Steps to grow by....

Good Monday to us all, everyone and everything, let's do this with an attitude of great gratitude! As I walked out to greet the day, I found myself once again being grateful that no longer do I have steps in my house, yet I was thinking of the days that I did! I remembered when Kamryn, D'Vante and Olivia would love to stand on one landing and scare me to death as they lept from the top step and tumble at the bottom with their joyous and infectious laughter while I held my breath wondering which would be first to break a limb! Yet all was good, as they would do it over and again and squeal with delight each time... Now I'm sure they just take those steps three at a time and don't even remember "back then" when it was oh so much simpler a time, and yet flood my memories.
I do wish I had been more creative with those steps, perhaps pulling up the carpet and doing as those steps above have been done, to create a visual while teaching the importance of learning for not just the little ones but also for myself each time I step and each time I remember, the importance is not in seeing the whole staircase but just to focus on one step at a time.
Oh yes, we each grow by each step we take, each word we utter, each choice we make along the way. Those steps can be in hallways, on paths, and even standing still in an elevator as we remember and as we use mindful purpose along the way.
Often we see magazines and television shows watching others who "want, desire, dream" of homes and rooms just like they have seen in the lives of others. They want the creativity of others and yet forget that what lives within the homes and hearts of others cannot really be created just like that. It is what lies within each of us that creates that marvelous oneness of beauty. Yes yes, we can re-create someone else's beauty in our home perhaps, but not the feeling, not the sameness even if we color match the swatch and the furniture and the very same paintings! It is the memories, the freshness of our hearts and souls that make our home and our lives uniquely ours by our steps, our stairs of growth... Even if we have no physical stairs we have them in our growth! We all grow by our experiences, our openness to that  dreaded thing called "change" as we are forever changing and moving in our lives and as we watch those we admire, love, like or even dislike. Change is all around us, from the tides that roll in and out in their very consistency, and some of us rely on that as the only constant other than night and day! But we are all changing, just as the seasons. Even Florida has seasons; hot, hurricane, summer, and even cold spells.. seasons to grow by. We would do well to teach children and remind ourselves of the steps above on the staircase, to remind ourselves by thinking of each step as etched on the top of our shoes that we are walking in grace, by grace and our steps are measured, our being watched and evaluated by others on our good deeds or not such good deeds along the way.
All are learners of life and teachers whether they know it or not! Learn and teach well as you move through steps that you will grow by or you may become stagnate in the walk. We wouldn't want that for anyone.

Take time to enjoy even in the most difficult times as just as you touch the person, the water, the sand and the dirt; know that it is the only real time... you cannot touch the same water twice. It is fluid in movement, always changing, always moving, just as you are.
EAch experience, each movement is always in change... 
These are steps to grow by, and we are always growing or changing in good, bad, excellent or outstanding ways.
Feed yourself, nourish yourself, BE YOURSELF, after all.... everyone else is already taken!

Have an outstanding week as you take your steps or staircases, or pathways, one step at a time, mindfully.

   
  Walk in BEauty,
DRSES