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Funny Friday fashion moment
“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society.” ~Mark Twain Did you know you can share Life Lines with friends? To locate social media sharing options, view the post in your browser.
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Summer sunsets
“Sunsets, like childhood, are viewed with wonder not just because they are beautiful, but because they are fleeting.” ~Richard Paul Evans One of my favorite summer rituals is watching the sun set on Lake Michigan. To fully appreciate a sunset, you have to pause on the beach to admire the fiery color show — and stay long enough to see the sun disappear below the horizon. As other beachcombers gather to watch and applaud the spectacle, there’s a brief but lovely sense of community. Sometimes I’m moved to tears. As today’s quote reminds us, summertime passes quickly. We can’t do anything to change that, but we can savor every moment…
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How we grow
“I think the place we grow in terms of self-efficacy and internal power is not when we are always happy, but when we’re doing emotionally painful things with courage and integrity.” ~Martha Beck Someone close to me has been struggling with major depression for a while. But she’d kept her pain hidden, and I wasn’t fully aware of it until recently, when she shared her diagnosis. As she talked about moving past her emotional struggles and obstacles, I admired her courage and gained a greater understanding of her rocky journey to wellness. As Martha Beck reminds us today, we do most of our growing when we’re pushing through challenges. And it…
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Be kind to yourself
“I dreamed I called you on the telephone to say: Be kinder to yourself.” ~Adrienne Rich, poet and essayist In her hit song, “Harshest Critic,” Allison Ponthier asks: “Why is ‘being good to myself’ for someone else?” and “Who’s the harshest critic in the room?” I think we all know the answer. Most of us are incredibly hard on ourselves. On one hand, constructive self-criticism can be helpful at times (though a true narcissist would disagree). Most of us learn from our mistakes or oversights when we’re willing to admit them and repair the damages. We can grow from the soil of what went wrong. But if we get stuck…
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Vacation
“It is always our own self that we find at the end of the journey. The sooner we face that self, the better.” ~Ella Maillart, travel writer For most of us, to go on a vacation means to “vacate” our place of residence and our routines. We might go in search of adventure or excitement, or to experience something different. We might look for something new to learn. Or we might retreat quietly for rest and reflection. In doing so, we learn more about ourselves — what matters to us; what we want from life. I think the best vacations send us home feeling refreshed, renewed, and even changed for…
