Best Christmas Advice Ever

This Christmas, mend a quarrel.
Seek out a forgotten friend.
Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust.
Write a letter.
Give a soft answer.
Encourage youth.

 Manifest your loyalty in word and deed.
Keep a promise.
Forgo a grudge.
Forgive an enemy.
Apologize.
Try to understand.
Examine your demands on others.
Think first of someone else.
 Be kind.
Be gentle.
Laugh a little more.
Express your gratitude.
Welcome a stranger.
Gladden the heart of a child.
Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth.
Speak your love and then speak it again.
     --Howard W. Hunter

&copy Carol Brown

Autumn Is about Letting Go

Autumn is about letting go. 

Let go of your worries, fears, grievances.

Allow God to fill your heart with peace, joy, and contentment. 

Just as leaves fall to the ground

and flowers die on cold, crisp autumn eves, 

Allow this season to remind you that everything changes.

Nothing stays the same.

Choose to free yourself from the baggage of 

resentment, shame, and criticism.

Learn to accept yourself and others,

knowing that we are all children of God

and that He loves us with a perfect love.

Notice the beauty of this season,

A time of harvest, abundance, and reaping.

Trust that God will give you the power to forgive yourself and others,

release you from mistakes of the past,

and free you from fears for the future.

Remember that with Him, all things are possible.

Allow His love to heal your broken heart,

to give you beauty for ashes

and make you whole.

--Carol Rich Brown

&copy Carol Brown

Focus on the Positive

I used to suffer from SAD, seasonal affective disorder.  When the gloomy winter days appeared, with days and weeks of smog and snow, I felt depressed, exhausted, and miserable.  As I focused on the grey skies, the cold weather, and the snow-covered streets, I was sad and unhappy.

Then I discovered the power of meditation and gratitude.

As I learned how to meditate, I recognized that I was choosing negative thoughts that caused me to feel unhappy.  I also realized that I was overlooking the beauty around me and focusing on things that I perceived to be negative. 

Now, I realize that some are medically depressed during winter and need light therapy and sometimes they need medication to help.  But others, like me, become unhappy because of the thoughts they choose to rerun in their minds. 

Today, I am as happy in the winter as in the summer.  I rejoice in the gift of snow and in its exquisite beauty.  I savor each cold day, as I enjoy hot soups, a warm fireplace, and central heat.  I thank God continually for these blessings. 

I rejoice when I see the coral clouds and the slivers of iridescent golden light of our desert sunsets.  I appreciate the blessings of living in a place with changing four seasons which delight the senses.  I enjoy the winter blizzards as much as the first blooms of spring, the explosion of flowers during the summer, and the amazing beauty of autumn leaves. I am richly blessed.

We all have winter seasons in our life that require us to focus on the positive if we are to be happy.  Illness, financial reverses, loss, and other trials can distract us from remembering how truly blessed we are.  As we release negative thoughts and notice the good things in life, we can find peace, even when life is difficult.

May you find peace today and always as you focus you the blessings and beauties of life.

&copy Carol Brown