We all need to find time to sit with ourselves! Not thinking about anything in particular, just sitting and being, breathing and relaxing, recouping and re-energizing! This is my wish for you for the new year. That you find the time to do just that. Love your blog! Thanks for all that you share of yourself. 🙂

I too find myself every now and then just sitting in a peaceful visual place…however my mind is trained to re-arrange it somehow and then I pop up grab the clippers, redesign the area…then I can sit more peacefully…maybe thats OCD?

Well said (and beautiful photos). Nothing beats just sitting in a beautiful place and gathering your thoughts, or clearing your head!

One thing that I find the most helpful is number five. Sometimes when I write, I just let the flow of the words and information come out so much that I loose the purpose. It’s only after editing when I realize what I’ve done. There’s definitely a lot of great tips here I’m going to try to be more aware of.

great share, great article, very usefull for me…thank you

good share, great article, very useful for us…thank you

Hey Rene, I just witnessed (literally)in a courtroom: my sister on trial, to receive a divorce in a 40 year marriage. Hearing all about the abuse, adultery, and financial ruin was painful!! But she came out shining!! Like the comments, she is a "thriver." She consoled me afterwards, stating, "I’m alright, I’m going to make it, I’m free!!" She is so-o-o beautiful, inside and out!! It is wonderful and a blessing to have these kinds of people in our lives.

A thriver indeed… 🙂

Rene`, Your column this week is one of the most thought provoking pieces I’ve read in a long, long time. I can’t think of anything else to say except ‘Amen’.

Such a powerful reminder of how we are all truly connected and how something as unconscious as our own blood can be such a gift to someone else. I’m looking all day today to see how can I contribute to someone else? Thanks so much. Terces

This has hit something deep in me, deep in my own story. To reach a little further to not just survive but Thrive. To Shine and be the light that falls upon the faces around me. The faces that look to me to guide them to thriving. Thank you.

I don’t know how you did it but you did! You topped last weeks column! Thank you so much for sharing and showing us another way to participate…..to help others!
There are many of us, ‘survivors’ out there, many from horrendous incidents but I love the new name, ‘thrivers’. I am so glad to get a positive spin on it, thanks to you and Julia for all the encouragement you give to others.

What a great blog. Thank you for sharing. I would love to give blood but can’t as I also have cancer and am on chemo. I am 57 and considered a youngster in the chemo room. But then there is pediatric cancer. How hard to watch a child come down and go through chemo and radiation. I am thankful my children did not go through that misery. We had a neighbor with a little girl my sons age with cancer. She is a survivor (my son is now 23).
I hope you have touch many people who will give thanks by giving of themselves.
Happy Thanksgiving, Laurel

I loved the name "Sisterhood of Thrivers". There are days that you don’t know how to thrive, and then you read a column, or someone’s smile blesses you, or you may meet someone with a heavier burden than yours. We are thrivers, and it is a blessing. It is that strive to become the Proverbs 31 woman.

New year resolutions use to be my habit, and a very unsuccessful habit at that. This past year of 2009, I learned so much through prayer. I did not look at the "end" of 2009 as a success or failure, but rather a journey, one that will be completed in 2010, 2011, 2012…God willing. I am learning to reflect back at my weak points and try to strengthen them in the future. I am not going to use the end of the year, but reflect back daily. Talking to God has helped me to realize that this short life that we are granted is a daily journey. It is to be taken in small doses, and to be lived for in humility. So good-bye new year’s resolutions and hello to daily reflective moments. I can change a day at a time, but a year at a time is too much to concieve. As I grow older, each day becomes more precious.
I pray you too have time to reflect upon your day and strive for a better tomorrow!
Happy New Year! Carolina

Carolina,

Yep, I call it, "eating an elephant, one bite at a time". Happiest of New years.

Lovely blog post. It touched me. It caused me to stop and think and pray. Thank you!

What a great blog, Rene! And so timely. I was just thinking on that same verse this week and making a conscious effort to think of all the things that I felt were true, noble, right, pure, and lovely. As I did I could feel myself rising above the mundane useless things that sometimes weighs us down. I felt my spirit lifting and before I knew it, I felt like putting music on the stereo. It was amazing how the thought suddenly occurred to me that "there is so much to think of that is good and so much time has been wasted!" I am making an effort to keep those thoughts foremost in my mind so that as noise-makers come my way I do not let them steal my thoughts. Thanks for the encouragement that you have given.

This is a very profound and timely Bloggie Rene’, and you hit several "nails" on the head. I am also keenly aware when someone listens, and I find I must also practice the art of listening, as it is not a passive mental activity. It feels very fullfilling to be "engaged" in conversation, and unfortunately that doesn’t happen often.
I also find fault with technology in the demise of interpersonal skills, which is rampant in our culture, and I place primary blame on tee vee. Most people aren’t used to reading and thinking and developing an idea or opinion. Viewers of tee vee are used to being "told", and what passes as conversation these days is more like two people swapping disconnected statements about the same subject, with one thinking of what to say next while the other is talking, instead of actually listening. It’s sad.
On a brighter note, it is so refreshing and gives such a feeling of connection, when we do encounter a person like the Gentleman you describe, and we remember those moments, and look froward to seeing them again. Like a lone Daisy in a field of dry grass, those people look positively beautiful.
GodSpeed to Y’all…
Gary
in Tampa

Very well said Gary.. see I am listening :)… and learning.

Thank you for this timely and truth-filled post, Rene.

It really does make such a difference when we take time to stop and really listen to one another.

Oh, but that pruning part … that’s not so much fun, necessary but not fun 😉 . You are the second voice to speak that word this week … I must be in for it soon!

And now, I’m off to make one of those phones, I’ll let my girlies play with it for a while and then find a place to put it as a reminder for myself. Thank you for the great idea.

Bless you,
Catherine 🙂

Your description of the gentlemen from your church, brings back such lovely memories of my dear wonderful late Aunt Dorothy. She was such a wonderful active listener, always making each one of us so special when having a conversation with her. She was also a letter writer. I treasure my saved correspondance with her.
Thank you for the memory of her today.
Active listening, letter writing, and better penmanships are all techniques that I am trying to better in myself, and I definitely need the reminder.
Thank you.

True, so very true:) My daughter and I have been discussing about how people can no longer "sit still". What’s up with this? We find that it is not only a problem for children, but adults as well. How can we listen to others or even be heard ourselves if we can’t be still? Like your son training his puppy, it takes discipline, something that seems to be lost in this time. Psalm 46:10 "Be still, and know that I am God." How can we notice the "awesomeness" as we run through life?

How right you are, most people don’t take the time to really listen, they are too interested in talking about themselves. My husband and I make it a practice to really listen to each other and other people. If one of us slips, the other one reminds.

Dear Rene, I too am a mixture of heritage, with no one nationality to call my own. I have enjoyed reading your Rural Farmgirl Blog as I am a rural farmgirl myself. I have been having some struggles in my life the last year and recently finding MaryJanes Farm and your blog has helped me get through a lot of it. Thanks so much and keep up the good work. I will be watching for more help and inspiration.

It is a hard thing, to open our hearts for love, acceptance, and dealing honorably, to find hurtful things or words. But, it shows that you are open. I have found that I have to remain open and vulnerable or I cannot experience the joy and love of life. And that is very tough. But I make the choice to stay open. It is good to hear of how encouragement comes to others. I have had experiences similar to yours and have found at times that I needed those reminders sitting around for comfort, like your little badger.

Rene:

 I too am Native American. My totems have been herons, but lately they have been eagles and hawks. I don’t know the true meaning of these in Cherokee but it gives me strength and courage when I see them. I find comfort in nature. I know you are blessed by being able to write from the heart.

Bonnie

Thank you (from a different Mary Jane that lives in FL)

Both sides of my family are of Scotch/Irish and Native American decent. I am a true believer that people and things come into our lives for a reason. I have been really busy lately,but I am so glad I took time to read this blog. Thanks ,Blessings to you and Love to all, Suzy, Texas