Jennifer K. Jordan Blog

I’ve walked the same path where I live for the past twenty-eight years. After all this time, I still love it. Walking is one of my favorite pastimes, and on surveys I’ve done, I’ve often written “walking” as a favorite activity. I live on a golf course and across the street from beautiful townhomes. For my path, I head out from my condominium complex and walk down a slight hill along the golf course. Pine trees line the golf course fence, and I love watching the squirrels dart around. They dash up trees, across the street, and show their masterful balance walking across the narrow fence. Sometimes, when a dog spots them, the dog sits posed under the tree, head tilted up, and eyes glued on the squirrels above. The squirrels are smart, though. They stay frozen high up in the branches to keep themselves safe. Their tactic works. I’ve never seen one of them be a casualty to a dog. Eventually, the dog’s owner leads it away on the leash, and the dog looks dejected, since it missed its oppo...

I was always different. Instead of what most people liked, I liked something else. Instead of chocolate sundaes, I liked butterscotch. Instead of maple syrup, I liked blueberry, and instead of Coke or Pepsi, I liked root beer. As I got older, I liked art and none of the rest of my family did. I wanted to travel and see the world, and my mom was happy staying home. As an adult, I like writing and am a great observer. When I travel, I write in the Notes or Google Docs App in my phone every day. I use voice recognition and speak as I traverse various places. I want to capture my thoughts and feelings at the moment that I have them. When I get home, I write a trip diary. Some, I just keep as a souvenir for me, and others, I expand into a book. It’s my way of sharing what I learned to educate others about the people and culture I visited and to inspire others to do their dreams. Traveling is one of my dreams, and I hope that in seeing me do my dreams, it encourages others to do theirs. On...

What if there were Smile-a-Thon? Participants would get pledges from people to smile – to go five minutes, one hour, one whole day smiling. It would be a workout for the face, but so worth it. Just think what the world would be like if we all smiled and pledged to ourselves to smile? It might be a happier place. I don’t always feel like smiling, but I always feel better when I do. If I or anyone doesn’t feel like smiling, though, we can enter a Smile-a-Thon or start one. Maybe there’s never been one before, but it’s time for everyone to smile. The world needs it. It’s ailing with wars, inflation, economic angst. Perhaps we can’t change the world all at once, but we can change our face. So join me, join a Smile-a-Thon, and smile. Image Reference:  https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=228169&picture=little-smile . Accessed 20 May 2023.              

Recently, while I looked at my print of Van Gogh’s  Twelve Sunflowers in a Vase , I realized that I was like that bouquet. It’s hung in my home for many years, but I saw it in a new way. I noticed that one of the flowers droops down. Another tilts down partway. Some look straight out at the viewer, and several stand tall in the vase. My shortcomings are my flower parts that droop down. They include my tendency to overdo and get unrealistically fearful. When I do either of these behaviors, I feel down, and my mood symbolically drops. Other traits trouble me sometimes, such as depriving myself of items. One of my life lessons is to give myself the best to the degree that it’s financially manageable, and to know that I am worth it. The parts of me that stare straight out to the world are my typical traits of being friendly, disciplined, and committed to lifelong growth and learning. The flowers within me that stand up the most are my greatest assets, such as my communication skills, c...

The precious child, so fragile and tiny. The tiny bones are like a miniature glass animal. Knock it over – CRASH! – and it breaks. All precious children break in some way. Can they be put back together? Some never are, but others heal with the glue of supportive friends, healing modalities, and the power of a loving God. Most precious children grow up to be in a big body, and their tiny self resides within their heart. They go forth together. Both precious, forevermore.   Image – https://openclipart.org/detail/311278/jumping-child-silhouette  

  When I as a child, one of my family’s Easter traditions was for my brother and I to look for the “Golden Egg.” We first looked for eggs to fill our Easter baskets, and then the hunt was on for the biggest treasure – the Golden Egg. What would be inside? Chocolates? See’s Candy? A chocolate bunny? It was always a mystery what the Easter bunny, also known as, mom and dad, hid. One morning, when I found it, the egg was hidden in the washer’s cooling vent that opened outside and had a tiny covering where the treasure lay. My gift? Five dollars! In the early 1970s, $5 was a good amount of money for a child. It’s equivalent to about $37 in 2023. It felt like a fortune to me. I don’t remember what I did with the money, but I remember the fun of looking for it and my surprise and delight when I found it. I still remember what I was wearing - white jeans with a short-sleeved pastel pink shirt with flowers on the front. After the treasure hunt, my family went to Disneyland in our new, ye...