Ok it is dictionary day again, but I did not do what I normally do this time.  I chose a word rather than pick it at random.  I had recently read “refreshing” and I do like that word, so I thought I would make it the word of the day.
Besides yesterday I reckon I really felt it.  It was hot.  We had commented earlier it was like a summer’s day.  I had breaky with a mate then he brought his chainsaw over and we cut out a few stumps.  Then I did some work in the yard and Merril and I went and did a few things we had to do.  It was at that point the comment was made about it seeming like a summer’s day.
It was later on we were sitting in the yard in some shade a breeze blew.  To me it felt so refreshing.  Hence the appropriateness and interest I had in the word when I read it later.
The dictionary I normally use had three entries related to refresh.   They were refresh, refresher, refreshment.  It was the word “refresh” I was particularly interested in.  It described refresh as (among other things) reanimate, reinvigorate.  Looking it up elsewhere in Dictionary.com it means “to provide new vigour and energy by rest, food, etc.” while in Mirriam-Webster it means to “renew, restore, renovate, rejuvenate (make like new).  Renew implies a restoration of what had become faded or disintegrated so that it seems like new.”  The Free Dictionary said it was “to revive or reinvigorate…”  I admit I am a bit bemused when I see it stated that “refresh” means “to refresh.”
As I say I actually really like that word as there are definitely times where refreshing does me good.  That is both in a physical and mental sense.  Physically it seems everyone needs that from time to time.  I know I wilt.  Sometimes it is a glass of water that revives or a rest before going back to the task at hand.  Mentally I can get jaded even though I am big on having one day a week not thinking about what I normally need to do.  Sometimes it is that the constant activities get to me. Or the sense that all is doable but so much is one on top of the other that I ask myself, “when will it all end.”  Or it maybe I have consistently failed to do what I do to centre myself (I call it a quiet time where I am alone with God going over stuff)
Whatever the cause, three cheers for refreshing I reckon.  Refreshing to me is like a second wind.  There is stuff for me to do.  Not all at once thankfully.  It is a slow and steady wins the race thing ensuring I have breaks and keep myself from allowing worry.  There is time to do what I need to do and as long as daily foundations are put in place correctly, “I’ve got this.”

One thing I really like about the lifestyle I live, is the fact that each day can is a fresh start.
It may be that one day I feel blah.  Sometimes it is just a cycle of life, and I am down on myself for no apparent reason.  At other times my head is full of unfounded accusations.  It can be that I have habitually entertained such thoughts from time to time, and it is like a weakness in my defences. 
At other times I have blown it and I know it.  My actions can be passive and my having blown it is an inaction thing.  I find there are two types of blowing it for me.  Doing what I know not to do, and sometimes not doing what I know to do.
Fortunately neither need not be terminal. This is where the lifestyle thing comes in.  I can determine that I will not let the way I feel, and what I do at certain times, define me.  I find no-one including myself benefits from me giving up and taking my bat and ball home.
I guess in a lot of ways it takes acknowledging I am not as good as I thought I was.   Any good in me is a gift and I take that for granted at my peril.
Thankfully each day is opportunity for a fresh start.  I acknowledge my short comings and where I need to spit it out.  Ok that is not easy.  It is not easy to acknowledge that I am not as good as I think I may be, and I need help to be good.
The good thing though I reckon is a fresh start always keeps me on the path I want to be on.  And the more I remain familiar with the path the more inclined I am to stick with it.
Many had a go at someone saying, “life wasn’t meant to be easy.”  In some contexts, it was right to have a go at someone saying that.  But in another way, I reckon it is true. Yet for me so often hard is worth it.  And I have found that hard is the exception and always corresponds with growth if I let it.

I personally reckon the ability to listen is just about the greatest favour I can do someone.
I may look at teaching on listening shortly, but I am really coming from a point that has not so much to do with learning and knowing all the theory about the power of and necessity to listen, but actually listening.
To me it is important to know the rights and wrongs of doing it - yet I feel the most important thing is to actually listen.  Speaking for myself I know pretty well immediately if someone is engaged with me.  There is actually little as disheartening as feeling I am wasting my time in conversation as the other is not with me and is thinking about other things.
Of course there is much at play in such a scenario but to me it is imperative I don’t miss a cry of the human heart.  I have found so often it is not a providing of an answer that is sought (though it sometimes is) it is just being present and taking an interest that is liberating for another.  Sometimes a person finds that just verbalizing an issue is enough to provide an as yet unthought of solution. And even when no solution is forthcoming an airing of an issue can be a step of freedom.
This is not referring to those who seem to be professional grumblers. Those for whom satisfaction is found in grumbling alone.  Again though, I need to take care for there are times when grumbling is a cry for help.  As Peter F Druker said, “the most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.”
It is said mankind has never been more connected but never lonelier.  A lot is said - but I am unsure about how much is heard without preconception.  As the song says “still a man hears what he wants to hear…”
There are times something is said, not because it is a firmly held and well considered belief but said only because it is as far as someone has gone in considering a matter or because it is parroting an agenda being pushed.
I reckon my role is to hear what is said and not said and decide from there which way to go.