April 30, 2025 - Peace & Finding A Balance

I've talked before about how things which are in the news may leave us afraid and/or angry. This is completely understandable and how you feel absolutely matters. When I feel afraid and angry, I don't feel like I have the "power" in my life, which makes me feel worse, so today I want to talk again about doing things to help us feel peace and strength and like we are able to make solid decisions which will put us in the best place to move forward.

April 29, 2025 - Love Yourself

I often talk about loving yourself because you absolutely deserve to be loved, but I know it is all too easy to forget this - or even not believe it, so I want to take this day to encourage you to remember to love yourself and to hold tightly to those who love you. Life is difficult at times, and may feel this way more often right now, but when you hold on to the truth of how you are loved and deserve to be loved, take the time to love yourself, and hold on tightly to those who love you, you will find you are stronger than you may think you are and you are able to move forward with a life of joy and peace.

April 18, 2025 - Some Dos & Don'ts

As we start another week, and are about to end another month, I'd like to encourage you to make the choice to do what you can to make life better today. To help you with this, here are a few dos and don'ts to consider - first let's consider some "don'ts" . . . 

April 25, 2025 - Priorities

Today I want to talk about the things which need to be priorities for us so we are able to live a healthy and joy-filled life - and yes, it is possible for us to live our lives in healthy and joy-filled ways. I know there are many things happening right now which are scary, and we do need to know what is happening, but we also need to prioritize those things which make us healthy and bring us joy. Consider the following priorities -

April 24, 2025 - More Support is Available

As I take time to talk with you I have been hesitant to talk much about Jesus and His love for you. The reason for this is because I know far too often people who claim to love and follow Him, do not do what He did or talk like He did - Jesus made it clear by what He said and what He did how very much He truly loves everyone and wants those who follow Him to do the same. Today I want to talk about this because it matters. 

April 23, 2025 - Encouraging Words

While we may not receive encouraging words very often, and sadly, some of you may receive unencouraging words, we all benefit from being on the "receiving end" of encouraging words, so today I want to share encouraging words with you. Please know I absolutely believe and mean every word I'm about to say - I hope you will be encouraged!

April 22, 2025 - I'll Say it Again, Hold Tight to Family & Friends Who Love You & Have Your Back

I know I often say it is important to hold on tightly to your family and friends who love you and who have your back, but today I am saying it again. Hold tightly to your family and friends who love you and have your back. With all the things happening in our country, you may feel stressed, frightened, worried, and angry on a daily basis - or even many times a day, but it is essential for you to surround yourself with those who love you so you are able to take care of your own mental health and do the things which bring you peace. If you have parents, grandparents, extended family, and friends who love and care for you, then hold tightly to them and love and care for them, too.

April 21, 2025 - Increase Your "Happiness Chemicals!"

I talked about this several months ago, but increasing your happiness matters, so today I'm once again talking about ways you are able to increase your peace of mind and overall health by increasing your "happiness chemicals" - yes, they are a real thing and yes, there are actual things you can do to help you experience happiness.

April 18, 2025 - Choose to Spend Time with Those Who Love You

I realize when you feel alone, are being bullied, have to deal with physical and/or mental challenges, or are part of the queer community - especially if you are Trans or non-binary, "choosing peace" may sound like a nice thing, something you would love to do, but may feel quite difficult - if not impossible to actually accomplish. But, the first step to this is to choose to spend time with those who love you. It may be easy to just isolate and keep to yourself, but it is a healthy thing for you to spend time with those who love you - doing so makes you stronger and gives you joy.

April 17, 2025 - Spend Time with Those Who Love You

Yesterday I talked about how important it is for you to be very careful in interacting with people you only know from online, accepting help from your family, and to please never harm yourself. I often talk about  spending time with those who love you and am doing so again today. When you interact with people who love you, it will strengthen you and give you more confidence. So, make time to spend with others - and do something fun together! Play a game together (I recommend Abducktion - a weirdly strategic game of duck kidnapping - yes, it is an odd name for a game, but it is a LOT of fun!) Ride bikes, take a walk through a park together, or do something fun like bowling! Cook or bake something with the ones you love - a fun and tasty way to spend time together for sure!

I found an article about ways we benefit from spending time with people who love us and will share some of it with you - if you want to read the article, you will find it at this link.

April 16, 2025 - PLEASE Be VERY Careful

I've been talking about taking time to enjoy things and to be happy - and I want to say again today, you absolutely deserve to do this. Please, make time for yourself to do this. But, I also want to talk about something very serious and ask you to be careful. The news where I live the past couple days has been about a young 14 year old who attended the school my grands attend. This young man thought a girl was emailing him because she liked him and wanted to know him better. "She" got him to send compromising photos of him to her and then, started blackmailing him. He ended up killing himself because he was afraid he would be in trouble and didn't know what to do. He was only fourteen.

April 15, 2025 - You Deserve to Enjoy Things & to Be Happy

Yesterday I talked about making time to take time to enjoy Spring and let it renew you and help you feel refreshed. Yesterday where I live in Michigan it was 62 degrees out! A real "heat wave" for sure! Today we may make it to 42 degrees - which "warm" one day and cold the next is normal for Spring in Michigan. But, I was very happy to be able to get outside for just a bit to enjoy the warmer weather and saw daffodils, hyacinths, and violets all blooming - it made me so happy to see these colorful signs of warmer weather and Spring! It won't be long before my tulips and lilacs are blooming, and what could be better than tulips and lilacs?!

April 12, 2025 - Today is International Day of Pink!

I don't typically post a video on Saturday, but today is International Day of Pink - Nationaltoday.com says - "This day was created as a campaign to end bullying against the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and continue the fight for equality, diversity, and acceptance. The day aims to make the world more inclusive and diverse. On this day, people around the globe are encouraged to wear pink and stand against bullying and in solidarity with the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. The community believes wearing pink on International Day of Pink represents acceptance, courage, diversity, equality, and inclusivity." So, let's celebrate by - 

• Wearing pink is a way to show you are against bullying, homophobia, and transphobia. Be part of the change in making the world more inclusive and diverse.
• Tell your non-homophobic friends about the day so they can also show support to the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Every support and involvement matters to end discrimination.

Discrimination is never a good thing. International Day of Pink gives the people a chance to stand in solidarity with the Queer community to end discrimination against them. Every person in the world needs to be accepted for who they are. Since discrimination still persists in the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, this day is to continue the fight for acceptance and equality among the community.

Join me and wear pink today! So, again today, I want to send you another virtual "hug" - some days we need more than one hug - You matter. You deserve to be loved and are loved - I love you! You make our world a better place - we need you in this world. I hope you have people around you who tell you these things, but if not, please let me be someone who does. Yes, I say this every day, but these words are true and will always be so. You will find the video at this link.

April 11, 2025 - The Truth - You Matter

Today I want to talk about something I think is very important - your own sense of well-being. There have been several stories in the news which are upsetting, to say the least, and something someone said made me think. They said it doesn't matter what the current occupant of the White House says or does, they can not get rid of, erase, or end trans and queer people. While this is true - executive orders are not law, they are directives for the federal government to follow and NOTHING that person says or does is able to get rid of, erase, or end trans and queer people - the way the things he says and does makes you feel does matter because you matter.

April 10, 2025 - Hope & the Little Things

Part of what I'm talking about today is something I have talked about before, but in light of the impact of one of the ridiculous executive orders which targets the trans community, I wanted to again post a short video to encourage and to hopefully provide some facts. Now as I have said, I am not a lawyer, but I am able to read and I looked up some information to get the facts on trump's executive order banning gender-affirming care and learned the following . . . 

April 9, 2025 - The Relationships Matter

I often talk about ways to find strength and confidence - things all of us need, but especially  those in the queer community and those who deal with loneliness, bullying, physical and/or mental challenges, and the difficult things which come with life, so today I want to talk again about how relationships are able to help us with these things.

April 8, 2025 - Make Time for Hugs

Hugs are good for you and for the people who love you, so I'd like to encourage you to make time today to receive and hand out some of those good-for-you hugs! Mindbodygreen.com says, "The benefits of hugging can be nearly as beneficial as the benefits of your other healthy habits like exercise, meditation, and more. Here are some of the proven benefits of reaching out to someone for a warm embrace:

April 7, 2025 - Good Deeds Day

I think it would be an excellent "policy" to do good deeds every day; so while yesterday was, "Good Deeds Day", I'm talking about it today! Nationaltoday.com says, "This initiative seeks to promote people giving back to their community however they can. You can volunteer, donate to a charity, or help people in your area whichever way you see fit. The beauty of Good Deeds Day is there’s no set way to celebrate it. The goal is to help others and do good for your community, fostering a sense of kindness and compassion around us. Acts of charity are never forgotten by their recipients. Spread the love on this holiday." So, let's make every day a day to do good things, Oh, and please be especially sure to do good things for yourself on this day, too! What kind of good things, you ask? Well, just a few good things could include . . . 

April 4, 2025 - Tomorrow is National Self-Care Day

I'm a mom and grandma and I often tend to spend my time caring for my family, and while this is a wonderful thing, I also need to spend time caring for myself - and model this for the ones I love so they do the same. Self-Care is a vital part of the things we all need to do each and every day. This is not being "selfish", self-care is essential for our own well-being as without it we will not be able to do the things we need to do for our own lives and we are not able to do the things we do to care for others. Nationaltoday.com explains it in the following way, "Our minds and bodies require adequate rest and care for optimal health and well-being. National Self-Care day emphasizes the importance of self-care as the basis for good health. It’s also a day when individuals are encouraged to prioritize self-care and make it a habit." Let's look at a few facts about caring for yourself and some ideas on how to do so - 

April 3, 2025 - Spend Time in Nature!

I have talked about finding strength by spending time in nature, but since Spring is upon us and the weather is finally getting warmer - at least here in Michigan, I thought I'd recommend spending time in nature again as it is absolutely a way to help you find comfort and strength. I found a wonderful article on this from the Mayo Clinic and thought I'd share it again - just look at some of the ways nature helps us -

April 2, 2025 - Hope for Every Day

April is National Month of Hope, so let's look at ways we are able to be people who live with hope and extend hope to others throughout April and all year long. Daysoftheyear (dot) com says, "The  National Month of Hope seeks to act as a reminder that there can always be brighter days ahead!" 

April 1, 2025 - Today, and Every Day, Listen to and Believe the Truth

Today, and every day, the truth matters. If you are lonely, marginalized, bullied, experiencing physical or mental challenges, or are part of the queer community, you likely hear negative things directed your way. First of all, I am SO sorry this happens to you. You do NOT deserve to be treated badly for any reason. I want to share just a few words of truth to hopefully encourage you today -