B Here Today

5 Stories to Test Your Goose Bump Meter

Beth — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 11:00:16 +0000

You and I get goose bumps. Call them goose flesh, goose skin, or even one of several scientific terms, piloerection (don’t go there, people!).

Over the years, I’ve developed what I call a goose bump meter. When I read, see or hear something that strikes an emotional chord in me, I can feel the hair standing up on my arms. When something is really good–like a couple of Sundays ago when our church choir was outstanding–I stick out my right arm and exclaim, “Man! That was fantastic!”

Sharing my goose bumps

For this edition of Mindful Monday, here are five pieces that rang the bell on my goose bump meter. Each of them reflects a bit of how I’d like to show up in life and all of them share a lesson. Check them all out today or savor them one-at-a-time throughout the week (spoiler alert: the fifth one is a YouTube video that will knock your socks off!).

The other four are in not in order of significance; each one rests on the strength of an incredible message.

If you like this Mindful Monday edition, let me know in the comment section because I’m considering putting it in the monthly rotation.

Have fun, enjoy, and B INSPIRED TO B YOU!

Just for you . . .

The Bridgemaker, Healing the Broken Ones http://www.thebridgemaker.com/healing-the-broken-ones/

Alex is one of the first people I connected with in the blogging community. We’ve corresponded via social media and have spoken over the phone but never met in person (although we will one day since he lives in the metro area I visit several times each year), but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Alex is in my corner. He’s that kind of guy.

This post is a sweet picture into his heart and soul.

Hannah Brencher, Maybe No One Ever Told You, But Yeah, You’re Kind of Deep http://hannahbrencher.com/2013/06/04/maybe-no-one-ever-thought-to-tell-you-but-yea-youre-kind-of-deep/

I first stumbled across Hannah when she did a TedTalk about this little idea she had that blossomed into MoreLoveLetters.com. I love this post because I’ve never seen anyone describe me in quite the way she does. I am the person who sucks at surface conversations. I jive and thrive on the gutsy talk that connects two or more people in a string of God-moments. Like Hannah, that’s the person I want to be, and I suspect many of you want to join us. Come on down!

Danielle LaPorte, The Real You is Waiting. In Here. Not Out There http://www.daniellelaporte.com/inspiration-spirituality-articles/the-real-you-is-something-that-emerges/

Danielle is gritty in a no-bullshit kind of way and I love reading her stuff. When I think about authenticity, she pops into my mind. This quote from the post is a gem:

The real you emerges.
When you are courageous enough to be still. When you act on your inclinations.
When you …
Put your preferences on the altar of your life and say, “THIS. THIS is what compels me.”

Kathy Kruger on Tiny Buddha, Life is Practiced Rather Than Perfected http://tinybuddha.com/blog/life-is-practiced-rather-than-perfected-balance-is-good-enough/

I’ve followed Tiny Buddha for years (even been published there!) and the posts are always first-class. I love Kathy’s guest post because it addresses a subject I struggle with and maybe of you do as well: Balance. She gives me permission to look at my life at the end of any given day and say to myself: ”I’m good because I may not be perfect, but I am good enough.” Sleep tends to come much easier that way.

The Mariachi Kid With Perfect Pitch and a Perfect Attitude http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CFIyUJHEaSE

Finally, this video and story about 11-year-old Sebastian De La Cruz from San Antonio, has made national news, so you may have heard about it. I love his voice and talent, love the outpouring of support he received from NBA heroes on down to everyday people, but most of all, I love his attitude about the persecution he received on social media following his performance at Game 3 of the NBA Finals. Be sure to watch through to the end.

Much love and goose bumps of joy to you this week!

Photo courtesy of matthew_hull

30 Things I Love

Beth — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 11:00:31 +0000

As we approach the mid-way point of 2013, I can say with certainty that this has been a lemonade year, as in squeezing out the sour to make room for the sweet.

Losing my job in January has turned into incredible opportunities to live my dream and be my own boss. Yes, most days are an odd combination of exhilarated terror, but at least I feel alive and even courageous.

God knew that this was the year I was ready to take flight, and with a not-so-gentle push, I was thrown from my secure nest.

I’m able to fly because of the things I love and because love surrounds me. A dear friend said to me recently as many of us honored a milestone in his life, that he was glad he had grown to recognize that he is worthy and deserving of the love and grace in his life.

I feel the same way.

There was a time when I couldn’t possibly know or accept the goodness in life. It was fine for you, but not for me. I told myself that good things didn’t happen to people who had done the things I’d done.

Here is a small sample of the things I love, in no particular order:

1. Blooming crepe myrtles and magnolias, neither of which I experienced as a child

2. Saturday afternoon picnics with a bunch of former substance abusers who love to party sober

3. Cuddling to Air Supply songs

4. Dog conversations with Jazzy, Dora, Snickers and Whistles

5. People conversations of weight and depth

6. Beach strolls with frequent stoop-overs for treasures

7. Breathtaking sunrises and sunsets with extra points for beaches or cruise ships

8. Baseball games followed by fireworks

9. Sixties music, country classics, gospel tunes and orchestration

10. Burnt hot dogs and even more burned marshmallows

11. Well-written words

12. People with passion and conviction

13. Crisis-call friends

14. Hot air balloon rides

15. Snorkeling with my prescription mask

16. Lazy Sunday afternoon

17. Hearing my dad’s voice over the phone when I tell him I’m coming to see him

18. Inspirational church services, especially with my favorite ministers

19. In-person author talks

20. Love notes that make me cry

21. Laugh-out-loud greeting cards

22. 50% off everything in the store

23. Friends who say, “call anytime,” and mean it

24. Hummingbirds buzzing my head

25. Swimming with dolphins

26. Looking at pictures of my mom and remembering when we’d play badminton

27. Gazing at her star in the sky

29. Feeling her pride when I do something she’d like

30. The woman I’ve become

I think I could continue this list forever; I didn’t even touch on my six months worth of nightly gratitude lists containing a rough total of 900 items.

I have a theory that those who dwell on their blessings are generally happier human beings. Wouldn’t you agree? So tell me, do you have a list of things you love?

Celebrating Life, Love and Sobriety

Beth — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 11:00:53 +0000

On Saturday night, 40 of my sober friends gathered to celebrate a dear friend’s 35th sobriety anniversary.

My heart has overflowed with gratitude and joy ever since. What a gift to be with so many people who have become family to me and who all came together to honor one of our members.

There’s nobody quite like him

Let me tell you my first experience with Joe. It was late 2009; I had lived in the area for a few months and had checked out several groups that just didn’t have the right feel. On this particular day, I was 40 minutes late to a noon meeting, something I later learned was typical for first-timers to this group because it’s kind of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it place.

Joe was walking–strolling is more like it–out the door as I pulled into the parking lot still not certain I was in the right place. Here was a man in overalls, silver hair pulled back into a ponytail and smoking what looked like a hand-rolled cigarette.

Oh Lord, I thought. I had sudden stage fright. Here I was, 18 years sober at the time, and feeling like a timid newcomer.

I gathered my courage, stepped out and asked the guy if it was the group I was looking for. Instead of answering me, he grinned in welcome, shook my hand and said, “I’m Joe and I’m real glad you’re here.”

That was the beginning of what I’m certain is a rest-of-our-lives relationship.

Our good fortune

There’s irony in our relationship, as there is in any good story, because had it not been for both of us drinking copious amounts of alcohol and suffering all the attending consequences, we wouldn’t know each other. There is no way our paths would have crossed because we truly came from two different worlds.

But alcohol was our common denominator, although we didn’t have to drink together to know that. In fact, God only knows what would have happened had we met while drinking.

By outer appearances, we are distinctly different. But we’ve both been around long enough to look far beyond what our eyes see. We know that our connection runs deep into the core of our beings where God and truth lie.

The celebration two days ago was an excuse to honor Joe’s 12,775 sober days. More importantly, however, the 40 of us celebrated the condition of sobriety and the miracles that appear each and every day as a result of one of us and all of us not drinking.

Joe and I have bonded over books and words and heartstrings and orneriness. We share the ease of kinship that accompanies two people being comfortable in their skins.

Joe is my older brother and mentor, my confidante and my pal. Our love is sometimes pure, sometimes a little on the raunchy side, and always unconditional.

To say I’m grateful for him would be a vast understatement, so I’ll go with blessed and call it good.

Decisions, Decisions

Beth — Thu, 06 Jun 2013 11:00:55 +0000

One’s philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes . . . and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt

How many times have you stood before two (or more!) sets of circumstances, tapped your finger against your lips and said, “Hmmm, decisions, decisions”?

You may struggle with deciding but isn’t the power of choice an amazing thing?

What happens when you can’t decide which circumstance to choose? You make a pros and cons list. You talk it over with your most trusted “advisors.” You pray.

And you’re still at a loss. By now, you’re threatening to tear out your hair. Your teeth are sore from gnashing. Your sleep is completely screwed up by your lack of decisiveness.

Plus, you’re eating way too much chocolate.

Get out of waiting hell

The purgatory of waiting can be miserable. I’m doing a bit of that right now as I wait for contract jobs to finalize so money will flow into my bank account.

These are circumstances not in my control, yet I’m doing my best to force them to a rapid conclusion. Yes, I’m in waiting hell.

But I can decide to leave and I have.

I am still waiting, but my body and my demeanor feel looser as I realize that I am giving money way too much power in my life. I’m changing my thoughts from believing that money buys happiness and walks on the beach into realizing that money is useless and pointless if I’m not already happy.

In truth, I have no need for money if I’m trusting in a power greater than me to guide my decisions. Now, instead of fretting about money, I wait in the knowledge that everything is good and right and perfect in this moment.

Trust your gut

Do you trust yourself to make good decisions? Over the years, I’ve learned that my gut–my intuition–is seldom wrong. My gut knows the truth behind the decision long before my brain starts yearning for peace.

In the meantime, my monkey-mind has been so very busy trying to cajole the rest of me into a decision. Monkeys have a way of looking at situations from all the different angles and my monkey-mind is no exception when I let it run around unsupervised.

Once I’ve exited Waiting Hell, however, Monkey Mind quiets and decides to take a nap since it has become weary from the constant motion.

Quiet little monkeys no longer have to maneuver around negativity showing up as doubt, fear, guilt, judgment or condemnation.

They can just rest and trust that they will intuitively know if they want to eat honey-coated bananas or ants-on-a-stick for supper.

They will know when they know and not a moment sooner.

My dear monkey-minded friends, I encourage you to relax into waiting. Your bananas will come even if it seems like you’ll have to subsist on ants forever. Just wait; you’ll see.

Photo courtesy of richard_b

Heartwood: It Grows in Layers

Beth — Thu, 30 May 2013 11:00:02 +0000

Heartwood: ”It grows in layers, like the spirit does. That’s what Grandpa Sam used to say, anyway. You just got to keep the roots in a clear stream and not let nobody taint the water for you.” ~ Billy Bob Holland’s father in James Lee Burke’s Heartwood

As a lifelong tree lover, when I stumbled across the above passage in Burke’s book over the long Memorial Day weekend, I was fascinated by the idea of heartwood.

So I dug a bit, if you’ll pardon the pun, and did a little research via two well-known online resources: Google and Wikipedia. With the word heart in my Google search for heartwood, y’all know where I’m going with this, don’t you?

Wise old Wikipedia

“Heartwood is wood that, as a result of a naturally occurring chemical transformation, has become more resistant to decay.”

Apparently the formation of heartwood is spontaneous and doesn’t occur in all types of trees. And some trees, like chestnut and mulberry, start forming a heartwood core early while pine and maple wait until the tree is older before beginning to form heartwood.

One thing is for sure, rings of heartwood are strong, solid and nearly impenetrable. In his novel, James Lee Burke writes that saws tended to bounce right off a tree with a heartwood center.

How cool is that?

Can humans grow heartwood?

I suspect many of you already carry a nucleus of heartwood. You just might not know it until the proverbial saw strikes you, maybe in the form of a job loss or a death in your family. It might not even be something quite so catastrophic; I know that strife in my life commonly appears as hurt feelings or perceived injustice.

Wouldn’t you like to think that the saw will deflect off the strength of your inner being when pain or worry or major fear strikes you?

For anyone who has been knocked down by significant change in her life and risen again, I submit that you do have a thick core of heartwood. Good for you! That means you’re resistant to decay just like the mightiest of stately trees!

I wonder if, like the trees, we have an inherent chemical disposition that causes a similar transformation in us? I believe transformation is possible for anyone, but it’s certainly easier when we recognize the existence of the chemical disposition, a.k.a., a spiritual connection.

For those of you who believe that everything is created by a loving and gracious power of the universe, why wouldn’t we humans receive a similar heartwood composition like God gives trees?

This weekend when you’re on the nature trail or maybe just relaxing in your backyard, give a mental shout out to the trees. Heartwood: it’s the trunk of life.

Photo courtesy of Alvimann