The Gift of Crochet

This is the table cloth my mother-in-law made us...  the table was getting ready for a holiday meal.

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Crochet

“A good life is like weaving. Energy is created in the tension.  The struggle, the pull and the tug are everything.” 

Joan Erikson

To wind, to weave, to string together.

To bind, to create, to bring the threads together.

To stop, to relax, to take a little time.

To create a design of beauty that calms your mind.

To loop, to finish each small section.

Makes for a finished product that shows dedication.

Crocheting is much like life.  

We string together varying circumstances day in and day out.

Some may be happy, some may be joyful.

Some events may be filled with self doubt. 

Some situations may give us grief and anger.

Each situation is part of the threading.

In the end if we are persistent, we can take all these daily machinations and make a beautiful crochet project that can sustain us.  

To help us to learn, to grow and even succeed to master the art of spirit, soul and life crocheting.

Recently I pulled out a very intricate table cloth that my late mother-in-law made for our dining room table.  The stitching is so intricate and beautiful, the project took my mother-in-law months to complete.  This spurred my mind to ponder how life is much like crocheting.  So many different circumstances have been weaved into our lives over time that the stitching can either make a masterpiece or a misshapen woven mess.  How can we start making our life, our influence a beautiful crocheted pièce de résistance?  The process starts by finding something positive or joyful in each circumstance, no matter how hard that may be.  When the process of crocheting starts, it begins with a single thread. The thread is lopped in the crocheting hook and then made into a chain.  After the chain is made, the chain is made into rows or rounds.  If our outlook is bleak, that stitching may not look so great. With everything going on in the world,  folks are divided at the moment.  How do we start a new chain?  Find the grace, find the kindness, find something that gives the gift of commonality to yourself or someone else who might need it.  There are some situations where you are going to have to stop the stitching and start all over again.  There are going to be sometimes when you have to let go of that certain stitch or situation.  That is ok.  As you continue to crochet a life of meaning, joy, positivity and purpose you can graduate to a more intricate stitch.  Make the circumstances and even more extensive creation.  When researching crocheting, there are literally thousands of patterns and each one was different, some were hilarious.  The 70’s mens shorts were quite amusing.  Sweaters, hats, purses, fish!  There were teapot cozies, dresses, blankets.  You name it there was a pattern for the crochet.  In all of the patterns a theme was present throughout the instruction.  It takes time, patience, a whole lot of weaving in and out.  There are many colors and patterns in each one and in the end produced a masterpiece to the maker.  How are we crocheting our life?  One final quote to share:  “Instead of worrying about what you can’t control, shift your energy into what you can create.”. Roy T. Bennett.  

My books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

Clean it Up!  Wash it Up!

Coming soon:

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

Appalachian Allegory

The Gift of Darkness to Light

I took this on one of our early morning walks...

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Darkness to LIght.

“In order for the light to shine so brightly, the darkness must be present.”

Sir Frances Bacon

Do you feel encompassed by darkness?

Do you feel the weight of its might?

The light just can’t permeate, you just want to give up the fight.

You try to find your way, you crawl and use your hands. 

You feel around in the darkness. 

You try to stand. 

You are not sure you can find your footing.

You squint your eyes to see.

That one little pin prick of light, that will guide you to luminosity.

You stand and pray.

You hope and dream that this light will come to be. 

Your prayers lead you to firm footing, and you think that you just might see…

A small bit of shining as your eyes adjust to the dark, could it be?

Your spirit is bolstered, your heart starts to beat with a quick pump and a start.  

You take those ginger steps towards that small source of light. 

It becomes brighter and brighter as you squint with all your might. 

The prayers, the tears, the heartache, the storms.

You see them start to dissipate.

As the light just comes a little brighter with each step you take. 

When you have your sure footing your steps become more sure. 

Dear One, it is most certainly darkest before the dawn. 

Of that you can be sure. 

Don’t give up, pray, stand up in the dark.

So that when the sun begins to shine you know you made it even when times were dark.

Give thanks, feel the light, know your strength. 

You can do this, you are stronger than you think.

Today I was pondering the phrase, “It is always darkest before the day dawneth.” This phrase was uttered by theologian and historian Thomas Fuller. He uttered this phrase when he stood on Mt. Pisgah.  Moses stood there before his death to see the promised land. There are times when I feel that we are in a very dark time in humanity.  We have so much as compared to other places. Yet, well… we think it is too little. Recently I read a book about places in Appalachia where there are folks who cannot read, they don’t have running water or heat. They are destitute in poverty.  Right in this country.  It really caused me to convert my, “Ugh, I have to go to the store.” to “I am so blessed to be able to go to the store.”  This past year in our home has been dark, there have been health issues galore with several family members, other traumatic events as well.  Top it all off with the news cycle, social media, the division of folks. It just seems dark, right? You often hear people equate dawn and sunrise.  When in fact they are completely different. Dawn is when you can detect a little light in the sky.  Sunrise is when the sun makes its first peaks over the horizon.  I have shared many writings about my dark:30 walks with my husband.  This morning it was early, cold, and honestly I did not feel like doing it.  What a great attitude, right?  But in my move towards changing my line of thinking I stopped.  I thanked God that I woke up, I could walk, and as we were coming down the driveway, I saw the first pin pricks of light announcing the dawn. A lot of the time we have to tread some darkness to bask in the full light of day.  What is the real point of this musing? Keep going, keep the faith, keep praying, keep that strength.  Crawl, walk, stumble towards the light.  When the path is clear and lit, you know you have made it.  Let us pray for our world.  Let us pray for those who are in the midst of harsh war. Let us pray for our country. Let us pray for each other.  I leave you all with a quick story about Cpl Duane E Dewey.  He fought during the Korean war.  Earlier he had been significantly injured by a grenade during an attack during the night.  They were outnumbered and outgunned. Cpl. Dewey saw a grenade land in the midst of the soldiers.  He told everyone to get back and he selflessly jumped on top of the grenade. He was lifted off the ground and still survived.  When he was taken for treatment, they also found a gunshot wound in his stomach.  He was the recipient of the first Medal of Honor ever presented by Dwight D. Eisenhower.  Cpl. Dewey thought nothing of saving his whole squad in a very dark time.  We probably won’t ever be faced with a situation as dark as this (God willing)..... But we can appreciate his bravery of climbing from deep darkness into light.  Keep searching for that pinprick of light.. Eventually your path will be gloriously illuminated. 

Sources:

Uso.org

Bookbrowse.com

My Books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

Clean it Up!  Wash it Up!

Coming soon:

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

Appalachian Allegory

The Gift of When No One is Looking

Be the best version of yourself, even when no one is looking.

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of When No One is Looking

“Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching.”

C.S. Lewis

In the nooks and crannies where no one sees, are you still the same person you portray yourself to be? 

Do you say kind things when in the open and perform acts of kindness to be called great?

What about when no one is looking?  Do you still maintain your straight and narrow way?

In a time where folks do things for likes, shares, and attention. 

Will you perform the same action when no one is looking?

Let us examine our motives, our heart and our lives.

When performing an act of kindness try to keep this idea in mind.

Don’t let your right hand know what your left is doing.

Perform the act of service, just with one concept in mind. 

To love, to give with no real notoriety.

Be the best you can be when no one is watching.

Because one day in the rare event you think no one is watching, someone will be viewing your activities and you will give them purpose, a vision, a direction of who they could choose to be.  

How many folks have you encountered in life that are just not who they seem?  When no one is watching they might be just awful. Or, the person may not be nefarious at all.  They may just want the attention.  Recently I was challenged with an interesting concept.  If I could get away with just about anything would I still live a life with a moral compass. This concept is quite interesting.  What would you do?  What would I do?  One of the most talented artists of the 80’s was George Michael.  I am sure that there are some folks that have never heard his velvety voice and his dulcet tones.  One of his well-played songs would probably be “Wake me up before you go.”  The canon of music he shared with the world until his untimely death was quite immense.  He lived the life of a rich musician and star. He had a lot of struggles through his short life with drugs, alcohol, all the trappings of a celebrity life.   What many folks did not know is that he gave immensely to many charities.  He went undercover to homeless shelters and fed the hungry.  He paid debts of random strangers just because he could.  One time, George was sitting in a cafe.  He overheard a stranger crying over 25,000 pounds of debt.  He finished his meal, quietly gave a check to the server and asked them to give it to the random stranger.  When his mother died he gave a free concert for nurses.  The list is endless of what acts of kindness this multi-millionaire performed in service to his fellow humans.  A lot of these acts were discovered after his death.  While I realize that most of us will never be filthy rich (I wish!) we can learn a lesson from George Michael’s example.  People need help, we need integrity.  Most of the time these acts or decisions will not be in untroubled or “public” arenas.  These deeds will most likely come to our attention when you least expect them to happen.  I would encourage us all when there is nary an eye to see what we are about, that we live a life of integrity, purpose and gratitude.  One final quote by none other than George Michael himself “My ambitions have always been to make the quality of my life better but not in a material way.” In his short 53 years on planet earth I would wager to say that in the nooks and crannies.  In his alone time, George lived out his vision.  He gave when no one was looking.  He did not shout it from the rooftops. He did not take a video and share it for the world to see.  He just did it.  May we learn from his attitude of giving.  Give with no expectation of anything in return.  

Source:Smoothradio.com

My books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

Clean it Up! Wash it Up!

Coming soon:

Appalachian Allegory

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

The Gift of Clean Sheets

I took this at a Naval Base in Rhode Island.  It just reminds me of your mind after you spent time cleaning inside...  a beautiful canvas that can be built upon.

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Clean Sheets

To be clean, what does that mean?

To be washed from dirt and impurities. 

To be refreshed and given a new scent that doesn’t contain the foul smells.

To be dried in the sun or dried with heat.

To make sure the item is free of germs.

What needs cleaning in your life?

What have you neglected for a long time?

Have you cleared your mind of constant negative thoughts?

Have you cleaned up your words?

Have you cleaned up your actions?

We all need a little cleaning to wash off the dust of daily life. 

So take a moment, do a little cleaning. 

This will change your actions. 

You know that feeling of laying down on freshly laundered sheets?  It feels amazing!  Maybe that is specific to our family but clean sheets are quite important. Having children in the military, they take clean to another level. Our twin boys attend a military college.  Each week their room is inspected for cleanliness.  The hangers have to contain exactly one finger length between each shirt or pants.  They have to own a footlocker for your miscellaneous items.  The floor has to be clean, the bathroom spotless.  If something fails inspection they get demerits. Pretty astounding, right?  Think about when you do not clean things in your home.  We are all guilty of this activity.  What happens?  The dirt, dust and grime build up because of neglect.  When you do finally reach the moment to cleanse and polish the items it takes twice as long to scrub, dust, sweet and mop the area.  Not only does this take extra time, you have an increased chance of getting sick because the dirt, dust, germs deteriorate air quality in your home.  If you have clutter everywhere what happens?  You trip and fall and in some cases get hurt.  I can hear you saying, “I hate to clean.” Agreed.  I know a handful of folks who like to clean but the necessity to clean never goes away.  Now, let us move this into our everyday life.  What happens if you do not take a little time to wash off and sanitize our thoughts and our spiritual life? We start to thrive off negative thoughts and emotions.  If you wake up in a negative mindset that sets the tone for your entire day.  Positive folks want others to be happy.  Even if their circumstances are vastly different.  Recently I read a quote that said, “It’s hard to be happy when you do not clean up or even throw out what is making you sad.” It is not always easy or even possible, but perhaps a little dusting off would help you make it to a better place mentally, emotionally and spiritually.  Those of us who have kids, particularly a quiver full fought the battle of cleaning constantly with kids when they were little.  When our daughter was about 8 years old she was quite distraught because she could not find a particular stuffed animal that was important to her.  My husband and I walked into her room and it looked like a tornado had blown through not once but several times.  It was utter chaos. Our parenting style was we were not going to do everything for them but rather start helping them and guiding them and ultimately they finish the job.  We told her to start by picking things up off the floor.  Find the garbage and put it in the trash, put the clothes in the basket, etc. Our daughter took everything, clothes, stuffed animals, trash, everything and deposited said items onto her bed.  She came to us quite proud that she had “cleaned” her room.  We walked into her room and well, yes the room was clean but the bed looked like the tornado just picked everything up and put it on her bed.  In all of her “cleaning” she still had not found the all important stuffed animal.  We told her to perhaps actually take everything off the bed and put it in their special place.  After all, she will eventually have to go to bed and well, it would be hard to sleep on that pile.  “I’ll just sleep on the floor.” She said, with a sigh we were in for the long haul helping her clean her room.  We threw away the garbage.  Put the toys in their special place and what do you know?  Her important stuffed animal was at the bottom of the pile.  How many times do we chuck everything into a corner or pile our “dirty bits” on top of a metaphorical bed?  I know I am guilty of these actions a lot.  We all need to take a little time each week or each day to put on those clean sheets.  Clean out that pile of negative emotions, find that small sliver of clean and start to declutter our life. I would add in this particularly dark time in the world it is so necessary to clean those spiritual sheets.  Wash our minds, scrub our souls.  Pray for others.  I leave you with a witty quote from Lauren Bacall: “The best things in life are clean living, good works and big sapphires.  And not in that order.”

  My books are on Amazon:  

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

Clean it Up! Wash it Up!

Coming soon:

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments

Appalachian Allegory

The Gift of Guitars

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Frets

“The difference between the ordinary and the extraordinary is practice.”

Vladimir Horowitz

What is a fret?

A fret is a strip of metal on a guitar.

They make the most beautiful sound when the strings are added.

Melodies, harmonies, strokes and picks of pure beauty. 

Those frets turn into chords that folks can sing along.

The frets can play a Bach prelude and fugue that holds so much musical charm.

Frets on a bass guitar can keep the beat.

In order to use those frets and strings, you have to have calluses on your fingers to ease the pain.

If you do not practice and those calluses go away, you have to re-acquaint your fingers with those steel or nylon strings.

So when you hear the gift of frets don’t immediately think that you need to worry about all that life brings.

Frets are a gift that brings melodious strains and chords of pure beauty. 

Remember the playing, the practice all takes time and work. 

But when you come to play the music the reward produces much meaningful worth. 

As I was reading the news this morning… well, I just sighed.  I looked for a few minutes, read some articles and I had to put it down.  It is not that I am indifferent to the sheer suffering of others.  It is more of a, “Why are we humans so cruel to one another?”  I know that we live in a fallen world.  I know that for my part I can pray earnestly for those in peril.  But what can we do?  We can be better people.  We show care when there is none around us.  I know that this is must easier said than done but my goodness.  I wanted to share this quote by Ram Dass: “When you go into the woods and look at tress, you see all the different trees.  And some of them are bent, some of them are straight, and some of them are evergreens, and some of them are whatever. And you look at the tree, and you allow it.  You see why it is the way that it is.  You sort of understand that it didn’t get enough light, and so it turned that way, and you don’t get all emotional about it. You just allow it, you appreciate the tree.  The minute you get near humans, you lose all that.  And you’re constantly saying: You are too this, or I am too that.  That judging mind comes in.  And so I practice turning people into trees.  Which means appreciating them just the way they are.”

The guitar originated in Spain in probably the 16th century.  The guitar is obviously more portable than a full orchestra or a piano.  The type of the instrument is a chordophone which basically means the sounds are made through the strings and the vibration of the wood.  The neck originally had about 4 strings.  Today’s modern guitar has 6 strings. Before playing the guitar the strings need to be tuned with set notes.  Otherwise the chords will not be in tune and basically in the words of my music professor “It will sound like a musical gobbly gook mess.” Suffice it to say tuning is important.  When playing the guitar (in my experience particularly the acoustic guitar), you have to maintain calluses on your fingers otherwise the calluses will go away and you will have to repeat the painful process of calluses again.  So, practice is quite important.  Reforming calluses is not a fun task.  I have let my calluses go way too much. The piano is my main instrument, however I do like to play from time to time. When you place your fingers on the fret to form a chord, you use your pick and stroke the strings and voila!  You are making music.  Also, Bach never specifically wrote pieces for the guitar but some of the most beautiful pieces of music were adapted for the guitar.  Why frets?  How does this relate to life?  Our life is a song.  Whether that day is a melancholy minor (sad sounding) key, or a resounding major (happy sounding), key.  Each day is played with notes of life.  Those notes make up the scale that plays the great melodies and harmonies of our life.  For example, we will use the key of D major as our life song.  The first note is D which could be determination.  The next E, it could be an eagerness to make a better day and life for yourself.  Now, next is F# you can face the day whether it be sharp or flat, that is up to you to say.  G is next in line, it could be a generous gesture or some wisdom to be gained (gotta keep those calluses in good shape).  A, aim high, or find some amusement to lift your spirit.  Next we have B, take a moment and breathe, build someone up or find a small moment of bliss.  C# is next, what should it be? Catharsis? Charisma? You make the choice.  Finally we are back to D. The end of the scale where you can dance and play on your life frets a beautiful melody.  Frets are not always good in life, but they do keep us disciplined and mindful that when we don’t practice mindfulness and thankfulness we lose those calluses and have to start them all over again.  Play your frets with great gusto dear readers.  

Source: Yamaha.com

The Gift of Psithurism

 

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of Psithurism

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the Autumn tree.”

Emily Bronte

The gust of wind that gives you a little chill. 

The leaves that fall like rain all around, they make the most wonderful sound.

The red, the orange, the yellow beautiful leaves.

They are giving their show stopping performance before taking a reprieve. 

The crispness of an Autumn day adds to the delight of this wonderful display. 

Stop, take a moment.  

Enjoy the wind.

Let it caress you, let its tendrils touch your soul.

Enjoy the leaves, enjoy the wind, take a little stroll. 

Let them calm your spirit and take some time to pray. 

Give your spirit a respite from the cares of the day. 

The wind can be our teacher and a wonderful guide. 

To find solace in nature one day at a time. 

That solace leads to peace and meaningful reflection.

Which leads to growth, patience and for a moment, pure perfection.

Psithurism?  You are probably scratching your head wondering what in the world is she talking about now? Psithurism is the sound of wind in the trees and rustling of leaves.  I had not heard of this word until recently.  I thought about what an interesting word, interesting concept, and yes, I do love it. I thought, how can we relate this to everyday life?  One of the many times that my husband and I have visited Rhode Island, we were always in awe of the wind turbines.  There are a lot of them around and they are HUGE!  Those turbines provide power to many homes in the area.  What can we draw from that? Let the wind caress you, it will give you a little power.  Wind, (when it is not dangerous) is refreshing and can be quite powerful.  The leaves, well the rustle is kind of nice on a fall day.  I can remember when I was a child running and jumping into piles of leaves from the front yard.  It was quite fun.  One of the funniest things I have seen in the last few years is our really old lady dog running and jumping into the leaf piles in the backyard.  She acts like she is a puppy again. Today I had to drive for a while, so I decided I would catch the news.  Well, as I predicted.  It is not good.  So much suffering.  I offer my prayers for those who are in harm's way on a daily (sometimes multiple times) basis.  I cannot even fathom the pain that they are going through, the fear.  Sometimes life gets that way and we are not nearly as impacted as those across the pond (or some would argue, those who are only miles away from us).  We can’t see the forest for the trees.  What can you do? Well, I read today that you can go outside and feel the wind.  It takes something that is stagnant and blows away the mind and soul dust.  It is actually refreshing to the human psyche.  There are places in the Bible that refer to the Holy Spirit as a refreshing wind that lifts your spirit.  Wind, leaves, etc.. all are signs of rejuvenation.  The leaves fall so that they can grow again and be renewed.  The wind blows and brings cooler temps and refreshing rain.  Wind breathes new life into nature.  Go ahead!  Embrace Psithurism!  In the words of Henry Ford: “When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.”

The Gift of If You Want To

 

Positive Pensées

Kathy King

The Gift of If You Want To

 "If you want to, you can find a million reasons to hate life and be angry at the world." Or, if you want to, you could find a million reasons to love life and be happy.  Choose wisely."

Cari Welsh

 

If you want to, you can see all the gray on a rainy day.

Or if you want to, you can see the green and verdant colors washed by the rain.

If you want to, you can hate the soul-sucking heat.

Or if you want to, you can be happy for the seasons that bring cold, warm, hot and crisp fall days. 

If you want to, you can see that you don’t have everything you thought you would have. 

Or if you want to, you can count your blessings and be very glad. 

Be glad for a home, a place to lay your head. 

Be glad that you even have those blasted chores, which you dread. 

Is the glass half full or half empty?

Or if you are truly creative, you will see that the glass is refillable.  

If you want to, you can look around and see that blessings abound even in the smallest of things. 

Choose some if you want to bits each and every day.

If you want to, you can pave a more positive and fulfilling road ahead.

Make the path lovely; make the path kind.

Teach the "if you want to" mindset to others.

Help others see If you want to, there is beauty in just about everything we see.

 

If you want to.  What a choice of words, right? One must admit that there are days that you just don’t want to.  Am I right? So much of life is how we look at it.  When I see the news and what is going on with the countries ravaged with war, it is an immediate attitude check. Days like today where in my little blessed world it was a no good, very bad day.. I only needed to look at the suffering of those around the world..  Even the suffering that is near.  It gives perspective.  

What If you want to moments do we have  do we endure on a daily basis?  I have a friend who finds brushing her teeth a bit tedious. I have always thought this was funny. She decided that for the three minutes that she was brushing her teeth, she would pray for a varying list of folks. She puts that list on her mirror and proceeds to brush, brush, brush, and pray. I read a few days ago that when people hate something, it is accompanied by a bevy of emotions. They are trying to connect with a life situation or a person (even if that connection is not necessarily good) out of fear. It's almost as if you're looking for a sense of belonging, even if the emotion isn't particularly well-designed. There used to be a lady who lived at the senior center where I work who sat at the front entrance each and every day, and when you asked her how she was doing, her response was, "Terrible! Just terrible!  I hate it here! "Get me out of here!" After getting this response from her several times, I asked the management if she was indeed okay. They told me that she was upset because she had to leave the home that she had shared with her late husband for many, many years. She never got over having to leave. She kept complaining so much that the management had to move her sitting area away from the front entrance because she was scaring off potential tenants.  She eventually went to live with her children, which made her much happier. This was a truly instructive moment to find the "if you want to" when life gets tricky. My husband has a lifelong friend who has been in the Army for a very long time. War is ugly all around. If there could be a world without war, that would be amazing. This friend has done several tours of duty in the Middle East. He has seen friends killed, quite honestly. My heart goes out to him. Sure, he chose to serve, but God bless those who choose that role. One very grave time, he was in a convoy, when suddenly a suicide bomber blew himself up right in front of their group of trucks. His shoulder was injured, and some other soldiers had minor injuries, but no one lost their lives that day. He recently shared a video with us that was recorded right after the event took place. He looked at the camera and said (paraphrased) that this could have been much, much worse.  But I am alive, everyone in the group is alive, and we are going to be thankful for that. God help us that we never endure a situation of that magnitude.  I would say that this was a much heightened example of if you want to. Right now, as I write this, there is a war raging in Europe and the Middle East. It is a world away, yet the media lets us see just how terrible this can be. Let this be a motivating factor for us to choose, if you want to, and steer it in the direction of thankfulness.

My books are on Amazon!

The Quacktastic Adventures of Ellie and Lord Barks a Lot

Clean it Up!  Wash it Up!

Coming soon:

Appalachian Allegory

The Case of the Missing Honk Honk

The Case of the Missing Ornaments