WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR DECEMBER 2017

Good morning all is well or me. Seen a loss and i'm taking it.
Katla
Sorry to hear your having puppy problems. We brought ours to vet before Christmas last year thought he was on his last legs. An xray and a few pills from the vet. He had a gut infection. Fortunatly he's sill with us
Michele
My apple peeler comes with corer and slices the apples. Making it easy to make apple pies.
Apples heaped a couple tsp. butter cinnamon and brown sugar yummy.
Tracie
A book nook how wonderful is that

Well it's on to a good day for me today. As for those who remember I have a sister who is bi polar. I placed her in nursing home but unfortunately she's a two hour drive from home. He son drove by there yesterday and brought her home for New Years. So she's here with me until the 2nd. She's doing good.

Linda in the far North Northern Ontario.

Starting about 20 years ago ... weren't we supposed to become a paperless society?? What happened??

... Machka thinks to herself as she sorts through mountains of paper in her office ...

Where does it all come from? Why is it here and not on my computer? It's like I blink and there's another stack of paper on my desk, next to my desk, filling a rubbermaid bin, on top of the rubbermaid bin ...

I need an office assistant just to file paper for me. And I'd really like someone to scan it all so I can get rid of it!!


Machka ... buried in paper ... in Oz

Getting a bit reflective as the New Year Approaches.

I'd read a book by Karla MaLaren called Emotional Genius ( now our of print) years ago. She has a newer book called the Language of Emotions. It is an update of the previous book. She goes into quite a bit a detail and in an ideal world many of her ideas make sense. Being able to carry then out is another issue.

The big take away for me is that emotions are messengers. What ever the emotion is be it happiness, anger, sadness, joy they all have a place in your life and are to be honored. Anger often warns you a boundary is broken or threatened. Sadness is response to letting something go. Joy is something to be celebrated. Joy does need to be grounded otherwise it can be too overpowering.

My other take away is healthy emotions are like a healthy diet. Too much of any strong emotion can send me off balance. Listening to my emotions and using them as the tools they are meant is what I want to work on for the new year. The word Grace comes to mind as I reflect on this. I also like to reread the Guest House by Rumi:
The Guest House
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.
The dark thought, the shame, the malice.
meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whatever comes.
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Pat posted advice of staying away from negative people. For me my goal is when I encounter someone who is being negative is to not let them throw me off balance. I have made this comment before. Some people gain a false sense of power when they know they get you upset. As I say to students do not let them have your power. The interesting thing about people like this either they will go away on their own because they know they cannot get to you or they want you in their lives because they do find it refreshing to find someone who can stand up to them. I call it a false sense because they are not gaining power from their own inner work, but by manipulating others.

Then there are the ones that radiate chaos wherever they go. They do not intentionally mean to disrupt your world but they do. I find when I encounter people like these. I purposely strengthen my boundaries. Just like the negative person sometimes I am able to maintain a relationship with this person sometimes not.

I have three words for 2018 GRACE, GROUNDED, KINDNESS

Margaret

Thank you for letting me join your group. I feel as if I know you all personally, what a lovely lot of ladies you all are! Briefly, I was divorced for the second time in April and now live alone in a comfortable rented apartment. I have 3 lovely daughters from my first marriage. 3 granddaughters and 4 grandsons. All live very close to me. My dear old Dad is 91 and now lives in a care home. He has Parkinson's and dementia but he still knows us all, thankfully.
I have a few hobbies, crochet, knitting and painting with watercolours. Am not very good at the painting tho!

Barbie: that's what I'd call multi tasking! Or, multi-enjoyment! Well done! I just love it that all in this group seem so wise to the ways of the world. I tend to look at things in a different way since I've been following your group. Am I really bothered if so and so doesn't speak to me? Will my life be better if I buy such and such?? You all inspire me.
Love from Karen UK x

Michele, a stability bar? Could you post pic?
Michele and pip, Michelle's right, uploaded the video to YouTube first, then pasted the link it provided. THINK the tall thing was the North Pole, but maybe not since there's a magician nearby. Will try to stop by the park before they take it down and get a better pic.
pip but your piece of cake 1/2 mi is followed by a full work day, then another 1/2 mi, no? No wonder you could run a marathon!
Rye sleep superpower, awesome!
Becca, Procraftinating? Now THAT's a craft I could do!
Janetr not in your neck of the woods, but Azalea Park in Brookings OR. I too love to drive past people's light displays but this was a walk through, all put up by volunteers, costs sponsored by local biz, admission a whopping $2, kids free.
Evvie, Margaret so creative and skilled!

7 pages behind, but practicing for a new habit, stop and DO something after every page.

Hugs to all,
Barbara, the Southern Oregon Coastie AHMOD.