Category Inspirational

FMM 6 10 16 Dream On

“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.”~ Carl G. Jung  My father ‘dream’ me this week.  This is the Jamaican way for saying you have been visited in your dream by someone, usually one who has passed on.  Of course these dreams are seen as particularly significant, for there must […]

FMM 6 3 16 The Power of Grace

“Grace has been defined as the outward expression of the inner harmony of the soul”~William Hazlitt.  One of my mother’s four older sisters was called Grace.  She was named for their mother, my grandmother.  My Auntie Grace was a character, with a wicked sense of humor and a ready laugh.  She died when I was still […]

FMM 5 27 16 Sparks of Genius

“There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it ”~Edith Wharton. One of the joys of growing up in the country in Jamaica was experiencing nature up close and personal.  ‘Peenie-wallies’, the Jamaican name for glow-worms, could entertain us kids for hours, as they randomly blinked on […]

FMM 5 20 16 Create Space

“But let there be spaces in your togetherness, And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.”~ Khalil Gibran.   When my mother died last year, we found ourselves going through stacks of correspondence; piles of papers; items that had not only been transported from Jamaica to England when my parents retired, but may […]

FMM 5 13 16 Be more, Do more, Want less

“We can’t be useful to ourselves unless we’re useful to others.”~Dalai Lama. When I stepped into my bathroom the other morning, I had a memory of early mornings in the hills of Jamaica.  A cool breeze would steal in through the open window, warning you of how cold the unheated water might be.  Outside the […]

FMM 5 6 16 Cold Comfort Clichés

“Motivation will almost always beat mere talent.” ~Norman Ralph Augustine. I learned more about muscle groups and their functions in the gym than I ever did in nursing school.  To be honest, forty years ago, my hospital based nursing school had a system designed for you to learn on the wards, caring for real live […]

FMM 4 29 16 Gained in Translation

“Mother Nature is always speaking.  She speaks in a language understood within the peaceful mind of the sincere observer.”~Radhanath Swami.  Language is a wonderful thing.  It provides words which represent complex thoughts, symbols that identify objects and people, and allows us to express emotions and needs.  All over the globe, individual tribes of prehistoric people […]

FMM 4 22 16 Scratching the Surface

“I am not what you supposed me, but far different”~Walt Whitman.  I was introduced recently to an author who at one time answered ‘Dear Sugar’ letters, an advice column on a wide variety of stressful topics.  The author responded to questions about love, life, anxiety, hopelessness and much more by telling stories from her own […]

FMM 4 15 16 One Spark

“It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to see the light.”~Aristotle Onassis. I once met a young woman who was too perky.  No matter the time of day, or the circumstances she was upbeat and chipper for no reason.  So annoying!  It wasn’t until I got to know her better that I […]

FMM 4 8 16 Breathtaking

“The poet doesn’t invent.  He listens.” ~ Jean Cocteau. April is National Poetry Month.  I heard a challenge on the radio, to create a poem based on the numbers in your zip code.  Each line should contain the same number of words as the numbers in your zip code.  Ever since I heard this challenge […]