Luke and Esther napping in (and on) the car!
My mother always took her pillow when we went on vacation. I, without much conscious thought, picked up the same habit and believed that I wouldn’t be able to sleep well without my own pillow. The times that I would forget to pack it, meant restless nights trying to adjust, punch down, fluff or flatten the foreign pillow. Several years ago, I decided to change this. I literally said to myself, “I can sleep well with any pillow and I no longer need to bring mine along on trips.” And this has become my experience.
It continues to amaze me how much power we have to change, even our perception of physical comfort, by consciously choosing to think a different thought.
Your present negative beliefs were formed by thought plus feelings. Generate enough emotion, or deep feeling, and your new thoughts and ideas will cancel them (the old negative beliefs) out. – Maxwell Maltz
omg..LOVE this picture. Esther is the epitome of being able to sleep anywhere. Thanks for the chuckle this morning.
Esther looks so comfortable that I think I want to try that too! I am unfamiliar with Maxwell Maltz – profound quote. Happy Wednesday!
Great pic – “Upstairs/Downstairs” sleepers!
Laughing at Ester! What wonderful friends Mary!
Love your message today.
This is one of the cutest pictures I have ever seen! Bunk Beds! Another example of ‘who needs their own pillow’??!!! Or a pillow at all for that matter! So cute!
Ester obviously has the power to believe a hard car roof is comfortable. Talk about looking relaxed – what a hoot!
Mary, I’ve asked this before, are you living in my head???…(smile). Your posting is as usual, timely for me. Having had a disturbing issue arise last February with a child I raised, it is still not resolved. I came to the conclusion this week that enough energy had been placed in this at my end (I’m sure my bloodpressure went up significantly) and have addressed the issue with my logic, not necessarily hers. Changing perspectives is possible, but it takes work and it takes shoving those old feelings that rise up in me from past hurts, which always seem to lodge themselves front and foremost in my mind first thing something happens that hurts me. After these feelings are processed, no time limit there, logic hopefully will prevail. But whose logic is always the question and the bugabear.
I love the animal selection this morning, that cat on top of the vehicle is priceless. This morning my year old Aussie pup and I woke up to a young deer sleeping in the open field next door and it hung around the house for some time, a sole deer worries me because they usually come in groups but it was a sweet reminder of my connection to my environment and how lucky I am to live in the country and have such visual gifts.
SandyP in Canada
What a precious picture! Another excellent reminder of “mind over circumstances”, too!
Sandy P, I’ve walked in your shoes “with a child I raised”. I loved your use of that phrase. Mary’s message today resonates with me. We really do have the power to readjust our emotional reactions to things. For me, repeating the phrase “more thinking, less feeling” has helped me see that I have a choice to react to old things in new ways.
Heidi, how true…’more thinking, less feeling’, a mantra to keep those old feelings rearing up and biting me in the backside. I remind myself at times like that, to take a step backward, catch my breath and watch my words. The tongue, I’ve found, can be a dangerous weapon used by the mind. I shall keep your mantra in mind. SandyP
Idea: caption contest for this picture?
Mary, your picture brings smiles. And to Debra Saum, I am so sorry for the loss of your Romeo. I read somewhere that ” when we allow ourselves to love, we open ourselves to grieve”. So true, and I think those who come here to read Mary’s wisdom are great lovers. Terri
Love the picture of Luke and Esther! My cat would do the same thing.
I had a good chuckle at the pillow, Mary. I have an old down pillow that was my grandmother’s that about as flat as a pillow can be, but I like it like that. I also used to take it with me. When my children were young, we went to Springfield, MA to visit a cousin and her family and we all went to the Eastern States Exposition. My husband and I slept in the master bedroom. When we were all getting ready to turn in, my cousin came to get her pillow that she couldn’t sleep without. It was the mate to mine!
I don’t tote my pillow along anymore, either. However, I do have a precious prayer shawl that usually goes with me.
Welcome home, Mary. Glad you had such a great vacation.
Sue
Esther looks positively blissed out! Savasana anyone? and Luke, ahh! Holding down the fort. Love these pictures Mary! In the quote, I like how it says our beliefs were formed. . – but they can be changed by generating, which takes effort, new thoughts with deep intention. A generator that can put out a different kind of energy. All up to us, we have a choice.
Great photo! Im afraid Im pretty attached to my pillow and bed. Next time I travel Ill have to work on telling myself I can sleep other places.
Not only does my day start out well when there is Mary wisdom to contemplate, but when there’s a laugh out loud moment with the blog as well it’s just great. Esther looks like she’s sun bathing. That photo is so funny.
Ester looks like she’s practicing to become the next Jaguar hood ornament, but in a new laid back fashion!! What a hoot.
Mary, that is one of the cutest pictures I have seen. Thank you.
Thank you Myrna!
They look to me like they’re claiming your car now that you are home, so that you won’t leave again!
You are right Cindy!
I don’t know you and am a recent reader of your blog. You have instilled in me such a sense of peace. Thank you, and have a fabulous trip.
Cindy! I so totally agree! It’s as if Esther is saying to Mary in Kitty Language:
“Psst!! Over here, Mama Mary, you mean you really had to travel thousands of miles away to realize you can actually chill on the top of your very own roof? Sheesh!”