Growing OUT of the Box

Creative Ideas for New Beginnings

It’s one thing to think out of the box. Imagine growing out of the box or out of your comfort zone. Haven’t we had to experience this recently? So how to make the best of these times. Acceptance, Trust, and Community have been essential for me. 

We don’t generally invite obstacles, challenges, or hurdles to leap over. However, my experiences have led me to know that great growth occurs once acceptance and trust are present. My community of friends and family have supported me during difficult moments. And in these current times, that community has grown tremendously with neighbors, friends, and the many thought leaders who have made available great resources. Individually and globally, we have an opportunity to cultivate care for one another and our world. Just as our planet is benefitting from the clean air and slower pace, let’s elevate our relationships as global citizens.

We can adapt. We have adapted. Opportunities for new beginnings have emerged. It is up to us to embrace new beginnings. 

We can alter our story and change our questions. For example, what has NOT been cancelled? How have our lives changed for the better? What have been the advantages of Shelter in Place? What lessons and new habits, might we adopt for our future? We can implement these bit by bit. (More on that soon.)

Share what commitments you want to make to contribute to a better life, not only for our own sake, but for our neighbors across the globe, and future generations.

Contact me: pathways2tlc@gmail.com to set up a workshop.

Connect with Facebook: @tlcpathways

Instagram: maryse_tlcpathways or LinkedIn: Maryse L Postlewaite

Kitchen Personalities

A Fun Way to Get to Know Each Other

We can nurture relationships and build more trust and the outcome for all is beneficial. Learning more about one another makes a difference. “I learned the hard way” is not the best avenue. There are alternatives. Here’s one…

Gather your group together, be they family, work colleagues, or friends…this is best with at least 5 or up to 30 plus.  Actually, there is no limit!

Gather a bunch of kitchen utensils (optional). Spread them out. Then ask the question: If you were a kitchen utensil, what would you be and WHY? It’s the “why” which is revealing as people tend to relate the use of the utensil to one of their favorable characteristics. (BTW, if someone feels too limited by a utensil, then suggest, anything in the kitchen or in the house/office for that matter.)

Here are some responses from various workshops and gatherings…(I did this with a new group of friends and we ended up playing the spoons together.) I’d be…

a can opener because I like to get deeper inside of things

a metal spatula as I like to turn things around to have a new perspective

a sifter to be able to separate what’s important from what’s not

a wooden scrub brush because I like things to be neat and tidy

a bottle opener because I like to have a good time

an herb grinder because I like to add more flavor to situations

a wooden spoon since I like to mix things up

Point of Interest…I give credit to my family for this activity. A couple of years ago, I was informed that my name, “Maryse” was associated with a kitchen utensil… a spatula, a special one, used with pastries. It was coined after Maryse De Monpetit, a pastry chef from the royal court of Francois I, 16th century. 

Since learning this about my name, our family asked one another the question. I like to collect good ideas and pass them along. So what kitchen utensil would you be and WHY? Add in comments!

Contact me: pathways2tlc@gmail.com to set up a workshop.

Connect with Facebook: @tlcpathways

Instagram: maryse_tlcpathways or LinkedIn: Maryse L Postlewaite

See the Beauty

How You See Things Makes a Difference 

Nature’s beauty is appreciated by many. Humans live within this beauty, however, the changes we impose are not always considered beautiful. I see evidence of this as I look down below from 30,000 feet high. I am called to see the beauty in the people around me. This has had its challenges for me with people who look different, people I don’t know, and people with whom I disagree.

Maybe I’ve treated people like songs on a radio station? With some songs I turn up the volume up high and “rock out”. Then there are others which within a nanosecond, I switch stations. People are as varied as styles of music. However, we don’t always have the luxury of tuning out those with whom we have challenges. 

On a recent trip across the states, I used the shuffle mode on the music playlist which is comprised of Tom, my husband’s, downloads. Instead of catching up on some sleep as I expected, I chose to listen to whatever came up, as I was inspired. I didn’t envy my seat mates, folks from Vietnam, as I found myself practically dancing in my seat, trying to be discreet Ha! I believe the smiles we exchanged meant that “All is well”. 

Many of the downloaded songs I had never heard before. Some were from our adult children and others collected by Tom, maybe from “hanging out” with the teenagers he teaches. Being exposed to this great variety, I have been pleasantly amazed to discover a song which might initially sound dissonant, to be catchy or have inspirational lyrics.

Then Peter, Paul and Mary’s El Salvador plays. It’s a song of my past, yet the lyrics still ring true — too true. I’m so pained, brought to tears, by how we are treating immigrants today. Our nation is made up of immigrants or children of immigrants as I am. “Who put this price on their liberty?” they sing.

Then randomly the shuffled playlist selects Moonlight Sonata for me and takes me back to the many times I practiced it on the piano to try to master this classic. It’s soothing. Perhaps it’s time for that rest, resting with the faith in people to do right by one another. As Aretha Franklin hails us to have R-E-S-P-E-C-T. 

Like the varied landscape below me, traveling across our country, the assortment of music on my phone, the diversity of people on this flight, all and everyone has its beauty to appreciate. I commit to personally treat those I encounter with lenses looking for their inner beauty and listen to any music, willing to be delightfully surprised. 

Send an Email: pathways2tlc@gmail.com to set up a workshop.

Connect with Facebook: @tlcpathways

Instagram: maryse_tlcpathways or LinkedIn: Maryse L Postlewaite