About Pat

Here is a place where you can come to get a lift for the day, perhaps, a little insight to carry you through onto the next adventure of your life. A place where I’ll share a story, perhaps a thought and some reflections and we’ll meet somewhere in the middle. I like to think of it as a gathering around the kitchen table late at night when everything is still and the world has quieted down to rest. Occupation: Writer, blogger, wife, mother, grandmother, sister, daughter and one learning and sharing stories in my life. Location: Bailey, CO Introduction: 2007 Plain Talk and Ordinary Wisdom came out of Wisdom for the Ages, which was born in the corporate world where I gave workshops and facilitated talking-stick discussion groups. When my employer closed their site in 2002 and relocated back East, I took it outside corporate giving presentations as a speaker at Kiwanis, Mile High Sales Professionals, CWEE (Center for Work, Education and Employment) and Business Honoring Spirituality meetings. I also led weekly discussion groups at Morningstar Assisted Living Center. I am passionate about creating a safe environment where people can put aside their differences, share their experiences and wisdom without being right or wrong and benefit from truly listening to one another. It all started with inspiration from a quote from Ram Dass in his book, "Still Here": ….”when there is true surrender and service between people, the roles of helper and helped and the boundaries between those in power and those who are powerless begin to dissolve.”

Attachments

Posted on December 19, 2007 by Pat

I read something this morning that struck me and made me think, particularly at this time of the year when we’re all scurrying around looking for that perfect gift.

Amy Blackmarr in her book, Going to Ground talks about working hard on dropping her attachments, material things. To her, it comes in reflection to something Thomas Merton said. I quote from Amy, “Thomas Merton wrote that everything you love for its own sake blinds your intellect and keeps you from knowing the way things really are….” Now in this passage, Merton does not specifically target material possessions; he says everything you love. But I, like Amy, wondered if we do lose touch with reality – the way things really are – when we have a lot of material possessions. Are we so attached to these things that it becomes our identity? It seems easier to attach to an inanimate object that requires nothing from us in return than with our relationships. Our attachments to people, family and friends, appear more difficult, as it requires work and looking at things from another’s point of view. We really love our stuff even though it’s not capable of giving love in return and yet maybe that is what we want – no responsibility or accountability. We give names to ships, cars and I remember my father lived in a house named Bluebird. Just recently, we sold a tractor and I was sad, like I was losing a member of the family. It served us well and I was going to miss it. You work so hard to get the things you want that you’re invested in it even though it has no investment in you, albeit the bank would come looking for you if you didn’t pay.

Dr. Wayne Dyer says, “You’re not what you have. You’re not what you do. And, you’re not what people think of you.” I’m thinking the less we’re attached to our material possessions the more we are free to know ourselves and others. We’re able to know the way things really are. We need to become more invested in our loved ones, friends and neighbors, co-workers and pets. I think this is what this holiday season reminds us and why it feels so good. It’s because this is truly what we were created to be: one with our Source and each other. Something to think about, huh?

From the kitchen table – Pat~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Passion and Enthusiasm

Posted on December 18, 2007 by Pat

©© You can usually tell by talking with them that they live and breathe what they are talking about. You can feel the energy shift when that type of person enters a room. They attract everyone to them and you feel you just want to be around them. On the other hand, there are some people that have charismatic personalities but they don’t carry the same heart-felt passion. They don’t attract people in the same way. They attract people the way a sales person might. What is the difference? What is genuine? In my opinion, I think it comes from one’s life experience and what has touched their heart. If they can express themselves from that place, they don’t have to prove anything. They are coming from a place of love and they’re genuine.

I want to share with you a video of such a person, Randy Pausch, a 47-year professor at Carnegie Melon University’s Entertainment and Technology Center. He talks about how he achieved most of his childhood dreams and gives realistic advice as to how we can also live our lives so we can make our dreams come true too. You’ll see passion and someone full of life and enthusiasm and yet he has been diagnosed with a terminal disease. Be inspired of someone with a positive and inspirational outlook on life. The video is over an hour long but it’s well worth the viewing if you want a lift for the day. It was entitled, 47-Year Old Professor Gives Exuberant ‘Last Lecture’

I believe we all have the potential to live our dreams as Randy and we all can be a light in our little corner of the world. In fact, this is what we’re supposed to do. Look for your passion – your genuine enthusiasm – from that place in your heart that’s truth. Then, go take it to the world.

“Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels, simply by pouring out love. Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy.” – Sai Baba

End Note: Randy lost his battle with cancer on July 25, 2008. May you rest in peace, Randy, and may the angels be with you.

From the kitchen table – Pat
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Acknowledgements: "Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving more...

Are You Happy with the Results?

Posted on December 18, 2007 by Pat

Is what you’re doing in your life a crap shoot? Do you feel that some things you do are hit and miss and you wonder how it’s all happening? You may wonder at times why things go the way they do – is it a random effort spinning around on a wheel with no direction until it hits a slot? It doesn’t work that way. There’s too much information out there telling us that this is an intelligent system we live and engage in and we need to learn how it operates. I’ll bet you’ve read some of these books and articles, too, or you wouldn’t be reading this.

We are incredible beings living in this system and in this day and age more and more information is being published on how we can tap into that potential and be successful. The key, however, is to be willing. How willing are you to do what you need to do to take action? Sometimes, because we don’t see results we hammer at ourselves and put ourselves down as being a failure. We are our biggest critic but in reality it may be something that we haven’t seen or been able to realize yet. It just wasn’t available to us before. The more we read and open up to the possibilities, the more we are led to see what we need. This intelligent system doesn’t beat down; it’s patient and gently guiding. Here’s an interview and a blog posting that may be of interest to you and if you’re open to it they may be of help: Dr. Wayne Dyer’s The Seven Secrets of a Joyful Life, where he talks from a spiritual context and Bill Harris of Centerpointe in Stuck About Money or Success where, with his Holosync program, he talks about some of things we can do to take action and take charge of our lives. Two different approaches and yet connected.

Our lives are precious and of great value and what we do is not a crap shoot. We can have purpose, learn direction and see the results but we need to pay attention and align ourselves with the energies that are available within and outside of us and use them. We can become anything we desire and live the lives we dream. Ask for guidance and then be willing to follow what appears before you.

Napoleon Hill said, “If you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way. Don’t wait for great opportunities. Seize common, everyday ones and make them great.”

From the kitchen table – Pat
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Build This Blog and They Will Come

Posted on December 15, 2007 by Pat

In 1989, a movie came out entitled, “Field of Dreams”, with Kevin Costner playing the lead role. You may remember a famous quote from that movie, “If you build it, he will come.” It was a powerful movie about a corn farmer in Iowa who loved baseball. He hears a voice one day and understood the message to mean for him to build a baseball field on his farm. When he builds the field, ghosts of baseball legend Shoeless Jackson and seven other players from the 1919 Chicago White Sox come to play. Since then, I’ve heard this quote used in a number of ways so I thought I’d use it for today’s posting – “If I build this blog, they will come.”

For several years now, I’ve been searching for a venue for Wisdom for the Ages, a gathering I created in the corporate world where everyone (management/non-management) can come and sit in a circle, similar to Native American tradition, and, using a talking stick, share their wisdom on a number of topics (go to one of my postings for a little story of what it was like when I started this: Truth and Beauty). For most of my life, I’ve had the desire to connect, not only for myself but I also enjoy when others do. So, I started the talking-stick meetings and it was successful until that door closed and the company relocated back east. I then took it out of the corporate environment into leads groups, business groups, chambers of commerce, etc. and it didn’t really have the presence or accomplish what I felt it could have. As most of you, I’ve had countless experiences and lessons I’ve learned and I yearned to share them and in turn listen to others. I’ve always believed that if you felt safe – when you are the most vulnerable – and can talk from the heart, they are the times when healing takes place. That’s what I felt growing up listening, late at night, to the grownups talk sitting around the kitchen table. See a previous post on Family and Going Home. It was a bonding time, a safe haven, where you can tell it like you feel it and you’re still accepted and loved. I’ve wanted to create that for others in all walks of life whether in the corporate world, communities, families, etc., except the time or place never seemed to be right – until now.

Here we are with my 15th post. You can’t physically sit around a kitchen table but you can be reached from all ends of the globe through the wonders of the internet and we can connect. It has started and you’re coming and I thank you. I trust you’ll enjoy what you read. As this progresses, in the future I look forward to creating a forum where we can exchange our stories, our experiences and together share our wisdom. So, keep on coming and keep on reading. I value and appreciate all of you.

From the kitchen table – Pat
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Entertaining Angels Unawares

Posted on December 14, 2007 by Pat

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (The Holy Bible KJV- Heb 13:2)

There is a beautiful little publication called, Angels on Earth (click to read the weekly feature) that is a collection of stories of people from all over the world that have had life changing experiences entertaining strangers – angels. Have you had a situation in your life when you were in great need and someone showed up at the right place and the right time to help? I have and I thought I would share this story with you, especially at this holiday season.

(Photo by Dez Pain at www.sxc.hu.home)
It was a little over 30 years ago and a friend of mine and I went to the grocery store. At the time, our children were small. I had my baby, Stephanie, and 2-year old, Allison, with us and we got an empty grocery cart. I put Allison in the cart facing me with her legs through the top and held Stephanie, as we headed out to start our shopping.

My friend and I stopped at the end of one of the aisles to look at a spiral book rack – still without groceries. As we looked at the books, my daughter got restless and started to climb out of the grocery cart. I didn’t notice her but someone else did.

Because the cart was empty, it started to lift up and come over as she tried to climb out. A man came running in between me and the cart and caught her just 2 inches from the concrete floor. He was a young man with a child in his grocery cart and it all happened so fast with her only a foot away from me.

He set her down on her feet and handed her to me and never said a word. Our eyes met and I felt as if our souls knew each other. As I recovered and checked on Allison to be sure she was okay, I looked up to thank him but he was gone. We hurried through the store to catch him to express our heartfelt gratitude but he was no where to be found.

That day, I met Allison’s angel and she often jokes that she’s kept him busy throughout her life but we know he’s there with love and compassion looking out for her. They’re there in all forms whether it’s a young man with a little boy or an animal or bird. God is looking out for us and it’s comforting.

Be on the look out. You never know when you will have entertained a stranger – your angel.

From the kitchen table – Pat