5 Simple Straightforward Truths About People

January 20, 2016August 29, 2018 / Ally Bean / 35 Comments

{ Photo here from THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS }

~ ~ • ~ ~

I share the following because no snit-based personal revelation will ever be overlooked on this blog.

If I’m handed the fuzzy end of the lollipop, you know darned well I’m going to make a post of it.

To wit, I found this list in an undated file with the title: How To People. I’m not sure why I wrote the list, but clearly I. was. in. a. mood.

Not mincing words. Leaning toward cynical. Tired of being ignored by the world. Determined to figure out why.

And planning to never let it happen again.

~ ~ • ~ ~

5 Simple Straightforward Truths About People

1) People lie. [Gregory House, M.D., said this, of course.]

2) People do what works for them. [I think this is from Dr. Phil.]

3) There are three specific motivators, or a combination thereof, which compel people to do what they do: safety, status, &/or creativity. [I learned this in Psych 101, and man-oh-man is it true.]

4) The people around you are there for: a reason, a season, or life. [This sounds Hallmark-y to me, but don’t know source for sure.]

5) It’s time to let go of a person when: you’re not learning anything new and there’s no possibility of him or her changing. [I used to be on 43 Things, a goal-setting social media community, & some guy left me this advice about one of my goals.]

~ ~ • ~ ~

[So peoples of the World Wide Web, what have I missed here?]

This Is Blog Delurking Week? Show Me The Love.

January 8, 2016August 29, 2018 / Ally Bean / 53 Comments

• • •

It has come to my attention that this is Blog Delurking Week.

Apparently this is an annual event which takes place during the first full week of a new year.

That would be this week.

The idea is simple: ask your lurkers to say “hello” in your comment section. Perhaps say a little something about themselves, too.

Naturally I’m late to this party, but thought why not charm you, my gentle readers and lurkers, by making a cute graphic that explains how comments help bloggers stay energized.

See above.

Having created and shared that graphic, I’ll quietly wait for all of you, lurkers, fans, followers, friends + family, to ~~bring me a shrubbery~~ leave me a comment.

One that looks nice and not too expensive. [Extra credit if you know this reference.] 😉

Yoga Lessons Revisited: She Like To Move It, Move It

November 19, 2015 / Ally Bean / 59 Comments

I’ve stretched my body more lately. To make my joints more flexible, my alignment more comfortable, my muscles more toned. Doing yoga asanas, that is. Or my middle-aged out-of-shape reinterpretation of them.

It’s been a little over 10 years since I stopped going to yoga classes on a regular basis.

• • •

LESSON #1

“Keep on meeting the edge.”

~ said Kathy, who moved away from the city to live on an organic farm

• • •

I had always enjoyed taking yoga classes, but my favorite instructors, who each had her own way of explaining life on and off the mat, stopped teaching.

The only woman I could find who did not do hot yoga, which I think is nuts, was more about selling her book and CDs than teaching yoga. She was quite the personality kid, which annoyed me.

So I stopped attending her classes, thinking I’d continue my practice on my own.

• • •

LESSON #2

“When in doubt, don’t.”

~ said Donna, who got a newspaper byline and is living her dream of being a writer

• • •

But you know how things like that go. Procrastination + laziness took over– and eventually the idea of daily yoga practice floated out of my monkey mind.

However, this fall I acknowledged that I’m getting older and that I’m beginning to walk more THUNK * THUNK * THUNK than flow * flow * flow. Which is to say my daily walks are morphing into daily moseys because I’m going slower and slower.

Re-enter daily yoga practice.

• • •

LESSON #3

“Well isn’t that interesting?”

~ said Cathy, who had a hip replacement then decided to retire with her husband to somewhere warm

• • •

I’ve yet to commit to a specific time and place for my stretching, but if memory serves, back years ago when I was really into yoga, I used the late afternoon as my practice time… which I suppose I could do again.

And that, my gentle readers, is what’s up with me today in my quest to age gracefully + not keel over by the side of the road.

Ever onward, I say. Each of us moving forward in our own way.

• • •