Category Archives: NaBloPoMo

Love Notes for Transition

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“We can make peace with this transition—that’s a life skill and practice, no?  What is life but a series of transitions, a practice in adaptation?”
I wrote this to a friend recently. Perhaps we all know this as the nature of life, and still forget during moments of change that we don’t want.

What do I wish for us when we face change? Let’s see what emerges…
Let’s also see how these posts evolve over this month, eh? How can I enhance the words with images? What format will help the feelings land as intended?
When I look back on November 30, what will I see, feel, and think? It’ll go by slow and fast, I bet. Fun and fascinating, as always! Onward:

1. Change coming, eh? Hmmm…
Could be hard… Could be amazing.
How could you make it more of either? Hmmm…

2. Hmmm, change.
Kinda inevitable…
Even change we want
can be hard and stressful–
it’s OK to feel it all!
There is space for the full range
of the feels. 🙂

3. The dance of change–stepping between resistance and acceptance!
May your choreography bring fluid movement and
smooth deliverance to the outcome that serves you.

4. Whatever
Change
Transition
Transformation
you have coming up in life,
I wish you the peace
and stability to ride it
with aplomb.

5. O.M.G.
You’ SO GOT this!
I mean what else isthere to say?
You are amazing and there is every reason
to believe you will meet this transition
like a f*ing BADASS.

6. Everything changes in life.
Growth.
Transformation.
Evolution.
We can breathe our way through,
whatever it is.

7. What transitions
did you dread or resist,
that turned out better than you expected?
How does that experience
position you for new changes
on the horizon?

8. What energy lives
in you for the transistions upcoming?
Where do you feel it?
May it fuel your strength
and fortify your courage!

9. “If I could change the world…” –Eric Clapton
What would that look like?
How would transformation by me in the world
start?

10. You’ GOT THIS!
You’ve made it through
every major life change to date.
Your track record predicts
resilience and success.

11. Change can be hard.
Wishing you all you need to ease the journey:
Friends. Soft, comfy clothes.
Yummy snacks.
And that bright inner light
that shines always.

12. We never actually know
what’s around the corner, do we?
So we can take the changes
in front of us as they come,
one day, one moment,
one breath at a time.
ODOMOBaaT.

So, how was that? I had fun! Let’s see what happens in the next 29 days! So happy to try this with you all!! Let me know your reactions! 😀

NaBloPoMo 2025: Love Notes For November

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“If it’s safe, tell people you love them… Even if it’s not safe, do it anyway.
Because what is love if not brave? onward! :)” cc, 5-21-2025

OH, I love how ideas emerge, evolve and execute!

After my tenth year doing the 30 day, daily blogging challenge that was National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) last year, I thought I might stop. Ten is a nice, round number, a milestone achieved, a good ending. But then I had a light bulb moment.

I’ve written jar smiles, we could call them Chenger Cheers, most days for about 18 months now. There are now 29 jars out in the world, across the United States and one overseas. Some have been refilled multiple times. Every note is hand written and all but a handful are my original thoughts in real time. I cannot express how fun and loving, connecting and joyful it feels to write them, and occasionally actually see them bring smiles.

Originally for this year’s daily blogging challenge, I thought I’d write for individual people I know: 30 notes, one person a day. I’d make it anonymous but identifiable, with nicknames. For instance Hubs would be The Provider. Then I thought, ‘that note could apply to any/all providers.’ Then I thought, ‘I could write a note for any role. The friend. The parent. The advocate.’

30 roles or identities. Love for each.

I could invite readers to try on each identity, see how it fits. Can you relate? Step out of your own perspective and receive others?

I could include identities that I myself would not readily claim, like anti-abortion advocate! How could I see opposition as an identity to love? How would I love it? How do I love it already? Love THEM? Hmmmm…. This thought progression occurred all in the space of a few minutes, and I saved these notes as a draft earlier this month.

***

Then it all evolved further yesterday, as I bounced Book ideas around with loving friends. What if I wrote ten notes a day, each around a certain theme, like courage, fun, fear, leadership, and laundry? What if they could be printed into a little booklet with an index at the front, so someone could turn to the page for the love they seek for that reason, that day/hour/moment? What if each note were perforated, meant to be torn out and shared, fortune cookie style? What if a carbon copy of each note remained in the book, with space underneath to record the date, the recipient, and additional love notations by the giver? 300 love notes, pocketbook style, that could be carried around at all times, ready to drop a little love on any unsuspecting human who could use a smile. If I could manage to write twelve decent ones each day in November, that’d make 360, almost one for each day of a year. Then I could just add five special, maybe surprise ones, to round out 365.

Twelve love notes a day, each day a different theme. I feel butterflies of challenge and anticipation in my belly already. This could be fun. Let’s see how it goes, yes?

Please feel free to request a theme, dear readers! I’m open to almost anything, I think, and of course I reserve the right to decline or defer. 😉

T-minus 2 days, my friends. Let’s go.

Holding On

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Friends, it’s late. It’s Son’s last night at home for break, so we watched movies.
It was glorious.

How was this November for us all? Intense, thick, and full of emotion, I’d say.
Tonight I feel fulfilled and connected, for which I am truly grateful.
Thank you to all who have followed along these thirty days, this tenth year.
Not sure if I will do this again; I have eleven months to decide.
What did we Hold this NaBlo? Let’s review:

  1. Wholeness
  2. Regret
  3. Fear
  4. Fortitude
  5. Gentleness
  6. Space
  7. the Energies
  8. the Work
  9. Awareness
  10. What Helps
  11. Stories of Humanity
  12. Connection
  13. Patience
  14. Presence
  15. Resonance
  16. Polarity
  17. Allyship
  18. Perspective
  19. Understanding
  20. Love
  21. the Activist Heart
  22. the Questions
  23. Honesty
  24. Courage
  25. Strengths
  26. Accountability
  27. Rest
  28. Appreciation
  29. Belonging

I will reread these posts and the intention that initiated them in the coming days and weeks. It felt relevant to write about all of these practices–because looking back, most of them really are practices, not just ideas–with regard to the election and political discourse this month, this year. Yet each post applies to all relationships and all communication.
I intend to continue reflecting, sharing, learning, growing, and connecting.

This holiday season, let us slow down, de-escalate, and focus on the things that matter most. Let us find non-adversarial, respectful, and equanimitous approaches to disagreement, conflict, and collaboration across difference. Let us breathe deeply. Let us make more generous assumptions, speak more humbly, and withhold closure and judgment just a little longer. May open and honest curiosity lead us more than prejudice and bias.

I feel an urgent need to advance and elect people who model these skills exponentially better than those in office today. That is a big lift; I still vacillate between optimism and cynicism for this dream, and for human relationships in general sometimes. Still, we cannot know unless we try. The path remains long and tortuous, so we must help one another train for the journey. The work will outlive me, and likely anyone who reads these words. So Train, Recover, and Connect as my friends at Ethos say–we must stay fit to persist.

The only way out is through; the best way through is together. One breath at a time.

I Hold On for Us tonight and hereafter, my friends. Hold on to our friendships, our loyalties, our connections, our integrity, and our commitments to one another. Let go meanness, petty gibes, ad hominem, and ugliness in general. Hold on to decency, generosity, humility, compassion, and hope.

Onward, friends. One. breath. at a time.