The Silent Treatment

The silent treatment as we know means to withdraw from someone, ignore that person, or keep our love away. Perhaps at some point in our lives we’ve given someone the silent treatment or have been the recipient of it. The individual who sends out the silent treatment is probably trying to punish someone because of a wrongdoing or a perceived one. However, I feel that it is a punishment for both parties; it causes stress to the heart and as I stated in last week’s post, we all need to strive toward heart healthy habits. This week’s writing challenge asked bloggers to make “silence” a presence in their posts.

Credit: Bing images

In giving silence a presence in my post today, I will share about the silent “treatment” I give myself. I withdraw from speaking to others, not as a punishment, but as an act of love for myself and for the work I do.

About 15 years ago, my voice developed a hoarseness that was hard to shake. It bothered me because I always sounded tired and at times it had the quality of someone who had a terrible hangover. To ease my mind, I went to see an ENT specialist.

That doctor’s evaluation showed that I had vocal cord nodules and to get rid of them I needed to rest my voice. Rest my voice? How can I do that? I gave myself the silent “treatment” whenever possible. I carried around a yellow notepad which I used to communicate with my family. They tried their best to make me talk, but I was resistant to their charms. I recall now with a smile the weekend my husband took the children on a trip and I rested my voice for 36 hours!

The silent “treatment”, this withdrawal from speaking continues to work for me whenever my voice takes on that husky quality and when it is tired and fatigued.

Have you ever given yourself this kind of silent treatment? What do you do to take care of your voice? I’d love to hear from you!

Pay Attention to the Signs!

I knew it. I just knew exactly what photo I would contribute to this week’s photo challenge as soon as I read about it. However, when I dug into my digital file of photos, I began to hem and haw. Why post one, when I can post four photos.

I photographed this door sign in an apartment building for seniors.

I took this photo while riding the NY city subway.

In a NY train

I’m not so sure exactly where in NY I found this one.

In NY city

I was on a bus tour of NYC when I came across this one. It got me wondering if there was a “honk police” patrolling the area to catch those honkers. Was there video camera that caught the honking sound as well as the license’s plate?

In Manhattan, NY

Celebrating Earth Day: The Grocery Bag Project

Every year on April 22, millions of people in thousands of cities in about 192 countries around the world observe Earth Day. Many environmental agencies, faith-based organizations, schools, charities, families, and individuals have week-long activities that focus on raising awareness about environmental issues and reminding us about our roles and responsibilities in caring for and protecting Mother Earth, our home.

How did Earth Day come about? The seed of Earth Day was planted in 1969 by Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin. It sprouted on April 22, 1970 when a grassroot demonstration took place to petition the government to put environmental issues on the political agenda. Today, over 40 years later Earth Day has grown and blossomed tremendously, but the messages to care for and protect our Earth still need to go out. I’d like to share with you how a school in Miami, Florida is sending out those messages.

For several years now, the students at Dante B. Fascell Elementary School collaborate with their local grocery store, Publix Supermarket at Lago Mar for an Earth Day project. Teachers show their commitment to molding caring, compassionate children for the Earth by collecting hundreds of grocery bags from Publix for their students to decorate with Earth Day messages and drawings. The store uses the Earth Day bags to send home customers’ groceries.

The students from Pre-K to 5^th grade take pride in decorating their bags and writing their messages. Some students in the bilingual program wrote their messages in Spanish.

Earth Day Grocery Bag Project- messages in Spanish

The grocery bag project offers students a prime opportunity to discuss their roles and responsibilities in caring for the Earth. Many of them, along with their parents accompany the teachers to deliver the bags to the supermarket. Hats off to the students at Dante B. Fascell Elementary School for thinking globally and acting locally.

Photo credit: Lily Guevara
This is Cailyn Guevara working on her grocery bag.

This Earth Day grocery bag project is an excellent example of how schools and communities work together for the greater good.

Earth Day messages on grocery bags

Got Fortune?

Yesterday, just about high noon, I got my fortune told, not once but thrice. No disgruntled, sleepy genie that was locked away for hundreds of years appeared in a puffy cloud with my fortune. There was no ancient, magical lamp either. My fortunes arrived in three small, crushable, packages of precisely the same size and to the naked eye, they were the same shape. They came cradled in the well known fortune cookies. Not only did I receive the foresight of the wise, I also acquired the winning combination of numbers for the lottery.

Fortune cookies (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

How I happened to gain possession of these fortunes was not such a fortunate scenario. Keep reading, you’ll see what I mean.

On Friday, I stopped at my neighborhood Chinese restaurant and placed my dinner order. I was hungry. The young lady who took my order told me that the wait time was just 10 minutes, a maximum of 15. She assured me that it won’t be 15 minutes though. I believed her, after all, we’re dealing with fast food here. Eight minutes went by. No food. I went next door to the Jamaican grocery store (they have a restaurant too, but I craved Chinese) and bought a pack of Ovaltine cookies to stave off the hunger. No luck. I just added weight to the wait. Eleven minutes elapsed and still no food.

The girl was on the phone taking a long order, or so it seemed to me. Everything appears delayed when you are hungry!  Sixteen minutes, no food. Did I say I was hungry? I decided to speak up. “It’s been over 15 minutes, Miss”. The girl acknowledged me by saying, “yes, it’s been a while”. She pushed through the swinging doors and announced, “customer waiting”.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the kitchen doors swung open and the delicious aroma of food stormed the air. As the server handed me the white and red box, she offered a unique apology, “we gave you two extra cookies for the wait, you now have three”. I don’t think she was expecting me to burst  into song. I smiled, despite my annoyance and left.

I didn’t care about exploring my fortunes on Friday- all I wanted to do was enjoy my dinner. It was scrumptious. Was it really? I was super hungry, remember? Yesterday, as I was putting away the four packets of soy sauce, my eyes landed on the fortune cookies. I got my scissors to snip the plastic wrapper (experience taught me not to rip with my fingers, unless I want flying fortune cookies).

First fortune: A distant relative will phone you soon. At this time of writing, no relative, not even a distant one has phoned. Maybe, I’ll get a ring tomorrow, or the next day, or who knows when. This fortune came without lucky numbers.

Second fortune: You will overcome many obstacles. Oh no, hardships are coming my way.  How can hardships be lucky? Ah, I see. Obstacles are necessary in life. They are gifts that make us stronger. Is this fortune telling me that I am weak? Okay, I need to grow. No lucky numbers with this one either.

The final fortune: Your mind is filled with new ideas, explore them. How fortuitous, after all, I just started blogging and I do want to explore new ideas. Is my mind really filled with new ideas? I embrace this fortune wholeheartedly. I believe it. I grabbed my camera and the exploration of a new idea was conceived. This blog post is a testament of the fortune I received on that tiny, rectangular slip of paper. This cliche comes to mind: Good things come to those who wait. My long, unfortunate wait (or so I thought) did pay off with a beautiful fortune.

Yes, this fortune came with lucky numbers: 4, 33, 38, 18, 54, 20. Now, let’s see what $$ is in store for me. Then again, one needs play the lottery in order to get a chance at winning.

Have you had your fortune told recently? Do share with us.

Here’s what I forecast for you: You will have a spring in your step and a smile on your face as you continue to interact with your fellow bloggers and readers.

Who Throws Cash Away?

Don’t you wish that sometimes our lives, this journey on Earth came with a pause or rewind button? How wonderful it would be to press that pause button when we are surrounded by people who bring joy to us or moments that gladden our hearts. How convenient it would be to press that rewind button and erase the times that caused us pain or hurt.

Recently, I was in a slump that was a shroud that threatened to envelope my smile, my laughter, and my joy. I know I had to do something about because it was making me emotionally exhausted. I did. I was with some eight year olds and I decided to have my own pep talk with them.

I started off by telling them that each morning we wake up, we receive a gift. I got blank stares. Yes, a gift of a new day was my response. I continued by asking them, “do you ever discard, or throw away a gift?” Their answer came in a chorus of “NO”. Before I could say anything else, one of the boys said, “that would be like throwing cash away”. I was floored. I’ve often heard that wisdom comes from the mouths of babes, but that was the first time I experienced such a profound thought from a child. I told Patrick that I couldn’t have expressed it any better and indeed, if we were to not value the gift of each day, it would be like throwing cash away.

Don’t throw that cash away!

Every day is a gift. The decisions we make, be it small or big contribute to how our day unfolds and the impact those choices will have on our lives. Not every day will be glamorous or full of success. Not every day will be peaceful and relaxing. We may not even like what the gift of a day brings. However, our attitude will determine how we embrace each gift.

In my pep talk with myself, I resolved to greet each day with an attitude of gratitude. One way I decided to use my gift of each day was to put a smile on someone’s face. A smile can brighten up someone else’s day. A smile costs nothing and its impact can be far reaching. I choose to make good use of my gift. After all, who wants to throw cash away?

Keep the Handwritten Letter Alive

When was the last time you received a handwritten note? When was the last time you wrote a note or letter in your own hand? The art of handwritten letters seems to be on the endangered list. Would it become extinct? I hope not. I have always enjoyed writing and receiving letters, but of recent I’ve been guilty of not sending out those little white envelopes.

Technology has made our lives easier and is keeping us connected yet, at the same time it seemed to have taken away some of the personal touch that we once enjoyed. Telephone conversations, texting, video messaging, social networks, to name a few, have become so intertwined in our lives that we have forgotten the joy of writing or receiving a handwritten note.

A letter from 1996

For me, the handwritten letter is a gift. It is a gift of time. It is also a tangible gift of words that I can reread and get those warm fuzzies all over again. I have a collection of letters and cards since I was a teenager and ever so often I go back to them and lose myself in someone else’s thoughts. I’ve got a bundle of love letters that bring a smile to my face each time I read them. I’m smiling now as I reflect upon the exhilaration and eager anticipation that accompanied each letter I received.

Letters & Cards

It is so easy to send a text message or an e-mail, but it is slightly more involved to actually put pen to paper. When someone writes me a letter, I know that that person dedicated time just for me. I was in his or her thoughts throughout the writing and let’s face it, don’t we all want to know that people are thinking of us?

At the beginning of March, I made a decision that I will write one handwritten note or letter per week for two months. Why just two months? It’s easier to set and reach a short goal. I am right on track- last week I sent a “just because” note to a colleague at work and two nights ago I wrote a letter to my friend in Canada. I encourage you to write a note to someone today or this week and be on the look-out for those warm fuzziesJ Let’s keep the art of handwritten letters alive.