THE VOICE!

BREATHE!

It is the still, small voice that the soul heeds, not the deafening blasts of doom. - William Dean Howells

"Who is YOUR biggest critic?
You are!
Your Inner Critic by Geneen Roth
Feed Your Soul:

The biggest obstacle to transformation is the critic inside your head telling you that it's impossible. It's called the superego - she calls it The Voice. Everyone has The Voice.

When parents, teachers, and other authority figures communicate instructions about physical and emotional survival, we internalize those voices in to The Voice.

Operative in most of us by the age of 4. The Voice goes unchecked and unexamined, it can bully us and make us afraid of change.

The Voice checks in when we want to challenge the status quo.

List ten (just ten) comments about yourself.

The message is always the same. Your impulses can't be trusted. Listen only to me. Otherwise you 'll die as a failure.

You won't let anyone else talk to you the way you'll let The Voice talk to you!

You're inured to insults from this inner critic who sounds so much like you that you believe it is you. You think you are telling yourself the truth.

Early in life The Voice kept you from being rejected by those upon whom you depended; it protected you by convincing you that trusting yourself was dangerous. But now, despite it's former usefulness, it's rendering you incapable of acting with true discernment.

When you read your comments out lout - who do you sound like?

It is installed in your psyche and must be challenged.

The Voice is almost always irrelevant to who you are today. It treats you like a child and leaves you unable to contact your own authority.

How do you free yourself?

YOU BEGIN BY BECOMING AWARE THAT IT EXISTS!

List the ways you berate yourself.
Read out loud in the voice of The Voice.
Work on disengaging the voice.
Understand it isn't you.
Remember the time you know the delight of being happy for no reason. Your Voice was silent and you were your essential self.

Act as if you deserve to take care of your body, act as if the possibilities they long for do exist.

Talk back to it.

Stop believing The Voice.

The Voice pretends to offer, but doesn't: clarity, intelligence, strength, joy, compassion, curiosity, love.

Ask yourself what YOU can live with, not what The Voice can live with."




Happy Birthday Ronnie - you were a good man.

According to Paul Kengor, author of God and Ronald Reagan, Reagan had a particularly strong faith in the goodness of people, which stemmed from the optimistic faith of his mother, Nelle, and the Disciples of Christ faith, which he was baptized into in 1922.For the time, Reagan was unusual in his opposition to racial discrimination, and recalled a time in Dixon when the local inn would not allow black people to stay there. Reagan brought them back to his house, where his mother invited them to stay the night and have breakfast the next morning.

Fun Friday - Take a laugh break . . .

Success Doesn't Happen Overnight!
The answer to yesterdays question is a million now or over 2 million in one month by doubling it each day for a month - waiting and doing something every day. (I hadn't thought about a bird in the hand theory) I was listening to a CD called The Slight Edge and he talked about how if you do something each day to improve yourself that in time - good changes occur!



Adam was hanging around the garden of Eden feeling very lonely.
So,God asked him, "What's wrong with you?
Adam said he didn't have anyone to talk to.
God said that He was going to make Adam a companion and that it would be a woman.
He said, "This pretty lady will gather food for you, she will cook for you,and when you discover clothing, she will wash it for you.
She will always agree with every decision you make and she will not nag you,and always be the first to admit she was wrong when you've had a disagreement.
She will praise you!She will bear your children, and never ask you to get up in the middle of the night to take care of them.
"She will NEVER have a headache and will freely give you love and passion whenever you need it."
Adam asked God, "What will a woman like this cost?"
God replied, "An arm and a leg.
"Then Adam asked, "What can I get for a rib?"Of course the rest is history......................

To Be 6 Again...
A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, observing his wife, looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for her Birthday.
'I'd like to be six again,' she replied, still looking in the mirror.
On the morning of her Birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms, and then took her to Six Flags theme park. What a day!
He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Monster Roller Coaster, everything there was.
Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down.
He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake.
Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&M's. What a fabulous adventure!
Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted. He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being six again??'
Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed. ' I meant my dress size!'
The moral of the story: Even when a man is listening, he is gonna get it wrong.


HAVING MOM OVER FOR DINNER-

You don't even have to be a mother to enjoy this one...

Brian invited his mother over for dinner. During the course of the meal, Brian's mother couldn't help but notice how beautiful Brian's roommate, Jennifer, was. Brian's Mom had long been suspicious of a relationship between Brian and Jennifer, and this had only made her more curious.

Over the course of the evening, while watching the two interact, she started to wonder if there was more between Brian and Jennifer than met the eye.

Reading his mom's thoughts, Brian volunteered, 'I know what you must be thinking,
but I assure you Jennifer and I are just roommates.'

About a week later, Jennifer came to Brian saying, 'Ever since your mother came to
dinner, I've been unable to find the beautiful silver gravy ladle. You don't suppose she took it, do you?'

Brian said, 'Well, I doubt it, but I'll send her an e-mail just to be sure. So he sat down and wrote:
___________________________________________________________
Dear Mom,

I'm not saying that you 'did' take the gravy ladle from the house, I'm not saying that you 'did not' take the gravy ladle. But the fact remains that one has been missing ever since you were here for dinner.

Love, Brian
___________________________________________________________

Several days later, Brian received an email back from his mother that read:
___________________________________________________________

Dear Son,

I'm not saying that you 'do' sleep with Jennifer, I'm not saying that you 'do not' sleep with Jennifer. But the fact remains that if Jennifer is sleeping in her own bed, she would have found the gravy ladle by now.

Love, Mom

LESSON OF THE DAY - NEVER LIE TO YOUR MOTHER










Red Bottons - Happy Birthday-
Red Buttons was born Aaron Chwatt on February 5, 1919 in New York City to Jewish immigrants. At sixteen years old, Chwatt got a job as an entertaining bellhop at Ryan's Tavern in City Island, Bronx. The combination of his red hair and the shiny buttoned bellhop uniform inspired orchestra leader Charles "Dinty" Moore to call him Red Buttons, the name under which he would later perform.

Do you remember 'Overboard' with Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russell, and Red Buttons?

Past - Present - Future

QUESTION:

If someone offered you a million dollars today or offered you $0.01 today and each day for one month, said they would double it (day one $.01 - day two $.02 - day 3 $.04 and so on), and at the end of the month you could have that amount - which would you chose to take?

Happy Birthday Rosa Parks - A courageous woman . . .

"I did not want to be mistreated, I did not want to be deprived of a seat that I had paid for. It was just time... there was opportunity for me to take a stand to express the way I felt about being treated in that manner. I had not planned to get arrested. I had plenty to do without having to end up in jail. But when I had to face that decision, I didn't hesitate to do so because I felt that we had endured that too long. The more we gave in, the more we complied with that kind of treatment, the more oppressive it became."

Remember the past and learn from it. Relish the present and live in it. Respond to the future and lean toward it.

I've been talking you to death this week - here's a short one . . .

Get on the Hope Train!

“Hope is always available to us. When we feel defeated, we need only take a deep breath and say, "Yes," and hope will reappear.” —Monroe Forester

This is a question asked to California 9th graders to write about:

If you were helping to raise money for a charity and someone agreed to make a large contribution if you would perform at the upcoming fund raising show, would you?

If so what would you like to perform? Assume the show would have an audience of about 1,000 people.

I would, but I would be like Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality - playing the glass cup rims!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Elizabeth Blackwell (February 3, 1821 – May 31, 1910) was the first female doctor in the United States. She was the first openly identified woman to graduate from medical school (M.D.), a pioneer in educating women in medicine, and was prominent in the emerging women's rights movement.

Friendships

Today this is about people who shoot arrows in our heart. Do you know what I mean? Do you have any people who just shoot arrows into you for no apparent reason?

I have an angel friend now for 30+ years. We go way back. I KNOW her. She has helped me and prayed for me and been there for me - she carries me sometimes and hopefully I do the same for her

She is a Christian, she's positive, she's happy - yet she has some concerns in her life.

One being her daughter's MIL. Oh boy. Her daughter has been married 3 years now and she has tried to be friends with this lady a million times in a million ways. It makes her sad. She is not used to people not liking her and snubbing her

And this MIL never talks to her when they are together, never answers an email, tells her son what my friend does that she doesn't like, and I guess just doesn't like my friend.

As we wrote back and forth and I told her she had to let go - not try anymore. Not to be mean, just don't try so hard to be friends with her. Was that good advise? This MIL doesn't know what she is missing having a friend like this.

Do you have people around you (toxic people) that being around makes you sick. It seems that they shoot arrows into you and you're always having to pull them out of yourself.

Negative people. Why are people so negative? Now if you don't live with them - it is easier to let go - but what if you live with them? What do you do?

Have you ever had a person in your life - who you wanted to be friends with and they were just cold or cool towards you? I know I have one in my life . . .

Hey, and I'm not talking about Cupid's arrow - that is another story! teehee



Happy Birthday to Clark Gable from Wikipedia - very interesting man - I put the website below:

At seventeen, Gable was inspired to be an actor after seeing the play The Bird of Paradise, but he was not able to make a real start until he turned 21 and inherited money. By then, his stepmother Jennie had died and his father moved to Tulsa to go back to the oil business.

He toured in stock companies and worked the oil fields and as a horse manager. Gable found work with several second-class theater companies and worked his way across the Midwest to Portland, Oregon, where he found work as a necktie salesman in the Meier & Frank department store.

While there, he met actress Laura Hope Crews, who encouraged him to go back to the stage and into another theater company. His acting coach was a theater manager in Portland, Oregon, Josephine Dillon (seventeen years his senior). And who later became his first wife.

Dillon paid to have his teeth repaired and his hair styled. She guided him in building up his chronically undernourished body, and taught him better body control and posture. She spent considerable time training his naturally high-pitched voice, which Gable slowly managed to lower, and he gained better resonance and tone. As his speech habits improved, Gable's facial expressions became more natural and convincing. After the long period of rigorous training, she eventually considered him ready to attempt a film career.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clark_Gable

Sunday's View

This is the last day of first month of the new year - time for a little thought and reflection. How have you done on your resolutions? Are you still doing them or have you quit?

I've been saving some Christian Quotes this week that meant something to me and I thought I would share them with you:

"The world is a great book; he who never stirs from home, reads only a page. "
- Saint Augustine

"I found out...that my personal joy is not somebody else’s responsibility. It’s my responsibility." Joyce Meyer - Her books are awesome.

"A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out. "
Grace Pulput, Grace Methodist Church, Atlanta, Georgia

"You see, when weaving a blanket, an Indian woman leaves a flaw in the weaving of that blanket to let the soul out." - Martha Graham

"The things that we love tell us what we are." ~ St. Thomas Aquinas

God is babies -


God is in attitudes -
"Attitudes”

"Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10 percent what happens to us and 90 percent how we respond to it.

I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there's no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me."(Sheila)

An attitude of gratitude creates blessings. - Sir John Templeton

Love,
Chatty

PS
Happy Birthday to Suzanne Pleshette:

A native New Yorker, Suzanne Pleshette had already experienced a full career on stage and screen by 1971 when TV producers saw her on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and they noticed a certain chemistry between Suzanne and another guest, Bob Newhart. She was soon cast as wife to Newhart’s character, and the series ran for six seasons from 1972 to 1978 as part of CBS television's Saturday night lineup.

Something to think about. . .

My sister has a brother - who is not biological to me - long story, but he's still my brother. He's in high school. He has a teacher that requires them to journal and they give him certain questions to write about. Here are two:

If by having a 2 inch by 2 inch tattoo, you could save 5 lives & prevent a terrorist attack, would you do so? If you were allowed to select the location & design, where would you have it & what would the design be?

For $20,000 would you not bathe, wash, or brush your teeth for 3 months? Assume you could not tell anyone.

1. I would have the word 'Breathe' tattooed on me.

2. Yes, but I'd be using lots of perfume and deodorant and mouthwash! They didn't say you couldn't.

This is thinking Saturday so tell me what you think -
Love,
Sandie

PS They didn't say you couldn't go swimming or using hot tubs - there is always a way around the mountain if you can't go through it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I Believe...
That just because two people argue, that doesn't mean they don't love each other.
And just because they don't argue, that doesn't mean they do love each other.

I Believe...
That sometimes when I'm angry I have the right to be angry,but that doesn't give me the right to be cruel.

I Believe...
That we don't have to change friends if we understand that friends change.

I Believe...
That no matter how good a friend is,they're going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.

I Believe...
That true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance.
Same goes for true love.

I Believe...
That you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life..

I Believe...
That it's taking me a long time to become the person I want to be.

I Believe...
That you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may be the last time you see them.

I Believe...
That you can keep going long after you think you can't.

I Believe...
That we are responsible for what we do, no matter how we feel.

I Believe...
That either you control your attitude or it controls you.

I Believe...
That heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.

I Believe...
That money is a lousy way of keeping score.

I Believe...
That my best friend and I can do anything, or nothing, and have the best time.

I Believe....
That sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you're down will be the ones to help you get back up.

I Believe...
That maturity has more to do with what types of experiences you've had,and what you've learned from them....and less to do with how many birthdays you've celebrated.

I Believe...
That it isn't always enough to be forgiven by others.
Sometimes, you have to learn to forgive yourself.

I Believe...
That no matter how bad your heart is broken the world doesn't stop for your grief.

I Believe...
That our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are,but we are responsible for who we become.

I Believe...
That you shouldn't be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.

I Believe...
Two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.

I Believe...
That your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don't even know you.

I Believe...
That even when you think you have no more to give, if a friend cries out to you...you will find the strength to help.

I Believe...
That credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.

I Believe...
That the people you care about most in life are taken from you too soon.

I Believe....
That you should send this to all of the people that you believe in. I just did.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
They just make the most of everything.

I am thankful for all the wonderful people who help us throughout the journey of life...

Happy Birthday to Franklin D. Roosevelt

On March 17, 1905, Roosevelt married Eleanor despite the fierce resistance of his mother. Eleanor's uncle, Theodore Roosevelt, stood in at the wedding for Eleanor's deceased father Elliott. The young couple moved into Springwood, his family's estate, where FDR's mother became a frequent house guest, much to Eleanor's chagrin. As for their personal lives, Franklin was a charismatic, handsome, and socially active man. In contrast, Eleanor was shy and disliked social life, and at first stayed at home to raise their children. Although Eleanor disliked sex, and considered it "an ordeal to be endured," they had six children, the first four in rapid succession.

Now how do they know that inquiring minds want to know.

Sandie

FUN FRIDAY

A Minneapolis couple decided to go to Florida to thaw out during a particularly icy winter. They planned to stay at the same hotel where they spent their honeymoon 20 years earlier. Because of hectic schedules, it was difficult to coordinate their travel schedules.

So, the husband left Minnesota and flew to Florida on Thursday, with his wife flying down the following day. The husband checked into the hotel. There was a computer in his room, so he decided to send an email to his wife. However, he accidentally left out one letter in her
email address, and without realizing his error, sent the email.

Meanwhile, somewhere in Houston, a widow had just returned home from her husband's funeral. He was a minister who was called home to glory following a heart attack. The widow decided to check her email expecting messages from relatives and friends.

After reading the first message, she screamed and fainted. The widow's son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read

To: My Loving Wife Subject : I've Arrived Date: October 16, 2007 - I know you're surprised to hear from me. They have computers here now and you are allowed to send emails to your loved ones. I've just arrived and have been checked in.

I've seen that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.

P.S. Sure is freaking hot down here.



I just had a call from a Charity asking me to donate some of my clothes to the starving people throughout the world.

I told them to kiss off!! Anybody who fits into my clothes isn't starving!!









Silver in the Hair

Gold in the Teeth.

Stones in the Kidneys

Sugar in the Blood.

Lead in the Ass.

Iron in the Arteries.

And an inexhaustible supply of Natural Gas.

I never thought I'd accumulate such wealth...



Subject: 10 rules for men to follow for a happy life

1. It's important to have a woman who helps at home.

2. It's important to have a woman who cooks from time to time.

3. It's important to have a woman who keeps the house clean.

4. It's important to have a woman who has a job.

5. It's important to have a woman who likes you.

6. It's important to have a woman who can be your very best friend.

7. It's important to have a woman who can make you laugh.

8. It's important to have a woman who you can trust, who doesn't lie to you.

9. It's important to have a woman who is good in bed.

10. It's very, very important that these nine women do not know each other.

Sincerely,

Tiger Woods





Happy Birthday Ann Jillian - Do you remember the show "Jennifer Slept Here"?

Battle with cancer
The 35-year-old actress made headlines when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she became a vocal advocate for cancer research and prevention. Leaving It's a Living after the 1985-1986 season, she focused on beating her cancer, with treatment including a double mastectomy. Her battle with the disease was chronicled in the top-rated 1988 made-for-TV film, The Ann Jillian Story, in which Jillian portrayed herself. Jillian received her third Emmy Award nomination, for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special, and won a 1989 Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV.

She seems like a nice lady.
Love,
Sandie


From Angela at West Virginia's Treasure

Blue Belt and Star Wars

Beware of the Force -

Well at first I was embarrassed of all this 'stuff' but how can I have a Darth Vader and not have stuff? Right?


This is how creative he is - he has made every ship out of paper. This is the ex-wing fighter. Isn't that great?


So what did the old family do when I was gone? Andy got his blue belt in Choi Kwang Do - I missed it, but I'll see his next ones. He's over half way to black belt - about another year and a half!



It's official he's a blue belt!



Andy's dad is into Star Wars. His uncle is into Star Wars and since he was coming home for Christmas I decided to get Andy into Star Wars. And boy have I succeeded. My daughter and I bought the movies and we watched Star Wars all that week. He has been saving his money and buying figures. We got some planes for Christmas and his birthday.

I think when he does his martial arts he is thinking Star Wars (not sure that is good or not). So we are into Star Wars - everything. And yes - he and his uncle bonded. And you know what I like about Star Wars - I understand it. It's not like Pokemon or Bakugons. And the truth is - everyone understands Star Wars and it is like a universal language everyone knows and can relate too.

And the best part about Star Wars - it is about good and evil and good wins out - just like it SHOULD!

So when I was gone he decorated his room with Star Wars - we need some more things, but the Star Wars room has started. I had made some pictures of the internet and my daughter laminated them.

My daughter bought stickers for his room - glo in the dark.


His room is busy - the towels are up on the windows because the sun comes in his room too early!


And here is a new picture of my niece. Cutie pie.
Isn't she a doll - she looks just like her aunt!!!!!!!!! Just kidding she looks like her mom.

Allan Alda - Wikipedia - Happy BIrthday -

"I still don't like the word agnostic. It's too fancy. I'm simply not a believer. But, as simple as this notion is, it confuses some people. Someone wrote a Wikipedia entry about me, identifying me as an atheist because I'd said in a book I wrote that I wasn't a believer. I guess in a world uncomfortable with uncertainty, an unbeliever must be an atheist, and possibly an infidel. This gets us back to that most pressing of human questions: why do people worry so much about other people's holding beliefs other than their own?"

I didn't know this about him myself.

Does anyone remember the movie Same Time Next Year? With Ellen Burstyn. It was kind of cute.

Love, Chatty

Los Angeles - Sisters - Twins

I wrote many months ago about not understanding God's plans for us at the time something happens and how long sometimes (if ever) God reveals his answer.

In 1974 my parents had been married 32 years. I had gotten married in May. I found out I was pregnant December 18th 1974. We were all going to get together for Christmas Eve.

I got home from work that day and as we were getting ready my husband told me that my dad had called from LA (he had been working there on business for a few months on and off) and that he had told my mom that he wanted a divorce and that he was not coming home for Christmas.

Everyone was kind of afraid to tell me, but there was no choice. So the whole pregnancy I was going though the divorce with my mom. The divorce was final in June, my mom moved to San Francisco with her brother in May (ran away I guess, but eventually came back home), I had my son August 20th and my dad was in LA getting married on the 23rd.

I tell you this background because of course it hurt - it hurt my mom, me, and well the whole family, but healing eventually over the decades happened. My dad brought his wife home (two years older than me).

I did learn to love her. They had two more children - a girl in 1977 (dad was 59) and a boy in 1980. My sister is 5 months older to the day than my daughter. To be honest through the years we have had our issues to work out, but we CHOSE to work them out and eventually we did.

Now 32 years later - she is one on my nearest and dearest friends ever. I adore her and love her dearly. We need each other more than I can explain.

LESSON: When God allows pain and sorrow - and you don't understand - you may never get an answer, you might get one right away, or you might get one 32 years later!

So fast forward to 2010 - my sister had twins 12/11 - which just happened to be the day our brother (now deceased) was born! Kind of meaningful to us.

And here are a couple of pictures of these cuties pies:





So remember, if something happens, if pain happens, give it time - time is a great healer.

"Aunt"

Happy Birthday Virginia Woolf -

"Lock up your libraries if you like," she wrote, "but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind."

"Each sentence must have, at its heart, a little spark of fire, and this, whatever the risk, the novelist must pluck with his own hands from the blaze," she wrote in Second Common Reader (1925)

She had a tough life, but she was an amazing woman. Multiple bouts of depression led her to suicide. She loaded her raincoat with rocks and walked into the sea . . .