who is encouraging whom?

I find myself in a position of encouraging others. It's pretty much always been this way. I love to find something in another person that I think is amazing and really special. I love it even more when I can be a mirror for that person and let them see what I see. To be able to see beyond the surface is a gift. We all have that gift as children. Somewhere along the way we often lose it. We learn to filter our thoughts and insights to conform.
I feel blessed in many ways and one of them is my child-like ability to see. See things that should be obvious to everyone & see things that no-one else can see for whatever reason. Sometimes that ability is a curse. People don't always want to know what lies ahead, or is in their very current existence. The key to using the gift is knowing delivery-method and timing. I continue everyday to learn more and get better at-delivery.
Delivering encouragement is so satisfying. I get encouraged every time I am able to encourage another person-the look on their face, the spring in their step-it makes all the normal crap of everyday go away-if only for a moment.
I hold onto the moments-they are a gift.

looking otside of ourselves

part of being healthy is remembering that we need to be looking outside ourselves at others who have needs we can help with..i am very proud of my daughter for being selected to be a part of project nambia 09 (see the group on Facebook). a friend of mine has been talking some lately about heart health ( the emotional heart) and it makes a lot of sense. if we have ugliness and bitternes inside then no matter what we do to the outside we are still increasing our negative health risks. we are human and we have many shortcomings, but to ignore them is dangerous. this nation elected a president that stood on a platform of change and regardless of whether or not you, i or we disagree with anything else he says-one thing is sure: we need to make some radical changes and the only way to do that in a real and meaningful way is to change ourselves. make amends with someone, change an attitude we have, whatever it is-if we all make some change, if we reach out to others, from our neighbor to a stranger in a distant land-only then we will be who we were intended to be!

Made it through DAY 4!

Well day 4 was not nearly as hard as I thought it might be. However, I had a lot of distractions and that helped in many ways. i didn't obsess today about food. :)
Reconnected with a dear friend today after 10 years of distance. Not intentional distance-just that kind that comes when life changes-as it always does.
Today is not about me. Maybe none of this is at all...
today is about love. love that spans the changes of life and time and space. love so strong that it empowers us to achieve things we otherwise may never try. love not held by the ties of marriage or birth, but by a friendship so valuable that it embodies the very existence of love.
i have a dear friend for whom i have much love. please pray for health and strength to flow through that body and mind and bring physical and emotional strength. thank you