Drops of Inspira

  Hello! I've been thinking a lot about water.  Everything and everyone needs water. At least, you do if you are a living organism and not something like a computer.  Recently, I noticed how much I need a humidifier. Without it, the autumn/winter season is hazardous. I wake up continually thirsty, dried out and miserable. Sometimes my eyes rebel and I open them to what feels like glass shards in my eyes. It's extremely inconvenient and painful. A humidifier,  however, makes everything better. Thinking about water made me think: What are we doing to water our lives? And if we are watering our lives (which we are in some way or other.), what are we watering our lives with? Because that matters too. What we put into our lives affects the output. I grew up with parents who listened to the news a lot. I didn't pay too much mind as a kid. It was mostly on in the car and it put me to sleep. But as I got older, the droning of words made sense and the words worried me. More t...

  Hello! Lately I've been thinking about the lies we tell ourselves and how they can sap our joy.  I'm not into the toxic positivity mindset, so I'm not here to tell you to disregard reality and pretend everything is rosy when it may not be. But there is something to be said about how you talk to yourself. Lies are like earthworms. They burrow deep under the cover of the soil of your life. You can't see them, but their effects make themselves known. Only instead of nurturing the soil, they poison the soil. The plant of joy doesn't flourish. It shrivels up and dies.  I wouldn't say I'm either a positive or a negative person. I'm a realistic person teetering on the brink of negativity. It doesn't take much for circumstances in my life to put one drop too much on the negativity scale, plunging me into the blackest of despair. I'm constantly battling to keep the scales balanced. What are some of the lies you tell yourself?  One of the most insidious ...

 Hello! Lately, I've been thinking a lot about my childhood. It wasn't all rose gold, but there was a lot less stress. I didn't have to think about bills or the state of the world or having a job yet. Things were simple. I remember when I first noticed that something was wrong. I think it was about 2011 and there was something different. A darkening of the air. A sense of foreboding that heralded adulthood. A few years later, my state was devastated by wildfires. My home was spared, but we lost a few sheds and the ground was black. It looked like Mordor from The Lord of the Rings.  I mention all of this because we look back and idealize the past. We tend to forget the bad and just remember the good. The grass is greener in the past. Or so we think.  But the past has its cracks and its weeds. It's not what we think it was.  I'm learning that instead of looking forward with hope and joy, I'm idolizing my past. It's blown way out of proportion, so I dwell in it...

  Hello! I was thinking about what to talk about for this month and the phrase, "fighting for joy" kept cropping up. It's a phrase a pastor of mine used to use. He used to talk about how joy doesn't just float in. Not most of the time. Most of the time, we have to fight for it. So, that's what this month's theme is going to be. Fighting for Joy. Because honestly, I need to be reminded as much as anyone that joy is worth fighting for. If we don't make an effort to seek joy, then we are living an apathetic life. We're just content to float throughout our days, hoping that somehow, someway joy will drift in and lift our hearts out of our circumstances. Since joy must be fought for, chances are, we're going to get scratched up. We're going to be battle weary, and there will be times that we will feel like it's just too much work. But what is the alternative?  Lately, I've felt myself start to drift. I'm tired. Everything in life seems t...

 Hello! Today I want to discuss what I mean by the phrase, "tilling the earth." In the farming world, it's the stage that someone takes before you actually plant seeds. It's the breaking up of ground, the pulling out of weeds and the removing of rocks and boulders. It's hard work! But it's necessary. There are areas in our life that seem monotonous. We would rather do anything but be in these places. Given the chance, we would run.  I'm in a season where I'm tilling the earth. The job I am at, I once thought of as a blessing, but it's been very hard. Most days, I want to run. I'd rather do anything but be where I am. This Thursday, I got hit with a weird sickness out of nowhere. It drained my energy and forced me to rest. I didn't get the message. I did everything that I could to get up and move on with my day. I had just started a new exercise program. This sickness came at an inconvenient time! I had work to do, writing to do and gosh dar...

     Hello! This past week has been a hurricane week.  What do I mean by that? I mean, this last week has been full of events that have slammed into me with all the force of a hurricane.They have left me bewildered. I want to run and hide in a cave until it's all over.  I will not go into all the details, but what I will say, is that the trials have made me look for the light in the darkness. Because, even in the darkest periods of our lives, there is hope.  It's one reason I love the stars so much. They're beautiful and glittering. Like a king's crown, but they are so much more than that. Stars are a reminder that even in a dark sky, there is light. And it's untouchable. Darkness cannot win. Not ultimately.  Yes, there are times when it looks like the darkness will have the victory. Times, you want to give up hope. But there is light in the darkness if only we will look for it. I'm not a pie-in-the-sky girl. I will not pretend that everything is okay....

      Carpe Momentum... "Seize the Moment".  I have been thinking about this a lot. It's what the theme of this month is about, in essence, and it's what I did this weekend. I work a 9 to 5 job that is mostly mental, which makes it hard to write as frequently as I'd like. It also means that I get to the weekend completely drained. I push and pull all week, and I wash up on the shores of the weekend, feeling like I just came off a shipwreck.  I know many of you deal with the same thing. A full-time job isn't for the faint of heart, but it's what many of us do to survive.  This weekend, I decided to seize every moment. This meant staying up until eleven on both Friday and Saturday, but I don't regret it.  Here are some things I did: Friday: Stayed up late talking to a friend. Chatted with a sibling via text. Washed all my bedding. (This was an enormous task. Apparently, I really like blankets.) Read some of Saber's Pride by C.M. Banschbach. (This is ...