Karen O'Connor

A Basket of Blessings

Years ago my husband Charles and I decided to write down a daily blessing and put it in a basket and then empty it from time to time and enjoy rereading each one and giving thanks all over again. My, we were blessed–everything from  selling our condo when we were ready–to selling my next book or to my husband getting a job in just the right place for his talent.

Over the year, we realized all of these dreams and they compelled us to continue filling and refilling our basket of blessings.

“The winds of gratitude are always blowing: you merely have to raise your sail.” Anonymous

An Apple a Day…

I think I shared this photo of an ‘apple a day’ on a recent blog and decided it fit here too, the Friday after Thanksgiving when I’m writing this. Today we had a wonderful weekly activity called “Fix Yourself Friday.” What does that mean? We sit around a table and answer questions and have a conversation about the answers: how we’d like to improve our outlook or our life as we have it now in our older years.

Here are a few of the questions:

What do you wish for?

What do you regret?

What do you want to leave behind?

What do you like about yourself?

It took some of us a bit of stretching to come up with the answers.

I found that I wish for continued good health.

I only regret not being true to myself in many situations.

I want to leave behind for others my love, my faith, and my happiness.

I like about myself my generosity, my friendliness, and my love for and interest in other people. I imagine that’s why I became a writer!

Consider answering these questions for yourself and share them with us.

Happy day!

Philippians 4:12-13 “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

That pretty much sums up my life. How about yours?

On Friday, we took a beautiful drive to Lexington, KY to see Charles’ brother Robert and his wife Helen. For those who don’t know, Charles is my late husband.

The trees were in their colorful autumn dress and the fluffy clouds overhead made me aware once again of how God has blessed us with nature and with loving friends and family.

I’m thinking of all the wonderful visits we had over the years and then suddenly we’re ‘old’ and it’s almost over. I’m not trying to be morbid here just realistic and mindful of the importance of making the most of the time we have.

I love this quote by Jack Kornfield, American author and teacher:

” In the end just three things matter:

1.How well we have lived.

2. How well we have loved.

3. How well we have learned to let go.”

(Philippians 2:1-5). The apostle Paul reminds us we are called to be mindful and to live with an awareness of the present.  I want to live up to this. How about you?

Pamela Pumpkin

I can write but I can’t draw or paint. I tried and so did everyone else–some funny, some creepy, some beautiful. We had so much fun–like little kids with paints and sponges and brushes and pumpkins large and small.

Our ‘home’ is filled with decorations for this time of year so I look forward to pumpkin pie with whipped cream and mugs of apple cider or hot chocolate.

This  is also a good time of year to cuddle up with a great book, so yesterday when our traveling community library visited, I chose a book new to me: Willie Nelson’s Letters to America. I’ve been a fan of Willie’s music for decades. So now I’ll find out some new things about this “American legend.” It’s wonderful to continue my education through regular reading and conversations with others.

My writing clinic is also going well. Last time we met I asked everyone to divide a sheet of paper into three columns and title them PERSON, PLACE THING–the definition of a noun. Then we chose one memory we have about a special person, place, or thing in our present or past and write about that choice. Out of eight participants, five people chose teachers. That started a lively and heart-wrenching conversation. One of the women on staff who attends my clinic called her teacher that evening and read to her what she wrote.

The teacher wept and said this was one of the happiest days of her life. Whew! Now I feel like weeping.

Here is what the great mystic, Henri J.M. Nouwen had to say about the power of writing: “Writing  is a process in which we discover what is alive in us…I do not yet know what I carry in my heart but I trust that it will emerge as I write. Writing is like giving away the few loaves and fishes one has, trusting that they will multiply in the giving. Once we dare to give away on paper the few thoughts that come to us, we start discovering how much is hidden underneath these thoughts and gradually come in touch with our own riches.”

Consider his words as you share some of your life in writing.

A prize I won for second best in our exercise program.

This week we’re going to decorate pumpkins. Our activities director will supply the pumpkins, instructions and the tools so I’ll follow her lead. It’s fun to see how Provision (my new home) engages in the holidays and invites our families to participate too.

I love it here. There are so many wonderful people to meet and learn from. We have Ted Talks once a week to stimulate conversation, a cooking class for those who like to cook and line dancing, as well as many other fun activities to enjoy.

My oral surgery went well overall but I did fall in the bathroom afterwards and have several bruises to show for it. But after a trip to ER all tests came back normal so now I must simply rest and wait for healing before the doctor implants the new tooth.

I’m learning that to accept life as it comes and to do my best to live in the present is the best way to go. Everyday there is something–many things actually–to be grateful for.

I love these words of William Wordsworth: “Rest and be thankful.”

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.”

— Philippians 4:12-13, NIV