Travel and appreciation

Filed Under Gratitude | 3 Comments

Visiting Ireland. With my husband and my in-laws. What lessons I’m getting to learn!

On my first day here, I finished Jerry & Esther Hicks’ book, Ask and it is Given. I’ve been able to use the processes from the book several times each day. The basic premise of the processes I’ve used is that when you are feeling something that doesn’t feel good, you can “reach” for something that feels better. What’s great is that no matter where we are, we can reach for a thought, belief, or circumstance that feels better, and of course, one that we believe. I keep finding myself in frustrated and/or irritated mode. And in each moment, I can remember how grateful I am to be in Ireland with my husband. How grateful I am that I have a body that works as well as it does. How grateful I am that four and five generations ago my ancestors chose to leave Ireland for San Francisco! As beautiful as Ireland is, as wonderful as the people are, I’ve become so accustomed to wide roads, amenities I take for granted, etc. When all the things I’m grateful for come flooding in, it lifts me from being irritated. Amazing. Not that I’m not back there the next time my father in law does something that irks me, but it certainly is giving me more time to appreciate what is great in my life.

well behaved women

Filed Under Authenticity, Coming out of hiding, Sparkle | Leave a Comment

Well-behaved women rarely make history. - Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

Laurel Thatcher Ulrich wrote those (or very similar) words in an article, Vertuous Women Found: New England Ministerial Literature, 1668-1735 . American Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Spring, 1976), pp. 20-40
doi:10.2307/2712475

“Cotton Mather called them the “the hidden ones.” They never preached or sat in a deacon’s bench. Nor did they vote or attend Harvard. Neither, because they were virtuous women, did they question God or the magistrates. They prayed secretly, read the Bible through at least once a year, and went to hear the minister preach even when it snowed. Hoping for an eternal crown, they never asked to be remembered on earth. And they haven’t been. Well-behaved women seldom make history…”

I smile whenever I read those last words. Makes me feel like being sassy is okay. Or if not sassy, at least being able to stand up for what we believe. Although today being a virtuous woman is pretty much taking a stand against the “norm.” Living a life in hopes of that “eternal crown” may seem very out of tune with our culture.

March is Women’s History Month. What’s the history you’d like to make? Do you write it down? One of the reviewers of Ms. Ulrich’s recent book, “Well-Behaved Women Rarely Make History” wrote that “history isn’t simply what happened in the past; it is what later generations choose to remember.” We can help future generations remember by telling our stories.