Quotables: life in the raw

“People often notice and share really pretty things (on social media)…but I think we should appreciate things that are just as eye grabbing, in the opposite direction.”
Tyson Grumm

It’s true, life isn’t made up of just the pretty things. Often, just outside the frame, where it’s raw and unfiltered, it can be messy, chaotic, weathered, dilapidated. It’s not wrong, it just is what it is.

And yet.

Tyson is right. Ugly isn’t always. When you look at something…really look at it, to see it…you can get a sense of what it was, what it is.

So, Mr. Grumm, I pick up the gauntlet you’re throwing down.

#thegrummchallenge

   

#lifeintheraw

#unfiltered

Beauty is in the perceptive eye of the beholder.

 

#uglyisthenewpretty

Quotable: choices

Words are the tangible expression of thoughts and feelings. And we’ve heard from various quarters that words matter. That they have meaning, they have influence, and can in turn shape our feelings, our emotions, the atmosphere around us. Our thoughts, feelings, emotions, the atmosphere around us shape the words we choose to use. I know this to be true in my own experience.

It’s as much true for the words we say out loud as the words we repeat inside, in our head, to ourselves. It’s a powerful thing, this self-talk ticker-tape.

The good news: words don’t just happen willy-nilly.

We get to choose them. Intentionally.

Deliberately.

 

Choice. It’s a powerful thing.

There’s  a lot going on in my life just now. Personally, professionally. When I take a step back from the intensity of it all and just observe for a minute … I’ve been in similar seasons of staring down mamba jamba all.the.ALL.the.things. to-do lists, lists that have kept me awake at night and given rise to far more serious consideration of taking up a coping mechanism not very healthy for me than should be warranted.

It’s true, thinking leads to a state of being. I’m thankful I’ve made a concious decision to edit my choices. To edit my words. And very heavily censure my self-talk ticker-tape.

I can’t change the circumstances, but I can change how I react and respond to them.

I choose to focus on the things I can do, not the things I can’t.

I choose to see the opportunity in each new day.

I choose to not be overwhelmed.

What do you choose?

Quotable: grassed up

Now that Hay Season 2015 is successfully mowed down, I can turn my attention to other things on my list. In this context, I don’t mean the rest of the always-populated list of #farmchores. 

No, I mean a list of a different sort. My 101 Bucket: 101 Things To Do in 1,001 Days. Because if there’s no deadline, there’s no pressure to prioritize, and take action. “Someday” isn’t, in turns out, a specific enough descriptor that actually gets things done.   (The count down timer’s set for Christmas 2017. I’m over a year in and due to update the list. Stay tuned.)

Anyway, I digress. Number 68 is to add a quote per week to my quote book for two months (or, eight weeks).

This one is just too perfect a segway from the Adventures in Haying series to pass up:

 

credit: Kelly Hood

 
What quotable resonates with you this week?

Frost on happiness