CUTIE PIE, HONEY BUNCH

Hi! I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. We went up to my families ranch in the mountains. It is so beautiful there. The air seems a little bit airier. The grass and the hills are bright green this year because of all the great rain we had this spring. And the dogs bark louder there and keep you up all night so you can't really enjoy the airier air. But other than that.

My sisters and I practiced and performed "The Dancing Queen" from Mamma Mia at the family reunion program. You can watch it on youtube.com/user/mom2thebs. It is very funny.

I want to continue talking about "The Four Agreements". The first agreement is -- Be Impeccable with Your Word. We can all agree that our words are very powerful. So powerful in fact, that one word can change a life or destroy the lives of millions. We can use our word to give love or sorrow. The author relates a story about a women who was very intelligent and had a very good heart. She had a daughter whom she adored and loved very much. One night she came home from a very bad day at work, tired, full of emotional tension, and with a terrible headache. She wanted peace and quiet, but her daughter was singing and jumping around happily. The daughter was unaware of how her mother was feeling; she was in her own little world. She felt wonderful, and she was singing louder and louder, expressing her joy and her love. This made her mother's headache even worse, and at a certain moment, the mother lost control. Angrily she looked at her beautiful little girl and said, "Shut up! You have an ugly voice. Can you just shut up!"

The truth is that the mother's tolerance for any noise was nonexistent; it was not that the little girl's voice was ugly. But the daughter believed what her mother said, and in that moment she made an agreement with herself to never sing again. She became shy at school, and if she was asked to sing, she refused.

When we hear an opinion and believe it, we make an agreement, and it becomes part of our belief system. Sometimes these agreements are hard to break and only when we realize the truth can we set ourselves free. I hope this week we will listen to what we are saying to our special ones and say something kind and sweet every chance we get.

LeAnna taught me this when she was dating her honey. She called him "Loves" and "Lovie". It was so cute to watch them fall in love with each other. Oh, what a fun time his brothers had with that. When the love birds weren't around, one brother would ask another, " Oh, Lovie, do you want to watch some baseball with me tonight?" And the other one would reply in a high pitched voice, "Yes, Loves , let's do it!"

I find when I use endearing words like sweety and love, I am kinder and have more empathy for my loved ones. They respond with ease and love comes back to me.

Thanks for being there. CUTIE PIE! HONEY BUNCH!