Category Archives: Real Life Musings

Real life musings about life as a whole, including parts of life that impact singles and married couples, experience are here. These writings are also for people who are experiencing relationship changes. You’ll find articles that focus on ways to connect with family better. Other topics you’ll discover encourage children to develop a love for reading books and navigating a career are some of the blog articles written and shared here. Take your time reading through the articles. They are designed to equip you with insights, motivations, tips and inspiration that strengthen your inner being.

It’s Time You Became Great, The Real You

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By Denise Turney
Have you ever been told that you look just like another person? Not only does hearing this raise your curiosity, it may also cause you to question how unique you really are. After all, why is someone else walking around looking just like you if you’re genuinely unique?

Well. There’s another way to look at the fact that you might not be the only person who looks like you. This fact could introduce you to the thought that it’s your thoughts that help to make you unique. It’s not your eyes, nose, hands, etc., but what you think about all day that makes you unique, and this you have complete control over.

You started forming thoughts when you were a child. Some thoughts you formed came as you listened to and observed what your parents, caretakers and teachers said and did. It’s these people you more than likely tried to satisfy, gain approval from and impress. You needed these people to show you that they loved you, that you were worthy of being loved, that it was safe to give and receive love.

Because large numbers of us grew up in a dysfunctional home, there’s a good chance that all your thoughts, formed from childhood onward, about love and safety aren’t serving you well. Add to that, thoughts you have around success, receiving massive amounts of money (feel any guilt, as if receiving massive wealth is wrong or non-spiritual as soon as you read those words; no hiding from the truth – admit how you really felt the first time you read the words to yourself. It could give you clues as to why you don’t have the money you want right now). These and other thoughts are shaping your life. It’s why, if you want lasting change, you have to do it from the inside.

In addition to forming early thoughts and beliefs (a belief is a thought you’ve been thinking over and over and over and . . . until it seems true) based on experiences you had with your parents or caretakers and teachers, you also formed/form thoughts and beliefs based on what you hear on television, read in newspapers, ads you see, conversations you overhear while walking down a street, what friends tell you about men/women, their relationships, etc. These thoughts, many which may have gone into your subconscious mind, are driving your behavior, feelings, willingness to take risks, meet new people, try new things, receive wealth, etc.

Which is why it’s important to focus on YOU and start removing beliefs that are keeping you from receiving the good you want. And, you should receive the good you want. As John 16:24 records, you should, “Ask and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

In other words, if you don’t receive (only you can do the receiving) the good you want, your joy will not be full. And you’ll probably start to believe that you’re small, limited, not great, even while the truth remains unchanged – YOU ARE GREAT!!!!

Brain games, brain sync tapes, audio and video tapes (http://www.recreateyourlife.com), books that focus on removing limiting beliefs, meditation, etc. are tools you can use to remove negative beliefs so you can start receiving the good you want. Doing the work to receive the good you want (it’s exactly what Abraham and Sarah did in the Bible) is necessary.

You don’t want to feel stuck or small. That’s not who you are. YOU ARE GREAT!!!!  Do the work to start stepping into your greatness. Love Pour Over Me‘s Raymond Clarke made this choice after he experienced a life changing injury. Although his was a troubled childhood, he knew he was great. Life supported Raymond’s belief, leading him to wonderful, rewarding relationships, even as he struggled with inner conflicts, until he got completely free. I encourage you to do the same.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

Appreciating the greatness in men who father

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Some have quirky habits. Others are social butterflies, always good for a laugh, ready to share a hilarious joke. Then there are serious fathers, men who look at nearly everything as if it’s a critical piece in life’s puzzle. Fathers come in as many styles, personalities, sizes and temperaments as hues in a vast field of wild flowers.

There are also men who father children who aren’t their biological offspring. These men step in and fill a leadership and guidance role so splendidly that the children they care for respect, admire and honor them for the rest of their lives. It’s these fathers we also honor, acknowledging and thanking them for their many contributions to their families and society as a whole.

And for those fathers, like Malcolm (Raymond Clarke’s father in my new book, Love Pour Over Me) who need support raising their children, who need to heal from childhood hurts of their own, take the steps to get the help you deserve. Don’t let pride stop you from realizing your full strength.

If you have an awesome father, regularly tell him that you love him. Express to him how much you appreciate and value him. He might not always show it, but he’ll be thankful for the love you share with him.

Get your copy of “Love Pour Over Me” Now at –

http://www.ebookit.com/books/0000001582/Love-Pour-Over-Me.html

 

This Father’s Day Mom Is a Man: Men Who are Raising Their Children Alone

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By Denise Turney
The United States Census Bureau’s April 21, 2009 Facts for Features press release reports that there are 64.3 million fathers in the United States.  Nearly two million of these men are single parents.

Father’s Day is celebrated on the third Sunday in June.  The holiday was founded by a woman named Sonora Dodd.  The idea to create a national day to acknowledge fathers came after Dodd listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in church in her hometown of Spokane, Washington.

Dodd’s mother was deceased; it was her father, a farmer and a Civil War veteran, who exercised courage and filled the duo role of mother and father in her life as well as in the lives of her five siblings.  Initially, Sonora Dodd – after years of watching her father complete chores once deemed “women’s work” in order to care for his children – started the holiday as a way to honor her father, William Smart.  In time, the holiday spread from Spokane throughout the entire country.

Father’s Day Becomes a National Holiday

Father’s Day was first celebrated in Spokane, Washington on June 10, 1910.  President Lyndon Johnson signed the first presidential proclamation acknowledging the holiday in 1966.  The day was signed into law as a national holiday by President Richard Nixon in 1972.

While millions of men across the United States take a less than active role in the lives of their children, some disappearing from their children’s lives altogether, millions of other men do the work of both mother and father.  These men’s voices often go unheard.  They work hard on the job whether they are self-employed or work for another business; they work harder at home and this often absent support or understanding from a larger society.

Single Parenthood on the Rise

The April 21, 2009 United States Census Bureau press release also reports that the number of children growing up in a single parent home has consistently increased over the last three decades.   Of the 1.8 million single parent fathers, eight percent are raising children under the age of 18, the difficult teen and pre-teen years when children typically require the most emotional, psychological and financial support.

Over half of the single parent fathers are divorced while a quarter of them have never been married.  Widowers, the type of single parent Sorona Dodd’s father was, make up the smallest number of single men who are custodial parents.  In fact, widowers make up only five percent of the total number of single parent fathers.

Unique Challenges Single Parent Fathers Face

The National Center for Fathering reports that seeking support from other single parent custodial fathers is a leading challenge facing these men.  There is a strong likelihood that many single parent fathers, including men who are successful entrepreneurs or self-employed workers, add undue stress and anxiety to their lives because they avoid discussing and sharing fears and concerns they may have regarding disciplining, nurturing and openly communicating with their children with other single parents.

Single fathers must play a key role in the life of their sons.  By example and through taking the time to connect with and guide their sons, fathers without partners have tremendous influence when it comes to raising their sons to be responsible young men who treat themselves, their friends and the women in their lives with respect.

More Challenges Single Fathers Face

Other challenges that single parent fathers face include the art of actively listening to and nurturing their children while they provide a spirit of protection and bravery in their home.  If these men are self-employed they must also manage employees and do what it takes to increase their small business customer sales. At home, in addition to guiding their sons, single parent fathers must also help their daughters establish healthy self-esteem.

Unlike mothers who raise their children alone, single parent fathers may not know another man in the neighborhood or community who is filling the same role that they are.  This can cause single parent fathers to feel isolated.  To offset these challenges, organizations like American Coalition for Father’s and Children, The Fatherhood Coalition, Fathers and Families, National Center for Fathering and Father’s Network sponsor programs to help fathers meet the challenges of raising their children alone.

These men are heroes to their children just as William Smart was to his daughter, Sonora Dodd.  On Father’s Day and beyond, single parent fathers will have a lasting positive impact on their children, especially if they allow themselves to be vulnerable enough to afford their children the chance to truly get to know them.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond (a man who is raised by a single father), Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

Sources:

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/013535.html (US Census Bureau Press Release)

http://www.fathers.com (National Center for Fathering)

Exposing the truth about writer rejection

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By Denise Turney
Enter the world of a writer. Fuzzy, cloudy thoughts about an impending success that’s most certain to come, millions of book readers finally seeing what great talent the writer has always possessed. A willingness to forego parties, movie nights and long weekend getaways just to have time to finish another novel chapter – it’s a writer’s inner world, a choice a writer makes over and over.

Some writers pour hundreds, even thousands, of dollars into book marketing, steadfastly hoping to get their book in front of larger numbers of people. Add to that the fact that, for a writer, work never ends, ideas, plots, characters and twists surfacing in his or her bright, creative mind at all hours of the day or night.

Is it any wonder that a writer takes it personally, as if an editor or publisher just punched her in the stomach, each time she receives a rejection letter? As if that wasn’t enough, far too many rejection letters that writers receive are ‘canned’.

If a writer looks deeply enough, he could walk away with this glimmer of hope. He could recognize that, perhaps, an incredibly busy editor or publisher didn’t even take the time to read his manuscript. In that case, it’s so what about the rejection letter. Or the writer could come to the conclusion that the rejection letter does no more than group them with the other 99% of writers who submitted a manuscript to the same editor or publisher.

Get enough rejection letters and it’s not surprising for a writer to start doubting that she chose the right profession, perhaps even forcing the writer to conclude that, for her, novel writing will never be more than a hobby, despite fantasies and daydreams that declare just the opposite. After all, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 26% of novelists and non-fiction writers only write on a part-time basis.

Of note, 68% of writers are also self-employed. Additionally, the lion’s share of the writers reported on by the Statistics Bureau are non-fiction writers. Newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations, corporations, marketing agencies and public relations firms are types of organizations many of these writers create content for.

Although non-fiction writers don’t generally have to read through a rejection letter the way a novelist does, non-fiction writers (especially those who are self-employed) do deal with job proposal rejection. It’s these points that make it absolutely necessary for a writer to have a tough interior if he plans to stick around long, possibly writing his way into the top 10% of writers, creative artists who earned, on average, more than $109,000 annually as of 2010.

Of course, the highest paid novelists, people like J. K. Rowling, Stephen King, James Patterson, Stephanie Meyer, Danielle Steel and Ken Follett, pull in tens of millions of dollars a year. And, perhaps, it’s these novelists’ tremendous success that lends an air of hope, a belief in their own potential (yet unrealized) success that keeps many lesser known writers churning out one novel after another, laughing at the words printed a on crisp rejection letter.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

Are you waiting for a Mind Shift

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By Denise Turney
It only takes a few seconds to verbalize a dream. However, it can take years, decades, to manifest a dream, in part because it may take years for your mind/thoughts to shift so you can receive the good things you’ve been asking for. Believe it or not, it took me years to get this.

Just saying you want something is not enough, especially if there are thoughts “hiding” in your subconscious or super-subconscious that speak the exact opposite of what you want 24/7. Can you imagine the inner conflict you’d be putting yourself through each time you uttered what you really want, your conscious mind asking for one thing/your subconscious demanding the opposite?

No outside force pulling you back, all of the conflict and resistance self-imposed, just hidden from your conscious mind. No one to blame, but action to start taking. As it is with parents, friends and other people who care for us, who want to see us do well, our minds try to protect us. It’s in this protection that we constantly avow that there’s something to fear, something that could hurt us. Each time we feel fear, our subconscious protective thoughts start playing, trying to keep us safe.

In effort to keep us safe, these subconscious thoughts also keep us from the good things we want. Like a catch-22, we find ourselves stuck, unable to move forward. One of two things may  happen. We’ll get tired of trying to break through our own subconscious barriers and quit, perhaps going on to live a life of despondency (not recommended) or we’ll keep pushing (resting as needed) until our subconscious thoughts start to shift.

Yes! We can receive miracles. Yes! Our love based dreams can come true, should come true. But, it might take longer than we expect. We might have to take risks to prove to our subconscious that we no longer need it to replay protective tapes in effort to keep us safe, to hold us back. We might have to try new things to prove to our subconscious mind that change is not a thing to fear, to prove that achieving our dreams will bring good, not something to dread or fear. Raymond Clarke learns this in Love Pour Over Me. You can learn to progress to receive want you truly want too!

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

Impact of Growing Up Poor on Children and Adults

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By Denise Turney

It’s not only in America where incomes are widening, moving more of the world’s wealth into the hands of those who are already enjoying prosperity. It’s almost as if those who have are getting more, while those who don’t have are having the little they once owned taken from them. As Global Issues reports in its 2005 Poverty Facts and Stats report, “The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.”

Children Growing Up Poor

As with other national and global issues, it’s often children who suffer most from these and other disparities. For example, the report also states that as many as 22,000 children around the world die each day due to poverty. In the United States, the numbers of children living in poverty is increasing, in part due to the 2008 recession, some of their parents getting laid off or having their hours cut back.

Children who grow up poor in communities where some families have money, although perhaps not wealth, might feel different, as if something is peculiar about them, their siblings and parents. Over time, if economic conditions for some of these children do not change, the thought that it’s their lot in life to be poor could start to infiltrate their minds. If this happens, a cycle of poverty could work itself out in these children’s lives.

After all, most of us mimic one or more behaviors that our parents exhibited in front of us. If we hear how hard it is to land quality jobs, earning enough money to keep persistent bill collectors away from the door, everyday at home, in time, we might come to believe what we’re hearing is true. Add in the anger of one or more frustrated parents, and the weight of growing up becomes more clear.
If growing up poor isn’t too burdensome, too hard, as it manages not to be for Raymond Clarke, childhood friendships can help children who are growing up poor to incur a sense of hope, a belief that things will improve. It’s these friendships that can work to take some of the sting out of growing up poor. However, to break the cycle of growing up poor, children need to see, read about, hear about, etc. stories of everyday people who improved their financial situation after they became adults.

Without these occurrences, these positive rags-to-more than surviving stories, the weight of growing up poor could start to feel too heavy. After all, we all need positive experiences along-the-way to keep us encouraged to continue our journey in this world. It’s a reason the success of people who grew up poor empowers so many. It takes courage, persistence, vision, passion and commitment to change one’s life by great degrees. It also takes the support of one or more other people. As is made clear in Love Pour Over Me, we need each other.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

Sources:

http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats (Global Issues: Poverty Facts and Stats)

Mind tricks about love that could hold you back

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By Denise Turney
Love is the most wonderful thing in the universe. It can’t be fully described. Words simply can’t give it definition, limiting it with vocabulary and human perception. Yet, we try.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “Where there is love there is life.” Lao Tzu shared, “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage.”

Invisible to the naked eye, love defies the logic that asserts that physical size and strength translate into courage and insurmountable resolve. Perhaps Barbara de Angelis stated it best when she asserted, “Love is a force more formidable than any other. It is invisible – it cannot be seen or measured, yet it is powerful enough to transform you in a moment, and offer you more joy than any material possession could.”

Is it any wonder that we all yearn for it our entire lives, can’t get enough of it?

Yet, there is a flip side to love’s equation, a regrettable side, and it is this. Love is the very thing we often feel we’re lacking. More regrettably, it’s also the thing we feel we can’t trust.

Don’t think so? Listen to your favorite songs, one refrain after another about how love comes at a high price. As if to reinforce our fears about love, we fill our sweetest poems and novels with warnings, alerting others about the risks of loving, how it sets us up for heartache. Is it any wonder we turn away from the very thing we yearn for, can’t live without?

To feel safe, tucked away from love, we might start playing mind tricks. For example, we might practice self-deception, trick ourselves into thinking that if we sacrifice what we really want, our one true love will magically appear. (This person is generally someone we believe would never, under any conditions, cause us to feel hurt.)

That, or we might spend hours daydreaming instead of being present. We might avoid using vision to create the life we truly want.

Another mind trick we might practice in order to feel as if we’re receiving love (while we’re actually running from love . . . trying to feel safe) is telling ourselves we’re comfortable about a job, relationship, etc. when we really aren’t. Does this sound familiar?

But, the number one queen size mind trick we play is waiting for something outside of us to move, to give us what we want. We keep waiting for magic to happen rather than taking responsibility for our own lives. It might feel good, safe, but it won’t help us move forward.

This was a hard lesson for Brenda to learn.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

How to know if a book’s written for money or quality entertainment

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By Denise Turney

Globally, more than two million books were published in 2005 alone. That’s a single year. Of that number, 328,259 of those books where published in the United States. It’s nothing new that writing and publishing books is one way you could become a multi-millionaire. What has changed over the years, especially with the Internet’s rising popularity, is the number of people who are penning novels.

Book Publishing’s Attraction

The sheer number of authors alone has taken a bit of luster off what it means to be an author. In fact, it’s not uncommon to hear a friend, colleague or relative proudly exclaim, “I can write a better book than . . .” (Fill in the blank with a New York Times bestseller author’s name.

But, can anyone, regardless of their writing experience or storytelling skills, sit down and write a bestseller at the drop of a hat? Or better yet, should anyone write a novel just so they can become rich?

The quality of novels hitting the market may reveal that writing books for money is becoming increasingly attractive. For example, years ago it was hard, very hard, to buy a novel that had numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes in it. It was also very hard to come across a novel that switched point of view so many times that readers got confused about who was saying or experiencing what.

Read enough of these books and you could start to think that authors don’t respect readers. You could also start to think that authors are arrogant, of the belief that stories they create are so automatically awesome that only a dumb person wouldn’t see the greatness in the writing.

Signs a Book Was Written Mainly for Money
Besides being filled with grammatical and spelling errors, books that are written mainly for money may also be developed using a formula or pattern, are built upon cliff hanging scenes that the greatest sci-fi fan would have a very hard time believing, rely on shock to hold reader interest, have so many rancid sex scenes a gigolo would blush (which swings back to the shock factor), shy away from facts (some writers really do hate to conduct research) and more.

Yet, authors who aim for riches rather than to develop quality entertainment, stories that stir the human spirit and provoke deep thought, haven’t created this issue in a vacuum. They haven’t turned down the respect authors once enjoyed all by themselves. The push from book publishers, literary agents and editors to sell-sell-sell is no less responsible.

To reduce the risk of taking on an author who has the talent but not the marketing mindset or skill to sell thousands of books a month, publishers are starting to watch the self-publisher ranks. Once a self-published author sells 10,000 or more copies of a single title, it’s not uncommon for publishers to contact that author, asking them if he wants to work out a deal.

This is a near complete about face over how publishers acquired manuscripts decades ago, back when modern novels became classics. Back then, publishers, editors and agents hunted for talent, scouring through stacks of manuscripts in the hopes of finding a rare gem, a quality novel that introduced readers to complex characters, people whose experiences mimicked their own without, at first glance, appearing to.

Waiting for Great Quality Art
It remains to be seen what impact sales over quality will have on the book industry. Perhaps the impact will mirror the impact that less conscious songs have had on the music industry. After all, one thing is certain. Readers, like music lovers, aren’t dumb. They know quality entertainment when they read it.

While listening to an interview given by the music mogul, Clive Davis, I was inspired to hear Clive share that he was waiting for a conscious singer/songwriter, someone like Bob Dylan (and dare I say, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Diane Warren, Carole King and Nina Simone) to appear on the music scene. He’s not alone.

One great artist, an artist whose primary goal is to create quality entertainment, can set an industry on its end. In this regard, creating novels that aim to provide quality entertainment may help generate more profits for the book industry long term than books that are written solely for money.

Yes. There are risks. Books you pour months, perhaps years, of work into — writing and editing and writing and editing — may not gain many a large number of sells, costing you money. Yet, the risks may be worth it, especially if you genuinely love to write, respect reader intelligence and appreciate how great books you’ve read changed your life in remarkable, yet, generally unnoticeable, ways.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.

Penn Relays Sports Brillance

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penn relays track and field
It’s hard to live in the Philadelphia area and not hear about the historic Penn Relays, an event that generally takes place mid-spring. Jamaica’s Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, Mary Slaney, Carmelita Jeter, Michael Johnson and Vicki Huber are just a few of the track and field standouts who have competed at the world famous event.

Watching Bolt, Blake and the other Jamaican relay team members sprint ahead of all other relay runners is memorable. Their performance brings to mind Carl Lewis and the United States’ teams 4 x 200 run at the 1992 Penn Relays. Clearly, the sports tradition that originally kicked off in April 1895, doesn’t stop at spotlighting collegiate track and field stars. In fact, top high school and professional track runners regularly attend the Penn Relays over three to five days. Watching them in the stands, on a single day, can be more than 30,000 fans, adults and children filling the stands at the University of Pennsylvania stadium.

penn relays women run

This year’s schedule starts with Tuesday and Wednesday qualifying races. Thursday’s races being with women’s hurdles championships, followed by women’s high school hurdles. There are also Special Olympics and Master’s  track competitions. Field events include the shot put, pole vault, long jump, high jump, hammer throw and discus throw.

Although you can catch the Penn Relays on NBC and Universal Sports, there’s nothing like  attending the Relays in person.  Attend in person and you could see some of the world’s top track stars up close. If you’re passionate about running yourself, you could also note some warm-up, relay hand-off, block start and finish techniques used by the fastest runners in the world.

If you do attend the historic races, make sure you bring a digital camera as there will likely be dozens of experiences you’ll want to capture and remember. Who knows, you might even get the chance to chat with a competitor after the event has ended.

penn relays race

Another tip you’ll want to remember is to arrive at the Penn Relays early. If you’ve never been to the Penn Relays before, head for Franklin Field at 235 South 33rd Street. Traffic in and out of Philadelphia can get thick. The good thing is that there won’t be a Philadelphia 76ers or Eagles game to add even more congestion to area roadways. Check weather reports before you leave, making bringing an umbrella or raincoat just in case the weather changes.

Above all, have loads of fun. You might even leave the Penn Relays determined to begin a personal fitness regimen. If you’re a mature adult, you might even consider entering the Master’s competitions at future Franklin Field track and field competitions. Track and field . . . it has always been Raymond Clarke’s favorite sport. Learn about his sports exploits in Love Pour Over Me, a story that unveils the inner workings of a fictional world class track star, simply unforgettable.

To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today.

You are your life events’ dictionary

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By Denise Turney

Searching for the meaning to a word? There’s a good chance you can find what you’re looking for in a dictionary. Similar to how a bilingual woman working for a travel agency interprets the words of her manager to customers, so too, you give interpretations or meanings to each event in your life.

How so, you ask. If a tall, burly man with an unkempt beard frowns at you each early morning he boards the same train you take into the city, you give the man’s expression meaning. In other words, you tell yourself what the man’s expression means. Then, you respond to this interpretation psychologically and emotionally. Who knows? Years from now, scientists may discover that we respond to our own interpretations more deeply than we currently realize.

The thing about our interpretations is that we really don’t know WHY an event occurs. We really don’t know WHY someone has an expression on his face. Returning to the example of the man boarding the train, you might tell yourself the man is mean, selfish, unhappy, violent or mentally imbalanced. All this from an expression, and remember — you don’t even know the man.

We do this all day long.

Now consider that what we focus on or think about repeatedly shows up in our life more and more. Can’t you see more people wearing frowns, seemingly looking down at you, appearing in your life? Before long, you might start to think that the world is one mean place. What you probably would never do is consider how your interpretations of events/experiences created a chain reaction.

Thank you for reading my blog. To learn what happens to Raymond, Brenda and the other characters in Love Pour Over Me, hop over to Amazon.com, B&N.com, Ebookit.com, or any other online or offline bookseller and get your copy of Love Pour Over Me today. And again I say – Thank You! Consider Love.