Strong in Your Skin and Mismatched Clothes

Children teach us some great lessons, when we let them. Like the other day...

We were getting ready to go out - to a "dress up" type of affair. My 8 year old, Erin, came down in an outfit that challenged every lesson I had in my youth about assembling outfits for "dressy occasions."

I learned: "You don't wear white after Labor Day." "You don't wear brown with black...," and "You don't wear plaid with leopard print (okay...so they didn't have leopard print when I was a kid, unless you were a leopard...but you get the jist)!

So here was my darling daughter, always a "fashionista," wearing a brown shirt with pale blue trim and accents, a black skirt made of lace and velour, and hot pink, plaid, wool ankle boots! It did make a statement! Mine went like this, "You sure you want to wear that?!"

"Yes!" she confidently assured me. "I look good," self confidence oozing right off of her!

I watched her intently for a few seconds, her individual style of dress was not new...it's just that I was thinking about where we were going...more seconds passed...about what others would think...more seconds passed....about what my Mom had taught me...and I responded...

"If you think you look good; I think you look good!"

The ensemble was a huge hit!

If only I could be that strong in my own skin and (what I perceive as) mismatched clothes!

Fall In the Moment

My daughter was sad this morning. She is transitioning to a larger violin and everything about it is different. It's bigger than her 1/4 size, so it feels different. It sounds different; it's louder and hurts her ears. And, where she has to place her fingers is different (especially when she forgets to spread her fingers to accommodate for the differences).

Her frustration mounted in a swell of tears and a pronouncement, "I want things to be the way they were. I want my old friends, my old violin, my old teacher..." Holding her like the little girl she wanted to be again, I sympathized with her as best I could.

Change IS hard. It often means leaving behind things of great importance - sometimes by choice, sometimes by life itself. We talked about those things...and then I asked her, "What, of the things you like about now, would you have to give up in order to be little again?" As she began to answer this question, she began to realize that the present had some good things to offer too!

And, in our time together, I realized, that on this, the first day of fall, the lesson for both of us was to "fall in the moment" - celebrating and honoring, with gratitude, what WAS and living fully and appreciatively in what IS.

The Key to Change

I won a car yesterday! Well, okay...I received a KEY in the mail and, IF I take it to the dealership, put it in the ignition, and it starts the engine, then I win the car. I've been thinking about "That Key".

"That Key" holds a lot of potential and so do I. The question is, "Will I give it a try?" I'm thinking about it!

Thinking about "it"...that's the first key to change. We think about losing weight, beginning an exercise program, searching for a new job, calling a therapist.... Before we take action, we take time. That's a good thing. We look at the pros and cons of the option before us, examining them until we're either tired of thinking about them and do nothing or come up with possible ways to make change happen. Those possible ways are keys to change. But, like the key on my table waiting for a trip to the dealership, they're just possibilities.

I'd like to win, but will I do the unusual and give possibility a chance? I'm thinking about it....

Doing the Unusual

Yesterday I was challenged to do something "unusual" everyday. It was an "unusual" request and I liked that. So, today, instead of just thinking about what I'd write if I had a "blog", I created one!

There's nothing like getting out of your own way. I'm pretty sure that by doing something different something different will result. At least, that's my hope! Want to join me?