The magic is in the appreciation of the trivial and the mundane which defines the experience of life.

Eleanor Lerman‘s poem .. Starfish best expresses the trivial and mundane moments life allows us to live:

This is what life does. It lets you walk up to the store to buy breakfast and the paper, on a stiff knee.
It lets you choose the way you have your eggs, your coffee. Then it sits a fisherman down beside you at the counter who say, Last night, the channel was full of starfish.

And you wonder, is this a message, finally, or just another day?

Life lets you take the dog for a walk down to the pond, where whole generations of biological processes are boiling beneath the mud. Reeds speak to you of the natural world: they whisper, they sing. And herons pass by.

Are you old enough to appreciate the moment? Too old?
There is movement beneath the water, but it may be nothing. There may be nothing going on.

And then life suggests that you remember the years you ran around, the years you developed a shocking lifestyle, advocated careless abandon, owned a chilly heart. Upon reflection, you are genuinely surprised to find how quiet you have become.

And then life lets you go home to think about all this. Which you do, for quite a long time.

Later, you wake up beside your old love, the one who never had any conditions, the one who waited you out. This is life’s way of letting you know that you are lucky. (It won’t give you smart or brave, so you’ll have to settle for lucky.) Because you were born at a good time. Because you were able to listen when people spoke to you. Because you stopped when you should have and started again.

So life lets you have a sandwich, and pie for your late night dessert. (Pie for the dog, as well.) And then life sends you back to bed, to dreamland, while outside, the starfish drift through the channel, with smiles on their starry faces as they head out to deep water, to the far and boundless sea.

The human existence defined in the experience of a fragile mortality.

50… a threshold to cross. 50 reminds me to look upon the difficulties, disappointments, fears, and failures I’ve experienced as important life lessons, which have prepared me to cross the threshold. Some things in life just have to be learned the hard way and the only way to get through them is to GO through them. 50 also reminds me of the achievements and joys that were made possible because I chose to GO through the challenges and to face my fears.

While my loved ones may object to me going gray, I challenge them to see the youthful spirit that truly is me.

As I cross the threshold I embrace my gray hairs as a reminder of my journey, as well as a challenge to bring forth my spirit for others to see. Crossing the threshold I leave behind thoughts and ideas that no longer apply to the person I have become; bitter sweet relationships have come and gone left behind to blow in the winds of time. It also means practicing peace and serenity in my every day actions. It’s time to take a detour from the highway and enjoy an undiscovered dirt road.

Daisy Says: Courageously living with intention.

The human life is frail and in relation to earth… it is very short.
I have found that it is our very personal relationship with ourselves and each other that define the unique experience of our life. May yours be a plentiful one with a bounty of Love.

Daisy Says: To love and be loved is my wish to you. Merry Christmas

The same can be said for a bountiful life. Take a few minutes to focus on what is going right in your life.

When I did this simple exercise I began noticing how much was going right, I have health and joy, the love of family and friends, a warm bed, a happy heart, a purposeful life and the opportunity to be of service to others.

When you focus on what is good and what is going right, you’ll discover you are living a bountiful life.

When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn. -Harriet Beecher Stowe-

Daisy Says: Happy Thanksgiving

We can experience the best this life has to offer through discipline and self control. The fruit of the spirit is self control, making the choice to pay the price of discipline and not just do what we feel.

Most often than not people are out of control in their spending, in their emotions, in their eating, in their attitudes, lazy, not taking charge in their life.

Take charge and be in control, be disciplined, have a plan and stick to your plan.

Each and everyone has the ability to take charge of their life through discipline and self control. Just like a muscle the more you develop discipline and self control the easier it will be to exercise discipline and self control at crucial decision making moments in your life.

Every time we take the easy way out we deprive ourselves of the opportunity to exercise discipline and self control. Many don’t want to pay the price that is required of discipline and self control. The challenge is to do what is right even if it is going to inconvenience you and make you feel uncomfortable; rest assured that discipline will produce great rewards.

There are two kinds of pain, the pain of discipline and the pain of regret. The price of discipline is far less to pay then the price of regrets. It’s painful to look back and see how you’ve wasted weeks or months just because you were not willing to pay the price to exercise self control and discipline.

Discipline ensures you a bright tomorrow.

Discipline in finance allows you to enjoy a more bountiful life
Discipline in eating habits allows you to enjoy a healthier life
Discipline in controlling negative thoughts allows you to enjoy a happier life

Just like it takes time to form bad habits it takes time to form good habits.

Discipline and self-control means we need to stay the course despite how uncomfortable we may feel as we reign in the temptation to do otherwise.

Daisy Says: Self discipline is the dividing line between mediocrity and excellence.