better world
In the Scheme of Things: Contribute Joy
Posted on October 30, 2019 By
Some people collect coins or books, kaleidoscopes or post cards. From flea market enthusiasts to junk-yard pickers, you name it and someone seems to collect it. While I can add my name to tangible collections through the years, what I really collect is quotations.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to sayings and quotations of insightful and thoughtful words that offer a bit of inspiration, re-frame my thinking, or provide encouragement. I’m amazed how a sentence or two can do that for me.
Like a treasure unearthed, when I find a quotation that speaks to me, I have to have it. For the past 32 years, I’ve logged favorites in a database (thanks to my techie husband), acquiring quite literally thousands of quotations for daily reflections or nuggets for writing and sharing.
A new addition to my collection came after the 2013 death of Pulitzer Prize winner and acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert, whose cancer battle left him unable to speak for the last few years. While reading about his life, I found these words by Ebert written after more than a decade with debilitating and disfiguring health issues:
“We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.”
That simple thought — a request of sorts to “try to contribute joy” — humbled me. It’s not (continue reading →)
Posted in: In the Scheme of Things, Life |
In the Scheme of Things – A Bit of Joy
Posted on November 13, 2017 By
“We must try to contribute joy to the world. That is true no matter what our problems, our health, our circumstances. We must try. I didn’t always know this and am happy I lived long enough to find it out.” ~ Roger Ebert
Some people collect coins or books, kaleidoscopes or post cards. While I can add my name to tangible collections through the years, what I really collect is quotations that speak to me, like the one above. As if a treasure unearthed, when I find a quotation that nudges me, inspires me, or touches my soul, I savor it.
I added this one to my collection after the 2013 death of Pulitzer Prize winner and acclaimed film critic Roger Ebert, whose cancer battle left him unable to speak for the last few years of his life.
While reading about his life, I found his words humbling. They were written by Ebert after more than a decade with debilitating and disfiguring health issues. I’m grateful to have found Ebert’s words. Every time I read them, they encourage me to try a bit harder, to be less self-absorbed, and to contribute more joy.
It’s not hard to contribute a bit of joy every day — acknowledging others’ contributions, holding the door, smiling at a stranger, being there for family or friends, helping a neighbor, listening without judgment, or telling someone how much we care.
Still, we often don’t. We get caught in our swirl of life — our own busyness and dramas and troubles — absorbed in (continue reading →)
Posted in: In the Scheme of Things, Life |
In the Scheme of Things – A Christmas Look
Posted on December 6, 2015 By
With Christmas still two months away, my youngest granddaughter, a first-grader, was helping me 
decide which products to promote on my online vintage jewelry shop. Her third grade sister, sitting next to me at their kitchen table in Colorado, was focused on mapping states on a new app I’d added for her on my phone.
When the youngest spied a Santa pin, she asked if she could “star” it so that it was featured at the top of my Etsy.com shop (Twinkling Star Vintage). From there, her talk that Saturday turned to Christmas and Santa Claus.
I was carefully parsing my words on the topic of Santa. I knew her sister no longer believed in flying reindeer and a red-coated sleigh driver, having discovered the myth by accident the previous Christmas. But, I didn’t know whether she’d shared that knowledge with her little sister.
Then it happened. She gave me (continue reading →)
Posted in: In the Scheme of Things |
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