13 mattresses, 8 chairs, 11 drawers, two toilets...

Today is Spring Clean Up day in my neighborhood. People have been carting out their old stuff and piling it up on the curb. Today the City will send in crews to mop it up. As I was out riding my bike I noticed the variety. Though I didn’t count, I would say mattresses took first place with somewhere between 11 and 15. Chairs were probably next with eight to ten. There were many drawers, probably more than chairs, really. I also saw two toilets at one house and two sinks at another.

I couldn’t help wondering why these items were discarded. Once they were valued and purchased for a price. Today they have been replaced. Did they serve the user well? Were they helpful at one time, or were they just taking up space.

Discarding has always been difficult for me, but we live in a disposable society and almost everything has a limit to its useful life. What of my life? How useful am I? Am I disposable? Am I helpful or do I just take up space?

Thinking in those terms is a little sobering. What is the value of a life? How much do you value your own life? Your neighbor’s life? Your child’s life?

If the value we place on life has to do with popularity, beauty, strength, or intelligence, then most of us will come up short at one time or another. Is a kind person of more value than a mean one? Is a tidy person of more value than a messy one? Is a young person of more value than an old one?

Though we may strive for excellence, our value is more than our achievements,our skills,our talents,or our age. Our value is more than our character traits. Though we may be trying to improve ourselves in a variety of ways, our worth cannot be measured by our growth. When we try to measure our worth by a worldly yardstick, we will often feel less than.

Growing, improving, developing are satisfying and can enhance our self-esteem, but not our worth. Our worth is eternal. Our value is endless. It was created before we were born. We cannot do anything to erase our worth or to multiply it.

Finding peace with ourselves involves understanding who we are and perhaps more importantly whose we are. This is the source of our worth. When we understand that we were created on purpose and that we are perfect just the way we are, then we can begin to love ourselves. When we love ourselves, we can do anything.

That is our destiny.

Linda Garner

Making Friends with Your Body

2 out of 5 women would trade 5 years of their life to be thin.

More women are suffering from anorexia or bulimia than are fighting breast cancer.

Most American girls begin to diet when they are just 8 years old.

Why are we our own worst enemies? How did our views get so distorted? We have a serious body image crisis on our hands. (from the operation beautiful video.)

Do you have a love/hate relationship with your body? Many women do. Do you cringe when you look in the mirror? Do you feel that beauty is reserved for the thin or the young or the well dressed? What a damaging message that is. Your body shows up for you 24/7 and does amazing work for you. How about a little appreciation?

Have you ever considered what a miraculous machine your body is?

The average human brain has 100 billion nerve cells. Nerve impulses to and from the brain travel at a speed of 170 mph. It takes the interaction of 72 muscles to produce human speech. The human heart creates enough pressure to squirt blood 30 feet. The average human heart will beat 3,000 million times and pump 48 million gallons of blood in its lifetime. Human blood travels 60,000 miles per day on its journey through the body. Each square inch of human skin consists of 20 feet of blood vessels. During a 24 hour period, the average human will breathe 23,040 times.

Those are startling facts, but let’s bring it home. Consider the value of the tasks your body does for you each day. Consider your feet which carry you anywhere you care to go. Consider your fingers and hands which serve you in so many ways. Think of your eyes and ears. Notice the beauty and joy they bring into your life. Imagine functioning without sight, without hearing. Your body is beautiful beyond belief. How about a little appreciation?

I like to take a few moments each day to thank my body for its service. Mentally and emotionally I send love and appreciation to every cell in my body. We’ve been friends for a long time, and I’d like to keep it that way. I also love doing kind things for my body like getting 8 hours of sleep, eating healthy foods, and finding time for exercise. I know my body is grateful when I take good care of it, but nothing beats a kind word.

Have you made friends with your body? Today’s a good day to start. Send a little love and appreciation out to your brain, your heart, your blood cells. Speak kindly to your your feet, your legs, your fingers. Send a smile of gratitude to your eyes, your ears, your mouth, your voice.

Enjoy your beautiful body, today. It is your very best friend.

Linda Garner

Is This You?

Is this YOU? Is your calendar out of control? Can you squeeze one more thing into your day planner? Are you addicted to your “to do” list?

Do you ever feel like you are in charge of everything and in control of nothing? Reminds me of the sign in my aunt’s kitchen: The hurrier I go, the behinder I get. If something goes wrong, are you the first lady of solutions? Are you the family fixer? Are you a general authority (an authority on everything in general)?

How’s it working out for you?

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Loving yourself is the key. It is not conceited to love yourself. It is essential. How can we hope to love anyone else if we don’t first love ourselves?

We take care of the things we love. Loving ourselves helps us to take care of ourselves. One problem with being too busy is that we don’t have time to take care of ourselves. If we aren’t careful we can become worn out and depleted. No good can come of it.

Another problem with being too busy is that we don’t have time to feel things. We need to feel things. We need to face our uncomfortable feelings so that we can make positive changes. If we cover up problems by filling up our “to do” list, then we miss the warning signs that things are amiss.

When we are too busy to feel, we don’t have time for feeling good about ourselves. We need to feel valued. We need to feel loved. We need to feel beautiful. We need to feel important. We need to feel that we are good enough. And most important, we need to feel peace.

How are you going to schedule that into your dayplanner?

Feeling good about ourselves doesn't come from what others think or say. It's an inside job. What we believe about ourselves carries the most weight. Others may complement us, but it won’t mean a thing until we believe it.

Believe in yourself. Believe in your worth. Believe that you are beautiful, important, and enough. Find peace.

Today, take time for you. Take time to feel.

Linda Garner

Celebrate!!

What a wonderful day to Celebrate. Today is International Women's Day, the 100th anniversary. I hope you do something fun to celebrate. I hope you are kind and thoughtful to all the beautiful women in your life.

I want to celebrate by sharing some inspiration videos with you. Click on these links. Enjoy.


Evolution of Beauty


Operation Beautiful


The One Flaw In Women

You are beautiful and amazing. Think Beautiful Thoughts. Have a Beautiful Day.

Linda Garner

Hats Off to You!

There’s something about hats. Even though I love carefree simplicity and am casual by nature, I adore hats. When we cleaned out our parents’ home, after they had died, we discovered a bag of hats belonging to Mom. I have no memory of Mom wearing these hats, but I felt an instant connection to her and claimed the hats.

I love those vintage hats. I have used them often, in displays and presentations. I also claimed Dad’s army hat, and dress hats which I believe belonged to my two Grandfathers. My grandfather’s hats have a spot in a display case in my living room. Mother’s hats were once displayed atop an etegere in my bedroom.

Last summer we added a closet to our bedroom and removed the etegere. Where did the hats end up? It crossed my mind more than once, and yesterday I went on a frantic search because I needed the hats for a skit tonight. To my horror, I found the hats in the garage in two boxes. One box was moist and full of mildew. I almost cried. I cleaned up what I could, and sorrowfully threw two hats away.

I’m not sure what fuels my fascination with hats. I’ve always loved them. Like you, I wear many hats. I wear the mother hat, the sweetheart (wife) hat, the grandma hat, the piano teacher hat, the friend hat, the sister hat, the aunt hat, the writer hat, the speaker hat. I’ve also been known to wear the listener hat, the advice giver hat, the advice taker hat, the learner hat. I’ve often thought about wearing the organizer hat or the clean house hat, but they just don’t make them in my size. Wish they did. Or do I?

Mostly, I wear the hats I love, and I love the way I feel in them. I love being myself. Your hats may be different than mine. If they are right for you, that’s all that matters. Wear the hats you love, and have fun wearing them. Enjoy being yourself. Choose it.

Hats off to you!

Linda Garner