Friday, January 26, 2018

Autism Answer: I'm Home And I Brought A Few Thoughts With Me

"Be passionate and non-violent. Be these things without being silent. Take time in the quiet to discover your own changing beliefs and insist on living them with volume. Your power is your existence. Use it with intention!" ~Tsara Shelton (me!)

I've been away, some of you have noticed. (Thank you for noticing!) I've been in California working with and for my sister.

It was fantastical!!!

It was filled with feelings, moments, concerns, challenges, reminiscing, reinventing, and at the end of the twelve days, I left for home with a few hard questions I'll be untangling and exploring.

It was exactly what I like interruptions in my regular routine to be. I felt my value, I worked my role with passion, and though I was reminded of ways I am not able to "fix" all the things that hurt us I was also able to see all the ways I can affect our situations and work toward answers that help.

All of our lives are a story. A great many stories, actually. And we are like writers. We dive in with intention and a vision for how we imagine the story will go but we are never not surprised. We are never not taken in new directions. The story unfolds as we both create and react to it. It is invigorating, frightening, and powerfully revealing!

Our power is our existence and our story has an effect on many other stories. Let's remind each other to be intentional and kind even in the face of the hard stuff.

I think, friends, it helps when we notice that we are mostly surrounded by stunning creativity, kindness, and cooperation. The hard stuff is inevitable and revealing, but it isn't the majority of our moments. (Even when it feels like it because the hard stuff has a habit of making the loveliness harder to focus on or accept as lovely. Focus and accept anyway!)

Whether we want to have power or not, we do. Embrace it! Explore it! Enjoy it!

Oh, boy, it's nice to be back! It's fun to embrace and explore with you.
I do so enjoy it!

Hugs, smiles, and love!!
Autism Answers with Tsara Shelton (Facebook) 

Some photos from my recent trip to California: 

My sister and her two youngest daughters.

A production crew family (my son & his wife in the background, me & my niece in the foreground)

Mornings at my sister's house
 
My son and his wife picking up their daughter (I had six wonderful days with her!)


My granddaughter adores smiling and playing with her cousins!