Tag Archives: friends

The Friends We Have In Life.

24 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by in photo, Poetry, Psychology, quote, spirituality

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

I have grieved for old companions,

those I knew from years ago.

Steadfast friends who knew me well,

now lying under winter’s snow.

 

Those who fought with me in battle

And wept when men around us died.

Men who shared their inmost secrets

as we tried to stay alive.

 

Childhood friends, never forgotten,             

Found on Pinterest on 5-29-16.American Heroes. Tony Evans. John 15:13. The Bible.

often come across my mind.

Memories of peals of laughter

as we shared the things we’d find.

 

Now I am old and most are gone

to another place and time.

My new friends hardly know me, 

and I have mountains to climb.

-Yu/stan/kema-

 

 

 

 

 

The Feeling Of Being Wanted Brings Joy.

21 Tuesday Mar 2017

Posted by in Article., photo, Psychology, quote, spirituality

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Found on Pinterest on March 15, 2017. lessonslearnedinlife.com.

There is nothing in the world like the feeling of being wanted. This is especially true for those children who lived in households where abuse, neglect, domestic violence, and alcoholism were present. The need to be wanted, to know that someone chooses you to spend time with, is so elemental and central to our existence as human beings.

Mothers, who want their children, spend time with them, show them affection, confront them firmly, but give them feedback that they are loved and cherished despite mistakes and difficult moments. They guide their children, teach them necessary skills to navigate life, and see to their spiritual, physical, and emotional needs.

They also encourage independence and creativity in their children. They  open their children to the beauty of nature, the value of human connection, and the social contract of accepting responsibility for themselves and others. Most of all, they teach and show love, acceptance, forgiveness, and fairness toward others.

Friends, who show us acceptance and take time to be with us, enrich our lives. They commit to the relationship and make time in their busy schedules to contact us. They give us respect, set boundaries with us, try to meet our needs when possible, and they help us grow by exposing us to constructive criticism, feedback, and open our minds and souls to beauty, knowledge, and a different perspective towards life. Friendships matter.

Partners, husbands, wives, and lovers expose us to different ways of being, communicating, and sharing who we really are as people. They make us feel intensely, and they push us to make changes so that we grow together in relationship to one and another. They can lead us to joy and unspeakable pain. They often create bonds that last for a life-time.

God wants us to be in relationship to Him. He wants our company and has sacrificed much for us. He speaks to us in nature, through the words and actions of others, through the written Word, through coincidental events, our intuition, and the attempts we make to reach out to Him in prayer, song, worship, books, and others who love Him.

For some of us, it is hard to believe He wants us as we really are. In times of difficulty, we feel He is angry with us or doesn’t want us. Our past relationships often color our perception of Him. When we achieve a good relationship with God, we can experience peace, security and joy. Being wanted, by those that matter to us, can bring us happiness in life.

Yu/stan/kema.

 

Love Surrounds Us.

18 Monday Jul 2016

Posted by in Photos, Poetry, spirituality

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Love floats in the air around me.                   

Verbena grown in an Illinois garden. Photo taken by Jim Tanselle, July,2016.

Verbena grown in an Illinois garden. Photo taken by Jim Tanselle, July,2016.

I feel it in the wind:

The clean smell of flowers in the spring,

And the gentle sway of trees against

A deep blue sky.

 

Love grows in a bed of summer roses,

In the hearts of dogs who shadow me,

In the smile and laughter of a friend,

And my son’s hand in mine to keep

Me from tripping.

 

Love is found in a teachers words,                   

Found on Pinterest on 10-21-15.

Found on Pinterest on 10-21-15.

And the skills I learn that help me

Become more mindful in living.

 

Love endures in the people who learn

To accept my strengths and weaknesses,

Yet inspire me to stretch beyond my limits;

In a mother who learns to let go of her son,

So he might become a better man;

In trees that last a life-time to give to me             

Found on Pinterest on 1-9-16. Holyhocks. Zachariah Davidson.

Found on Pinterest on 1-9-16. hollyhocks. Zachariah Davidson.

Beauty and hope in my darkest hours;

And in God’s promises which give me courage

To endure the losses and grief found in life.

Love is in the air that surrounds me.

Yu/stan/kema.

 

 

What I Cherish About Christmas.

06 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by in Article., Photos, spirituality, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

12313817_1226029214077728_7674724012913473677_n.jim

Found on Facebook Time Line on 12-5-15. Taken by Jim Tanselle.

Christmas is a very special time of the year for me. I’ll be seeing my son and his partner on Christmas, and the scene above reminds me of the happiness I will have. The scene invites me to remember all the joy the season brings: being with the people I love, sitting before a blazing fire, enjoying the good food my son makes, and making Christmas dinner with him. His house is always cheerfully decorated at Christmas. I often meet his friends and neighbors that stop by. We have a wonderful heart warming time.

I love Christmas. It reminds me of the greatest gift given to mankind, God’s Son, and all the promises that are a part of that when we accept God’s gift. A manger was part of my decorations on Christmas: a hand-made stable made of lumber and tree bark and the many life like figurines I placed around the manger. As I grew older, the tree became harder to get up, but I always put out my manger and the figurines, given to me each Christmas from my son.

Found on Pinterest on 12-6-15. Mary and Jesus.

Found on Pinterest on 12-6-15. Mary and Baby Jesus. youtube.com

I love the smell of pine trees and firs in the air as well as cedars. We had a live tree in our house until I found out my son and I were both allergic to it. How glorious the smell was though. There is nothing like it. We would decorate the tree, and the miniature lights were the best part. I would put out all the decorations he had made. It was such a lovely sight. I have an audiotape of a Christmas, long ago, of him waking up, and the sound of his laughter as his shoes hit the floor and him running for the Christmas tree. So many precious memories I still see and hear around this time of the year. As you grow old, these memories enrich your days and remind you of the most important things in life.

My son was born in December. He was the only baby born around Christmas at the hospital. The following photo reminds me of  that Christmas. He was the dearest gift I ever received.

Found on Pinterest on 12-6-15. Capturing Joy by Kristen Duke Photography.

Found on Pinterest on 12-6-15. Capturing Joy by Kristen Duke Photography.

I hope this Christmas will be a happy one for you, and  that the days ahead in the new year will hold wonderful memories  for you and your loved ones. Best wishes for the Holidays.

Yu/stan/kema

Judging Seldom Makes Any One Feel Better.

28 Sunday Jun 2015

Posted by in Article., Photos, quote

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

Found on Pinterest on 6-4-15.

Found on Pinterest on 6-4-15. powerofpositivity.com.

All my life I was proud of the fact that I could accept people for who they really were. I never felt I had to convince someone to think the same way I did. I felt that people could be friendly and agree to disagree. For the most part, I allowed my son to be his own person. He was encouraged to think his own thoughts and develop his own values and beliefs. I did pray a lot that my teachings would steer him in the direction of having decent values, because I knew there would be fewer problems he would have to deal with. If he had integrated lying, stealing, cheating, and using other people for his own selfish gain into his value system, I knew things could get dicey for him. I am happy to report he formed a good value system.  I was also very accepting most of the time of my friends, and clients at work.

The only time I can recall having difficulty accepting some one just as they were was in the last several years. There was a big difference in age, values, ways of doing things, and accomplishing goals in a working relationship I had contracted for. Expectations were different for each of us. Because my success in meeting my goals was tied to the other person, I became driven to get the task accomplished. I was full of zeal and wanted to pass on information, skills to get the task done. I saw myself as being helpful but the other person saw it differently, that I was trying to change how she did her work, and I wasn’t allowing her to be herself. Needless to say things got dicey.

I grew from that relationship, but it was hard and stressful, and I should have been more patient, less driven. I should have been more flexible. I wasn’t the best person I could have been, but I do know I put a lot of time and energy into trying to make it work. I learned some unkind things about myself and some valuable lessons about the working relationship. It’s easy to make assumptions about someone else or judge a person without needed feedback. I wish I had known more about her as a person so I could have had a better understanding why certain things were important to her. I do know making any kind of judgement at all was not helpful.  I do want to work on accepting other people, as time goes on.

Found on Google+ on 6-13-15. Path to Holmes Beach. Rick Schwartz.

Found on Google+ on 6-13-15. Path to Holmes Beach. Rick Schwartz.

Yu/stan/kema

No Regrets For Some Things In My Life.

05 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by in Article., Psychology

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , , , , ,

Looking over my life from almost seventy years of living , there are things I did I will never regret.  Here is a list of them:

1. I never regretted being married. I loved married life. I loved the giving, the sharing, having someone to help me if I needed help. I liked cooking, making a home, being a companion, and having a child together. It ended, but I would never erase that part of my life.

2. I never regretted having a child I loved with all of my heart. The best memories I have are during his childhood. I shared a lot of one-on-one time with him. I shared with him a love of books and knowledge, a love of writing, cooking, gardening, and a love for the outdoors. The memories I have from that time are priceless.

3. I never regretted having a job where I could enable others to problem solve, express their emotions, build good self-esteem, and communicate more effectively with their spouses, families, and work environments. It was exciting to watch people grow.

4. I never regretted buying a home and living in it more than thirty years. I enjoyed decorating it, getting to know my neighbors, and having space to raise my dogs. It has been my refuge, my strength in hard times. It is the first home I have ever known.

5. I never regretted making the friends I did. I loved them and I supported them. I was dependable and giving to them and they have given me much.

6. I never regretted getting my bachelor’s degree and my master’s degree. They enabled me to achieve my goals and make a decent living. I have continued my quest for knowledge and enjoy reading books, writing articles and poetry, and researching topics I am interested in.

7. I have never regretted getting my own personal counseling. It made me a better therapist, a loving mother, and a decent human being. It has been a way for me to grow emotionally, psychologically, socially, and spiritually. Each therapist has given me useful tools and insight.

8. I have never regretted giving to others. It gave me immeasurable joy and lit up my world.

9. I have never regretted living a simple life. It has enabled me to experience gratitude.

10. I have never regretted having a personal relationship with God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit. They have helped me through some pretty big storms in life. They give me the strength to go on.

This is an exercise you can do in looking back over the years. Your answers may surprise you.

Yu/stan/kema

APPRECIATING THOSE WHO CARE.

28 Sunday Dec 2014

Posted by in photo, quote, spirituality, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , , ,

-(1) Found on Google+ on october26,2014. Words of Wisdom.

-(1) Found on Google+ on october,2014. Words of Wisdom.

       Those Who Care

We seem to appreciate others we barely know for doing  random acts of kindness towards us. Because it is unexpected, it gets our attention and we respond quickly. Yet those who interact with us daily or on an ongoing basis, such as family members or good friends, we   often fail to see the little ways they make our lives easier and we end up taking them for granted. Sometimes we even feel entitled to more than what we have been given. In some part of our mind, we tend to see them as parts of ourselves.

But they are not. They are separate from us and choose to give to us from their hearts. For them, a meal, a clean house, a well-kept yard, a word of comfort, a pat on the back is their way of saying,” I am here for you and I care.” One of the greatest gifts any one can give to another is to stay in our lives, and to make a commitment to enjoy the good times and bravely deal with the bad behavior we often perpetrate on those we take for granted. They work hard to accept the things that can’t be changed, and they make an effort to seriously work out the difficulties that can be resolved with those they care about. They deserve our thanks and our respect because deep down inside, if we remove the denial, we can see  we have our own weaknesses and days of selfishness. In the coming year, we can choose to make life sweeter for those who have given so freely to us from the heart.

Yu/stan/kema

THANKFULNESS

29 Saturday Nov 2014

Posted by in Article., Photos

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

Swift Current Falls-2 ;Glacier National Park. by Christian Rogers. Found on Google + on 11-26-14.

Swift Current Falls-2 ;Glacier National Park. by Christian Rogers. Found on Google + on 11-26-14.

Things I Am Thankful FOR

1. I am thankful for God who has been with me always, for as long as I can remember. My life has had good as well as difficult times. I have been able to learn from the difficult times, even when dragging my heels and screaming. God is a source of comfort and  seems  to send me what I need to get through the hard times.

2. I am thankful for my freedom and the every day perks  I experience as an American.

3. I am thankful for my family, and my extended family, especially my son and his partner and family.

4. I am thankful for friends, especially the one who has been my best friend for thirty years. She has seen me through some difficult times and we are still friends.

5. I am thankful for the dogs I have had over the years who are members of my family. They give me moments of laughter, joy, and unconditional love.

6. I am thankful for the therapist who has helped me deal with losses, especially the loss of good health. She has given me support, resources, caring, and has helped me grow in ways I never thought possible. I am most grateful.

7. I am thankful for the many photographers  and other artists I have had the privilege of seeing and sharing their wonderful works on Google + this past year. They have inspired me, given me hope, and have filled my heart and soul with wonder and beauty in difficult times. I am most grateful for the gifts  they give with their skill and talents. The quotations I have found have been extremely helpful and heart touching.

8. I am thankful I was able to work and help many people over the last thirty years. I had a job I loved. I am also thankful for this new opportunity I’ve been given to share my skills and knowledge in a different way and am thankful for those who are helping me and encouraging me in this new endeavor.

9. I am thankful for the professionals at the infusion center for treating me with respect and kindness and the other doctors involved in my care.

                                    Yu/stan/kema