Friday, October 25, 2013

Applauding the Dream~Livers

Hola Fabulous Peeps!

Every week is pretty amazing, isn't it? It wasn't all week that death was swirling around me, but I felt it. We had some great patients pass away too recently. And we had other patients that are forging forward with fabulous things!

I think it's super succulent when anyone marches forward fiercely toward their dreams! I think it's especially super wonderful when patients who might be somewhat near the end of their lives, say, buy an RV and plan to drive off into the warm sunset!

It's funny, I may work in a cancer clinic. However, for me it's a great way to earn my keep these days. AND expand myself in the midst of chaos and change in the workplace, challenging economic times the kinda devalue us as employees instead of how we could be boosted up, and more super lessons. I totally appreciate my job and I mostly love it every day. It's incredibly rewarding for different reasons.

I see patients of all kinds. We are taught to show kindness and professionalism. This is easy to do, for I am this way naturally when I am in my work environment. (And I've had soooo many different fun environments!) Most that succumb are left with only a little life to live. Bless them all, and I am grateful they touched my lives.

Even when my doctors advocate one thing, I inwardly love it when patients rebel and decide to forgo continuing with treatment to drive their RV somewhere warm for the winter. I sooooo applaud this. They deserve to live much more than they are meekly able to. I'm jumping for joy on the inside when people tell me about their fabulous plans spending 10 days in gorgeous, friendly Belize. I spent 2 weeks there in 1999, 8 days of that on a 43 foot catamaran with fabulous people! It's still a dream trip in my heart!

I want to honor one of my friends on that incredible trip to Belize. His motto was "no regrets". It fits in with living your dreams until the end! He may have met his end already, so what an incredible life he was able to live! Jungle hats off to you fabulous Bob, wherever you are!

So many of us aren't stricken with a disease that gives us a timeline. I'm super grateful to be alive these days where we can run furiously toward one or fifty dreams OR we can keep marching toward them with our drumbeat continuously beating toward our dreams! We are so blessed with people to connect with who share our dreams, and endless sources of fabulousness and inspiration!

I'm grateful for two direct sources of this for me, Hemal Radia and Leonie Dawson. Super grateful hugs to both of you! Leonie makes me realize how fabulous it is to be alive today where we can create fun words! Hemal is someone I have been working with longer to live better and live more of my dreams.

I am also grateful for you~! Thanks for reading! Keep up the great work of enjoying life!
~Marina~

Saturday, October 19, 2013

It's A Great Place To Be

Quick! Name 3 things you are grateful for in the comments below. It is sooooo good to be mindful about what we appreciate and savor in all parts of our lives.

I don't have a long commute or drive to my work, but for some time now I hardly turn the radio on. I choose to think positively and be grateful and aware of what I am seeing. Just today near the end of my walk with Biggie my pug, I saw a row of maple trees sprinkled with a few others that were just gorgeous with the redness of fall.

Truly, I am finding more and more to be grateful for every day!

The longer I live in my townhouse, I am grateful for the home I live in. I wasn't always. My daughter and I lived with my parents up until May, 2012. We lived in their walkout basement. It was about 1,000 square feet with a full kitchen, one bedroom, and a fabulous bathroom with a big Jacuzzi bath. I miss the bath!

I didn't know how I would be able to move out and if I would be able to pay for everything. And I hadn't been working steadily at that point. I was working two different office jobs through my temporary agency instead of getting a "real" job.

Everything worked out perfectly. Right before I moved out, I started at the job I'm still at. Yes, it's still through my temporary agency, yet I am still there savoring the learning and the fabulous coworkers and the gifts the patients bring.

It's funny, when I came to look at this place we now call home, I wasn't sure. Not sure at all. Yet I put myself in the place of being grateful it is better than what I just came from, along with splashing my walls in ocean, juicy passionfruit, and green grape colors.

Yes, so many parts of me still long to be living at the ocean and in warmth. Especially now that winter's nearly upon us! Yet... I am finding myself focusing on what I love about living here. Daily small things tug on my heart and gratitude muscles. I suppose it is only in being thankful for it all and most importantly the small things that we allow ourselves to keep moving toward who we want to be, who we are meant to be. Most of all, I am grateful for the me I am along with the me I am becoming!

Friday, October 11, 2013

Grateful For The Laughter!

What do you do during your days? As you might know, for my day job I work at a cancer clinic as a scheduler. And can you believe it~I am still here as a "temporary office employee". I only say can you believe it because I have been here since April of 2012. There has been much turmoil whilst here, but I choose to keep calm and have faith I will keep working. I like that this is one area I can keep calm and have faith, despite others worrying about it for me.

These days, life flows by at our clinic. We miss our fabulous patients that are no longer here, and treasure the ones still here. I also run into fun people from my past, such as my junior high and high school art teacher. Sigh. Seeing her brought warm feelings in my heart for quite a while~she was a person who taught what she loved and so to speak loved you unconditionally. Errr, you can't tell I grew up in a religious home, can you? :)

I think my favorite part about work these days is sharing fun moments that turn into memories with my coworkers. There are a fabulous handful of them. Everyone is of the good sort, but a few make the days go by swiftly and with smiles on my heart. I'm grateful for all of them!

There are lots of projects and parts to our scheduling jobs. I gave up caffeine before September started, so in the morning I am merely trying to find my way into the day. I keep my head to the ground and do my work, focusing on a special project I had been tasked with. Even though we are always busy with phone calls from all our patients, along with scheduling and making the charts for the next few days, we take time now and then to laugh and share stories about each others lives. It's such a treat to have these fun moments. It truly brights your life when you have laughter surrounding you on all sides!

Enjoy the laughter and fun moments in your life!

Thursday, October 3, 2013

1 Lesson From Our New Beardie

Hola Fabulous People! I hope you're living succulently! :)

My daughter bought a baby bearded dragon at the very beginning of September. She's only about six inches long, possibly seven. It's pretty awesome having her! She's cute and likes to bask under her sun lamp~I mean who wouldn't want to sit under bright warmth all day long here in Minnesota? :)

Right now we are only feeding her live small crickets. However, our fabulous supplier (Chuck and Don's) was out so they gave us medium crickets. Whoa! We have a cricket keeper but we put all the crickets in her aquarium cage. They hide in the hole in her fabulously long log (the same one she basks on). In the morning and at night (feeding times) Bella or I pick up the log, which is about a foot or so long. We shake out the crickets that are hiding.

I'm telling you~these humongous crickets are neverending! We used to go buy the little crickets twice a week (3-4 dozen each time we went). We haven't bought any in over a week!

Guess which crickets our bearded dragon Mango goes after first? The BIGGEST ones! I love it! What a metaphor for all of us~go after what you want. It's fabulously rewarding as you reel it in. It's even rewarding if you change goals midstream. The point is to go after your goals, those big things you want out of life!

I just reeled in my next car! This morning I heard one of my favorite songs for right now and rocked out in my car on the way to work~Keith Urban's Little Bit of Everything. I blasted onto the freeway feeling goooooood! I love it when life flows so graciously and we're having all the fun in the world!

What are the big thing(s) you are reeling in right now? I am working actively on growing my businesses so I can work from home. I am continually releasing my old mindsets that tell me 'I'm a poor single mama' or 'I don't have enough money to travel yet'. No more! I'm enjoying the journey as it happens while at the same time stretching myself to bring more in! It's time!