Honored Spaces

12/23/2025

As in this colorful depiction, it takes many hands and hearts working together to achieve peace.
We all carry the tendrils of the makings of peace and harmony. It was never meant to be any other way. Peace of mind from inner turmoil too, can feel at ease much quicker with the help of another's heart and soul reaching out.

May this day find you making peaceful connections dear Readers! ❤
*Note* I'll be taking a few days off to spend with family, but will return by January 1st, if not sooner! Blessings of this season to you and yours! ✨💛💛✨

Retro post 12/23/2020

12/22/2025

In every season there is a time of waiting--be it waiting for the garden to grow, for college students to come home, or waiting for your favorite holiday to arrive, to name a few "waits".

The baby fox seems to be patiently waiting in the midst of the snow coming down, not passing time by frolicking in the snow and burning off a typical young kit's energy, nor is she waiting curled up in her den, but she waits the midst of some weather, seeming to take it all in!

How do you pass the time while you wait, dear Readers?! Do you burn off energy? Or do you go back to sleep or otherwise distract yourself? Do you pray or mediate? Or do you launch head on into the excitement or fray of the moment?

Waiting usually means there is one element or more, that is out of our control--weather is great at throwing curve balls, as is just about all things traffic related.
We can be reminded however, that with all things waiting related, HOW we wait, is the one thing we can control!
May you be at peace with your times of waiting this week, my friends.

12/19/2025

What caught your attention first, the snowy, icy scene (however, beautiful!) or the sun?
The sun still glows and illuminates in cold and frigid weather. Both extremes coexist all of the time. Both make the pictured scene* so very beautiful.

It is when we can appreciate the extremes, that they become less separate and more a whole. "Either/Or" ceases to exist.
May we lessen the gap of extremes in our day today, dear Readers!

12/18/2025

You are not alone, dear Readers. What is the gift you can give yourself if this holiday season is a challenging one for you? What works for your getting through a holiday that you feel you must endure?
Maybe you have a tip that works for you that another soul would benefit from...reach out when you can, asking for what you need, as the gift you receive in return may make these days brighter! I love the line in the poem below, " ...navigating this season softly, carefully, honestly...."; this is your priority, my friends!

Sending love to…
those who don’t feel excited about the holidays.
Those who are tired of being strong.
Those going through big challenges this year.
Those taking things one day at a time.
Those who feel stuck but haven’t stopped trying.
Those spending the holidays alone.

This season can feel heavy in ways that are hard to explain.
Not everyone feels joyful.
Not everyone feels grateful.
And not everyone has the energy to pretend they’re okay.

If you’re moving slowly, that’s still movement.
If you’re resting, that’s still progress.
If you’re just getting through the day, that is more than enough.

You don’t need to have it all figured out.
You don’t need to feel festive to be worthy of love.
And you don’t need to be strong every moment to be brave.

Let this be a reminder that you are not alone in how you feel.
That many hearts are navigating this season softly, carefully, honestly.
And that simply being here, still trying, still hoping
is already something to be proud of.

Sending love to you,
especially if this spoke to your heart. 🤍🥰

12/17/2025

When we reassure ourselves, dear Readers, may we use the "the softest voice...reserved for those we love most."
It truly is the most effective way to meet us where we are,
where our hurts, fears, doubts and all other manner of our emotional selves live. Shhh, dear ones. Go gently.

With Astonishing Tenderness
When, in the middle of the night,
you wake with the certainty you’ve
done it all wrong, when you wake
and see clearly all the places you’ve failed,
in that moment, when dreams will not return,
this is the chance for your softest voice—
the one you reserve for those you love most—
to say to you quietly, oh sweetheart,
this is not yet the end of the story.
Sleep will not come, but somehow,
in that wide awake moment there is peace—
the kind of peace that does not need
everything to be right before it arrives.
The peace that comes from not fighting
what is real. The peace that rises
in the dark on its sure dark wings
to meet you exactly as you are.
~ Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
~ Thanks for the share, Peter Brouwer!

12/16/2025

It has been since 2022 that this post was last shared here at Honored Spaces. 12/23/73 is the anniversary of my mom's passing and sharing this post every few years, is one way I honor her. If you are newer to this Honored Spaces FB page, please read on! If you know of this post, remember on and see how it speaks to you today.

~ The Juliette Principle ~
(and how it came to be)
(the condensed version!)
I was a very shy 7-year-old when my mother (Juliette) took me along for an errand; this errand however, turned out to be unlike any other errand, and thus the Juliette Principle was born!

Mom had to take her shoes in to the “Shoe Hospital” to be re-heeled (a place you will have a hard time finding today). She said as we were getting out of the car, “I don’t want you to be afraid—Mr. ‘’Smith’’ is kind of grumpy, but you just listen to mommy, OK?" Well, she had my full attention and I nodded solemnly, slipping my hand into hers. I was wondering what actually happened in a Shoe Hospital anyway?!

Walking into this small darkened store my mom asked, “Well, how are you doing today Mr. Smith?” as she plunked her shoes on the counter.
“I was wondering if it would be possible for you to put some new heels on these shoes today. I can come back before you close…” Before my mom could even finish, Mr. Smith, a wizened, small old man suddenly exploded and ranted at her in his best curmudgeonly way, shouting how he didn’t have time and how everyone just expected him to drop what he was doing, etc.! I remember most the tone of his thunderous voice. I had never, ever heard anyone talk this way; let alone I had never heard my mother addressed that way before. I looked up to my mom for reassurance, squeezed her hand a little tighter, swallowed hard but said not one word.

To his rude response, mom replied, “I know it! People just don’t understand, do they? Look at all these shoes! So many orders to fill, and you have no help?! On she went, empathizing and aligning with this nasty, prickly, curmudgeonly old man. I soon noticed that his tone had softened as my mother aligned with him and his bluster and thunder were soon gone! The next thing I knew, he was patting my mom’s hand, winking and saying, “Now you come back in 30 minutes m’girl, and I’ll have those new heels on for you!”

Mom never said another word to me about that exchange, but I knew that I took in more than I had words for, that day.
I witnessed anger and pain evaporating in that dingy little hole-in-the-wall shoe hospital, when someone who set aside her own needs, tended to this old man’s miseries first. For that moment it was not about her or her shoes; it was about soothing this old man, making sure her daughter didn’t wet her pants in fear and yes, it was eventually about getting her shoes re-heeled. But it was more than even these things, because she taught me a lesson about human dignity on that day (both hers and Mr. Smith’s) -- that some things were more important than what we might be worried about at the moment. I learned too, that it WAS possible to be very shy AND get what one needed, while even helping someone else in the process (maybe ESPECIALLY while helping another?)!

So, The Juliette Principle is this:

Always leave even the crankiest person with their dignity intact. Empathize whenever possible...it costs nothing to be kind. We can choose to be affronted, taking another's behavior personally, or we can know who owns the issue and help to smooth the rough edges out just a bit as we pass on through. ~ ❤ ~

Art~ Norman Rockwell 1938, AN Audience of One

12/15/2025

Here are a few quotes on joy to begin this brand new week... which resonate more with you, dear Readers?
Which cause you to doubt your abilities to become more joyful?
Obviously, there are 100's and 100's of quotes on joy and these are just a paltry few. Please add your own favorites that may not be listed here, as I'd love to grow our joy on any level that comes to us.

“Joyfulness is the habit that you have to cultivate within yourself.
Nothing in this world will make you joyful unless you decide to be joyful by heart!”
~Purvi Raniga

"Don't be concerned about being disloyal to your pain by being joyous." ~ Hazrat Inayat Khan

"When you think everything is someone else's fault, you will suffer a lot.
When you realize that everything springs only from yourself, you will learn both peace and joy.
~ Dalai Lama

"It is one of those incredible things that joy can come so quickly from suffering."
~ Archbisop Desmond Tutu

12/12/2025

To this poignant post, I will add, that you get to ask for the very things you want for others, dear Readers! We are meant to be a community of soul seekers AND cheer bringers! ✨💜✨

"The ones who sit with
and listen to, the fallen.
The ones who cheer on and
cheer for, the people succeeding.
The ones who show up
with a smile and mean it.
The ones who look for the lost,
remember the forgotten, and
love with their whole soul.
These are the lighthouses
Shining all over the planet
In the shape of human beings ."

🖋️Stacie Martin
🎨Sebastian McKinnon

12/11/2025

What fights are you ready to lay to rest, dear Readers? What are YOUR dreams and visions worth nurturing? One cannot nurture oneself, while in the midst of battle, so take the gloves off and turn towards cheering on YOU!

"I once asked a very successful woman to share her secret with me. She smiled and said to me..
"I started succeeding when I started leaving small fights for small fighters.
I stopped fighting those who gossiped about me...
I stopped fighting with my in laws...
I stopped fighting for attention...
I stopped fighting to meet peoples expectation of me...
I stopped fighting for my rights with inconsiderate people..
I stopped fighting to please everyone...
I stopped fighting to prove they were wrong about me....
I left such fights for those who have nothing else to fight...
And I started fighting for
my vision,
my dreams,
my ideas and
my destiny.
The day I gave up on small fights is the day I started becoming successful & so much more content."
Some fights are not worth your time..... Choose what you fight for wisely."
~ Rita Daniels

12/10/2025

For those who need to reconnect with these truths:
When we remember that we are no longer being wounded, but are healing now, the pain that often accompanies our healing can be much more bearable than the pain that transpired from the wounding,

We forget at times, that pain is often not the enemy but the messenger! We can hear and bear the message so much more effectively when we stay in the present moment of healing, which always leads to hope. With hope, healing soars!

What needs your attention to healing in the here and now...to hope?
Heal on dear Readers! The best is yet to be! ❤
(Honored Spaces retro post, 2018

12/09/2025

And the choice to acknowledge it and steer towards it is all ours, dear Readers. We can keep telling our story of darkness, and thereby being held captive by that darkness, or we can rest and heal and thus grow in the light!

12/08/2025

The Golden Rule fits nicely with this piece. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you". It does not, as I see it, mean that we must love everything that others do, but we must learn to respond with kindness, love and compassion. We will always disagree with others on big issues and little ones, whether we know the person or not. After all, we are not "Stepford Wives", but disagreeing can be done with love too. Imagine your biggest disagreement, even if it is one that may have caused you feelings of hatred--now, in your mind's eye what would it, what COULD it look like to disagree with kindness? Notice that I did not state that you had to change your beliefs, just how to have your beliefs AND disagree compassionately. Sometimes, the most loving thing we can do is NOT respond...maybe we need that time to think about a more compassionate reply! 😉

I found the good Bishop's words below helpful on the matter. What do you think, dear Readers?
Steven Charleston writes: ·
"Use your head but listen to your heart. Be as wise as an owl in all that you do. Read the fine print. Weigh the evidence. Get the facts. But when all is said and done, let your heart have the last word, for almost nothing done in love can be irredeemable. Practice pragmatic compassion: the well thought out kind of help that actually helps. And trust your instinct for kindness. If what you think matches up to how you feel, you are in the ballpark. In the spiritual life common sense and emotional investment never lose sight of one another."
Retro HS post 2023