEY  THROUGH 2019 AND ALL THE YEARS BEFORE!! YOU WERE LIKE A COZY FIRE ON A COLD NIGHT AND A REFRESHING ICY BROOK ON A HOT DAY. I LOVE YOU ALL!

Use your time and journey to their fullest!!  

Magic will happen!


Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.










Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Making the Impossible Possible

Traveling brings me home. I arrive at unexpected places, feeling  like I've come home -- places I never knew I had     yearned to experience.   These grandiose vistas take my breath away. Their existence seem to me an   impossibility of creation, teaching  me that anything that is worthwhile   is possible...
Given time.


 If an abundance of money lay at my fingertips, I would consider myself poor if Mother Nature was not within my  reach to not offer her bountiful splendor.

This is Trillium Lake in Mt. Hood National Forest, Oregon. Even though the campgrounds were full I was lucky to have the luxury of staying in the overflow parking  fifty feet from this beautiful lake for five nights at $11.50 per night.
 How lucky can a girl be?  I spent my days writing and reading, walking the path that led the circumference of the lake and sharing a campfire with neighboring campers.


Do you think these two trees knew they would be entwined when they were only saplings? An example of patience and the rewards of time.





Chetco Point, Brookings, Oregon: The ravages of the ocean

on a cloudy, windy, rainy day make me wonder how anything survives when nature’s anger challenges the world around us. The sea's power reminds me that I am but a raindrop in force of the wind and the water. But I will not forget, without the raindrop, no oceans or lakes would exist. Never underestimate your power of creation.



Add caption

What is my challenge?

 Make the impossible possible. 
Never quit. 
Just keep growing, no matter what storms or droughts come my way, I hope to   embrace my experiences and become stronger and better. All I need to do is be me and  strive to become great. Like the California redwoods and  like Oregon’s Mt Hood, the sky Is the limit!  Like all the rivers, lakes and oceans, they all began with one raindrop.



Meet life head on!
                                Live The Good Life!


ABOUT THE AUTHOR 
Judy Howard


The death of Judy Howard’s husband gave the author a wake up call. Life is short. Howard sold her pet grooming business, which she had operated since the age of eleven and engaged full throttle into her new passions of writing and traveling.


Judy Howard’s writing career expands across many genres, including memoir, romantic mystery, reality fiction, travel and young adult, and now with THE GRIEVING GIFT, an autobiographical novel.


In all of Howard’s books the theme is always the same - overcoming life’s difficulties.


Judy lives full-time in her Winnebago motorhome with her cat, Sportster,   traveling across the country as a motivational speaker and offering writing seminars.


When Judy and Sportster are not traveling, they spend their time in Sun City, California.





THE GRIEVING GIFT
 an autobiographical novel

Janice’s older sister, Margaret, wanted to believe that the L.A. doctors at Cedars Sinai Medical Center held a magical deck of cards, but after eight years of treatment they dealt their final card. The Hospice card. No miracles for Margaret. Janice reassures her big sister she will be there, holding her hand every step of the way.
On a death watch, you get to know things about a person you wish you didn’t. It is like a roller coaster ride. And like most rides, it brings us back to the place we began, reminding us of who we were and who we have become.

The twists and turns of Janice’s emotional journey transports her back through the repercussions of her teen pregnancy and into the present estrangement from her daughter, whom she has not heard from for the last sixteen years.

Coming to terms with the grief of losing her sweet Margaret, and dealing with her fear of a lonely future is too much for Janice to imagine. When Margaret’s soul goes to rest in L.A. heaven, how will Janice face the emptiness? Will there be such a thing as a Grieving Gift?

Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.





Oh, and don’t forget!! Readers’ reviews  keep writers motivated.

USEFUL LINKS 

Other books by Judy Howard: JUDY’S AMAZON  AUTHOR  PAGE


Click on the link below to find out more about Judy's books.






Safe travels!