Category Archives: social and emotional learning

Earning Wisdom: Experience

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One of the many life lessons that I have learned throughout the independent publishing process is how things don’t always proceed as expected. That’s when frustration, disappointment and self-doubt sets in.

I’ve had a sign hanging on the wall, given to me by a friend from Macedonia, since the start of my memoir writing project that says “anything is possible if you believe.” Sue’s memoir Throughout the publishing of my book I have earned wisdom through experience and proven to myself  there are not false promises in this adage. These simple words have provided me with the motivation to press on, move ahead and keep the faith every time I came to a block along the path toward reaching fulfillment of my goals. “There are no problems, only solutions” says one of my most trusted advisors named Kristen. I’ve learned she’s right on the mark.

every comes perfect timeHave you ever noticed how often things come to us at the right time? It maybe  a life event, circumstance or a person who seems to be heaven sent. This is essentially what my book is about.

I never thought very deeply about this concept but in recent years it  has become my motto. Keeping these sage words at the forefront of my mind has eliminated many moments that would otherwise have provided me with angst.

Admittedly, sometimes I forget the adage because impatience has a great nagging presence. Although there is truth behind the divine timing concept it does not let us off the hook from being active participants in working toward our dreams and goals.

See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling. It is hard to believe May Day is right around the corner. I’ve got lots to look forward to next month. More about that later.

 

 

Finding New Viewpoints

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moving ahead disney image

I am excited. My husband and I have been packing up. At the end of the month we are moving to new surroundings.

Taking a breather from routine is always a good thing whether it’s a short get away or a permanent move into a whole new environment. Last week I felt I had hit my limits since I hadn’t stepped away from what I was doing all winter trying to get my book finished and into the marketplace. I desperately needed to look out for myself. So I took  a reprieve and went on a one day road trip with a friend. By the end of the day, I felt like a renewal of life had already begun to spring up inside of me. Change is good. It provides us with new perspectives and insights.

Over the coming months, I am going to be brainstorming new ideas for my writing. A seed of an concept is beginning to take form. I hope our new environment will serve as a good source of inspiration to help sprout and grow the story.

Do return on Tuesday to All Things Fulfilling. Change and circumstance will be the topic of conversation.

This blog brought to you by author Sue Batton Leonard. Sue’s memoir
 

Histrionics of Twins

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Life is like a moustache. It can be wonderful or terrible. But it always tickles. ~ Nora Roberts, From the Heart

Pet white mice!  “They’re so cute,” we’d say to our parents. “We want one to play with.” My sister and I nagged at our parents to let us have a domesticated mouse until finally they gave in. Did anyone else have one or more of those creatures as a kid?

Ohhh- now, that pet brings back memories to yours truly and her sister. We kept our mouse in a glass aquarium with a screen over it for a cover so it wouldn’t escape. However intruders were more the problem. More than once we were awoken in the middle of the night by loud squealing. A wild mouse that came from somewhere within our house had found it’s way into the cage. When we turned on the bedroom light to investigate all the noise, we caught the mice in action mating. You’ve never seen two little, screaming naive twins scamper into their parents’ bedroom in the middle of the night so quickly! We jumped on mom and dad’s bed with wide-eyes to apprise our parents of the situation!

Three weeks later, an unexpected development! We learned more about the facts of life, when we awoke to little, translucent pink  bodies squirming in the clear glass cage.

photo of white mouse withbackpackWho knows where the newborn babies went when they disappeared the next day. As a young child, I figured the cat clock hanging on the wall in our bedroom, that I mentioned in yesterday’s blog,  had come alive and eaten them up. After this happened twice, my parents sent the pet white mouse packing!

Would your parents have let you have a white mouse for a pet? I grew up in a bit of a crazy house. Domesticated white mice were only the start of the many animals that could be found inside and out on our family’s property – more about our zoo in my memoir.  Add a wonderful character named Fanny into the mix of the menagerie, and life was lived differently than many of our neighbors.

Oh….I can only image the stories my parents could tell about the histrionics of life with two twins.

This blog is brought to you by Sue Batton Leonard, the author of Gift of a Lifetime:Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

 

Etching the Psyche

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“…realize that there is only one ‘race,’ – the human race, and we are all members of it.” ~ Margaret Atwood

There have been so many monumental national and worldwide historical events that have occurred throughout my lifetime – man walking on the moon, the Equal Rights Amendment, Watergate, the tearing down of the China Wall, space shuttle Challenger exploding, The Persian War, the collapse of the Twin Towers, just to name a few. But, none of these events have been etched as deeply into my psyche as the Baltimore riots following the assassination of Martin Luther King.

Indeed, “the sixties” was a time of revolution including trends in clothing, music, education and social order in general. Drug experimentation and rebellions on college campuses was indicative of the turbulent times.

I remember when I was eleven I thought that the arrival of the Beatles in the United States was newsworthy of unmatched historical proportions. But by the time I turned fifteen, I had matured in my thinking and I grasped the fact that upheavals in the political and racial climate were were hugely more consequential in nature. A national shift in culture far greater than the Beatles. I was well-tuned into the events around the death of Martin Luther King and tried hard as a teenager to understand the radical changes that our country was undergoing.

baltimore sun MLK headlinesIn one chapter of my memoir I recall the feelings I had one morning as I sat at the kitchen table reading the headlines and the reports in the Baltimore Sun Newspaper. I felt as if I was sitting amid a battlefield I had so many scary, anxious thoughts running through my mind.

Thank God my thoughts running rampant were very different than reality for me. But for so many people residing within the boundaries of the inner city of Baltimore my thoughts were a reality of their living conditions.

I have some fun things planned for next week  All Things Fulfilling on Monday. We will be celebrating twin week. Have a good weekend!

 

Pillow Dreams

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Every man’s life is a fairy tale written by God’s fingers. ~Hans Christian Andersen

The infamous Dr. Phil says that children should not have to bear adult problems. I admire my parents for they had plenty of adult stresses as a  couple who married quite young and  lived on pins and needles for many years due to “twin issues.” I feel throughout my life, my mom and dad did a fabulous job of letting us kids be kids, unburdened with adult problems. http://bit.ly/P3bMbE.  I am grateful for that.

The other day I was going through my baby book and came upon a letter that I had written to the tooth fairy when I was in elementary school. Here it is verbatim:

untitled (2)“Dear Fairy,

Will you Please keep the tooth under my pillow and give me monney. Wedesday I will put my tooth under my pillow and then you can take it.

From, Sue”

I wonder what my big dreams were for the money that I was expecting? After all it was probably a whole dime the tooth fairy was willing to give me- realize it was  the 1950s! It seems to me from the note, I needed to put my big fortune into spelling lessons rather than something sweet like candy to give me cavities.

In yesterday’s blog, I mentioned the medical bills my parents incurred as a result of giving birth to twins and my medical circumstances. Now that you have seen this letter, do you think I had an inkling that my parents needed some assistance, and I was going to try to help with my big windfall from the tooth fairy? Or do you think I was just being a kid knowing that the tooth fairy doled out money? I wonder. You never know about kids way of thinking.

This blog is brought to you by http://www.AllThingsFulfilling.com. See you back here tomorrow!

 

Originations in Baltimore

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“A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal.” ~ Steve Maraboli – Life, Truth and Being Free.

dialing for dollarsWas Dialing for Dollars broadcast in your home town when you were growing up? This show originated as a radio show in Baltimore, Maryland and then became a syndicated TV show in cities around the country. The show had a run of 38 years and gave away $800,000 to suburban housewives who sat by the telephone waiting for the host of the show to call their number.  It finally terminated when more sophisticated game shows began to be aired and fewer households had stay-at-home moms who were in residence to answer the telephone. Here is how it worked, if you don’t remember it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialing_for_Dollars.

I know my mother wished upon a star many times that Dialing for Dollars would call 4-6750. It was our home number and those were the only digits you needed to reach our family back in the 1950s. Then as the population grew,  dialing VA4-6750 (Valley4- 6750) became mandatory. She and my father had medical bills they needed to pay from having given birth to twins – a not so common occurrence in the 1950s and they could have used the money.

The other day I was going through my baby book, and I found the obstetricians bill from when my twin sister and I were born.  There was a personal note on it from the doctor that said “I realize you have incurred very large medical bills with these births, I have tried to keep my charges as low as possible. Please know you can pay whenever or however it is convenient.” The bill was for $140. Seven years later when the doctors figured out how to give me a long and fulfilling life, much greater medical bills were added.  The bills became very staggering for a young couple who by then had three young children and were going through a very difficult time in life.  However, unexpected and more difficult circumstances occurred but that finally allowed them to financially rebuild their life a little bit.

Compared to medical bills in today’s world, my parent’s medical bills were a pittance. But with the wages of that era, everything is relative. Medical bills are a strain on all people who live within very tight budgets. The very technology that helps people to live long lives today is expensive to develop, maintain and use. I do get it, but our medical insurance system does need overhauling and I don’t think we are even close with a viable solution.

Come on back tomorrow to All Things Fulfilling. I will share with you a letter I found in my baby book that I had written to the tooth fairy. It made me chuckle when I read it.

 

Connecting to the Great Outdoors

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“Teaching children about the natural world should be seen as one of the most important events in their lives.”  ~Thomas Berry, The Dream of the Earth

If you are a baby boomer, no doubt you learned to read from the Dick and Jane series. For forty years (1930s – 1970s) these books were used by elementary school teachers around the world to teach children the art of reading.

dick and jane jumping ropeDid you ever notice how the Dick and Jane series had so many pictures of children engaged in outdoors activities? The books typically featured images of kids walking the dog, playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, planting flowers, pulling wagons, playing ball, lying in a hammock under the shade tree day-dreaming, and flying kites outdoors.

Miss Zerna Sharp, known as the “Mother of Dick and Jane” http://bit.ly/1pwGk0u had great insight in the creation of the series because she felt that students would enjoy learning to read and find it much easier if they identified with the children shown in the illustrations. If she were alive today to redo the series to make the stories more relatable for this generation of children, she’d probably be horrified to realize what would the illustrations would look like. Rather than publishing pictures of fit children playing outdoors, I suppose we’d see images of  children engaged in all things digital and figure drawings of children with physiques that look very different than those of the children from the 1930s – 1970s. dick and jane use the force

We are living in a very visual age. With the power of digital marketing perhaps we need to stir children’s interests and entice them into wanting to experience the great adventure of life called the “great outdoors.” Personally, I think our whole society would benefit by becoming more aware of our connection to mother nature and all that she has to offer.  And it may even save us some trips to the doctor!

Those are my independent thoughts, words and views for today. See you tomorrow on http://www.AllThingsFulfilling.com. Have a great day, and remember to get outdoors for some fresh air! It’s good for fulfilling the mind, body and spirit.

Nature’s Healing Qualities

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“Reading about nature is fine, but if a person walks in the woods and listens carefully, he can learn more than what is in books, for they speak with the voice of God.” ~George Washington Carver

The image below looks like me as a little girl. Even as a little child who lived life on the edge with some serious health issues, I was not pampered and made to feel any different than my twin sister and brothers. Our home was surrounded by the forest with a leafy canopy of tall straight tulip poplar trees. A beautiful natural environment where fresh air and sunshine was plentiful. I played outdoors constantly digging for worms, making mud pies and throwing rocks in the streams that bordered both sides of our property. My parents insisted that I spend the days outdoors playing in the muck so I had little time to think about my miseries. For that, I am grateful to my parents.

It concerns me that too many children today are nature deprived and become ill as a result of it. It’s important for children to get outdoors and explore the natural world. Here is an article from the New York Times that every parent should be aware of. http://nyti.ms/Nx7lVj.

Spring has sprung, and the warm-up has begun. Parents get your children outdoors as much as possible in the coming months. Take them to parks, gardens, nearby woods and forests. If that’s not possible, be one another’s walking partners. Hold each other accountable and trade off TV and video time for outdoors time. Enjoy the natural world that was given to us for a reason. Its good for the mind, body and spirit.

childs immune system

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. See you tomorrow on All Things Fulfilling.

Sour to Sunny Moods

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Julie AndrewsI am posting this image on the Vernal Equinox  for the benefit of my mother. Our family traveled many, many miles together on road trips. Most of them were pleasurable except when we four kids started fighting. Every time the mood in the car began to turn sour, my mother engaged us in singing songs from our favorite movie – The Sound of Music. Then the atmosphere began to lighten , better moods sprung up and we’d forget about our troubles with our brothers and sisters.

Ah, yes, as with every family there are instigators and peacemakers among us, but I am not going to point any fingers. Besides, “I can’t remember if I am the good sister or the evil sister.” Each of my siblings would probably tell you a different story! They all have their own  independent opinions, which was the reason the fights began in the first place. There isn’t one among us who doesn’t have a  strong view on everything in life.

Which do you think I might be? A peacemaker or instigator? Hey now, keep your opinion to yourself . Today is the International Day of Happiness and the vernal equinox is supposed to be about balance and harmony in the cosmos. Let’s not open a can of worms until Monday!

Do come back to All Things Fulfilling tomorrow – I’ll tell you about the road trip I am taking this weekend.

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com .

A Mother Letting Go

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Holding on is believing that there’s only a past; letting go is knowing that there’s a future. – Daphne Rose Kingma

I clearly remember my husband and me standing and waiting for the bus with our son on his first day of school. My mother-in-law was visiting. She was part of the big send off.  Surprisingly, my son had door to door service, the school bus stopped at nearly every student’s  house since we lived in a rural area in Vermont.

I remember the excitement my son exuded as he stood waiting. There didn’t seem to be a bit of nervousness or anxiety on his part, only on mine. I was a mother letting go,  reflecting on my own first day of school standing at the bus stop with my twin sister and my mother, who was probably a lot more anxious than I was when letting go.

When I think of my first day of elementary school, I think of this image. Did anyone else from the baby boomer generation have a plaid book bag like the one pictured? Sure brings back memories, doesn’t it?

red plaid bookbag 1950s

Do you like looking back on your childhood? There is a magazine you can subscribe to that will delight you. It’s called Good Old Days “The Magazine that Remembers the Best.” Here is how to subscribe. http://www.goodolddaysmagazine.com/stories/list.html?cat_id=52

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com. See you tomorrow and Heads Up!  On Friday there will be an important revelation on All Things Fulfilling. Don’t miss out! I can hardly wait myself!