Why You Should Hurry up and Slow Down!

image

You should try sitting still – for just a few minutes every day – rest your body & mind and while you’re sitting there, try reflecting on the WHY of what you do every day. You may surprise yourself with some of your answers.

image

We live in a crazy hurry up world. And its not slowing down. But you can. All that’s needed is a little bit of preplanning to remove from your life whatever isn’t helping right now, be it an activity, certain thought processes, or a person.

1. Activities – Anything you do that is done out of habit, and not necessary or helpful to you, think about letting it go.

You might also consider the amount of time you spend with social media, just sayin’.

If you are constantly called upon to do favors for others, who don’t reciprocate in their turn, regarding your needs, start saying no to them. Doing things for others is nice, but can be very time consuming (this includes family members).

2. Worries – If you spend a fair amount of time worrying about things then it’s time to make a list and see which of those worrisome things you can actually do something about. Effort on your part will be required, but the end result is you’ll have less things to worry about.

3. People – There are people out there with poor attitudes and an overall negative outlook on life. You don’t need these people around you. They’ll go out of their way to tell you what you’re doing wrong or what’s wrong with you or someone, or something you care about.

Dump them. You don’t need them or their negativity. And chances are they’re also one of the items you spend time worrying about so you’ll have removed two things that take away precious time, a person(s) and an item on your worries list (this also includes family members).

image

Bottom line here is value yourself highly by BALANCING your needs with time spent. If you aren’t good to yourself, those you do care about will suffer – as will you.

Thank you for stopping by, have a great time saving day!

~ Penny

Sometimes, to get past where you are – the best thing to do is BE CREATIVE!

Penny L Howe, 2013

A time to be creative is during the days (weekends) when (even) those who care so deeply, feel a sense of helplessness and of being overwhelmed with events happening in our lives and the world, where there is so much work to be done to make things better.

This weekend, take a short break. Be creative and do something fulfilling and relaxing. Monday is Veterans day, an excellent day to spend, being with and, remembering those who have given so much for us and our country.

Be appreciative and thankful and embrace your life! Spend some time being creative. Let your talent take you to a place that makes you feel better about you! Sometimes, when you feel overwhelmed this is a very good thing to do!

~ Penny

Give yourself permission; enjoy nature, explore and create.

Credit line and copyright, by Schick, 2013

“Hello Mr. Bee! Whatcha’ doing?”
*

I slept in this morning (yes!). I’ve had a lot going on recently, nothing negative, just busy. But I haven’t been sleeping well. I’m rather a nut about staying balanced in my life so I’ve been frustrated over my inability to sleep soundly lately.

I did all the “tried and true” methods with no success and then a few days ago I sat quietly by myself and considered – everything! And then I moved the things on my agenda aside (those I could) and went completely into artistic mode.

I gave myself permission to enjoy being creative, by first spending some time in the world of nature (maybe not as close up as this amazing photo of a dog and bee (LOL), still I did really immerse myself and then I began to sketch and draw, the results to be shown soon on a forthcoming blog!

And guess what? I am now sleeping like a log. Giving myself over to art and nature and then some private artisitc time did the trick. Helped me balance the rest of my “have-to” activities!

This weekend, give yourself permission to be! Both relaxed and creative. Your mind, body and soul will thank you for it!

Hope you’re enjoying your weekend~

~ Penny

Quiet Times

*
“There are those quiet times
of contemplation,
where I find
I am my own perfect companion
to be with.”
~ Penny L Howe, 2013
*
 
Have a great Thursday everyone! Find some quiet time “If you can!”
~ Penny
 
*A PennyQuote, from A Penny For Your Thoughts

Time Out for Art – Shadows of Light and Dark!

Yesterday was Time Out For Art at Zeebra Designs and Destinations. An every Thursday affair where Lisa encourages you to take a break and draw! I’ve really missed participating in the last few weeks, and am pleased to be only a day late this week. Although, I was drawing yesterday, I didn’t get it posted until today. Be sure to check out her wonderful blog.

For me drawing is one of the most relaxing things I can do, my mind letting go of day to day worries and focusing on the art of drawing (or painting, or sculpting, or writing, etc ….) while listening to music. A creative outlet!

Recently I’ve been working on a sketch for a blogging friend in England that many of you know, Ute! She sent me a photo, and while I’m still working on the actual sketch that’s more in keeping with the photo itself, I decided to experiment with Light and Dark and Ute’s face.

So I imagined that a bright light was illuminating her features from the left, washing out most of the detail on the left side of her face with shades of darkness and shadows on the right.

This is what I came up with: What do you think Ute? (And yes, I had already asked her permission to do this).

Ute - Shadows

~

And here’s her photograph!

Ute

An excellent photo of Ute – and the owl’s a hoot! LOL

Be sure and visit Ute’s at Ute smile, she’s a delight! And she just returned from Spain where she not only spent time with her mom but also visited another excellent blogger and friend, Ralph – visit him too, his blog is excellent!

Thanks for stopping by, Enjoy your weekend my wonderful friends!

~ Penny

Reduce Your Stress Now – Move your body as a child does!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThere was certainly a pretty universal agreement from comments, in my last post, that words can hurt, and too many today aren’t careful with the way they use their words.

And we’re not happy about it either. In fact we can become quite stressed over it.

So this post is to help you quickly and easily get rid of some of the stress you feel when you’re a party to hurtful, mean, and untrue words, both spoken and written.

Did you know your body tightens up, automatically when you’re emotionally stressed. A fact. Beginning with the muscles in your neck and shoulders and face and your tummy. The result is you’ve taken an emotional stress and turned it into a physical stress as well. So right now, focus only on the physicality of the stress, breath really deeply – from your gut, think about all your muscles relaxing themselves.

Not working? Maybe just a little, but probably not very much, because you’re allfile000496683546 “grown up”. Once that stress settles in, it’s going to stay with you in your tensed up body. Why?

Because you’ve gotten used to being “mature” and keeping those bad feelings inside of you. I want you to think about children.

Think about what they do instinctively when they’re upset. They scream and cry, contort their faces, wave their hands, run around. It works so well that in a little while they are ‘all better’, because they got rid of the stress they were feeling emotionally by becoming physical, they let it out.

We grow up being told to be mature and “responsible acting” adults. We are told that we can learn to hold those feelings inside and (most of us) do that. We keep the hurt, pain, anger, disappoint inside and (it festers) presto, our bodies aren’t well either. No leap of faith to figure that one out, is there?

So be a kid for awhile. (In the privacy of your room at home, somewhere you are most comfortable and able to express yourself and move your body.) Allow those emotions to come out! Yell, be very vocal with your words, loud and clear, express those feelings, contort your face, use your arms and legs, the greater the physical movement, the better. You’re getting those pent up emotions out of your system and your body, exactly like a child does. And it is very healthy.

file000115070389

Also, interestingly enough, not only will your stress be less, but you’ll have more energy (like a child) or you’ll be more relaxed and in a restful state.

Either one is a good place to be after relieving the stress of the day. Your body, mind and spirit, will all thank you!

Have a relaxing evening, restful night and happy and energetic tomorrow!

~ Penny

penny

Reading – Does a Body (and mind) Good!

Reading on a bench

~

Regardless of your age.

Reading is always cool! One of the things I incorporate

into most of my days is taking a little time to read!

I have a book (or kindle) handy

while waiting for appointments or trips to the park.

Relaxing in the evening

with a good book, curled up in a chair is a treat for me.

Have you read a book lately?

Give it a try! A great way to unwind!

By pippalou

~

Have an excellent day today!
~ Penny

penny l howe

Let Nature in and worries out!

wildflowers in nature

~

John Muir (1838 – 1914) John of the Mountains: The Unpublished Journals of John Muir, 1938 – is a famous naturalist and author. During his life he became a well know advocate for the preservation of wilderness. His views on nature and his written words can serve as a remind to us of how freeing and uplifting being with nature can be. Today I share some of his words with you.

Written one hundred years ago,

mountains

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into the trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves – John Muir

forests

“I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found was really going in. – John Muir

bird on branch

“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.” John Muir

~

fun

~

Thank you, enjoy your weekend, the closer to nature the better!

~ Penny

plh

This post is brought to you by the color Green

Happy St. Patrick’s Day everyone! I give you the color green!

~

file0001282740411

Of course 🙂

~

file501270397351

Green tea, anyone!

~

file000418308010

A butterflies shades of green!

~

file000837699622

Okay so I cheated here ( love this photo) but there is green in the background!

~

file0001411138185

Ethereal Green! Sigh!

~

file000908081115

Let’s celebrate the day!

~

file0001274185484

No words needed here!

~

file0001882012132

Caterpillar – from beauty to beautiful!

~

file0001274120317

The lime of it all!

~

file0001096958602

Hi there! 🙂

~

file0001436087362

This is just beautiful, mother natures design. awesome!

~

IMAG2231-1Loopweaving in green

My personal offering of green. To create a rhythm within I developed a method of working with yarn called Loopweaving, (developed 10 years ago a “how-to” guide will be published this summer – for those interested lol) . Loopweaving relaxes one while you create textures and patterns turning them into shapes and containers of all sizes and colors, cool, huh!

~

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed the color green.

Have a great day!

~ Penny

Snapshot_20120917

~

Beauty in the eye of the beholder

Isn’t beauty wonderful? Most especially your own personal view. The view from your eyes.

As it should be.

file0002069514400

With one big exception. Sometimes when you share your view of beauty with another and they share their view with you each of you picks up on some aspect of the beauty of a thing that each of you may have missed.

SONY DSC

Look for beauty around you today. Put no limits on it. We all need lots and lots of beauty in our lives.The beauty of a thing, a word, a thought, a deed, an action, a view – all! Everything!

DSC01486

Beauty is everywhere, look for it today and, of course, as you can, share the experience with others!

file000489309392

And remember to smile and breath in the beauty as you appreciate your ability to do so.

file7021296598782

After my last post I had to include a tree in here!

legion lake 088

This is life, this is living! Appreciate the beauty in your world. Enjoy it, live it, breath it! Be a part of the experience.

file4031341326803

~

Thank you for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed your weekend and are looking forward to a new week, one filled with  the beauty of each day ~ Penny

plh