Change Is Good.

Deb: We grow from change, I think. I should know as the change surrounding me in my life right now is swirling and whirling and sweeping. Yep. Right across the board, I am feeling these changes. Some of them are wonderful, some are sad, and some are bittersweet. But they all have one thing in common. They are forward-moving. They are taking me to a new place. They have me re-examining and re-thinking. They have sparked me and challenged me and opened me up to a world of new ways of looking and interacting with my world and the world at large.

So I think I am about to be creative in a way I never have been before. At what, you might ask? I don’t know. But I am sooooo open and things are coming to me. I think I am bringing it in, drawing it towards me. I am sure that I am about to find some new and exciting things to fill my head and my heart and my time. Not all the changes are what I would have wished for, but they are also changes I cannot control. So my only choice is to find the joy in them and accept the challenge of making things better. My Dad always says, “Damn, I zigged when I should have zagged.” So I’m going to zig and zag and travel down some new roads. I feel some big lovely changes coming for me, but I am happy to wait for them to arrive. Because I am enjoying the anticipation. What’s next, I wonder?

What. Is. Next?

Barbara: As you well know, dear Deb, but as our readers might not, I feel EXACTLY they same way right now. It’s strange, I was always the woman with the script—this was going to happen, then that. If I worked hard and worked toward my goal(s), then that would happen and so would this, this and this. It was very comforting to have a plan. It worked with my character and with my ideas. But this is the first time I’ve ever thrown the script out—and understood that I have to—in order to move into the next phase, whatever that will be. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still have goals and dreams and projects, and I still believe that these are useful and interesting to have, but I’m not dictating in my mind the step-by-step process that (I imagine) will bring them to fruition. Instead, I am going through a process of renewal, one where I am open to anything. Still in the cocoon, mind you, but excited to be here. I, too, wonder what will happen next. Wonder is a glorious thing, isn’t it?

Reverse Your Negativity For Fun, Joy, And Valuable Prizes!

Deb: In this very New Year I find myself weary of those around me who just seem to spend their time complaining and negatizing! (I might have invented that word, what do you think?)

I need to be clear that I am not weary of people who have the right to complain about sickness or sadness or tragedy. What I am weary of is the “everything presented to you has a down side” kind of complaining. And the “everyone needs to be reviewed and put down” kind of negativity. I am, frankly, sick to death of it. I have pulled away from the sources of this ugliness to such a degree as I am able. I have backed away from the human sources and computer sources. I find I have no strength for that vibe right now, be it over a coffee with someone face-to-face, or on Facebook, sitting in my bathrobe, viewing the spewing. And I take full responsibility for the part I play in any of this energy and pledge to eradicate it.  Barbara Radecki, the lovely, the talented, my partner in crime and my darling friend is the perfect example of someone who is always positive, always supportive. This energy is what I want in my life all the time. And I will have it. I will accept no substitutes!

Our darling friend, Sean’a, who is a valued and beloved friend to all our Middle Ages Followers, tired of this negatory trend many moons ago and tried something that I am going to follow through on myself. She and her husband discovered a technique that inspired them and which really taught them a shocking lesson I think. I think many or all of us might be shocked by its results. The idea was always compelling to me but only now do I feel that I want to challenge myself to this.  It involves putting several homemade pull-string bracelets on your wrist and with each complaint or negative statement that you make, you switch the bracelet to your other wrist, indicating by days end just how many negative vibes you are filling your day with. Brilliant and simple, don’t you think? I am probably very late to this concept, but what the hell? If something teaches us a lesson, it doesn’t matter when we learn it, right? If you are at all interested, I urge you to try it for fun! Maybe we will all learn something about ourselves and the patterns we all fall into. I think the real surprises may come in not the big complaints but the throw away every day, “Geeze, it’s raining again” kind of complaints.  So I am going to try this lovely experiment and I will attempt to learn from it. I can’t control the negativity aimed at me or around me, other than removing myself from it, but I can control my own negativity. Heeeerrrrrreeeee goes!!! Sean’a you continue to inspire me. Have I said that lately? Xo

Barbara: Oh, oh, oh, how I love this. I do think I’d heard tell of this ingenious little trick a ways back, but I’d forgotten all about it. And I deeply thank you for giving me such lovely credit for my positivity, but make no mistake, I do succumb to the easier wearier way down into drearier negativity. And it is insidious! You almost don’t notice until you notice how people react: you’ve just passed on another downer (and fundamentally useless) bit of information, you’ve added to that negative conversation (thereby spurring it further), you’ve gotten into a snarky, nosy, grumpy rut and people are either playing along like a gang of ruffians, or ignoring you because they’re not down there with you. And then whoa, you realize, Man, I feel like crap, maybe it’s time to shift gears and reach up instead of falling down.

I have one of those pull-string bracelets. I’m gonna get some more. Thanks, Sean’a, brilliant!