Ever feel like things are out of control? We all have a time or two, I think. When I start feeling like that, I get on my knees and ask God to put it all in perspective for me. Afterward, I usually feel very silly for obsessing over something in which I had no control anyways.

This quote brings it all home for me.

“The only thing you can control is your own effort.”
― Theodora van den Beld

Image: sxc.hu

I came across this awesome quote from Richard Friedman recently, and as a dog owner really related to it. I love that my dog is so sweet and encouraging and happy to see me. Love that! There are days when even your spouse or family isn’t that happy to see you! LOL. But your dog always is.

“Money will buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail.”
― Richard Friedman

Dogs are so compassionate that it really blows my mind. They are right there when you’re upset. If you’re crying? Forget it, they are all over you. They don’t want you to be sad. Sometimes when we’re even watching a scary movie, I’ll scream and my dog will come running over to me and lick my face and stay there until she feels it’s “all okay” again.

Sometimes the dog takes a nap with me, and when I wake up I see her right next to me, in this sphinx-like pose. Like she isn’t letting anything near me while I sleep. Then, when I open my eyes, she’ll give me a lick without abandoning her “post.” On Packer Sundays, she relaxes on her favorite chair.

I especially love this picture because it has the Packer gnome and part of the Packer tree in it. Lately one of my friends noted that our soup and football Sunday afternoon is a nice family tradition, and I’d have to agree.

Friendship is the best, isn’t it? A good friend can lift you up, make you feel like it’s totally okay that you came racing out of the bathroom with toilet paper on your shoe and yes, you might have ate a whole sleeve of Girl Scout Cookies, but those Girl Scouts need the money. Friends are the best. Here’s a quote I found recently that I really like on friendship.

“A good friend is a connection to life—a tie to the past, a road to the future, the key to sanity in a totally insane world.”
― Lois Wyse

So many people wish they could just pass over the mistakes and hardships of their life. I see the logic in that, of course, but then again all those mistakes, the awful moments, the hardest times, are the ones where you really find out what you’re made of. It’s easy to see this when you’re past them, but while you’re going through them? It’s takes a strong faith and a lot of character to hold on and believe you will be okay.

So that’s why I really liked this quote:

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”
― Anonymous

In other words, it doesn’t matter where you are in life now, you can change and create a different world for yourself. Your life doesn’t have to be defined by mistakes and heartache. Those can be smaller bits to a larger life that includes joy, contentment, and beauty. You can become known as the one who donated her time, the one who wrote that novel, the one who was the best friend she could be to everyone she met. You don’t have to be that child of an alcoholic, the one who kept screwing up, the one who spent her life alone. Start now, today, to be what you want to be. Make that first step, regardless of where your footsteps have been in the past.

Boy, this one certainly rings true for me. I love Berke Breathed, and this quote to me means it’s never too late to be happy. I like to talk about my childhood, if only to show people that it’s miles behind me. I don’t talk about my upbringing to make anyone feel sorry for me, to whine, or even to lay blame. Rather, I want anyone that has grown up in a difficult environment know that they can grow up to have a happy life. It doesn’t happen overnight, and generally you need some type of help (therapy, al-anon, faith, friends, and more) but it can happen.

“It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”
― Berke Breathed

Never, ever, give up when it comes to your happiness.

We just had a foot of snow delivered to us this week, and I can’t think of a better quote to sum up how I feel right now:

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

―Edith Sitwell

The winter months definitely make me want to sit back and snuggle up with my family. I love having good friends come over and just sit and talk. We did this on New Year’s with our good friends Diane and Dave, and it was a great time. So as the song says, “let it snow!”

This is certainly very true:

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.

— Philip K. Dick, novelist

I’m always amazed at the people who live their lives in the world of denial. Denying things doesn’t make them disappear. It doesn’t make them easier, either. Growing up in an alcoholic family, I know this all too well. This is one of the patterns of alcoholism in a family. Someone acts as the enabler, and that person is usually very much in denial about what’s happening in their family.

Dealing with your problems head on is the only way to get a handle on them. It’s the only way to get past them, too.

Boy, I sure know this one is true:

“There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.”

―Ben Williams

Came across this quote from my very favorite poet, Maya Angelou.

“I long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever I find myself.”

―Maya Angelou

“A teacher is a compass that activates the magnets of curiosity, knowledge, and wisdom in the pupils.”

―Ever Garrison