If you spend the coming year as if it were the very First Year in your life – opening your Mind to be Grateful, Aware and Alert to all of life’s Awe, Beauty, Wonders and Miracles;
and as if it were to be the very Last Year in your life – opening your Heart to all of life’s Kindness, Love, Compassion and Blessings;
and then letting them flow thru you to everyone that you meet and to everything around you — to be blessed by your Smile, by your Touch, and by your Presence;
then you will have spent the coming year quite well — and it will truly be a very good year.
This was adapted for the new year from my “Wishing You A Very Good Day” entry in the ‘About the Blog’ section, inspired by a message from Brother David Steindl-Rast.
Wishing you and your loved ones all the very best of health, happiness and prosperity in the coming year! — Jim (and Red!)
Nature programs and the internet are full of videos showing cute baby animals at play. Young animals learn critical life skills thru their play, and human children are no different. The old saying — “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” — certainly applies to children and the learning process.
Thru active play children learn to use their imaginations as well as developing critical interactive social skills and creativity. Outdoor play is even better, combining activity with fresh air and exercise. Children not only deserve, but need a healthy dose of playtime.
“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.”~ Fred (Mr.) Rogers
It is important to remember also, that playtime is not restricted to the young. We all need to step away from the routine now and then to refresh and recharge, in order to remain healthy, alert and active; both living and enjoying life to the fullest.
Thanks as always for visiting. Now, go outside and play! — Jim (and Red!)
Artwork by Jessie Willcox Smith via Garden of Bright Images, Facebook
Thinking about New Year’s Resolutions this week? Taking steps to Better Health, perhaps? Exercise? Healthy Eating? Better Job? Travel? Volunteering? Charity Work? More Family Time? Reading More? Planting a vegetable garden to grow your own produce? Learning a new musical instrument or foreign language? Finding time to paint or a hobby? Finally write that novel in the back of your mind?
Whatever your resolutions may be, when developing your list of annual New Year’s Resolutions this week, please be sure to put a completion date on them to help stay focused and on a timeline. As they say– things with deadlines get done.
Also, please remember to be specific. It makes all the difference. Being specific forces you to clearly identify what it is you want to accomplish with the goals, helps to visualize in helping to bring them about, and makes them more quantifiable and easily measured to monitor your progress towards achieving them. It’s very important. Be specific.
For example, I am in growing need of an assistant in the workroom, so asked Santa to please bring me a Pug for Christmas this year. To help with smaller tasks, help keep me motivated and moving. I was not specific in my request- male, female, young, old, black, fawn- didn’t matter. Any friendly little helper in need of a new home would be fine.
Pug Dressed For Christmas with a Red Bow Tie
Or, if Pugs were in short supply, fully appreciative of the fact that children should come first on the Christmas Gift List, I asked Santa to please bring me a St. Bernard in need of a good home, instead. To help with the bigger tasks around the workroom.
St. Bernard in a Field
Again- I was not specific- male, female, puppy, young, older, short hair, long hair, color- did not matter. Just a helper. A big one. Now here’s the point. Again, I was not specific in my request. Here is what Santa brought.
Toy St. Bernard, “Ho, Ho, Ho!” to you too, Santa.
So, yes. Now I have a St. Bernard. A very cute, fuzzy, little St. Bernard– Toy. Quiet, great disposition and temperament, but not very helpful beyond being cuddly.
Now, I admit to having tweaked Santa Claus a bit this year in a few blog posts, all in good-natured humor and fun. Maybe this was the Old Boy’s way of getting me back. Lighter to carry than the traditional lump of coal, perhaps. On the other hand, maybe it is because I was not specific and clear in making out my Wish List.
I asked for — “a St. Bernard.” I got — “a St. Bernard.”
Santa brought what I had requested and checked me off the list. Job done. But not at all what I had in mind when making the request. So being specific is important. More so with Santa Claus than I had imagined, apparently.
Good luck setting your goals and resolutions for the New Year. And wishing you the very best of luck and success in achieving them all. Please remember to put a date on them and to be specific. It really does make all the difference in achieving your goals.
Well folks, I finally broke down and ventured out for new eyeglasses last week. They arrived yesterday, so the ol’ “bear-maker/storyteller/whatever-he-is” has new glasses to work with. Finally! A support in the old glasses had broken in July and things have been more or less out of focus than usual the past several months, held together with rubber bands.
Ralphie from “A Christmas Story”- “You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out!”
That, and the “old” glasses were vintage 2001 before kids started traipsing off to colleges one after another. When did the cost of a pair of eyeglasses start to rival the price of a major appliance or qualify as a major prize award on “The Wheel of Fortune”? Holy cow!
With the old glasses being 13 years old and the new prescription vastly changed, there is quite a bit of adjustment going on getting used to the new specs. Hopefully the “transition period” will be short (a week or two the doc said) and then allow for much faster work not only on making things, but also on catching up on both a long list of story research, things to read and new writing projects. A major headache last night but so far so good today! So stay tuned, the world is coming back into focus. I can actually see individual leaves on trees now! Wow! It makes me wonder if the Impressionists painters were actually doing stylized work or if they were just poor bummers too, in need of new glasses?
Vincent van Gogh- “The Alpilles with Olive Trees in the Foreground”
And so much to catch up on. Stories to finish, research to do, maps to make, cover designs, book trailers. Not to mention teddy bears and the holiday season! Quite a list and stack, indeed.
Stack of Books and Research
I went with Duck Commander styled frames, with a Camouflage Design on the inside of the arms. I figured it would help me get around with Little Red Bear and the Little Fairydiddle gathering story tidbits now. It’s good to remain undetected when sneaking about in the backwoods digging up story ideas like a chipmunk gathering acorns. And, they make me look a lot younger, if I say so myself. Not a day over 93. Have a lot of reading, research and work to catch up on. Off to it now.
“Hey Red! I see a varmint sneakin’ around that tree over yonder. Probably a dad-blamed weasel. Should I plug ’em with my Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle With a Compass in the Stock?”
Ralphie from “A Christmas Story”
Thanks as always for visiting and reading. Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend! “SEE” ya later! We have a lot of work to do. — Jim (and Red!)
Happy Monday! The start of a new week full of new opportunities and adventures!
A very busy week ahead with lots to do. Several new bears nearing completion to be finished for the store, Little Red Bear’s fifth short story to finish, the new Blog position I mentioned last week to be filled right away so the new feature can get started soon, more new story characters to interview, more story research to be done, and more.
And– starting a new daily exercise and walking program today. I have been on a steady but gradual “get healthier” program since the beginning of the year. I have been doing very well with a conscious and determined effort to eat healthier, opting for homemade natural foods and eliminating processed foods from my diet. Now it is time to get busy, adding more physical exercise to the routine now that winter seems to be finally letting go of its grip on the thermometer.
Accordingly then, a daily walking and exercise program starts today, albeit a bit restricted by numerous replacement parts. But walking will do. Fresh air and exercise. We all need more of that. Especially the kids! That’s why Little Red Bear is so healthy. He’s always out walking all over the mountains and thru the hollers searching for honey.
So, here we go. A lot to do this week so time to get busy. Wishing everyone a healthy and productive week! — Jim (and Red!)
James Milson - The Writing Pages 