Holiday Reading - Most Loved Blog Posts for 2017

My seven most loved blog posts are here for your holiday reading. Each one sharing a little bit of my life, of my year of Simplify and hopefully touching you in some way.

Thank you for your comments over the year, I am so glad to know that my words reached you wherever you are in the world. I hope that you feel more inspired, have had a chuckle or two, and feel less alone knowing that we are all connected.

Let's not hesitate to reflect on and to celebrate the journey we've travelled. (Tweet This)

If you just recently happened to find this post, I welcome you to join this tribe of folks who continue to search and share the Everyday moments that can give us the most profound lessons. Let us continue to grow together!

Wanting it All

...I needed to recognize that there are a number of ways to get Freedom and it doesn't necessarily need to be about Wanting it All, it just needs to be what each of us want our lives to look like.

(read full post)


 
Overindulgence – do you or don’t  you speak up? 

We are usually governed by politeness and not stepping on toes with our opinions or worries. But is there a point when we are compelled to speak up?

(read full post)



 Don't Lose the Spell 



You don't often get to eavesdrop on a conversation when you're out on the running path. The timing has to be perfect, the wind quiet, and no other distractions taking place.

Last Sunday, I heard a fellow say "I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did." (read full post)

Karaoke Tourist

She was an accomplished singer, in a church group. She played the piano with skill and feeling. But what she wanted to do is sing Karaoke. Something different. An Elvis fan, that's whose song she'd choose.

She just didn't know when or where. Surely not with her prim choir friends. Certainly not where if she was terrible, she'd have to wear her humiliation. (read full post)

Overindulgence – do you or don’t you speak up?

For the most part, we do not want to appear stuffy or appear that we are getting our nose into someone's business. We are usually governed by politeness and not stepping on toes with our opinions or worries. But is there a point when we are compelled to speak up?

I worked with someone many decades ago. A lovely woman, funny, kind and nice to have around…in small doses. She also drank. She smelled of alcohol when I gave her a ride home and at her desk while she typed out letters. But no one said anything and I didn’t either. 

Overindulgence - Pixaby angelie96mejia

She ate potatoes for dinner almost every day, potatoes for dinner, she laughed because that that was all she could afford. We all knew why. But she was sweet and I’m only guessing here from the stories she told, she was sad. The booze helped.

We attended a musical event a little while back. Not a dress up and put on pearls event but an occasion that warranted changing from your day clothes to go downtown. The musician was a young chap, although I don’t know much about his style of music, he sounded good to my ears. 

He roused the crowd, interacted cheerfully with those sitting close to the stage and he drank. First set  he came out with two beers, haha, get in the mood. Second set, even more lively, two more beers. The lady behind us was getting into the tunes, she laughed at all his jokes and said to her date, isn’t he fun?

And was it just fun? Am I just getting just too solid in my “please be entertaining without fueling it with alcohol” ways? I could feel the energy in the room quieten a bit as time went on. There was some uncomfortable shifting in the seats, although the musician was having a great time by now. Some audience members continued to chatter back and forth with the young man and he got happier.

When the musician returned to the stage for an encore, bringing two more beer I wondered how long this would go on. I wondered if he would recreate this same type of performance the following night and if this was his style? I worried, and I thought back to the people who used to be in my life who could also drink six beers in a matter of a few hours. I know a few of them are dead, I know some switched to another kind of indulgence, I know some who are as they were those years ago and are now a tax on their loved one.

Perhaps, I am over sensitive to this behavior?

The musician said that he would be out selling his CDs after the performance. I had a vision of looking into his soulful eyes and saying ‘young man, don’t do this to yourself”. But I did not. As a talented chap, would he be able to maintain this level of success, would he be able to turn off the overindulgence at his choosing?

What do you think, in these situations should we speak out or not? Should we care?

My thoughts have gone back several times over the last week to this young man, and I wonder. Will there come a day when all he eats for dinner is potatoes?

Does witnessing overindulgence compel you to speak out? (Click to Tweet) 

Is it our business to get into someone else's? (Click to Tweet)