Category: walking

New Beginnings: Make it Day 1 again.

Day 1.

Again.

Ack. It seems like all I do nowadays is start over. I guess that’s a good thing. We can start over as many times in the day as we need to.

I made my Christmas chili. It had been many months since I made chili. Life has not been funny. I have not been in the mood for much. that have been fighting with myself to continue keeping on keeping on. I have not wanted to. I need to.

I did not want to fight with Christmas this year. I wanted to enjoy it. I told myself I would enjoy it. I told grief it was not welcome this year. I made a plan. I told myself I would get up early and get my Christmas chili made. I got up early. I made chili. I turned on music. I reached out to my siblings. I did the opposite of what grief wanted me to do.

I’m working on some pieces so I can enjoy the football games come the weekend. The competition has not been great. In fact, many of the games have been horrible. Mom and I would have spent countless hours lamenting over the awful football. I’m going to enjoy watching awful football with mom in my heart and on my mind.

Be encouraged. If you’re going to a hard time just now, that’s OK. Give yourself permission to process. I allowed myself a day or so just to stay in bed and feel sorry for myself. Then I got up and kept it moving. I have things to do. So do you.

Don’t let the heart keep these from being your best days. I have been watching and listening to old videos lately. I have enjoyed them. I’m getting back to enjoying just being. I’m taking my focus off of trying to find a job and just focusing on what I currently have in my life. Life is more than work.

Remember that you can always begin again. You can start Day 1, again. And again. As many times as needed.

Try not to give yourself a hard time, because you have to start over so many times. That’s what erasers are for. It’s not how many times you start. The most important thing is that you finish. You will finish. Be encouraged.

Keep doing what you know. Keep giving it all you’ve got. Don’t worry about the outcome. The outcome will take care of itself. The only thing you need to worry about is growing. Make sure you’re not growing bitter or disappointed. Disappointments will happen. Life is full of them. That’s OK. Just make sure you remain the positive person that you are.

I never knew that hard could be so damned hard and long could be so damned long! Yet I am still here. So are you.

If you have fallen down, get up again. Don’t judge yourself for having fallen. It happens to the best of us. It WILL happen to all of us, at some point or another.

This is our time as new beginnings. again. How many times will we have to start over again? Who knows? Who cares? Start over as many times as you need to.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: I’m still getting over being mad about having to start over again at my age. Starting over sucks. I guess I should have said that a more tasteful manner. No matter what you do don’t give up. You have too much to accomplish for that.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

New Beginnings: Don’t allow the world to tell YOUR story.

Don’t allow the world to tell YOUR story.

Don’t allow your circumstances to tell YOUR story.

Don’t allow the enemy to tell YOUR story.

Don’t allow your family to tell YOUR story.

Don’t allow friends to tell YOUR story.

Don’t allow your job to tell YOUR story.

Beloveds, only YOU can tell YOUR story the way it was MEANT to be told. Only YOU have lived through your experiences. Only YOU have overcome the things in which you have overcome.

Don’t go the way of the world in being swayed by this, that and every other thing. Make up your own mind. Tell YOUR story. YOUR way. In YOUR words.

Beloveds, you do NOT need another’s permission to do and to be you. Enough of that!

You don’t need a significant other to be significant. You already are. You also do not need a significant other to tell you how to act, think or be. You are perfectly equipped to be about that life on your own.

I am currently listening to “Push It” by Salt-N-Pepa. This song ALWAYS makes me feel like the indefatigable, invincible, courageous and spectacular person I am!!! YYYAYYAAAAAASSSSSS!

We spend entirely much too much time worrying about what others think about what we think about what we think about. This sentence doesn’t make sense. It makes about as much sense as worrying about what others think about what we think about!

I’ll stop by long enough to encourage you to tell your own story. Your story is unique to you. You can also kick folk out of your stories if you want to!

Life is short. Tell your story. All of it. Don’t be ashamed of your story. The things that have happened in your life has helped to shape you. Don’t waste a moment worrying about who may or may not read your story. Your audience will find you. I can’t wait to hear what you have to say.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: I have gathered so many stories living through this hard time. I am doing my best to share as many of them as I can to help as many people as I can. Life is short. Do you. Be you.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

🥂 Cheers to us.

🥂 Cheers to us, beloveds.

We have tried this year. We have given our all. We have loved. We have served. We have done our best to grow and have our voices heard.

No, we have not gotten all we have asked for. Still, we fight on. We continue to care. We continue to hope. We continue to move FORWARD.

It’s important, beloveds, to remember how far we have come. Be encouraged. Pat yourself on the back. You SHALL be rewarded for your try.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Get excited! Life is fixing to show out for you. Your dreams are closer than you know.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Heart ♥ check Wednesday.

Good morning, beloveds. Just checking on your heart. How are YOU?

Today is Christmas. I’m doing my best not to be sad. I’m making chili and brownies for my Christmas supper…lol. Mom would think that funny.

How is your heart? Please be good to you. It’s too easy to treat ourselves poorly, thinking we don’t matter as much as we do.

Happy birthday, Jesus. I love You.😁🥰♥️

I have some chili to make. You are welcome to stop by for a bowl 🥣.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: In case no one has told you today: I love you. So does He.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Love Train.

🚉 Help me start a love train, beloveds!

Mom LOVED this song. I love it. A shout out to the world to love one another.

Help me love the world today. Tomorrow is Christmas. Jesus birthday 🎂.🥰♥️

I just wanted to take a minute to gather some folk to help me spread some love around. There I’d enough hate to last ten lifetimes!

Life is short. Find someone to love. Starting with you.

asking for A Friend,

Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: I love you. So does He.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Whatcha Doin?

Good morning, beloveds. Me and good habits wandered by just to check on you:

How are you?

Have you worked on your dream?

Are you cutting yourself more slack?

Are you resting?

Have you laughed today?

Here, let me give you a bit of  laugh from my trusty bag of laughs…

Okay, you good now?

Be encouraged. Life is goof. Even when it’s hard.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Have an amazing today!

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

You are.

Be encouraged.

Just sending a bit of love your way, beloveds. Today is a tough one for me. Christmas Eve. I tread lightly through it now. I don’t know how my heart shall greet Christmas. If lucky, it will be just a day spent alone thinking nice thoughts of mom and other fam now gone.

Hopefully, Christmas will be just Christmas.

Anywho, I stopped by to send some care. This has been a long year. Be sure to rest up and look forward to the coming year.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: Ah, mom. I miss you. I’m praying and thinking of all who are hurting from the loss of loved ones or those who are alone at this time of year. Lonely has been a tad lonely this week. Be encouraged.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

AFTER you finish.

AFTER you finish.

Ask yourself if you have given your all.

AFTER you finish.

Ask yourself if did your best.

AFTER you finish.

Ask yourself if you can live with the results.

If you have done these things, beloveds, keep it moving!

You gave your all.

You did your best.

You can live with the results.

Folk will either receive or reject your try. So be it, beloveds. Ours is just to try. We pass on the results of our try to God, Life and The Universe. Not our problem what happens next.

STOP paying rent to the universe! Meaning, you do NOT have to come bearing gifts to be loved! You ARE loved, beloveds. My heart aches for every soul who is secretly believing they are only enough if they DO enough. Lies!

You are a priceless soul, beloveds. You ARE!

Take care today. Give yourself space and room to grow.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: I love you. So does He.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

BEFORE you start.

BEFORE you start.

Before you start, ask yourself why you are starting.

BEFORE you start.

Before you start, ask yourself who/whom you are starting for.

BEFORE you start.

Before you start, ask yourself if you are willing to do so regardless of the outcome.

What if the outcome does no benefit for you? Will you start?

What if starting will require more than you believed it would? Will you start?

What if starting results in losing folk because they don’t/won’t see things as you do. Will you start?

Too many rush to follow the crowd, without counting the costs.

Starting could cost you everything. Then again, starting could bring you more than you knew existed.

Life is short, beloveds. Be sure to ask yourself why you are doing or fixing to do your about to.

Remember that you don’t always have to say yes. Give yourself permission to say no. Folk are often afraid to say yes because they fear being judged or rejected.

To that I say phooey on that! That’s a bunch of gaslighting. Folk should be as willing for your no as they were thankful for your yes!

Your time is much too valuable to be doing something you truly want to do. Not a have to. A want to.

I encourage folk daily because I want to. There are times when I stop and ask again why I am here.

Am I here for you or for me? Is it to encourage others or to feed my ego? I make sure I do not type one word until I am reaching out to love folk without my mess mixed in.

To be sure, I gain as much as I try and give out. Reaching out to others really does help me to look UP, move FORWARD and stand on FAITH.

I’m praying for us all today. I pray especially for those who have been hopelessly turned off by religious foolishness. Be encouraged. It’s NOT God’s fault He has some super dumb acting children at times. Smh.

Have an amazing rest of your day.

asking for A Friend,
Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: I’m asking myself many questions these days. Life is much too short to be wasting on things for the wrong reasons. Be encouraged. Don’t forget to enjoy your day.

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!

Love is NOT a transaction.

Love is NOT a transaction, beloveds.

Love is NOT transactional.

Love is:

Transformative.

Love:

Transforms.

Love: Transfers.

Love:

Gives of ITSELF.

Love:

Gives ITSELF to another.

Freely.

Without conditions.

Love just loves.

Period.

WE are given the AWESOME privilege of love. We get to choose:

WHO we love.

HOW we treat the ones we love.

How we treat those we DON’T love.

WHEN we will bestow love.

When we will WITHDRAW love.

Love is THE key.

Love is one of the greatest force on earth.

Folk have killed to obtain love.

Folk have killed themselves when love had been withheld.

Folks, daily, surrender everything about themselves, in attempts to earn/win love/acceptance.

Love is NOT a trophy to be earned.

Love is NOT a pawn in our game to be used to manipulate the world around us.

Sadly, folk use love as a transaction. Discouragingly, folk see/use love as a commodity to be traded/bartered.

Similarly, folk also use the love their family, friends and others have graciously given them. They use that love to guilt the giver:

“If you REALLY loved me you would have…”

“If you TRULY loved me you would have not…”

“If you LOVE me, you will give me…”

“If…”

“You should have…”

“You had better…”

The lover then finds himself/herself/themselves tossed into a prison of another’s making. They are now bound to new terms and conditions. In order to ‘keep the peace’, they oftentimes will cede the rest of their love, to the one who has now become a transactional user.

The floor of the relationship has now become one of eggshells. Fragile. Rigid. Unyielding. Now, the ONLY thing that matters is keeping the transactional party “happy”.

Why? Because, he/she/they will withdraw THEIR love FROM us.

Once this dynamic enters, beloveds, it no longer contains GENUINE love. ALL the love given, thereafter, is given out of:

Obligation.

Guilt.

Anger.

Apathy.

Resentment.

In fact, in truth, folk on BOTH sides are no longer loving. They are no longer GIVING love. They are no longer RECEIVING love.

They start giving:

Obligation.

Guilt.

Anger.

Apathy.

Resentment.

When we do this, beloveds, Love steps out of the way. Love REFUSES to be party to this equation. Love will withdraw Itself. The bible says we love because He first loved us.

I have been doing my best to remove as many strings as I can from relationships. On my end, from my choices, with my actions.

I give my love freely. Without conditions. Yet, I ask that you recognize, receive and value my love for the priceless treasure it is. Treat it with care. Treat it kindly.

If you can’t/don’t/won’t, I must protect my love from being turned into a transaction: By you. By me.

Love is NOT earned. That said, you must earn another’s TRUST. Then, and only then, will you granted access into another’s heart.

Be careful, beloveds. Most good-hearted folk liberally bestows trust on folk thereby giving their love every which way. Then, when their heart is broken by transactional folk, they will lock their heart away.

Be careful with Love. Love is so strong it makes Itself fragile so the recipient can experience what unconditional love fills like.

Unconditional love is a beautiful thing. It feels amazing while giving. It feels wonderful when received fully.

I’m doing my best to love folk. As best as I can. I am also understanding that I can’t afford to keep giving my love to those who treat it callously.

We have all been much too careless and carefree with and about love. I’m learning to value her more and more.

I know this was a bit lengthy. I wanted to do justice to the subject. I fear I have communicated clumsily.

I have given what I have…my love. I hope it was enough for some.


Cassandra

#YourLifeMattersToMe

Note: I long for the days when folk looked upon one another with care and not just another transaction to get something from…

One step.

One step.

One step.

You are loved.

You are NOT alone.

Keep on being…YOU!