Category: Grandmothers

I’ve been thinking about Elsie – my story Gramma – a lot these last few days. It took me a bit to realize why. Thursday was her birthday. She would have been 134 years old! That’s hard for me to even imagine. What’s harder still is trying to imagine what she would say about what’s going on in our world!

In theory, she and I would have been sitting – as it were – on opposite sides of the aisle. Yep! That one. I can’t imagine, though, that she would be happy about much of the nonsense that’s filling our news. I can almost see her, hand stitching quilt blocks. The Grandmother’s Flower Garden kind. The first ones she let me help with, when I was about six.

Hard to say whether it’s memories or some magical reminder, but I’ve been thinking quilts, too. In my case, the painted kind! My current #Taliswoman painting-in-progress is sticking firmly with her chosen title: Quilting New Stories®. And I’ve got nearly enough under-layers done to start painting those quilt pieces.

It’s a MetaModern thing! How we make new meaning out of bits and pieces of history and current learning. Here’s the thing…

The labels don’t mean what they used to. Things we thought we could depend on feel like they’re hanging in the balance. And trust feels really challenging. All while my older grandteen just voted for the first time, which is nothing if not hope in the chaos!!!

Then, Saturday, I sat down with an engaged couple and we played Wisdom Cards and Filters! And you know what??? It worked!!!

Thirty some years of couples and pre-marital coaching experience, more weddings than I can count, a 269 page long doctoral dissertation, and a whole lot of creative courage, set loose in a way that leads to new questions rather than external, outdated rules!!! Laughter. Tears. Ah-hah’s. And my very favorite thing… Concrete Passion & Very Large Hope! (Thanks, Walter!)

A precious, chosen piece of THEIR map-of-reality-in-progress! One that I’m betting will be a big help on the hard days…

There are lots of things I can’t change all by myself. I suspect you feel the same way. There ARE things we can do. I’m choosing the kind that empower others. Others of good will. It’s a place to start!

I suspect Elsie would approve. At least the quilting and empowering part!

ps… curious??? Awesome! Click here to get your very own deck of Grammy’s MetaMod Wisdom Cards. And, no, you don’t need to be engaged for them to be really helpful! You just need a longing and a willingness to set out toward the next right thing!

pps… mark your calendar now! All the info on our upcoming #Filters class will be in Wedneday’s blog! Just one warning… if you show up for you, things will get different!

Gulp! As I suspect you’ve noticed, it’s been quite a week, at least in the land still known as The United States of America!

First, please hear me say that I’m going to assume that you’re doing whatever sorting you need to do with the stuff my Social Studies teachers used to call current events, according to your Filters. I am, too! And, even being aware of that is huge!

There’s another thing happening in my corner of the world, too. The Legendary Husband and I actually have an entire weekend with no external obligations or expectations!!! This is a very rare event at our house and we took some time to choose – intentionally – what would be most helpful.

As I write these words, Bill is napping. Blessed be! We’ve had no shortage of stress and not-knowing lately. The rest of our plans are organized around the notion of making what we have work better with what we need.

Blessedly, a friend will help with actual furniture shifting, tomorrow. (Not my best thing!) Then there’s the fact that shifting furniture goes hand in hand with shifting artwork! And that means not only a lot of measuring, but also which paintings whisper from the walls and where they need to be.

And, no… I’m not crazy. I’m just more tuned in to how I actually process things than the 5-senses bit I learned in nursing school!

So, left-over Strategy Soup for dinner. (The food kind!) Comfort and yummy healing in a bowl. And super easy!

Paintings to re-wire so they’ll hang at different heights. Sheets in the dryer. Quick review of the Feng Shui book! (Intention counts!)

And, yes… it hasn’t been too long since we had a similar adventure in other parts of the house. Here’s the thing… our needs change. Our dreams change. Our intentions for our life change. And, if nothing else, the context around us often makes it harder to ignore what we long for!

In a rather odd way, I find that comforting! Now, you can skip the next paragraph or two if you’re not in a space for real deal chatting. Fair warning that I am in such a space!

First, take a glimpse, please, at the photo we began with. From my recent #Quickening adventure. (The same adventure in which the Wisdom Cards were conceived!) It’s Creation-esque, for sure. And I love it.

What you can’t see, though, is all the layers of trying and trying again! Trying to get the energy I felt inside to appear in the world. And – here’s the big thing – I think Creators get it! I no longer think that they snapped their fingers one week and the whole world appeared as we know it, now. Instead, I believe that there was a whole lot of hoping and learning and loving along the way.

And, just between us, that feels like the best plan I know for this moment in time! One right thing after the other, hoping and praying that – one day – we’ll all join hands. In the meantime, though, I have some other strategies!

ps… ask the elves to hook you up with a batch of Grammy’s MetaMod Wisdom Cards and they’ll be delighted to email you the soup recipe, too! (It really is easy… and ever so adaptable!) Order your cards now, while they’re in stock, before the Decatur Book Festival coming up October 4!

pps… while I’m making space, I still have a bit for a couple more 1:1 coaching clients! And a very special offer! Get 6 sessions for the usual investment of 4… and a set of Wisdom Cards, as my gift! The Next Right Thing is getting on the road to the place where you are called, and you don’t have to enter the unknown alone!