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Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.
Be guided seek relationships that inspire and encourage us to live honestly and truthfully. Protect yourself from harmful influences. Try to reflect your love and wisdom.?
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Voice of the dayI am what what my creator made me to?be.
-?Benitez, “Conclave” (2024) As the potter who shapes us, help us embrace with gratitude that we are who we were made us to be. |
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Worth it
The good you do is worth the trouble. The value created by your efforts is worth the inconvenience.
The experience you’ve gained outweighs the setbacks you’ve gone through. The strength you’ve built has amply rewarded the sacrifices along the way.
Today brings an opportunity to continue investing in life’s goodness and fulfillment. The effort won’t be easy, and will be worth it.
Your life, your world, your purpose, existence itself, all have value and significance. Enjoy the satisfaction of working to preserve that value, to expand that significance.
Each difficulty you encounter enables you to exercise strength, creativity, resourcefulness and more. Rise to the situation, to the moment, to the opportunity.
Every day, every action, every challenge, disappointment, delay, is worth it. Because you have the power and the sense of purpose to make it so.
— Ralph Marston
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How often do we?pause to examine the myths we live by? Sarah Kornfield, a professor in a Michigan College, does just that in her recent book?Invoking the Fathers: Dangerous Metaphors and Founding Myths in Congressional Politics.?James Vining’s review opens Sarah’s book for us.?
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| | I highly recommend Invoking the Fathers to anyone interested in navigating the current moment in… |
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The Waiting Room
February 14, 2025 -?By Kelly Slocum, Washington, USA
My parents had been married for 41 years when both had to undergo biopsies for cancer at the same time. My father was the strong, stoic type and seemed relatively unalarmed about the possibility of prostate cancer. My mother, whose biopsy was for breast cancer, had lost her mother to cancer as a teenager. She was terrified by the thought that either she or Dad might have this dreaded disease.
My siblings and I supported them as best we could. Despite our?caring, none of us had ever experienced cancer or the fear a biopsy?patient feels while waiting for results. We didn’t know how to help them?cope with the fear and tension.
During a visit to Mom’s doctor a week before her biopsy, my parents met another couple, and the four began a friendly conversation. The woman, Jane, immediately began to encourage Mom, telling her how wonderful the doctor was. She explained he had performed her biopsy some weeks earlier and would shortly be performing her mastectomy. Jane had breast cancer! When my parents asked how Jane was doing, she and Steve explained how they were looking forward to shopping for new hats for Jane to wear after she lost her hair. Everything this couple said was upbeat, positive, and encouraging. They gave my parents the feeling that everything would be just fine.
Later that same day, Jane phoned my Mom. The two talked for over an hour. Jane explained what Mom could expect from the biopsy, helping Mom deal with fear of the unknown by sharing her firsthand experiences. As before, Jane helped Mom in a way no one else could because she knew what Mom was going through. In the short time they had spoken, this powerful woman shared her strength with my mother, doing her best to ensure Mom was able to approach the possibility of cancer with strength.
The day of Mom’s biopsy was the day my father was to learn his biopsy results. While Mom was in surgery, Dad would be meeting with his doctor. When Mom and Dad walked into the medical office, they were stunned to see Jane and Steve sitting in the waiting room. They had come to sit with my father while Mom was in surgery. Even though Mom’s surgery was delayed a few hours, they stayed. It was clear that no matter what my parents experienced, this incredible couple had decided they would be there. Although Jane herself was about to undergo radical treatment for breast cancer, those two wonderful people focused their attention on others who needed help.
Fate smiled on my parents that day. Their biopsies showed that neither had cancer. Perhaps more impressively, though, the human spirit soared that day, thanks to a couple willing to share strength they would both need in the days to come because they met two people they felt needed it more.?
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Thankful for Oatmeal
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: 101 Ways to Think Positive
By Carolyn Bolz
Showing gratitude is one of the simplest yet most powerful things humans can do for each other.
~Randy Pausch
“Good morning, Miss Bolz.” A friendly man in his early twenties greeted me as he placed a breakfast tray on the table next to my bed. I struggled to sit up, but after being hospitalized several days for severe breathing difficulties, my body was still very weak.
Now, I was in a convalescent home, and I dreaded staying here until I could gain enough strength to return to my apartment. Most of the other patients in the facility looked as if they were old enough to be my parents. And the two elderly women who were sharing my room kept me up every night with moans and screams. My nerves were shot, and I felt very sleep-deprived.?
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Competitive Yoga
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: Shaping the New You
By Theresa Hupp
Working hard becomes a habit, a serous kind of fun. You get self-satisfaction from pushing yourself to the limit, knowing that all the effort is going to pay off.
~Mary Lou Retton
In my 40s, I started gaining weight. Not a lot, but the upward creep of the scale was inexorable, pound after pound, year after year. My clothes were tight, but I refused to buy a larger size. I’d gone up a size in my 30s after childbirth, and I wouldn’t do it again.
When I hit my 47th birthday, I weighed just five pounds less than I’d weighed immediately before giving birth to an eight and a half pound baby. I had to start exercising. It was that or stop eating chocolate.?
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When?you talk with your kids about sex matters.?How?you do it is just as important. ? In this episode of the?All Pro Dad Podcast, host Ted Lowe is joined by renowned family expert Jim Burns, founder of?HomeWord, to pinpoint when the right time is to bring up the topic of sex with your kids and how to handle such a touchy subject. We get it. This can be intimidating for dads, but conversations about sex must be handled well. ? We know this can be uncomfortable, but if we don’t tackle this topic with our children someone else surely will. You may not like what they teach your kid!? |
APD Pro Move:??Ask your kids, "What do you think about ______?" with no planned response.? ? "Kids want your wisdom, not your lecture." – Jim Burns |
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When I became a mom, I thought I knew exactly what would fill my heart with gratitude: holding my baby, watching her first steps, and hearing Reese say “Mama.” It turns out that gratitude doesn't just live in those picture-perfect moments. ? It's also hiding in the everyday ones that seem so ordinary—the morning rush of making breakfast, the little chats during a diaper change, and even the lack of privacy. (Mom, that’s a testament to how much our kids need and love us!) Some of my most thankful moments come wrapped in the most unlikely packages. Being a grateful mother isn't just about the firsts and milestones—. |
What’s one thing in our home that you feel lucky to have? ? |
The Day You Were Born Conversation Starters
Kids love to hear stories about when they were born.?. |
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By Michael Roizen, M.D.
Vegetarian Meat was a much-praised rock band out of Ohio in the 1990s. And since the 2010s, some folks have been singing the praises of vegetarian meat that's showing up on menus and in grocery stores. But are these current forms of ultra-processed meat substitutes out of tune with healthy nutrition? Yes indeed.
A new study in Food Frontiers reveals that vegetarians who eat these plant-based meat alternatives are 42% more likely to contend with depression than vegetarians who ...
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Fearless and Free: The Gift of a Superman Friend
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