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A strong yet pliable foundation that provides structure yet flexibility to move with the dynamic nature of life. The founding fathers of the Constitutional Convention referred to this as the Elastic Clause as they crafted a document over 200 years ago that, while tested severely over the centuries, has moved in one way or another with the significant changes generations have brought before it, demanding said changes at many times, and still is standing
today. No document of foundation is perfect, just as the best parents in the world are not perfect either. Similarly, neither can our daily lives be perfect, and to believe that perfection should be the goal is a fool's pursuit. Because when we pursue perfection, we create only something that will be perfect for that moment and easily breakable with the next generation.
Flexibility with clarity paired with an open-mind enables the traveler, the journeypersons that we are, to strive forward with our lives and discover the gifts it hopes we will ask it to introduce to us.
I am extremely grateful to my parents with each passing year for providing me with a childhood that enabled me to feel safe, yet explore, dream, make mistakes and continue to grow. No, like every parent who is paid gratitude by their children as a child or in hindsight, they were not perfect, but I know, now more than ever, they gave and continue to give everything and more.
As adults, we can cultivate our own strong, yet pliable foundation from which we can dream, leap, experiment and bounce as we learn from our mistakes. Such a foundation can materialize in a variety of ways: financial, in the form of a large cushion of savings; structural, in the form of a physical home in which we know we can pay the rent/mortgage without worry; community-based, in the form of the relationships we build and maintain with friends,
colleagues and family; savvy and skill, in the form of our intellectual abilities as we build our confidence in fields that enable us to travel, explore professionally and try something new.
Not everything in our lives needs to be a work-in-progress in order for we, ourselves, to always be a work-in-progress. To have some constant in our lives, even if in reality, we know that it could change or will change eventually due to age, death, retirement, etc., is to recognize the foreseeable changes of life that are inevitable. However, it is also important to know that so long as we have one source of solid and pliable foundation in our
lives at any given time, we can spring forth to learn the new skills, achieve the new tasks and learn the new lessons we need in order to be ready when our structure has to change.
Sometimes we will provide that structure for those we love, and if we are so fortunate to be given this responsibility, we must not forget the pliable attribute just as equally, we must not forget the strong quotient as well. So too, we can be each of these attributes for ourselves, for we model and teach others how to treat and care for us. Be courageous enough to reach your full potential, but gentle enough and open-minded enough to understand we may
not always know how the journey will unfold. However, always keep striving forward and you will continue to strength and create the foundation that is necessary.
In this week's newsletter, you will find an enjoyable bundle of posts, videos, links of recommendations and a podcast for the upcoming change of seasons. In particular, this week's This & That is jammed packed - especially when it comes to the shared links found in the latter-half of the post.
I am so thankful for TSLL readers and TSLK viewers for sharing what they love and enjoy about the blog, vodcast and podcast. I continually try to share on my own IG Stories feed your posts of how you incorporate what you discover on TSLL. And in this past Saturday's cooking episode, in the show notes, I included a handful of readers' pics as they shared recipes that were inspired by the show as well as those who captured themselves watching the show. I look
forward to doing this again on upcoming Show Notes. Thank you for your time to do this, and thank you for choosing to subscribe to TSLL's weekly newsletter.
Wishing you a wonderful last weekend of the season, and now to the newsletter! Until next Friday, I will see you on the blog. Bonne journée.
