Tag: happiness

Moving on…

~ ~M

Capture

To have a friend, you must be a friend. ~M

I once had a friend who I loved completely. Probably more than I even should’ve. But the thing is, they weren’t there to give, but to take instead. And they took a lot from me. The last straw was when they plagiarized some of my work. And rather than make things right, and give me credit in their book, they decided to instead tell me that I should feel honored for what they did, and they couldn’t guarantee that they wouldn’t do it again.

Needless to say, we are no longer friends, and after looking them up on social media, I proceeded to block every online place I could think of that they might be. In doing so, I discovered just how unashamed they were for their actions because they are out there promoting their book, taking full credit for something that isn’t entirely theirs. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was seeing because I trusted this person for five years, and we were as close as friends could be. But apparently, some people have no regard for others, and they just want to stomp on anyone who gets in their way.  I’m quite sure this person will likely steal from me again, and so I’m not sure what I will do if that happens. It’s bad enough when random strangers steal your work, but it’s a whole different story when it’s someone you were once really close too.

Anyway, it’s just good to finally be done with this person and to never have to hear from them again. I think the worst part is that my trust has been broken, and that’s something that is very difficult to get back once it’s taken from you. But I’m moving on, and I’m literally doing so, as I’m just about to move several states away from where I currently am. It’s freeing to know that I’ll soon be starting over, and I guess it’s good I’m not dragging along any drama with me when I go. I’m really excited about what’s ahead, and I think this new, exciting change is just what I need.

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/move-key-new-apartment-catchment-2481718/

May Writing Prompts

~ ~M ~ 39 Comments

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Welcome to another month of writing prompts.  Enjoy! ~M xo

  1. Galaxy girl
  2. At the heart of a window
  3. Dead end drives
  4. Sprinkles of you
  5. The days of Alice
  6. When we believe
  7. Chili cheese custard
  8. The afterglow effect
  9. Theodore Thirsty
  10. A number above
  11. Ringlets and roses
  12. Sinking moon
  13. Hidden in the mangroves
  14. Slipping on an iceberg
  15. Watchful Winifred
  16. The eye of the elephant
  17. A slave to sudden impulses
  18. Toasty in Topeka
  19. Wired for more
  20. People pleasers
  21. Sipping on subterfuge
  22. Knee deep
  23. Cautionary power
  24. Minty descriptions
  25. Lemony liabilities
  26. Dragon scales
  27. Men of mystery
  28. Whimsy and wildflowers
  29. Fight on fighter
  30. Creative canvasses
  31. The final orbit

If you’re new to prompt writing, and don’t really understand how to use the prompts, please consider the following writing exercise.

Settle into your favorite place in the house with a hot drink to warm your waking bones.  Once you’ve warmed up a bit; grab your journal, a trusty pen, and a timer.  Then, set your timer for ten minutes and begin writing about one of the prompts.  Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, neatness, or anything like that; just write!  Write about anything and everything that comes to your mind, and don’t stop until the ten minutes are up.

I often find myself writing short stories or poems during those ten minutes, but you can write about anything you like.  And don’t be alarmed if what you’ve written doesn’t quite make sense.  The whole idea behind doing this exercise is to get your mind ready and working so that you can begin your day.  Just think of it as exercise for your brain, and once you’ve done your ten minutes of writing, you’ll feel more prepared to tackle the rest of your day.

As always, I will be writing and posting over on my other blog, which can be found here. So please come visit me if you get a chance, and hopefully I can keep up with all of you!

And one last thing before I forget!  I made a quick tutorial for those of you who have been having trouble trying to figure out how to Pingback your posts.  Please go here, if you’d like to view the tutorial.  😉

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/rose-pink-flower-bright-beautiful-4031153/

April Writing Prompts

~ ~M ~ 41 Comments

April writing prompts

Welcome to another month of writing prompts.  Enjoy! ~M xo

1. Pouting petals
2. Kansas corners
3. Lustrous lamplights
4. Suburban stays
5. Only resolve
6. Words of rediscovery
7. Beauty and wisdom
8. Times arrow
9. Soup sandwiches
10. The last olive branch
11. Boils, bums, and a humming of drums
12. Sabotaging success
13. Corrupted and claimed
14. Fluctuating follies
15. Mixed greens and marmalade
16. Tripping through the tulips
17. Spontaneous splatters
18. Dream whip
19. He was her moon
20. Sun-kissed sequins
21. That’s a start to something stupid
22. Tangible and tasty
23. The final endeavor of Felicity Frank
24. Conquered convictions
25. Perfect for pulling
26. Single suitcase in the hall
27. The bear under the bridge
28. Watermelon rose
29. Snow donuts
30. The crusades

If you’re new to prompt writing, and don’t really understand how to use the prompts, please consider the following writing exercise.

Settle into your favorite place in the house with a hot drink to warm your waking bones.  Once you’ve warmed up a bit; grab your journal, a trusty pen, and a timer.  Then, set your timer for ten minutes and begin writing about one of the prompts.  Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, neatness, or anything like that; just write!  Write about anything and everything that comes to your mind, and don’t stop until the ten minutes are up.

I often find myself writing short stories or poems during those ten minutes, but you can write about anything you like.  And don’t be alarmed if what you’ve written doesn’t quite make sense.  The whole idea behind doing this exercise is to get your mind ready and working so that you can begin your day.  Just think of it as exercise for your brain, and once you’ve done your ten minutes of writing, you’ll feel more prepared to tackle the rest of your day.

As always, I will be writing and posting over on my other blog, which can be found here. So please come visit me if you get a chance, and hopefully I can keep up with all of you!

And one last thing before I forget!  I made a quick tutorial for those of you who have been having trouble trying to figure out how to Pingback your posts.  Please go here, if you’d like to view the tutorial.  😉

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/stork-bird-socket-spring-4098979/

Free book!

~ ~M ~ 2 Comments

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Hey everyone,

If you’re an avid reader, lover of poetry, or just plain bored and need something to do, I have good news for you today.  I’ve decided to offer my book, Beneath the Canopy, as a free download.  My book will be available from 3/20/2020 –  3/24/2020.  I hope all of you will enjoy it, and if you do decide to read it, I‘d really appreciate it if you reviewed it as well.  Thanks in advance, and happy reading!

Please click on one of the links below to get your free copy today!

Amazon-US  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-UK  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-DE  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-FR  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-ES  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-IT  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-NL  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-JP  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-BR  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-CA  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-MX  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-AU  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

Amazon-IN  Ebook- Beneath the Canopy.

*Please let me know if you have trouble with any of the links.  😉 ~M xo

A symphony is always good…

~ ~M ~ 9 Comments

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“Having the potential to be good is not the same as actually being good, but a symphony is always good.” ~M

*I got to go to a symphony last night.  The theme was a Scottish fantasy, which featured Brahms, Symphony No. 2 in D major.  This picture was taken before everyone was actually there, but you can see still several musicians tuning their instruments.  It was quite a lovely night and I was lucky enough to get free tickets to the event.

February Writing Prompts ❤️

~ ~M ~ 29 Comments

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Welcome to another month full of writing prompts!  I often write the prompts throughout the month when an idea or thought hits me. These ideas often come from snippets of conversations that I’ve had with family or friends. So essentially, these prompts are representative of my life, and all the fun, weird, crazy parts of it. I know some of you have written entire books based on these prompts, and that always leaves me in amazement, especially knowing that parts of my life are now intertwined with parts of yours. So please enjoy these prompts, which are not always just random words, but rather words which mean something to me. I hope they’ll eventually have special meaning for you as well.  ~M xo

  1. Winter garden
  2. Troll boogers
  3. Sexy savvy Sally
  4. Polka dots and dice
  5. Banana river
  6. Tiny little mansion
  7. Lookout mountain
  8. Lucky Trumble
  9. Mixed sparks
  10. Rose colored glasses
  11. Stalkers of the night
  12. Cookies or cream
  13. Standing in the presence of greatness
  14. Those were the days
  15. All I need is you
  16. Predictable shapes
  17. Under a soft flame
  18. In my absence
  19. The crooked crow
  20. Out of reach
  21. The bamboo forest
  22. Deli market delights
  23. Another broken resolution
  24. Farther up the flag pole
  25. A portrait of who she was
  26. Nickels and dimes
  27. Dressed in white
  28. Sentimental situations
  29. Burnt toast testers

If you’re new to prompt writing, and don’t really understand how to use the prompts, please consider the following writing exercise.

Settle into your favorite place in the house with a hot drink to warm your waking bones.  Once you’ve warmed up a bit; grab your journal, a trusty pen, and a timer.  Then, set your timer for ten minutes and begin writing about one of the prompts.  Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, neatness, or anything like that; just write!  Write about anything and everything that comes to your mind, and don’t stop until the ten minutes are up.

I often find myself writing short stories or poems during those ten minutes, but you can write about anything you like.  And don’t be alarmed if what you’ve written doesn’t quite make sense.  The whole idea behind doing this exercise is to get your mind ready and working so that you can begin your day.  Just think of it as exercise for your brain, and once you’ve done your ten minutes of writing, you’ll feel more prepared to tackle the rest of your day.

As always, I will be writing and posting over on my other blog, which can be found here. So please come visit me if you get a chance, and hopefully I can keep up with all of you!

And one last thing before I forget!  I made a quick tutorial for those of you who have been having trouble trying to figure out how to Pingback your posts.  Please go here, if you’d like to view the tutorial.  😉

A reminder for me and you…

~ ~M ~ 1 Comment

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“We must focus on the beauty of the dance, while we still have the chance.  ~M

 

My quote today was inspired by the following quote.  Such powerful words always cause me to reflect upon my own life and its meaning.

This existence of ours is as transient as autumn clouds.
To watch the birth and death of beings is like looking at the movements of a dance.
A lifetime is like a flash of lightning in the sky,
rushing by, like a torrent down a steep mountain.

—Gautama Buddha

Photo credit: https://pixabay.com/photos/man-headless-fantasy-surreal-woman-4724756/

 

Thoughts for the day…

~ ~M ~ 6 Comments

One thing this year has taught me is that I’m better off without people in my life who only want to say hurtful things about others. This is one reason I decided to leave social media last year, and I haven’t regretted my decision for a second. We all have our flaws and nobody is better than anyone else. Each of us has our own ideas and opinions and that makes us all unique and beautiful in our own way. An old rule I’m forever trying to follow is, “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” I think this is the first thing any of us should be asking ourselves before we say anything. We need to bring back unity into the world, and it’s so easy to do that when we spread kindness. These are just my thoughts for the day. I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of the new year. Let’s try to make it a positive one! Much love to all of you! ~M xo

P.S. I’ve been without WiFi for the majority of the past three weeks, which has made it difficult to respond to comments and read posts. I will try my best to respond and catch up with all of you as soon as I can. 😉

Five a Day

~ ~M ~ 29 Comments

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I recently came up with an idea for a way that my family and I could improve our lives and also help others in the process. I call it “Five a Day.” I feel like so often, we try to do so much at once to make positive changes in our lives, and then we get burnt out quickly. So I wanted to figure out a way that could benefit all of us here at home, without making drastic changes that are nearly impossible to maintain. I knew I wanted me and my family to start giving more, to be more productive, to spread kindness, to be healthier, and to make time for things that we all enjoy. So here’s what our Five a Day consists of:

1.) Get rid of one thing every day.

2.) Do one productive thing every day.

3.) Spread kindness at least one way every day.

4.) Do one thing you enjoy every day.

5.) Do one healthy thing every day.

We started this about a week ago, and it’s been going really good. The kids seem to be enjoying it, and we talk about all the things we’ve done over dinner every night. I think all of us are having fun finding things around the house that we know we no longer need. It’s been sort of like a scavenger hunt every day. And we plan to donate everything to a local charity once we accumulate enough stuff. Our pile is definitely growing, as you can see in the picture, and this is just one weeks’ worth of items we’ve collected. Anyway, I just wanted to share this idea with all of you because I know how overwhelming making healthy changes in our lives can often be, and I’ve found this to be a simple way to instill some positive changes in my own life and help my family develop some positive changes too. If you decide to implement the Five a Day routine into your own life, I’d love to hear how it works out for you.  And if you have any other ideas for self-improvement, I’d love to hear about those as well.

Have a great week, everyone! ~M xo

Reality check

~ ~M ~ 10 Comments

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There are some amazing people in my life who I can’t forget because they are always there for me. Even so, life is still very hard sometimes, and it’s easy to feel like I deserve a better life than the one I have. Sometimes I even chase after things that aren’t good for me, and I end up causing myself so much heartache and pain. Slowly but surely though, I have been learning to let go of the things that aren’t meant to be, and to stop feeling as if I should have more. Over the past couple of years, especially, I have seen many people in my life come and go, and it has been extremely troublesome for me. I’ve often felt lonely, abandoned, and disappointed beyond words. And many times, just as I thought that God was answering my prayers, there were instances where my hopes were suddenly shattered, and I began to blame God for all of it. I realize now though that I’ve been looking beyond what is right in front of me every day. I’ve been disregarding the many blessings that I do have and wasting so much of my time chasing empty promises. So today, as I look back and think about how things have turned out; I’m looking at everything in a more positive light and feeling grateful for the life I’ve been given.