SoCS: Things my Parents Said about Possibility, Goats, Food, Wishes and Spit

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “a phrase you grew up with.” Include in your post a phrase your mom/dad/grandparent/sibling used all the time when you were growing up, or just write whatever inspires you based on that phrase. Enjoy!

I have to start by honoring my father, Jim, who would have been…. 91 on May 2 if he was still in this world. You may have read that my father inspired the title of my blog by telling me when I was 12 years old:

“Nothing is Impossible.”

He was told that by his scoutmaster, probably in the 1940s and passed it on to me in the 1960s. He didn’t make this statement a lot, but the tone of his voice and the state of my impressionable mind made it stick. “Nothing is impossible” became “Anything is possible.”

My dad also said,

“Outstanding!”

I think that was a common military word. It felt good to hear that one. He also said things in what sounded like Korean or Vietnamese (he served as a Marine in both those wars), but I think they were curse words, so I’m not going to try to guess how they might be spelled.

Mom often said,

“Kids are baby goats,”

She said that whenever someone would call children kids. Dad picked that up, too. Sorry, Mom, but I sometimes say kids. Mom also said,

“We don’t throw away food.”

That came from growing up during “The Great Depression.” The other thing mom said a lot was,

“Wish in one hand and spit in the other and see which one gets filled up first.”

There are other versions of that saying which Mom would not want me to share. Still, I think there is some value in wishing as long as we do the footwork to make our wishes come true. Not that we can MAKE them come true every time, but we can manifest our dreams. We can move in the direction of our hopes and dreams, one step as time. Sometimes we manifest something even better!

As I look at that word, manifest, it conjures up all kinds of trash in the stream of consciousness. It’s not a pleasant-sounding word, but it has a powerful meaning. What would be another word that means nurturing dreams into reality? Well, I don’t know. But I know this:

Dreams do come true!

Reading these sayings from my parents, it sounds like my dad was more of a dreamer and my mom was stern. That was not the case at all, at least not on the surface. Dad was practical and hardworking. Mom was more romantic, though dad had his romantic side, too. Just for the record.

I could write a whole other post about goats. Summing it up: Don’t take baby goats away from their mamas.

Mother Esther and Daughter Miracle

Friends Mira and Mary

Brothers Jack and Henry

Goats at the Blueberry Lane Sanctuary

Esther and Delilah came to the sanctuary pregnant. It was the first time they were allowed to keep their babies. I don’t have a good picture of Delilah, but Jack and Henry are her sons. Esther’s daughter was named Miracle, aka Mira, because she was a complete surprise, and her mama is so old.

Happy Mother’s Day to goat mamas, dog mamas, cat mamas, llama mamas and

all the mamas everywhere.

~~~

For more sayings, streams, and rules, visit our most excellent host, Linda G. Hill HERE.

One-Liner Wednesday: It Still Might Happen.

“Just because it didn’t happen then, doesn’t mean it will never happen.”

Monyay Paskalides

This goes with my “Trust the Timing” book title. Let’s apply it to good dreams coming true, answered prayers, and things working out for the best.

~~~

One-Liner Wednesday is hosted by Linda Hill every single Wednesday. For more one liners and guidelines, click here.

SoCS: Nerves ~ Correlation is not Cause ~ Peace ~ Dreams ~ and the Wizard of Oz

The prompt: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “nerve.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

The first thing that popped into my head was the expression, “You’re about to get on my last nerve.” It isn’t exactly logical, but it’s fun to say. One thing that gets on my nerves, is when someone posts something that suggests a correlation is a cause, like the meme I just saw that had a photo of gas prices in November and gas prices in January with the heading/comment: “Biden’s America.”

To my credit, I did not try to engage in debate, but neither did I pass it by and ignore it, which is sometimes the best thing to do. Here’s my comment:

“In statistics class, we learned that correlation does not necessarily mean cause. There are likely other variables/factors to be considered.”

I do not need to engage in any further discussion that would irritate my nerves. This is why I try not to scroll on FB. I actually want to reduce my time on FB, but every now and then, these things come up. Then I was happy to be able to like and love some photos of her grand daughter.

I’m in training. Besides having a personal (exercise) trainer, I am in training to “practice peace that overpowers darkness.” I know that sounds somewhat presumptuous, but it is practice. I don’t always get it right, especially when things get on my nerves. This idea for peace training comes from the February 11 reading from the daily meditation book, Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. I certainly can’t do this practice on my own. But if I connect with the guidance and strength of Jesus and my Creator, I can do my part.

“Nerve” can be used in so many ways: nervous energy, nerves of steel, a bundle of nerves, “You’ve got a lot of nerve!” Then there’s the nerve cells I learned about in college with axons, dendrites, synapses, and all that fading knowledge that I don’t use much, though it could be helpful in cellular imagery for the purpose of meditative healings…..

Where was I going with this? There was something I didn’t want to forget. Oh, in college – The Psychology of Consciousness, all those years ago, was my favorite class. I do recall the dominant theory of dreams being that our sleeping dreams are created by random nerve cells firing while we sleep. But what part of us assigns meaning? And what meanings that mean something important? Though maybe sometimes, they are just random, like the stream of consciousness. But is it really random? There is also a not so dominant theory that when we have a deja vu, we are experiencing something we dreamed since we dream so much that we don’t remember. I mentioned this in my college class. The professor was not impressed. But hey, anything is possible.

The “cowardly lion” in the Wizard of Oz, didn’t believe he had much nerve. But he really did. Or at least he found it.

And Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn’t already have.

I love this song and the mellow sound.

~~~

For more on the Saturday Stream of Consciousness,

visit out host, Linda Hill at:

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Feb. 20, 2021 | (lindaghill.com)

SoCS & JusJoJan: Manifesting and Letting Go

“Your prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “close eyes and point.” When you’re ready to write your post, open a book, a newspaper, or whatever is handy and close your eyes and point. Whatever word or picture your finger lands on, make that the basis of your SoCS/JusJoJan post. Enjoy!“

The book closest to me was, The Language of Letting Go, by Melody Beattie. It’s a daily meditation book for codependents. Her first one. It’s my second copy because I wore the first one out. But I haven’t read it in a long time, so I’m surprised it was close by. Maybe I was going to lend it to someone.

We’ve been through a lot together.

Anyway, here’s what I pointed to:

“It may not happen the way we wanted it to and hoped it would. But our controlling wouldn’t have made it happen either. “ (July 23: “Making it Happen”)

Hmmm. Some things have actually turned out better than I hoped they would. Other things did not. Life is full of surprises. Trying to control things is a hard habit to break. The other day, I went out with my adult daughter and found myself telling her she should do this or that. She was relatively patient with me, and I need to apologize. It’s not like I was doing it a lot, but more than I should. Yikes! There’s the should word again! We are human.

When things don’t turn out the way we hoped or dreamed or did all that manifesting stuff, maybe it’s because God has other plans. God or the Universe, whoever. There are powers greater than us who know better what we need. And it aint over til it’s over. Maybe God has something even better planned!

All we have to do is our best. That does not mean perfect. My best is different on any given day. Sometimes my best is listening well, being kind, sorting a stack of papers, throwing stuff out, exercising and eating well, or maybe my best is just doing one of those things. Some days, my best is getting a load of laundry done and watching a movie.

We should can let God and the universe know what we want. Name our hearts’ desires, imagine the feelings we’ll have when we get what we want or something even better. We can go ahead and work hard for our hopes and dreams increasing the chances of them coming true. But God and the universe might have other plans. Maybe there are lessons we need to learn first, like I wrote about in my book. Maybe we need to walk the long and winding road. Or maybe our dream come true is right around the corner.

The point is, stop trying SO hard. Stop worrying SO much. Ask, do your best, and let it go. (Note to self.)

…

Stream of Consciousness Saturday and Just Jot January is brought to us by Linda Hill. For more info, visit:

The Friday Reminder for #SoCS & #JusJoJan 2021 Daily Prompt – Jan. 23rd | (lindaghill.com)

Old Songs, Natural Highs, and my New Favorite Hiking Trail

Linda says our Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is a little complicated. Yes, but just a little which makes it interesting.

The prompt is: “song.” First, we find a picture–the closest one to us. Then we write about the “lyrics of the first song that comes to mind when we look at the picture.”    and as always, “Have fun!”

When I read the prompt, I was laying in bed after having driven the six hours from the mountains, though I think the trip took about seven hours because I stopped a lot to stretch the crinkles out of my old bones. The closest picture was a print I bought from Amanda Clark who is my favorite contemporary artist. She paints lots of earthy, whimsical, trees, bunnies, foxes, angels. The print I have made me think of the song, Blue Moon. But I just put that song in a post so I looked to my right and saw the painting I did in high school from a photo in National Geographic.

I’m pretty sure the photo was taken of the rocky mountains. Though it might be somewhere like the Alps. I added the fairy mist coming over the ridge a few years ago.  In high school I had a dream of going to the Rocky Mountains, so naturally, I thought of John Denver’s “Rocky Mountain High” whenever I look at this painting.

I was kinda obsessed with this song when I was in high school and the whole ecology movement. I thought I was going to be born again when I went to the rocky mountains. I’ve never  been though. I’m not sure if I will ever go, though I hope to go to the Pacific Northwest if this virus ever makes interstate travel safe.

Still, I have a little house in the North Carolina Mountains and a little house near the Carolina Coast. The last song I heard coming back home to the coast on around 6pm on my oldies station was “O-o-h Child.”  This song came out in 1970 and has been a big part of my life, especially during hard times, ever since.  I would sing this song to myself when I was lonely and didn’t know if I’d ever find love again. I sang it to myself when my job was driving me crazy and during my darkest years when I wondered if life was worth living.  I sang it to my daughter during her difficult teenage years.

And you know what? It worked! Things did get easier. Hard times still came and went, and maybe they always will. But today, after many years, things are much better and easier than they were 20 years ago.  Dreams have come true. Maybe not exactly like I thought, but I have a man who loves me and supports me in so many ways. I’m retired, and I get to paint and write and putter in the yard.

I’ve never been to the Rocky Mountains, but on Wednesday I went on the most wonderful hike in the Appalachian Mountains. I got a Blue Ridge Mountain High for sure. There’s a river not far from our mountain house that I am falling in love with. I’ve just got to share some photos with you!

Name that fungus!

I love this river!

Just enough challenge to make it interesting.

… and worth the effort!

Ferns growing on a rock

Raccoon Tracks?

Blooming Rhododendron

…

PS: I impulsively clicked to go to the new block editor while working on this so who knows how it will turn out. It’s like learning WP all over again!

I need to learn how to make one of those collages.

…

For more Streams of Consciousness and guidelines, visit Linda Hill at:

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS July 11/2020

SoCS: The Days are Long, But the Years are Short, So Believe in Your Dreams and Find the Joy.

 

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “year.”

A year is 365 days. Remember how when we were kids a year seemed like such a long time. My granddaughter talks about a thirty minute drive taking forever.

Now a year zooms by like a flock of pelicans. Though pelicans glide more than zoom.

They’re beautiful in flight, but they don’t stay long.

I was thinking about writing about what popped into my head when I read the prompt: The Year of Living Dangerously was a movie I believe I saw in the 80s. It was a about a journalist played by Mel Gibson and a diplomat played by Sigourney Weaver who’s one of my favorite actors. It was political, yet romantic in an exotic part of the world.

I’ve often thought of the first rebound after my divorce as a year of living dangerously.  That relationship lasted a year and was 365 days too long. But I learned not to settle.

Then, there’s “The Year of the Cat”which is a song I love the sound of. Mellow and maybe a little exotic though I don’t know all the words. But here are some.

“She comes out of the sun in a silk dress runnin’ like a water color in the rain.”

Who cares what it’s about? But I bet some one knows. It’s the sound that I love. Okay, I like the lyrics, too. Always have, even if I couldn’t sing them all from memory.

2019 was a strange year. We spent 7 months at the house that was my parents’ immersed in their history while sorting out their stuff during renovations on our home. Then we sold the house I grew up in and bought a house in the mountains. Never would’ve imagined that as more than a fantasy, but dreams do come true, even if they take a while. Anything  is possible!

So here we are coming up on a brand new year. The word, JOY, has been coming to me lately. That must be my word for the year.  A year of living joyfully!

Not every minute will be joyful. But I bet I can find some joy in every day. How’s that for a goal? I think there may be some dancing.

Here’s to 2020! With all its mess and magic. There’s going to be joy in the sunshine and moonlight, birdsongs, and buttercups.  I know I’m getting corny now, so that’s all folks.

Just one question:

What brings you joy?

 

…

For details on SoCS, or to join in the fun, visit Linda Hill by clicking this link:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/12/27/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-dec-28-19/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Dream On

Today’s SoCS prompt is “dream.”

Feed your dreams. The good ones. Not the nightmares. Don’t feed them.

I’ve been a dreamer for as long as I can remember. Sometimes too much so. But I’ve learned to put work into the dreams that are goals. One step at a time.

For this post, I’m using the word, dream, as it relates to goals, though the dreams we have when asleep can be interesting and meaningful, too.

I dreamed of a partner who would be a good fit, someone compatible. That was after the divorce and after the rebound from hell, after I got over my cynicism where I tried to not want a man because they could not be trusted.

My father could be trusted. Maybe I put him on a pedestal. He is partly responsible for me being a dreamer with his proclamation that, “Nothing is Impossible.”

So I imagined a compatible partner, made collages including him, and wrote lists of his characteristics.  It worked! (except for the list item that said “if he snores it’s only a little so I don’t notice.” That one didn’t manifest, yet.)  We don’t always get everything we want, but believing in our dreams helps.  Plus we have to work on ourselves in the meantime We have to work on becoming ready for our dreams to come true. Becoming the best we can be without expecting perfection. Because perfection is a dirty word. Nobody’s perfect.

“Perfection is the enemy of progress.” — Winston Churchill

Baby steps are okay, because they add up. But we can’t just dream. We gotta take steps. So dream on and keep taking steps.

Dream on til your dream comes true.

Listen to these girls harmonize! I think they’re pretty amazing.

…

For more dreams and streams of consciousness, visit Linda at:

https://lindaghill.com/2019/11/15/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-nov-16-19/

Here are the rules:

1. Your post must be stream of consciousness writing, meaning no editing (typos can be fixed), and minimal planning on what you’re going to write.

2. Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be. One sentence – one thousand words. Fact, fiction, poetry – it doesn’t matter. Just let the words carry you along until you’re ready to stop.

3. I will post the prompt here on my blog every Friday, along with a reminder for you to join in. The prompt will be one random thing, but it will not be a subject. For instance, I will not say “Write about dogs”; the prompt will be more like, “Make your first sentence a question,” “Begin with the word ‘The,’” or will simply be a single word to get you started.

4. Ping back! It’s important, so that I and other people can come and read your post! For example, in your post you can write “This post is part of SoCS:” and then copy and paste the URL found in your address bar at the top of this post into yours. Your link will show up in my comments for everyone to see. The most recent pingbacks will be found at the top. NOTE: Pingbacks only work from WordPress sites. If you’re self-hosted or are participating from another host, such as Blogger, please leave a link to your post in the comments below.

5. Read at least one other person’s blog who has linked back their post. Even better, read all of them! If you’re the first person to link back, you can check back later or go to the previous week by following my category, “Stream of Consciousness Saturday,” which you’ll find below the “Like” button on my post.

6. Copy and paste the rules (if you’d like to) in your post. The more people who join in, the more new bloggers you’ll meet and the bigger your community will get!

7. As a suggestion, tag your post “SoCS” and/or “#SoCS” for more exposure and more views.

8. Have fun!

Keeping Our Dreams Alive

(From my September Newsletter)

Did you ever think something was dead, but it surprised you?

Around this time last year, I pulled up a small dogwood tree growing right next to our church foundation. There was no room for it to grow there. It was not easy, but I got most of the root. I planted the dogwood behind the church and gave it some water. The leaves withered and eventually dropped off. But it was close to leaf dropping time anyway, so I hoped it would come back in the spring. Through the whole season of spring I looked for new growth and saw nothing but a bare stem. I figured it was dead. I should have put some fertilizer on it. Then, in August, I just happened to notice two tiny leaves. Then four. The dogwood was still alive! Its leaves are growing as I write this. I don’t know if it will survive the winter, but there’s always hope.

There was a time when I wondered if romance was dead for me. But I never completely gave up hope. I had no idea that my first love would find me 39 years later, and that the love we had felt for each other as teenagers was still alive, dormant, waiting patiently for the perfect time.

(Sounds like a good story, right? You can order it here.)

 

Did you ever have a dream that you thought was dead? Maybe you’ve thought it was too late. Maybe you’ve felt like giving up, thinking: what’s the use? I’ll never be good enough. I think we’ve all been there.

In high school, I was pretty good at art, and I loved to write. But I didn’t value these talents. I  valued science. I wanted to save the planet. So, I declared biology as my major.  But higher math and chemistry got harder in college. I could have gotten a tutor, but I wasn’t supposed to need a tutor.

Discovering psychology was the best thing that could have happened. As much as I wanted to help others, there were things I needed to learn to help myself. After college, I spent over 30 years as a substance abuse counselor. I learned a lot during those years and was blessed with the privilege of being able to help others. And every now and then, I would dabble in saving animals, caring for the planet, being an artist, and writing. But it was just dabbling. There were long stretches when I did not create art and my only writing consisted of clinical notes at my job. When my marriage ended, I painted like crazy for a while and wrote in journals as part of my therapy. But I didn’t think I’d ever be an artist or writer full time. I had to pay the mortgage and put food on the table. Retirement seemed like a faraway land I would never reach.

But sometimes, I would dabble in my old dreams.

Then in 2011, my first love found me again. People got goosebumps when we told our story, so I started writing that story. I had a lot to learn about creative writing, about details, conveying feelings, and describing scenes. There were times when I wondered if I had what it took to write and publish a real book.

But you’ll never know if you’re capable of something
until you’ve given it a go. ~ Kristina Adams

For much of my life, I’ve had a habit of thinking my work wasn’t good enough, because it wasn’t perfect. But I’m changing that habit.

This article by Kristina Adams explains how striving for perfection can damage our confidence and motivation (not to mention our health). It’s helped me be reasonably proud of my book. It’s a good book. But what I’m most proud of is that Trust the Timing is a book of overcoming challenges and never giving up hope, a book that can help people.

Now, I have reached that once distant land they call “retirement.” Except that I’m not really retired. I’m writing and painting! I dabble in saving the planet, or at least a tree here and there.

What about your dreams? Did you ever think that you weren’t good enough to follow your heart’s desire? I am telling you now that you are good enough. There’s some part of your dream that still lives, a part you can nurture into new growth. Your dream might change, and that’s okay. Maybe you’re already living your dream, or maybe you’re just thinking about it. Dabbling. Either way, don’t give up.

May your sweet dreams become reality.

Quotes #4: Oprah Winfrey one-liner

I’m re-blogging for today’s One-Liner Wednesday, because I just love this quote Anggelina shared.

One-liner Wednesday is brought to us by Linda at

https://lindaghill.com/2017/04/05/one-liner-wednesday-elvis-has-left-the-ladies-restroom/

 

One Step at a Time

 

Smooth and steady steps

Releasing Intensity

Still reach the summit.

From here I will glide

To a land glimpsed from dreams

Where anything is possible.

…

 

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