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The family columnist
“We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today.” ~Stacia Tauscher Using our kids as fodder for Facebook, Instagram, or blog posts is hardly new. Rare are the parents (or grandparents) who don’t share adorable photos of their kids and celebrate their latest achievements online. Before social media took over, I wrote a family column for our local newspapers. Since I was a work-at-home mom, my Sunday column topics often included details about my school-aged son. So it was a thought-provoking exercise for me to revisit those column-writing days in an essay I wrote a few years ago for The Christian Science…
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Expectations
It’s not a bad idea to hold ourselves — and others — to higher standards. Striving for “the best” is a worthy goal. But unrealistic expectations often result in disappointment. For instance, how many times have you tried a popular new restaurant, only to end up disappointed when your meals fell short of the rave reviews you’d read? At the same time, if we always expect more from other folks than they’re able to give, we’re bound to feel letdown at some point. As Anne Lamott put it, “Expectations are resentments waiting to happen.” Sometimes what we want isn’t available to us. Or what we expect to achieve — weight…
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What do you believe?
“What you believe yourself to be, you are.” ~Claude M. Bristol, The Magic of Believing World War I veteran Claude Bristol (1891-1951) was a pioneer of the positive thinking movement. He wrote The Magic of Believing to help his fellow veterans adapt to civilian life — yet his book also resonated with others who struggled to overcome trauma, self-limiting patterns, or negative attitudes. Bristol was convinced that success in any realm depends on dedication, belief, and character. His philosophy explains how some people triumph over adversity while others remain stuck. Bristol’s “magic” was about unleashing the power of the subconscious mind. You are what you believe. You achieve what you…
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Time management
“Time is a created thing. To say ‘I don’t have time’ is like saying ‘I don’t want to do it.'” ~Cheryl Richardson How many times have you heard the phrase, “We’ll have to get together sometime” — but nobody ever follows through on the suggestion? There are so many things we postpone because we claim we don’t have time for them. For instance, we might put off scheduling certain medical tests, finding a better job, cleaning a closet, or reading all those epic novels that everyone says we should read. But if we’re honest with ourselves, we realize that it’s not really a matter of time management. We often postpone…
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Just before the bloom
“The garden has taught me to live, to appreciate when things are fallow and when they are not.” ~Jamaica Kincaid Longtime “Life Lines” readers will remember “Apollo” from previous posts. In those photos, he was sporting a wild headdress of colorful annuals or spiky succulents, depending on how I dressed him at the time. Apollo has been featured in several garden magazines and newspaper articles over the years, always enjoying his moments in the sun. Earlier this week, I took this photo of Apollo without his blooming chapeau. I was struck by the barren beauty of the surrounding April landscape — a landscape that’s still waiting for perennials to emerge…
