young girls | Tyra Garlington

Can you remember once upon a time?

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

It took me a while to accept the fact that once upon a time never comes again. And thus, remembering will have to do. Once upon a time, March 21st was the day Mother would awaken to breakfast in bed, a dozen red roses, lots of singing and hugs and presents from Daddy and me. We treated birthdays as both intimate and big moments. We saw one another as gifts that God had given to us and the world. Once upon a time, Mother was a single parent while Daddy was away at war and disabled in a Veterans Hospital.……
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Are you every woman?

Posted on March 14, 2017 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

“Strength has no gender.” “Our history is our strength.” “Writing women back into history.” “Know your history, know your power.” A few reminders that March is Women’s History Month. I encourage you to celebrate today and everyday women everywhere for their strength and resilience and legacies. Women’s History Month had its origins as a national celebration in 1981 when Congress passed Pub. L. 97-28 which authorized and requested the President to proclaim the week beginning March 7, 1982, as “Women’s History Week.” In 1987 after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, Congress passed Pub. L. 100-9 which designated……
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Legacy is for life and living

Posted on January 8, 2017 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

Did you know that: The best place to plant a young tree: is in a clearing in an old-growth forest and not an open field. Why Tyra, I’m glad you asked. Ecologists tell us that a young tree grows better when it’s planted in an area with older trees. Now, this is the good part. The reason, it seems, is that the roots of the young tree are able to follow the pathways created by former trees and implant themselves more deeply. Over time, the roots of many trees may actually graft themselves to one another, creating an intricate, interdependent……
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Don’t look too closely.

Posted on July 19, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

The famous French philosopher and mathematician René Descartes, also known as the Father of Modern Philosophy, said the words “I think therefore I am.” We have a large body of mental health research that supports the fact that our thoughts are our most powerful force. “When you step out your door to face the world, you are a force to be reckoned with. You are confident, determined, and very much in control in most areas of your life. This is your dominant mask that the world sees, and to others, you can be quite intimidating! You chase your dreams and get……
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How certain instants in our lives make us who we are

Posted on July 6, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

I spent all last week with pre-teens at Vacation Bible School. Loving and listening to them reminded me that who they may see in the mirror may, for varying reasons, be created by the words of others. Shane Koyczan’s spoken-word poetry pays tribute to the consequences of our language. If you have children in your life, it is a magnificent read. I have provided an edited excerpt here. To This Day for the Bold and the Beautiful When I was a kid, I hid my heart under my bed, because my mother said, “If you are not careful, someday someone’s……
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Who I am does not mean how you treat me.

Posted on June 28, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

She is twenty-one now. She has graduated college with honors. Her family is proud of her. She has a good job lined up. However at unseen levels, she is missing in action. Never telling her parents has been a way of protecting them. Never telling anyone else has been a way of protecting herself. But those choices are not working. She is in a long-term relationship with shame. Sometimes her pain is incomprehensible. There seems to be no possible resolution. Her rape has left ever present residue. The memory of that night lives in a personal backward facing time machine over which she……
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Every day is immediate.

Posted on May 17, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

I like to greet the morning with gratitude. I intentionally focus on my body celebrating that I can move, see, feel, think, hear and care. I am aware it didn’t have to be this way and I remember there was a season when it wasn’t. Then as I tune into messages from the world, I long for a day without war, a time where empathy is an effective weapon against hate and when all human life is considered worthy. Apparently not yet. Sometimes my sense of powerlessness to make things better feels like grief. It was like that Sunday. I……
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If not for you.

Posted on May 10, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

Nina Simone wrote, “Everything must change, nothing stays the same, Everyone must change, no one stays the same The young become the old, mysteries unfold Cause that’s the way of time, nothing and no one goes unchanged.” I recently began to appreciate that the part of me that is the most easily lost or changed is also the part of me that is most easily cherished. I have had to learn to be brave enough to know who I am and let me be her. “The young become the old.” My birthday yesterday reminded me that I have lived longer……
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Are you in need of your immediate inner strength?

Posted on March 29, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

She had disappeared from my life years ago. I was so happy to hear her voice. She had been a wonderful friend to me in my time of need. Her story unfolded amongst sobs. I listened. She recently became singular as a result of rejection from her significant other. She was unemployed, about to be homeless and estranged from her only daughter. I listened. The few times I asked, “Have you…?” Her response was, “I can’t because…” I realized her pain had her stuck in anger and shame. I was reminded of how proud she was. She was used to……
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Do you have any idea how I feel about you?

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Tyra Garlington • 0 Comments

I care. I really do. Last week while in a meeting, the gentleman sitting next to me leaned over and whispered, “I really enjoyed your blog last week. I thought I was the only one.” He had no idea what that meant to me. He was a stranger. He didn’t know that I wonder if my words connect, encourage and let someone, anyone talk about sometimes uncomfortable things and to understand that no matter what, they are not alone. So take a look in this mirror and see how I see you and why I feel the way I do.……
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