Category Archives: Truth, Beauty, and Other Musings

Dr. Lorie’s Top 10 of 2015

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As I think back upon 2015 and look ahead to 2016,

  1. What I am most grateful for:

My health. Working in long-term care and rehabilitation, I see first hand the effects of smoking, drugs, and lack of movement/exercise on the body.

  1. Whom I am most grateful for:

My husband and son. My husband has been putting up with working out of town for 75% of this year. I’m blown away by his sense of responsibility to his family. My son has surprisingly risen to the occasion and taken care of things like cleaning out the gutters, shoveling snow without being asked, etc.

  1. The most fun thing I did:

Going fishing for the first time since I can remember. We caught catfish and cooked them up that evening. (I actually didn’t do any of the food prep).

  1. The celebration to remember:

My dad’s 80th birthday party.

photo for blog Dec 2015

  1. The worst story in the news:

The killings in France.

  1. One thing that I can do next year to help heal the world:

Teach the CalmUp® Journey to a greater number of veterans.  Continue reading...

  1. What I will miss next year:

When the Unfathomable Happens

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Denial—Everything’s fine. This isn’t really happening.

Numbness—There’s no feeling, no hunger.

Disbelief—Acceptance is not an option.

Rage—

 

Prayers are offered.

 

Wide-awake in the dead of night.

Unbearable sadness.

Indescribable pain.

Emptiness.

 

The sun comes up without your consent.

 

photo for blog Nov 2015

 

It’s About You:

  1. Have you experienced the unfathomable? Can you remember having experienced this level of pain? How did you move through it?
  2. Breathe into the pain of the present moment, and visualize yourself coming out the darkness.
  3. The CalmUp® Journey teaches that we need to acknowledge all parts of the process in order for us to heal. What specific parts of the process have been difficult?

Take Action:

If you found this poem meaningful, feel free to check out my poem on Rage from March 2013. Also, I’m introducing the lowest priced training that CalmUp® has ever offered. It is called Overcoming Obstacles™ and can be found at this link. http://drloriegose.com/peacebuilding-202/

Too Late

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CalmUp® presents Lionel FisherI recently heard from a member of our CalmUp® community, Lionel Fisher. He shared about his health condition and not having much time left to live. Similar to the genuine conversations shared during his March and April 2013 interviews (Click here for Noteworthy Stories), this conversation was very real.

Lionel remarked that being near death made him realize what a “self-absorbed asshole” he had been and how he lost friends over the most stupid reasons. Needless to say, he doesn’t have the corner on stupid behavior.

“Lionel,” I said, “We’re all self-absorbed assholes. We’ve all done what you’re describing.”

While currently on hospice, Lionel is having important conversations. He discovered that the two most important words are too late. For instance, we say or do hurtful things and then it becomes

  • Too late to make amends
  • Too late to enjoy one another’s company
  • Too late to speak from the heart

I feel thankful that my dad introduced me to Lionel. Along with his genuineness, another trait I admire about Lionel is his ability to be keenly insightful. At 82-years-old, his wisdom transcends protocol, trends, and social mores.  Continue reading...

Let’s Talk About Love

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QUESTION: When was the last time that you spoke about love, with the conversation going deeper than saying, “I love you”?

  1. This week
  2. This year
  3. Can’t remember

QUESTION: How significant is love as a priority in your life? (Consider different forms of love, including romantic, familial, platonic, etc.)

  1. Not important
  2. Important
  3. Super important

QUESTION: How much love are you sharing with your loved ones on any given day?

  1. Low
  2. Medium
  3. High

red rosesI’ve been rereading Thomas Moore’s bestselling book, Care of the Soul: A Guide for Cultivating Depth and Sacredness in Everyday Life, and I was struck by this comment:

It is clear that love is never simple, that it brings with it struggles of the past and hopes for the future, and that it is loaded with material that may be remotely—if at all—connected to the person who is the apparent object of love.

Wow. After chewing on the latter part of that sentence, I summarized his statement as follows: We bring parts of ourselves to relationships that have nothing to do with your loved one.  Continue reading...

CalmUp® mmm… December 16, 2013

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This is the CalmUp® Monday Morning Moment™. May our weekly inspiration give rise to inner peace and self-fulfillment, so you can spread all that joy to those around you.

If you’re seeing this before Monday morning, it might be Monday morning in Asia.

 

 

“It’s free to be kind.”*

CalmUp® photo of doggies in basket

*This quote was used with permission from Ginger at the Centennial Ikea store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’re not yet receiving a weekly link of a short Monday Morning Moment™ in your Inbox, contact me with the following comment: Oy, I need a moment!

 

CalmUp® mmm… December 9, 2013

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This is the CalmUp® Monday Morning Moment™. May our weekly inspiration give rise to inner peace and self-fulfillment, so you can spread all that joy to those around you.

If you’re seeing this before Monday morning, it might be Monday morning in Asia.

 

 

Feeling like your plate is pretty full with the holidays?

CalmUp® photo of Brown Palace lobby

Imagine starting every day with a clean plate so that you can enjoy the festivities!

 

 

 

 

 

If you’d like to receive a weekly link of a short Monday Morning Moment™ in your Inbox, contact me with the following comment: Oy, I need a moment!

CalmUp® mmm… December 2, 2013

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This is the CalmUp® Monday Morning Moment™. May our weekly inspiration give rise to inner peace and self-fulfillment, so you can spread all that joy to those around you.

If you’re seeing this before Monday morning, it might be Monday morning in Asia.

 

 

Surrendering your responsibilities doesn’t mean that you don’t have to do anything…

CalmUp® photo of Belmar by the water

it means that you abandon yourself to the joy in whatever you’re doing.

 

 

 

 

 

If you’d like to receive a weekly link of a short Monday Morning Moment™ in your Inbox, contact me with the following comment: Oy, I need a moment!

Muchas Gracias

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First Frost—Lakewood, Colorado 2013

First Frost—Lakewood, Colorado 2013

How can I express my gratitude?

Last month, I was challenged to speak my truth on the CalmUp® Facebook page. I’d been feeling cynical, and I posted about it.

I found I was feeling resentful about having to spend time on “business things,” when I’d rather be doing “mom things.”

Later, I read the following quotes by Marianne Williamson from her book, A Return to Love:

“It’s easy to be cynical. In fact, it’s an excuse for not helping the world.” (p. 275)

Ouch!

“Do what makes your heart sing. And never do it for the money.” (p. 192)

Marianne explained that it is emotionally self-destructive to make our goal anything other than peace. Deep down, I feel the same way.

In this time of Thanksgiving, I want to thank you for being a part of the CalmUp® community, and thank you for allowing me the privilege to speak my truth. As I believe that speaking one’s truth is at the heart of creating inner peace, thank you for helping me grow my own inner peace.

First Snow—Lakewood, Colorado 2013

First Snow—Lakewood, Colorado 2013

IT’S ABOUT YOU:  Continue reading...

16 Commitments for Your 16th Birthday and Beyond

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Aaron TrekkieI remember your first birthday like it was yesterday. Having been born the day after your grandmother’s birthday, we had a big celebration when you turned 1 and she turned 60. It was close to Halloween, and your dad anointed you as a fellow Trekkie.

In kindergarten, your Waldorf teachers told us that you were an old soul and would always aspire beyond your years. They also said that you’d become a leader, and their wisdom proved accurate. We blinked, and here you are at 16—so handsome, so tall.

CalmUp® photo of Aaron in Navy bluesDad and I are so proud of your wanting to follow in the footsteps of your Grandpa Wade, Jr. and your Great Grandpa Wade, Sr. by planning to join the Navy. Your decision seemed to be divinely inspired by these two men who never got to lay eyes on you, yet insisted that you be born to carry on the family name. (Of course, no one is in any hurry for that to happen!)

We’re grateful that we still have a couple more years to spend with you “living under our roof,” as your dad would say. As parents, there’s more to instill, even though you learned some of these lessons in kindergarten. Nevertheless, they bear repeating:  Continue reading...