Heart Therapy: What are my Values

What are my values?

Education: beliefs and philosophy on education for myself/family:

I believe sometimes LIFE is our educator. I do believe a formal education or skilled training is obviously important, but I don’t feel that our society should be set measure success by education alone. I know some wonderfully talented individuals who don’t have formal training in their craft and are very deserving of success.

Politics:

 I like to keep up-to-date on current events. My job requires me to have regular contact with my local and state legislators which has forced me to look at politics differently than I did before. I like to debate some issues, but I don’t get too worked up about much in regards to politics.

Religion: I am a very spiritual person.

Parenting: How do I want to raise my kids? :

I hope my kids are to be open-minded, compassionate, helpful, respectful, loving children who carry these values and more into their adulthood. I want them to be productful individuals who give back to their communities. We are very family oriented. A favorite saying of mine is…I surround myself with friends who are like family and family who are like friends. I hope my children use this mantra when they choose the people who they want to surround them in their lives. I hope they will stay true to who they are in the decisions they make for themselves throughout their lives. Also teaching them about positive thinking & gratitude.

Love Relationship: What characteristics are most important:

Shared values, security, partnership, communication, trust, loyalty, fun, and the patience to grow with each other through life changes.

Men: who is the ideal man for you (if you aren't married)

I have my ideal mate.

Friends: what kind of friends am I attracted to?

open minded, compassionate, honest, fun, creative, someone who can think for themselves, someone who is true to themselves, someone who is willing to look at themselves, their strengths and their faults. Someone to have good conversation. Positive people

Movies: what kind do I like best?

Romantic, period pieces.
ex: Pride & Prejudice

Books: Favorites?

Self help, Inspirational, spiritual, quotes. A couple of my favorite authors are Jodi Piccoult & Elizabeth Gilbert. The Red Tent is a favorite book of mine.

Jewelry: What is my style?

Silver, gemstones, bangles, earrings, bracelets, and rings. To see a few of my favorite pieces view this {Style Statement post}

Fashion:

Feminine, coordinated, and classic with punches of personality.

Cars: If I could buy any, which 2 would I choose?

Not sure

Architecture and House Style:

I love two story victorian, cottage style homes with lots of character.

Furniture:

Comfy…a mix of new and old…

Gemstone:

Moonstone

Weather:

I love the four seasons. I love getting outside and capturing the essence of each season through photography. I love rainy days for cuddling up with a blanket and a book. I love warm, sunny days for picnics on the beach, I love the silence of a winter snowfall and the smell of a cool, crisp Autumn evening.

Geography: favorite landscape:

I love living in Michigan. I am an hour away from all sorts of different landscapes. Beaches of Lake Michigan, Forest and rivers, Urban, farmland…love it all.

Season: All of them

Music for Listening:

I am loving Adele right now. I have a wide variety of tastes when it comes to music.

Music for Dancing:

Hip-Hop! Pop

Leisure Time Activity:

Reading, My blog, crafting, decorating, Family time, dinner & drinks with friends.

Kick-up-your-heels fun:

Girl time! DANCING!

Exercise:

Yoga, walking, cardio

Television Show:

Parenthood & Vampire Diaries

Food to cook/eat

Pasta dishes, salads, fruit and soups

Restaurant:

Various…I like to try new things.

Shopping Place

Local shops, Meijer, Target, Kohl’s, TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, Thrift Stores, Goodwill, Mall

Vacation

I love road trips. I love taking the train to Chicago. Anywhere beachy

Sport to play

I don’t play any sports, but do to coaching being a part of lifestyle I watch a lot of boys and girls basketball…college & high school. I enjoy watching football also.

Color

I am loving shades of grey right now. Red, Eggplant purple, dark teal, aqua and white are also a few of my favorites.

Fabrics:

Colorful, Feminine, and sometimes lacey.

Flowers: Peonies, babies breath, lavender, hydrangeas, and roses.

Conversation: about what and with whom?

I love getting into deep conversations with people and finding out about who they truly are and what matters to them.

Favorite Age Group to hang out with?

Late 20’s to Late 30’s

I hope you enjoyed getting to know a little bit more about me!

Coffee Talk Tuesday

Good Afternoon! I am a little late in posting this today because of internet troubles…ugh! I will say that not much really happened this last week. I had a couple days when I was homebound from not feeling well. I didn’t sleep for a whole night which threw off my sleeping schedule. I am a little nervous as I enter my last trimester of the pregnancy that I will have even more trouble sleeping.
But…

I am very grateful for the movements of my little one each day. I had forgotten how uncomfortable baby hiccups can be, but getting to place J.J’s hand on my tummy as we lay in bed in the morning for him to feel how strong the movements of the baby have become brings me a lot of joy. My friends and family have begun planning our baby shower which has also renewed my faith in how much support I have surrounding me and our baby. It has been fun to have creative input in the baby shower planning process because I love planning things like that. Pinterest has been a fun resource to collect ideas and inspiration. It is my new addiction!

Ashley at Eisy Morgan prompted us to speak about Fear in her weekly Heart Therapy series. It is nice to be able to say that right now I feel okay. I am not fearful of anything right now. I am grateful for that! I look forward to the holiday season and our new addition to the family. I look forward to the changes our family will make with this addition. I look forward to completing the nursery. Having said all that I am a complex, emotional woman who can change quite quickly from time to time. Today I don’t fear anything, but tomorrow I could. The worries I had a couple weeks ago could creep up again and plague me, but today I will relish in the feeling of not being fearful and having faith that things will work out the way they are supposed to. My mantra in my life has mostly been to have faith that what is supposed to happen will happen and even if it is difficult from time to time there is a lesson of growth or self awareness nestled within that moment of difficulty. When I begin to get fearful I try my best to remind myself of this.

What is your mantra in tough times? What do you remind yourself when life throws you disappointments?

I love hearing others stories so please share them with me. I think one of the greatest things we can do for each other is to share our stories so that others may not feel alone in their times of need.

Don’t you agree?

Linking to:

{Virtual Coffee}
{Heart Therapy}
{I Am Grateful For}

Until next time…

Coffee Talk Tuesday

Good Morning! Thank you again for coming on by for me to share my thoughts with you again today. This last week the topic of fatherhood has been weighing on my mind lately. You see I grew up with a father who was mostly absent from my life and I worked hard for a many years to make my marriage work so that my children had their father present in their life. Since my divorce 4 years ago my children have learned a new and uncharted aspect of their father…one that I quite often sheltered them from.

When I decided to separate from my husband it was shocking news to my two young children. My ex husband and I were very good at pretending for our kids that everything was okay between us so they never had any idea that there were problems. There has been many hurt feelings since the separation and divorce once they began seeing a more selfish side to their father. Again an aspect of him that I sheltered them from. Throughout all of the adjustments, disappointments and hurt I would always  reassure my children that there father still loved them…Until I had my counselor tell me to stop.

He explained to me that by reassuring them I was teaching them that it was okay to hurt and disappoint and that is how they would eventually see love. He asked me this question…Did that kind of love from him fulfill and work for you? Him asking my that was very profound for me and changed how I approached my children’s relationship with their father. I quit making excuses for him and his behavior and I quit trying to control how my children viewed their dad. Don’t get me wrong I still listened and comforted them, but I just approached it differently than I had before.

My daughter is sixteen now and very much has a mind of her own. She sees things that I can’t shelter her from, can’t protect her from, and can’t explain away from her. Her relationship with her dad is very rocky and she no longer spends time with him. Seeing her in pain breaks my heart because I know all to well the thoughts and feelings that a young girl can take on when they have an absent father. I try to tell myself this is her path in life and that what happens to her now shapes who she is becoming and that is already planned out for her by a higher source. I hope she takes the stronger path and doesn’t fall to many times from how the relationship with her father has effected her, but again all I can do is listen, comfort and guide from my position as her mother. It has been hard for her and hard for me.

I am very grateful to now have a wonderful man in my life that does not bring hurt and disappoint along with the relationship. I know that if I had not learned the lessons I had from my first marriage that I quite possible would have missed or dismissed this person when he came along.

My hope is that my daughter doesn’t have to go through those same life lessons. I hope that she doesn’t look for validation from the wrong people. I hope that she recognizes good people when they come into her life. I hope she knows herself well enough to know what she deserves and what she doesn’t. I hope she knows what love should be and what it shouldn’t be. That is my hope for her future.

Linking to:

{Virtual Coffee}
{Heart Therapy}
{I Am Grateful For}

Until next time…

Link up to my Shades of the Season Party {Here}!

Coffee Talk Tuesday & A little Heart Therapy

Welcome! Come on in and join me for a cup of coffee on this fine Tuesday. Let’s catch up on what’s been going on in our lives. Share and support each other.

What has been going on with me? Well I am a full 6 months prego last week!. Some days I feel great, other days I feel extremely tired and huge. It warms my heart with joy to wake up every morning to an active moving baby. Sometimes I lay in bed longer than time allows just so I can feel my tummy bouncing around with an active baby. I can’t wait to welcome our little one into our family. You see this is going to be a big change for our lifestyle. My two children are teenagers and it has been 13 years since I have had a baby. I am essentially starting over into a life that I had already maneuvered and grew through many years ago. Divorce, new relationship, engaged, new baby = starting all over again. I have always enjoyed motherhood and knew it was as essential part of what made me who I am. So it feels completely natural for me to be here again.

As I enter this new phase of my life all over again the thing that has been on my mind are relationships. Relationships with friends who aren’t as prominent in my life as they once were. I became pregnant and I stopped hearing from or having interaction with a few friends. I am struggling with this. I feel like I should be and need to be grateful for my friends and family who have been there to share the ups and a few downs of this pregnancy, but I mourn the change in the relationships of those who haven’t. In all honesty I am a little hurt and resentful towards those relationships. I don’t want to be, but I am. I love these quotes…

They speak to me on how I am feeling.

I know that I will be fine and everything happens for a reason, but during this transitionary period in my life I wonder what the future will bring. Happiness, Gratitude, joy, Growth and moving forward? Thank you for listening today. It was a much needed talk. I needed an outlet for how I was feeling.

I am thankful for the following things this week…

A sweet, emotional, and sentimental proposal on Friday…

My beautiful ring…

Date night & Sweetest Day flowers…

Great Fall weather…

A growing belly…

Until next time…

 

Heart Therapy

Ashley over at {Eisy Morgan} has started a new blog series with prompts to promote “Heart Therapy”. This week she is asking us to share a letter to our younger self. Being an person who loves to journal I have done this exercise a few times and here is my most recent letter to myself.

Love your self first and everything else falls into line. You really have to love yourself to get anything done in this world. {Lucille Ball}

Hello there dear beautiful Woman! How are you today? Do you realize today how brilliant and wonderful you are? If not let let me take a minute to list the ways.
You are beautiful inside and out.
You are kind and love to care for your loved ones.
Sometimes you need to be reminded to pay attention to your needs and wants too, but you try often to be aware.
You are compassionate and smart.
Your positive, soft energy is often felt even after you exit a room…so I have been told.
You passionately protect your loved ones.
You keep people thinking.
You focus on a person’s strengths rather than their faults and often encourage everyone to be there best.
You do your best to live with integrity and steer clear of gossip and negativity.
On top of all of these grand qualities you are also very creative.
You easily pick up on how to do a great many things and then do them with ease.
You are a nurturing, caring, loving mother.
You have a fantastic ear for listening.
Your intuition and empathy are two of your greatest qualities.
Listen to your “authentic” self more often!
You have touched many with your loving wisdom.
You try to surround yourself with peace…NO drama for this girl. It completely disrupts your emotional rhythm.
Speaking of emotions…They are another one of your greatest assets. You show what you feel and there is never any harm in wearing your heart on your sleeve. It is who you are! Embrace it!
Thoughts become things…Choose the good ones!
Don’t be defined by others!

To love oneself is the beginning of a life long romance {Oscar Wilde}