feel the breeze of air flowing past …
embrace each moment as it happens …
try hard not to dwell on yesterday’s woes or tomorrows fears …
respect, honor and love all life …
love deeply and live in the now of things …
nurture your awesome spirit within …
remembering …
to be, just to be!
~ Plh
All my love this day to you! ♡
~ Penny
The Strongest Force of Nature – Love!
Whispered words when carried in the wind become an unstoppable raging,
thundering force of Nature – when you put the full weight of your emotions behind them!
“LOVE All Others as You Would Have Them Love You!”
Don’t give up! Believe!
Have faith in who we can be by caring with gentle thoughtfulness.
Believe in a better future.
Believe in the good we have within us.
Turn our loving whispers into roars – the time is now!
LOVE! HONOR! CHERISH! RESPECT and care for
… all life!
It is so precious, as are you!
WAR and KILLING go hand in hand – always!
~
Let our hand in hand be with one another, reaching beyond our differences where we can learn to honor and respect each other … all of us.
~
Love to you all, every single one of you wonderful amazing people who live on the planet Earth, our one and only home that we all share!
~ Penny
My favorite word in the whole vocabulary of all the languages on our planet is Love. It means the same thing no matter where you are. Love is universal. It sums everything up. Just this one word!
It brightens the day, makes the impossible seem possible. The bad – not so bad and is the very foundation that hope rests upon … the one word … LOVE!
I send love to everyone today. It is an especially hard Monday/Tuesday today for many many millions of people on our planet, Both nationally and abroad.
Perhaps, today, we can point a few less fingers, blame a few less people, think not so many petty, selfish or greedy thoughts and instead think about love and loving! I guess news “talk show hosts” are getting paid (now, when they voice their opinions) to say and broadcast petty and mean things and …
Politically speaking (USA), my message to all of you politicians out there is … GROW UP, you are all acting like spoiled children (all parties) instead of responsible, polite and well-mannered individuals. Our government will always have those with varying agendas but NO ONE has to be mean (nasty) during discussions and the manner in which they conduct their public activities.
The three main political parties in this country are Republicans, Independents and Democrats and since acronyms have become so popular please note that the acronym for these three parties is R.I.D., which is how many Americans are starting to feel about you and how you’ve been governing in Congress. so STOP IT!
Do you job. Get it done, but with the dignity and honor that your position deserves. And another thing, Our President is the duly elected President of our United (all of them) States and as such Dignity and Honor should be extended to him as well, or our current political parties are really of no value to us Americans any more. And getting rid of the current political parties (R.I.D.) might be the best way to change things!
Life is too short (yours included) for the behavior I and millions of others witness daily (while nothing is getting done) and ALL AMERICANS ARE SICK OF IT!)
Most especially when now we should be seeing what we can accomplish together as a UNITED States of America (and yes there are 50 states, not one or two or 13) and not the horrible nastiness that we’ve been exposed to.
We need jobs, an improved infrastructure, fairness and equality but mostly we need a HUGE change in attitude and how we conduct ourselves.
We are all of various ethnic, genders and backgrounds (every single one of us) and we are all citizens but when bad weather hits anywhere, then we are reminded that which we should be ALL THE TIME! Human beings in need of love and support and each other – and nothing else is more important than that! Nothing!
Penny L Howe, 2013
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
I was asked this recently by another blogger. From a marketing (legal perspective) there is nothing illegal about it. Most bloggers get a customized blogging background and then write and present photographs or illustrations within the existing background. I fit that category.
But there are also a few who customize the “look and feel” of their blog. You know it’s theirs, as soon as you go there to view their latest post. I know a few who have done this, they have worked long and hard on a look that is “distinctive” to who they are. A particular font, the coloring, a pattern to how their written words are laid out, a certain kind of illustration, all sorts of little special things that make their blog unique to themselves.
Personally, I think it’s rude to “take” and copy someone else’s look when you’ve not put the effort in yourself. But there’s not much to be done about it. There are those out there who are diamonds. They glitter with their originality, their beauty, their love of all things. Their creativity so clearly reflected in the look of their blog.
And then there are those who pretend to be so, but are like artificial diamonds, they can’t pass the test of being the “real deal” because they’ve taken the easy way out and are busily copying someone else. And profiting from it too, taking credit for what is not really theirs.
It is not good or healthy,to be a pretend (faux) person. Most especially if you are someone that discusses and extols the purity of your faith, so eloquently. I really have a problem with the reconciling of that one.
But that’s just me, and how I feel about things. Theft will go on in the online world of things and most people will just pretend it hasn’t happened. It’s the real world we live in today. Not much honor or honesty, out there – at all!
Sorry guys, if I sound upset, it’s because I am, on behalf of two amazing bloggers that I have followed for more than a year.
(To the copycat blogger I am referring to: I look forward to seeing your own original layout and design at some point in the near future. I understand some find it very easy to “borrow” things online, and I recognize you’ve only been blogging for about half of a year – it is therefore all too easy to be attracted to the appearance of someone else’s blog that they have developed. And think it’s okay to present, as your own a “certain look”. Right now it is hard to view your words without seeing the two women, who I greatly admire for dealing with and overcoming pain and adversity, each of who’ve been blogging and writing in a certain style – their own – for more than a year.)
~ Penny
As a child most of us are told to play well with friends, be nice with our sisters or brothers. Be fair with how we treat others. So we grow up and are “nice” to others and try to be fair, but then we begin to discover (some sooner than others) that “life isn’t fair“. Some discover this rather brutally, others find it out in the bits and pieces of life’s experiences that turn out poorly or less than we might have wanted.
Life comes at us, many days fast and hard. Can barely catch our breath trying to keep up with everything that goes on … and emotionally, there are those days we think we can just barely hold on.
So where does it leave us? Life isn’t fair but … (we get to finish the sentence)!
You and I are the ones who still have the power within us to be fair. Beginning with ourselves. We are human beings living in a rich climate of evolving changes and developments. Lots of emotions out there too.
My thought for today. It is a very good thing to have loving and honorable values. Treat others well. Know that there will be better days ahead. Believe in something (it makes a big difference for you and those around you). Love, care, and reach out (and yes this does makes you vulnerable and open to pain, hurt and disappointment – so you’re going to have to toughen up!)
But … bottom line …
“Even though life isn’t fair, you can be – and sometimes that makes all the difference in the world – for you and … someone else!”~ Penny L. Howe, 2013
Such small words. Such huge and wonderful meanings. When we use small words with big meanings do we feel big feelings? Do we think big thoughts?
In the English language of things, these can all be “action” words (verbs)! Are they action words (in your life) when you say them or are they simply words connecting other words together in a sentence. Words written or spoken in daily platitudes but not our personal attitudes.
I know when we use small words that are negative …
… we are very action oriented! Look around, it’s rather obvious isn’t it? Violence,
meanness, cruelty, selfishness, greed are everywhere (in abundance)! Why is that?
The human heart has such a giant capacity for LOVE and LOVING!
Today, written and spoken words are being used as weapons, tearing apart and ripping through the potential of what we can become: something far greater than the sum of our individual parts. Please use those action words that help bring us – all – closer together. Not further apart. And yes! You do make a difference! Every single human being on the planet does!
Each life holds the capability of greatness from which something mighty may grow.
I hope you are having an excellent Sunday and for those beginning your new week, may it be a full and loving one for you.
~ Penny
Therefore a few posts expressing my ponderings in short verses.
A kitten’s contemplation on the unfinished multi-colored mat of life. Note the dangling strings – to play or not to play with them is the contemplation.
~
Life – a privilege to nurture
The first to give honor The second to share, The third to be humble and try to be there.~
When making the difference, in that which you do, you make for a difference the truth within you. *~ Penny L Howe, 2013
~*~
Thank you for your visit, have an excellent weekend!
~ Penny
I honor every single man and woman who has and continues to serve for their countries.
They, each of them, are heroes for all of us.
Too often they give the greatest commodity there is to give “their lives”. In the world where the rate of exchange (the value for something) is predicated on a monetary value there must be a falseness to this value. In truth there is nothing that has a greater value than life itself! Nothing even comes close!
~
I do believe in peace. I think most everyone does. And most of us have strong opinions on this.
~
But none of these beliefs should take away or diminish the fact that all those who serve “on our countries behalf” (on our behalf) in times of conflict and war can be considered nothing short of heroes…
~
…Because they are.
Many pay the ultimate price and should be honored accordingly. They are average people just like you or I doing an amazingly not average thing. Protecting our way of life. Today is a special day of remembering those who have fallen.
~
War is a sadness because it always diminishes the most important thing on this planet – Life and it’s pure value! All life, the innocent and those who defend and protect them and those left behind to pick up the pieces and carry on.
~
Imagine, if you will, someone coming to this planet who knows only love and then is introduced to War and the effects and aftermath. Imagine that this person believed that life is the greatest commodity and that love of all life is the most precious thing there is. This video (from the movie 5th Element) is a short 55 seconds of how a person such as this would react.
~
~
War a sadness, loss of life a sadness.
Honoring those who give their lives for what they believe in, who protect and defend is important, right and just.
In this case – Love of those who gave/give their lives for us – is as important as Love of Life itself!
And that is a sadness for all of us!
~ Penny L Howe, 2012
To All my fellow Bloggers’
I wrote a post awhile back called Why I blog. In it I mentioned that the original meaning of the word blog was a chronicle or a written diary (web log – blog), but I also stated that I believed blogging had evolved.
The new breed of bloggers are a creative group of people who care and want to be nurtured in return with comments and words that will further them along in their endeavors (their hopes, their dreams, their goals, their disappointments, their pain, their successes, their joy, their laughter).
Blogging has become much more than a written diary. Now it is a personal connection between like-minded people and a medium of exchange in the finest, truest and most meaningful manner.
So I decided there were a few letters missing from the word BLOG. Those letters are ‘e’ and ‘n’ when blended 
with the word BLOG you get the word BeLOnG. This is the word that I feel describes the blogging community. A place where we belong. That’s how I feel when I write a post, upload a photograph, share music, videos, recipes, anything that I want to share. When I hit the publish button I feel I’m a part of something so much bigger than I. I feel I’m making a difference.
When I follow and visit other bloggers I feel connected. When I read their posts and share in the comments then I know I’m a part of something enriching and vibrant. I finally feel I’ve found a place where I fit in. Where I belong.
In the last several weeks I have been honored in a variety of ways and I am humbled by the caring appreciation bestowed upon me by this wonderful community of bloggers.
The response I have received from all of you is gratifying and overwhelming: Reblogs, the links sharing me on twitter and Facebook, the mentions on other blogs, an original poem dedicated to me, (thank you again mixedupmeme) the wonderful comments, the nominated blogger awards (I apologize I am behind there, I think there’s 4 or 5 more to go!). I am so grateful.
I wanted to do something special for all of you. I wanted to give you a gift. Something to give to you that you could share in return.
My gift to you is the gift of Belonging Award. There are no rules. It is yours to take if you wish and share it in return with other bloggers when they visit your blog. Pass it along, that’s why I made it. To remind all bloggers they do belong. That’s it’s purpose.
To those who Blog, I honor you, you belong to the Blogger’s community.
Please accept this gift of Belonging Award. There are no rules. Just post it on your blog, share it with your followers and enjoy!
The picture I sketched some time ago. He is a Troubadour. In the middle ages the troubadour was a traveler. A talented and clever person who wrote and sang songs and shared stories with those he met in his travels, A little bit like bloggers today. Our travel method is a bit different is all. The words at the bottom say I BELONG with the word I BLOG superimposed over it. I hope you’ll share the story of the Troubador when you pass this award on to other bloggers who belong. It does seem to be the one thing we bloggers do well – Share!
With heart felt thanks, Penny
The Why About This 