So, Here's What I Think...

I am writing this in response to Peter Pollock’s blog carnival topic of intimidation, or actually, letting go of intimidation.  I believe I can feel intimidated by life’s challenges when I think I don’t have what it takes to meet those challenges.  Sadly, I often feel “Not good enough.”   Then I learned a Swedish word – Lagom .  There is no direct English equivalent, but roughly, it means, “good enough”, “adequate”, “sufficient”, without the negative connotation of mediocrity or scarcity that surrounds our English words.  It sounds like a good philosophy to have.  For many times, we may not have more than others, but we have lagom .  And that is sufficient. Sometimes good enough is good enough. Wow!  What a hard time I have with that concept.  Our American culture is one of constant striving. We are never to be content with what we have.  Each person should aspire to be as the 70’s TV series “The Six Million Dolla...

A Quote from Ernest Hemingway I figure if I am going to identify myself as a writer I need to associate myself with other writers.  So, I've been joining writers' groups on LinkedIn and Facebook in order to see what others are doing in the profession. One of the first discussions I scanned started with this quote.  Of course, being a writers' group, the discussion focused on the editing and rewriting process.  I see the first draft as kind of a brainstorming draft -- getting the ideas out of my head and onto the screen or sheet of paper.  The editing and rewriting then refine that brainstorming draft, clarify the ideas, and make it so the reader can understand what I am trying to communicate. I do some editing on this blog.  But since it's supposed to reflect what's in my head in a given moment, I try to edit with a light hand, only changing what is absolutely necessary.  If there's a bit of stream-of-consciousness in here, I don't care as much. ...

...and a return to blogging. Since my last post was about Maundy Thursday two years ago, it seems fitting that today's post would reference it as well. Last Maundy Thursday (known to some as Holy Thursday), my parish priest talked about "pivotal moments" in his sermon.  Pivotal moments are those times in your life when things are irrevocably changed.  They are the events that make you define life as "before x" and "after x".  After listening to him share some of his pivotal moments, I stopped to think of my own.  I have many pivotal moments.  Some, I didn't even recognize except in hindsight.  Some examples in my own life include Divorce Remarriage Recovery from a severe depressive episode Quitting my job to help care for a family member Deciding to pursue writing as a career There are so many more I could list.  Each event, if I had decided on a different course of action, would have changed the direction of my life.  Some of these ...