Have you ever done puzzles? If you haven’t, you probably have. Relationships are puzzling. We try to put them together. We try to make them pretty. We try to make them whole! It’s hard. And as if “pretty” and “whole” isn’t challenging enough, sometimes, maybe more, but sometimes, there’s just a missing part. Oh, that empty space. It can seem like the Grand Canyon! We anguish to fill it in, desperate to make it work, and we search for what is missing, but it just can’t be found. The more we anguish, the more we try, and the more we search, that missing part, that final piece to completion is simply not there. It’s a crucial realization. It’s a critical juncture. All relationships have a missing part, or two, or more. This is where love “kicks in”. Your love is either big enough to fill the void, or it’s not, but no matter where you’re at, it’s always good enough. Sometimes the puzzle just doesn’t work out. Sometimes a part is missing and you’re not big enough, yet, to handle it. It’s all right. The next step, always, is to grow in your capacity to love. Don’t worry about the puzzle. It will work itself out, or it won’t. In the final analysis, the puzzle with its missing part is not the issue. With or without the puzzle, love is. Keep growing in love, regardless of the puzzle’s fate. There will always be more puzzles. The question is, will you have more love to deal with the next one, and that inevitable missing part?

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Simply Encouraging® Stories & Narratives to Brighten Your Day, and Make Your Relationships Bright™!

The truth never hurts, but people do! If you speak from a heart of love and a vision of drawing others to higher ground, then your words will always heal life, not wound it. Truth, if it really is, can never come packaged in anything but grace. Beware of counterfeits! If the truth hurts, then it’s not truth, and it’s not about you. Seek truth. Respect truth. Acquire peace!

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Simply Encouraging® Stories & Narratives to Brighten Your Day, and Make Your Relationships Bright™!

Sometimes a lot is said in a brief exchange. This is a true story of an interaction I had with someone who was feeling “down”. Hopefully, reading it will help you to feel “up”!

“I just don’t feel like I’m living”. 

“What does it mean for you to be ‘alive’?” 

“To ‘Wake up’”. 

“Sometimes that’s unpleasant, isn’t it?”

“Sure; but it can feel good too!”

“That’s about right; it seems to runs both ways.”

“I guess I’m living after all.”

“Then, ‘Good morning!’. How’s your day looking now”?

Folks, life isn’t always easy, but if we give it enough time and the proper perspective, it invariably morphs into something good. Whatever it is that you’re “waking up” to, I hope this Simply Encouraging Story brightens your day. 

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Simply Encouraging® Stories & Narratives to Brighten Your Day, and Make Your Relationships Bright!™

After a consultation, I called to thank the person who recommended my services. He seemed clueless who the people were, but after considerable mind-searching, he exclaimed, “I gave them your name over ten years ago!” There is much to unpack from this brief interaction. 

First, our timing is not the timing of another. A lot has to be reorganized on the inside for a recommendation to take hold. Second, our timing is not divine. Very often, external circumstances have to line up for the blossoming of our otherwise brilliant suggestion. Third, just because we have spoken, we are not in control of the idea. Invariably, inspiration has an intelligence of its own to be expressed in its own time.

I’m aware that Simple Encouragement tends to “roll this way” as well. We can speak “life to potential, healing to pain, and light to darkness” with no demonstrable effect, sometimes, until years later. However, it’s a sweet day when someone says, “I’m ‘this or that’ today because you saw the gift in me years ago, and cared enough to say so.” What a heartwarming moment when someone says, “I’m smiling today because years ago, in my quiet suffering, you noticed, and said, ‘You’re in deep pain with little hope, so I’ll have hope for you until your hope returns’”. It’s humbly empowering when you hear, “I was locked in guilt and shame and when you said, ‘I see your struggle with (fill in the blank) and I love you anyway’”, it gave me the strength to live in the light, and the power to overcome”. 

This is the trilogy of Simple Encouragement, relating in a threefold way that brings out the hidden gifts in others (life to potential), brings healing to closed off pockets of suffering (healing to pain), and through mentioning the “elephant in the room” with a heart of compassionate acceptance, sets others back upon their moral journey (light to darkness). Relating through this trilogy of “life, healing, and light” requires no special training, degrees, or mystical understandings. All it asks is a spirit of loving engagement, and a heart that cares. True love is always curious, and cares to the point of action. When true love cares, it will always speak “life to potential, healing to pain, and light to darkness”.

Simple Encouragement highlights a “trilogy of relating” that calls for you to be ever mindful of “life, healing, and light” in every interaction that you have. Practice Simple Encouragement and I guarantee that your relationships will naturally take on a subtle but growing intimacy. Simple Encouragement will always animate something in another that reveals a gift, heals a hurt, or breaks a bonding fear. “Life, healing, and light”… It’s just that simple!

Remember, when we have been truly encouraged, it’s a life-altering event! Of course, once you speak, keep in mind that your words WILL have an outcome, eventually, but instead of waiting for the result to appear, get busy speaking “life, healing, and light” to the very next person upon your path! If you stick to it, this habit will make you a change-agent extraordinaire, and the results will come at just the right time. 

I’m grateful for every heart that seeks to touch others with transforming love. Simply take “life healing, and light” as a mantra, and you will automatically begin to relate with others in ways that will give you tremendous significance in their eyes. Just remember, Simple Encouragement is never in a hurry, and it never has a goal since its motive is love. Be patient, and know that given enough “life, healing, and light”, you WILL change the world, one heart at a time. Think of Simple Encouragement as “a quiet cause” and if you organize your every interaction through these three beautiful “filters”, believe me, the magic will come.

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This is the season of spiritual light where celebration and joy abounds. There are festive rituals with candles lit, colorful lights, gifts exchanged, and grand meals shared amongst family and friends. There is hope of reunion, reconciliation, and peace. Worship overflows from grateful hearts, and the heavens rejoice at the outpouring. For a season, everyone seems happy, connected, and free of care. Yet in the midst of it all, there are so many people who are suffering quietly. Oh, they go through the motions, complete with smiles and the just right words, but look very closely. There is a slight turning away when loved ones are mentioned, as they privately remember a loss. There is that subtle “glazing of gaze” when gifts are exchanged, because they feel shame over a hurting financial condition. Every now and then there will be a slight tear shed for a broken relationship, quickly whisked away so as not to be a burden. In this season of spiritual light, so many people are suffering so deeply, deep within their souls. Please take time to notice, dare to give it voice, and care enough to lend a hand. Believe me, your joy will be deeper and more complete if you do. And think about it, perhaps cherishing love is the greatest gift that you could ever give to anyone! In this special season of light, shine a light. In the year to come, BE the light!

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I wrote a quote some time ago, and I’ve refined it slightly over time. It occurs to me that it represents a philosophy of life, a way of being, and it speaks to the very heart of the Simple Encouragement® Movement. I find it to be full of “Life, healing, and light™” and perhaps you might agree. Here is what I said.

“I paint my past with hues of grace, erasing all regret. I color my future in shades of love, removing all fear. The moment is now, and it’s time for broad brushstrokes of hope.”

Isn’t that refreshing! Please take some time to really reflect upon every line. I think each one holds the potential to revolutionize your life, and yes, to be Simply Encouraging® too!

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I recall a very dark period of time when my heart was broken, my faith had run out, and I’ll never forget the incredible expression of caring that caressed my despairing heart.

“I know it’s horrible for you right now, and your grief is fine with me. I’m here, and I’m going to have hope for you until your hope returns.” 

Those words carried such acceptance, power, and comfort. Somehow, they created a pinpoint of light in the midst of my black experience. This is a perfect example of “Speaking healing to pain”, one aspect of the Simple Encouragement® Trilogy. 

Never be afraid of the despairing, grieving, or lost people upon your path. Just be with them in quiet love. If you need words, and they should always be few, then now you have a “script”. 

You see, encouragement is putting “heart” into the “heart” of others. By “heart” I mean “courage”, and by “heart” I mean “soul”. A few heartfelt words touched my life with a seed of courage that tipped the outcome of my trial towards victory.

You can do this! Please, take the “script” as your own, and always remember, "Hearts filled with courage can rise to any challenge".

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Not everyone has faith, and that’s fine along the way, but almost everyone has hope. Hope is that thing you sense will happen even as your “head” tells you it’s impossible. You know it’s hope if the vision keeps coming back despite your psyche’s pesky insistence on logic. Hope is intuitive, and it springs from a place of knowing that knows a whole lot more than your head! Don’t ever allow logic to discourage any dream that’s alive within you. Remember, the dream is the reality. Hope in the hope!

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Have you ever held a life in your hands? I suppose all kinds of things are going through your mind right now. Sure, a newborn child counts. Dying “brothers in arms” count too. Life beginning, life ending, but what about YOUR life? Do you realize that you hold your very own life in the palm of your hands? That counts, a lot! And with every person you meet, in some way, shape, or form; you hold their life in your hands as well. Be tender, be careful, be compassionate, and be intentional with your love. Hold all life this way, always, mindfully certain that you’re leaving it with your special touch of "Life, healing, and light™".

Simple Encouragement and Simply Encouraging are Trademarks of Simple E Creations, Inc.

If you’re interested in speaking “Life, healing, and light™” into the lives of others, please take some time to read about “Simple Encouragement®” by clicking on the green “Movement” button to your upper right.

Early Sunday morning finds me pondering grace, and the way I’ve spoken about this profound energy over the past few years. Here are some of my all-time favorite thoughts on the matter, each with a brief narrative to provide depth. Enjoy!

Grace is kind, gentle and she covers others in beauty. Deep down, we all long for her touch.

Here I personify grace as a feminine power. It seemed to upset a few people who immediately unsubscribed from “Simple e-Couragements”. That wasn’t graceful. We all have the capacity for both feminine and masculine energy, and grace weds them seamlessly. Think of it this way, wouldn’t you like others to cover you with beauty when you feel less than attractive in your being? Of course you would.

Grace is a state of the heart that can move mountains.

Grace is powerful. By “mountains”, I mean those difficult relationships that challenge us all from time to time. It’s natural to want predictability, virtue, and kindness from others but in case you haven’t noticed, this isn’t always the way that it rolls. Be kind and gentle when people are less than perfect. See them as beautiful when you feel they’re not, and you’ll begin to experience the power of grace. 

If love makes the world go 'round, then grace keeps it on its axis.

I smiled as this line was inspired within me. I always love when a lot is said with a little. Love and grace have a special relationship. I haven’t quite figured it out yet, but I know that they do. I’m learning that I don’t have to figure everything out, and that embracing mysteries can be very sweet to the soul.

Encouragement offers a graceful hand, and travels lightly with others.

I think encouragement and grace also have a special relationship. I suppose this is a mystery as well, but I do know this. Simple Encouragement® is never in a hurry, and it never has a goal since its motive is love. We’re living in some particularly challenging times and we all need a little tenderness. Today is always a good day to gently take someone’s hand, and simply enjoy them.

Encouraged is the heart touched by grace. 

Please take some time to read about The Simple Encouragement® Movement. When we meet others in a spirit of loving engagement we are likely to see a hidden potential that the other can barely see, a buried hurt begging for expression, or a pocket of darkness begging for release. An attitude of loving engagement can release hidden potential, heal buried hurt, and bring light to darkness in a way that frees souls. This is the heart of Simple Encouragement®!

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