Joy Phenix's Blog

‘I’m good enough,  I’m smart enough, and doggone it,  people like me.” Jack Handy I have a friend who is the first person to imagine the “worst case scenario” for any situation that crosses his path. Death – Disease – Embarrassment. He consistently comes up with reasons  why people will hate him, how he will [...]

I have a friend, let’s call him “John,”  who, although he had a long-time girlfriend, would never admit he was scared to get married. John, who was in his late 40′s, shrugged off questions about when he would propose by saying, “I don’t think I’m ready.” When that answer wouldn’t suffice he would say, “I’m [...]

I’ve never been a person to make many New Year’s Resolutions. One year I made a goal of getting rid of all ill-fitting clothes.  That was big for me, and, I’m happy to say, I pretty much nailed it (as long as you don’t count owning socks that “quit” midday). Aside from that, I stick [...]

Are you ever lulled into taking the same, safe paths over and over? Do you spend time looking for new challenges, fresh approaches, and daring adventures to live or do you stick with what you know? Have you ever noticed anything odd, strange, or new that was both intriguing and scary? How do you respond [...]

“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions.  All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make the better.  What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn?  What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice.  Up again, [...]

“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” – Albert Einstein You don’t have to spend much time with kids before seeing how much they enjoy repetition and routine. They like waking up the same way, sitting in the same seat, eating the same foods, and having a the same bedtime drill every day.  [...]

” A person’s wisdom yields patience; it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.” Proverbs 19:11 Nobody really wants to be Kevin Bacon in Animal House (“Thank you sir, may I have another?“), willingly subjecting themselves to abuse,  but in yesterday’s post (here) I made the argument that the smart person makes a choice [...]

“A fool shows his annoyance at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.” Proverbs 12:16 My flight was canceled because of weather. I’m standing at the airport ticket counter behind a woman, let’s call her “Karen,” who is all kinds of upset with the person trying to find her a seat on a new [...]

“’Well,’ said Owl, ‘the customary procedure in such cases is as follows.’ ‘What does Crustimoney Proseedcake mean?’   said Pooh. ‘For I am a Bear of Very Little Brain, and long words Bother me.’ ‘It means the Thing to Do.’ ‘As long as it means that, I don’t mind,’ said Pooh humbly.’” – A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh, [...]

Do you ever walk through the day and feel burdened by the brokenness of the world? To be candid, I find that much of the time I default to thinking about the brokenness of MY world only: the flat tire, the computer glitch, the traffic signal that keeps me waiting a full five minutes leaving [...]