Mindsets Matter

HIGH NOTES  

August 2015

I have a coffee friend who aptly declares that he is the smile distributor for the Upper Midwest!  Be like Wayne…brighten others' lives.  Linda

MINDSETS MATTER

Every once in a while we come across a book or a person who speaks bold wisdom to us.   A spirit filled friend recommended such a book to me!   Perhaps the author's inspiration will touch you as well.

Kelly McGonigal, PhD, has written The Upside of Stress.  I like that this author has balanced writing about concepts along with research data.  Her reference to "mindsets" is quite profound.  In particular, she describes mindset interventions, which are defined as experiences that open our minds to a new way of looking at life or the facts.  These intervention events are like seeds planted.   They always impact the person even though there is no prediction for sure about when  or how that will happen.

Our world is full of traumatic stress, however, not all stress is bad.  Challenge stress applies to people committed to goals that make life better.  It is hopeful to me in new ways that a light can impact forever for good even those people who have spent way too long in darkness.   Of course, I think first about kids…our future!

In a previous Genesis book , Claiming God's Power and Purpose With Creativity, this is what I recommended to anyone who has faced trauma.: "You will need to look in the mirror and say to yourself:  I am sorry that you were hurt. You are a wonderful person, and I love you."   I call this mindset intervention now!!

Recently, I described myself as an empowered optimist:) This book has added fuel to my fire!  I trust that this warmth of hope will rub off on you, too.

"You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore."

William Faulkner

GENESIS CREATIVE CONCEPTS

www.LTCarlson.com

ltcarlson.com.creativity@blogger.com

Promoting Natural Wonder

Photo by Melissa Capaul

In endless rolling fields

Crops are planted.

In only a few months

Every farmer's wish will be granted.

New life will reach up;

Growth happens, against the odds.

Most know they added their labor,

But the credit is God's.

Harvest Hope

Jiminy Crickets...It's June!

HIGH NOTES TRILLS

June 2015

           

"Many of life's failures are experienced by people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."   Thomas Edison

Someone on classical radio said a composer and a poet working together are like 1+1=3.  C'est moi:)  If you want world logic, you likely won't hear it from me.  Linda

WEDDINGS

A friend was recently talking to me about a 50^th Wedding Anniversary celebration in her family.  It reminded me of someone I knew who painted a wheelbarrow GOLD for her parents' 50^th Wedding Anniversary.  It took a lot of work to maintain a relationship that long, through good times and bad!  I think that all of the young couples hearing wedding bells this June or whenever need to spend time with someone who has made it 50 years.  Perhaps this task needs to go on the list proposed by the wedding planner, along with choosing the flowers and counting the dinner guests:)

SUMMER

I just heard that Memorial Day is the unofficial beginning of summer.   What does that mean to you?  For most kids it means no school.   It can be a time for renewal with hammocks, lemonade, baseball, movies, and picnics with friends and family. 

The focus for most people is on "doing" more than "being."  But as my friend, Callie, reminded me today…. we are human beings not human doings.  So draw in a deep breath and allow renewal to wash over you and fill you.  Allow time for play and activities that bring you peace.   Be fully with people you love.  It doesn't really matter what you do together.  

You HAVE heard this here: fill up, fill up, fill up, spill over!  Be intentional about filling up with and spilling over love.

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." 

Martin Luther King Jr.

GENESIS CREATIVE CONCEPTS

www.LTCarlson.com

ltcarlson.com.creativity@blogger.com

Promoting Natural Wonder

Friendship.

Your friend will listen!
Your thoughts always matter.
Your plans describe you…
Ahead, behind, organized, or scatter.

Your friend will lead you…
Look up and learn well.
Be unique like a snowflake
But today is new, who can tell!

Light overcomes darkness--
Maybe friendship is the sulphur on the match.
Strike up a conversation and see.
Undoubtedly there is wisdom to catch.

A hug, a touch, a gleaming eye,
Words spoken in earnest clearly say
Thanks for sharing my path.
Seeing you, knowing you, has brightened my day.

HIGH NOTES

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.   Without them, humanity cannot survive.   Dalai Lama

SPRING UP

Recently a High Notes reader I haven't seen for a long time said in a note that she was sure that I was "connecting to others and making this world a better place."  Thank you, Jodi.  All readers' notes help me spring up to new ways to give and earn such an awesome comment.  Together, we make it happen.    Linda

WINNING

We have just come through March Madness.  Our culture is mad about winning.  Many of us have a competitive spirit.  Sports play a big role in entertainment and education.  Beyond the joy of the game is perspective…people are even more important than the game or winning.   Are you spending time, are you playing sports or games of any kind with people you love?   Be a good sport!   Find an activity everyone can enjoy and do it!!  It matters.

SPRING…A TEST IN PATIENCE

Many of us think about spring as a great metaphor for new life.  It is.  But, as I watch the new leaves bud on my trees, I'm aware that in the darkest of snowy winter, I KNEW this was coming!  Maybe some part of me could hardly remember or just hated to be patient.  Or maybe it is easy for us to ignore this cycle of life.   Some parts we might like better than others but surprise is probably not one of our reactions to spring.  I do love the familiar French expression, Carpe Diem, that tells us to focus on today.  I mused about Seattle weather recently and decided that the phrase I used fits spring everywhere and life in general.   Keep watching…something lovely is coming!

INSPIRATIONAL READING

Books can inform us and inspire us.  People can inform us and inspire us.  The two words that describe for me an important part of our process for either are "open" and "seeking." It was great to meet with fellow artists to discuss a book that brought inspiration to us about differences and the power of seed planting.   Kids are usually curious about differences, not afraid and judgmental.   Maybe young children need to be our model in this regard. In this story we read how through a neighborhood experience with gardening, many leaps over harsh global perspectives were made.  It says to me that we can plant seeds, take on big issues in small ways, and make a difference.  If we are to BE the change we want to see in the world, it means being open and seeking the new and different not just same and familiar.

AND...

A Cadillac ad says:  It is not the critic who counts.  Credit belongs to the person actually in the arena!   At the best, know the triumph of big achievement.  At the worst, fail while daring greatly!

Soon...SPRING...New Life

Under the cold, hard earth, tulip bulbs are sleeping.

The sun will warm them, and suddenly they will stretch.

They will stretch from their winter's slumber.

Silently they will reach until daylight.

For them, the sun will show through the ground.

For me, the green suddenly appears.

Under the harsh ice,   

Under the white snowdrifts,

Under the frozen dark earth,

Suddenly green will break through.

Then red or yellow buds will show up.

The color warms my psyche.

The spring sun has warmed my soul

Winter dark days are forgotten.

New life is here.

Spring.   Again.

Eternal hope.