Encourage One Another

Aww...the last Presidential debate was held last night.  Most people are wanting this election to be over.  Actually, I am kind of enjoying it.  I love our President.  I have noticed, though, that some of the comments this year on political posts have been polarizing.  This election does not seem to bring out the best in people. I think a healthy debate is good, but the name calling needs to stop.  The candidates are not the ones doing the name calling, but their supporters are doing plenty of it.  How do we build our candidate up without tearing the other one down?  That is the delicate balance.  I do not think I have been too good at it.

I want my candidate to win of course, but my attitude needs adjustment.  I need to get rid of some of the fear I have been harboring about the other candidate.  I am afraid he will take away my social security.  Yet as a spiritual person, I know my help comes from the Lord.  God is my source and that brings me inner peace so I need to let go of the fear.

I Thessalonians 5:11 says, "Encourage one another and build each other up."  How do we do that?  I remember going to Worlds of Fun with the grandkids on a very hot day once, and my grandson Samson (who was two at the time) became very fussy while waiting in the long lines for rides.  An older gentleman noticed this and said to him in a very kind voice, "Young man, you are doing the best you can in this heat."  That was far from what everyone else in the family was saying to him.  Instead we were using bribes, threats, etc. to try to calm him down.  None of that was working, but this man speaking words of encouragement turned Sammy's mood from fussiness into tolerance of the situation.  Someone finally understood him, and it healed his attitude. He stopped fussing and stayed calm through the rest of the line.

Now I wonder how we could apply this lesson to the last three weeks of this pre-election period.  Maybe we could see that each of us has our own set of fears, and that the only thing that will relieve them is love.  Maybe we could have confidence that everyone is doing the best we can in the heat of this election year.  Maybe instead of being a naysayer and a discourager, we can speak faith into our system that God has under control.  Maybe we can start building confidence in others instead of tearing them down.

We need to cast our vote and support our candidate by lifting them up and encouraging them, but also we need to build people up that do not think our way.  When someone is hot-tempered and foulmouthed, we can neutralize the situation by speaking in a peaceful way and building them up.

Sometimes I can't think of anything nice to say about the opposing candidate, but last night, I saw a peaceful Romney.  I think he is probably a good man at heart.  After all, he is one of God's creations.

Of course my candidate is Obama.  I have seen him go through difficult times and remain a leader.  He has faced some major issues and criticism without giving up or giving in to the pressure.  He is consistently trying to do the right thing.

I want to remember to be an encourager.  Joel Osteen says, "Your bringing out the best in others will bring out the best in you."  So while I am into this election big time, I also try to post something positive too.  I started a page on facebook called "Be Happy" to help me, and maybe others, remember not to take life so seriously that we lose our joy.

God bless!

Love and Light,

Patty

Lift Others, Lift Yourself

We are in this together!  My husband was telling me this morning that back in 1960 when Kennedy ran against Nixon, their ideologies were very close.  Kennedy won of course, but back then our country was very moderate, and we accomplished much more.  Now the Democrats are more liberal, and the Republicans are more conservative, and the country is very divided.  We need to get back to the idea of moving forward.  When we help others achieve, we start achieving ourselves.  If Congress and the President could work together, we could pass legislation that would help move our country ahead.

It's the same in the work world.  I take classes and enter them on MLP (my learning plan).  One of the items on the form says, "How will you share this information with other people in your building?"  I like that idea.  We share our knowledge with others.  If we lived in fear that maybe someone will become a better teacher than we are, we might try to keep our information to ourselves.  That not only holds them back, it also holds us back.  When we share information with others, it refreshes it in our own mind and makes us better teachers.

I remember years ago when I taught in a blue ribbon school in Fort Smith, AR, that we developed a program in which students had to read one novel on their own every month.  We had to figure out a way to  assess the students to make sure they were reading their novels.  I came up with a generic test that asked for the setting, the theme, the protagonist, the antagonist, the falling and rising action, the suspense and the conflicts, the climax and the conclusion.  I typed it up and shared it with the other English teachers.  It became our test, not my test.  It helped us all.  Many of the other teachers worked hard to increase the students' vocabularies and came up with a list of twenty "smart" words to use on a quiz every Friday.  We also set aside reading time every day called DEAR (Drop Every Thing and Read).  We had a lot of low income students, but our programs made their test scores soar. The head of the English department took all our programs and typed up an application for us to become a blue ribbon school, and we earned that designation.  If any one of us would have selfishly kept our ideas instead of sharing them, we would never have achieved our goal.  When we lift up another, we lift up ourselves at the same time.

I remember that when I was a girl, I decided to walk to our neighbor girl's (Caroline's) house for a visit.  It was in the middle of a harsh Nebraska winter, and I would have frozen to death if it had not been for Caroline.  She came to meet me and almost drug me to her house because I was too cold to walk any more.   Caroline was a good friend already, but she became my best friend for life that day.  She saved my life by helping me.  There is a saying, "No one stands taller on their climb than when he bends down to help somebody else."  I will never forget Caroline's courage and compassion that day when she came out on the coldest day of that Nebraska winter to help her friend.

My point is this:  When we lift up other people, we lift up ourselves.  When we disagree with someone politically, we should pray for that person.   Not for them to come around to our side but for them to experience peace of mind and success.  Thank God for them and do not judge them.  Visualize them in a happy space.  If we do this, we will not harbor any ill will toward them.  If we lift them up, we will feel buoyant ourselves.

Lift up the President too.  He has had a challenging four years and yet is willing to serve us for another four.  God bless him and his family.

Love and Light,

Patty

Smile! It Cures What Ails You.

"Smile, and the whole world smiles with you.  Cry, and you cry alone."  I don't know who said that, but I like it because it is true.  Everyone wants to be around a happy person.  A couple of weeks ago, I created a facebook page called "Be Happy", and it has 84 "likes".  People like to see us smile and laugh.  It relieves stress....theirs and ours.  Joel Osteen says, "If you have a sense of humor and you laugh regularly, your mind lights up.....As a result, your problem-solving skills are increased."

I've found this to be true when I am teaching my students.  I was trained back in the day by someone who told me not to smile at my students until Christmas.  Now, that is some bad advice.  Since I am retired, I sub every day so I greet my students with a smile.  When I taught full time, it took me a few years to realize that I needed to have fun with the kids and make learning fun.  Once I started doing that, I loved my job.  I wish I would have known from the get-go that smiling helps with bonding and drawing students to me.  I was taught not to be friends with my students, but guess what?  When I became friendly, I got a lot more work out of my students.  It's not good for us, or those we teach, to be serious all the time. A smile brings down the walls and makes us accessible.

My grandkids make me smile.  My little baby Rosie laughs a lot.  It's contagious.   Her mom sends me videos and I post them on face book.  It brings me such joy.  Job 8:21 says, "He will yet fill your mouth with laughter."  This is so healing.  It cures what ails me.

Love and Light,

Patty

Laughter is Good for Us

Laughter relieves stress.  There is no doubt about it.  I love to read "Pluggers", "Family Circus", and "Off the Mark" in the comic section of the paper everyday.  Then I glance around to see if there are any other cartoons that catch my eye.  My husband and I enjoy watching reruns of "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "Seinfeld".  We love to laugh.

I just started a page on facebook a couple of days ago called "Be Happy" with posters of inspirations and things.  We need to be optimistic and positive and laugh a lot.  This would dispel many health problems like bad digestion, edginess, headaches, sleeplessness, nervousness, and lack of energy.

Laughter is just good medicine.  It stimulates natural healing in the body.  The average child laughs 200 times a time.  Compare that to the 14 to 17 times an average adult laughs.  That is why I love to host Camp Nana.  The laughter of my grandchildren is contagious.  I learn how to play again, and it is fun!  I just read that every time we laugh, we reduce a stress hormone and increase a human growth hormone known as the "youth hormone" by as much as 87%.

I am a big Obama fan.  I've seen him age a lot in the four years he has been in office.  I'm sure the stress is causing it.  He gets criticized every time he does anything and heaven forbid, he take any time off or vacation or anything.  He is a funny, classy man, though, and I wish he would take some time to just have fun.  He works too hard.  It would reduce his blood pressure and make his immune system stronger.  But, hey, we all need to play more.  We all need to take time to have fun and laugh every day.

Proverbs 17:22 says, "A happy heart is good medicine and a cheerful mind works healing." Yes, sources say that people who laugh regularly are 40% less likely to have a heart attack than those who don't.  Also people who laugh regularly develop "natural killer" cells that destroy cancer cells.   That's enough to make me want to laugh right now.  I have "Seinfeld" on, and I am enjoying it a lot.  George and Jerry are acting like juveniles mimicking each other and Kramer slides through the door in the most hilarious way.  Then Elaine comes in and acts all excited, jumping up and down, in a weird way.  It is too funny.

Well, we all need to laugh a lot.  It free and it's good for us.  Let me end with a story I just read: "Energizer bunny arrested.  Charged with battery."   LOL

Love and Light,

Patty

See with the Heart, Not the Eyes

A classroom poster read, "Acceptance is seeing with the heart, not the eyes."  So many times we judge people based on our own experiences, not really knowing what has happened to them.  We use our limited perception to interpret their appearance or behavior.  Everyone has a story.  Joel Osteen wrote, "The world is full of people who need to be understood.  We don't know what others are going through.  We don't know the hurt or the pain they've endured.....Give people a little room....When you see people through the eyes of love, eyes of compassion, and eyes of understanding, you won't be nearly so critical."

This reminds me of the story of Mary Groda-Lewis who was dyslexic.  Because no one recognized it, she was illiterate until age 16.  She was very rebellious and went to reform school.  While giving birth, she nearly died from a stroke, but through it all, she never gave up.  At age 18, she received her GED and was named Oregon's outstanding Upward Bound student.  She worked odd jobs and earned enough money to go to college and earn a degree.  She still wasn't through with her education, though, as she applied to 15 medical schools and was rejected by them all.  Finally she was accepted by Albany Medical School where she graduated with honors at the age of 35.  A movie was made about her life.  She is now a renown and respected doctor at an Idaho Clinic.

This rebellious young lady turned into a wonderful doctor.  Albany Medical School gave her the chance she needed to fulfill her dreams.  It would have been easy to write her off like the other medical schools, but this institution saw something in her that other schools had overlooked.

I think the lesson in this story is to practice acceptance and understanding so that we can be a catalyst and make a difference in someone's life.  We are all teachers, and we all can be taught.  Let us encourage family and friends who are struggling.  Make us a blessing in someone's life.

Love and Light,
Patty

A Critical Spirit

"Perception is a mirror, not a fact.  As I think, so I see." This quote from Jerry Jampolsky has meant so much to me through the years.  It reminds me look for positive things in people and in my environment so that I will live in a positive world.

This is especially true in my relationships.  My husband is a wonderful man, but everyone has faults, and he is no exception.  I really try to focus on his strengths instead of his weaknesses, and then he displays even more strengths.  Actually, my husband is not a very critical man so he is easy to love.

Sometimes, though, I encounter negative people who would rob my joy if I didn't take time to be in touch with God.  I like the story I saw in email once about the woman criticizing her neighbor's dingy wash on the clothes line only to find out that she was looking at it through her own dirty windows.  When she washed her windows, she was surprised to see that the neighbor's wash was really clean, not dingy at all.  I think I encountered this recently when someone was criticizing a member of my family and hadn't bothered to wash their own windows.

It is during times like this, though, that I realize how important forgiveness is, and how I need to stand guard over my own spirit so I do not become critical.  I need to realize when my own window is dirty and train myself to see the best in people.  Joel Osteen suggests that you have this internal conversation, "You know, I may not understand them, but I will not be a faultfinder.  I'm giving this person the benefit of the doubt."

The way other people make a living or raise their children is none of my business or none of anyone else's business, unless, of course, they are breaking a law or something.  If everyone would spend the time and energy on their own issues that they spend on other people's issues, they would have it all together themselves.  There would be no time for nosiness, only time for celebrating their own successes as well as other people's successes.

Well, I am getting out the windex today and cleaning my windows so I won't look at other people's laundry and judge it as dirty.  I need to do that in all my relationships and even get prayed up enough to not be critical this coming school year of my district's policies.  That's a big one for me.

Light and Love,

Patty

Camp Nana

Camp Nana is an annual event where all the grandkids come, and we just enjoy being together.  This summer was special because the parents came too for the first few days and took the kids to Worlds of Fun and Oceans of Fun.  They are creating such good memories.  My hope is that Camp Nana will be a peaceful retreat in the turbulence of life, not only for the children but for the parents as well.  We all need a little break sometimes from the pressures that come into play in a family in today's economy.  The parents need time to relax and gain perspective while I need time to enjoy these precious little beings that are my legacy.

I am happy that I can have this time and hope that in some way I can help when my children feel overwhelmed with the challenge of parenting and making a living, etc.  I also gain insight from talking to the parents about their own childhood.

When I was a young parent, I was a worrier.  I must confess that I still fall into that trap sometimes as a grandparent as well.  My oldest granddaughter Jessica noticed that and her mother Teresa told her,  "Nana does a lot better at maintaining inner peace than she used to.  You should have seen what she was like when Tori and I were kids."  Well, that makes me feel good that I have made some progress in that department, lol!

I know it is my faith that has helped me make a change.  I know, without a doubt, that God is still on His throne, and that I have the Holy Spirit inside me to guide me into all peace.  When turbulence comes, it's a wonderful opportunity for God to show how really great His is!  When we face adversity, we realize that God is the One who pulled us through. He is the Light  that overcomes the darkness.  Our part is just to keep shining and smiling through it all.  Joel Osteen says, "When unexpected challenges appear, your attitude should be: This, too, shall pass.  God will help me handle this.....God did not bring you this far to fail you now."

Yep, Camp Nana is a fun place, and I hope with all my heart that it provides good memories for the grandchildren and a peaceful respite for their parents.

Love and Light,
Patty (Nana)