Cherie's Random Thoughts

Question:  What smell do you love smelling the most?  Probably the scent of a man. His natural scent that is not masked by other things. Our scents often are our personal signature of who we are. I love my sweetie's scent and it often provides me with a very calming effect.  Other favorite scents: chocolate, red wine, cinnamon, and the ocean. 

Question:  How do you recover from an illness? As quick as possible. Over my lifetime I have rarely gotten an illness that has made me incapacitated but on the few occasions that I have been I tried to make it short lived. My mother trained me well in not letting yourself succumb to the shackles that illness can give you. Plus, it takes too much energy to stay sick. 

Question:  What inspires you to keep going when it's hard? This is a great question. There are several things that inspire me to rise to the occasion and tackle the difficult. One is my mother's legacy. My mother died in 2007 at the age of 57 and throughout her life she kept going despite having to deal with physical and mental illnesses. Her strength taught me you can and will get through it and that the only thing that will stop you is death in the end.  Other sources of inspirations are the human beings who have the ability to show a tremendous amount of gratitude and always seem to handle the hardness of life head on. They do so rarely accepting victimhood and take charge of their life. Lastly, I am inspired to keep going because my students are WATCHING! If I don't how can I expect them to do the same and be able to teach the children they work with to learn to keep going through the frustrations of life.

Question:  What is your favorite physical trait?  I would have to say a person's eyes, they never lie. Our eyes have the ability to tell the story of our soul. The let others know when we are happy and when something wrong. They forever speak an authentic language even if we are trying to hide how we truly feel. If you want to know someone, look them in their eyes often. 

Question:  What sounds can you hear right now?  Music of COURSE! The love of music has been a running theme throughout my life. I have fond memories from childhood of being exposed to the music of Elvis Presley via my sitter, Ms. Florence in San Jose, California. As a child I was exposed to just about every type of music and to this day I listen to all types of music. I truly do not discriminate.  For me, a day without music is a day that has not been lived. At Manor College, I play music all day long, even as my students enter the classroom. Music not only is a stress reliever but it inspires creativity and greatness. Here is my current favorite tune: 

Questions:  How do you like to spend your spare time? On most days I like to spend my spare time alone and doing my favorite activities: listening to music, reading books, listening to podcasts, and watching my favorite films. As educator, I spend most days of the week connected to another human being. Whether it is when I am teaching, advising, talking with students, or simply giving them advice. When I am not doing that I am preparing for class and/or working on administrative tasks. This often leads to a fatigue that actually does not always lead to good rest. My favorite activities allow me to relieve the stress fatigue for teaching.  In addition, because I have become accustomed to living alone, I actually love my alone time. It is my "Zen Time". Each morning and evening I often end my day with Zen time. 

Question:  What do you enjoy about your career? My chosen career is teaching. Since making the commitment to this in 1991 when I entered into Kutztown University, I have taught pre-kindergarten children, special needs children, teachers in the field, and now students at my college. For me, teaching is like "drinking water" meaning I cannot live without it in my life. Teaching allows me to not only impact my community but be a part of a better future for my students and the children and families they work with one day. I spend most days having frequent conversations with my students about teaching practices as well as what is going on the world today. I am often a passive and/or active witness to the bad, good, and best things in their lives. I take my career very serious and routines can be found reading about and/or talking about what is going on in the field of education. 

Question:  What opportunities have changed your life? When I think of which opportunities truly changed my life for the better I think of the following::  Having a sick parent. My mother struggled with bipolar disorder throughout her life as well as the physical illness towards the end of her life. She died young (age 57), and her life taught the importance of caring for others through your ability to compassionate and empathize with what they are going through. Her pain led me to always wanted to connect and care for others. My father is now battling Parkinson's, and I am reminded of the lessons learned during my mother's illnesses.  Moving a lot during childhood. I think this is why I seek change and enjoy change when it comes. It also afforded me the opportunity to meet a lot of people and led me to be able to work and be friends with a diverse group of people.  Always going to good schools and living in good neighborhoods throughout my life. I simply would not be wh

Question:  What have you learned from unpleasant emotions?  They are necessary. Today was one of those days where good emotions of joy and happiness were replaced with the unpleasant emotions of anger, disgust, and frustration after an incident that stirred up a fear that I knew would happen one day. Once the unpleasant emotions arrived my pain in my arm increased and the tears began to flow.  Basically unpleasant emotions remind us that we are human and signal us to pay attention to something that we have either been ignoring or has been bothering us for a long time. The question is what you do with those emotions. It is best to work through them in a constructive manner and remember that just like most things in life, their immediate disruption of your pleasant emotions is temporary. 

The question of the Day: Do you enjoy traveling to new places? YES, I DO! Since I have moved over nine times before the age 18 (five states) and six times between the age of 18 and 42, I have grown to love traveling to new places. Since meeting my Sweetie in 2004, I have learned how beautiful this country truly is and have seen a few great places. I love traveling to new places for several reasons:  You get to meet new people  The food of course Seeing wildlife not native to your area  And it gives you an opportunity to see historical places.  Some of my favorite places include the following:  Santa Cruz, CA (Beach and Mountains)  Dallas, Texas  San Francisco, CA  Monterey, CA  Toronto, Canada  The Space Museum in Huntsville, AL  Birmingham, AL  Las Vegas (including Henderson, the Hoover Dam, and Mt. Charleston)  Omaha, NE including their Zoo  Washington State: Including Mt. Saint Helens and Mt. Rainier Mt. Hood  Jenson Beach, FL  Kansas  New Yo

Today's question is " Who was the last person you hugged?"  Answer: A student. I must say I probably hug and/or am hugged by someone at least every two weeks.  When I am hugged by someone or hug someone I am reminded about the "power of a hug". It lets us know that we are seen by others or care for by others. It is the one of the top three gifts that you can give another person, in addition to the following: a smile and your time.  Just Saturday, during my last Girl Scouts meeting of the year I was hugged by several of the girls, upon arrival and departure. It reminds me that they look forward to our meetings and that the service that we provide for these girls is one that is needed.  So now I ask you? When is the last time you hugged someone? 

Here is the question for Day 6 (December 6):  What color makes you feel happiest? In this order:  Pink  Red  Orange  Blue  Green  My top three are very reflective of my personality. I am a PASSIONATE human being. On most days, I utilize all of my senses to interact with the world. In addition, they are reflective of my need to have color in my life.  As for the entire five, I wear them all every week of my life and pink is must for me on most days. 

Here is the question for Day 5 (Behind a Bit):  What kind of artwork makes you happy?  Paintings of course! Since I began painting in 2008 I have truly fell in love with the art of painting. I have always loved visiting museums and artists who have found away to express themselves through paint. I am a particular fan on using oils and acrylics and love to paint on canvas. Abstract art and art that depicts things in nature makes me the most happen.  Why abstract? It makes you think!  Why nature? Because nature is something that should be admired daily.  Some of my favorite artists include Pollack, Cezanne, and O'Keefe.  I am also a huge fan of photography. My favorite nature photographer is Thomas Mangelsen:  http://mangelsen.com/index.php/omaha

A little behind. Here is the question for Day 4 (December 4th):  Where is your favorite place to be? There are many places I love to be but here are my top 5:  The Beach- I like my beaches in their almost natural state! Favorite one on the east coast: Jenson Beach, Florida.  The Zoo-I love animal watching. Although it would be much better to watch most of the animals in the wild, this is not always possible. Favorite Zoos: Philadelphia, North Carolina, Omaha Zoo, and many more.  Within the trees. Love talking walks where there are lots of trees.  The Tub: It's my office and I love to soak!  A bookstore and/or library. A a books lover and love to read several times a day. 

The news we chose to expose ourselves in the morning can temporarily and hopefully not permanently put us in the an early grave. Not due to a physical death, but a death of the spirit and certainly the hijacking of a life. Lately, the news has been nothing but good. Shootings, racism, terrorism, and plain old fear mongering has led to many of us waking up with a HEADACHE! Long ago I learned that how you begin your day, set not only the tone of the rest of the day but can certainly prevent you from having a productive week. The article, " Breaking News: How Morning News Affects Our Wellbeing " is a great reminder of how the news we what in the morning is making us sick. For this reason for several months, I have tried to not begin my day with news but with music or reading.

Here is today's question: Who would you be unable to live without?  This question cannot be answer in terms of whom. It is not realistic! In life, we will have face the hard fact that those who we love deeply will leave us. Whether we do first, or they do. Death is the vehicle and it can come early or when it is suppose to.  There are a few things that we cannot live without yet we do not always protect: That is plant life including the great giants: Trees. They are ultimately our lifeline. Without them there is not only no oxygen on our plant, essential foods would be non-existent.  The other is water. Our bodies are primarly made up of water and without it we cease to be. 

Today's question is:  How does it feel to wake up every single day? Waking up for me is wonderful. Why you ask? Many reasons: 1) It's a blessing. Although I woke up, someone didn't and passed during the night. 2) It's a gift, an opportunity for new experiences if you allow it. 3) It's my ZEN TIME! Very few people are up when I usually wake up. I use the time for music, reading, reflection, and learning. 4) Lastly, it's my favorite time for eating! I love breakfast!

From December 1st through 25th, I have decided to write about gratitude topics using prompts from  http://www.positivelypresent.com/2015/11/75-gratitude-prompts.html Here is my answer to Question 11:  Which animals have positively impacted your life? Throughout my life, I have always loved animals. From a young child, my parents exposed me to pets. Our first pet was a small dog. Although I was too young to remember him, I do remember the countless animals that have impacted my life (birds, small rodents, fish, dogs, and cats). I believe two species from the animal kingdom have had the greatest impact on my life: birds and cats. As a morning person, I have always enjoyed being awoken by birdsong and the playful nature of birds in the morning. For me birds signify freedom. They are fearless and provide extended life for humans with the beauty and their ability to keep things in balance, such as taking care of things that die. I love all types of birds including vultures. I am a pa

As 42 year old childless woman, I often ponder what I would have said to my child if I had chosen to have a child 15 to 20 years ago. I chose to be responsible in my pursuit of being childless and opted to remain childless. It is a choice that has come with much questioning over the years.  Sadly during the past 15 to 20 years the US has had many acts of terrorism including domestic. 9-11, the Oklahoma Bombing, the Atlanta Bombing, the Boston bombing, and many more.  In addition, the ugly legacy of hate and discrimination has increased during this time period as well.   As parent of a biracial child I would had to have extra concern that they would not only be discriminated because of their color or sex but also were at risk for a premature death due to violence.  If I did have a child today I would tell them the following:  Do not live in fear. Within our fear lives unbridled hate. From hate prejudice and discrimination are born. Do not be a part of the problem.  Do not use social med

Since the age of 8 I knew I wanted to help others. Teach, mentor, and care for another soul. As I grew into a young adult I began my career as an educator who CARES deeply about their work and how it impacts those that I come into contact. Twenty years later I have come to the realization that this deep caring comes with a price. The price is you are often worried about others during most seasons.  My current worries include:  Those who feel there is no way out of the "hardness of life".  Those educators who have NO CLUE on what is going on in their students lives.  Those who willfully do not live up to their potential.  Those that allow peer pressure to allow them to engage in unbecoming behaviors.  Those that have forgotten that the ability to overcome is POSSIBLE.  Those that are living with life traumas much too early in their life.  As an educator, I strive to transform my students into human beings who love learning, release their "ghost in life&q

Around this time ever year I am reminded that this is the week before my mother's life changed forever (October 3rd) and set in motion the things that would shorten her life and end it on November 3rd, 2007. From time to time, I think about whether my mother thought her life mattered. Her 57 years was plagued with many days in the hospital, which for a physical illness or because of her bi-polar disorder. Eight years from her death I can testify that it did matter, and her life taught me and other many lessons including: Despite your circumstance your can always find joy, even in your darkest hours.  Giving back is critical to your legacy. On your death bed will people remember you for a taker or giver.  Your life is defined by the quality of your relationships you have with others.  Always be a dreamer. Live in a way that your spirit lives well beyond your death.  My mother's life and death taught me many things, but the one thing I learned is that our spiri

Most important line in the piece entitled, "For Every 10 Hours of Haters Spend 50 with Your Cheerleaders:  "Understand that even if they don’t say discouraging things, their negative mindset may rub off on you." So true. A negative mindset is as contagious as the flu. If not kept in check it can manifest its self in physical pain within your body. I know when I get an over exposure to negativity, doubting, or willingness to hang on to past hurts from myself or others, I get sick physically. Headaches, chest pains, and muscle aches rule the land.  On the flip side, when you do see potential in the future, can see the positive in a difficult situation, and are simply thankful (having gratitude) for life you tend to have the opposite effect: more energy, looked better, healthier, happier etc.  People often ask me why I have so much energy, it is not because of genetics. It is two fold: I have been nurtured by my parents to see positivity even in difficult things and have mo

As I reflect on the upcoming changes in my life and work I am reminder the importance of embracing change. Change by its definition is according to Google is to make or become different. Every changing of the guard, changing in our health, and general changes in our life are opportunities to do something different. Move outside the norm and into the unknown. When resist change, we are most likely living in fear. Doing so limits our mindset and our ability to be a part of the change and often we become a part of the problem. Let's break it down by each letter to see the comparisons.  If we embrace change we experience: Creativity Hope Acceptance  Nurture Growth  Evolution  If we fear change we experience or become: Chaos  Hurt Apathy Negative  Group think Energy depleting Now the questions is do we want to go down the road that has always been or do want to go down the road that has never been. I choose the never been, there are more p

Today I was reminded of the ugly side of most people's personalities including my own: Our ability to continue to be skeptical of the new. The new can be new people to the group, new changes on the horizon, or anything that moves out of comfort zone. Often our ugly side surfaces when we are fearing change or when change is on our door step. It causes us to judge on a few interactions or experiences or even worse the word or experiences of another.  I hate this SIDE of my personality and I must resist succumbing to it. No more huddles. My head hurt for a good portion of the evening because of my participation in the "huddle." I am disgusted with this and I need to say NO MORE. I know better and should have spoken up to say-"I see it differently."  I will be 42 and need to engage in interactions that uplift, move forward, and make real change happen in my life and the lives of those that affect.  So on this day, I pledge to work real hard at not engag

As Mother's Day approaches, I am always very reflective of the time I spent with my mother before her death on November 3, 2007. This year I have chosen to write about all the things I could not share with her that occurred during the past 8 years following her death. So here we go:  2008-Year 1: I purchased my first brand new car, a 2009 Toyota Corolla. A sweet ride that I suspect if you were here I would have given you many rides in it! I also walked in my Masters Graduation. See I promised I would.  2009-Year 2: Found Dad near death, he was diagnosised with Parkinson's and had to go into a nursing home. I suspect if you were still here we would be roomates.  2010-Year 3: The year I decided to make huge change in my career. I suspect that you would have encouraged me to do so!!!  2011-Year 4: I became a college professor and began my PhD program. Of course, I suspect you would have been my biggest cheerleader!!!!  2012-Year 5: Cool sailing. First time in longtime I did feel I

I recently bought and read Rae Pica's latest book entitled, "What If Everybody Understood Child Development?" This is a question I have ponder since I took my child development course at Kutztown University in the early 90's. Rae Pica does a fabulous job of exploring several topics that often make people take sides on an issue. In her book, she connects each chapter to child development and helps the reader understand why an understanding of child development for EVERYONE is important. Some of my favorite chapters include:  Bubble Wrapping Not Required  Doing Away With the "Baby Stuff"  Terrorist Tots?  Failure is an Option  and  Bribes and Threats Work, But.... Throughout the book, Pica reminds us what happens when we do not have an understanding of child development. In addition, she provides the reader with some memorable information that should be shared with all who do not believe in keeping children, children! Such as when she reminds us that "chi

In an article entitled, "Leaving Our Legacies Mindfully", the author discusses how we should think about what our legacy will be and do so mindfully. In a culture filled with selfies, I often wonder how many of us actually care about what our imprint on the world will be when we take our last breathe.  Three things resonate with me from the article: Passion, caring, and living authentically.  When we are passionate about something, we are invested and willing to go beyond the call of duty. Feelings behind our passion are often our reward for the work that we do.  When we care about others, we say to them that their lives matters. One thing that has taken a back sheet to our selfie culture is our ability to truly care about others. This can be how we treat each other on a daily basis and most definitely how we step up in a person's time of need. From caring, grows empathy, grows compassion, and ultimately leads to real change in our lives and the lives of those we come in

Often we allow ourselves to get hijacked by fear. Here is how that fear feels and looks like in words and pictures:  https://www.haikudeck.com/p/UzjfWv70OM/hijacked-

This evening I learned something that helped me put things into perspective and reminded me to continue to see the "bigger picture." Often in life we view life through the four corners of a box. Some boxes are small and others are big.  The walls of the box allow us to only see two things: Our current situation or the past that trapped us there in the first place. They prevent us from seeing the future that is yet to arrive and may or may not be altered by our present situation. We can speculate what the future will be, but we truly will not know until it arrives.   Also for each trouble, problems and/or situations we precieve to be a pressing problem, there is always another that will trump it. Or even worse we forget problems are truly situtations in the end. Situations that can resolved.  The question is do we want to re-live these situations like a "Ground Hog Day"- one in which you resolve, only to have to resolve the situation with the same solution over and o