Rain-Inspired Philosophy and Last Two Days to Enter Give-Away

It's a weather mish-mass here in Ohio for Labor Day weekend.  We had sweltering heat yesterday, torrential rainstorms last night and tomorrow will probably be idyllic.  This weekend's weather seems to be the perfect metaphor for life, how sometimes it is all we can do to get through a given day, hour or even minute and sometimes it is just bliss personified.

We would likely script it for all of our days to be filled with that bliss, but time has taught me that progress only comes from challenge, adversity or the occasional bump in the road.  Even muscle and bone develop on our bodies as the result of outside pressures and forces; indeed the universe seems to be designed with this inherent need for stress in order for growth to occur.

Would we even be happy if it was all-bliss-all-the-time?  I'm thinking, no....likely not and we would end up creating our own chaos....or maybe that is what we do anyway, at least to some degree.  Have you ever known someone who clearly doesn't have enough to do and seems to make a problem out of everything that comes his or her way?  Or maybe you know someone who seems perpetually trapped in drama fit for only day-time soaps. 

Of course we have to decide that we WILL grow, expand, develop and move on as a result of those stresses and challenges, or else we will collapse into an ever-shrinking sphere of influence and soon the tasks we could handle, will now become too much.  Most of us probably know people who seem unable to pull themselves out of an abyss and may even turn to self-medication, or over-indulgence of some form....even unhealthy food.  I have certainly been in that downward spiral before in dealing with depression, the most recent event being my reaction to the death of my mother.  Weight gain from not taking proper care of myself only made matters worse, and so the hole got bigger and deeper.  But, I now view the depths I sunk to as the opposite of the amount of growth I have made and the springboard to get me to where I am now, which is in a very good place. 

To anyone else reading this who may have what seems like a lengthy and difficult climb ahead of them, remember, the down side is likely proportional to the heights that await you.  Take that first step.  Then take the next one.  Rinse and repeat..... :-)

Rainy day inspired philosophy.....and humor.

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I'll pick my winner (randomly from an organic cotton hat) at the end of the day tomorrow, so you have until then to enter to win this basket of goodies made by Karen at Crafty By Nature.  http://www.craftybynaturestudio.com/  Karen has gone above and beyond for me on this project, creating vegan lip balm and now has in the works a vegan working hands skin repair cream.  Thank you so much, Karen.  Your efforts are deeply appreciated and I hope both new products end up being successful for you.  Check out Karen's very special products at her web-site, and look at her cool pottery too!

Gift Basket Give-Away

To enter:  leave a comment listing your favorite veggie

Sue, possibly 'crafty-by-nature', but definitely inspired by nature!, in Ohio

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