Humility, Gratitude and Service

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community, compassion, courage, Diana Schwenk, Gratitude, growing up, happy, humanity, humility, Hump Day Chronicles, integrity, joy, kindness, laughter, life, living in the moment, love, Purpose, Relationships, service

I had the privilege of interviewing someone yesterday. Someone whose childhood was marked by abandonment, abuse and neglect. Someone who coped by making bad choices as a result.

His story was heartbreaking and made me question…

No, it made me wrestle with the whys. Why do people treat other people so horribly? And not just other adults, but children. Children who need a better foundational start at life.

But to be honest, that’s not the part of his story that stuck with me.

What stood out was his gratefulness. For every time someone showed him kindness. Every time someone reached out to help him. Went out of their way to give him hope. Saw him, loved him for who he was, took action to make a difference in his life — and did it all without judging him.

His story reminded me of all the people in my life who were pivotal, who were catalysts in changing my life for the better. Most did not even know to what extent they impacted me, inspired me, motivated me to find purpose in my life by serving others.

His story reminded me how important it is to reach out and help others just because I’ve been helped. To pay it forward, to never forget where I came from, to stay humble and grateful.

It’s what brings out the best in humanity. Don’t you think?

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

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What is Done in Love is Done Well

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caring, community, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, family, friends, generosity, happy, helpful, integrity, kindness, laughter, life, listen, love, mission, Purpose, Relationships, service, teaching, values

Justine Waddell by Vincent Van Gogh

Whoever loves much, performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.

Vincent Van Gogh

Love is a word we don’t always feel comfortable using in North America. It’s a word that is limited to how we feel about our lover or our family. To use the word love with any other person can be awkward at best.

Sure we use it as in loving humankind or nature or science or a cause or for activities like bowling, cycling, reading, running, or whatever you love to do. But you won’t catch us referencing it about the letter carrier, a co-worker or neighbor.

And that’s too bad really.

Because even if you have a degree, or years of experience, or you can do whatever it is you do while blindfolded with your hands tied behind your back, it’s just a lot of noise if it’s done without love.

And every time we interact with someone, whether teaching them, listening to them, helping them we can accomplish so much more and make them and ourselves feel so much more valued, if our motivation is love.

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

My Word For 2016

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Diana Schwenk, Fear, happy, Happy New Year, Hump Day Chronicles, life, Life's like that, living in the moment, love, service, tenacity, Word, words are powerful

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. But this is the third year in a row that I have chosen a word for the new year.

For 2014, I chose tenacity.

Believe you, me – I needed it! That was the year I gave all I had to the Other Bottom Line. I developed a marketing package. I created a brochure. I wrote posts meant to be used as a resource by non-profits and invited conversation regarding engaging the community. I actively sought out clients. Did tons of research. Worked with a few clients and documented the entire process for them. I sought advice and did everything I could think of to make it work. I really put myself out there, even when it was scary to do so.

Although it didn’t quite work out the way I planned, it was not wasted time – I got to work with some pretty amazing people and I learned so much about myself and working with others; things that have benefitted me since.

For 2015, I chose service.

It dawned on me at the end of 2014, that I’d become angry about so many things; governments, world issues, red tape and bureaucracy, the ways that people, including me, were treating others and so on. While sharing these thoughts with a friend, she wisely said to me, “You can’t do anything about how others handle situations. And you definitely can’t complain about it if you’re not personally doing anything about it. Figure out what you can do and just do it.”

That advice led me to choose the word Service. And it’s a tough one for me. I’d much rather give someone money to rent a moving truck than physically help them to move, for example. I got service wrong a lot and I’d beat myself up every time. Eventually, I got it right by setting specific goals and playing out potential scenarios in my mind, in case they came to be. I definitely need to keep working on Service.

In a world where many pursue (selfish) happiness and fall short, I discovered that for me, at least, happiness comes in service to others, especially when I get to employ my natural gifts and abilities.

For 2016, I choose love, or rather the word love chose itself for me. 

This year, I’ve become aware of, and sometimes participated in, fear-mongering. There seems to be a general move toward assuming the worst of people that aren’t like ‘us’ and it’s dividing us instead of building us up in the global community.

So I will use the word love like a measuring stick to make decisions. I will ask myself, “What is my motivation in pursuing a certain course of action? Am I motivated by love or fear?”

If it is love, I will move forward, if not, more examination may be necessary,  perhaps an attitude adjustment is in order before proceeding, or maybe it is not worth pursuing at all.

Something tells me I will be needing my old friends Tenacity and Service as well!

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~

Do you make New Year’s resolutions or choose a word? If so, what have are your resolutions or what word have you chosen for 2016?

Being Good

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200 words, caring, community, Diana Schwenk, Diana's Enormous Book of Quotes, good character, goodness, growing up, happy, health, integrity, living in the moment, Purpose, service, Who I am

Waste no time debating what a good man should be. Be one ~ Marcus Aurelius

How do you ‘be good’?

Have you ever been caught up in a conversation about what it means to be a good person?

Or found yourself going back and forth in a thought loop about it?

I know I have.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been conditioned to do so. You know, like in a job when you want to do something good.

You plan.

You build strategies.

You implement.

You monitor.

And tweak as you go along?

That’s all fine and dandy at work, but is that all there is to it when you want to be a good person?

I’ve been thinking about this since reading the above quote and in light of choosing service as my word for 2015.

Maybe it’s as simple as the difference between doing good and being good.

Doing good in a work setting, takes planning.

Being good is more of a character trait that is developed over time…

…acting in the moment, from the core of who you are, when an opportunity presents itself.

~ DIANA’S ENORMOUS BOOK OF QUOTES ~

What do you think?

Remembrance Day 2013

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Calgary, Canada, community, courage, Diana Schwenk, Gratitude, Hump Day Chronicles, Military, remembrance day, service

“They shall not die while memory fulfils its task of gratitude.”

On November 11, 2013 I attended a Remembrance Day Ceremony. Below are my recollections.

~

Joan Crockatt, MP – Calgary Centre says,

“You have stood on guard for us, so now we stand on guard for you.”

It’s -11c and the Padre thanks us for coming. He knows it’s cold but it is nothing compared to what those who have served our country have endured.

We are here to honour them.

We are here to honour our grandfathers, grandmothers, fathers, uncles, mothers, aunts, sons and daughters – and for many of us – total strangers who sacrificed that we may enjoy our freedoms.

He reminds us of the promise of peace found in Isaiah 2:

“…He will judge between the nations
and arbitrate for many peoples.
Then they will hammer their swords into plow-blades
and their spears into pruning-knives;
nations will not raise swords at each other,
and they will no longer learn war.” 

He reads the poem penned by Canadian physician and Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae in 1915.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

There are hundreds present today in Calgary’s Memorial Park.

And save for the odd crying child, all are silent and observing the laying of the wreaths  ceremony.

Soldiers stand at attention as still as statues. One soldier wipes away tears that flow continuously in spite of his attempts to stop them.

~

I witnessed all this reverently, grateful for their service, proud to be Canadian.

~ HUMP DAY CHRONICLES ~