"Taking out the trash"...in our heads of course!

I just saw a wonderful movie called "The Peaceful Warrior". It's been out for several years, but glad I stumbled onto it. Nick Nolte as the teacher who has apparently "slain his dragons" is a little hard to grasp at first. However, he does grow on you in time :-). This is the true story of Dan Millman and how as a young world class gymnast, he learned to get his priorities straight. Most of all though, he learned to "take out the trash" in his own mind.

Earlier in my own life I also learned the value of clearing your mind. It is one of the hardest things to do, and to this day, I work on it daily. I learned the value of surrounding myself with positive people and positive influences. Most of all, I learned the gift of time alone...and with God. Needless to say, my childhood left me tons of baggage to haul around, but I worked on letting it go. Even if it meant creating a big red stop sign in my mind that was my signal to STOP cluttering my head with judgments, anger, unforgiveness, jealousy, etc..

Listen, I know that we are all victim to the human experience. It surrounds us every second and is often hard to let go. Earlier in my blogs I mentioned the value in letting go of the news. I used to listen to the daily news regularly, just waiting for the next shocking detail to raise it's ugly head. In fact, I found myself feeling guilty and just plain awful for looking forward to that. So, I let it go. Not an easy thing, but definitely able to be done.

Anyway, I am sure that there are things in your own life that could be left behind in order for you to take out your own garbage. I would really encourage you to think of the things in life that clutter your thoughts and weigh down your heart. Then, I would also think about the things that do the opposite of that...and start filling your life with those. Life is too short, and in the end, it is joy and love that truly matter most. Peace to you.

Learning to say "sorry"

Being a single mom is certainly challenging, especially with no family. Though I should be used to it by now, believe me, I have my moments. Since this is my blog, and I am all about honesty, I just have to admit that sometimes I do lose it...like most moms. Although it's hard to admit, it's definitely true. Just the other day I entered the TV room to find 3 colors of crayon on my faux zebra skin rug. Can you say "Aghhhhh"!! My poor son. He didn't do it on purpose. There was a space heater on in that room and the crayons were next to it. He says to me, "Wow Mommy, I never knew that crayons could melt"? Of course I went to see what he was talking about. And yes, it was not pretty. I did get quite upset with him and even sent him to his room. I then attempted to clean the mess. I was still angry while I was cleaning it. After a while, I got the bright idea to just turn it upside down :-). Thankfully, that did the trick! Brand new again!

I felt bad for having yelled at my son. I apologized, but guess what, you truly can't take the words back. Once they have been said, it's a done deal. Thankfully my son is quite resilient and bounces right back from most things. He didn't even get frazzled about it, but I sure did. I apologized first thing the next morning when I woke him up, and he didn't even remember the incident...but I did.

Please never forget to say, "I'm sorry and I love you". Never be too proud or too busy to utter those words. Life is too short, and love truly is what matters. Forgive and forget. It's a constant lesson that I work on.