Judith L. Pearson's Blog, page 6

The 6th Word of Christmas: Pause

This is the day. The day you’re told only packages shipped priority will make it in time for Christmas morning. The day you wonder if you’ll be able to get all the shopping and wrapping done before Santa is scheduled to slip down the chimney. The day you realize you haven’t taken time to enjoy […]

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The 5th Word of Christmas: Forgiveness

While the celebrations at this time of year vary by faith, the one milestone we all prepare for is the start of the new year. And with that comes a laundry list of resolutions. I’ll lose weight. I’ll save more money. I’ll quit smoking. Those resolutions come wrapped in gilded good intentions, most of which sadly […]

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The 4th Word of Christmas: Laugh

Today would have been my father’s 97th birthday. He is, without a doubt, the person who taught me how to laugh. A good joke, a magic trick, an April Fool’s gag on any day of the year, those were my dad’s hallmarks. And he took it as well as he gave it: he loved to laugh. There […]

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The 3rd Word of Christmas: Joy

Have you ever seen dolphins jumping amid the waves? Have you watched a dog streaking across a field after fetching a stick? Have you witnessed children swinging as high as they can go? If any of these images are stored in your memory banks, then you have also witnessed pure joy. Joy doesn’t exist to […]

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The 2nd Word of Christmas: Patience

We’re in a hurry. There’s too much to do and too many places to be. We’re overworked, under nourished, and exhausted from trying to get it all done. We try to push on, while pushing everyone and everything out of our way. This is the precise time of year to learn the meaning and value […]

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The 1st Word of Christmas: Happy

I realize there are some for whom this season is not a happy one. Certainly the reasons vary, but that fact is the precise reason I’ve undertaken this project. While happiness is certainly a part of the celebration, there is much more to the season. Seeking grace, hope and patience in life are just as […]

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The 12 Words of Christmas

The season is upon us. Whether we celebrate Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza, or any other winter fest, we cannot take a step without hearing, seeing, smelling and tasting celebration. I am a Christian and celebrate Christmas. But I welcome the traditions of everyone, and I embrace both the commercial and religious elements. Among those are favorite […]

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Wolves at the Door

Writer and television director Rick Stroud calls Wolves at the Door “electric” and lists it as a must read in a Wall Street Journal article!

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Virginia Hall left her Baltimore home in 1931 to enter the Foreign Service and went to work for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) when Hitler was building toward the peak of his power in Europe. She was assigned to France, where she was the architect of the Resistance, helping escaped prisoners of war and American Allied paratroopers get to safety.

By 1942 she was known by the Gestapo who considered her so dangerous, they put a price on her head, forcing her to escape over the Pyrenees mountains—on an artificial leg, no less.

Upon arriving in England, she was sent back to France at her request, this time by the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS.) Disguised as an old peasant woman, she and her team captured 500 German soldiers and killed more than 150, as well as sabotaging Nazi communication and transportation lines. Hitler’s forces were hot on her trail, however, and her daring intelligence activities and indomitable spirit defied the expectations of even the Allies until the very end of the war.

To the Germans, she was “the lady with a limp.” To the Allies, she was a savior. This is her true story.

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What Is IT?

Writing it. Sharing it. Living it.

But what is it?

In a world where life travels so quickly, invisible data streams can quench our thirst for information instantaneously, it is elusive. But it is also one of the most necessary elements of life. I cannot tell you what it is or will be for you. But I can give you some insight into the discovery and development of mine in the hopes you’ll be guided to yours.

My family loves movies. And as it happens, one of the best, and perhaps most readily understandable example of it appeared in the 1991 Billy Crystal film, City Slickers. Crystal plays an overwrought advertising salesman who spends a week wrangling cattle with two of his equally overwrought buddies. The trail boss (played by the inimitable Jack Palance) tells him only one thing is important in life, and holds up his index finger to emphasize the number.

When Crystal asks what that one thing is, Palance smiles and says, “That’s for you to figure out.” And of course, by the film’s end, Crystal stumbles on to that one thing. His it.

Mine surfaced in a different way. Faced with a life-threatening illness a few years ago, I became sharply aware of life’s fluid nature. Like mercury, our days flow on uncontrollably. I realized I couldn’t stop the flow, regardless of how I spend my time. And the alternative to that onward flow was nothing I was ready to consider. So I resolved I was going to wring out every ounce of living in every single day with every single sense.

That was when my it began to appear from the shadows. It is a work in progress, requiring all of my senses to bring it into focus. I eagerly inhale the aromas of being, no matter where I am. I absorb the sounds of nature and mankind co-existing. I take in the rainbow hues of the water and land and sky around me.

My it also quietly requires that I remove toxins from my life. People, relationships, and situations that are uncomfortable just can’t travel with me. Admittedly, that part is hard. I’m a pleaser and a fixer. I want everyone to like me and have been known to be unable to resist the urge to please and fix. I must stop and breath and listen, realizing I only have control over me and my it.

With the exception of my children and my marriage, I apply this mantra to all else: not forever, just for now. That includes everything I come in contact with. In other words, if it don’t fit, it ain’t my it.

Our individual its are clearly rooted in our belief systems. But like a graceful shade tree, have multiple limbs and twigs, each playing a part. Sometimes we might feel that our it has gotten off track. Not so; all experiences – on and off track – help to mold and individual’s it. Change and expansion is all a part of growth.

You many have begun to think that finding your it is a lifelong endeavor. You’re right, and that’s exactly as it should be. A part of my it is to write and speak about topics I hope will help others find their its. Most importantly, I hope you enjoy every moment of the journey!

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