Girlfriends!! Sometimes I marvel that I am 47.....47! Almost 1/2 a century - whoa!
Girlfriends this is urgent! I realize more each day how little attention I paid to time and purpose when I was younger. It seems urgent to me now to daily recognize that each 24 hour period can never be recovered to be lived over again! What is there to do but live this day, this time, my "right now" with passion and purpose!? It's essential! I am an admitted dreamer and think BIG when it comes to squeezing all I can out of a day and striving to make a difference somewhere along the way and while I struggle with being tired by early evening, due to my 4:30 a.m. start with a fat-blasting work-out and a 70 mile round-trip commute to work, as well as the various stresses of concern for my kids, friends, job responsibilities, etc. that we all carry to one degree or another, I can never apologize for striving to seize the day! It is my passion and privelege to squeeze all I can out of this life I've so graciously been given to return back to my Creator!
What is your passion coming into 2012? More importantly, how are you going to embark upon fulfilling it? Unlike many, I LOVE the opportunity to make New Year's Resolutions! It's simply a lifestyle continuum for me to set goals and measurements to reach them. I don't always manage to do so - I was going to have my book written last year and now it has been moved ahead to this year but I try not to be TOO hard on myself as I got married, worked through a few set-backs, family needs and some big and wonderful changes in my career that took a lot of focus...so onward I go to reach that goal with a little delay on completion time. BUT my point here is that I do set goals and I hope you do, as well. One thing is for sure. If we don't set a goal, we won't reach it!
In living with passion and purpose and thinking of goal setting, ask yourself a few questions. What do I care about? What are my priorities? What relationships need my attention or need to be modified? How is my spiritual life? What kind of physical condition am I in and does it need improvement? As you walk through these questions, you will find your goals coming into view and can begin to work on measurements or ways to reach them. Be sure they are a stretch from where you are now but not out of reach! Be bold and take risks but remember to be reasonable with yourself!
Let me know how it's going. By week's end I will have had 3 lunches this week where I was asked for some encouragement and help with motivation for the new year. This is what I love and am passionate about. It's wonderful to set our goals and even better to bring some others along on the journey! After all, I have had some wonderful mentors go out of their way to help me reach my goals so it's only right to give back!
Have a great week and if you are struggling to find your passion and set your goals, get in a place of prayer and ask God to reveal his start-up plan for you. Believe he has direction - I promise He DOES! He is more than interested in accomplishing his purpose in a willing vessel!
Blessings!
Still Climbing,
Cher
Friday
Thanksgiving Lessons in Diversity
Greetings web-friends and Happy post holidays!
I love the holidays and am also glad when it's time to get back into a routine after the excessive food. laziness and shopping! My birthday is January 2 so it's always been the day to go back to school, back to work and it's generally the end of all parties and celebrations! LOL!
Thanksgiving 2011 was an interesting and joyous occasion, as always! Perhaps more diverse than any previous holiday I've experienced in days gone by. With the variety in the crowd that graced our home throughout the day, we enjoyed parents, grandparents, children and children's children, siblings and their families and the special treat of my step-daughter and her family as well as some new friends from work who have recently come to work in the states. There was one couple from Tokyo and another colleague from Russia. We had a group of 30 altogether, kids included and of course food in ridiculous abundance!
Mack had everyone introduce themselves and Dad McBurney had the prayer, after telling a Thanksgiving joke about a little boy and a turkey. :) We visited into the late afternoon and the children all played together very well - there were 8 in all from 2-14 so that in itself was a blessing!
That experience and my work with our HR department has been a valuable tool in teaching me some life lessons, recently, with regard to myself and my newly acquired family.
Let me explain! Just as at work, I encounter "diversity" or differences in working with my colleagues due to various backgrounds, cultural influences and a variety of additional factors, I also find it so in my home! Recognizing and embracing the differences is taught as a must in the workplace but it can be a different matter in the home! When I realize that I have "biases" to work with that determine how I think and what approach I take to various encounters, I have to consider the inclusiveness piece to the puzzle or "embracing our differences!"
When I got married, I was all about this formula. Recognize and embrace the differences, negate our biases and be inclusive to all within our home. My husband's values and ideas merited equal importance to mine! I wanted to be "in the know" on all subjects relating to my new husband and his family, including talks with our kids, knowledge of each others family situations, etc. and it was going to be happy days including close relationships with my step-children and lunches and outings with my sisters in law as added "best friends" to the grand mix I already had in my life. (I had no shortage of girlfriends in my world and was so excited to add luncheons and shopping dates and girl secrets shared....) and as has been common in my life over my 47 years, I was disappointed yet again as the idealist always is when all did not happen exactly as I had envisioned! :-D
I also realized that I stumble on the "embracing the differences" piece in my home! LOL - it's more like "This is how I see it and if you see it that same way, we are good! Otherwise, let me help you correct your erroneous thinking!" :) There were some wonderful times in 2011 and some difficult ones but one thing is clear. I'm learning so much day by day!
One of my goals for 2012 is to practice this diversity/biases/inclusiveness relationship in our home and to lower my expectations of people and situations in which the outcome depends on more than just me! I also want to be kinder to myself. I am a person with many lofty goals and disciplines in my life and when I don't reach the pinnacle of success at the appointed (by me) time, I tend to be hard on myself. I want to walk in grace this year and to do all that I can with what I've been given and in those things I cannot control, they must be relegated to my "God box." I want to take it to him and leave it there for his perfect resolution and timing according to his great purpose!
Happy New Year, girlfriends! Let's make it one full of grace and truth!
I love the holidays and am also glad when it's time to get back into a routine after the excessive food. laziness and shopping! My birthday is January 2 so it's always been the day to go back to school, back to work and it's generally the end of all parties and celebrations! LOL!
Thanksgiving 2011 was an interesting and joyous occasion, as always! Perhaps more diverse than any previous holiday I've experienced in days gone by. With the variety in the crowd that graced our home throughout the day, we enjoyed parents, grandparents, children and children's children, siblings and their families and the special treat of my step-daughter and her family as well as some new friends from work who have recently come to work in the states. There was one couple from Tokyo and another colleague from Russia. We had a group of 30 altogether, kids included and of course food in ridiculous abundance!
Mack had everyone introduce themselves and Dad McBurney had the prayer, after telling a Thanksgiving joke about a little boy and a turkey. :) We visited into the late afternoon and the children all played together very well - there were 8 in all from 2-14 so that in itself was a blessing!
That experience and my work with our HR department has been a valuable tool in teaching me some life lessons, recently, with regard to myself and my newly acquired family.
Let me explain! Just as at work, I encounter "diversity" or differences in working with my colleagues due to various backgrounds, cultural influences and a variety of additional factors, I also find it so in my home! Recognizing and embracing the differences is taught as a must in the workplace but it can be a different matter in the home! When I realize that I have "biases" to work with that determine how I think and what approach I take to various encounters, I have to consider the inclusiveness piece to the puzzle or "embracing our differences!"
When I got married, I was all about this formula. Recognize and embrace the differences, negate our biases and be inclusive to all within our home. My husband's values and ideas merited equal importance to mine! I wanted to be "in the know" on all subjects relating to my new husband and his family, including talks with our kids, knowledge of each others family situations, etc. and it was going to be happy days including close relationships with my step-children and lunches and outings with my sisters in law as added "best friends" to the grand mix I already had in my life. (I had no shortage of girlfriends in my world and was so excited to add luncheons and shopping dates and girl secrets shared....) and as has been common in my life over my 47 years, I was disappointed yet again as the idealist always is when all did not happen exactly as I had envisioned! :-D
I also realized that I stumble on the "embracing the differences" piece in my home! LOL - it's more like "This is how I see it and if you see it that same way, we are good! Otherwise, let me help you correct your erroneous thinking!" :) There were some wonderful times in 2011 and some difficult ones but one thing is clear. I'm learning so much day by day!
One of my goals for 2012 is to practice this diversity/biases/inclusiveness relationship in our home and to lower my expectations of people and situations in which the outcome depends on more than just me! I also want to be kinder to myself. I am a person with many lofty goals and disciplines in my life and when I don't reach the pinnacle of success at the appointed (by me) time, I tend to be hard on myself. I want to walk in grace this year and to do all that I can with what I've been given and in those things I cannot control, they must be relegated to my "God box." I want to take it to him and leave it there for his perfect resolution and timing according to his great purpose!
Happy New Year, girlfriends! Let's make it one full of grace and truth!
Wednesday
Passionate Living With Purpose - it's URGENT!
Girlfriends!! Sometimes I marvel that I am 47.....47! Almost 1/2 a century - whoa! And man do I look good for an old girl! LOL! Cracking myself up!
Girlfriends this is urgent! I realize more each day how little attention I paid to time and purpose when I was younger. It seems urgent to me now to daily recognize that each 24 hour period can never be recovered to be lived over again! What is there to do but live this day, this time, our "right nows" with passion and purpose!? It's essential! I am an admitted dreamer and think BIG when it comes to squeezing all I can out of a day and striving to make a difference somewhere along the way and while I struggle with being tired by early evening, due to my 4:30 a.m. start with a fat-blasting work-out and a 70 mile round-trip commute to work, as well as the various stresses of concern for my kids, friends, job responsibilities, etc. that we all carry to one degree or another, I can never apologize for striving to seize the day! It is my passion and privelege to squeeze all I can out of this life I've so graciously been given to return back to my Creator!
What is your passion coming in to 2012? More importantly, how are you going to embark upon fulfilling it? Unlike many, I LOVE the opportunity to make New Year's Resolutions! It's simply a lifestyle continuum for me to set goals and measurements to reach them. I don't always manage to do so - I was going to have my book written last year and now it has been moved ahead to this year but I try not to be TOO hard on myself as I got married, worked through a few set-backs, family needs and some big and wonderful changes in my career that took a lot of focus...so onward I go to reach that goal with a little delay on completion time. BUT my point here is that I do set goals and I hope you do, as well. One thing is for sure. If we don't set a goal, we won't reach it!
In living with passion and purpose and thinking of goal setting, ask yourself a few questions. What do I care about? What are my priorities? What relationships need my attention or need to be modified? How is my spiritual life? What kind of physical condition am I in and does it need improvement? As you walk through these questions, you will find your goals coming into view and can begin to work on measurements or ways to reach them. Be sure they are a stretch from where you are now but not out of reach! Be bold, take risks, be reasonable with yourself!
Let me know how it's going. By week's end I will have had 3 lunches this week where I was asked for some encouragement and help with motivation for the new year. This is what I love and am passionate about. It's wonderful to set our goals and even better to bring some others along on the journey!
Have a great week and if you are struggling to find your passion and set your goals, get in a place of prayer and ask God to reveal his start-up plan for you. Believe he has direction - I promise He DOES! He is more than interested in accomplishing his purpose in a willing vessel!
Blessings!
Still Climbing,
Cher
Girlfriends this is urgent! I realize more each day how little attention I paid to time and purpose when I was younger. It seems urgent to me now to daily recognize that each 24 hour period can never be recovered to be lived over again! What is there to do but live this day, this time, our "right nows" with passion and purpose!? It's essential! I am an admitted dreamer and think BIG when it comes to squeezing all I can out of a day and striving to make a difference somewhere along the way and while I struggle with being tired by early evening, due to my 4:30 a.m. start with a fat-blasting work-out and a 70 mile round-trip commute to work, as well as the various stresses of concern for my kids, friends, job responsibilities, etc. that we all carry to one degree or another, I can never apologize for striving to seize the day! It is my passion and privelege to squeeze all I can out of this life I've so graciously been given to return back to my Creator!
What is your passion coming in to 2012? More importantly, how are you going to embark upon fulfilling it? Unlike many, I LOVE the opportunity to make New Year's Resolutions! It's simply a lifestyle continuum for me to set goals and measurements to reach them. I don't always manage to do so - I was going to have my book written last year and now it has been moved ahead to this year but I try not to be TOO hard on myself as I got married, worked through a few set-backs, family needs and some big and wonderful changes in my career that took a lot of focus...so onward I go to reach that goal with a little delay on completion time. BUT my point here is that I do set goals and I hope you do, as well. One thing is for sure. If we don't set a goal, we won't reach it!
In living with passion and purpose and thinking of goal setting, ask yourself a few questions. What do I care about? What are my priorities? What relationships need my attention or need to be modified? How is my spiritual life? What kind of physical condition am I in and does it need improvement? As you walk through these questions, you will find your goals coming into view and can begin to work on measurements or ways to reach them. Be sure they are a stretch from where you are now but not out of reach! Be bold, take risks, be reasonable with yourself!
Let me know how it's going. By week's end I will have had 3 lunches this week where I was asked for some encouragement and help with motivation for the new year. This is what I love and am passionate about. It's wonderful to set our goals and even better to bring some others along on the journey!
Have a great week and if you are struggling to find your passion and set your goals, get in a place of prayer and ask God to reveal his start-up plan for you. Believe he has direction - I promise He DOES! He is more than interested in accomplishing his purpose in a willing vessel!
Blessings!
Still Climbing,
Cher
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