25. Long conversations with grandparents

I thought the 25th think I'm thankful for deserved it's own post...


I sat today looking at my cell phone debating whether I was going to call my grandmother. I had not talked to her in several months and I did not call her on mother’s day. I wanted to talk to her, but I also wanted to be able to give her my full attention. I thought that talking to her on my lunch might cause me to cut the conversation short and I would not be able to just relax and read my book.

Ann V. in One Thousand Gifts talks about being completely present in each moment and enjoying each moment. I started thinking that I would have to make my moments if I am going to have them. I cannot just sit and wait for life to happen to me, so I decided to call my grandmother and I was so glad that I did.

I hope it gave her as much of a blessing as it gave me to spend a half an hour talking to her. She talked about the different homes she’s lived in--both in Canada and here in Arizona. At the end, she apologized for “talking my head off” but I am so glad she did. The moments where my grandparents recount their history are few and far between and I’m learning to cherish them more and more.

I’m trying not to feel guilty for not calling her as often as I should. I’m trying to think positive thoughts about the things I do do for my family and not about the things I should do, but don’t. My husband says I’m too hard on myself, but I hold myself to a very high expectation and I get very disappointed when I fall short. I am not a fan of the saying “shoot for the moon and if you miss at least you land among the stars.”

We’ll see...I’m getting there. One moment at a time.

30 Day Detox Mind + Body

I've been really really negative lately. Even to the point where I told my husband that I hated my life and really hurt his feelings. I want any excuse to blame my bad attitude on, but ultimately, it comes from me being unhappy with decisions I've made and then rather than try to make better decisions, I look for an excuse.

The book One Thousand Gifts has been making an appearance in all of the blogs I've been reading and I have it on hold at the library, but I decided to buy it on Amazon to have it sooner.

Then, I read this post on Neathering our Fest and I decided that I've had enough messages from God and the universe and saying that I need to make a change. This was the motivation I needed. I am making the decision to abstain from negative thoughts for 30 days. I am joining in on the 30 Day Detox Mind + Body from over at Little Chief Honeybee.

The idea behind the detox is that if one little irritant can ruin the rest of the day (you know the guy who cuts you off and then proceeds to go 5 miles under the speed limit when you are running late for work), why can't one positive thing make the rest of your day better?

I've found this to be true when I worked retail. Someone would just really tick me off and on a good day, I'd look for reasons to go out of my way to be nice to people (employees and customers) for the rest of the day. Before I knew it, I forgot about the person who made me mad and, hopefully, I made someone else's day a little bit brighter. Sadly the "good days" were outnumbered by bad days when I let that person get to me and make me miserable.

My goal here is to keep the negativity out of my life both in person and on the web. I am also going to read 1000 Gifts and try to post 1000 things I'm thankful for during the 30 days. Now that is 33 things I'm thankful for each day and I don't want them to get cheesy, so it might go on longer than the 30 days. I hope that this short change will make a lasting change in my happiness, health and relationships. I am very tired of being tired and un-happy and I'm ready to change it!

The other component of the challenge is our bodies. I know if I take on too much at once, I won't be willing to do any of it. For this portion of the detox, I am going to make an effort to drink 75 oz of water each day (take your weight in pounds and divide it in half and that is the number in oz that you should have in water each day) and get in my 6 servings of fruits and veggies.

You can click on the button on the right hand side to join over at Little Chief Honeybee to find out more about it.

Pamela