My Year of Positive Thinking - Week 9

It hung there, on my bulletin board - forgotten underneath the doctor’s appointment card, a receipt of a long since mailed certified letter, and some important reminders about the changing status of things at work.

Bulletin boards are like that, an accumulation of daily minutia and formed layers of time that can, to the trained eye, be read like the rings of a fallen tree. I vaguely remember printing it and hanging it there, but the twenty-eight pin holes decorating its surface will attest to the fact that it was hung quite some time ago.

I have always been a fan of Maya Angelou’s poetry, a particular favorite, “On Reaching Forty,” gets trotted out every time some poor soul reaches that magic number. But this one, “What I Have Learned,” speaks volumes to one who is on the shady side of fifty. I think it captures the essence of my quest for “Positive Thinking.” 

I’m glad I was wise enough to save the words, though the fact that they are obviously in need of dusting off, speaks volumes to my best laid plans.

 

What I Have Learned

Maya Angelou

"I've learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I've learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life. I've learned that making a "living" is not the same thing as making a life." I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. "I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one. I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

Have a good week!

© 9 March 2009, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

My Year of Positive Thinking - Week 6

I am suffering from an embarrassment of “positive” riches. My friend Teagen, though she had a stressful week last week, managed to send me a beautiful book filled with enough positive quotes to last me an entire year. That’s right, an entire year, every day, 365 days! Next week, I will be pulling from this quote book and talking more about it, but I wanted to thank Teagen publicly for such a thoughtful gesture, especially with the kind of week she experienced. 

 Speaking of last week, as you know, last week started on a bit of a low note. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. HARRIET of Genealogy Fun also had a Bad Day last week. She dwelled a little in that vat of you-know-what, but was able to pull herself out of it. I say, “Good for you, Harriet!” 

 This week’s quote comes from my boss, Sam. When she sent it to me, I knew that this was the next quote that I wanted to use. It’s from Nelson Mandela. "And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same." 

So that’s my goal this week, to be the candle instead of the candlesnuffer. Have a great week.

 PS to Harriet. Ohio has more snow in the forecast this week. If I could only figure out how to do it, I would share. :-)

© 17 February 2009, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Not Dwelling in the Vat of Crabbiness

Okay, okay, I lied. I didn’t post my positive thinking piece as promised. But, in mulling it over, I decided that I would let Monday’s post stand. Yah, I was crabby, but in writing about my day, I relieved my stress, poked some fun at myself, and then got on with things. Life doesn’t always go the way you want it to go. Sometimes, no matter how good your intentions, things run amok. As long as you find a healthy way to deal with it, and don’t dwell too long in the vat of crabbiness, it’s okay. The positive police won’t come and lock you up. It turns out that writing is my coping mechanism. Once I wrote the post, my doom and gloom mood lifted, and I was able to laugh at how personally I was taking a series of random events. Now that may be an unconventional vision of positive thinking, but it kind of works for me. Maybe that’s progress. Until Next Time . . .

©12 February 2009, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder

Dear Internet – This is NOT my Monday Positive Thinking Post

Dear Internet, 

I am having a bad day. I do not like Mondays. It is laughable that I chose this day of the week for my positive thinking posts. Was I not begging for trouble? 

Most of the issues I am having are computer related, and while that might not sound like a big deal, it is. I make money using my computer and the Internet. And when I can’t log into a certain database in a certain East Coast city, I can’t make money. Wah! 

However, the whole tone for the day was set first thing this morning, before I knew the universe was conspiring against me. I did a dumb thing. I made myself a cup of tea, and put it into one of our mugs that we’ve had for almost seven years. As I am carrying the tea from the kitchen into the family room, I hear a telltale crack that should have been my warning that something bad was about to happen. But I am slowwitted and I keep on walking. 

Actually, I got as far as one more step, when the side and bottom blew out of the cup, spraying the contents of what moments before had been boiling water, all over me. My left foot with its long Morton’s toe, along with one of Morton’s brother toes, took a direct hit of the liquid as it obeyed the laws of gravity. Fortunately, though I am by nature a hillbilly (please no emails, I use the term lovingly) and start my mornings barefooted, this morning I had slipped on a pair of footies. Unfortunately, they are made of absorbable material and as I am jumping around in pain, it occurs to me that the biggest source of pain is this now soaked footie, which I immediately rip off.

This turned the pain down a notch, but it still hurt. So I took an ice pack wrapped in a washcloth and put it on the burn to cool it down and ease the pain. Then I sprayed burn ointment on it.

According to the Internet, I should have run the burn under cold water for about 15 minutes, not used the spray, and then wrapped in non-fuzzy material (I had some gauze that is now wrapped around the two toes.) All the other burns were superficial. I suspect this might be a partial thickness burn. 

Moral of the story - wait a few minutes before you pour boiling hot water into a cup. Then wait a minute or so more before carrying the liquid anywhere. If you hear a funny cracking sound, set the cup down immediately and step back. Learn to drink a nice cold glass of milk to wake yourself up in the morning.

So I’m cranky, I hate Mondays, and I’m setting down my Pollyanna persona that I’ve been practicing for the last few weeks, and taking a few hours to enjoy some well earned crabbiness. My quote for today (oh yes, I have one) comes from my friend Leslie, who upon reading all the aforementioned catastrophes wrote me back and said, “Sometimes you just need to bask in the vat of crabbiness.” Indeed. 

Tomorrow, I will post my regular positive thinking post. Have I mentioned I hate Mondays?

© 9 February 2009, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

My Year of Positive Thinking - Week 4

I am announcing that this week, I will be inaugurating a monthly post entitled, “The Monthly Mélange” which will list blog posts that for whatever reason, stayed with me after I had read them. Perhaps the post made me smile, reflect, or learn something new. While I could easily come up with 200 that would qualify, I am limiting myself to 10 - 13 that I want to highlight and share with you. 

Some will be for those of you who, like me, love working on family history. Other posts, I hope, will have universal appeal. For the present, I am sticking to using those written by other geneabloggers, but that is not a hard and fast rule. 

And finally, I have this week’s quote. It comes from Teagen’s Mother-in Law, who succumbed to cancer in 2001. Teagen says that she had “a very positive and spiritual outlook throughout her life.” I didn’t know Teagen’s mother-in-law, but I think she would have liked the idea of inspiring a stranger with one of the quotes she had collected. Perhaps it will be your inspiration too. "People who have the gift of courage are those who can feel angry, hurt or depressed, yet can bounce back into life and add a bit of laughter and enthusiasm to other lives as well as their own." Fresh Bread - Joyce Rupp Keep the Faith, and have a great week!

©2 February 2009, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder 

Resolutions and No Resolutions

You may have noticed that I passed on doing a New Year’s Resolution this year. I shamed myself with last year’s resolution (Finding out more information on Jacobus ancestors) so badly that I figured my making a resolution was something akin to Congress requesting accountability on bailouts. A great idea, but without muscle, it’s just words. 

 However, not to worry, the Carnival of Genealogy had in the neighborhood of forty “resolute” geneabloggers who willingly put their own reputations on the line to share with you their personal New Year’s resolutions. They were, to say the least, inspiring. They were, to say the most, practical ideas that may be just the thing you need to start your year out right. You can catch the link at Jasia’s Creative Gene website. 

 I have however, been thinking about my own cranky, go away don’t bother me attitude. If I said, “I hate Christmas!” once, I must have said it - well enough times to have a daughter-in-law tell me, “You always say that.” Ouch! So I’m trying an experiment, which is different from a resolution. (Don’t ask me the difference, just roll with me here.) I’m calling it, “My Year of Positive Thinking” and every Monday, I’ll write a positive quote on an index card and read it first thing in the morning and the last thing before going to bed for an entire week.

 The next week, I’ll do the same thing all over again with another quote. In each Monday’s post, I’ll tell you what my quote for the week is. My boss, Sam, and my co-worker, Teagen, have offered to help me come up with some positive quotes. (As I told them, the only quote that leapt to my mind was, “When you see light at the end of the tunnel, it’s the light of the oncoming train.” You see my problem.) 

 If any of you have a favorite quote that fits in with what I am hoping to accomplish, feel free to send me the quote. I can use all the help I can get. However, I think I found just the ticket for this week’s quote. It comes from Max Ehrmann’s “Desiderata.” You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. 

Until Next Time …

© 12 January 2009, Desktop Genealogist Unplugged, Teresa L. Snyder