OPINIONS and ONIONS

** Please excuse the visual of this post. 
There was not a 'no background' option **

Journaling recently, I wrote out OPINIONS and noticed the word ONIONS within it.

One of my favorite things is to see words IN words.  I find it gives deeper meaning and impact.

IMPOSSIBLE says I'M POSSIBLE

RESPONSIBILITY suggests I have the ABILITY to RESPOND

Remove PI from OPINIONS
and you're left with ONIONS.

You get the idea.

Back to OPINIONS and ONIONS...

Someone very dear to me shared some news.  Pretty big news.  Life-altering news.  News that is taking her in an unexpected direction.  I started to think about all the OPINIONS people will have, the reactions and responses she'll be subjected to as she tells others.  

Some will celebrate.  

Some will judge.  

Some will fall somewhere in the middle.  

The thing is - they're all OPINIONS.  And OPINIONS are layered, like...wait for it...ONIONS.  

To borrow from Shrek.

As donkey goes on in that clip.

OpiNIONS STINK.
Yep.  Onions stink.  As do Opinions.  They reek of the filter and layers of the person expressing said opinion.

OpiNIONS MAKE YOU CRY.

Yep.  Onions make you cry.  Often, the opinion of someone else can too. 

NOT EVERYONE LIKES OpiNIONS 

True.  Not everyone likes onions.  They can be pungent when raw.  They sweeten when cooked.  Either way, not everyone likes them.  

OpiNIONS CAN BE OVERPOWERING.

Onions can overshadow a dish.  Similarly, opinions can drown you and overshadow our own self-talk, self-worth, our own confidence, our own voice.  Sometimes, it's all you can smell and taste.  

OpiNIONS GIVE YOU BAD BREATH
No one wants to be close to anyone with bad, OpiNION breath.  They usually steer clear, as will those that give their opinions.

I've gone through my own ONION-OPINION experiences in my life and lemme tell ya, it stank, I cried, I didn't like what people said and at times, it was overpowering and challenging to hold my head up.  I definitely stayed away from their bad breath.

AND YET...FUN FACT -  onions have health benefits too.  As stinky, cry-y-ing, dislike-edness and overpowering as they can be, they have healing properties too.  Who knew?  I found this on the interwebs and it read, 

"Onions are packed with disease and free-radical-fighting antioxidants, 

which help repair and protect damaged cells in your body." 

Knowing this, it would suffice to say that OPINIONS also have health benefits.  Opinions can help repair and protect our mental health, when sourced from trusted resources.  Even then, those trusted resources come with their own filters, perspectives and presuppositions.  Get hit with enough of them and you build up the resistance.  You learn to block them out.  

Pause the next time you, yourself, are inclined to share an OpiNION with a person or share a story that is not for you to tell.  Would YOU think it smells?  Would it make YOU cry to hear it?  Would YOU like it?  Would it be overpowering?  Would YOU steer clear of it?

Is it TRUE? Is it NECESSARY? Is it KIND?

These are good assessments to implement.  Check out my TED Talk on how I have perfected this and no longer share an opinion or stories that are none of my business...sigh.  

Oh, wait...never mind.

In the spirit of being a WIP (Work In Progress), I can assure you, I have moments when I share out of line.  Although, I HAVE adopted practicing The Ask.  "Do you want to hear my guidance, advice, two cents?  Or am I to just listen?"  Usually, the person is simply dying to hear my sage wisdom...LOL

I will leave you with the poem from which the three questions above are derived.  

In the meantime, I remain, Humbled, Buoyed and Blessed 

And always, I invite you to take 10 minutes to

Just Be

The Texas Ginger

Bringing World Peace, One Hug At A Time

The Three Gates

If you are tempted to reveal

A Tale to you someone has told

About another, make it pass,

Before you speak, Three gates of gold.

These narrow gates: First, “Is it true?”

Then, “Is it needful?” In your mind

Give truthful answer. And the next

Is last and narrowest, “Is it kind?”

And if to reach your lips at last

It passes through these gateways three,

Then you may tell the tale, nor fear

What the result of speech may be.

--The Arabian 

Thank You

*** I create here, on BlogSpot.  It is a bit more user friendly and I can manipulate the text, alignment, colors, etc. 
I then copy/paste over to SubStack where it's a bit more sterile in appearance and there you can 'subscribe'
The best part, you can enjoy my writing here OR there ***

 

I want to say 

** THANK YOU **

Earlier this week, I kept receiving emails alerting me of a 'New Subscriber' via Substack. 

What?! Wait…I didn’t know what I was doing.

I am on a tremendous learning curve.

This all began while I was reading another email that I subscribe to
[ Nadia Bolz-Weber * From The Corners, you ought to check her out ] 
As I scrolled to the bottom of her email, it had a little button with the Substack Logo,
'Start Writing'.

I clicked on it.

Down the rabbit hole I went...

And TWENTY-NINE subscribers later stumbled upon my first post.

TWENTY-NINE! 

Can you believe it?

I am all giddy, having heard from many I have had little to no contact in years.  

And looksy!!  Here we are, connecting!

The neatest part - my oldest is the first to pledge an amount so I can get paid when I turn on the payment feature!

WHAT?!  

I'm so excited.

I have my first twenty-nine to thank. 

It has re-ignited my heart for writing, as well as built my incentive to be accountable.  

I am very thankful and ever-so-grateful.

I am working on another, heartier post. I have made a commitment to write/publish every Sunday. In the spirit of building a habit and staying true to my word (or words…lol), this will have to be this week’s post.

I remain, Humbled, Buoyed and Blessed 

As always, take 10 minutes to

Just Be

The Texas Ginger

Bringing World Peace, One Hug At A Time

Hello My Name Is

In the spirit of meditation...

Let's begin again, shall we?

It's been a while since I've written on a public platform.  

Some of you have met me.  

Some of you are just meeting me.

Some of you, well...welcome back - it's been a minute, eh?

My name is Kimberly.  

While I have gone by several last names, I currently go by Brown.  Kimberly Brown.

My stage name...I mean, social media identity is The Texas Ginger.

I have three biological daughters and one bonus daughter.  The two older girls share a birthday, two years apart that happens to fall on my mom's birthday.  The youngest was a surprise (another blog post in and of itself) and has her own birthday, yet still in the same month as the older two.  Their ages at this time of writing are 21, 19, 17 (bonus) and 10.  I will refer to them as Oldest, Middlest, 2nd Middlest and Littlest throughout my writings.

If you met me, you'd soon learn I listen beyond any words you are saying.

I'm HILARIOUS...like, very funny.  Even 'witty' in some circles.  Always looking for the pun.

I take too much pleasure in saying, out loud, what everyone else is thinking and wishes they had the nerve to say.  

You probably would never guess the following highlights from my life:

Abortion

1st 'marriage'

(I use air quotes because we never even lived together...again, a blog post in and of itself)

Divorced within a year

2nd marriage

2 kids 
(the oldest and middlest)

2nd divorce

3rd marriage

3 miscarriages

1 birth with a heart defect, passing away 5 weeks later

      FUN FACT: she was born on her grandpa's birthday

1 alive and well
(the littlest)

Another miscarriage, the last
If you math, that's 6 pregnancies

3rd divorce

Told to leave the church

4th marriage
(bonus daughter - 2nd middlest)

Navigating adult children, oldest and middlest 

Balancing blendedness of littlest and 2d middlest

Trying to remain relatable while co-parenting the littlest

Sounds pretty gnarly, eh?  

MARRIED four times...tsk tsk...

        Garth Brooks - Standing Outside The Fire

Her baby died....so sad

         Mercy Me - Bring The Rain

So many MISACARRIAGES...poor thing...

KICKED OUT of church ...oh my  (do they still do that?)

          

And so on.

What if you had context?  

Some of you reading this DO have context.  You've heard the backstory (some lived through it with me, holding my hand, drying my tears, supporting both 'good' and 'bad' decisions - loving me anyway).  And what-ya-know, you stuck around.  You call me friend.

Some reading this may have context from YOUR perspective.  You once called me friend and at some point, decided (or were told) to stop calling me friend.  I venture to say that was at about the 'Kicked Out Of Church' chapter.  

Some of you have just met me.  I hope you'll stick around.  My hope is we will find common ground.  Perhaps we can be a source of encouragement to one another.  

Some of you may kindly think you know all the things and end up walking away.

Both choices are ok.

Because I'M ok.

I am a work in progress, pursuing growth through self-reflection, owning my stuff, pickin' up the pieces while bumbling on into the next day, the next moment.

I still make mistakes (ask any of the kids or my husband...lol).  

All of this to say, will you join me?

Join me on the journey of growth, kindness, and being.  

I want to curate a space where we can agree to disagree.  

Be respectfully curious.

Engage in thoughtful conversations with a motive to learn.  

Let's enjoy the fact we are not all that different.   

Who's in?

I remain, Humbled, Buoyed and Blessed 

And always, I invite you to take 10 minutes to

Just Be

The Texas Ginger

Bringing World Peace, One Hug At A Time