humblydemure

I am at home, enjoying my day off watching a rerun of Mother Angelica on YouTube. The episode is really speaking to me. It is about trusting God in all circumstances. I have been worried about many things that have not come to pass. I am obsessing about little and big things that are several months away and may not ever happen. For comfort I turn to Matthew ch. 6, and read Christ’s reassurance about God’s provision and care. The Bible doesn’t lie and Jesus never lies. You are provided for. Relax. Breathe. Jesus loves you and so do I.

I am at church, waiting for Mass to start. I haven’t been to weekday Mass in a while. After saying my prayers, I am sitting here musing: on God, elegance, and elegance without worldliness. I think lots of people, unfortunately, associate elegance and class with expensive clothes, nice cars, fame, money, etc. While these things are helpful, they don’t make us what we are. Elegance comes from within, from a beautiful heart and mind. The Bible even says, blessed are the pure of heart, for they shall see God. This indicates to me that God wants us to look after our hearts (Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.) Guarding our hearts by listening to quality music, reading good books, and taking care of our minds in other ways (like attending church regularly and spending time with other Christians) helps us to be elegant without worldliness, which is perhaps the highest elegance of all. Hope this helps.

There are many things that can lead to despair. A death in the family, a loss of an apartment, a group home placement, a job loss. These are all occasions to give up and blame God.

But what if God is simply asking you to use the tools he has given you to improve your life? What if the solution is in front of you the whole time?

I can assure you, from experience, it is. It’s called the rosary.

Before you leave my page now for preaching to you, read on a moment. The rosary is a great gift from our lady that not only is always received by heaven but is a great sign of predestination for heaven. Mary promises that those devoted to the rosary will never be conquered by misfortune, and if you want to take it a step further and consecrate yourself to the mother of God you are on the path to becoming a great Saint. The shortest and quickest path no less. I am starting the consecration process today. I am doing the exercises in True Devotion to Mary after I have finished the book. I want to be a Saint too.

Also, those devoted to the rosary are guaranteed help with their basic needs, subject to the will of God (keeping in mind that if you are deprived of something then it means God is in control and the things you are missing are not good for your salvation.)

I recommend beginning a practice of 5 decades minimum of the rosary daily. You don’t even have to do it all at once if you are intimidated by the length of the prayer. A decade or two at a time is fine. I hope this helps and good luck, lovelies!

Praying relieves anxiety, connects us to a higher power, and helps us organize our thoughts and emotions. Meditation does the same. Some meditations are also prayers, like the rosary. At Fatima our lady requested a daily prayer of the rosary for world peace. I like to schedule a rosary daily. Also, I do yoga in the morning as a kind of moving meditation to start my day off right. I find it really helps center me and helps me connect spiritually.

I also do ten to twenty minutes of meditation, seated, daily to help me connect with my mind and body. I feel at peace and energized after this practice and, as we all know, a peaceful mind is the most elegant. Since elegance is a state of mind, we must strive to have peaceful, calm, and healthy minds so that we can be peaceful, calm and healthy on the outside too. It also helps to have a counselor and/or psychiatrist to talk to. Hope this helps. Good luck, lovelies!

Anxiety is a very crippling and painful disorder that many people struggle with. I myself struggle with it, and I know how it can rob you of your peace.

When you find yourself getting anxious, ask yourself what the most productive thing you can do is to prevent or solve your problem. Odds are there is something that you can do.

Another thing is to step back, look at your anxiety like it is outside yourself, and ask yourself if what you are worried about is for sure going to happen or if it will affect you long term. If it may not happen or it will not affect you long term (as in it won’t matter in a year) then it doesn’t really deserve your attention, much less your fear. If it is a real problem though, take some deep breaths and try a little yoga or meditation and calmly proceed to fix your problem or lessen it to the best of your ability. Also, talk to a social worker, friend, or trusted relative about the problem. They may have a solution or a new idea that you haven’t thought of.

If you have an idea about anxiety or an original technique for coping with symptoms, please comment. Keep calm and good luck, lovelies!

Today was not a bad day. Work was fine- I got to play with the intercom system which is always fun, the sun is (finally) shining and l got paid. I was able to get up on time to do yoga and Pilates before work because I woke naturally two minutes before the alarm clock went off, so morning was great. I have a confession to make- I hope you forgive me- I am slipping back into my coffee habit. I made some without even considering what I was doing and even though I know it triggers anxiety like nobody’s business it just tastes so good (love that hazelnut.) I hope you are not all too disappointed in me.

Anyway, enough with the coffee guilt. I go to church tomorrow and I am looking forward to that because I really feel a need for the Eucharist right now. I haven’t fallen away or anything, I just want to be close to God. I feel that way in church.

I hope your lives are happy and fulfilled, and I hope to see you reading my next post. I hope to have some fresh ideas soon. Have a nice day, lovelies!!!

In this world, especially in the United States, we tend to worship success and worldly goods. But those of us living in genteel poverty have very little of either. And when we don’t measure up in the eyes of people, we look at our own selves with contempt and self-hatred.

But what if we measured ourselves with a better, broader measuring stick? What if we saw ourselves the way we are meant to- as sons and daughters of the most high God, as princesses in God’s kingdom?

Look at examples in the Bible. David was a simple youngest son who tended sheep. Matthew was a tax collector (an occupational looked down on by the ancient Israelites as immoral.) He wrote the first book in the New Testament. And let’s not forget Mary, a poor Jewish girl living in the backwaters of Israel. She became queen of the saints because of her “yes” to God. Many of the saints accepted and even embraced poverty.

So how does this reflect on us?

Well, we must remember what the scriptures say: it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. This passage does not mean necessarily that rich people all go to hell, but that it is unwise to place our trust in riches. (For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.) All the people I have just named have two things in common: their holiness and their humility. If you can cultivate these two qualities, you are on the fast track to heaven and God himself will exalt your temporal poverty and virtue at the end of your life. Many of those who pursue worldly goods and fame are headed somewhere much different because they displease God by ignoring Him. God’s opinion is the only one that matters. As for me, not only do I have role models in the world but in Heaven. The blessed Virgin Mary is a great example of faith, strength, virtue, humility and love. I recommend a daily Rosary asking her for intercession in your life. I pray constantly to her and always get results, as Jesus hears her like He hears no other. Mary denies us nothing that is good for our salvation and always knows how to request help from her Son. Mary was nothing in the eyes of man, and everything in the eyes of God. Even to this day, devotion to her is thin and poor in our country. So when you read this, take out your rosary (or buy one) and pray for an increase in devotion to her and to Our Lord in our country. I’ll be praying with you. God bless, lovelies. 😇

Hi, lovelies. It is raining like crazy outside, and I got back from work hours ago after an early morning start. So I thought I would check in with you and tell you about my rainy day.

I got up a little later than I should have this morning, around 5:20 instead of 5:00. My bed was so toasty warm and comfy that I didn’t want to get up. But I did anyway and did my Pilates and yoga like always and felt more energized.

At work, I got my first raise at my present job and I felt good about that. After a short but busy shift at the store I came home and had a smoothie and did some yoga. I then did what I call a “weather check” which is a mindful moment when you look inside your mind and assess how you are feeling mentally, emotionally and physically without judgment. Then I did a short meditation (this makes a real difference.) Then I decided to post this and talk to all of you.

How did you spend your day? Tell me please so we can all begin incorporating each other’s habits to better ourselves. Thanks, lovelies!!!😘

I understand that some families are more united than others, and I understand that differences with loved ones can leave one isolated and alone. I have, long ago, been in that position, and at the time I was being mentally abused by a caregiver and my family believed pretty much everything she said about me. But I got through it after learning to care for myself. One of the things that helped was that I ended up getting a better social worker. It is no secret that some social workers are better than others, and that some providers don’t deserve to be in their position. If what happened to me happens to you, make sure you have the right people representing you and helping you. Search until you find the best psychiatrist and, if you have any say, a great social worker. Once you are well cared for and well represented, the rest falls into place as it did for me: the apartment, the job, the social life and spiritual health. It fell into place for me and my family even admitted that they were wrong. Take heart: yours may too. Stay strong and good luck, lovelies.

P.S. my family is by no means made up of bad people. We have healed and moved on from our rough patches.

In the pursuit of elegance, we must remember that it is not just our outside that makes us elegant ladies. It is also our healthy, well maintained insides that contribute to our elegance. That said, how do we achieve our health goals without money? Here are a few ideas.

Firstly, we must eat the best food we can afford. A few guidelines I can give you are to start your day off right, with a high protein breakfast and minimal caffeine. I myself am just learning this. I recently gave up coffee and actually feel much more refreshed with a cup of decaf green tea with lemon and honey. To eat, I favor scrambled eggs with cheese. Another idea is to have occasional snacks throughout the day of fruit and vegetables. For dinner, try a chicken Caesar salad or some fish and vegetables.

Now for the workout. My first rule is to find something you love or you won’t stick with it. My great love is yoga and Pilates. I feel wonderful after my workout. I get up at 5 am every day to do it. You may be different. Try yoga, swimming, dance, boxing, or martial arts. Don’t forget that DVDs can provide inexpensive instruction for exercise. That’s how I do my workout. I also like to walk. Right now in Minnesota the weather is beautiful and my town is full of nice trails. Experiment and find what works for you. Good luck, lovelies!!!