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Tag Archives: Positivity

What’s A Girl To Do?

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Posted by Cheryl Ries in Uncategorized

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Inspiration, Politics, Positivity

How long has it been since we’ve felt “normal”? It has been a long time! I’m speaking not only of the circumstances of pandemics and other pertinent national and world events, but also the resulting emotions that reflect those particular situations. I’m an author, creative and influenced by an ability to observe my surroundings and basically report upon them. Yet for a long while now, I have had very little, if any, motivation to write or notate events. The nation in which I live and the world around me seems dire and strained of those positive influences that normally stoke my creativity in the first place!

I’ve felt bereft of the calm inner spirit that enables fluid observation and the positivity of messaging that was my usual manner of observing and then reporting on it all. I’ve not lost my hope, my faith, or my beliefs, but I have lost some of my calm resolve as a witness to all that is transpiring of late. For the last few years, the upheaval in my nation has seemed so consequential and far too repressive to just blithely note the simplicity of life playing out in my garden, or in what became a trivial topic as a result of all the ruckus of politics.

People say not everything is political, but everything in the last few years has been made political. And so the venom of politics has tainted almost everything from relationships, to our choice of business associations, our media, our entertainment, and as a result, our daily thoughts. My thoughts have been subjugated to the willful repositioning of politics as the all-consuming topic of national preference.

What’s a girl to do?! I must purposefully choose to disengage my thoughts from the all-consuming political frenzy to events, topics, and other observational opportunities not exclusively tied to the combative political realm! Wish me luck! I suspect what we’ve endured the last year or two will not quickly dissolve, but I will do my best to seek a balance through other notable pursuits of subject, one of my favorites being the inspiration found in gardening and gardens in general.

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Tunnel Vision . . Life’s Blinders

05 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Choices, Happiness, Joy, Life, Positivity

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Emotional Well-being, Joy, Positivity

Oh for the bother of tunnel vision, which often makes us see the minutia and the minute, rather than all the rest! For the tree in our path, we overlook the forest; missing moments, opportunities, blessings and joy. We place blinders over our own soul’s eyes, in essence negating our own ability to notice how much more we are blessed; instead choosing to heighten one horrendous negative to the point of giving it top billing over every other experience, blessing or joy we’ve felt.

imagesblinders Perhaps it’s because we get more sympathy for our pains; perhaps it is because we have made it our badge of honor for having overcome it. And that’s not to say we shouldn’t truly feel hurt, loss or pain when we experience it, we should! It is the only way to heal. But many forget to heal and let the emotions of one heartbreak, one horrific loss, one failing or one mistake conquer them for all time. We often focus on that one event in life which hurts us, one moment when things didn’t go our way; we define ourselves by one failing which truly must make us failures for all time! And in doing so, we then lose sight of how much more we have felt, accomplished, experienced, or received; before, during and after!

imagesblinders2 Life isn’t just that one moment in a dark tunnel or one situation leaving its permanent scar. It is a whole total entirety of experiences, achievements, failings, losses, glory, sadness, pain, joy, happiness, hurt, feelings, emotions, and dreams yet to be reached! Don’t let your life be forever defined by one moment, one event, one situation, one feeling, one emotion, one hurt or one failure! You are more than that. There is so much more behind you to recall, so much more to live today, and so much more yet to come! Signature02

Putting on the Lenses of Gratitude . .

27 Monday Oct 2014

Posted by Cheryl Ries in Attitude, Choices, Faithfulness, God, Gratitude, Positivity

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Blessings, God, Positivity

Yesterday a few friends and I were sharing our personal stories of extreme weather events, of enduring and surviving. It became so obvious from the first moments, that each of us was grateful for having been through what we had been unscathed. But it also became so crystal clear to us that our thankfulness went far beyond that! We were thankful, upon recollecting, for not having had to endure far worse! Each day, in every moment, lies infinite potential for better and worse. The very thing which makes it evident to us is our awareness in those moments of how grateful we are for what we have, for what we evaded and for how we are blessed!

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Good could be better. And perhaps we’re angry or upset that it was not. But in that state, did we take note of how it was still good and not bad or even worse?? Were we present in our blissful awareness to also be thankful that it wasn’t negative, or just worse?! We’re fabulous at pointing out how bad things are, or how we survived or lived through; probably because our pain, struggles or our hardships seem to garner us more attention by way of compassion, sympathy and empathy. But if we truly were present in each moment, we would soon see how very blessed we are and always have been! Good might surely have been better, but for everything, time or person who represented good to us in our lives, we were spared the worse things, times and people. And even if we encounter those things, times and people which are worse, it could have always been worse even yet!

 

549516_469832986380781_1137289488_nThankfulness reminds us of the breadth and scope of our life’s events as it focuses our limited attention to a wider range of possibility in assessment. Gratitude is a practice which only leads to more reasons to be grateful! Looking back at your life, I’m sure now you can see more reasons for which your life is meaningful, rewarding and valuable than ever before if you but put on the lenses of gratitude!

 

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Cheryl Ries-Author & Model

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