Random Musings. . .by Kui Gathua

  “ ” No” is a complete sentence. ” ~ Annie Lamott Have you ever gotten to a place of wanting to pull out your hair because of someone’s repeated behavior towards you? Did you ever stop to wonder what your contribution to that craziness was? Someone was ranting this past week about a person they complained had made them a ‘door mat’. Later that day, I read about boundaries in Bren é Brown’s book – Braving the Wilderness – and understood what the person lacked in their relationship. Boundaries and fences are sort of the same thing. They both limit how close others can come to us, what they can access of ours and both should have gates through which we can enter and exit as well as allow others in. So what really are boundaries especially in relationships? When you know who you are, what you stand for and what you will not tolerate; when you can articulate those things about you to those around you; and when you can hold your ground – with consequences for breach – then you ...

    “ Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever .” ~ Mahatma Gandhi This week I spent a day learning a craft I’ve been curious about for a while. From a friend who has taught me several crafts and shares a passion for crafts and learning. It was a rich experience; a day spent in learning and sharing, exhausting every resource I could give and recording every resource I got. Aside from the interaction, it was also a day I got to move the needle on my learning goals for 2022 and my life learning goals in general. This class had been on my to-do list for years. I started planning for it ages ago, bought the basic equipment I would need, found videos to start me off and created a playlist on YouTube, bought a how-to book and even taught myself some of the basics. Then I slacked off and the plans and stuff started gathering dust. Meanwhile, there has been a little bug in my brain that goes off every time I dust off the equipment and I quickly...

  “ Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise .” ~ Benjamin Franklin I caught myself throwing a tantrum over an episode of insomnia last week. It was not an unexpected loss of sleep, in fact, it was a natural side effect of fasting as my body was at rest and did not need as much sleep as usual. The thing about self-awareness though, is that you notice and catch yourself behaving badly and then begin to analyze why. Sleep is extremely precious to me. Early to bed and early to rise is a mantra I live by with religious devotion. And it’s not just sleep – it is about the hour I go to bed, the level of darkness in my room, the kind of bedding I choose. . . there are many variables to consider before you can expect a near perfect snooze for at least 7 hours a night. Despite all my efforts at continuous improvement, it doesn’t happen perfectly quite as often as I’d like, much to my chagrin. Sleep plays an important role in human life. It is while we sle...