It’s All About the Nuggets-Part Two

I wrote a post recently called It’s All About the Nuggets. I coined the phrase based on conversations and teaching moments I have had through the years, using these “nuggets” as a quick-trigger means to motivate myself to take action, or change a thought pattern, or refrain from an activity I no longer wanted to do. I illustrated using a nugget to help my daughter with math. I have used nuggets in many parts of my life in conversations and counseling opportunities with people. Some folks have found them helpful, others maybe not, but I find them helpful and tend to pull them out from time to time for personal use. In that recent message It’s All About the Nuggets, I suggested there may be nuggets you use, and perhaps you’d like to share it here.

So, what nuggets have you come up with? Do you have nuggets as tools that come to your mind to help you remember an important detail or behavior change you wish to make, or a phrase that you call on to work through a grieving moment?

In the podcast episode I titled, My First Mistake, I talked about golf balls. I had no idea that golf balls would become a nugget, but golf balls have been in my mind ever since I recorded that episode. The “nugget” for me relating to golf balls is to remember that laughter and grief can and do coexist.

Whimsy and Tears also came from that podcast episode. When I said it and heard it played back in the recording, I thought, “this is something I want to include more often”. In my daily life, I can see a place for both whimsy and tears. Of course, I need other emotions, too, but this notion of whimsy, being lighthearted and fun, is an important emotion to have handy, especially because I can take myself too seriously at times. Considering whimsy, I picture daisies and butterflies, and colors. Tears—tears are at first seemingly self-explanatory but, on further examination, can be loaded. Think of tears of joy, tears of pain, tears of laughter, tears of shame, tears of extreme happiness, tears of deep sadness. You get the idea. Tears and whimsy to me mean joy and sadness in the same setting, or a joyful moment in a very sad period, or laughing through the tears, which can breakthrough a moment of deep sadness. Not to squash the sadness but to ease the burden on our heart, if only for a few seconds. Perhaps the whimsy and tears can be an encouragement that today I’m here, I’m okay in this moment, and I am ready to step into the next moment.

Now you have a picture I’ve laid out for you relating to whimsy and tears. For golf balls: well, you ought to take a listen to My First Mistake and see what picture it creates in your mind.

I have others, but these are at the front of my brain for now. I’ll keep you posted on others as they arise. Glad you’re here!