We all know about the proverbial plates in our lives. Plates that are always full of responsibilities, expectations, and commitments. With Thanksgiving tomorrow, I guess our proverbial and physical plates are about to be or have been overflowing with good stuff, stressful stuff, and stuff we really don’t need.
This morning was jam-packed with rushing to try to make all my plans fit into a time frame that probably wasn’t feasible. The harder I tried and the faster I rushed, the fuller I felt with frustration.
I heard a voice ask what I was “so darn upset about.”(It may have sounded like my husband.) I wasn’t sure why I had tears in my eyes and a burning at the back of my throat that only happens when I cry. I guess it felt like crying would take away some of what was weighing on me. But crying wasn’t going to help anything, and it sure wasn’t going to clear my proverbial plate from all my commitments.
We have arrived at the time of the year when giving thanks is officially the cool thing to do. There’s an entire holiday dedicated to the act of gratefulness. With the Thanksgiving spirit in mind, the Intentergy Positivity Challenge for November is to challenge yourself to 30 days of intentional thanksgiving.
My personal 30 Day Challenge is to write and send or deliver a thank you letter to someone each day in November. Keeping up with my tradition of card-making and lifting spirits with homemade greetings is something that brings great joy to my life, and, hopefully, those that receive my cards.
If card-making isn’t your thing, consider sending thank-you texts or emails. You can also support local shops by purchasing cards to send to those for whom you are thankful.
Pinterest is always a terrific go-to for ideas on giving. Here are a few Gratitude Challenges I found to get you through the 30 days of November. Give one of them a try!
In addition to sending 30 Thank You cards, I plan to challenge myself to the Instagram Thankfulness Photo Challenge below.
Whatever you choose to do for November, know I am grateful that you took the time to read this post. I’m thankful for your open mind and willing spirit. I wish you much success in putting Intentergy into your thanksgiving efforts and hope your holidays give you even more to be grateful for.
Without a doubt, this calf was born super. He has all the markings of Spiderman or a WWE wrestler. There is no magic charm or superpower that could change his appearance. Unless he’s found a mirror somewhere in the pasture, he has no idea that his markings manifest the fact that he is bound for greatness.
I think we are all born naturally super. It’s hard to see our exceptionality sometimes when we look in the mirror.
I am as guilty as anyone when it comes to feeling unattractive, imperfect, or goofy-looking. I have yet to meet anyone who looks in the mirror every day and says, “Dang! I am perfect.”
If you do this and are sincere in your proclamation, please share your secret.
Until then, I will probably continue to lament my big ears, mommy belly, and the birthmark on my hip.
Despite my lamentations and the self-mortification felt by most, there is one thing that we can find solace in and that is the fact that we are naturally super in the eyes of those who love us. We were created in the image of God to make the world a more beautiful and diverse place.
In my recent post about the fact that I don’t always feel okay, I think I scared some folks. Sorry about that!
I really am alright. I had been feeling down and thought there might be others experiencing the same emotions, so I shared. Thank you to everyone who read and reached out! It’s really gonna be alright, and we are DEFINITELY not alone in our ups and downs.
Now, I want to discuss why this sheep wouldn’t stop smiling at me.
This gal right here would not stop grinning at me as we admired the sheep pen at the State Fair. I finally asked her, “Hey! What are you smiling at?”
She just kept smiling.
When I finally petted her, she pressed her face harder to the gate and smiled even bigger. I realized this sheep was brilliant. She sought to manifest her happiness and it worked. She desired to be fulfilled by gaining attention. She was successful.
She smiled. She was petted. Brilliant!
What are you smiling at?
Today I encourage you to smile about something you are going to make happen. Whether it’s something as simple as trying a new recipe, taking a nap, or having a great hair day,put a big ol’ “I’m gonna make it happen” grin on your face.
If it’s something huge, like booking an Alaskan cruise or starting a new career, I want you to cheese it up about the certainty that you WILL MAKE IT HAPPEN.
IF you want substantially more to simper about, jot down a list of target tasks and laugh like a mastermind villain as you put your PLANS into action. With each successful achievement, another grin is going to make its way to your countenance and greater self-pride will prosper.
If you aren’t sure you have the energy to muster a smile, here is one from my dog Beast to get you going.
See! Even Beast knows you’ve got the potential to make your goals happen. She’s smiling because terrific things are going to transpire for YOU!
The Intentergy message for today: 1. Smile about what you are going to do. 2. Do that thing you are smiling about! 3. Smile some more. 4. Share your awesomeness in a comment on this post and so others get to grin about your greatness.
By: Melanie A. Peters
P.S. Sorry for all the bold, CAPITAL LETTERS and exclamation points!!! It was the only way I could infuse the appropriate enthusiasm into this message. I promise I’m not yelling at you to smile because that would not make you smile.
Is this what you look like?
If it is, please know that I was not yelling. I was interjecting joy. If you look like this, please scroll back up to the previous photo, put the grin back on your face, and go do that thing that is going to make you happy.
P.P.S. Please do share what you are doing to bring a grin to your gorgeous face.
P.P.P.S. The sheep’s name is Millie. She is a goal-getting, Missouri State Fair sheep shown by the lovely Loretta from Luzon Farm, and she should be smiling because she’s awesome.
Teaching kids about death is one of the trickiest tasks parents face. I believe we can help kids through the tough lessons in life by allowing them to be an active part of the grieving process. This invites our children to voice their individual ideas for coping and moving on after a loss. Sometimes we can find inspiration, comfort, and joy in the contributions of our kiddos while experiencing times of sadness.
My friend Mandy shared one particular experience that occurred when her son and daughter were younger. Their family had a kitten that was born with severe defects in its spine. The kids named the kitten Joey. As Mandy retold the tale, Claire interjected that the kitten had a really big butt. As kittens with severe defects will do, Joey crossed over the rainbow bridge to pet heaven soon after he was born.
When it came time to bury Joey, Liam asked what they were supposed to do at a cat funeral. Mandy wracked her brain and said, “I think we share the good memories we had with Joey and sing songs or say things that remind us of the happier times with him.”
Liam told Joey he would always remember carrying him around and playing with him every morning. Liam would never forget sweet Joey. When it came time for Claire to speak, she chose the happiest song she could think of and in her tiny toddler voice busted out, “I like big butts and I cannot lie…”
“Groundhog Day,” the movie starring Bill Murray, is one that will go down in the annals of cinematic greatest for its hilarious cycle of February 2nd repetition. While the film featured Murray’s vast myriad of responses to being roused by the same rise-and-shine message brought us a lot of laughs, I can only image how frustrating it would be if we actually woke up to face the same scenario each and every day.
How crazy would it make you to know that nothing new was going to come your way Every.Single.Day.? Would you face the mornings in a multitude of crazy ways or would you accept your circumstances and go through the motions over and over again in the same mundane manner? Sometimes I think we all feel like we are trapped in a Groundhog Day pattern and that pattern can take the positive out of our perspective.
To avoid the lunacy of lacking variety and negative impacts of uneventful outlook, I want to challenge you to make each day Groundhog Day Again… In a Good Way.
I think the best way to establish a good Groundhog Day cycle is to find a practice that opens your possibilities to success, variety, or joy. Having that one exercise or routine that establishes your day as a “good one” will diminish the doldrums of any repetition.
If you can’t think of any ways to shake up your wake-up, consider some of these Groundhog Day Go-To Starters:
Journaling: Jot down 3 things you are grateful/hopeful/ready/working for…
Deep Breathing Exercises: Breathe in the newness of the day; Breathe out the fear, anxiety, or frustration of starting again
Enjoy a A Calendar that introduces something new each day (i.e. Word-of-the-Day, Joke-of-the-Day, Quote-of-the-Day)
Look in the mirror and tell yourself 5 things you love about your life.
Do 15 minutes of crunches, leg-lifts, squats, planks, jumping jacks, or jogging
Make a point to eat a good breakfast (Keep a few options for getting your day going on hand to help avoid breakfast boredom)
Wake up your partner or kiddos by telling them 3 things you love about them or are excited to do with them.
Hopefully, adding a routine to the start of morning will make any Groundhog Day situation feel like you are ready to be successful in a variety of ways. By adding something you know will freshen your attitude, you avoid the trap of a tedious start. Giving yourself something to look forward to, even though it’s a repeat practice, is a good way to celebrate any day, even Groundhog Day, again and again.
By: Melanie A. Peters
P.S. If a giant rodent being pulled from a tree stump every day is part of your new routine, you might need to rethink your routine.
Do you include your appliances in your fancifulness?
At dinner one night, my children and husband were making light of the fact that I was drinking a glass of red wine with my steak. They continued teasing me about my “fancy” wine glass and my love for planning, preparing, and documenting good meals. (I’m not really very fancy, but I guess they have to have something to tease me about.)
As the ribbing continued about my fanciful ways, my son said, “Just look at your refrigerator.”
We all stopped.
What did the fridge have to do with me being “fancy”?
I’ve never worked in a paper clip factory. I never thought about what it would be like to make paper clips all day long. I had not considered what it must be like to have a career solely based on those cartons of curved, organizational magic… that is until I opened my most recent box of paper clips.
Upon lifting the lid to a brand new box, I discovered a very long chain of clips connected to one another. Surely, this is not a normal product of the paper clip making process. Someone somewhere took the time to construct this impressive chain of fasteners. Perhaps their intent was to frustrate the recipient of the chain, or maybe its creation served to pass the time during an unfortunate shut-down at the plant, or it could be that the chain’s maker was just trying to make a connection with someone else in a unique way. Whatever the reason, I was now the intrigued owner of a very long paper clip chain.
When I showed my daughter, she said, “That’s cool, but now you can’t use those paper clips.”
“Why can’t I use them?” was my reply.
“Because then you wouldn’t have the chain anymore,” she stated and walked away.
I guess she was right. I needed a paper clip, not a chain of them, but there were Intentergy moments in those links.
In the last few weeks, I’ve had two friends going through a tough time with their kiddos and school. So tough, in fact, that both transferred to a different school. When my gal pal, Cindy, reached out to let me know of their decision, I shot a quick text to our friend Lisa letting her know we are here if she or her kiddos need us. Change is hard, but leaving one negative situation to face a new, overwhelming one can be a lot to take. I didn’t want them to feel like they were alone. After sending love, support, and humor in our texts, Lisa thanked me for reaching out to her. I told her to not spread the news of my goodness; I didn’t want people to think I had gone soft. She sent back, “Ha!! Good news doesn’t seem to travel as fast as bad news, so your secret’s probably safe for a little while. LOL”
It made me sad to think about the snail-mail pace of positive reports and a story that had come across the morning news reaffirming this depressing dispatch. Lisa’s situation and the CBS Morning News inspired me to put some Intentergy into broadcasting some cheerful correspondence.
The alarm clock ringing might be the #1 reason people give for getting out of bed, but it’s not that ring, ring, ring that really calls us to rise. My alarm clock is working fine, but I’ve been struggling with motivation to get moving in the morning.
It’s not just that it’s winter, and I want to hibernate, but that I really haven’t felt successful or inspired as of late.
I know I’m not alone, if you are feeling like there’s not enough good reasons to get going in the morning, check out my recent telephone conversation and how it helped with my dragging drive.
I called for tech support as I was working on the cataloging system for our elementary school library. We are relatively new to using this cataloging system, and this was not my first tech call. I had already spoken to Keith, the company representative, in the past. Keith is in Canada. I am in Central Missouri. When Keith takes my call, I always ask how things are in Canada, and he kindly tells me about the weather there. As we waited for the computer system to reboot my account, I asked Keith how many tech support calls he answers on average each day. He said, no one had ever asked him before, but, ironically, it was just discussed at a recent meeting. Keith said his average daily call count was 12.
Because I know that my past calls have all lasted between 30 minutes and 90 minutes, I thanked Keith for his time and his assistance. He laughed and told me that most people probably wouldn’t think of what he does as valuable. I pointed out that his service calls help me to provide library resources to over 130 students and faculty. While my school is a small one, I know he assists large colleges, universities, churches, and high schools; all with patrons in the thousands. I happily went on telling him that his 12 calls a day help thousands of people with their writing, reading, and research. He has a tremendous ripple effect on the success of all those patrons, and that’s a great reason to get out of bed every day.
Keith didn’t speak for a few moments. Actually, I was afraid he hung up on me or lost connection. When he did speak, the sincerity in his voice was so sweet. After saying, “Thank you,” Keith told me that it had never occurred to him to value his position in such a positive way. It made my day to know that I had brightened his.
After hanging up with Keith, my library software was working, and my mojo was much improved.
Intentergy 