<![CDATA[GUFFAW THRU LIFE - Just A Thought]]>Fri, 24 Apr 2026 04:48:54 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Chapters . . .]]>Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:32:58 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/seasons
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"We often make the assumption that we will accumulate resources over the course of our lives; and what we accumulate in one season will become an asset in the next. But not everything, or everyone, from one season is intended to go with us into the next. 
God brings His people into an intended pause between seasons so what needs to be buried in the soil of transition is given sufficient time to be released. This is the beauty, and challenge, of transition . . . and one of the reasons God's doors don't close and open simultaneously.
If you find yourself between seasons, ask the Lord if there are things you are still carrying from your previous season that He intends you to let go of before you are ready for what's next."                                                                                - Neil Broere
Recently - 
]]><![CDATA[Practicing . . .]]>Sat, 11 Apr 2026 19:47:11 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/practicing"I don't have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness. It's right in front of me if I'm paying attention and practicing gratitude."                                                                                                                                                                      - Brene Brown]]><![CDATA[Your Call . . .]]>Sat, 03 Jan 2026 20:41:27 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/january-03rd-2026
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Below is an Urban Legend that speaks with such poignancy to the above Proverb. 
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This Urban Legend was first published in The Humorist in the 1930s and has been adapted several times.
]]><![CDATA[Guiding Principles . . .]]>Thu, 28 Aug 2025 05:04:24 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/accountabilityI recently completed 24 Continuing Education Credits to renew my State of Alaska Insurance License come the end of this year. Just this evening, I came across a quote I've held onto since attending an Insurance Ethics course back in 2010. And, I find this still resonates . . .

"The reality is that good people desire to be held accountable . . . they understand that success is weighty. Success puts demands on our character . . . good people live by guiding principles because they understand that character is power. They are our North Star, our true identity, our guiding light."    
                                                                                                                                                                        - Tom Flick]]><![CDATA[Reinvention . . .]]>Tue, 04 Feb 2025 04:32:59 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/your-best-day
"Don't ever feel like the best days are behind you.
Reinvention is the purest form of hope.
​Make today your best day yet."   
                                                                                                                                                   - Phil Wohl

This quote speaks to me of 'reinventions' on many levels:
​Internal, professional, geographical . . . even physical.
I was born a brunette. At the early age of twenty-eight, silver strands started weaving their way through my brown tresses. In my mid-thirties, I slowly started making the transition to blonde and I've, primarily, maintained this color until this last winter. Inspired to embrace the changing seasons of my life, I cropped off my hair to about an inch from my scalp and I'm impatiently waiting for it to grow out. 

Mae West is noted as saying that, " growing old is not for the faint of heart."

I do not think of myself as old nor do I feel old. But there is no denying the physical evidence staring back at me when I look in the mirror - I am aging;
lines are forming, jowls are distinct, silver crowns my head.
My goal is to reinvent my 'ideas'
(that do not serve me well)
on the aging process, on growing older. 

In the last eight months, five people I know have died.
I do not yet consider that I am close to the 'finish line' personally, but interfacing so closely with death these past months has set me to thinking -
and the main thought that plays upon my mind is that . . . I finish strong.  

My reinvention of the 'over the hill' concepts in my psyche is still in its evolution. But to summarize a few points that stand out as I observe others grapple with aging;
it is important to me that I maintain:
A Joyful & A Grateful Heart
Mental Acuity
Physical Strength
A Contented & Adventurous Spirit 
 And that I continually bear in mind that though life is often messy, it is also glorious.
]]><![CDATA[Much Muchier . . .]]>Mon, 23 Dec 2024 05:30:56 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/much-muchier
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Much Muchier - Clowning Around
"You're not the same as you were before," he said.
            "You were much more . . . muchier . . . You've lost your muchness."                 
                                                                                                                                                   Lewis Carroll Alice In Wonderland

Recently, 'motivation's' been a topic of conversation in my social circles;
from healthier menus to exercise to spiritual disciplines to living larger. 

I'm rummaging through old photos for projects I'm working on. And I've come across several much muchier pictures documenting my muchness.
So, I've started a small collage of past adventures to inspire personal motivation.

Life's responsibilities and trials often squelches passion and zeal.
Finding the motivation and inspiration to power through
is difficult but imperative for a fuller much muchier quality of life,
]]><![CDATA[Seeds . . .]]>Sun, 27 Oct 2024 00:31:31 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/today
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Springtime's Growth and Glory
"All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today,"

Down the road from my home is a Nursery I like to frequent during the growing season. Spring before last, I picked up a small pot with a viola plant blooming purple. I plopped it in the ground close to the house and this season, voila, multiplication. The seed pods burst and spray seeds that spread and grow beauty in no particular rhyme or reason. 

Tulip's growth is interesting as they're planted in the Fall. I buried as many as I could cram into this little plot near my fire pit doubting whether they'd survive a cold snow pack the winter long. To my surprise, come Spring they made a grand appearance.

Personal growth seems to often parallel these beautiful blossoms journey; for like them, after a long winter passes the warmth and light of Spring eventually showcases our own growth and glory. 

Take heart, Spring is on the horizon. 
]]><![CDATA[Attentive Eye . . .]]>Sun, 20 Oct 2024 03:56:15 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/october-19th-2024
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Skilak August 2024
"To the attentive eye, each moment of the year has its own beauty, and in the same field, it beholds, every hour, a picture which was never seen before, and which shall never be seen again." 
                                                                                                                                                      - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I've spent more than 40 years exploring this area. I've rafted and fished and camped and hiked here. I taught my children how to drive along its quiet dirt road. No matter how many years pass, I am still struck awe by Alaska's grandeur, no matter the season.
]]><![CDATA[A Bitter Pill . . .]]>Fri, 05 Jul 2024 23:20:40 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/a-bitter-pill"We swallow greedily any lie that flatters us,
                but we sip only little by little at a truth we find bitter."                      
                                                                                                                                                    - Denis Diderot]]><![CDATA[Hard Things . . .]]>Mon, 01 Jul 2024 03:34:14 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/hard-things
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Hike - Girdwood, Alaska 2023
 "The magic you are looking for . . . is in the work you are avoiding."                                                                                                                                                                           - Dipen Parmar
]]><![CDATA[Fluid, Soft, Yielding . . .]]>Mon, 17 Jun 2024 06:20:19 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/fluid-soft-yielding
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An after work drive to the river - Sparrevohn, Alaska June 2024
A young father recently shared with me anxiety over his son's sensitive spirit. He expressed concern that he's not adequately equipped to contend with the harsh realities of the world outside their home. Shortly after our conversation, I came across this quote. 

"Water is fluid, soft and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: What is soft is strong."                                          Philosopher - Lao Tzu

This resonates. I fly to remote locations where I work here in Alaska. I am far from the comforts of my home, the familiarity of my family and the gentle companionship of my friends. There are times the pressures require a strength I sometimes wonder how I'll muster. But honestly, I can maintain true to my softer nature in the midst of mandates and  demands.   
]]><![CDATA[Pains . . .]]>Fri, 29 Mar 2024 04:33:20 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/pains"We are not born all at once, but by bits. The body first, and the spirit later . . . Our mothers are racked with the pains of our physical birth; we ourselves suffer the longer pains of our spiritual growth.                                                                                                                                                                                  - Mary Antin]]><![CDATA[Comfort and . . . Growth]]>Tue, 26 Mar 2024 04:47:26 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/growth9375218"We find comfort among those who agree with us;
Growth among those who don't." 
                                                                                                                                           - Frank Clark
]]><![CDATA[Becoming. . . .]]>Mon, 25 Mar 2024 05:21:02 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/becoming7435009"The highest reward for a person's toil
​is not what they get for it
but what they become by it."
                                                                                                                                  - John Ruskin]]><![CDATA[Engaging In Life . . .]]>Wed, 20 Mar 2024 02:51:34 GMThttp://www.guffawthrulife.com/just-a-thought/march-19th-2024
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My mom still moving and grooving at 80 years old. March 2024
"We tend to stay away from mourning and dancing. Too afraid to cry, too shy to dance . . . we become narrow-minded complainers, avoiding pain and also true human joy . . . while we live in a world subject to the evil one, we belong to God.
                                                    Let us mourn and let us dance."                                                                                                                                                                                         - Henri Nouwen
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