For generations, people-watching has been a common pastime, from a husband, who prefers to grab a Dr. Pepper, sit on mall bench and quietly enjoy the people-parade while his spouse shops, to our maternal grandfather who in his retirement years in the 1930’s and 40’s chose to sit…
What’s the difference between being humble and having humility? I wondered. From a resource: Humble is an adjective that means not arrogant; unassuming, while humility is a noun that means modesty. Humility is the quality or state of being humble, which would imply that it’s not a trait…
The importance of a blog on Pay Attention occurred to me several weeks ago when I wondered why as I drove to appointments and classes, about the time I passed the fire station, that I would hear clearly in my head Jim’s silent voice saying “pay attention”. It happened…
Choosing a title for examining the use of the powerful personal pronoun ‘you’ was not a piece of cake. ‘you’ is in the middle of every squabble. All by itself, ‘you’ is a good “guy”, but the ‘company’ it keeps causes ‘you’ to vacillate between being a prince/princess to…
Have you been with a group when the majority chooses Chinese but you counted on sinking your teeth into a filet mignon, but you say nothing and order Chinese? That describes acquiescing. My informal research of asking “Is acquiesce a word you know or use?” revealed that the majority had…
Common Reasons for Camping: Save motel expense Get out of the city into the cool of the woods Seclusion to fish, write, sleep, read, hike, enjoy amusement parks or beaches Our original reason for dreaming of having a camper in the late 1950’s evolved when Jim was still in…
An Old Testament story from I Chronicles describing the Israelites’ extreme generosity in giving their personal valuables for the building of the temple, filling the leaders with joy, caught my attention. First known use of the word generosity in our language:1566. Dictionary synonyms: * bigheartedness * bountifulness * liberality * openhandedness * openheartedness * unselfishness…
“We can count on death and taxes”, the saying goes, but in between is the parade of disturbing unplanned happenings that occur without fail. We cannot avoid all troubles, but we can be ready with ‘given’ pleasant, positive responses. Dealing with uncontrollable events: Mishaps, calamity, confusion, perplexity, complication, disruptions, turmoil,…
