Category Archives: family memoirs

Time with the Seniors

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“Language allows us to reach out to people…, it’s the greatest legacy you could ever leave your children or your loved ones: The history of how you felt.”
~ Simon Van Booy

On Monday, June 1st, I look forward to speaking with the Routt County Senior Citizens. Since AARP has determined that at age 50 we are “senior citizens,” we could have a wide range of ages in the group. Many would argue that age 50 is too young to be tagged as “retired.” People go on to live vibrant lives for many more decades beyond that landmark.

There can be gifts in early retirement and even forced retirement, as it provides plenty of opportunity for new beginnings and starting new life chapters. Having the gift of time and thanks to the independent publishing industry an increased number of “seniors or retirees” are taking the opportunity to share their careers, life journeys and life experiences through writing.

senior writing

On June 1st, I look forward to sharing an overview of my memoir, Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected, an anthology of short stories, with the Routt County Seniors. We will also be discussing the value of memoir writing  and how to get started writing.

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This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.

 

Talking Personal Fulfillment

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finding-joyLast week when I presented “One Day in the Life of a Writer” to the Junior Girl Scouts, I mentioned that although I write books, my small business geared around publishing provides me with many other tasks that I handle in the course of a normal work day. Tasks such as maintaining a website/blog, e-marketing for independent publishers, responding to reader’s correspondence, scheduling and doing book talks and other promotion are also on my daily to do list. Not to even mention keeping up with ever-changing news about the publishing industry.

Over the next couple of days I am going have a change of work space. You’ll learn more the following week. A change of scenery will provide me with new sources of inspiration as I  sit with many ideas that will be discussed during my upcoming appearance on “Life Changing Talk Radio.”

From www.blogtalkradio/livingaricherlife.com , the program overview for the May 21st broadcast is as follows:

“Most of us have learned we can not find happiness, making it our goal. Happiness is the unintended benefit of pursuing personal dreams and living true to yourself.

When you proactively connect the person you are with the things you choose to do, a deep sense of fulfillment will emerge. Fulfillment is a form of happiness or satisfaction that is the direct result of fully developing your abilities or character.

Personal fulfillment is best described as the achievement of life goals which are important to you, in contrast to the goals of society or even your family. Personal fulfillment is an ongoing journey for most of us. The journey commences when we start becoming conscious of ourselves, our surroundings and our past. But for many of us, finding your path to fulfillment can be buried in the unexpected. How can you find your path to personal fulfillment?”

What I do in my business, personal and professional life is extremely joyful and satisfying.  I am so very grateful that I have been able to create the kind of life that feels good and right.

Join us in the discussion on May 21rd by going to www.blogtalkradio/livingaricherlife.com . If you are in the East coast listening area, tune in at 9pm, 8pm Central time, 7pm Mountain time and 6pm Pacific. You can call in with your comments and your questions #855-345-4714.

This blog is brought to you by the award-winning author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

 

 

Moms Shape Lives

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A mother’s heart is a patchwork of love. ~Author Unknown

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms everywhere.

Giving birth to children is not a requirement for motherhood. So, today we also need to include and celebrate those women who have taken responsibility to nuture the younger generation through unconventional mother/child relationships, such as through mentoring, foster parenting, guardianships, adoption or in teaching situations. For they, too, have influenced and made better the lives of  children of all ages.

Today, in honor of my mother I share this multi-media message which makes me smile because I think it reflects her attitudes toward life.

MOthers Day 2015 Signed

Mom, I hope you like this blog I created for you. I am truly grateful for your enduring influences in my life.

Wish I could share this day with you in person. But since I can’t, I’d like to share a little woman-to-woman wisdom with you ~~~~

woman to woman wisdom

Happy Mother’s Day! Love,  Your daughter Sue

Life Created Just for You!

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“It’s not the circumstances that create joy. It’s you.” ~ Unknown

Have you ever stopped to consider your personality portrait? What makes you who you are?

Here are 16 personality portraits and each type has it’s own code:

ISTJ – The Duty Fulfillers        ESTJ – The Guardians      ISFJ – The Nurturers

ESFJ – The Caregivers      ISTP – The Mechanics   ESTP – The Doers

ESFP – The Performers   ISFP – The Artists  ENTJ – The Executives

INTJ – The Scientists    ENTP – The Visionaries   INTP – The Thinkers

ENFJ – The Givers    INFJ – The Protectors      ENFP – The Inspirers   INFP – The Idealists

Your personality type, in part, determines how you react to the world and people around you. When I read the profiles I find I am a little bit of this, and a little bit of that which makes for a complex mix of what fulfills me in life. Want to know more? Read this article and click on the description of each personality type.

Finding what makes us happy and what fills us up in life is the secret to personal fulfillment. The good news today is that we can take steps in our own lives to create a life that is filled with joy and happiness!

On May 21st, I hope you will join in the conversation because we will be talking about this very subject on blog talk radio  www.blogtalkradio/livingaricherlife.com. Call in with your questions and comments! #855-345-4714

ePost Card_Living a Richer Life_Sue Leonard_May 21, 2015

 

Spirit Not Withstanding

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“A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.” ~ William Arthur Ward

What’s a girl to do when she’s a bystander because she is too young to be a Junior Girl Scout? She creates her own sense of fun, and I loved it.

Look at the joy on this little girl’s face! I’m calling her the “Dazzling Earring Girl.” She went about her way finding a  creative use for the paper roses I had made and given the Girl Scouts while she was waiting for her sister to complete her craft project.

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One never knows where life will take us and “Dazzling Earring Girl” might just have the tag line “jewelry artist” under her name in the future!

You know what I like about the Girl Scouts? Please excuse my bias because I was both a Brownie and a Junior Girl Scout. In my opinion, it is an organization that endorses postive values that parents can teach their children about keeping their values straight in life.

I hope this little girl in the picture remembers to always to seek the light! The good news is on this Thirsty Thursday her joy will dazzle other people. Glad she joined us!

This blog is brought to you by the award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard. For information on her memoir and book of short stories. On Sunday, May 10th I’ll be honoring Mother’s Day on All Things Fulfilling.

 

Hats Off, Hats On

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“Building art is a synthesis of life in materialized form. We should try to bring in under the same hat not a splintered way of thinking, but all in harmony together.” ~ Alvar Aalto

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about hats because it was recently Easter and because I’ve been wearing many different hats lately. When I was growing up in the 1950’s and 1960’s no Easter outfit was complete unless it was topped off with a new spring coat and a matching headpiece. It tickles me silly when I think of some of the hats my mother wore to church. She had a yellow one that was shaped like a bees hive, and there was even a little fuzzy bee that was glued to the mesh that surrounded the hat.

hat etiquetteIn my childhood days it was not a rare occurrence  to see men and women as well as boys and girls wearing hats on occasions that called for dressing up like going to church. It was all part of Sunday morning tradition.

Teaching children manners were of utmost importance when I was a kid and that included making sure kids were well versed in the etiquette of hat wearing. It’s been said by writer Alexander McCall Smith that “manners are the basic building blocks of a civil society.”

Do you think we are better off being a more relaxed society or would you like to see a return to some of the niceties that were present several decades ago?

Please take this one second poll on All Things Fulfilling. I’d love to know your response.

This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard.

 

 

Fulfilling a Promise to Girl Scouts

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Good Morning! Happy May Day!

On March 24th I sent out a handwritten invitation to a very special group of youth –Girl Scout troop #12622. Here’s what the note card said:

You are cordially invited to “One Day in the Life of a Writer.” Join me at my writer’s desk in the Girl Scout meeting room on May 1, 2015  from 3:30 – 4:30 pm.

Well, the big day is here! I couldn’t be more excited to share my experiences of “One Day in the Life of a Writer.”  Here is what our program today looks like: 

  • A Peek into a Writers Day
  • A Tour of a Writers Desk
  • A Reading from an Authors Award-Winning Book

Girl Scout promise

Did you know the World Association of Girl Scouts is 10,000,000 “girl guides” strong and there are troops in 146 countries?I’ve asked each girl from troop #12622 to bring a question that they’ve always wanted to ask a writer but have never had the chance. On Monday, the questions and my answers will be published so Girl Scouts in other countries can learn more about what it’s like to be a writer.

I was a Brownie and a Junior Girl Scout in the 1960s where I grew up – in the heart of where north, meets south, on the Mason-Dixon Line in the State of Maryland. I can hardly wait to meet Colorado Junior Girl Scout troop #12622  – ages 9 and 10.

Do return to All Things Fulfilling on Monday because I promise to do my best to publish the girl’s questions to the author along with my responses.

This blog is brought to you by the award-winning author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart and Soul.

Girl Scouts where girls grow strong

 

 

 

 

Old Souls vs Young Souls

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 “Remember our souls are like snowflakes, all different and all beautiful.” ~ Unknown

I volunteer about six hours a week at a local consignment store called  Lift Up run by all the churches here in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. I love it! It’s so interesting to see what comes in to the donation center. We volunteers often talk about the differences between what people value.

Did you know there is actually a science behind why we like what we do and what gives us feelings of fulfillment? This article is interesting. To sum it up there seems to be a relationship between whether we are old or young souls to many of our preferences -such as the books we read,  perhaps what we writers chose to write about, art, music, fashion, food and maybe even our belief system.

Have you ever read characteristics of what defines an old soul as opposed to what defines a young soul? Personally, I think this concept does play into many of our choices, right down to the things that we chose to share on Facebook.

Old soul, new soul or somewhere in between  I am not sure there is a preferred way of being to navigate this world in which we are living. I’d have to delve much deeper into the research in order to decide that for myself. However, as I read the description of “an old soul” there is a there characteristic that can’t connect with. It has been said that “old souls feel old.” I am on the opposite side of the spectrum of that feeling.

Thank heavens for favors, big and small.

Have a nice day
This blog is brought to you by award-winning author Sue Batton Leonard. The author of Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul and Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected.

 

For this Child

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On April 10,  1988, a week after Easter, my husband and I had our son baptized in the church where I grew up. That day started an awakening of sorts for me. I stood on the altar in front of the baptismal font, promising to raise our son as a Christian.

for this child

I also began to realize the awesome responsibility I had to my son to raise him the best way that I possibly knew how with my husband. That included a desire to share my beliefs with him as he grew up. I knew that adorable little infant would face a complicated journey called life, and having a foundation of faith, I felt would be important.

Several times over recent years I have blogged about how our society has changed since the decades of my growing up. In my opinion, there seems to be a lack of accountability to a “higher being.” One wonders whether this fundamental has changed our American culture.

I am curious. If you are a parent, did having children change your faith in small or big ways? Please post your comment.

This blog is brought to you by the author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.

Stimulating-Creative-Energy

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If we look for it, there is good news every day of the week, not just on Thirsty Thursday. So the good news for today is – “You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” ~ Maya Angelou

Back on December 29, 2014 I posted an article on All Things Fulfilling about Jonathan Lehrer’s book called Imagination. If you missed the blog, you can go back and read Spinning Yarns.

The blog was about my decision to take a creative writing course because I had read so much evidence including Jonathan Lehrers book, called Imagination on the importance of seeking out opportunities to use our creativity.

Everyone-Has-A-Creative-GiftIf you are a person who has never explored the creative aspect of your brain, it’s never too late to discover your creative gifts. It’s been said that creativity builds more creativity. To use some popular buzz words, our imagination is a renewable resource. I’ve noticed in myself that once the right side of the brain gets triggered, one thing leads to another as the creative energy is stimulated.

Neurologists say certain conditions are conducive to stirring the imagination. If you are interested in learning more about how creativity works, there is a minute and a half video that explains what scientists have discovered about the array of distinct mental processes that happens in the brain when we fan our flame of creativity. It’s fascinating. Listen in!

This blog is brought to you by the author of Gift of a Lifetime: Finding Fulfilling Things in the Unexpected and Short Stories: Lessons of Heart & Soul.