You don’t have to bring the past
into this moment.
You don’t have to bring the pain
with you as you move forward.
Ask yourself:
Is this helpful?
Is this useful?
Is this relevant?
Is there a purpose to this?
If the answer is “no” –
then move on.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
“She could not fix the past and she couldn’t stay trapped there.”
― Janis Wildy, The English Bookshop
thinking they are lost
we try to preach them “the way”
maybe we’re the lost
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Claim this moment.
And the next one.
And the next.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
(Cellphone photo of Lake Samish sunrise. See the reflection of the moon? Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
Principle is my foundation.
Mind is my guide.
Soul is my music.
Life is my friend
in whom I abide.
Truth is my protector.
Love is my mother.
Spirit is my reality.
I need no other.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
I woke up to find out that someone(s) had attempted to steal from me – long story involving trickery and someone posing as me in an email. Anyway. At first I was freaked out by this. But then this weird thing happened. I felt this kind of detached calm about it all. I took the steps I needed to take to to try to fix the problem, and then got in my car and drove up to Bellingham for a nice walk on the boardwalk. The sky still had pink in it when I got up there. There were goldeneye ducks and seagulls and cool patterns in the bay. Everyone I passed gave me a friendly smile for a smile. It was lovely.
I stopped at the Colophon and as soon as I walked in the hostess/server asked me if I’d like my favorite peach Arnold Palmer drink – she recognized me! And then she led me back to my favorite seat in the corner. I ordered some avocado toast and sipped my peach tea and just soaked up the happy vibes.
It came to me that I was in control of how I was going to feel. The person who had attempted to steal from me wasn’t the boss of me, and had no say in how I was going to feel about my day.
The server gave me another peach tea to take with me when I left, and I left a big tip in appreciation for the friendly kindness I’d felt at the restaurant – a reminder of all the good folks in the world with me.
Shakespeare wrote: “There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” And I saw how true that was today. I could choose to be all ruffled and affronted at the way my morning had started. Or I could choose to find joy for myself.
Life isn’t “out to get me.” Life is good.
(Photo below is of a goldeneye duck on Bellingham Bay this morning. Photo by Karen Molenaar Terrell.)
affronted by life
like it’s some spiteful human
bent on attacking
it flows on, heedless
while I grapple with
the human woes we
all experience
“Nothing is either good or
bad, but thinking makes
it so.” I choose how
I’ll respond to what comes my
way and what I’ll feel
– Karen Molenaar Terrell
Note to self:
You don’t always have to be “on.”
You don’t always have to be doing.
You don’t always have to be pursuing
some goal or ambition.
There are times when it’s enough
to sit in your chair
and drink your tea
and think
and be.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Last sunset of twenty twenty-two
rotates into first sunrise of twenty-three
connecting yesteryear to a year that’s new
and what we were to what we’ll be.
I pull off the road to take this year’s
first photo and a man stops his car
to check if I need help and gives me
my first kind smile of the year.
I thank him and tell him I’m fine –
just taking in my first sunrise of a new time.
He laughs and says he understands
and watches with me as a swan lands
and we wish each other a good year.
And so it begins.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
Love is the only source;
the only cause; the only effect;
the only power; the only presence;
the only creator. Love is All.
We come from Love;
we are the effect of Love;
we manifest the power of Love;
we express the presence of Love;
we reflect the perfection of Love;
we are the image and likeness of our creator;
we are the ideas and children of Love.
Anything that would keep us
from being the reflection of perfect Love
is a lie
for we are Love being Love.
Love is omnipotent, omnipresent, glorious All.
And we are Her children.
-Karen Molenaar Terrell
It’s a humble holiday, tucked in between
Christmas and New Year’s, but it’s really keen.
Things look a little bedraggled, it’s true.
The tree’s a little droopy and no longer new.
The movies and music of the Christmas season
are getting on our nerves now, and we’re seeing no reason
to eat even one more sugary oversweet sweet.
It’s time for broccoli and carrots (maybe hold on the beets).
The pressure for perfection comes off on this day,
the toys have been opened, and it’s come time to play.
And if before we were wearing faux holiday cheer
to blend in with the others and not Scroogey appear –
it’s time now to be genuine, and honest and real –
the food banks are empty, people still need a warm meal.
The homeless and hungry and jobless and alone
still need love and caring, still need a home.
So maybe we can celebrate the day after Christmas
by keeping the spirit of hope alive,
we might make that our business.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell, from The Madcap Christian Scientist’s Christmas Book
Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist 