Great ways to reconnect……….

Here are a few suggestions to reconnect with loved ones, the past, or yourself.  I find that refocusing my attention to a positive activity can really turn around a frustrating or negative day.

• Write snail mail to a loved one with a really nice pen.  Everyone loves to find a small treasure of a note from a friend amidst their bills or junk mail.  Allow yourself to be the one to send a smile to someone.  Write a heartfelt note with a nice pen.  Imagine back in the day, when mail was the only way to connect with long distance loved ones. Take your time and treasure what your writing.

  

• Make a dish using an old recipe.  Ask an elder to share a recipe from a dish that they enjoyed but don’t cook very often.  Determine if your Mom or other relatives have a stash of old recipes.  Go to the local library and look through old cookbooks or magazine to find a great dish from times gone by.

• Snap a few photos of sentimental things. Take some time and take pictures of a piece of jewelry once owned by your Grandmother.  Snap a few pictures of a memento from a happy event in your life. Try different lighting, angles, and backgrounds.  Discover what you believe to be a really great photo of your prized object.  

 

 

• Find an old black and white film to watch with a long distance loved one. You always tell yourself that you’ll call your friend or relative that lives miles away later, when you have time to talk.  But you rarely follow through because life just gets too busy.  Stop putting it off.  Search the TV listings for your area and find a great classic movie.  Then search the TV listings for their area for the same movie, which can be done online.  Make a date with yourself to watch the movie.  Then, make a date to call the loved one and discuss the movie. 

 

• Schedule a low-tech day with your family. Schedule a day in the near future to turn off all of your high tech gadgets.  No TV, try not to answer your phone, no computer, etc.  Enjoy the radio, a board game or a card game with your family.  We get so busy with technology that we ignore the great family connecting activities from yesteryear.

 

• Teach a youngster your hobby. My grandmother loved to embroidery by hand.  I remember vividly working on embroidering pillowcases when I was a young teenager.  I still have those pillowcases and I treasure them to this day.

 

• Stroll thru an antique store.  There are lots of little treasures waiting to be found in an antique store.  But, I love seeing if I can find an item similar to what my Grandparents used to own or even something from my own childhood home.

 

• Find a unique ‘recipe’ to share with someone you’d like to get to know.  Their are some great recipes for things like homemade play-do, milk baths, dry hot chocolate mix.  Seek out these types of recipes, make some for yourself and a friend you don’t know so well.  Give them your gift, along with the recipe, for a great way to break the ice and start a new conversation.

Quote of the moment: Remember that when you leave this earth you can taken nothing of what you have received, but only what you have a given: a full heart, enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice, and courage. ~Saint Francis of Assisi