Simply Wonderful: Fall Is Here

September 23, 2014September 23, 2014 / Ally Bean / 24 Comments

I tend to overthink things. I don’t know if that comes to me naturally or if it was instilled in me as a child through well-meaning adults. Doesn’t matter. What is, is.

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I’d been pondering my tendency to overthink when I happened to see this Cary Grant quote. It seemed like the perfect mantra to adopt during my favorite season of the year. Why not think less? Keep life simple. Occupy myself more with doing.

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Later while surfing the net, I stumbled upon this Paulo Coelho quote, which reinforced my newfound desire to live simply. I mean, who doesn’t want to find the extraordinary things? I can do that. I’ll be wise.

So it is with the foregoing in mind that I’ve decided to groove on simplicity for the next few months. I don’t know exactly what that means, but I figure if the Universe has gone out of its way to make sure that I get this “simplify” message, then the message is important. Hallelujah, eh? Make it so.

When The Writing Is Not Easy Because You Care Too Much

September 18, 2014April 17, 2024 / Ally Bean / 22 Comments

“You may tell a tale that takes up residence in someone’s soul, becomes their blood and self and purpose. That tale will move them and drive them and who knows what they might do because of it, because of your words. That is your role, your gift.”

~ Erin Morgenstern, Night Circus

• • •

Bloggers often talk about burnout, being unable to think of something to write about. But for me, this week, has been something different from that.

My brain has been in 5th gear all week, going way too fast.

I’ve thought of many things to say here– and even gone so far as to compose a few posts. In fact, I’ve written three lengthy ones that when completed I decided didn’t have the right subject matter or tone for this blog.

So I deleted them.

This has left me feeling mildly panicked about who I am and what to post here today. Odd isn’t it? Too much thinking, too much caring and I end up here today with nothing to say– as if I was burned out.

THE LESSON: Some weeks all roads lead to nothing. And that’s okay.

• • •

{ Source: Dilbert by Scott Adams }

Almost Autumn: This Change Of Season Suits Me

September 8, 2014November 19, 2015 / Ally Bean / 16 Comments

This past Sunday morning was the first day in months where the temperature was below 60ºF and the humidity was low.

Delightful. Refreshing. Clear.

I was able to drink my first mug of coffee while sitting on the deck all by myself. Experiencing the stillness of the early morning centered me in a way that makes me feel whole.

Hopeful. Capable. Calm.

It wasn’t until I looked up into the trees behind our house that I realized how soon it’ll be autumn. And that I wasn’t alone out there on the deck. Two birds, way up high, were keeping me company.

Cheerful. Balanced. Orange.

Autumn is about letting go of what used to work and enjoying what is. I’ve found over the years that I can embrace its message because I’m open to new ideas and seem to have an aptitude for adjusting to what is.

Creative. Grateful. Aware.

Meaning that in about another month this tree, next to where the birds were sitting, will be a showy mess of fall color. And when it is I plan to be engrossed in new projects and a healthier way of life. Hello Autumn!

Determined. Grounded. Focused.

That Place Where Genealogy & A Forgiving Spirit Meet

May 28, 2014May 28, 2014 / Ally Bean / 14 Comments

“It is a duty to forgive everyone that is indebted to us, under pain of the Divine condemnation… for an unforgiving spirit cannot possibly be a happy one.”

~ The Reverend William H. Sutherland, Ohio frontier circuit preacher | DDiv | my great-grandfather

~ • ~

Good thought, eh? I stumbled upon it when I was doing some random genealogical research.

[Amazing what a person can find online.]

The quote you see above comes from Charles C. Cole’s Lion of the Forest: James B. Finley, Frontier Reformer, a biography about Finley. Like Finley, my great-grandfather was a frontier circuit preacher who travelled via horse or on foot to spread the word of God. It was a difficult life and the pay was nominal. Most men did the job for a few years and then moved onto something less strenuous, less religious.

However, my great-grandfather toughed it out and eventually went on to earn an advanced degree in theology. Throughout his subsequent career as a reverend he rose within the ranks of the Methodist Episcopal Church* to become an elder of some sort. [More research needed.] But before he became someone of note within the church, he ruffled a few feathers out there on the circuit.

[Specifically, the feathers of Finley.]

As I understand it, Finley and my great-grandfather did not agree on what constituted Christian forgiveness. Finley believed that a Christian could not forgive someone unless that someone had first repented.

My great-grandfather took a more progressive view and said that forgiveness was not dependent upon someone else repenting, but was an action that a good Christian took as a matter of course. The responsibility to forgive was the appropriate behavior of the forgiver, regardless of what the person requiring forgiveness did– or did not do.

[You still with me here?]

I like learning that my great-grandfather, who is affectionately known within this house as The Old Coot, was not as coot-ish as I imagined him to be. My take-away from this is that he had a good heart, and apparently the sense to know what to worry about and what to let go of.

Rather modern thinking, for an old-time religious fellow. I’m impressed.

* In 1844 there was a schism within the U.S.A. Methodist church resulting in the denomination dividing into two factions: the Methodist Episcopal Church condemned slavery; the Southern Methodist Church allowed slavery. This schism foreshadowed the Civil War by about 20 years.