Tag Nature

Digging for Spring

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via Daily Prompt: Bury

Digging for spring is something I find myself doing in the fall. Most Octobers or Novembers I scramble to clear out dying plants and add a few bulbs to my flower bed, but this year I am showing some real ambition for spring. I have extended one flower bed and added another in front of our home this week. (We’ve lived in the house 3 years and I am just now getting to these beds. Don’t judge.)

Tulips and daffodils are my bulbs of  choice this year. Hopefully I will have the chance to enjoy plenty of new blooms come spring, but for now I get to look at fresh turned dirt and mulch, while feeling the pain of more shoveling than my shoulders are used to. 😉

Digging for Spring (3)Even if you are not a gardener, you can appreciate the need to dig for a more beautiful future and maybe that requires us to bury somethings that aren’t so pretty. My favorite things to bury are guilt and worry. I want to stick them deep in the ground and pray that they fertilize something much more enjoyable in the next season of my life.

Digging for Spring 5In addition to the bulbs, I have added a few mums. Mums are my favorite perennial because they bloom for a long time and come back every year. There are plenty of perennial elements in our world and I encourage you to celebrate and give thanks for recurring pleasantries. Whether that annual awesomeness comes from birthdays or anniversaries or more frequently, like weekly coffee with your BFF or breathtaking sunsets each evening, relish the dependability that blooms in your life.

Right now I encourage you to dig deep for intents that will bloom into beautiful moments and memories. Bury ugly and unfruitful practices, habits, and influences and let their absence make room for more fruitful experiences. Planting positivity always blooms grace, gratitude, and joy.

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. Fertilizer is stinky, but so are guilt and worry. Don’t use too much of any of those. It really burns up the joy in planting.

 

 

Eagles Without a Nest

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Homeless Eagle 1.jpg

One of the most impressive sights at the local creek is that of the bald eagles. For a few years now a pair of eagles have raised their family in a huge nest high above the creek bank. This spring a terrible thunderstorm blew their nest down.

Even though their nest has been gone for three months, the eagles remain. It appears they may be building a new nest in a tree across the pasture, but they are often still perched in the tree that held their old home.

Even without their giant nest, the eagles are so picturesque and stoic. (I guess that’s why they were chosen over the less suave turkey to be our national bird.) 

The frequency that those eagles return to the empty branches of their fallen home tells me that they are a lot like us.

Homeless EagleLike the nestless eagles, we gravitate and return to what we know and cherish. Home isn’t defined by what we have but where we feel comfortable.

Storms are going to come along and change everything we have ever known, but we must hold fast to what is at the center of ourselves and continue to return to what keeps us safe and makes us strong.

The eagles don’t seem bothered by the fact that they are homeless. They continue to fly high, gather food, and reign over the creek and its surrounding fields.

The Intentergy challenge for today is to be like these eagles. Know what makes a place home for you. Continue to persevere after tragedy and rough times. Stay strong. Do what you have to do to get through. Allow turmoil to bring about new beginnings and don’t let change chase you from what defines you.

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. Don’t tell the eagles they are homeless. They think they already own the whole, darn place.

 

 

 

A Hook Out of Water – Wise Words Wednesday

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A Hook Out of Water

Last week I had the pleasure of taking my niece and nephew fishing with us. They had not been fishing much and were VERY excited to go to Grandpa’s pond and reel in their first big catch.

My sister had lovingly chosen fishing poles for each of them. An Avengers pole for my nephew and a Moana pole for my niece. As I carried them to the kitchen table with my tackle box, my nephew looked suspicious.

“What are you going to do to my fishing pole?” he asked in his little voice.

“I’m putting a hook, weight, and floater on it so you can go fishing,” I replied.

His eyes got the size of saucers and he said, “A real hook? Yippee!”

My niece was equally excited about her “real hook,” but at nine years old she was too cool to say, “Yippee!”

The “Yippees” kept coming until it was time to put bait on those “real hooks.” Both of my guest anglers were appalled to tears that I would expect them to touch a worm. They wanted to used the fake bait my daughter had in her tackle box. I said, “Okay, but the fish don’t bite as well on them and those fake baits stink way worse than worms.”

“Worms are gross,” my niece informed me.

“They may be gross, but the fish sure love them,” I said. Continue reading “A Hook Out of Water – Wise Words Wednesday” →

What Lies Beneath…

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What lies beneathvia Daily Prompt: Hesitate

Water that is deep or murky enough to prevent me from seeing too far from the surface is water that makes me hesitate.

I guess fear of the unknown or getting in over my head creates my fear.

Life is 150% like those waters.

Life presents us with many unknown factors and it is way too easy to get in over our heads. The only difference is that in life we can’t always hesitate.

My daughter has recently developed an obsession for gymnastics. She is constantly flipping and cartwheeling around the house. It is maddening. I just know she is going to round right off our porch or tumble right onto her neck. Seriously, it is maddening. The crazy thing about her gymnastics fixation is her lack of hesitation. Without any doubt she hurls herself forward or backward to work on her aerial or back hand spring. I am leery of signing her up for gymnastics lessons for a number of reasons: financial commitment, time commitment, potential for injury, and that she will lose interest as quickly as she fell into it. When my husband and I discussed signing her up, he said, “She could break her neck walking down the stairs. We can’t keep her from doing things because she might get hurt.” Then I told him how much it cost. (He was way more afraid of the price.) Continue reading “What Lies Beneath…” →

What do you see? – Thoughtful Thursday

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What do you see

When you look at this log peeking out of the water, what do you see?

On a recent trip to the creek, my daughter was walking across a partially submerged log and discovered this cool formation sticking up from the water.

“Mom, what do you see?” she asked pointing to this unusual tree.

After giving it a moment’s thought, I said, “A turtle head sticking out of the water.”

She replied, “Me too!”

My youngest son said it was as lizard. My oldest son said it kind of looked like a horse with a really short snout. My husband said we all had way more imagination than him. 🙂

While this log provided a fun family discussion on our creek exploration, it also created opportunities for a number of Intentergy lessons.

png 1 What do you see? Share this photo with family or friends and strike up a conversation that is based purely on nature and imagination. These can be terrific conversations.

png 1 Appreciate the opportunities nature provides us. If you can stand the heat or when it cools down, get outside. Walk. Journal. Photograph. Play. Nature is free and a wonderful gift to share with your loved ones.

png 1 Take a break from the obvious. Allow yourself to see something new in your surroundings. Whether it is finding fun shapes in the clouds or discovering beautiful new shades of color in the leaves, you are guaranteed to find inspiration and escape in allowing your outlook to change.

png 1 Learn from the different view points of others. When we talk about how we see things differently, we learn about one another and how to communicate effectively. Understanding different view points also develops healthier relationships and fosters kinder and more loving interactions.

Put some imagination and communication into your intents today. Positive energy is sure to flow and you may see things as you have never seen them before.

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. I really do want to know what you see in that picture.

 

 

Stop Watering Those Weeds – July Positivity Challenge

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“Stop watering the weeds in your life and start watering the flowers.”

Weeding 2

 

Here is the metaphor for this Intentergy Positivity Challenge:

Flowers = good stuff in your life

Weeds = bad, ugly, life-sucking stuff in your life

This month we need to stop watering the weeds and provide for the flowers in our lives.

Pull out, remove, mow down, stomp out, and destroy the elements of your life that are stopping you from smelling the metaphorical roses and skipping through those figurative daisies.

Debt, negativity, self-doubt, waste, bad habits, tardiness, or lack of attention are all weedy subjects and have the ability to be lessened in our lives.

 png 1 To make your weeding worthwhile, you need to establish a measuring system.

png 1 Set goals.

If you plan to weed out excess spending, make a list of the items or services you don’t need. Establish a budget and determine what you will do to water your success. For example, if you save X amount of dollars, treat yourself to a milk shake or a ticket to the summer box office bargain movie.

When working up the roots of negativity and self-doubt, get ready to dig deep. Eliminating the source of depressing or downbeat influences can be harder than removing the tangible “weeds” in your life.

png 1 Need some tools for weeding out the negative? Try some of these positive practices.

  • Weeding 3Surround yourself with positive people. When you knowingly spend time with individuals who are negative, you allow their negativity to pop up in your thinking too. Go for the happy-go-lucky friends and positive energy will abound.
  • Rest up. Exhaustion is fertilizer for negativity. Take a cat nap here and there. Do what you can to get those 8 hours of healthy sleep a night. Having a happy sleeping space leads to happier mornings and healthier days.
  • Water your body and your positivity. Our bodies work better when they are hydrated. A hydrated body leads to healthier complexion, better digestion, and more efficient absorption of nutrients. Hydration aids in metabolism and provides necessary fluids for muscle function. If your muscles ain’t happy, ain’t no”body” happy.
  • Let the sun shine! Getting plenty of sunshine is integral to a sunny disposition. Vitamin D from the sun does so much for our body, including reducing depression and negative energy. (Don’t forget the sunscreen though. Nothing dims your shine like a sunburn.) 
  • Play DJ Positive. Roll the windows down and blast your favorite tunes. Dance in your kitchen to your favorite songs. Swing your kiddos around the livingroom jamming out to a fast and fun beat. Science has proven that music improves mood and heart rate. Create a positivity playlist and weed out those sad songs. Flowers aren’t the only ones who grow better when music plays.
  • Positive AttirePut on your positive pants. Wear gear that makes you feel good. When you are confident or comfortable in your appearance, there is less room for self-doubt to sprout. Look good and know it. In the words of the late, great Audrey Hepburn, “Happy girls are the prettiest.” (This goes for guys too but it makes you more handsome.)
  • Say “NO” to drama. Turn off the reality TV. Walk away from the ho-hum timeline posts and tweets. Weeding 1Nip the gossip root in the bud. Quit breaking your back to make someone happy who is never going to be happy. Drama is another negative nutrient that we don’t need.

Continue reading “Stop Watering Those Weeds – July Positivity Challenge” →

Don’t Keep All Summer in a Day

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All Summer in a Day.jpg

Ray Bradbury’s short story “All Summer in a Day” takes place on Venus and at a school where the children eagerly await the one day that summer will occur. On Venus summer comes once every seven years for just a matter of hours. The rest of the time the weather is stormy, windy, and overcast. This day is especially important to young Margot. Margot’s family moved from Earth and are considering the costly and arduous process of returning to the third planet from the sun for fear of losing their daughter to heartbreak. Margot is small, pale, and all too lonely. ‘She was an old photograph dusted from an album, whitenedaway, and if she spoke at all her voice would be a ghost.” The school children tease and ostracize her for her homesickness and taunt her about the only artwork she creates, pictures of life back on Earth. (The other children have no memories of what life is like on Earth.)

As the time nears to go outside and enjoy the rare sunshine, plants, and warmth, the children think it funny to lock Margot in the closet. They do not intend to leave her there but forget the grief-stricken girl as soon as the first rays of sun appear. Continue reading “Don’t Keep All Summer in a Day” →

Abandoning Time

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Abandonded time

Time is tough to abandon but it sure is nice to let it go sometimes.

Playing in the creek is one of our favorite summer pastimes. Throwing rocks, building bridges, hunting crawdads and tadpoles, fishing, and picking wild flowers are the best ways to forget that there is a life too full of demands waiting beyond those creek banks.

I think my favorite thing about the creek is that it provides us with “rush free” fun. We are able to abandon our watches and phones. We are able to abandon the worries of dishes, laundry, and bill paying. We are able to abandon the stresses of schedules and calendars. We are trying to abandon time.

Rarely does a day pass when my kiddos fail to ask if we can go to the creek. They understand and appreciate the fact that when we are at the creek, they are free to play, work, and dream right along with those currents. The fact that the water, animals, and plants are all there naturally makes it the perfect place for us to play and grow. The fact that the creek never reminds us that we have to be somewhere else is magic.

On our last trip to the creek, my son caught some amazing crawdads. (They were huge!) He put them in a bucket and dutifully added rocks and fresh water to the bucket to make the crawdads happy. When it was time to leave, he cried. Oh, how he cried! He did not want to release the crawdads.  Continue reading “Abandoning Time” →

Surviving a Stampede for Daisies

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Daisy stampede (3)1

Are daisies worth dying for? My children thought I was willing to risk my life for these precious wild flowers.

Saturday a storm was rolling in, winds were billowing, the cattle needed care. Hubby and I were going to drop off a mineral tub and do a quick check of the cows we had just moved to new pasture. The kiddos were in the back seat of the truck taking in every moment.

As we parked at the top of the pasture, I noticed a thick patch of daisies. We had friends coming over for a BBQ later that night and I thought some daisies in a vase would be nice. While hubby unloaded the mineral tub, I hopped out to pick a fist full of flowers. As I was picking, the cows start to make their way to us.

Coming closer the herd picked up speed. They could smell the grain on the back of the truck and were excited about the mineral bucket.

Where I crouched picking daisies, I could tell the cows weren’t coming near me. From where my children sat, I looked like a sitting duck for the stampede. Continue reading “Surviving a Stampede for Daisies” →

Catching Luck

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Clammy

The last thing my daughter expected to catch out of Grandma’s pond was this mussel.

Sunday was a beautiful evening and the kids requested to fish in Grandma’s pond. What the heck, we weren’t doing anything else. Popo dug up a few worms, my three little anglers grabbed some poles, and we were off the pond bank.

Our youngest chose a Lightening McQueen fishing pole. My older son chose a tried-and-true Zebco. My daughter chose Grandma’s very nice and expensive Shakespeare pole because it was guaranteed to catch the biggest fish (at least according to my daughter).

After just a few minutes, both boys had reeled in some nice, little blue gill and bass. In spite of her desperate desire to catch a fish, my little girl went without a bite for quite some time.

Suddenly, she yelled, “There’s something on my hook. It’s really heavy.” Clearly there was something on her line because she was struggling to bring it in, but there didn’t seem to be any fight in the water.

Continue reading “Catching Luck” →