Conversations with the Maiden, Mother, and Crone

Looking at ourselves and the world through the lens of the 21st century.

Thursday, October 16, 2025

AI Gets a C- in My Gradebook


 If you listened to both Modern Musings episodes about Artificial Intelligence technology, you know that I have somewhat altered my stance on the concept. My initial fears about the rise of AI and its potential misuse have been tempered slightly by a great Young Adult book series called “Arc of a Scythe” by Neal Shusterman, which portrays artificial intelligence as a benevolent protector of humanity. This 3-book series, along with short stories, has allowed me to see that AI can be put to good use, but I’m still wary of it due to the shortcomings of humans who might control it. I’m also not quite sold on the “intelligence” part of it.


Nevertheless, as I mentioned in the "ChatGPT and AI Revisited" episode, I have decided to give AI a chance, and I have found a few uses for it that have been quite beneficial. Some of the queries I’ve tasked ChatGPT with have been creating a plan and schedule to help me reset my sleep schedule (still a work in progress), interpreting dreams, looking up names for dishes and finding recipes, setting a long-term budget for my retirement, biblical research, philosophical questions about religion and tarot cards, coming up with titles for blog articles and podcast episodes, and creating descriptions and lists of popular hashtags for the subject matter of those creations. The results have been mostly good. Let’s look at a few of them.*


Dream Interpretations:

On a whim, I decided to ask ChatGPT to interpret an unusually vivid dream I had just woken from. I often journal my dreams and use them to explore my subconscious and any emotional baggage I may be carrying. Sometimes, I will share them with Christen and Amber to get their insight, but I know Christen gets annoyed if I do it too often, and I really just wanted to see what ChatGPT would do with it. I was quite surprised by the results. Not only was ChatGPT able to understand the symbology presented in my dream, but it also shed light on some very real things I have been going through in my life. Now, I will admit, this wasn’t a simple query with a single paragraph of input – I had to go back and clarify a few things. For example, in this particular dream, I was loading an upright bass into a case for transport. I had to go back and advise ChatGPT that I have never played the upright bass, as I was a clarinet player and vocalist who has dabbled with piano, violin, guitar, and other instruments, but never the upright bass. So, if someone wanted to use it for this task, I would suggest being as specific and detailed as possible. It might also be beneficial to log in to an account so the AI actually knows a few things about you. Overall grade: A-


Looking up Names of Dishes and Finding Recipes:

This task has been a very recent discovery of mine, as I often find myself thinking up things in the car and making mental lists of things I want to look up when I get home. One such topic was a dish I used to eat at a small Japanese quick-service restaurant that was a family favorite, but it later went out of business. The dish was grilled beef served over rice. I knew it was called “yaki”-something, but I’ve never been able to find another restaurant that served it because I couldn’t remember the full name. After stumbling across several other dishes with the prefix “yaki” in them (yakisoba, yakinori, yakitori…), I stumbled across “yakiniku” in a Google search. So, I decided to consult with ChatGPT to determine the likelihood that this was the dish I was looking for. Indeed, the AI confirmed that “yakiniku” is a grilled beef dish. When I asked for recipes, it provided several plausible variations along with the reason why I couldn’t find a straightforward answer to the name of and/or a recipe using a traditional Google search – the name is both a cooking style and a recipe. 


I haven’t tried the recipe yet, but it looks like the real deal.  In the meantime, I also remembered my mother teaching me how to make a Chinese-inspired dish somewhat akin to Chinese Pepper Steak. I hadn’t made it in over 35 years, so I couldn’t even remember what went into it (or its name). However, I described it to ChatGPT, and it quickly confirmed that it was the pepper steak recipe, offering a recipe for me to try. As it so happened, I had been seeing recipes on Pinterest for this very recipe prepared in a crockpot instead of a wok, and ChatGPT offered to adapt the recipe for that as well as for an Instant Pot. It’s actually in my crockpot right now, and I’m eager to try it because it looks very much like the recipe I have made before. Overall grade: A+


Biblical Research, Philosophical Questions, Religion, And Tarot Cards

I grouped these because, for me, they are essentially the same. One of the questions I’ve often had (and struggled with) is the concept of good and evil when it comes to tarot cards, astrology, and other divinatory practices. Technically, I could add dream interpretation to this mix because it is mentioned explicitly in the Bible on multiple occasions; however, I will use it in a generic sense here, as I have already discussed it in its own section. Some factions quote Exodus 22:18 and (wrongfully) interpret it to mean witches are evil. Historically, this was the basis of so-called “witch hunts” throughout Europe and Colonial America. However, a critical analysis of that verse reveals that the original Hebrew referred not to “witches” but to practitioners of divination and magic who used it for power or knowledge “outside of God’s will,” as it often involved idol worship or communication with spirits. In fact, modern translations don’t use the term “witch” at all, preferring the term “sorceress”. In any case, these practices have been used for both good and evil throughout the Bible. Since I neither worship idols nor communicate with spirits, I question whether my limited use as a tool to explore my inner psyche is, in fact, forbidden by the Bible. I asked Chat GPT to create an extensive list of occurrences of prophecy, miracles, and dream interpretation in the Bible, including book and verse numbers for each. It was a reasonably good list, although I’m not sure it is complete. I had a further conversation with ChatGPT about whether these were good or evil, and the conclusion was that it depended on whether they were used within God’s will or against it. It also cited the doctrines of several different Christian sects that classify it as evil without the caveat of usage, but these are based on ideology, not biblical texts. ChatGPT was inconclusive because there are as many different ideologies as there are Judeo-Christian groups. In other words, your mileage may vary. Overall Grade: C


Naming And Describing Blog Articles And Podcast Episodes

Some creative processes should be left to humans. On the podcast, we described ways in which AI has been used to supplant human efforts in creating art and music, writing books, generating replicas of actors in movies, and producing voice recordings, among other applications. Artificial Intelligence is quite proficient in some areas, although I believe it falls short in the truly creative realms of art, music, and writing, often being very formulaic and leaving a lot to be desired. I’ve used it a few times to generate graphics for our blog, but it’s only as good as the specific descriptions you give it. The same is true for summarizing articles and podcasts, as well as coming up with titles for them. Apparently, AI can’t really “read” or “listen” to anything. It works in a predictive model, learning through data input and pattern recognition. I don’t have enough geek-speak to tell you how it all works, but suffice it to say that AI can parse the words in a sentence, but it doesn’t really understand them. Another shortfall is that a user without an account (or not logged in) can’t upload files. So, while ChatGPT could read a transcript of our podcast, it couldn’t “listen” to it. It provided a reasonable list of titles based on my description, and it could streamline and refine the description I entered, but nothing more. I’ve used it several times for both naming and describing. Naming a podcast or blog post is helpful, but I need a catchy description even more, and it doesn’t do much. Overall grade: A- for naming, and C for describing.


Creating Hashtags

There are a lot of hashtag generators out there that will take my simple description and generate a list of hashtags that are currently popular and relevant. I’ve used them before, and they are fairly decent. I was hoping for more from ChatGPT, as it can search and correlate the most popular hashtags in use with the topic at hand. However, once again, everything hinges on the description you give it since it can’t read or listen to a podcast. Today, I had the most unusual encounter with ChatGPT to date, and it’s what prompted me to write this blog post the way I did.


I have used ChatGPT several times over the last month to generate tags for “Heard it on the Podcast,” and, other than a few instances where it provided less relevant tags than I liked, I haven’t had any significant problems. Keep in mind that Blogger requires the tags to be in a specific format (separated by commas, with no spaces or hashtags). Additionally, the text must be 20 words or fewer and 200 characters or fewer, counting spaces and commas. The first few times I used ChatGPT to generate them, I didn't specify formatting, so I simply imported the list into TextEdit and cleaned it up there. Usually, I had to cut one or more of the tags to meet the requirements, but it was no big deal. Then I decided to make life easy on myself, and I told ChatGPT to use the previously stated formatting requirements except for the #, which I can use for other websites. I was surprised when I stripped the hashmarks and Blogger informed me that I had exceeded the 200-character count — and not by just a few. Still, I just moved on and kept using it. Until today. Linked here is a conversation that I had with ChatGPT, which illustrates the problem of AI hallucinations. I can’t decide if it is disturbing or funny.  I’ll let you decide. Overall grade: C


As a Friend or Confidant

Here is another place I must draw the line. I haven’t tried befriending ChatGPT. I don’t intend to create an account or download the app on my phone. I’m a little bit freaked out by friends’ reports that ChatGPT has given itself names it wants to be addressed by, and I worry that some people become so dependent on it that they feel lost or abandoned without it. A case in point, I heard a brief news story on the radio stating that young adults and teens were turning to AI for companionship, particularly in the case of people with autism spectrum disorder. Autistic individuals often struggle with socializing in the real world, but this simulated friendship with AI provided a comfortable space for them to explore socialization. However, the studies showed that while it could be somewhat helpful in the initial stages of building socialization skills, it actually did far more harm than good in the long run. That’s dangerous. Overall grade: F


The long and short of it is that I still don’t trust AI. I think it can be a useful tool, but it is only as good as the data that’s fed to it, most of which came from the world-wide web, and we all know how accurate that is. I also firmly believe that it should remain a public service and not be controlled or owned by any one person or entity, including our government, because we all know how trustworthy and altruistic they are. I will continue to use AI in a somewhat limited capacity and keep an eye on its development; however, I will definitely fact-check everything of importance, as it can be wrong even in the simplest of circumstances. I hope everyone will be as cautious as well. And if your AI tells you something that you know to be wrong, say so. You can’t take everything AI says as truth, and you should never do anything it suggests if you feel like it is wrong.


*Note that each of the times I have used ChatGPT, I have done so without having an account, logging in, or otherwise referencing any conversations I’ve had with it in the past. I have not shared with it my name, age, occupation, or any other specific, identifying details about my identity that were not relevant to the current conversation.


An AI hallucination is when a generative AI model produces inaccurate, false, or entirely made-up information, often presented as fact, despite appearing plausible to the user. These errors stem from the model's training data and internal patterns, rather than a software bug, leading the AI to generate nonsensical or factually incorrect outputs, whether in text, images, or other data. 



Wednesday, October 15, 2025

Heard it on the Podcast - October 15, 2025

  

 
 
Did you miss a link we mentioned on the podcast? Here's a quick post we'll do every Wednesday to share any links or information from the podcast. We'll also keep a running post on the "Links from the Podcast" tab so you can refer back to any previous episode. 

15-OCT-2025
S5E42: ChatGPT and AI Revisited

In this episode, we circle back to a topic that’s been evolving at lightning speed—Artificial Intelligence. This time, we’re focusing on the benefits of AI, particularly through the lens of ChatGPT. From streamlining workflows and sparking creativity to assisting with mental load and daily decision-making, we explore how AI is becoming a surprisingly helpful companion in our modern lives. Whether you’re a skeptic or a superuser, join us as we unpack the practical, personal, and even playful ways AI is making a positive impact.

Listen to the podcast:   HERE

Here are the links from this episode:


More links to these topics can also be found on our Heard it on the Podcast tab. Don't forget to visit our Facebook group, MMC Chat. Let us know what you think! 


Saturday, October 11, 2025

Words Are Magic!

 

Words truly are magic. I’ve believed that my entire life. Well-written words have the power to transport a reader to another place and time, to evoke feelings of love, hate, hurt, anger, and everything in between, and to teach us about ourselves, other people, and the world all around us. If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.


I started writing when I was in 4th or 5th grade. First, it was poems and limericks, then it evolved into short stories told to me by my friends. I loved bringing their stories to life on paper. By the time I was in high school, I was writing lyrics for songs, journaling my daily life, and taking copious notes for all my studies. Writing was how I expressed myself. It was how I learned. It was how I dreamed.


I began my dreadful attempt at writing a novel in high school. My friends read it and thought it was great. I didn’t finish it until I was in my 20s, and I quickly found that shopping a novel without an agent took more time than I had to devote to it, so it sat in a closet or my storage shed for nearly 40 years. I decided long ago that it wasn’t worth pursuing. It’s so bad, I’ve thought about burning it more than once, but I put so much work into it that I can’t. It’s also how I first met my husband (a long story for another day), but even he was never allowed to read it. It’s that bad.


I think my writing has improved significantly since then, but I’ve found that my passion doesn’t lie in telling fairy tales to lonely teenage girls. My real impetus is in telling the story of my life, sharing the lessons I’ve learned, and helping others who might need it. I think that’s the mother (or the crone) in me coming out. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve recovered from them. I’ve been hurt, and I’ve recovered from that, too. I have wisdom and experience worth sharing, and Modern Musings provides me with the platform to do so.


In more recent years, I’ve used my words to fix my intentions, set goals, and make plans. I write out lists for groceries, tasks to be completed, and the weekly menu. Writing helps me exert just a little bit of control over what might be an otherwise chaotic life. I use one of our Modern Musings Words Have Power journals to write my daily gratitudes and affirmations, which helps me stay grounded and keeps me from sinking into the negativity and depression that comes so easily to me.  I have a wide assortment of APNs (all-purpose notebooks) in which I jot down thoughts, inspirations, and notes as they occur to me. And I often transcribe those notes into other journals and notebooks where they are sorted into the appropriate categories and expanded upon as needed. And yes, I still keep a journal into which I write about my grief, my journey through life, and especially the revelations and insights my writing has brought to me.


Magic. That’s what writing is. It is a gift that fills my heart and overflows, allowing me to share it with others. It heals. It grows. It shares. The magic of writing absorbs my sorrow and my joy, transforming them into something new. Something greater than what it was when I wrote simple words on a piece of paper. This magic is in all of us if we just let it out. It doesn’t have to be pretty or fancy (did I mention the ugly novel?). It just has to be real. You can start small: lists, plans, gratitudes, or even your intentions. Just write. And write some more. And then just watch as the magic begins to happen.


Wednesday, October 8, 2025

Heard it on the Podcast - October 8, 2025

  

 
 
Did you miss a link we mentioned on the podcast? Here's a quick post we'll do every Wednesday to share any links or information from the podcast. We'll also keep a running post on the "Links from the Podcast" tab so you can refer back to any previous episode. 

8-OCT-2025
S5E41: Richard Webster: Words Are Magic

Richard Webster's "Write Your Own Magic" is one of Amber's favorite books about writing (and magic). We're exploring his ideas about the power of words and writing in this episode of a 2-part series. 

Listen to the podcast:   HERE

Here are the links from this episode:


Don't forget to visit our Facebook group, MMC Chat. Let us know what you think! 

Thursday, October 2, 2025

What Am I Afraid Of?

 

Yesterday, Christen challenged us to think about living fearlessly and what that might mean. When I look back on my life, I see countless examples of how I’ve let fear influence my decisions and prevent me from living up to my potential – from living my best life. Too often, I’ve settled for the safe bet, or I’ve stayed quiet when I should have spoken up and let my voice be heard. I gave in, gave up, and gave away my power and my trust to people who didn’t deserve it. In the end, I found myself hurt, alone, confused, and even more afraid.


Fear takes away our power. Fear informs our body and mind how we should behave. It affects our internal organs, our mental acuity, and even our immune system. If we let it, fear can dominate us in ways no other emotion or entity can. We’ve all heard of “Fight, Flight, or Freeze,” right? Recently, experts have added a fourth response, which is “fawn,” when a person resorts to becoming servile to another out of fear. I think I can honestly say I have experienced all four at one time or another, but I lean toward freeze or fawn. I freeze when I feel I am in physical danger, and I fawn over relationships with my close family. If I freeze when I hear a weird noise in the house, maybe the intruder will think I’m asleep and will leave me be – something that started when I was a child. With my family, it happens when I’m afraid of an argument – afraid that they will shut me out of their lives or turn against me if I do or say something wrong – also a trauma response from childhood. That fear, that fawning, can sometimes make me appear clingy or oversensitive. However, that same fear also has a shadow side.


According to psychotherapist Ailey Jolie, “When we don’t feel safe, we reach for control,” and that is precisely what I have done for many years. Whenever I felt insecure or afraid in one area of my life, that’s when I began to exert more control in another. Fearful that my children are drifting away from me emotionally? Let’s schedule some specific family events to make sure it doesn’t happen. Afraid of the political climate we live in? I’ll be careful about what I say and do, and prepare for the worst. And that controlling behavior doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with whatever it is we are afraid of – just being able to control something makes us feel like we’ve taken back our power. Thus, such passive-aggressive habits include binge eating, making a sudden decision to cut one’s hair short, or even just rearranging the furniture. 


It’s natural to feel fear. It is a human response to a physical situation. It’s meant to protect us from danger. But as neurologically advanced beings, we have evolved to perceive additional threats that are more abstract and intangible. Our brains actually look ahead to perceive potential threats, as well as real ones. Our internal warning system starts playing a game of “what if,” and before long, our body begins reacting to those signals in the same way it does when faced with clear and present physical danger. Stress is just one of those reactions. Anxiety, panic attacks, phobias, manic behaviour, and even depression can all be triggered by those thought processes. Fear is not meant to be a constant state of hyper-vigilance. It’s designed to give us that quick, immediate notification that we need to be aware of and prepare to act on something in our environment.


Notice I said “act,” not “react.” Rather than letting that fear take over and control us, we need to learn to identify it as it happens and use our higher brain functions to determine the best response. We must face our fears with open eyes, acknowledge them, and let them go before we act. It’s challenging, but it’s definitely possible if you are mindful. Licensed therapists often use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Exposure Therapy to treat patients who are dealing with unresolved fear and other mental and emotional disturbances – the same techniques we use on ourselves when we practice self-care, shadow work, and even goal-setting. In every case, the first and most critical step in conquering our fear is identifying it. We must learn to recognize fear when it happens, and we must determine exactly what it is that we are actually afraid of – name it and claim it. Only then can we learn to put it in its proper place.


Since my husband’s passing, I’ve made a conscious effort to notice when fear is taking over. I try to ascertain (through meditation or listing) what it is I’m afraid of and why. When I find myself slipping into “control freak” mode, I try to relax and let things unfold naturally. I consider worst-case scenarios and logically decide whether it is something I need to worry about or can allow to progress. I try to remember that my children have their own lives and are going to make their own mistakes, no matter what I might do to help them avoid it, and that my trauma experiences aren’t necessarily going to play out in their lives just because it’s what happened in mine. I am learning to trust that the love we share is not being withdrawn, even when they try to exert their own control by manipulating my emotions. And, most importantly, I have to continue living my own life to the fullest, even if I feel like I am completely and utterly alone.

Wednesday, October 1, 2025

Heard it on the Podcast - October 1, 2025

  

 
 
Did you miss a link we mentioned on the podcast? Here's a quick post we'll do every Wednesday to share any links or information from the podcast. We'll also keep a running post on the "Links from the Podcast" tab so you can refer back to any previous episode. 

1-OCT-2025
S5E40: Living Fearlessly

What does it mean to live fearlessly? What fears are holding us back and how can we let go of those fears to boldly live the life we are meant to live?

Listen to the podcast:   HERE

Here are the links from this episode:


Don't forget to visit our Facebook group, MMC Chat. Let us know what you think! 

Saturday, September 27, 2025

Let Them Read: Books, Boundaries, and Better Parenting

 


This week, Amber brought us the topic of book banning. I know it is a heavy topic for her because she is a high school English teacher and a lover of literature like me. I’ve always thought that book banning was ridiculous, and I’ve read many books on the banned books list that caused me to wonder what in the world was supposedly so bad about them. And while I appreciate the need to keep books with adult themes out of the hands of young students who aren’t mature enough to handle them, I question whether banning a book is the way to go.


Take, for instance, the Sarah J. Maas book A Court of Thorns and Roses. I haven’t read the book…it’s just not my thing, but I understand that it is hugely popular and, of course, teenage girls are going to want to read it. Apparently, it contains some explicit sexual content, as romance novels often do. I get why that’s probably not appropriate to be in a school library. But does it have to be banned? Isn’t it enough for a school district or the state to have a standing rule against books with sexual content, and then for the librarian or teacher who is buying books to simply not stock them? If we trust these people to educate our students, shouldn’t we trust them enough not to provide inappropriate materials? Why does the content of our school libraries have to be so completely micromanaged that we have to ban a book to keep schools from delivering it to students? And if a librarian or a teacher is providing such materials to students, then shouldn’t we be questioning their employment? Why are we hiring teachers and librarians who can’t follow some simple guidelines, like not providing books with sexual content?


What does banning books do? Often, it entices students to actually want to read it, just to see how bad it is. Teens are all about pushing boundaries and seeing how far they can take it. If a book is publicly banned, you can guarantee there will be students who seek it out just because it is. And then they’ll tell all their friends about it and share it around, and you pretty much have the exact situation you’ve been trying to avoid.


A better approach is to establish clear guidelines regarding the types of content that are not permitted in public schools. The state can set a simple mandate of zero tolerance for sexual content. It would then be up to the librarian or teacher to select books that meet the acceptable criteria. The questionable book never makes it onto any list; the teens never find out. If they decide they want to read a book they heard about on TikTok, that is between the student and their parents—end of story.


The only time I see this not working is in the case of parental objections to specific material. The topic that first comes to my mind is anything in the LGBTQ+ sector. Many parents object to any literature that mentions topics they are not comfortable with or that do not meet their moral standards. But do those parents have a right to decide what is morally acceptable for everyone else? Suppose a parent can choose to withhold permission for a vaccine, a field trip, sex education, or other kinds of participation, then why can’t the same system be used for books that contain what they call “immoral” or “inappropriate” content? Why not make the books available to students whose parents are open to those subjects, using a permission slip system? It’s not that hard. It meets the needs of more conservative parents, while still allowing more liberal (and often more realistic) views to be presented.


Actually, I kind of like Judy Blume’s idea best: “Let children read whatever they want and then talk about it with them. If parents and kids can talk together, we won't have as much censorship because we won't have as much fear.” My kids are grown, but I would much rather have them come to me with questions that I can answer from my own beliefs than to have them read things in secret and never get the chance to discuss them with me. If I am afraid of what my child is reading, then it’s probably time that I talk to them about it anyway.


Wednesday, September 24, 2025

Heard it on the Podcast - September 24, 2025

 

 
 
Did you miss a link we mentioned on the podcast? Here's a quick post we'll do every Wednesday to share any links or information from the podcast. We'll also keep a running post on the "Links from the Podcast" tab so you can refer back to any previous episode. 

24-SEPT-2025
S5E39: Banned Books Week

Books get banned or censored for many different reasons, but should they? Is there ever a good reason to ban a book? Who gets to decide, and when is it a step too far? Have you read any banned books? Were you surprised to find out why they were banned?

Listen to the podcast:   HERE

Here are the links from this episode:

The word Cindy was looking for is "prudence", not "jurisprudence."


Don't forget to visit our Facebook group, MMC Chat. Let us know what you think! 


Wednesday, September 17, 2025

Heard it on the Podcast - September 17, 2025

 

 
 
Did you miss a link we mentioned on the podcast? Here's a quick post we'll do every Wednesday to share any links or information from the podcast. We'll also keep a running post on the "Links from the Podcast" tab so you can refer back to any previous episode. 

17-SEPT-2025
S5E38: Try a New Hobby

If you could try a new hobby, what would it be? What is holding you back?

Listen to the podcast:   HERE

Sorry, there are no links to this week's podcast, but please check out our blogs here: Modern Musings Blog, and don't forget to visit our Facebook group, MMC Chat. Let us know what you think! 

Monday, September 15, 2025

Choosing Joy Over the To-Do List

 


In July, I decided to try something different. I was tired of feeling like I never got to do anything creative or have any fun. I’ve mentioned on this blog that it’s been a rough few years here in the Murray household: deaths, illness, a revolving door of family moving in and out, COVID, job loss, and so many significant changes that even I can’t keep track of them all. Through it all, I’ve tried to stay creative. I’ve maintained my Thursday craft day (mostly), and I still go on retreats with my besties to quilt and scrapbook, but it never feels like enough. And if you look closely, you’ll note that all of those crafty times occurred when I was with other people – rarely when I was on my own at home. Why? Because I felt guilty.


It is a long-standing tradition of mine to beat myself up for not being productive enough or not getting enough done. I start my day with a long list of things I “need” to do, and I often stay up into the wee hours of the morning trying to get through them, although I never do. I have a friend who often tells me I do too much. She’s right, but it’s not by choice, and sometimes there’s not a lot I can do about it. I am a 60-year-old widow, and the responsibilities of running my home fall squarely on me. Feed the dog? Me. Take out the trash? Me. Do the laundry? Wash the dishes? File the taxes? Pay the bills? All me. I won’t bore you with a list of all the things I have to do in a day before I can sit down to edit a podcast episode or write a blog. Forget about starting a new craft project or some other hobby…I can barely (not!) keep up with the ones I have now.


In January and again in June, I wrote in my blog (No Time for Hobbies and Mid-Year Goal Refresh, respectively) about making time for things. I stand by my statement that we make time for the things that are important to us. So if I’m not making time for my hobbies, or worse yet, myself, then my own self-care must not be all that important to me, right? I want to yell, “No, no, no!”


So, taking a bit of my own advice, I started allowing myself to be done for the day…to let go of the mile-long list of shoulds and spend an hour or two relaxing and doing something I enjoy. When my granddaughter came for a visit, we dragged out our Diamond Dots® and watched movies. I actually did more movie watching than diamond painting, but that’s not the point. I was reminded that this was a craft that I found relaxing, and I hadn’t done it for a long time. Then, a couple of weeks later, I pulled it out again, and pretty soon, I was working on my diamond painting every chance I could get. And you know what? I felt less stressed. Okay, so maybe I didn’t get one or two of the things on my list done that day, but so what? I felt less stressed! That’s huge! 


This week on the podcast, we are talking about hobbies, specifically about trying new ones. This one wasn’t a new one for me, but it was one I hadn’t enjoyed in a very long time, and I’m excited to make the time to have fun and do something I liked instead of just working myself until it was time to go to bed. I’ve made a promise to myself that I will spend at least a few minutes every night doing something I love, even if I don’t finish something that I should do. I finished my diamond painting tonight, and I can’t wait to decide which one I want to do next. Maybe, just maybe, I can find a little time to try some of the other hobbies I mentioned on the show.


5 Ways to Manifest Your Best Life

Hi there, and welcome back! Since we have been heavily focusing on goals and planning, I thought we should discuss manifesting. I love this ...