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Wishing for Sasquatch & Upright Trees

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In this world, there are all kinds of people, but it recently occurred to me that there seem to be two types of wishers among the throngs of earthly inhabitants. Some wish for the unknown, while others wish for what they know to be comfortable. On the trip of a lifetime, Hubby and I had the opportunity to hike in Juneau, Alaska, with friends. It was AMAZING!

As we trekked 5 miles into the Alaskan forest, one of the natural occurrences that our guide pointed out was that many trees had fallen along the path, completely revealing their roots because the soil is so shallow.

The fragility of the trees’ stability was fascinating because the tree roots where we live rarely come out of their deeply embedded homes without the help of a tornado or bulldozer.

Despite their seemingly easy downfall, the Alaskan trees managed to keep their roots together.

I don’t think I would be able to hold all my facets from flailing in every direction if I toppled in such a massive fashion.

As we made our descent, my gal pal and I marveled at how lucky we were to witness the Alaskan beauty and how hard it was to wrap our brains around just how massive the wilderness is. Walking arm-in-arm, we were in rapture.

My sweet friend, being the magical wish-maker that she is, said, “The only thing that would make this hike more perfect is if Sasquatch walked across the trail in front of us.”

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8,092,034,510* Other Possibilities

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As I’ve ventured through the process of seeking healthy boundaries, there is a situation that has been nagging at my heart. (See my recent post “All Full Up – New Perspectives on Boundaries” )

It took me over a year to realize a former friend was just that. Former.

After 12 months of unreturned cards, calls, texts, and messages without a hint as to why for me to say, “It’s not me.”

After 2 years and 5 months, it shouldn’t hurt that someone severed ties bound by 18 years of friendship, but, dang, it hurts.

Here’s the good news. I am not alone. There are roughly 8,092,034,510* other humans roaming this planet, who could be my friend.

Your odds are just as good (if not better based on your geographic location). This statistic is formulated from the Census.gov projection that on January 1, 2025 there were 8,092,034,511 people on Earth.

So, even if one person has moved on or you have chosen to go a separate way from someone else, the world is full of other possibilities. Possibilities for you to find friendship, support, and love.

If you are in a lonely situation or a place of being put aside, I hope you find solace in the fact that you have options. The odds are favorable that others have felt the same way. Even better there is someone out there to help you heal because, hey, they’ve been there too!

The Intenergy message here is that we are not alone. Ending a relationship or losing a connection with someone hurts. We can’t avoid those kinds of suffering, but we can give ourselves some grace as we move, grow, or heal when a relationship falls apart. We can embrace the potential for new friendships or greater development of old ones. With 8,092,034,510* other folks making their way through this world, we are bound to find someone to build a connection with and fulfill our lives in healthy, loving, and productive ways. You are not alone (verified by Census.gov).

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. The * is due to the fact that 8,092,034,511 is an estimate. People are always being born and passing away, and I wasn’t sure I should count you or myself in the estimate because I am the one experiencing a loss and maybe you are the exception because you are looking for a new friend. ANYWAY, the * means there are still lots of possibilities for friendships, love, and bonds out there.

P.P.S. I love ALL my friends, even if we haven’t spoken for a while OR they didn’t choose Kentucky to win on their March Madness bracket.

A Very Fine 9! – February Positivity Challenge

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Wow! How did NINE years happen so quickly?

Can you believe it?!?

Friday marked the 9th anniversary of Intentergy!

That’s nine years of putting positivity out there through stories, quotes, and photos. I’m proud, grateful, and somehow surprised all at the same time.

I know it’s cliche, but just like my kids, this blog grew up so quickly.

Now I have to keep it growing (just like my kids).

Friendly message from WordPress congratulating me on 9 years of Intentergy.

Let’s make February more than fine celebrating the 9th Blogiversary of Intentergy.

Let’s make it VERY FINE with nine personal goals for positivity.

These don’t have to be completed this month, but, it would be super fine to do so.

Ideas for Positive Goals:

Whichever goals you set, be sure to write them down!

The adage, “A goal that’s not written down is not a goal – it’s a dream,” preaches the importance of making your objectives concrete by writing them down.

Do it!

Write it on a post-it note, comment on this post, or make it your profile pic on social media. It doesn’t matter where you record it, just get that goal out there and then get going on making that goal a reality.

Thank you to everyone who has been a part of my Intentergy journey these last 9 years! One of my top goals is to keep Intentergy going and I’m grateful to have you all as a part of it.

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. What’s your goal?

More Than One Way to Slice a Jalapeño

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What do you do when your buddy Timmy gives you four 5-gallon buckets of jalapeños? You get creative with jalapeño.

Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, Hubby took Timmy up on the offer to pick some peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and squash from his massive garden late this past summer. I was excited about the fresh produce and eager to give at least one new recipe a try. Little did I know I would soon be up to my eyeballs in stems, seeds, and researching ways to preserve the plentiful peppers.

Each day I spent 2 hours slicing and seeding peppers by hand for the first two or three days. These carefully crafted slices went into pickled jalapeños. Of course, I wore gloves to protect my skin from the spicy juices but my hands and wrists started to get a little worn out by Day 3. I pulled out my little Pampered Chef food processor and started blending away at the buckets of peppers, but didn’t make much headway because of the blender’s small capacity. Plus, I had moved on to trying a second new recipe. This time I was attempting to make jalapeño relish, and we weren’t too sure if we would like it or use it much. (*We did like it. ** We used it a lot.)

Hubby asked why I didn’t have a bigger blender. I told him because Santa hadn’t brought it yet. Well, Santa came in August with a fancyshmancy, BIG blender. It was going to be perfect for peppers, zucchini, slaw, all the things…. but it was really BIG. The jalapenos were plentiful but petite. This is when we really had to shake things up with how we sliced our peppers.

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The Unexpected (Unwanted) Push

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When I was collecting ideas for my post on the Monster Hissy Fit, my friend Angela told me about a time when her daughter Brielle melted down and held up the queue for a zipline ride. The story of that zipline experience inspired its own post.

As many rides do, the Pumpkin Patch zipline required riders to be a certain height and weight and to wear a safety helmet. Brielle has wonderfully thick, dark hair. She always wears it in a high ponytail. The safety helmet for the zipline required her to lower the ponytail. Brielle was not agreeable to this stipulation and refused to let Angela redo her hair.

The line was growing longer, the ponytail was not fitting tightly in the helmet, and the operators of the ride were not willing to let her go without the helmet fitting snuggly. Angela did what any rational mother would do in this situation.

She shoved the helmet over the ponytail, pushed her daughter off the platform, and let the ride operators know she took responsibility for her daughter’s safety and the loose helmet.

After experiencing the exhilaration of the zipline, Brielle came running from the ride, face flushed back to Angela, and she cried in disbelief, “You pushed me!”

Her obstinate girl got what she wanted, but she did not appreciate Angela’s push.

Have you ever been pushed into something you weren’t ready for?

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What Color Is This Napkin?

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Every day we are challenged to find optimism in life. Often the struggle to find opportunity is much more prevalent than the belief in limitless possibility. Thanks to a conversation I had about turkey dreams, my dear friend Amy helped me latch on to the challenge of finding inspiration in my dinner napkin. (Bet you never thought you’d read that sentence.)

So here’s the question: What color is this napkin?

A pragmatic person might say that this napkin has no color because the hue of white is defined as the absence of color.

I would say this napkin is the color of possibility.

Just think about it!

There are endless ways this napkin could take on a different shade.

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The Cost of Frugality

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When I was a kid, one of the most exciting parts of going back to school was new “school” shoes. In keeping that tradition alive, I always make a big deal about new shoes for my kiddos when shopping for school supplies. This year was no different, except for the fact that my 13-year-old refused to get new sneakers. His feet had outgrown every pair of shoes he owned, but it did not matter. He refused to even look at a pair of tennis shoes.

Normally, my son is a sneaker-head. He LOVES shoes, particularly basketball and baseball footwear.

When I asked him why he didn’t want new shoes, he said, “I’m saving you and Dad money.”

I then asked, “If I don’t buy you new school shoes, do you believe I won’t make you go back to school?”

He gave me a sly grin and said, “Maybe.”

He is ridiculous. His ankles were hurting. Due to the holes in his shoes, his toes had experienced multiple traumas. He complained of his knees aching. Never did he realize that it might have had something to do with his tragic choice of footwear.

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Groundhog Day Again… In a Good Way

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“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.

Monday’s Message – January 1, 2024

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Starting the New Year on a Monday can be viewed as either a good thing or a bad thing. Mondays are rough for some folks, but because we have become conditioned to live by the edicts of our calendars, it feels sort of natural to start a new year on a Monday. I guess it’s all in the outlook that your Intentergy instigates on the first Monday of 2024.

In typical Intentergy fashion, I’m going to consider this Monday a positive milestone. My kids enjoyed a Monday that was school, homework, and doctor appointment-free. It was a cold winter day when I was able to enjoy my Christmas decorations and the novelty of the gifts received for the holiday. To ward off any bad luck, I refrained from doing any laundry today, and any day without doing laundry is a good day.

I hope you are off to a positive start and that your milestone Monday manifested energy, hope, and lots of Intentergy as you face this fresh beginning. Along with wishing you a new year full of opportunity, friendship, success, and joy, I wish you a very merry first Monday of 2024!

By: Melanie A. Peters

P.S. I hope the first Tuesday of 2024 is even more terrific than today.

The Surprise in Showing Up

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I’d be lying if I didn’t say the last six months have been challenging. I’d also be lying if I didn’t admit that the surprises that came our way were terrible and terrific. Having made those two admissions, I wanted to share with you some wonderful lessons that come with showing up even when things are tough.

When I say things have been tough, I should disclose that since July we’ve lost our beloved dog Bandit; had a turkey barn burn to the ground mysteriously; our 16-year-old neighbor totaled his car hitting one of our cows on the highway (Miraculously the cow was ok.); our daughter spent her 14th birthday in the hospital because she tore two ligaments in her ankle; our son has been recurrently sick and we don’t know why; my dad continues in his battle with colon cancer; my sister-in-law’s car was stolen from a conference she and I attended (She drove because the transmission went out on my vehicle); we had to put down our sweet 26 year-old horse Star; all three kiddos had Influenza A the week before Christmas; and avian influenza (HPAI) infected one of our buildings resulting in the destruction of two flocks of turkeys and shutting down our world. It’s been rough.

On New Year’s Eve, Hubby and I were invited to a wedding. We definitely didn’t want to miss this special event, but we were not able show up until the meal was already being served. Upon our arrival at the wedding reception, Hubby and I were flooded with folks who wanted to express their joy in seeing us and that they had been thinking of us. Everywhere we turned we were greeted with warm wishes for a better 2023 and offers of help. The outpouring was overwhelming to say the least. Many commented that they were surprised to see us. Their astonishment was understandable given that we haven’t exactly been social butterflies in the wake of all the was going on.

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