Calm Strength Group

Enjoying the sun and a great cup of coffe in this beautiful old church. Feels good to get back to traveling adventures!

Happy mothers day to mothers of all kinds! May those who make your life a challenging, amazing life filled with unconditional love spoil you rotten today. Here's a picture of the two that made me a mom. Can you guess which one is not a fan of mom's art books?

I got up this morning - note and thought, “Ugh...this has been the longest week ever and it’s only Wednesday! Lucky for me, Wednesday is my longest hardest day of the week. Really not sure how I’m going to make it through this week…”

So as I am lamenting my day today, I remembered that my friend E drove her young daughter to the doctor this week to start treatment for a recurrence of brain cancer. She’s also fighting like crazy to get her the immunotherapy she needs through a program that isn’t taking new patients because of COVID-19.

Then I read on Facebook about my friend P who leads a homeless shelter for youth. One of her residents recently passed away and upon cleaning out their locker, she found letters - written but unsent - to family and loved ones asking for forgiveness and promising love.

Anyone else feel the need to pause and take a deep breath right there? I did.

Some of the most powerful words in the english language are “I am”. So what if I change my words from “I am tired” to something more productive? As I took a deep breath and paused, I made a few decisions for today.

First, my problems, while not life and death, still play a big role in my life and shouldn’t be dismissed or downplayed because someone else's problem is bigger. I will give myself grace for mistakes; take breaks to take care of myself and remember that I can’t take care of others - be it my family, friends or attendees - if I am sick and not functioning. I am strong, healthy and energized.

Second, people do have issues that are bigger than mine. When I start to spin out because I sent the wrong email to 60 people, or this whole decision making by committee (which is HELL for an independent person like me) gets me fired up, I will stop and I will stop and breathe. I will remind myself that I am grateful for this life that I get to co-create.

If I may ask 2 things from you today friends. For those so inclined, please pray for E and P. I know they will both lovingly accept your virtual support.

Second, what is your “I am” statement for today? Pick words that set the tone for the day you want to have!

I'm thankful for those who are deemed as essential employees who keep showing up for work day in and day out. Yes the doctors, nurses and grocery store workers but also the trash collectors and hvac workers.

Right as we were told to stay home, I got a call from my tenants that the hvac was "gushing water". After a few swear words and panicked phone calls DM Select, who came highly recommended, was able to go over same day to offer us a quote. Then they were able to install the new hvac system the day after we confirmed. Great, quick service in a time of chaos is my (and my renters) silver lining for today!