From the Desk of Pennwell Gray
Daily thoughts. Points to ponder. Soulful reflections. The Musings of E.M. Murphy.
Addiction is a prison. It holds one hostage within one’s self, the worst hell of all.
Some can overcome, and some just can’t stop the endless cycle. Despite intervention, rehab, meetings and more, they can’t release the demon that possesses their soul: alcohol or drugs.
Continue reading “Serving a life sentence: Addiction.”On this Thursday eve as I ready to welcome the start of the weekend, I cannot help but reflect upon the horrific attacks of 9/11/01.
In my life, 9/11 wasn’t always synonymous with the brutal and unimaginable murders of thousands of people that day, in NYC, the Pentagon, and PA. That was a day we will never, and should never, forget. However, 9/11 is also my father’s birthday and we are gifted with a reason to celebrate this Sunday. Continue reading “September 12, 2001: United we stood.”
In sharing time with one of my oldest (not in age) and dearest friends this evening, we took a deep dive into relationships – and relating, period.
As we reflected and reminisced about the countless things we’ve both learned through love and loss over the years, one poignant point was the fact that men and women can, and often do, think quite differently.
Continue reading “Boys, don’t make it so complicated (girls, too)!”I’m a big music gal who couldn’t narrow my tastes down to a favorite genre if you paid me – or simply asked.
I love all music and my collection has no rhyme or reason. From world music to classical, funk, rock, and decade mixes. Blue grass, Cajun, Christian and soul. Easy listening, big band, Gregorian chant. No matter what the genre, you are guaranteed to find it when you scroll through the countless playlists on my apps – or on my Classic iPod (yes, it exists in my car). There are even remnants of my past on CDs at my parents’ house. Continue reading “Music moves the heart and stirs the soul. Remembering Karen Carpenter.”
Today was National Grief Awareness Day and I posted earlier as to what that may entail.
For me?
I work through grief in exhausting ways, pushing to extremes. Volunteering to extremes. Doing anything to extremes.
Yet this is not necessarily a bad thing.
Through productivity and activity, I find peace and solace.
As I befriend dough, stir sauce or shape treats, I work through many issues – feelings and emotions.
Not a bad release, right?
This morning I thought, “I should meditate.”
And I should – and will, however, I can’t see paying for a class to meditate with others vs. meditating on my own.
$25 per class vs. my making a commitment to carve out time to meditate within the comfort of my home. Which would you choose?
How do you manage your grief?
However you do, that works for you. Don’t ever let someone convince you otherwise.
How often I’ve seen people post or mention ‘feel the feels’, noting it as some buzz phrase of today, not giving it much thought.
Ironically, I’ve written about feelings – a lot. I’ve touted the importance of acknowledging one’s feelings and allowing yourself to sit a while with them when you find yourself faced with such moments.
I spent years running from my feelings, yet they always caught up with me. I hid them, denied them and quelled them in any way I could – food, drink, work, hobbies. Continue reading “Feel the feels.”
Despite the fact that I am biting at the bit to write about societal conflicts, I am choosing to write about true companions.
Despite the fact that I should be refining and completing my children’s book, I am choosing to write about true companions.
Despite the fact that I don’t have a heck of a lot of inspiration to write about anything that wouldn’t offend someone in this moment, I am choosing to write about true companions.
I am not referring to Marc Cohn’s song, ‘True Companion’, although some of the lyrics could apply.
I am writing about our pets.
Our dogs and cats, maybe fish and rabbits.
This is in honor of the pets who fill voids humans unintentionally leave. The pets who offer unlimited attention, comfort, and loyalty. The pets who we sometimes, yet hopefully not too often (if at all), take for granted. Continue reading “A True Companion.”
I never thought of a thank you note being a lost art until out with friends last evening when something sparked this conversation.
Turns out the thank you note has grown antiquated, becoming a collectible today.
Not because that’s the way it should be, but that’s what has become.
Continue reading “The thank you note. A lost art that we need to bring back.”Enough said, end of post. Just kidding.
We’ve all seen the elderly gentleman who is in the supermarket rocking shorts, knee-high socks, and sandals. Or the elderly woman who is out in her housecoat and slippers with her make-up just a bit too bright or, misplaced completely.
But I bet we never stopped to think, how liberating!
How wonderful it must be to reach an age when such superficial, vain matters become irrelevant.
An age when we are simply satisfied to wake-up on the right side of the grass, no daisies that we’re pushing up.
An age when we actually don’t sweat the small stuff because we’ve learned that when we do, we just sweat. That’s it – sweat. It solves nothing. It robs us of the present. And life will happen anyway.
Man plans. God laughs.
Continue reading “I’m officially getting old – lucky me!”Daily thought: There are times when we work ourselves to an extreme. We push and push until we forget what it is that we are trying to accomplish, yet know we need to keep going.
Point to ponder: There are times we need to step away, even when we know we need to keep going. Why do we find it so hard to stop? Why are we so reluctant to step away, forcing ourselves to drive things forward even when our health and well-being is at stake?
Soulful reflection: I was reminded of this today because I am working tirelessly in an effort to bring to life some important projects outside of my full-time work. I’m passionate, excited yet also frustrated because things don’t always happen as quickly as I would like them to. That and being on a computer 18 hours most days is daunting. We do what we have to do.
But there is a time to step away. Usually when we give our minds and bodies a break, temporarily shifting our priorities, we come back refreshed and replenished. When we take that break, we allow room for creativity to flow. New ideas have room to percolate. Problems can be ironed out as various solutions are revealed.
When we don’t do this, we aren’t nearly as productive and can actually be slowing down our progress. In the wise words of a former colleague, ‘sometimes we need to slow down, to speed up.’
Tonight, I’m slowing down, taking a breath and spending quality time with my pooch.
Be sure to discipline yourself because often it is not our time we need to manage, but our energy.
