Category Archives: communication

Body Language

Love, excitement,fear, disgust, disinterest…It’s amazing how much information one can glean from body language. We communicate non-verbally all the time. I have been told that I am the master at showing my thoughts with my face and body. And not in a positive way. I show boredom and disgust frequently; when I should control my face…it gives me away and hurts feelings. I have yet to master this bad habit. It takes constant awareness and self control. Something I am still learning. Continue reading Body Language

Perfection

Aging in this society that we live in can be very stressful. We have social ideal that is dictated to us. Even the older models are nipped and tucked and airbrushed to show us what we need to look like at a certain age. They are all a size 0 or 2… A size 4 or 6 is already a large woman. Nasty! Who gave them the right to dictate this to us? How can the ideal woman be something that only .0001% seem to attain? Continue reading Perfection

Chicken as Cash…

In Africa quite often the currency is livestock. Usually a chicken. We have been given a few as gifts and as payments for something. It is given out of the goodness and generosity of the heart…quite often to the financial pinch of a poor family. This last week we have received two. It is humbling to accept them as we realize that a family might go without meat for a few days, or even without income from selling the chicken. What can we do? Is there a way to repay them without them realizing what we are doing? After all, it is a gift…and they love to give. Continue reading Chicken as Cash…

Repellant

I slather myself with mosquito repellant every evening…they love eating my ankles, and boy do I smell lovely! :). It works and they stay away. How many of us do the same with repelling people? We coat ourselves in an odor of “untouchable” and “unapproachable”…and then wonder why no one will talk to us. We walk around with a sour expression that lets people know that we might bite!! Our facial expressions and negative body language are some of the biggest inhibitors in our lives. Quite often we don’t even see it ourselves. It has just become who we are…a natural human repellant! Continue reading Repellant

OCD

I wish that i was a little more OCD about cleaning! Can’t stand it! That’s why I have adopted the motto, “a clean house is the sign of a misspent life”! Secretly I know this isn’t true…a clean house is relaxing. I just don’t want to be the one cleaning it. I envy, just a little, those who love to clean. But there is one quirk that I can’t really control…and that is straightening things. If I see a crooked picture or rug I start to twitch…it needs to be straight!!! But the dust around it? Doesn’t really bother me!

Continue reading OCD

Divine Nobodies

This title is from one of my favorite books. I have read it a few times, and I would recommend it to anyone. It’s written by Jim Palmer, a pastor who goes through a crisis and embarks on a journey. Through the book he writes about the people he meets along the road…people who make him believe in Jesus again. The beautiful thing is that these people are not other preachers or Christians…they are just ordinary people living with faith, and in the most ordinary of settings. What grabs me when I read this is…how do we live our regular lives in a way that reflects the love of Jesus? Continue reading Divine Nobodies