Doing Your Best

Posted on June 3, 2012 by russtowne

My first “Two-Fer”! This re-blog starts with an image that GinaV had on her blog Professions For P.E.A.C.E. (one of my favorites in the whole blogosphere!) and I found Jan Beek’s “Loving One Another” blog via GinaV’s blog too. I relaly liked Jan’s blog and wanted to share it with you. (Sorry, Gina, you’re going to end up seeing it at least twice!)

JanBeek's avatarJanBeek

Parents As Teachers

In today’s COVID-19 world, a lot of parents world-wide have become their child’s primary teacher. Even though many of the students have access to on-line classes, still parents discover they must oversee the learning process. Most parents are not prepared for this role. Are you one of them who sometimes feels overwhelmed by it??

Do Not Despair

Photo by Julia M Cameron on Pexels.com

You’re not alone! Many parents who are on this “Stay at Home” routine find themselves thrust into a much more intense teacher role than they ever bargained for. Your time spent with your child/student during this time is precious. You’re making life-long memories. Make them happy ones!

I am a retired educator. I spent more than two decades as an elementary teacher and administrator. During that time, I had the opportunity to experience first-hand how the expectations of others affects our self-evaluations. Our…

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Love, Grace, and Gratitude

Posted on June 3, 2012 by russtowne

“Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace, and gratitude” — Denis Waitley

I don’t know about the “every minute” part, but I’ve found that happiness for me is very often a spiritul experience and that I’m much more likely to feel happy when I’m experiencing love, grace, and gratitude personally and/or from or through others.

I also believe that temporary happiness can sometimes be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed–if that wasn’t true I believe they wouldn’t have the allure that makes them so attractive to most people. But I’ve also found that temporary happiness often leads to even greater long-term unhappiness and sometimes misery, and it’s a very poor substitute for sustained or long-lasting happiness.

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An Opportunity For Kindness

Posted on June 3, 2012 by russtowne

“Whenever there is a human being there is an opportunity for kindness.” –Seneca

I’ve found that this is also true when there is an animal in need, and even a plant.

Posted in Dogs & Other Wonderful Creatures, Growth/Learning, Healing, Inspiring, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Nature, Observations, Quotes I Love, Random Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

To Dare Mighty Things

Posted on June 1, 2012 by russtowne

“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.” –Teddy Roosevelt

I have dared mighty things. Sometimes I have soared with the eagles and sometimes I’ve crashed back to earth in a messy painful heap. But I can’t help myself. It would be far more painful for me not to dare the next mighty thing than to risk pain, disappointment, and heartache by attempting great things.

If you feel that you are crippled by fear, hang in there. I believe that sooner or later you are very likely to be so tired of being stuck on the ground that you will take a leap and perhaps you too will soar. If you haven’t already done so, I recommend that you read the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. And if you’ve already read it, I recommend reading it again. I discovered the book as a relatively young man and have read it multiple times over the years. It is a short story and quick and easy to read.

Whether you soar or crash you’ll know that you dared, and that is a mighty fine thing to know about yourself.

And other great spirits will applaud your attempt. Some may even support or help guide you the next time you dare to do mighty things. Go for it!

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An Open Heart

Posted on June 1, 2012 by russtowne

“An open mind is a prerequisite to an open heart.” –Robert Sapolski

I’ve experienced many people over the years and I can’t think of a single instance where this saying didn’t appear to me to be true.

Posted in Generosity, Growth/Learning, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Observations, Quotes I Love, Random Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

What Lies Within Us

Posted on May 31, 2012 by russtowne

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson

And that’s no lie!

Posted in Courage, Growth/Learning, Inspiring, LIfe Lessons, Observations, Optimism, Quotes I Love, Random Thoughts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Service Was Joy–But Not Always

Posted on May 31, 2012 by russtowne

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” –Rabindranath Tagore

I wish that I could say that all service that I’ve done for others was joy. Sometimes it was and those times were wonderful.

At other times–usually when I did things as part of a group–the service sometimes seemed artificial or hollow. Sometimes my feelings actually reached the point of resentment if I thought the service was more for show than to help others.

So now, more often than not, I attemmpt to be in service to others with individual actions I take, or with people I know who share the same spirit of service, and I often attempt to serve others anonymously. To me, telling others about the service I’ve done diminishes the experience and draws into question in my own mind as to why I performed the service.

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In The Spirit Of Love

Posted on May 31, 2012 by russtowne

“You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.” –Henry Drummond

This statement has certainly been true for me–even more so when I’ve done something kind for complete strangers (even those things that took relatively little effort or cost on my part but which clearly came at an important moment in their lives.) I remember feeling happy, connected, and grateful for the opportunity to be of service. And a mixture of humility and pride.

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Eight Lanes Of Danger

Posted on May 30, 2012 by russtowne

Eight Lanes Of Danger Aug 8 2011

Before this blog morphed into what it has become today, it was started as a convenient way to share songs and stories that I’d writen or co-written. So I thought it was high time to begin re-including some of my songs into my posts.

I’m aware that everyone likes different types of music and that a given song will have people who like and hate it. That’s ok with me. There are many great songs that I’m not fond of and some probably mediocre ones that for some reason I like a lot. Each to their own.

“Eight Lanes of Danger” is a country song with perhaps a bit of rock thrown in. I co-wrote it last year with Denis Loiseau. The seed of the song is that I was driving on an 8-lane freeway when I thought how awful it would be if a dog was trapped on the wrong side of the freeway from his home (I know, my mind sometimes goes to strange places).

As we wrote the lyric we realized that a shy or introverted person who sees and longs for and/or falls in love with someone from across a crowded room at a party might have similar feelings of fear that the dog I imagined might feel.

So the song morphed into one of hopeful love, but retained some of the dog/puppy imagery.

Posted in Courage, Creativity, Dogs & Other Wonderful Creatures, Songs I've Written or Co-Written | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

A Piece Of Our Heart

Posted on May 30, 2012 by russtowne

“Our days are happier when we give people a piece of our heart rather than a piece of our mind.” I don’t know who said it but I know it’s true for me and believe it’s true for most people.

This blog helps me to remember to give people a piece of my heart every day.

Posted in Gratitude, LIfe Lessons, Making the World a Better Place, Quotes I Love | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment