" We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection ... we write to be able to transcend our life, to reach beyond it. We write to speak with others."
- Anais Nin
As the calendar turned to the end of the month I realized my Raising the Hardy Boys column was due again and that means I’m really late in posting February’s column about my beef with the entire notion of “kid food.”
Some call it a soap box, I call it a passion.
I will preface this by saying I have totally handed a few french fries over the backseat, back when we used to eat in the car, but for the most part I really do try to live by these principles, at least when it comes to the boys.
Me? I’m a total hypocrite and am actually dealing with that this year. No, really
If you read my most recent post you know I’m done with the whole shame thing. Which means I can tell you I’ve been a self-help junkie for as long as I can remember. I’ve always been drawn to things that help me understand myself and others. I love that stuff!
Even though I love it, I’ve felt a little shy about it, like maybe there was something really wrong with me to be so attracted to that kind of thing. The other day I realized if that’s true I am so, so, so not alone since some of the books I’ve collected are best-sellers.
Which got me thinking … my personal self-help odyssey has been a journey of synchronicities where someone loaned me a book with exactly what I needed to read; or a song came on the radio making something I was mulling over click into place; or a seemingly random conversation triggered just the thought I needed to make an important decision; or a quote I read on a teabag revealed a message I needed to hear. You get the idea.
All that is to say, I’ve decided to start my own “self-help” category here to share some of my favorite quotes, books, living lessons, etc. I guess, in a sense, I’ve been doing that all along but now it’s official – I’m calling it something. And you know me, giving it a label makes it real.
The other day my beautiful friend Mel reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where George's father goes around screaming "SERENITY NOW!" whenever he needed to calm down. While screaming "SERENITY NOW!" might not work for most of us, laughing sure does.
Evoking the unlikely combination of Frank Costanza and Faith Hill, I came up with as funny reminder to myself for when I’m feeling less-than-Zen. You are welcome to copy it, print it, share it, whatever. If you like it, it’s yours.
I hope you’ll like more of that kind of thing as I work toward turning the product line of Nathalie’s Notes from my dreams to my reality.
A few ideas for how to use my first Nathalie's Notes freebie:
Save it as your desktop picture.
Print it out and frame it. Keep it or give it to a friend.
Paste it into your journal. (What? You don't have a journal? We need to talk.)
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