Julanne's Village Jewels

PINK ROSE PHOTOGRAPHS The other day, I opened a box in my closet and found several small picture frames I had displayed in my home with cherished PHOTOS. I had removed the PHOTOS, but I couldn’t quite part with the frames. I decided on the spot to give them away. It was a huge relief to not have to think about them anymore. I put the PHOTOS in albums I had been filling over the years. It is such a consolation that I tackled the big job of sorting through boxes of pictures from eons ago. It was one of the most satisfying tasks I have ever done. I made a 12x12 inch scrapbook type album of my life and 6 – 9 inch albums for each of my 4 children, their dad and myself. The task seemed daunting at the time but as I perused all the photos and carefully selected the ‘best’ ones, it was a delight. To remember the look on my kid’s faces as they opened their album was worth all the effort. Looking at any PHOTO can bring up untold emotions, anywhere from sadness, tears, fear...

ACKNOWLEDGMENT WREN'S NEST I have long known the VALUE of ACKNOWLEDGMENT, both kinds . . . GIVING and RECEIVING ACKNOWLEDGMENT. I know what it feels like to experience both kinds and it is one of the most satisfying feelings I can have. It is an experience I have that is positively visceral. My whole body feels elated. I experienced that feeling many times last week with phone calls, birthday cards and well wishers ACKNOWLEDGING me and my birthday in such special ways. It made me realize, once again, the IMPORTANCE of recognizing and PAYING ATTENTION to someone we think of fondly and care about. How else can we communicate and make it known how we feel? Many people seldom if ever received ACKNOWLEDGMENT growing up or after growing up from important people to us in any way. The theme for ‘growing up’ children seemed to be criticism and harsh words, certainly little praise or compliments. Even more reason that we need to ACKNOWLEDGE ourselves for every single t...

BIRD MANDALA BIRTHDAYS TODAY IS MY 84 TH BIRTHDAY! It is amazing to me to write that age number! I woke up this morning in complete gratitude and wonder that my life is, has been so meaningful! A year ago I had no idea I would be living here at the Village and happily so. These past 8 months have been filled with surprises and delight! There are a few reasons for this experience; my living situation (apartment and surroundings), the people I have, am meeting and enjoying, the activities and perhaps most of all the inspiration and the support to express who I am and what is vitally important to me, writing and teaching. What a blessing and it is so effortless here with all the encouragement. BIRTHDAYS are very special events. It is the one day out of the year when we can claim ‘our day’. I grew up with acknowledgments and gifts of various assortments. I always made sure my children were recognized in a special way as well. It’s important to me to acknowledge all for...

RED BLEEDING HEART UNDERSTANDING I (we) have just completed the third session of the ORGANIZE YOUR LIFE class. I feel it went very well. People started seeing areas in their life differently and gaining new insights as they went along. It was so satisfying to see a ‘light’ turn on on faces as they starting UNDERSTANDING some areas of their life that could use some attention. We talked about the whole concept of UNDERSTANDING something as opposed to GETTING something. To UNDERSTAND something is usually an intellectual process, one in which we can actually learn about how ‘life’, and other animate objects work. It is a process to take one step or lesson at a time to grasp or UNDERSTAND how something works or how it ‘shows up’. For instance, we can learn how to do something, bake bread, ride a bike, write a letter and we soon can UNDERSTAND the way it can work. When it comes to UNDERSTANDING things like, rules, decisions, comments, attitudes, it may not be so e...