UPDATE: The winners are Sheryl Stark and Theresa Piper!
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Does this picture stress you out? The Christmas tree branches beside the notes that will fill up a New Year’s resolutions list…?

My professional background, before I became a writer, was as a project/program manager. So, lists, plans, goals are kind of in my DNA. I know, I’m one of those people. A “To Do lister”, a planner. Not that having a plan guarantees I’ll follow it. Still, I love this time of year. The decorations are coming down. My “mind map” for the coming year’s work and personal goals is starting to take shape. For years, I ran online workshops, teaching other writers how to construct a mind map and a project plan to get them where they wanted to be. I kind of miss teaching, but a couple of years ago, I decided to pull back from online teaching. I wanted more “me” time.

However, I still do the planning—even if my plans go awry. Having a vision of what I want to achieve keeps me moving forward. Yes, my plans are less aggressive now. They allow for lots of downtime. This year will have even more, since we’re in the midst of the pandemic and this household has moved toward supporting the kids’ education from home. There won’t be any travel plans that include overnighters anywhere. If we can’t go somewhere that’s within a couple hours’ drive, and where we can keep isolated from other people, we’re not doing it. Yes, safety is part of this year’s plan. It wasn’t anywhere in last year’s goals but we adjusted rapidly. To me, that’s how plans roll. There has to be room for adjusting to unexpected events.

So, if the thought of planning your New Year’s goals doesn’t make you break out in hives, when do you begin? Have you been jotting down notes already? Do you have home improvement plans? Online classes you want to take? Places you want to visit (which I hope include safety measures!)? Work goals you want to strive to achieve?

Share a few of the things you have on your list or in your mind for a chance to win your choice of one of my downloadable stories! I will choose two winners!

I rabbited away from work today. Completely.

If you recall me talking about it, I broke my left pinky in a fall in September. I wore a splint for six weeks and thought that would be that. However, my middle, ring, and pinky fingers still have limited motion, even after physical therapy. So, today, my dd and I headed to the city for a CT scan of my hand. Hopefully, they’ll figure out why I still have swelling and a limited range of motion. It’s not causing me any big problems. I never typed with my ring and pinky fingers anyway. Still, it’s a pain and I’d like the swelling to go away.

After the appointment at the hospital, we masked up to hit a flea market. I mean, if we’re already out, why not? At least, so long as we’re taking the proper precautions (masking, social distancing, buckets of hand sanitizer). We returned home in the afternoon, and I just didn’t feel like looking at my computer. Not at all. I checked my phone a few times, but there are days when you just want to blow everything off, and this was one of them.

Tomorrow, I’ll be where I’m supposed to be—back at my desk. Although, I might kick off early to watch some cheesy Hallmark Christmas movie because…’tis the season and all.  🙂

UPDATE: The winner is…Donna Bullard!
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Is it too soon for a picture like this? Well, was there ever a year that couldn’t end fast enough? Yeah, 2020 will be that year for lots of folks. Our family is so eager to get to the end, we put up the Christmas tree before Thanksgiving!

Not that we haven’t found joy along the way this year—in our house, anyway. Yes, we’re staying home as much as possible, taking as few risks as possible. My SIL is a cop who interacts with people every day, but he’s masked and does his level best to distance. The older kids have fast-food jobs and mask. We order our groceries for pick up. The kids are online students. We make no unnecessary trips, except for the rare trip to the flea market! We are doing our part. I hope and pray everyone else does, too, so we make it through the end of this horrendous year.

And you’d think that all this self-isolation would have meant greater productivity for this hermit author—but noooo! I spend more time with family, doing family things, helping kids with homework, my dd with housework and dishes. We binge-watch TV series together. At present, we’re watching Yellowstone and The Boys.

December will be the worst for distractions. Our “Elves on the Shelf” made their appearance this weekend, so they’ll be moving all around the house every night. We have advent calendars to load nightly with goodies, and “Kriskindelnacht” coming up this weekend. Kriskindelnacht is a celebration our family adopted after two tours in Germany. On the night of the 5th, the kids put their shoes out for Santa to fill with coal if they were naughty or something cool if they were good. My dd says Santa told her that the biggest kid in the house has to leave out a shoe this year, too! 🙂 (I’m beyond thrilled!!)

Of course, there’s editing and writing to do this month, but I think I’m not going to be very ambitious. I want to enjoy this holiday season like no other because we’ll likely never have this chance to be so together again. Silver linings, folks.

So, I shared our family’s Kriskindelnacht tradition. What traditions do you observe? Share for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

UPDATE: The winner is…Joy Boutwell!
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My family keeps me locked down tight. I don’t leave the house except on rare occasions. I’ve been to one dentist appointment, the ER (when I fell and injured my hand), the ortho doctor’s office, and physical therapy twice. That’s it since March—except for one “treat” they allow me every couple of months—a trip to our local flea market.

I arrive there beyond thrilled. It’s a large warehouse building with high ceilings and industrial fans running through it. Everyone’s masked. We made a trip right before Thanksgiving and there were only two cars outside, so yippee! We pretty much had the place to ourselves. We inspected every single stall searching for hidden treasure. Sometimes, I come away with maybe one item. This last trip, I found so many! Here’s the proof. And hold your eyerolls until I tell you what we found. 🙂

The stamps on the left were brand new, unused, and super cheap ($1 apiece), so I’m adding them to my considerable collection of art stamps. The handmade leather journal is brand new. The pages inside are a thick art paper—perfect for use as an art journal and just $9! I bought the crappy old leather wallet for a dollar because I intend to clean the outside and paint it with acrylic paint. Just a fun project I may toss, but an experiment for me.

More treasures! See the lidded swan jar? Well, I collect antique glass powder jars, in particular, those with animals on the lids. So, yes, I paid too much ($20), but I had to have it!!!! The praying boy is collectible Fenton glass for my dd ($8). Fenton’s hard to find here locally because everyone grabs it, but we got to this one first! See the little English double-decker bus tin? It was $1, but I plan to cut out the “windows” and use them for earrings. The biggest treasure? See those dishes? It’s 10 pieces of antique Wedgwood dinnerware, that we paid $8 for! We could sell individual pieces for more, so we’re still deciding whether to build out the collection for our own use or to sell it on Ebay. We came away totally stoked!

So, see? You can still have adventures—treasure hunts—in the midst of a pandemic!

Puzzle Contest

Solve the puzzle then choose one item that interests you for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

A big Thank You to Delilah for the opportunity to write a guest blog!

I write about spirituality – some of it deeply traditional and some of it in the practical context of everyday life. Since we’re in the season of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share a story about GRATITUDE and how this simple practice worked some serious magic in my life.

George Lucas – the creator of Star Wars – referred to professor and spiritual guru Joseph Campbell as his “Yoda”. Campbell remains a favorite among the intellectual literati in spiritual circles, and his best-known one-liner is probably this one: “follow your bliss”.

This mantra sounds great when we’re stuck in a miserable place, but the truth about how it works is a bit more nuanced. Let’s start with the full quote by Campbell:

“Follow your bliss, and the Universe will open doors where there were only walls”.

There is perhaps no better context for this quote than when we seem to be stuck in a miserable job.

“That’s it!” we tell ourselves. “I need to get out of this awful place and do something that brings me joy – I’m going to follow my bliss!“

I know a number of people who have left a job to “follow their bliss” only to find themselves in a place of regret. I have learned that it’s a bit more complicated than just doing what feels good, which is – unfortunately – how Campbell’s quote is often interpreted.

Like most spiritual wisdom, the statement is at the same time complex and simple. To illustrate what I mean, I’ll share my experience with the concept.

A few years back, I left a position with a tech start-up to go into a much more traditional position in a government agency. I took a pay cut, went from working at home to driving into an office 5-days a week, and turned in the corporate Gold card and business class travel options. Some people thought I was crazy, but I had my reasons, and knew it was the right thing to do.

About a year and a half into this position, I was miserable with a capital M. The culture was old school bureaucracy, and there were many long-time employees whose favorite game was creating conflict. Many days it felt like the Hatfield & McCoy feud, and it was the place where I learned what the term “gaslighting” meant because I experienced it almost daily.

I was ready to admit that this career move had been a HUGE mistake and began to make plans to find a new position – ANY position away from these mean and spiteful people…except it wasn’t that simple.

One of the reasons I had come to this organization was to capitalize on my military time, and I had planned to at least stay long enough to secure my pension. Things had gotten so bad that I wasn’t sure I could even do that; but before I walked away, I decided to apply some of the spiritual tools I was writing about and teaching to others. If those didn’t work, another job was always an option.

In the darkest days, I found very little to appreciate, but I kept looking and doing my spiritual work. Finally, I settled on the fact that the store on the installation had fresh, cut-up fruit available every day. I was working on eating healthier and this little treat was a $2.17 way for me to stay on track – and it didn’t require me to do any food prep or remember to grab something from my fridge on the way out the door.

Each day on my break I looked forward to the strawberries, cantaloupe or grapes that I would find in the store and I focused my appreciation on this small piece of sanity during the workweek.

Soon after shifting my focus to appreciating the fruit, I realized that the culture – while still leaving a lot to be desired – at least encouraged people to walk at work. The campus is a lovely, suburban one where walking in decent weather is not only feasible but pleasant.

I kept my focus on being grateful for these 2 things, not letting myself descend into the misery that seemed to be all around me. I also discovered that the commute, while aggravating at times, was perfect for listening to audiobooks. Another plus!

My mood began to soften, and I decided one day to make a list of the people at this job who were positive additions to the experience, and I quickly had a fairly long list.

Now almost halfway into my 7^th year in this job, I have achieved multiple awards, career recognition, and a stability in my position that I could have never foreseen in the depths of that darkness. Indeed, the Universe had opened doors where I once saw only walls.

The “bliss” I followed was not running off in a huff when things were going badly. I found it in small islands of good that I discovered when I opened myself to the possibility that they existed – even there.

While it is lovely to be able to walk into stores and see some of our favorite spiritual quotes emblazoned on t-shirts, coffee mugs, throw pillows, and more; we must take care to remember that these teachings are MUCH deeper than cute one-liners.

I did follow my bliss, and the Universe absolutely opened doors where there were once only walls – but it didn’t happen with me throwing up my hands and quitting in a dramatic, made-for-TV resignation. It happened when I spent time in quiet meditation, which helped me to see the great value in staying and securing my pension. It happened when I practiced the pivot, moving my energy and attention to all the positive aspects of the position and letting go of the negative ones. It happened when I focused on being grateful for the small things that were all around me.

Following our bliss is not a magic spell we can cast to transport ourselves from a tough situation to sipping cocktails on a white-sand beach. It is a process we can use to, one step at a time, transform the formidable walls in our path into doors that open to better experiences, happiness, and peace.

Wishing everyone a bountiful & blissful Thanksgiving weekend!

About the Author

Rebecca Harmon is a mother, grandmother, US Navy veteran, and keeper of cats who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A healthcare professional and educator, she maintains a blog on spirituality and enjoys speaking in front of large groups of people! She has self-published 2 non-fiction books about careers and the workplace: Discover Your Path – a map to job happiness and 7 Simple Steps – job satisfaction, any place, any time – both available on Amazon – and would love it if you dropped by her blog for a read, a Like, a Follow or a Share!

Follow Rebecca’s blog: A Practitioner’s Path
Follow her on Twitter: @Practitioner2Be
Instagram: PractitionersPath
Follow her professional journey on LinkedIn

The “Devlins” are up early today. There’s so much work to do to be ready for our Thanksgiving feast! We’ll eat early this evening when my SIL finishes his shift at the local PD. My dd and I spent yesterday cooking all the dishes we could in advance for our family of seven. I say I helped, but mostly I was “dishes-cleanup” girl, and I used my new Dash egg cooker to boil a ton of eggs. No one trusts me to actually cook anything! Due to COVID, our gathering is much smaller than in past years—just the folks who occupy this house. We’re staying safe though we will miss our extended family. We’d rather miss them this day rather than forever. I hope you all plan safe gatherings, too.

We have pies, deviled eggs, and a cheesy hedgehog ready. Today, we’re baking the turkey and ham, the stuffing, the candied yams. Yum. The house will be alive with music. Yesterday, we jammed to Aretha and CCR in the kitchen. So joyous! I hope everyone out there jams to great music, dances with the kids, and shares a meal to remember always. Find the joy, y’all—in being together and holding your loved ones close!

UPDATE: The winner is…Jeanine Lesperance!
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I feel like I have to explain my desk before I start. 🙂

The document on the bottom is my bloggers’ schedule. Duh. Anything that says “DD” is mine. So yes, I do “pencil” in my guests on a hard copy. The squishy toy on the left is a fish squishy the 7-year-old gave me when she heard I was scouring the house for the stress ball my physical therapist recommended I exercise my hand with. She said it would be better because it’s softer. LOL. She’s really sweet. The tile on the right says “Artist” and it was from the 16-year-old, who gave it to me for my birthday this year. I love messy paintbrushes—to me, they are a testament to the work that, lately, fills my “well” with happiness. The pretty jar holds a tiny, very fragrant candle I light when I want to improve my mood. And in the bottom right corner is my mom’s mousepad with all the presidents through 45 on it. I gave up my Thor’s hammer pad for mom’s…well, because. I like touching something she touched every day.

So, to the cards…

I have this “Women’s Empowerment” deck of cards sitting on my desk to the far side. It was a gift. I generally don’t like the new age stuff. I prefer tarot cards, famous quote books, etc., for my daily inspiration, but the WE cards are pretty. I opened the box and looked for a card that “called” to me today. These two made me pause.

The first reads, “Be still my mind. Be here now.” I’m not a “now” person. I’m a dreamer (a great thing to be for a writer, BTW!). However, I have work to complete and need some focus, so this thought helps.

The next says, “I enjoy the ups and downs of everyday life. Only the present moment is real.” I do appreciate the ups and downs. If we didn’t have them, life would be boring and we’d never learn a thing. The “only the present moment is real” thing is also very true. What you do now defines who you are and will be. So, today I will write because I want to be a writer. Writers who don’t write are just dreamers without the proof of the stories spinning in their heads.

So, does any of that help me begin my workday? Um, yeah. I guess. As soon as I hit “publish” to post this blog, I will begin “the work” and then I can claim to be a writer once more.

My philosophy isn’t deep. It’s self-serving, right? I need a kick in the ass because I have a minimum of 2,000 words to write today!

If you’d like to deliver that kick, tell me how you go about girding yourself to do “the work” of being who you are for a chance to win a $5 Amazon gift card!

These contests are closing soon!

1. My Furbaby-Jealousy (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
2. Anna M. Taylor: Who’s On Second? (Contest) — Win an Amazon gift card!
3. Diana Cosby: Inspiration From Nature – Deer (Contest) — Win a FREE book!