I’ll be sitting by the tree thinking about Christmas stories . . . feel free to drop by to leave yours. I’ll collect them all to share with the world tomorrow.
Merry Christmas everyone!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Every year at Christmas, my mother had her own tradition. She began buying gifts and wrapping them long before other folks even thought of such things. It was efficient. It was productive. It allowed her to wrap up the gifts in the same careful way that I choose my words every morning.
Gosh, the presents! They were large and small! They were tiny and incredible. They were many, and they were for so many. They sat under a tree that was decorated with such care that I realize now it must be the reason that I spend hours rearranging word that I write until they’re in order.
Under that tree and piled through the large room as proof that my mom had found a reason to return every favor, and every smile she had received. Each gift was wrapped more beautifully than the one before. The bows were crafted and carefully chosen.
The part of the tradition seems only my mother’s was that she waited until Christmas Eve to put names on the presents. Until then, every present only had a tiny number. She said that it was that we wouldn’t shake the gifts with our names and be tempted to open them early. But the result was that those little numbers filled my imagination with wonder.
You see, I didn’t sort the boxes into theirs and mine. I only saw the abundance and the promise of good surprises.
And it made me think about what could be inside the boxes. I could see them shining inside.
Imagine if we look at people — the ones we love, the ones we know, the ones we’ve not met — the same way.
Gosh, the abundance and the good surprises inside each of us! See the light? See the promise? Our light shines when we shine on them.
See the gift they are. Be the gift you are. It makes us glow from the inside out.
Thank you for the abundance and surprises you are to me.
I’m a very lucky girl.
We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
December for me is a great time to take stock of what I managed to achieve during this year and then look at all the things that perhaps fell through the cracks or activities I could have managed better. New Year Resolutions for me aren’t radical changes but adjustments that I remind myself to make over time.
Resolving to succeed
Ben’s right about most of the resolutions we make each year. They never seem to last, fading as fast as the winter sun. Most resolutions are about ourselves and how we think we should be or could be better. I think we often look at ourselves and find the things we dislike the most. Then by uttering a few magic words wrapped in a bow called a New Year resolution, we hope they will go away. Of course they don’t.
Resolving to choose wisely
Choosing resolutions that have some hope of making a making difference to us must have all of the following ingredients.
Resolving to change positively
What is a resolution really but a commitment to change oneself and all around us in a positive way. Liz has the best advice about how to make positive changes stick. She’s right of course when she says, When you make a positive change that sticks, other positive things will happen too.
Resolving to be kinder to ourselves
Angela reminds us to be kinder to ourselves. What a wonderful idea. We do tend to beat ourselves up for not doing something or not doing enough of other things. At the end of the day, we are all human with frailties and failings. But we are also endowed with character that helps we look forward to just being a little better than the day before.
Being kinder to ourselves makes us kinder to others too!
This is my wish for all of us.
May the dots be with you!
Last night I had a conversation with a dear friend. He brought up a relationship that has caused him some pain. I heard him retell a story I’ve heard him tell more than once before . . . only to explain again why what another person did was wrong and manipulative.
While he talked, he had totally lost connection with his smile.
I wondered aloud why he was telling me the story again. He told me it was because what had happened was so wrong. The rest of the conversation went something like this.
“I’m over it now.”
“No, you’re not. If that were true, you wouldn’t be talking about it.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“If you could shift your focus . . .”
“What do you mean?”
“Maybe it’s not about what that person did to you, but how broken that person is to have done that at all.”
“You think I should go see her.”
“No, I think you should quit giving that person power. What if you make it about her and not about you? That event shows the screwy way that she looks at the world. It just happened to be you that got hurt that time. If you let it go, she no longer has any power over you.” . . .
It took me a long, long lifetime to learn what I said in that few sentences there.
It’s the same in business and in life. When we leave bad feelings in the past, we get new power over our future. It’s a good thought to hold during holiday times.
May your future be shiny and bright.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,
I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.
They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.
I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.
Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.
If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Great Find: Textorizer
Permalink: http://lapin-bleu.net/software/textorizer/
Target Audience: Anyone with a photo!
Content:
Here’s a fun tool – actually two tools. They each produce a different look. For this sample I used Textorizer 2. Just locate a photo that you want to “textorize,” select the text to use, and the program creates a textorized image. That’s right – the image is created out of the text you submit.
What could be easier? There are a few parameters you can select to tweak the results. Be sure to choose an image with good contrast.
This is the original photo and the textorized image. I used an image of Oprah and some of her favorite words, “Be grateful every day! Transform your life! Help others! Stay positive!” I think it turned out well. What do you think?
This tool is on my favorites list because:
Check out the tool yourself. How can you use a textorized image?
See you next time!
–Sandy, Purple Wren
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Sandy’s Great Graphic Find: Pixel Ruler
