"Accentuate the Positive"

 

And welcome fall! (Fall actually begins September 22, 2026.)

I'm running a little late with this blog post due to technical concerns, but I just kept at it and decided to "accentuate the positive"! (Johnny Mercer) And it worked! We just need to believe in what we are doing and to be in a positive frame of mind.

Since there seems to be so much negativity today, we need to stand stand strongly to overcome any negative situations or people.

If there is any enviornment where you don't feel safe or welcome, stay away if at all possible. Don't be around people who are negative or don't have your best interests at heart.

While we want to be positive so we can attract the positive into our lives, it is best to avoid or learn to handle people who are negative or even toxic in their behavior.

There is a wonderful book on this subject that I'd like to recommend if you are having concerns about certain negative people that you encounter in your life. The name of the book is "How to Deal with Toxic People" by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD. This book describes the different types of toxic people, and it gives advice on what to do about them from a Christian viewpoint. We all deserve to be treated with respect, as it says in the book.

As I was paying for this book at the store checkout, the cashier said that she could really use that book herself! And, the next time I went back to the store a week later, I noticed that the rest of the copies of the book were all gone!

Never fear, if your local bookstore (We try to shop locally whenever we can.) doesn't have this book, or something similar, the Internet has a ton of books on this topic!

Even though we might try to be positive on our own, we sometimes need a little help along our road to Positivity in the form of books and other valuable resources.

Here is a positive quality that we might want to cultivate- Persistence-

I noticed that this spider web (which may be a little hard to see, but it's there) was blown away during a strong storm one day, but the next day the spider was back at work, building its web all over again. Now that's determination and persistence!

When we encounter the storms of life, our persistence, our positivity can see us through!

Speaking of books and positivity, I believe you would enjoy my new paperback book on Amazon, "Life in the Southern Appalachians, The Mountain Culture. Sayings, Traditions, People" by Becky Arnott. It has 295 pages and 26 chapters. A few of the chapter titles are "Appalachian Arts and Crafts," "Appalachian Mountain Words and Sayings," "Haunted Appalachia,", "Quilts," and "Vittles," to name a few.

Please see the widgets about this book as well as my other books, etc.

Positive thought- Today's To-Do List- Smile! Be persistent. Be thankful. Be happy. Be kind. Be strong and of course, Be positive! (You might want to make your own positive to-do list.)

Thanks for visiting! Until around Saturday, October 3, 2026, Becky

 

 

"Upcoming Book Preview"

 

In this post, I'd like to share with you how far along I am with writing my upcoming book about life in the Southern Appalachians today, as well as in earlier times. I'm still working on it every day, and it should be ready to publish in a few short weeks.

I'd like to give you a brief preview of  a few chapters in my new book. This is exclusive information, all of which will not be in my book, but it is similar to what will be in there.

This could have been in my "Timeless Treasures" chapter-

It is a unique 120-year old ironing board that can be made into-

a seat when not in use.

These could have been in my "Quilts" chapter-

Here are two pretty, unique quilted Christmas balls.

And, finally, for those of you that like something kind of scary from time to time, there's my "Haunted Appalachia" chapter. There are several paranormal pictures in that chapter, but this one is not in there-

I only found this picture a few days ago when I was going through my hundreds of pictures to find ones that I could use in my book. Neither Greg nor I can remember exactly where this is, but we do know it is a small town in Virginia. I don't know why I even took this picture since it's of a really run-down street where there used to be businesses. 

As I studied the picture...

Close-up of Photograph

I noticed unmistakable ectoplasm in the upper front of the building at the end of the street. There is also a small amount of ectoplasm on the wires on the upper left side of the picture.

What caused the ectoplasm? We can only speculate. Most old buildings tend to have at least some spirit activity around them.

I'm talented in taking paranormal photographs, but I have no idea how to interpret them. I leave that to professional psychics.

By the way, author Mark Muncy said that he thought that the Appalachians were "one of the darkest places on the planet..."

A few of the other chapters in my book are entitled "Critters," "Appalachian Mountain Coal," and "Memorable Moments." And there is a lot more!

Until my book is published, you might want to check out my paranormal Amazon Kindle book, "Photographic Encounters of the Spirit Kind," and also my memoir, "Down Memory Lane," which is in both the paperback and Kindle versions. The setting for both of these books is mostly in the Southern Appalachians.

Happy reading!

Positive thought: "Make every day a celebration!" ~ Becky Arnott

Thanks for visiting! Until around Saturday, September 6, 2025, Becky (At that time, I'll tell you about a special blog post, and the latest about my new book about Southern Appalachia.)