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Kayla's Only Heart

~ Always learning. Always progressing.

Kayla's Only Heart

Tag Archives: action

Thoughtful Thursday: Specific Action

01 Thursday Nov 2018

Posted by KaylasOnlyHeart in Uncategorized

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action, community, kindness, relationships, thoughtful

This week we’ve explored specific communication and specific requests. Now we can consider our friends and specific actions we can take to help. Everyone can use a loving hand in some capacity, and it offers a chance to deepen a bond as you lift them up. Plus, doing a kind deed for someone lifts your spirits too.

When I first moved to Houston two years ago, my dad and I both stood in a transition place between homes. I ended up in the townhouse we shared first, which meant neither my dad nor his kitchen basics had joined me yet. My cousin listened to me and understood it felt important to me to feel like I found a new home, so she brought a couple bowls, plates, cups and more to the townhouse from her own kitchen. These simple dishes made me feel like I had more autonomy and normalcy; I could eat my oatmeal the way I liked. Getting back into my routine made me feel better, and I got there because someone listened and shared what she could. She welcomed me to the community.

Consider listening to a friend or family member and hearing a need you might meet. This can range from paying attention to the weather changing causing your runner friend to adjust her exercise wardrobe and picking up a long sleeve running shirt. Maybe someone you know mentions a desire to lose weight. You can offer to cook a healthy meal for her or try a new recipe together. With a greater focus on those around us, these small actions remind your loved ones that they need not do life alone and that someone cares. 

 

This concept comes easier to some people than others. Perhaps it relates to the love languages and some people speaking acts of service better. Acts of service ranks last on what I speak well. However, if I focus on it more, I can still find ways to perform acts of service. A woman in one of my groups has mentioned a desire to lose weight and maintain a healthier lifestyle. I’d like to invite her to come to my place for dinner before an upcoming meeting or to walk at a park, weather permitting.

What can you do for someone you know who may need some extra encouragement?

Meetings Follow-Up

22 Monday Feb 2016

Posted by KaylasOnlyHeart in Journal, Uncategorized

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Tags

12 Steps, action, Celebrate Recovery, Christian, Christian living, clouds, encouragement, flowers, forgiveness, healing, hope, hurt, Lent, light, recovery, support

This week has started well, especially as I mentioned the importance of meetings in my last post. I made it to church yesterday morning and my support group this evening. As I’ve ventured out from my dip in isolation, I’ve found several supportive peers and friends eager to see me and encourage me. Tonight especially, I was repeatedly reminded that I need not travel this healing road alone and that sharing my struggle (as well as my victory) frees me and opens the lane for others coming down the same road; the content of the lesson on principle 8 associated with the twelfth step in the 12 Steps, which focuses on sharing God’s word and work by example, and a personalized word of encouragement from a woman who shares a similar experience as me have made me realize a truth that’s been on my heart: I need to continue forgiving and sharing my hurts, habits and hang-ups. I NEED to take this action.

Fortunately this action can make use of my spiritual gifts of writing, encouragement and teaching…and that’s just from sharing it via writing. Here’s to sharing my recovery journey, me seeing my healing and others seeing God’s light shining in and through it.

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My Hero 

20 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by KaylasOnlyHeart in Poetry/Lyrics

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action, fight, Haiku, hero, heroic, poem, poetry, protect, protection, provide, provision, worthy

Provide and protect

Heroic action I seek 

Worthy of a fight

Braided Efforts

10 Thursday Oct 2013

Posted by KaylasOnlyHeart in Journal

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action, childhood, decisions, development, evaluation, experience, focus, goals, hair, progress, style

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Today I braided my hair; I figured it was about time I learn how to pull my hair in a decent braid. Hairstyles never really came easy to me. Yet I hadn’t ever put much effort into developing any skill. In middle school, my best friend and I got ready for dances together, and she curled or flipped out my hair. I maintained a pretty plain hairstyle, relying on the cut and simple maintenance to provide an adequate look. During my first summer after college, I finally felt like I successfully curled my hair. It still hasn’t turned out exactly with the curls I desired, but I learned how to change the style to an extent. Today I decided I would progress my braiding skills so I could have another way to pull my hair back besides a ponytail. It just takes a decision, practice, and evaluation.

No one started out knowing how to braid hair; no one began a career with all the necessary skills, let alone at the desired level. Some aspects had to be learned during the course of action. Girls learned how to braid their hair by braiding their dolls’ hair, their friends’ hair, their own hair. The first attempts may have included stray hairs, loose braids, unproportioned sections. Yet each attempt provided practice that led to better looking braids, even if some never progressed much beyond what looked similar to others’ early attempts.

I didn’t braid my dolls’ or friends’ hair much as a kid. That led to the current level of inexperience. Yet I began concentrated efforts to change that, at least in terms of braiding. Hair never was my forte and probably never will be. Yet I can learn how to attain a couple basic looks if I desire. I just have to practice. The basic procedure for creating a braid has stayed with me. My hair hasn’t been braided in years, but I’m changing that. Now that I have long hair again, I desire to wear more styles.

The same idea applies to other skills, some of which may be better suited for me. I have other talents, ones I’ve already advanced and others I haven’t developed much yet, I’d like to bolster. I just have to decide my goal, take action, evaluate my efforts. This includes making tangible writing goals like a regular blogging schedule and tasks to ultimately complete my novel and publish articles and includes determining my career aspirations and mapping the steps to attain them. I noticed with the braids that it’s easier to make something happen when you start with a small, basic step. All I had to do was braid my hair this morning. I ended up with some loose strands on one side; I lovingly named it my messy braid. I gained the knowledge to start the braid a little higher next time. I took action, practiced, and evaluated. I can adjust my next attempt. I can braid my hair.

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You can't make advances if you don't take chances. These posts share my perspectives of my journey as I step forward, walking in the Light.

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