Run Faster!

As the gallery of parents watched eagerly, the students running the five hundred-meter (550 yard) race swept into view. The gazelles were in front, the children who always won, powerful legs churning. Then came the main group of students, bunched together. They tried to keep up with the person next to them, or even hoped to pass the one in front of them…while dreading being passed by the one behind them. About fifty meters behind them came a boy, face flushed, arms pumping,…

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Little Pleasures

“A silent mind is all you need.” Eastern MeditationHappiness starts with how we look at ourselves. Feelings are our happiness gauge. How we handle the wide range of our emotional life depends on how we accept and appreciation ourselves and our “body feelings.” Feelings such as fear, anxiety, insecurity, as well as good feelings of pleasure, acceptance, or satisfaction can be the barometers of our being.It is not easy for us to look deeply into ourselves, to try to understand why we react…

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Read more about the article On the Sunny Side of the Street
invitation to hopscotch

On the Sunny Side of the Street

A recent television commercial features a young girl sitting on the walkway to the front door of her family’s home. She is chalking the concrete but also looking rather longingly at the people passing by to see if anyone will give her a smile. We see a delivery person walking rather quickly; he may or may not see the girl, but he does not acknowledge her. She looks disappointed but then we notice, from her facial expression, that she’s come up with an…

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Part of the Family

Recently my husband and I bought a new bed. This was unplanned because we were quite happy with our old bed—a full size—which we had had since early in our marriage, almost 30 years. The reason for our new bed purchase is our small Schnauzer mix, a dog we adopted from a rescue organization in southern Idaho. Fauzie (pronounced Fozzy) was found wandering on a farm road in Burley. His coat was so long it covered his eyes, and he had developed vision…

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We Are All One

"Now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:25-29). Do you like to read mystery novels? I do. I was thinking…

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A Place for Everything

There are so many things I love about this time of year – the weather, the trees, the crisp days and scarves. I just love it all. One of the things I have been embracing this fall is my deep-rooted desire to organize. This organizing, structured side to myself is always around, but I don’t think I usually let it step up as much as it has lately. I am sure one big reason for this is that I realize it is a…

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Healing and Acceptance

There is an ancient Buddhist story that tells of a woman—a mother—whose child died. The mother carried her deceased daughter from place to place begging for help—as if she could still bring her back to life. The mother was turned away time after time, as each person she asked could see that there was no bringing the child back to life. Finally, someone told her that if she went to the Buddha, perhaps he could help.So the mother traveled to the Buddha and…

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