SoCS: When There’s Too Much Pepper in the Soup

Here’s are prompt: ….. for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “oop.” Find a word with the “oop” sound in it and use it in your post. Enjoy!

Oops. scoop. goop. soup. I like soup. Vegetarian, please. I like to experiment in cooking. Over time there are fewer, oopses, in cooking at least. We bought some cumin that is exceptionally strong and can only use like an eighth of a teaspoon, a pinch at most. Even if a recipe calls for a half a teaspoon, that’s too much of this particularly powerful batch of cumin. We learned this from experience.

Every mistake teaches us something. It was a big mistake to date a creep after my divorce. It was an even bigger mistake to keep on dating him for a year. But I learned more about codependency and how low I cold go. It brought me to my knees even more than the divorce. It gave me compassion for people who stay in unhealthy or abusive relationships. When it finally ended, it was like waking up from a bad dream. Where had I been? I had lost myself for a while there. Now, I appreciate being in a healthy relationship.

But first, I had to appreciate me. I had to learn to love myself again. Was that rebound from hell really a mistake? Could I have learned to love me without it? I don’t know. I wish I had not done it. I regret that rebound. But God can take a messy mistake and turn it into something good.

It’s like if we put too much cumin, or pepper, in the soup. God can put in other spices, other healthy vegetables, sweet nourishment, to counteract the mistake. The soup becomes rich and hearty.

Do we need to make mistakes in order to learn? Or to appreciate the good things in life?

Let’s hope we learn enough to not make more big ones.

Let’s hope we can heal the mess we’ve made of the planet, mend relationships, bridge the divide.

God help us. I know imagine you’re tired of our mess and want us to learn on our own.

Maybe we will. But could you just give certain people a nudge. You know, the ones who put too much pepper in the soup. Help them, help us, help me, be careful with the pepper – my irritability and critical thoughts….

Add some sweet corn, sweet peas, sweet potato, maybe even some mango. Nudge us to use a dash of compassion, a spoonful of empathy, a cup of kindness.

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Stream of Consciousness Saturday is hosted by Linda Hill. For more streams and rules, visit:

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS April 24, 2021 | (lindaghill.com)

Good News Tuesday June 16, 2020: Breonna’s Law, Banning Choke Holds, Protecting LGBTQ Rights, Kindness Photos, and A Baby Deer Rescue

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

Louisville Kentucky Bans No Knock Warrants with “Breonna’s Law”

In March, Breonna Taylor was sleeping when police broke into her home with a “no- knock warrant” and shot her eight times.  Her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker didn’t know who was breaking in and fired his licensed handgun in defense, wounding one officer. Police returned fire, killing Breonna. On June 12, the Louisville city council unanimously passed Breonna’s Law banning no-knock warrants. Breonna was an EMT and saved lives for a living. Her family hopes her death will save more lives.   You can learn more  about Breonna and the incident in this video:

 

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France Bans Choke Holds

In a related story, France is banning police choke holds:

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said the use of chokeholds — which he described as applying pressure on an individual’s neck or throat while holding them on the ground — was a “dangerous method” and will no longer be taught in police training.   CNN

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US Supreme Court Rules LGBTQ Workers Protected from Job Discrimination

On Monday, the US Supreme Court ruled (6-3) that LGBTQ workers are protected from job discrimination by the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which prohibits discrimination based on sex.  You can learn more from this article in The Washington Post

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Good News Photo Collection

BoredPanda has collected 46 “wholesome” photos with stories about random acts of kindness between people of different colors.  Click here for stories that will warm your heart and restore faith in humanity.

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Good Samaritans Save a Baby Deer with CPR

 

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Got good news?

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Good News Tuesday: Safety at the Mosque, Kindness Homework, Overcoming Cancer, and Person of the Year

Seeking Balance One Tuesday at a Time

Today’s Good News Tuesday stories all happen to be about young people – children and teenagers – who are the future of humanity.

Students Find Safety at the Mosque

17 year old Duaa Ahmad led about 100 students fleeing from a school shooting in Wisconsin to safety across the street at the mosque where her family worships.  Click here for the video and  the story from CNN.

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Acts of Kindness Replace Homework

An elementary school in Ireland has eliminated homework for the month of December and instead assigned acts of kindness.

“We are encouraging our pupils to think of the real spirit of Christmas, the spirit of kindness and giving. With such an emphasis on the materialistic and commercial aspect of Christmas, we often tend to overlook what it’s really all about…. Good will!

Vice Principal Íde Ní Mhuirí

Here’s the story.

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14 Year Old Chloe Beats Stage 4 Cancer in Time to Go Home for Christmas

“On Tuesday, the doctors told the family the good news: The cancer was in remission. Though they’ll have to return for follow-up appointments every three months, the family can finally head home on December 21.”

Read the story here.

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Person of the Year

Finally, we have Time Magazine naming 16 year old Greta Thunberg their youngest person of the year. It’s good news that Time is taking Greta’s message seriously and honoring her courage. In this recent video she talks about balance.

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Got Good News?

Please share in the comments!

Good News Tuesday: Compassion, Change, and Singing

 

California Votes for Cruelty Free Cosmetics

California just passed a law that will make it illegal to sell cosmetics or ingredients that have been tested on animals. The California Cruelty-Free Cosmetics Act will go into effect in January of 2020. Read more below from The Good News Network:

https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/california-has-just-approved-law-requiring-all-cosmetics-to-be-cruelty-free/#.W7JziKaNjSc.facebook

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Rising Out of Hatred through Kindness

Derek Black, the son of a KKK Grand Wizard and godson of David Duke, broke free from the white nationalist movement. It was a gradual process that started when he went to college and his friend Matthew invited him to a Friday night Shabbat dinner. You can read more in this article or watch the video below. The discussion about change starts about four and a half minutes into the video.

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Singing is Good for You!

It’s not hot off the presses, but here are some surprising ways singing can improve your mental and physical health:

http://vkool.com/benefits-of-singing/

Got good news? Share it!

One-Liner Wednesday: Light in the Darkness

I will not allow my life’s light to be determined by the darkness around me.”

– Sojourner Truth

 

 

Declare independence from darkness.

Let your light shine regardless,

A beacon beyond  madness.

 

We the people far from helpless

Surely find the truth in goodness.

Light the way for peace and kindness.

                                                                                  JM

 

 

One-liner Wednesday is brought to you by Linda G. Hill.

For more information, visit:

https://lindaghill.com/2018/07/04/one-liner-wednesday-on-a-personal-note/

#1linerWeds guidelines:

1. Make it one sentence.

2. Try to make it either funny or inspirational.

3. Use our unique tag #1linerWeds.

4. Add our lovely new badge to your post for extra exposure!

5. Have fun!

 

 

 

 

 

Releasing Fear and Opening to Miracles

From Marianne Williamson:

Think of what you’d like to have happen in your life… then surrender to God every aspect of your personality that keeps it from happening. Infinite opportunity is built into the nature of the universe; it’s not lack of opportunity, but the way we chronically deflect these opportunities, that obstructs the otherwise constant flow of …miracles into our lives. We’ve all been wounded; the issue is whether we act from the wound. Ask God to take away all your personality characteristics that arose from the wound, and to replace them with the characteristics of your immortal Self…..

This quote by Marianne Williamson has been waiting among my drafts for a  long time. It drew my attention last night because Christmas is the traditional time for miracles. There was the virgin birth of the savior, the brilliant star seen by wise men and shepherds… Miracles.

Reading the quote again, it hit me that I’ve been acting, or rather thinking and imagining, from the wound, from my history of woundedness when things went wrong. It’s certainly not a conscious decision. It’s a habit that developed over many years, because I want to be prepared in case things go wrong again.

But I don’t have to prepare by rehearsing my responses to the catastrophes I imagine. How many times have we imagined a conversation and our responses only to find out the conversation didn’t go anything like we rehearsed?

I can prepare by being grounded in my Creator’s love and in my own healing.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen.

__Ralph Waldo Emerson

I always say that we need to give at least as much time to the good possibilities as the bad ones. But it’s easy to slip into the old anxiety, like someone’s going to steal my joy, but it’s me stealing my own joy. Sometimes it takes a conscious effort to pull myself out of the negativity that comes from fear, to focus on the miracles I want in my life. So here goes:

I see myself working through challenges with love and kindness. I will not let fear block the kindness. I will be kind to the fear and gentle to the old wounds.

I see my loved ones standing in light, facing life with courage and kindness. I envision them successful, aware that they have their own ideas about success and their own paths to walk.  I must release them to God’s love, as I focus on my own healing.

Some of my fear is for my country and this beautiful planet Earth. I envision us working though challenges and finding more peace, using Earth’s gifts with more care, wisdom and compassion, helping the planet heal. I continue to do my part in this healing process while taking care of myself.

I release my fear, and all the personality characteristics from my wounds to God and ask that they be replaced with characteristics of my immortal self, the self that knows for certain that everything works out for the best. I will trust the timing.

I think and act from a place of healing and love.

I am open to new miracles.

Patience and the Kindness of Strangers

Moses is a feral cat who’s been hanging around our church for at least three years. I don’t know who started feeding him first. It could have been me, or it could have been Mary, or it might have even been our music director, Chris, who still says he doesn’t like Moses, but who feeds him the most, and who worries about him the most.

For the first year we fed Moses, he wouldn’t let us get within a few feet of him. If we came too close, he’d take off. During a ridiculously cold spell, Mary and her husband, BW, put a styrofoam cooler lined with a blanket out for him, and Chris found Moses sleeping there the next morning. The following winter, they built Moses a wooden house lined with styrofoam.

Over the past couple years, a few of us at church worked to gain his trust by gradually moving closer. In time, he got to the point of letting us be as close as we wanted as long as we didn’t try to touch him. If we reached toward him, he’d bolt. But in recent weeks, Moses has accepted pieces food from our hands, and Mary has been able to pet him ever so gently while he eats.

Moses has always looked scraggly and has been losing weight in spite of a good appetite. This past Sunday, he seemed lethargic and let Mary pet him more than usual, even without food as an incentive. Mary made a decision to try to wrap him in a towel to take him to the vet. He wasn’t too happy at first, but Mary held him firmly and was able to bring him into the parish hall. She sat down in a chair, holding Moses firmly in the towel which did little to block the moisture that seeped through as Moses peed on her.  It’s a good thing Mary is patient and loves cats.

We found out the animal clinic connected to a large pet store was open on Sunday and decided to take our chances that they’d see us as a walk in. I drove Mary’s car while Mary held Moses. Even though the vet was dealing with an emergency patient, they agreed to work us in. We waited for quite a while and chatted with others in the waiting room who asked about our snugly wrapped feral cat.

When we got into an exam room, we were told it would still be a while, as the vet was still busy with the emergency. Mary let Moses go and he found a cool hiding place on the floor and drank some water from a bowl. We noticed he had a bad place on his mouth we hadn’t seen before. It looked like some tissue was missing from his upper lip.

After about 30 minutes, the vet came in. She listened to what history we had about Moses, and we warned her that he would not be cooperative. The young, confident woman got down on the floor and introduced herself to Moses, then she calmly caught him by the scuff of his neck, like a mama cat would, (not recommended for amateurs) and put him on the exam table.

Then, Moses let her pet him. He settled down and didn’t struggle. He even purred and “made biscuits” kneading a blanket on the exam table. We were amazed and dubbed her a cat whisperer.

Holding the back of his neck, the vet used a tongue depressor to open his mouth. (Also, not recommended for amateurs.) She said it looked like ulcers, but it could be cancer, and his teeth were not in good shape.

Thank you, Dr. Wallis!

The vet recommended blood work, IV antibiotics, and sub-cutaneous fluids. (In spite of his water bowl at church, he was dehydrated.) The blood work ruled out diabetes and some other problems but did not test for feline leukemia. There was only so much to be done in one unscheduled visit on a Sunday afternoon. But it was a start.

When we went to check out, we were informed that a woman we had talked to earlier in the waiting room had anonymously paid $40 toward our bill! How awesome is that?!

Mary and I each having multiple pets, and wanting to honor Moses, took him back to our church courtyard which he knows as home. When we let him go, he took off for the bushes. I checked on him the next day, and he let me pet him ever so gently while he ate his cat food.