Pearce the Heart

On January 31, 2016 I decided to write about my Nanny. I called my grandmother ‘Nanny.’  She picked that name as she felt ‘grandmother’ sounded too old.  She had always been young at heart.  Even when she went into her 90s she was always on the go.  She was so busy that she would even tire out my aunt – her daughter – with all the different groups and activities my aunt would take her to. I didn’t get to see my Nanny that often as she didn’t live nearby, but she would occasionally fly up to see her daughter – my mother – and my family.  I was always excited when I heard that she was coming.  My Nanny was the only grandparent I ever knew as none of my extended family lived nearby.  I didn’t actually start to get to know more of my extended family until my mid 20’s. Nanny was so sweet.  She was always encouraging me and uplifting to me.  Any accomplishments I did whether it was for school or swimming or otherwise she would always praise m...

  On January 22, 2016 I was thinking most people have heard the saying “laughter is the best medicine.”   I would tend to agree, it makes you feel better and it’s free.   I find it’s even funnier when you randomly think of a joke or hilarious situation with people around you.   All that everyone sees is this person laughing their head off and everyone else trying to figure out what is so funny.   I find in that situation it usually ends up that everyone can’t help but laugh even though they don’t know what they are laughing about.   I have been on the opposite side of laughter when I was a teenager.   At one point I had become very depressed.   I had always been the type where I cared about others and did not want anyone to be concerned if I felt down.   That would cause me to sometimes pretend I was happy when I was not.   This changed during my early teen years.   I stopped putting on that happy face and was generally in a bad m...

  On January 17, 2016 I was thinking many people have probably heard the saying “good things come to those who wait.”   I think that this can be true in some circumstances.   For example, the picture I have above shows the mini pizzas that I made this past week for myself and my husband. I would say the whole process takes a little over 1 ½ hours to make.   I don’t make them that often, but when I do I find I get excited about how good they are going to taste.   I have to first cut up all the vegetables, meat, and shred the cheese.   Then I put all the English muffins on a pan and put pizza sauce on each one.   Then the fun part comes when I get to put tons of cheese on them, which is so yummy.   Of course add all the veggies on after and even more exciting I get to add more cheese on top of everything I already added. After all that I put them in the oven at 350°F to bake for 25 minutes.   They come out smelling very delicious so that it...

  On January 10, 2016 I was thinking some people may not realize how powerful words can be when said to one another.   If you grow up hearing “I love you” or “you are beautiful” said to you every day then it is more likely that this person will feel better about themselves as they become older.   Of course if someone heard “I hate you” or “you’re ugly” said to them every day then they are more likely to feel bad about themselves. The one thing that people often forget about is what they say to themselves.   If you repeat to yourself something positive about yourself you are more likely to feel and think positively.   The same can go for if you say negative things to yourself you are more likely to feel and think negatively. I can understand this aspect because I have been telling myself negative things about myself for most of my life.   I don’t remember exactly when this started, but I do know I was quite young.   It wasn’t a matter of people putt...

  On January 5, 2016 I was thinking most people have experienced some form of anxiety in their lives.   This can come from speaking in front of a room full of people, performing a solo at a concert, writing an exam, etc. For some people a little bit of anxious energy can motivate them to stay on top of their work, or cause a person to run faster.   For others a little bit of anxious energy can turn into full blown anxiety. I find that for the most part as of late my anxiety has been less, but for most of my life that was not the case.   Being called on in class for an answer was awful, especially if it was unexpected.   My automatic reaction would be to stare blankly like an animal caught in the middle of the night who got spooked.   My heart felt like it was going to jump out of my chest as it was pounding so hard.   I thought everyone could hear it.   At some point my brain reminded me to speak again and I would either say “I don’t know” or ...

  On January 1, 2016 I wrote about figuring out what my one word for the year each year since 2012.   I first learned of this idea from a church in B.C. called Relate Church.   They suggested everyone to dig deep and listen for that one word that God puts on their hearts at the beginning of the year.   That word, whatever it may be, would be something you would strive for throughout the year. My one word for 2015 was Conqueror.   I can tell you that it made me a bit nervous as I’m thinking ‘what will I have to conquer’ during that year.   I thought ‘oh, is it going to be about a hard situation that occurs in my life that I’ll have to work through?’   I really had no clue what would happen for me in 2015, but I hoped I could be the conqueror God knew I would be. As it turns out the things that I ended up conquering in my life this year were things that I had been holding onto for years.   If you had told me at the beginning of 2015 that I’d not...