My heart, thoughts, and prayers go out to those who are grieving. The holidays can be tough grief-wise. I’ll share some of my helpful tips in a future post, but for now I’d like to share one of my favorite poems. If you have experienced the loss of a loved one, my hope is that this comforts you.

We Remember Them
~ From Gates of Prayer – Reform Judaism Prayerbook

In the rising of the sun and its going down,
We Remember Them.

In the bowing of the wind and in the chill of winter,
We Remember Them.

In the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring.
We Remember Them.

In the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer,
We Remember Them.

In the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of autumn.
We Remember Them.

In the beginning of the year and when it ends,
We Remember Them.

When we are weary and in need of strength,
We Remember Them.

When we are lost and sick of heart,
We Remember Them.

When we have joys and special celebrations we yearn to share,
We Remember Them.

So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are part of us,
We Remember Them.

Love & Blessings,
Davida

I believe in being direct.  Sometimes there’s no point in sugarcoating things (as my grandma would say).  So, let’s face it, experiencing challenging times in our lives is unavoidable.  It really is.  But, we can control how we handle them!  The truth of the matter is that we can not always control what happens to us in life, but we can always control how we respond.

I was re-reading the story of Joseph’s journey in the book of Genesis.  I won’t go into all of the details, but in a nutshell, Joseph went from being thrown into a well and sold away by his jealous brothers to being appointed to govern Egypt by Pharaoh.  It wasn’t an easy journey for him.  He endured being lied upon, imprisoned, and forgotten.  But, through it all he didn’t give up.  At least, I haven’t seen any record of that in the Scriptures.  I don’t know about you, but being discarded by family (after they wanted to at first kill you), to being sexually harassed by your boss’ spouse, to losing your job and being put in jail, and to being forgotten there by someone who could have helped to get you out are major hardships and challenges to face.  That’s a tough journey, to say the least.

Our situations may not be the same as Joseph’s, but our experiences may be just as hard, difficult, and challenging for us.  And, just like Joseph, we can choose not to give up.  What if Joseph had given up in the well?  What if he took on a broken spirit and dwelled in a pity party of “Woe is me?”  He would have never made it to the throne!  What will you miss out on in your future if you give up now?

With love,

Troubling, Difficult People….

- You try to avoid them…
- You try to get rid of them…
- You even try to run from them…

… but they still keep coming into your life and sometimes it’s not all that easy to avoid being affected!

What you need is a tool kit!  Join us for:

IS THIS GROUP FOR YOU?
- Do difficult people stress you out?
- Do you find it difficult to “make them happy” or to end a difficult encounter?
- Do you replay difficult conversations in your head?
- Do upcoming meetings with difficult people keep you up at night?
- Would you like to know how to brush up your communication skills when dealing with difficult people?
- Would you like to leave a difficult person in better shape than when they found you?
- Do you freeze and think of things you “should have said” after a confrontation?
- You feel you know how to deal with difficult people but they leave you exhausted and cranky?

If you answered YES to any of these questions, THIS WORKSHOP IS FOR YOU!
 

TUITION:
This group is FREE. You pay only for the long distance telephone charges, if they apply.

REGISTRATION:
This course will meet November 5th, 12, and 19th at 8:00 PM EST.  Registration has begun. Please click on the REGISTER NOW link below to register and for more information about the course. You will receive detailed registration information, including the bridge line, by email after October 15^th.  

ALL REGISTRATION INFORMATION AND PARTICIPATION IS CONFIDENTIAL AND
 WILL NOT BE SHARED. 
 We look forward your questions and joining you in the group!!

REGISTER NOW

This morning as my two youngest children and I were walking, my 3-year-old son decided to walk along the curb, tightrope walker style.  Then naturally his younger sister (she’s 21 months old) wanted to do the same.  So, wanting to help encourage her independence and confidence, I let go of her hand so she could walk on the curb by herself.  But, she stumbled a little and lost her balance.  I didn’t just grab her hand to help her out.  I gave her the choice by offering her my hand to hold as she walked.  She grabbed on to my hand and walked the rest of the way on the curb with less stumbles.

Then the light bulb went off for me.  How many times in our lives have we tried to walk along the curb of our lives alone, and then we found ourselves stumbling along and feeling overwhelmed because we couldn’t balance it all?  Remember that God is waiting there, with the offer of His extended hand for us to choose to grab hold of.  If we hold on to his hand as we walk throughout life, we’ll be able to find the balance, help, and relief we need to have a smoother journey along the “curb”.  Don’t give up; just hold on to God’s hand!

Until next time!

Love,

I love being present in my children’s lives. As much as I’m supposed to teach them, I learn so much from them as well. On the way to get a snack, I overheard my son say to my middle daughter, “Let’s work together so we’ll have more energy.” He got that phrase from one of his favorite cartoons, but it has just as much value for us in the real world. It led me to think of how much energy, progress, and success we could have if we work together instead of against or apart from one another. So much more could be accomplished in our personal lives, relationships, and professions (not to mention in our government, but that’s another post for another day).

I think one of the hardest parts in working together is overcoming the temptation to operate out of our ego. For me, operating out of our ego means subconsciously thinking about ourself in a way where we are distracted from the situation or problem at hand (more about this in a future post). Here’s an example: when in a heated discussion with someone we stop talking about the situation and use our words to hurt them by attacking their character, or we close ourselves off to the discussion and focus on proving how right we are (and conversely how wrong the other person is).

It will take some time, but you can stop operating out of ego and stay present to working together. It’s a matter of choice.  Keep your goals in mind. By doing so, it’s a lot easier to have actions that are in alignment with your goals.  Now this doesn’t mean that you won’t ever have the temptation to operate out of ego. Trying to get rid of that is futile. But, you can choose to ignore it and stay focused and present on the issue at hand.

Living By Design Moment – How can you stay focused on working together with others and avoid the temptation to operate out of ego?