There is a lot going on here this week...
so in an attempt to focus on the positive...
and work on my
selective attention and intention
I have decided to do a gratitude entry.
I all too often go
go 'off the rails'
in worry, anxiety and anger....
and it gets me nowhere...
and helps no one.
So in an attempt to reroute my thinking....
here is a list of some things I am so very grateful for this week....
Waking up to the most amazing sunrises outside my window...
The summer heat has helped produce breathtaking paintings
as the sun rises
over the mountains...
Having the fortune to wake up in my own house...
in a room as sanctuary.
My morning coffee ritual...
in my well tended courtyard.
It is protected for hours from the summer heat...
The summer morning light cascading through the living room...
The pleasures of a now trusty summer hat...
Being able to have some connecting time with my oldest son...
as he put together an amazing surprise beach picnic for his girlfriend.
Finally feeling like I have made a break through in the studio....
the ahh feeling of seeing all the pieces
and techniques
begin to really come together in a collection....
It has been over a year in the process.
I have realized once again this week
no matter how hard I try
I can not control my life...
I can not force my children to choose what I think is in their best interest...
I can only be here to love and support them.
I can not make my husband view parenting decisions
the same way I do...
I can not ensure everyone is healthy
or that bad things don't happen
to good people.
But I can
try to make the best out of situations
to actively choose
selective attention and intention
to rise graciously
with love.
and
I have found...
actively being grateful to the bounty in my life...
helps pave the way.
as always dear friends...
I wish you love and joy
as you style your life
and make your own gratitude list.
I am so very grateful for your visit.
Tamara, this is a wonderful post!! We need to remind ourselves to be grateful for the good things that are in our lives, instead of dwelling on the negative ones, and as you so articulately state, the only person you have control over is you. Thanks for the much needed reminder.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much my dear. I am putting much effort into changing my perspective into one of gratitude. Even writing this post had tremendous healing.
DeleteA beautiful message. That happiness shows him. Congratulations.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I have very much enjoyed your fashion posts from Spain this week!
DeleteKillah hat. I want that big bangle, you know I do :) I also want to have coffee with you in that amazing court yard. For decades, I've made sure I got up at least 45 minutes before everyone else to have my coffee and morning paper in peace :)
ReplyDeleteI very much appreciate your post this week. The Teen had another pain event this weekend, and I always get a little crazy, because I want to control it and make it better...and I can't. I can be there, tho', and support her in a life that's going to be amazing but challenging, too - and that's what's most important.
Lynne i noticed we were visiting each other's blogs at almost the same time today...such synchonicity!
DeleteI have also made a point for decades...of coffee alone...and in peace...sacred time I say!
I am so sorry to hear about another pain event this weekend...I can only imagine the toll it takes on all of you. I do know how lucky she is to have such a strong and passionate mother as you!
Selective attention and intention. Very wise and timely for me. I'm learning to change thought patterns and your post is a beautiful inspiration and reminder that what we really have is this moment, now. You made the last few moments a treasure!
ReplyDeleteThank you my dearest Judith! I am always so honored and inspired with your visits. I have been reminded many times this week...that life is short...and it is all about making the moments count......
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post on gratitude....every day I TRY to understand how wonderful life is, but I, too, get "off the rails" and I start bitching, moaning and complaining.....about what? Nothing....! So thank you.
ReplyDeleteI just LOVE your style....everything.....your wardrobe, your baubles, your home, and it looks like it's rubbed off on your son....great how he rolls up the short sleeve shirt and wears it with the grey tie.
Thank you Catherine for your comments. the older I get, the more I can see the wisdom in Abraham Lincoln's quote..."Most people are just about as happy as they make up their mind to be". I am really trying to make up mine...to be happy.
ReplyDeleteYes, my son Slater does have a great sense of personal style...it warms my heart :).
Thank you again for taking the time to comment my dear!
Tamera, you are such a sweet person and it truly shines through your blog. And look at your beautiful son. He's obviously creative and will live a creative life just like you do.
ReplyDeleteTamera, I can't tell you how much I appreciated your note on my blog. There are humongous homeschool groups here in Houston. We've tried to find our niche but gave up at the end of last year because we just do not share the same conservative/religious outlooks at many of the other families. As much as I have taught my children to be open minded to the differences in others, it was very difficult to handle the intolerances that we came across. Without that vast homeschool/academic network, we thought we might put our son into high school...but he begged us not too. He loves his schooling and we knew he wouldn't handle the transition well. I've committed to working hard with him for the next three years but I sure hope he can find some friends that are not so conservatively minded. He is so happy but I feel he is too isolated. This is the south and we are struggling with the mindsets of this part of the country. I appreciate hearing about your homeschooling journey with your own children so. very. much. I think when my son gets to college, he will be so much in his element then. Your message in your article today was exactly what I needed to read. My husband and I had a long talk this morning about not wanting to stay in Texas much longer, but his job is going so well and the entire industry he is in is focused in Houston. We decided that for now, we have to make the look at all of the incredible positives that we enjoy and stop focusing on so many negatives. Your message will certainly help me to do just that. Thank you again for such an inspiring note and message that hit home so strongly. Chin up! One foot in front of the other! And...quiet coffee times at the beginning of the day can make all the difference! Have a wonderful weekend!
ReplyDeleteahhh, thanks so much for this morning meditation. ahhhh, so sweet to open your page and find myself here, now. can't quite talk yet...
ReplyDeleteindeed dear friend, indeed. it's is absolutely so easy to think,and dwell in all the things that are "off" or "wrong" or "bad" around us. Things we so wish could be different, things we long for, things we desire to be a certain way...but life will never approach us in this way, ever. So like you're doing, we have to approach IT. We can rise up and be a people of character, strength, wisdom, and grace, with humility never leaving our side, and choose choose choose to find the good, the beauty, in the midst of it all. We can lay our head on our pillows at night knowing that we've raised our kids with the best foundation we've known how to provide them for the last 18 plus years, doing what we could with what we knew at the time, and now it's up to them to be not just our children, but to be people. Be humans out in the world just like the rest of us, it's time for our relationships to shift...we are their mother, still and forever, but we will not always be mothering. We will have beautiful friendships with them in the very near future, once they fall down a few times, and it will be a glorious thing Tamera! But for now, all is as it should be, painful and all. It will be good for them, just like it was good for us to grow up. You are swaying with the bending trees, instead of resisting...kudos.
ReplyDeletexo
Awesome post! I can't wait to see the new collection!!
ReplyDeleteYay you!
ReplyDelete