Love what you have…

Posted by random olio

Do you enjoy your life? Do you work hard to meet some unattainable goal? Do you ever wonder why you try so hard, and whether you are missing out on some other aspect of your life in the process?

I woke up this morning (of course not wanting to get out of bed), with an immense amount of gratitude and appreciation for what I have today. It is so easy to look forward at what is next, to anticipate that x or y will happen, and in doing so we lose sight of what is NOW, what is today. What if you were able to only look at what you had to accomplish today? What if we had no capacity to wonder how we will ever accomplish what is on our ongoing plate of to-dos, and we could only do what was possible today?

For those of you that know me well, or who have been following my blog for a while know that I have an interest in personal finance. As I have grown up, I’ve been in situations where life has forced me to understand the steps to take regarding wills, estates, living wills, life insurance, etc. This has led me to want to know more and understand what we can do to set up our financial future for ourselves and family (or future family).

Due to my interest in personal finance, I follow the LearnVest newsletter each day. Recently I found a newsletter I saved from January that really spoke to me about gratitude. While I do not think I have Money Comparisonitis, this newsletter on “Money Comparisonitis” (specifically the 4th bullet) can cross over to any area of our life. I also think the following points in their newsletter are good reminders:

“Be grateful for the things you already have, whether that means your health, close friendships, the love of your family or your fulfilling career.”

Later it says:

“One way to better appreciate the good things is to make a gratitude list every day, which will remind you of everything in your life you’re already grateful for. And, ultimately, that’s the best way to keep comparisonitis at bay.”

What if we lived in present gratitude instead of moments of anticipation? What is on my gratitude list will be different from what is on yours, but nevertheless we all have a lot to be grateful for.

It is almost time for the weekend. What if we focused on gratitude and appreciation for the next few days?!

Lip Dubbed Proposal – Must See Video!

Posted by random olio

Hope you had a relaxing holiday weekend! We had a good weekend of great food, people, and conversation. I decided to take yesterday off from blogging, my mind just needed a bit of a break!

I wanted to share an inspiring video with you that I think has been all over the Internet this past weekend. It is of a Portland couple and their Lip Dubbed Wedding Proposal. It is one of the most clever proposals I have ever seen. This is the background story connected to the video.

Hope you enjoyed it! It is another reason I love Portlanders. They are definitely a clever and creative bunch. It makes me think of all the ideas that could be out there that have not been discovered or shared.

Enjoy your Tuesday!

Sympathy, Praise, and Approval

Posted by random olio

A good friend would often remind me in college to: “Never look to others for sympathy, praise, and approval.” I have never forgotten this and often remind myself of this when I feel a void of appreciation or approval from others.

The thing is, I can be a pleaser, and I hate it. I think it originated when I was a kid. Many times things in our house were chaotic, and I think in order to balance out the chaos, I wanted to make everything happy and calm. I think subconsciously I hoped that my parents would notice me if I was just good all the time. I am not sure that ever really worked. I do not think they had the time or space to think in that way, they were too busy trying to just put food on the table. What became problematic about that is that it never really left me. I have days where I hate that I am such a pleaser, and other days when I think it is fine to want to make others happy.

What is strange is deep down I am confident in myself, and I do not really care what other people think, however, there is a part of me that feels validated by the approval of others. Who does not feel grateful and appreciated by the feedback and approval from others?

So when I read this Daily Om this past week, it really resonated with me. Specifically this line:

“We were not honored as individuals in our own right, with a will and purpose of our own, to be determined by our own unfolding. As a result, we learned to look outside of ourselves for approval, support, and direction rather than look within.”

For the most part I think I look within for direction and approval in my life, but I would like to watch for when I might look to others for sympathy, praise, or support and shift my thought back to my own inner guidance and acceptance.

What do you think?

Ads and Blogger Awards

Posted by random olio

So I just learned that you might be seeing ads on my blog. (From what I can tell it happens when you click into the complete blog post.) In further researching, I found that I can remove it by paying WordPress a yearly fee, but I decided — forget that. Instead, I am going to self-host my blog and in turn have the ability to have many other options, widgets, and resources. Instead of just self-hosting my blog I have decided to also change the look and feel of Random Olio and get rid of those annoying ads.

Thanks to WordPress the ads just started appearing. No notification, I just found these details about these ads on their website. So far I have seen a few YouTube video ads and I have been told there has also been a pest control video too. Thank you for your patience and for ignoring these annoying ads until I can finish the upgrade to my site!

On a different note, I was nominated for the Lovely Blogger award, by: World on a Platter and for a 2nd time the Versatile Blogger award, this time by: The Usual Bliss. Thank you both for the nominations! I thought I would handle the response here in a combined post. So 5 more things about me (sorry I am breaking the rules, I am supposed to have 7 things, but I am trying to keep it short).

I do not cook. I do not really know how. After 5 summers of 4-H baking I would call myself a baker.
I am direct and sometimes have no sensor whatsoever.
I will stand up for those I love, so do mess with those dear to me.
I love babies. I do not have one of my own yet, but am addicted to precious little babies.
I am a sucker for anything with salt on it. Sorry sugar, you play 2nd fiddle.

I already nominated folks in this post, but will add a few more for the Lovely Blogger Award:

Roost

not without salt (such a clever name)

Paper Morning

Design Crush

Side of the Road Sessions (mentioned in older post, but the site is newly redesigned and launched!)

Thank you again for the nominations!

An apple for the teacher?

Posted by random olio

I read this quote yesterday, only now I cannot remember where I found it.

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

-Henry Adams

It inspired me. It made me think of my different teachers. Mrs. Murray for 4th and 5th grade. Mrs. MacDougal for Kindergarten, Dr. Pruis was second grade. I think I could list them all. Well at least my elementary school teachers. I guess there were also a few high school teachers that really had an impact. One in particular my senior year. I was going through a really hard time with some family issues and had a hard time focusing on school. My english teacher knew that things were not easy and instead of having me write a report on the book we were reading in class, she had me write about what I was going through. I would give anything to be able to read the report I turned in. I have always been grateful for her intuition to know that what I was going through was more important than writing about Shakespeare. Just one example of how I was affected by this teacher.

I had professors in college that changed the direction of my life. I remember my junior year of college very clearly. It was the year I remember finding my voice. I wrote a paper for a Sociology class. Somehow the topic was on “voice.” Which I know sounds a bit random, but in the way I was raised, we were not really encouraged to speak up and be direct. Through the research I did for my paper, I went through a process and realized how I kept so much inside. I was done with doing that and began speaking up and taking a stand for myself, and well…the rest is history.

Lastly, I think of all my different art teachers. They taught me to look beyond a blue sky and a house with a white picket fence. Somehow art became a coping mechanism for me growing up. I was never amazing at it, but I was not horrible either. Art made me feel like I could make it through tough times. It inspired me about the possibilities in life. I could lose myself while throwing a pot on the wheel, and if I was truly mentally centered, I could make a decent, balanced, aligned piece worth showing someone else. I was proud of my work. Art made me feel whole.

Thank you for all the teachers out there that affected my life and experience. Do you remember the teachers that changed your life?