The Exquisite Nature of Nurturing – Try it, you’ll like it!

May 16, 2016 / Penny L Howe / 7 Comments

Photo by Alberto Ghizzi Panizza

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Nurturing (definition): The process of caring for and encouraging the growth or development of someone or something.

This is a very good week to nurture. Of course so was last week as I imagine next week will be also, there being so much negativity and meanness proliferating everywhere. However I do believe that by making nurturing a priority in the NOW of our lives, it can make a positive difference for you, myself and everyone involved in this positive process.

One of the outstanding features of nurturing another person(s) – regardless of perceived or real differences – is that both are rewarded. Nurturing (caring for another) soothes and strengthens life and, as previously mentioned, right now we humans need a whole bunch of nurturers and nurturing.

In scientific speak (for those interested), nurturing or being nurtured creates a mind-body connection during the giving/receiving process because of the neuropeptide molecules (chemical substances made and released by brain cells) sending soothing messages all over the body.

When receptor sites receive these neuropeptides a positive change occurs. The body fluids are attracted to specific receptors that grow directly off our cell structures or DNA. Protein-like neuropeptides provide our brain cells with a method of communicating with other cells by latching on to these receptor sites at which point our mood states and behaviors are altered in a positive way.

Because these peptides are also found in our immune system, the nurturing process is not only a mental and emotional nourishment but also a physical one. How great is that?

So my hopeful thought for all of us this week is to – nurture on my loving caring friends. Nurture on!

♡

With much love and affection,

~ Penny, ♡

A Message From The Universe

April 23, 2016 / Penny L Howe / 12 Comments

We all have tough days. Where regardless of how positive you are with your mindset, things keep going wrong.

I was having one of those days recently when the most fascinating thing happened. But let me back up a bit and share what led up to the moment.

So a series of “OMGosh can the day get any crazier” things having occurred, I sat down at my desk completely exhausted, weary and frustrated, after being interrupted for the zillionth time and happened to look up at my small bookcase. On the shelf I have 3 balanced rocks. Being a rock lover, I enjoy balancing various ones at different times. These are small rocks I’ve had for some time.

The thing is, as I viewed them in that moment I saw something I’ve never noticed before. The shape of a small heart located in the right corner of the bottom rock. How cool is that?!

I must have stared at the heart for 5 minutes (at least). For me it was definitely a message from the universe letting me know I was loved and things would be okay. So needed in that moment and the rest of my day passed uneventfully.

Just too cool and had to share! ♡

Have a great weekend.

Always with sincere affection,
Penny

Fearless … Never Forget the Nature of Who We Are!

January 12, 2016 / Penny L Howe / 5 Comments

The Spiral of Strength ~ All of Us!

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So many things seem fearful today

Fear of the unknown
Fear of failure
Fear of our futures
Fear of the threat of terrorism

And yet within each of our hearts, nestled right next to our love of life, is an amazingly unlimited reservoir of quiet strength, energy and power waiting to be released … should the need be there.

So when you read or hear (daily) the many people (on all forms of media) speaking so many words (opinions and criticisms) about everything that appears to be going wrong; on our planet, in our country, and our communities, be aware there are many good things happening too. Many. If you don’t believe me start searching online. There are millions of people locally and around the world, making positive differences every day. They’ve already activated their internal power to get things moving away from the negative and into the positive. (Amazing how many of the news media report the negative and not the positive!)

Each of us can make positive things happen too although a good caveat to remember: Change can occur without anger, rudeness, crudeness, vulgarity, meanness, and cruelty – not a good thing – nor nice for a person to say, do or be. Definitely not the way to achieve positive change for yourself and others!

But if you have doubts and fears today, right now … fear less … you are not alone in your concerns but the bigger and most important thing to remember is that our mutual strength of “being there” is HUGE. We, the silent majority and our mutual strength of “overcoming and pursuing the right path” for all our futures is alive and well, it’s never been stronger!

You are not alone , there are many of us and we are … fearless … in all the ways that matter!

♡

Thank you, I hope your week is proceeding well for you.

With affection,

~ Penny

Your Self Fulfilling Prophecies – Are they Good or Bad Ones!

March 24, 2015 / Penny L Howe / 8 Comments

How many of you begin your day with self depreciating remarks? Or statements about what’s going to go wrong today. Or all the reasons everything bad seems to happen to you. Or perhaps you say to yourself, “why bother to try? This person or that person is going to ruin my day!”

These type of thoughts and statements become self fulfilling the more you repeat them. You send a signal to your brain that says you can’t win, you can’t overcome and … that you think of yourself or your situation as a losing one.

First rule of being happy much less successful is to believe in yourself. Not because you’re going to go out tomorrow and conquer the world, but because where you are, right this minute is only temporary and you’re a good person who can ‘step by step’ move forward in a positive way, because you know you can. You believe in you.

What really, really helps the “step by step” process is to not tell yourself, ahead of time, why you can’t do something. Or blame a situation or a person for problems and circumstances. We all feel insecure and worried, even fearful at times. This is normal but it shouldn’t stop us from accomplishing our goals.

So today is a good day to start saying those self fulfilling things that support what you want to do. Things like “Today I’m going to get my tasks done regardless of what comes my way.” Or “I’m not going to let another person’s negative attitude or perhaps even rude bullying behavior affect me”. Or “Today I believe in me and someway, somehow I will do those things I’d planned to do.”

You positively reinforce your own mindset (thinking patterns of behavior) when your thoughts, words and action have a “can do” mentality. It will strengthen your resolve as well.

Try it. You’ll discover it really works. And by repeating daily, this can make a significant difference between success and failure. Remember you’ve only failed when you stop! Every other thing that goes wrong is just a temporary disappointment and a part of your ongoing learning experience.

Have a great day and … always, take care of you!

With affection,

~ Penny

Believing in YOU! Start today … your first step to success!

February 4, 2015 / Penny L Howe / 11 Comments

“I couldn’t wait for success, so I went ahead without it!” Jonathan Winters

Once you decide for yourself that you can accomplish what you’re setting out to do – success begins to be happen. The hardest part is thinking you can achieve those goals! Believing in Yourself!

If you’re not where you want to be, doing what you want to do … then set about changing things. But first …

Believe in yourself! Find your voice that speaks for you!

Surround yourself with positive, action oriented, people who believe in themselves too. (They’ve already figured it out and will support your endeavors!)

You don’t need the naysayers – they’re just jealous!

and then …

Believe you can do it! I mean really, really believe it!

There’s this wonderful positiveness to a “making it happen” energy flow. It’s quite contagious and you can be at the root of it. How you feel about things – your potentials, your possibilities! The driving core for achieving success is knowing, believing that YOU can accomplish whatever you set out to do!

So … what are you waiting for? Go … make things happen!

Today!

Now!

Just do it!

I wish you a happy ‘rest of your week’!

With affection,

~ Penny

What do you believe in – And does your body believe you?

July 24, 2013 / Penny L Howe / 39 Comments

I truly believe there is a reason, I don’t have Crohn’s disease anymore. (and haven’t for 20+ years, and I was told “like cancer”, it is always there in the cells somewhere, or the capability of it reoccurring after my first surgery) I struggled with this disease for 20 years (awful problems, hospitalized more times than I care to recall – seemingly never ending) until I woke up one morning and just said … “No!”

Now I understand – that on that day, all four areas of the parts of my brain were in alignment (communication with each other) in that moment. So my “No” came equally from my emotion center, my cognitive center, my spiritual (belief system – whatever that may be for each of us) center, and my subconscious bodily activity center.

In other words, the chemical instructions via our neural pathways to the brain from each of those areas of activity sent the strongest message ever to my body that it could heal itself. And it did.

This could be perhaps, a possible explanation for those who survive the trauma of illness or life experiences. Not mystical voodoo, just all parts of ‘your being’ decided it can “fix” what needs to be fixed (remember we ‘mostly’ only use a small fraction of our brains total capability.

These are only my own personal thoughts being shared here, based on the history of my health but I’ve come to call this occurrence “The Alignment of our Being”. Usually we (Our conscious self) are at odds with one or more of these interactive mental activities going on each day.

Memories, thoughts and actions center around those 4 centers of our being. If I look and

feel 20 years younger, it’s because I sincerely feel 20 years younger and believe it, so my body does too, and acts on that belief. And of course it’s a no brainer that healthy living, lifestyle, and reducing the stress of the day just makes things even better.