In Defense of … YOU!!! (You Are Loved!)

November 6, 2015November 6, 2015 / Penny L Howe / 7 Comments

♡

Wow. So this is our life! Who knew? I’d like to say I’m speechless regarding everything that happens every day, every where, but of course I’m writing this on behalf of you so I’m not speechless. Perhaps overwhelmed would be a more appropriate term. Although even this word fails to fully express the emotions and thoughts each of us everywhere on this amazing planet are experiencing right now.

So where to begin? Firstly (yes I know it’s not really a word) do you know how incredibly awesome you are? A truth. Life isn’t easy, on the best of days we each have challenges to be faced. Some days we do really well, other days not so much. But this isn’t what’s truly important. What is important is the beautiful glow shining from within your ageless heart. You’re unique. There is only one made exactly like you so those vibratory beats coming from your heart are specific to you. Your beautiful music with it’s very own harmonizing sound.

Know this … at the same time your heart is beating you are connected to and harmonizing with every other unique living thing on our planet. How incredible is that? But it’s also a truth (scientifically speaking from a universal level). And with the beating of your heart you share your very being (whether you are aware of it or not).

♡

You aren’t ever alone, especially during those times when you’ve convinced yourself you are. You aren’t unloved even on those days when you’re positive it is so. You are loved. You can feel the love if you relax, let go of preconceived, programmed ideologies that proliferate in our society today. Inside your consciousness is a memory of togetherness.

The thing is, our planet is alive and you and I are an intrinsic part of the whole. No less than any other living entity. We really do share much in common. Truly. Go beyond the words of things. Go beyond the negative thoughts, deeds and actions of some. Go beyond the “Social Media Perspective”, the “Commercialization & falsity or facade of life”, Go beyond your personal negative memories, your actions you perceive as failures, your doubts and fears of today and tomorrow. These are all just temporary things. The true love that is found in your heart of just being is permanent AND the whole of this eternal permanence is made up of life, all life … including you.

We are all connected. You are loved and regarded in a wondrous manner. Believe this is so because it is a truth. The painful experiences we have are but a part of life’s journey. It’s time to remember how glorious you are, to be happy with the wonder of this … to find happiness from within and then share without.

♡

The world is changing, have you noticed? And it’s time to know what is true. It’s time to believe in you! I do!

All my love, always,

~ Penny

Finding Balance in your life

October 21, 2014 / Penny L Howe / 11 Comments

In each of our lives balance can be difficult to achieve, something which nature seems to accomplish quite easily; but then she’s had many millennium to practice. We’re just beginners when it comes to managing our life in an orderly manner. But there are a few (proven) things that might help.

Achieving balance in you life is more easily accomplished by taking the time to do a little critical thinking. Determine what (in your life) you need to do, and where you need to be, in order to feel fulfilled and happy. And then do exactly that. Follow through with action on the instincts felt by your heart. They’re usually the sound ones. And science now has proven that the brain listens to heart more than the other way around!

Your sense of balance will come when you’ve realized your heart’s goals! Yes it will. After necessary financial needs are met, spend a portion of each day with life around you. Open up your senses.

Experience anew people, animals, plants, all things living. You will be pleased and surprised at the difference you will feel. In fact you will find yourself desiring to make a positive difference for others as a natural progression of your lifestyle and you will find it to be extremely heart gratifying.

Remember, all life is connected, so our balance and happiness can spread to others. It has been proven that the more we act on loving instincts, the happier and more fulfilled we find not only ourselves, but also those around us.

Give this some thought, have a great day today and a better one tomorrow,

~ Penny

Therapeutic Twos – The essence of why we blog!

August 22, 2014 / Penny L Howe / 37 Comments

There is something therapeutic about things found in twos. A feeling of togetherness.

And although one can be alone, silent and strong in this singular pose, it is by the addition of other bloggers, one at a time, that there begins a feeling of companionship, a sharing of experiences that bespeaks of camaraderie and fellowship. And so we blog.

We validate who we are even as we interact with (and create) validation for others. Most often this is accomplished one blog, one post, and one blogger at a time, and although (as we know) social media (Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, About.me, etc.) creates ‘the feeling’ that we are connecting with many more – it is most often the interaction happening in shared communication that is “one on one” that is the truth and mainstay behind our love of blogging.

We are hopeful that many will come to our blog (and/or our other social platforms) and visit. We are even more hopeful that our artistic creations, messages, information and services/products will be sought after.

But blogging stays popular, ever increasingly so, because of the ongoing ever reaching (world-wide) relationships we make with each other as blogging companions.

“So, here’s a toast to bloggers everywhere,

the connection of ‘you and I’ in essence

– the two of things.”

Have an excellent weekend,

~ Penny

Walkabout – Mentally Speaking!

November 26, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 41 Comments

It’s been 7 days since I’ve posted or read a blog. Not very long in everyday terms, but in online social connection terms (Blogs, Tweets, Google+, Facebook, About.me, Linked in, etc.) it does seems as if it’s been much longer, doesn’t it? Time passes differently while online and so while only 7 days, I’ve missed my connections with you all so very, very much.

Here, where I live, in Northwest America it snowed briefly and gently this morning. A quiet, crisp and clear beginning to start one’s day! A place you’d want your thoughts to dwell as much as possible with today’s hectic lifestyle. Change being the only constant in all of our lives.

In the past week I’ve been doing a mental “Walkabout” as Australians might refer to it. I’ve had much dwelling on my mind. Questing my “role” in things you could even say.

In ‘personal life’ adventures, nothing has been handed to me easily. I’ve worked my way through various stages of life while not necessarily emerging as a victor, none-the-less I also did not come away as a victim and instead am wiser in spite of cherished things that have been lost.

All my life I have tried to avoid direct confrontation and yet even through fears, stood as brave and strong as I could when it was needed. I’m ‘tempered’ as a metal might become by a clever blacksmith of yesteryear. I know my shortcomings and my strengths, but more to the point, this means – I know yours too.

We (all of us) live in a period of time where negative thinking about yesterdays, today and tomorrows must not be allowed to win over us. We are a strong people with strong wills – when we put our minds to it! I know this about you. All of you. It is a truth. You are more capable than you can possibly know. In fact it’s only necessary for you to “know” and believe a thing for it to become a thing.

There is an astonishingly true “might and capability” that lies within each of you. Never forget that!

We, of humanity are on a glorious quest for life – but the quest is not an easy one. Yet, it’s the best game in town and I’m happy to be a part – in whatever role I play, and wherever it leads me to be.

Thursday is a Thanksgiving Holiday in America and as William Faulkner (an American writer and Nobel Prize laureate from Oxford, Mississippi) once said about the giving of thanks and gratitude:

“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity;

it must be produced and discharged

and used up in order to exist at all.”

– William Faulkner

I agree with him. Love to you all. Stand tall. Be brave, live life, give thanks and always remember you’re never alone! I (for one) am here, thinking of you with “very fond affection and good wishes” for a wonderful day and better tomorrow.

– Penny

And so I shall write (a bloggers paradise)

November 1, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 44 Comments

And so I shall write,

pausing only to visit my online companions.

Read well written lines – their creative compositions.

View beautiful photographs captured in a moment,

entertaining self of fellow artisans creativity.

Breaking tension of nerves with their soothing music,

all reminding, so sweetly, of life’s wonders,

still existing in the imagination of our minds …

and so I shall write!

Have an wonderful weekend, and enjoy!

~ Penny

Internet take me away, let virtual reality be my lover!

October 24, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 29 Comments

Of course I don’t mean this … of course I don’t … not really. Even if almost every single person I meet online in the blogging world is so darn wonderful. What’s up with that? It’s as if part of the criteria for become a blogger much less a Word Press blogger is to be cool, caring and talented too.

I can count on being entertained, informed and certainly having a caring and listening (figuratively speaking) ear when I blog or view YouTube, tweet on Twitter, post on Google+ or Facebook, plus all the other social media places one can go today to be creatively stimulated and cared for. I can certainly become engaged in a conversation and my day enhanced through beautiful sounds and sights and thoughts and ideas, written words, beautiful photographs, musical videos, and on and on.

I mean, my rescuing knight in shining armor really is one – online (well virtually speaking). Although, now that I think about it, I miss the white horse!

Well there you go, a beautiful while horse!

See, with our virtual world, it’s right there at our fingertips – fulfillment of a digital kind. Thank you, all you wonderful people in this online worldwide network of communications and connections! Have a great weekend everyone!

~ Penny

Your Creative World … and beyond!

September 30, 2013September 30, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 27 Comments

… How full is it?

Good morning, my Monday morning. (Your Monday morning, midday, afternoon, evening or Tuesday depending on your location on our planet.) So what are you up to in your today of things? What’s your creativity quotient?

How many wonderful words will you write today? How many photographs will you take? How much creativity will come forth from your mind as you convert personal thoughts, feelings and ideas into the beautiful rhythm of life – inventing creative patterns in a myriad of expressive ways; words, photographs, paintings, crafts, music, electronics, numbers, actions.

It’s all up there inside of you. Just waiting for that signal in your mind … that catalyst … that “something” that fills you with so much energy and desire, you just can’t help yourself with the need to creatively express.

And before you decide it’s not going to happen today, think again! Why not? You’re talented, capable, gifted (You are too – I heard that!). Take a good look around. View things from the eyes of an artist (you). What do you want to do with what you’re seeing? Your vistas, your imaginations, your creations … yours.

Yes, turn on your muse. It’s the on and off switch located in your brain right next to the other wants and desires switches. It’s the biggest one! Turn it on! You know you want to.

Create today … or help someone else create … either way your muse will thank you!

Have a great week of weeks everyone, remember to enjoy each day your living in, in fact, make the most of it. Yours to do so!

– Penny

Family, Friends and others that are important.

September 29, 2013September 3, 2014 / Penny L Howe / 27 Comments

Marsh Warbler Family

Those that matter – that would be all of us!

Those we think about the most – those nearest and dearest to us.

Those we miss – the one’s no longer here for us to love and cherish (but we do have our wonderful memories, no one can take those away).

Those that matter – every single one of us.

Those that do make a difference – there are more than you might think.

Those that really care – many, many more than you might think.

Those that we love and acknowledge as important and special in our lives – our family, our friends, people making a difference – YOU!

Why does this matter – because we need each other, all of us, every day. To fill in the missing pieces, shore up the weak areas, support, laugh with, share, guide, be there. To make that needed difference, to encourage, to applaud, to be there in those moments. You know when.

And so, on this, my Thursday morning, I thank you – you are one of the important people in my life and … you matter to ME!

Have a great rest of your week and enjoy the weekend ahead. Stay cool, hang out, chill, create! Do-do that voodoo that you do so well – all my wonderful loving and caring friends!

– Penny

I honor and trust you! Resetting Your Online Personal Boundaries!

September 23, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 47 Comments

Hello World, I am happy to share and …

“It is my honor to trust you,

just like a child I share with you my inner being …

This makes me vulnerable. Remember my boundaries,

as I remember yours!”

– Penny L Howe, 2013

Children remind us, through the open nature of their innocence and naivete to tread carefully on their feelings.

Since we’ve learned a few hard lessons, while growing up, about those who abuse the love and trust they’ve been given, we tend to be “tempered” and cautious about letting others in.

When connecting with others online (to have strong and safe connections), you need to set personal boundaries here, as well. Sadly, Facebook and Twitter have set very low standards of behavior. (resulting in, all too frequently, negative, rude, and insensitive written words and images, as well as invasive and intrusive behavior patterns.

There really does appear to be no control (regarding personal behavior – It has become hard to tell the children from the adults.) And if that’s not bad enough, big business has come along to take advantage of these very huge and active social online relationships, for the sole purpose of “making more money”.

Setting Personal Online Boundaries:

First – Stay “grounded”. Step away from the computer, your i-phone or other communicating devices when you do not feel good about what is happening with your social interactions. If you are feeling drained and exhausted, emotionally overwhelmed – time to break away.

Second – When you share of yourself, do so cautiously, within a place of comfortable safety, Imagine a protective shell around you, think of that space as only allowing love and positive energy within, deflecting any thing else. And then remember to maintain your energy shield.

Third – Don’t assume but do be respectful of the space of others. Remember your online friends deserve the same courtesy you want, so do respect their personal boundaries too. Be an example of a responsible online “friend”!

Fourth – With all the above in mind – be true to yourself. Be your own person. Don’t let others intimidate, or negatively influence. Find the fulcrum of balance between sharing and giving even as you keep yourself safe within your own personal online boundaries. By the way, as long as you are respectful of other’s boundaries, sharing love is just about the best thing to do … always!

Thank you for visiting me, have a great week ahead,

~ Penny

Quotes by the Dalai Lama ~ to share!

August 20, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 37 Comments

The most caring and compassionate person I have ever met! The Honorable Dalai Lama! His kind and loving spirit, an excellent reminder to all of us on how to conduct our lives. (That’s me, the pale blonde on the right, the young lady next to me, my granddaughter!). Sharing here some of my favorite of his quotes:

“Be kind whenever possible – it’s always possible.”

“Our prime purpose in life is to help others, if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.”

“Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful: a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day.”

I find hope in the darkest of days, and focus in the brightest. I do not judge the universe.

Where ignorance is our master, there is no possibility of real peace.

~*~