Healthy Happy Loving Life: Let Your Mind Travel

Tags

effective living strategies, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, let your mind travel, The life you want

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com

Image by Megapixl. Stow-on-the-Wold, UK.

We can actually get stressed out from simply thinking the same kinds of thoughts, day after day and month after month.  It can be boring.  Plus, we can wear a kind of groove/s in our brains, from lack of novelty.  Picture a dirt bicycle path, that countless bicyclists have worn down.

So many people think, “I need a change of scene!”  And they think of traveling.  But in the last 2 years, travel has not been as simple as plan-reserve-go.  So, what if you let your mind travel?  That’s what I do!  I get curious about an area of the Planet, and I watch videos about that.  Of course, a simple way to video travel is to watch the brilliant films of theme travellers, like Anthony Bourdain (food, cooking), Rick Steves (lifestyles of regular people) and Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous).  If you love boating, there are a few video series about yachts, yacht crews, and superyachts.

But there is another category of traveling with your mind: watching quality dramas with a strong sense of place.  A few of my favorites are on Prime Video, Acorn TV, and Britbox (overlapping services):

1. Bergerac.  British TV from 1981-1991.  Set on the Isle of Jersey, between Britain and France.  Intrigue, good characters, complete exploration of Jersey, and a chance to practice your French a bit.  Travel and time travel all at once!  Star:  Jim Bergerac played by John Nettles, who went on to play Inspector Tom Barnaby in Midsomer Murders.
2. Pie in the Sky. British mystery/cookery series from 1994-1997.  Set in a fictitious area that could be south of London, features a police inspector who would rather have a restaurant.  Settings vary, and you get to visit the English countryside, French cookery, and some lovely manor houses.
3. Midsomer Murders. British drama series from 1997-Present.  Starred John Nettles for the first 13 years. With strong characters and plots, it is filmed in the most beautiful areas of chocolate-box English villages. Midsomer remains one of the most popular and re-watched drama series of all time.
4. Whitstable Pearl. British drama series from 2021, with 2022 in production.  Filmed in and around the oyster town of Whitstable, on the southeast coast of England. You meet compelling characters, including the ex-policewoman-restaurant-owner Pearl Nolan, who helps the current detective, Mike McGuire, solve all levels of crimes, with her keen powers of observation and her deep local knowledge. You also get to spend a lot of time on the beach and in different boats and on jet skis.
5. My Life is Murder. A New Zealand production (Season 2, 2021) that filmed Season 1 (2019) in Melbourne, Australia. Stars the radiant Lucy Lawless (you remember, Xena Warrior Princess?) as a former police investigator.  Her husband dies, she quits the Force, and the Force keeps asking her to consult and solve.  This series portrays cheerful, sunny days, in Sydney and in Auckland, with charming coastal cafés, attractive characters, clever reparte’,  and plenty of time to make one’s own bread.

I have other favorites, but this article would get much too long.  The point is this:  I love to travel by simply letting my mind travel, watching the scenery and accents go by in these productions.  Why not blow some fresh sea air or cottage views through your brain?  Pick something from another place—and time?—and travel mentally—with your phone off.  And you’ll be refreshed, plus more and more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office.   To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: We Can’t Look Backward and Forward At Once

Tags

effective living strategies, Grief, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, The life you want, we can't look backward and forward at the same time

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com

Kebba and Ron 2020

I have been wending my way along the path of widowhood for 5 months now.  It seems new every day.  Fortunately, I am well aware that every widow’s path is different.  We must each make our own path and find our own way–as with life in general.  I am blessed to have amazing friends, neighbors, co-Board members, church friends, Shrine friends, and all the couples Ron was friends with, going back many years.

My husband, Ron Button, was a very brilliant and full-hearted person.  I met him over 30 years ago, at a party I didn’t want to go to.  I love to stay home and be quiet.  But, prevaricating about going to the party, I was suddenly moved to look up and ask, “What do You think?”  I instantly heard these words:  “You will go.  You will get dressed, you will look cute, you will meet interesting people.”  Oh my!  I was very shocked to hear words from Heaven.  I had had inspirations from Above many times, but a specific verbal opinion–never!  So I quickly got dressed and went to the party.  And there, across the barbecue area, was a gorgeous man I had never seen before. I found out his name was Ron.

 

Eighteen years later, Ron asked me out, and within 3 weeks, we knew we were meant for each other.  We knew God was our matchmaker.  We made the most of the next 15 years.  Unfortunately, Ron’s health failed over the last 2 years, and he passed in hospice August 1st.  I miss him.

Now you may think I feel sorry for myself, or that I should.  I am definitely feeling grief, in pulses.  I feel painful compassion for Ron’s uncomfortable illness and unclarity.  But that pain was in the Past.  I have to steer myself around to look at the Now, rather than the Past.  We cannot look at the Past and at the Future at the same time.  I have to be grateful–starts with the same letter as “God”– that Ron is released now.  He is no longer in pain.  He will never have more doctor visits or procedures.  He is free!  When Ron was here, we used to make up children’s songs and bounce around in a circle, when we had a thing to celebrate: “weeeee sold the houuuuuuse!”  Within hours of his passing, Ron’s voice came to me in the living room:  “Wheeeee!  I’m freeeee!  I’m freeeee!”  Joy!

For Ron, I am so glad he is released.  For me, I don’t want to skip any part of my grief process and end up with impacted emotions and health issues down the road.  But I get to keep turning back to the path ahead.  I do my best to keep my focus on the Present, with an eye to what God and I are co-creating for the Future.  That’s where my life is now.

Keep in mind that it is impossible to look back and look forward at exactly the same moment, and you’ll spend more time celebrating the Present with an eye to the Future you want.  And that’s you, increasingly more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office.   To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Less News for Better Mood

Tags

effective living strategies, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, Stress Management, The life you want, Too much news

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com

Image of blenny by Megapixl 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some days, it’s easy to get too much news.  Local news tells us how many people had pandemic issues, home invasions, drive-by shootings, violent attacks, house fires and financial violence by fraud.  National news tells us how bad the backgrounds of key candidates are, how bad pandemic issues are, how many lost their homes in natural disasters, and how unbalanced the national budget is.  International news tells us countless stories of unrest, pandemic, famine, oppression, and war in many countries.  How do you feel after taking in a half hour of this?  Probably not joyful and energized.  Don’t you feel stressed, concerned, possibly discouraged?

According to 2020 stats, the average American watches about 3.2 hours of TV per day.  Twenty-two percent are regularly watching cable news and 35% never watch cable news.  More people are watching streaming news services.  Or simply tuning out.

So how much bad news are you taking in?  And how stressed is it making you feel?  Dr. Andrew Weil is a famed integrative medical doctor and author.  He recommends, for overall stress reduction, that we all take a “media break” or “news fast” as much as possible, for week.  Dr. Weil says research shows that emotional content of news can bring moods down and increase sadness and depression.  Why not try a news fast, and find out how you feel?

You can also use good news to lift your spirits and metabolism.  I once got a cluster example of this effect.  On August 11, 2011, the Arizona Republic ran a 3-sentence news item, enticingly entitled “Navy Destroyer is Now Serving as Artificial Reef”.  I got very excited about this.  I love good news, and here was a story of both repurposing a giant structure and helping the world’s degrading reefs and related biosystems.  My face broke into a huge smile, my head bent closer to the paper, and my heart was racing.  The article reported the 563-foot destroyer was now sunk “in a spot in the Del-Jersey-Land reef created by Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey.”  (Hey, if you were the Navy, where would you store a huge ship that could no longer serve afloat?) Since I spent my public school years in Delaware, I was pleasantly jolted to hear there was now a tri-state effort to rebuild the reefs and protect the coasts.  I copied the whole 3-sentence article into email and sent it to my mother and my sister, who also spent a lot of time in Delaware.

There ensued a merry exchange.  My sister started searching “artificial reef photos” and came up with some extremely beautiful scenes.  [You can put “artificial reef photos” in your favorite search bar and see some stunning examples.]  I kept thinking about the metal-eating bacteria that are breaking down the Titanic hull.  Experts have said we need to study the Titanic now, while it still exists.  Following the search links, we discovered that a creature called a “soap fish” now makes its home in one reef, in what was once the barrel of a military tank’s gun.  We also discovered there are reef-loving fish called “tasselated blennies”.  [See a colorful blenny above.]

While you may not find this particular item fascinating, how did you feel while reading it?  Did you feel different than you felt when reading about the last airline disaster or the Pandemic?  Were you aware of feeling pleased, or even less stressed?

If too much news is stressing you out, why not try reducing the amount you take in?  If you love the morning newspaper, why not try reading the entertainment news and comics first, then only scanning the headlines?  Notice your stress level going down and your happiness level going up.   The news will wait.  Your life doesn’t have to.  Go on a news diet, and you will increasingly find yourself being more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!  You have only your discomforts to lose, and I would love to help you on your journey.

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office.   To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Trees Don’t Judge

Tags

effective living strategies, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, Stress Management, The life you want, who we are called to be, who we are meant to be, who we really are, your true nature

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com

Image by Megapixl

Life is easier in many ways, as we gradually realize more and more who we really are.  As we grow, we can step more and more into who we are meant to be, even who we are called to be.  If you are trying to narrow the field of possibilities, to realize your true nature, it may help to look first at what doesn’t work for you.  For example, my voice can’t sustain notes.  I am clearly not called to sing.  That means I will never be a rock star!  But my speaking voice is good, and I speak well.  I am definitely called to be a speaker, inspirer, uplifter.  If you are working this question of your “who-ness”, it may help you to spend quiet time with your notes, perhaps meditating in your large chair, or in a natural setting.  Counselors have interest tests they can administer for you, but you may not need those.  Simply begin noticing and jotting notes on what catches your interest, and what generates joy for you.

Now, while you are exploring your true nature, you may get a lot of feedback from others.  As you have no doubt noticed, humans have opinions about everything!  And they are busy sharing their opinions, about everything each of us does or says or is.  In my life as a manager in science/technical organizations, I was amazed by the amount of gossip and presuming.  Recently, I found this amazing poem on the Internet.  I tracked down the poet, Becky Hemsley, and obtained her gracious permission to use the poem.  Becky lives in Leicester, UK, but you can get her book of poetry from Amazon.  Look for “Talking to the Wild.” Now, see if this sounds familiar:

She sat at the back and they said she was shy,
She led from the front and they hated her pride,
They asked her advice and then questioned her guidance,
They branded her loud, then were shocked by her silence,
When she shared no ambition they said it was sad,
So she told them her dreams and they said she was mad,
They told her they’d listen, then covered their ears,
And gave her a hug while they laughed at her fears,
And she listened to all of it thinking she should,
Be the girl they told her to be best as she could,
But one day she asked what was best for herself,
Instead of trying to please everyone else,
So she walked to the forest and stood with the trees,
She heard the wind whisper and dance with the leaves,
She spoke to the willow, the elm and the pine,
And she told them what she’d been told time after time,
She told them she felt she was never enough,
She was either too little or far far too much,
Too loud or too quiet, too fierce or too weak,
Too wise or too foolish, too bold or too meek,
Then she found a small clearing surrounded by firs,
And she stopped…and she heard what the trees said to her,
And she sat there for hours not wanting to leave,
For the forest said nothing, it just let her breathe.

So always remember, as you walk your personal path, that humans love to have opinions.  But the trees don’t judge.  Your meditation chair doesn’t judge.  Your journal doesn’t judge.  So pursue your true self and your true path anyway!  And you will increasingly find yourself being more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!  You have only your discomforts to lose, and I would love to help you on your journey.

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office.   To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Time For Your Use

Tags

Balance, effective living strategies, energy medicine, Energy Transformation Sessions, Healthy Happy Loving Life, holistic coaching, holistic health, Kebba Buckley Button, stress, Stress Management, The life you want

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com

Image from Megapixl

Yesterday, I argued that:  Health and happiness allow us to embrace Life, step into The Flow, and begin to live joyfully and powerfully.  And I want that for you also, in abundance, for 2022 and always, increasingly!  So when will you step into it?  Let’s talk about time.

Einstein proved that time does not move at a steady rate.  However, we know from experience that time chunks along, whether you are paying attention or not.  People say, “Time marches on.”  People say, “Time waits for no man.” You can ignore time and its movement, but it still moves along, and the next thing you know, it’s March.  Or June.  And your life is exactly the same as it was.  Why would that be?  It would happen because you did not make actual changes for the New Year 2022.

A quote attributed to Einstein goes:  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.  If we want Life to look different, in March or any other month later this year, let’s make some changes to get some shift.  Put in the positive, what qualities do you want in yourself and your life in 2022?  Do you want better memory, a cleaner kitchen, more income, a better singing voice, or perhaps kinder friends?  Then what needs to change for you to have those qualities in your life, now and moving forward?  Number them and start with the steps to get Number One moving.

You already know what to do about some of the shifts you want.  The other shifts– a coach can help– I can help.  Once you have identified the steps you need in order to get those shifts, you need to START.  I once saw a powerful interview with Margaret Thatcher, then the Prime Minister of the UK.  She was asked how she stayed married, raised twins, served in Parliament, and finally served as Prime Minister, all with power and grace.  She blinked very slightly, then said, “Well, there are 24 hours in a day, and if you think about it, you can do quite a lot with them.”

So when should you start with your shifts?  How about NOW?  Yes!  And you will increasingly find yourself being more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!  And keep me posted on your progress.  You have only your discomforts to lose, and I would love to help you on your journey.

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has university degrees, a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office.   To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Yours If You Want It

Tags

Balance, effective living strategies, energy medicine, Energy Transformation Sessions, Healing Touch, Healthy Happy Loving Life, holistic coaching, holistic health, Jin Shin Jyutsu, Kebba Buckley Button, Reiki, stress, Stress Management, The life you want

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com

If you read it very quickly, my bywords might seem vapid:  Healthy!  Happy!  Loving Life!  The fact is that these words are powerful.  They evolved into this current form over decades of trying to better describe what I believe in, how life works, and what I offer, as a professional.

All my life, I wanted to feel good, have energy, and be enjoying life.  I wanted to laugh with friends and experience a lot of joy.  But I had mystery fatigue and mystery pain all over, which was never diagnosed by regular doctors.  And normal pain relievers didn’t touch the pain.  Exercise helped.  I didn’t laugh a lot.  So by the time I had completed 2 university degrees and was working very hard on success in science fields, I began taking a fresh look at my situation through the burgeoning fields of holistic health.  My health was a daily struggle, and I was nowhere near my dream of being happy.  I couldn’t imagine goals beyond getting a grip on my situation.

But I got there!  Step by step, I peeled away layers, found my answers, and restored my health.  I fell in love with energy medicine methods like Reiki, Jin Shin Jyutsu, and Healing Touch. I fell in love with the healing power of foods.  My faith journey helped.  I was ordained as a minister.  What I concluded in my journey was that:

1. Feeling great has to start with health.  We must each find our personal health balance.
2. Health clears clouds and allows us to find happiness
3. Health and happiness allow us to embrace Life, step into The Flow, and begin to live joyfully and powerfully.
4. This becomes a system I call Healthy Happy Loving Life!

I have spent many years explaining what I do through the lens of Stress Management.  Most people who appear stressed are dealing with health or pain issues, conflicts that prevent happiness, and no sense of connection to Source– to any Divine– at all.  Many people have no sense of their own belief system.  Now I help them sort out their beliefs and practices with holistic coaching.

I tried for years to get people to live on the Upbeat– to live emphasizing the positive– with titles about Upbeat Living and Upbeat Spiritual Living.  I wrote hundreds of free articles (now over 500 online), several guidebooks, and 3 books to help people.  Now I help them shift their attitudes to the positive and their languaging to the positive.  I listen to their descriptions of stressful situations and relationships, help them sort out the dynamics, and offer specific strategies and wording for difficult conversations.

Many people have no idea that their peripheral neuropathy or other condition may be caused by, for example, the diet sodas they are drinking.  Now I help them shift away from foods that may be hurting a condition they mention, and shift toward delicious foods that may dissolve that condition.  I also offer Energy Transformation Sessions, to dissolve headaches, back pain, anger, grief, or other conditions that are uncomfortable and distracting.  People leave my office relaxed, happy, and hopeful.

I have helped countless people over the years, to release the uncomfortable and move into a life they love.  Today, I teach or coach online,  and I have Energy Transformation Sessions and Holistic Coaching in my cozy office.  People get notes to take home, to try techniques, look over books, or switch what they swallow.  Might you get huge shifts from this work?  Yes!  Might people respond to you very differently?  Yes!  Might you start enjoying the right people, more?  Yes!  And you will increasingly find yourself being more Healthy Happy and Loving Life^sm!  You have only your discomforts to lose, and I would love to help you on your journey.

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are available on Amazon and through Kebba’s office.   To email us, kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Starting a Great New Year

Tags

effective living strategies, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, New Year Stress, resolutions, Starting a great New Year, Stress Management, The life you want

© 2022 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com .   

It’s a whole fresh new year—a gorgeous blank slate.  Wow!  Happy New Year 2022!  It’s a fresh beach, like the image above.  The surf rolls up across the sand and, as it rolls back out, it simply erases old patterns of your feet, or of words you have drawn in the sand.  2021 is now erased, gone, washed away.  It’s time to welcome 2022 in a full-hearted way.

SO what are you bringing with you from the old year, into the first few hours or this shiny New Year?  Are you happy?  How do you feel right now?  If you need to move the ice pack off your head before you can operate the keyboard, that’s okay.  I’ll wait.  Now open your iPad or your iPhone Notes app or another device, or get out that pen and paper.  Let’s take just 5 minutes together, or more, if you find this interesting.  Today is the perfect day to ask yourself seven key questions:

1. Is your body comfortable and vital, your heart full, your mind clear and at ease, your spirit at peace? No one is going to see your answers unless you choose to share, so jot down key words or phrases, or even write out your feelings at length.
2. And what about your life and livingness? Do you have the relationships you want?  Do you feel loved?
3. Is money working for you the way/s you would like?
4. Are you and the Divine on friendly terms?
5. What about your environment? Does it look pleasant to you?  Does the flow work for you?  Or is your space dull and messy, the closets overflowing and files impossible to navigate?
6. Today, how does your life look, compared to what you envisioned on January 1^st a year ago?
7. What do you want your life to look like in 2022?

Wait!  Why have I not mentioned RESOLUTIONS yet? I want you to forget the guilt and forget being hard on yourself.  Most say we should jump powerfully into our new year with a renewed sense of discipline and determination.  Today, as a stress management expert and holistic healer/coach, I’m supposed to talk enthusiastically about goals and resolutions, why they work and don’t work, blah blah blah.  But we can cover those tomorrow.  And please come back for that piece.  As usual, my recommendations don’t go where others usually go.  I want your life and work to be as painless and as satisfying as possible.

That’s Upbeat Living.  That’s living in the positive.  That’s living in support of yourself.  That’s you, more and more Healthy, Happy, and Loving Life^sm!  Are you in?

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You , Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are shown and reviewed on Amazon (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br) and can be obtained through Kebba’s office ($10 pdf, $20 softback–includes postage).  Our email/PayPal is: kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

 

 

Healthy Happy Loving Life: The Sky’s the Limit

Tags

effective living strategies, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, Stress Management, The life you want, the sky's the limit

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com .   

 

This has been a thunderously challenging year for me.  I have had tragedy and miracles.  And it is determination, faith, and friends that have given me the movement and healing I have needed.  In June, I joined the cancer club and the chemo club, and one month later, the widows’ club.   I could not just park in my grief, and sit there feeling bad.  It would be intolerable to feel sorry for myself.  But it is a blessing to feel compassion for myself.  I have been determined to handle everything with as much grace and forward motion as I could muster.  I actually wrote a blog post every day in August, with my husband having passed August 1st.  I said nothing about my situation until weeks later. I wasn’t ready.  Privately, I sobbed a lot.

My faith carried me, every day.  I know my late husband, my one great love, is no longer in pain.  He will never have to go to another medical appointment or try another medical device.  Every morning, I have limped outside (the cancer surgery was on my leg) to greet God, as always.  I prayed for anyone who is suffering anywhere, and I prayed for strength.  Sometimes I took photos of God’s gorgeous skyscape.  Sometimes the Moon’s features or a constellation would show up clearly through my lens.  (If you know the constellation Orion, you can see his belt and several other of his stars in the image above.)  I felt the Divine Presence all these mornings, and that Presence filled me and uplifted me.

My friends showed up in many ways.  I have never felt isolated.  One collects the books as I go through them, and one collects the filing to be shredded.  Several bring me groceries.  Two senior friends text me daily with notes of encouragement.  One takes me for chemo.  A friend and his wife came and installed a new soaker tub for me.  Relatives are all at a distance, but they are supportive.  My husband’s best friend and his wife took me out for an elegant lunch on Thanksgiving.  My author friends and blogging world friends have been kind, supportive, and loving.  I can only feel blessed!

My life is getting easier.  I’ve almost completed final paperwork with the several federal agencies.  My surgery incision is now much less tender, and I drive a little.  I don’t need the cane, but I still sometimes use those scooter carts in the grocery stores.  I know I will mend.  I feel so loved, so hopeful, so determined to be who God wants me to be for the upcoming decades. I know “The Sky’s the Limit” (like the 1943 film).  Actually, the longer I gaze at the sky, the more clear it is that the sky is, in fact, limitless.  So if the sky is the limit, we have no limits.  I have so much ahead of me that I can’t even imagine all of it.  Life is basically good, and I am in motion with that goodness.

I hope where you live, you may have a view of the night sky or the early morning sky, or both.  I hope you may look up for a few minutes now and then, and see the magnificent infinitude of the Heavens.  I hope you experience the Divine Presence and feel the One Infinite Love.  And then that would be you, more and more Healthy, Happy, and Loving Life^sm !  

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You , Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are shown and reviewed on Amazon (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br) and can be obtained through Kebba’s office ($10 pdf, $20 softback–includes postage).  Our email/PayPal is: kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

 

 

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Advice to My Younger Self

Tags

Advice to my younger self, effective living strategies, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, Stress Management, Teresa of Avila, The life you want

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com .   

Recently, I was invited to write a post about advice I would give to my younger self, say, as a teenager.  Hmm!  Advice to myself! I realized I would love to advise my twenty-something self on a few things, to help with her functioning in grad school and and in organizations where she would be working.  I would say now, it’s important to be kind and gentle with everyone, as much as possible, and, keeping your  own goals in mind, just keep going as best you can.  And exercise and eat well!  As the rock above says, God will sort them out later.  What goes around comes around, and I don’t have to bring it around. 

Regular readers may realize that Saint Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) is my favorite saint.  I have learned so much from her!  This week, I was reminded of this piece from Saint Teresa.  It really summarizes the advice I would give my younger self!  Such timeless advice from 500 years ago:

People are often unreasonable and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

If you are honest, people may cheat you.  Be honest anyway.

If you find happiness, people may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today may be forgotten tomorrow.  Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have and it may never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

For you see, in the end, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

I like to read this piece to myself often.  When I do, I feel my whole body, as well as my spirit, releasing resistance and hurt and stresses.  It gives me peace to put all that stress into perspective.  Try it!  And tell me if it de-stresses you?  And then that would be you, more and more Healthy, Happy, and Loving Life^sm !  

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You , Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are shown and reviewed on Amazon (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br) and can be obtained through Kebba’s office ($10 pdf, $20 softback–includes postage).  Our email/PayPal is: kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button

 

 

Healthy Happy Loving Life: Heaven’s Thoughts on Landscaping

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effective living strategies, Healthy Happy Loving Life, Kebba Buckley Button, Landscaping, resource use, stress, The life you want

© 2021 Kebba Buckley Button, MS, OM.  World Rights Reserved. http://www.kebba.com .   

 

What does Heaven think of the way we use our gifts?  What are Heaven’s Thoughts on how we use the incredible array of resources we have been blessed with? Here’s a light look at how the conversation might go, if God and a couple of saints were talking about it.   And you don’t have to be a person of faith to enjoy it.  I found this piece circulating the Internet, Author Unknown.  Enjoy!

GOD (to St. Francis of Assisi):
Frank, you know all about gardens and  nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, milkweeds and stuff I  started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, mainly I see these green rectangles.

ST.  FRANCIS:
It’s  the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers ‘weeds’ and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.

GOD:
Grass? But, it’s so boring. It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It’s sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?

ST.  FRANCIS:
Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the  lawn.

GOD:
The  spring rains and warm weather probably make  grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.

ST.  FRANCIS:
Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it– sometimes twice a week.

GOD:
They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?

ST.  FRANCIS:
Not  exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it in bags.

GOD:
They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?

ST.  FRANCIS:
No, Sir, just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.

GOD:
Now,  let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And, when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?

ST.  FRANCIS:   Yes, Sir.

GOD:
These Suburbanites must be relieved in the  summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up  the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.

FRANCIS:

You  aren’t going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out hoses and pay more money to water it, so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.

GOD:
What  nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees.  That was a sheer stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the autumn, they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the trees and bushes. It’s a natural cycle of life.

ST.  FRANCIS:
You  better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.

GOD:
No!?  What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter to keep the soil moist and loose?

ST.  FRANCIS:
After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call “mulch.”  They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.

GOD:
And where do they get this mulch?

ST.  FRANCIS:
They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.

GOD:
Enough! I don’t want to think about this anymore. St. Catherine, you’re in charge of the arts. What movie have you scheduled for us tonight?

CATHERINE:

‘Dumb and Dumber’, Lord.  It’s a story about….

GOD:
Never mind, I think I just heard the whole story from St. Francis.

So:  What do YOU think of the way we use our gifts?  How are you using your gifts and resources?  Could you be doing more as a wise user?  Recycling?  Growing veggies? Converting to arid landscaping? Wrapping gifts with reusable bags?  The list goes on, and so can you, in helping the Planet.  And that’s you, having fun with new ideas, more and more Healthy, Happy, and Loving Life^sm !  

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Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert, holistic healer, and award-winning author who celebrates life.  She has a longtime natural healing practice and is an ordained minister. Among her books are: Discover The Secret Energized You , Inspirations for Peace Within:  Quotes and Images to Uplift and Inspire, and Sacred Meditation: Embracing the Divine.  The books are shown and reviewed on Amazon (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br) and can be obtained through Kebba’s office ($10 pdf, $20 softback–includes postage).  Our email/PayPal is: kebba@kebba.com .

Books by Kebba Buckley Button