Jerry the Bear was Dad’s imagination. His imaginative bear was used to weave lessons through storytelling. My teachings began when Jerry was born in a cave and started living his adventures. Later Dad turned to philosophical lessons using navigation and constellations to teach the circle of life. Happy Father’s Day week to everybody especially my Dad, Rozier Sanchez. PLUS A TSHIRT DESIGN CONTEST! LISTEN FOR DETAILS ON HOW TO ENTER AND WIN!

this past weekend was my high school reunion.

And I had, well, first of all, I had so much fun being on the reunion committee.

And it was a blast over the weekend at the reunion with all of my classmates and friends.

Well, I am dedicating this episode today to all of our dads and to your dad too..

Your positive, positive stories are everywhere.

People and their positive action inspire positive achievements.

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Could mean the world to you.

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Hello, this is Catherine host of your positive imprint.

The variety show featuring people all over the world whose positive actions are inspiring positive achievements.

Exceptional people rise to the challenge.

Music by the talented Chris NOle.

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Glastonbury festival held over in the United Kingdom has a brand new laboratory stage.

That's going to bring science to life and climate change is among the topics that festival goers can learn more about in that new science futures area over there at the Glastonbury festival.

I wish I could be there.

So over in this new science futures area, there's going to be demonstrations games and of course we'll where is this going?

Music and two members of the Matt Palmer band are my featured guests next week on my show.

And if you're over in the UK, the Glastonbury festival is starting this week, June 22nd through June 26th.

And the Matt Palmer band is going to be jamming on the laboratory stage at the Glastonbury festival there in the United Kingdom.

Congratulations to the Matt Palmer band.

And I can't wait to feature two of the members next week.

And right now over here at your positive imprint, we are sponsoring a t-shirt, hoodie or sweatshirt or hat designing contest.

The winning design will be showcased in of course the, your positive imprint shop.

And we'll have other contests later on so that we can showcase your design through distribution during other contests.

So the winner of the design contest will also win a $75 visa gift card for a United States winner or an applicable $75 gift card if you are a winner outside of the United States.

The contest is going on right now.

And it ends July 3rd, 2022.

On July 6th, the contest entry designs will be displayed for a vote by you.

The designs will be displayed at yourpositiveimprint.com.

The winner will be announced on July 11th via your positive imprint podcast episode.

You can use any t-shirt design applications, such as shirt, app t-shirt design studio, or

just really any app, there are so many out there or create your own design or draw it out as an illustration or a graphic, or you can use Canva or any other program to design your t-shirt.

But no copyrighted graphics or photos will be accepted.

The shirt design has no limit to ink colors.

The shirt itself, which is a a t-shirt, hoodie or sweatshirt.

So the shirt itself will be black, white, or gray.

So keep that in mind when you're designing.

So the design contest is for the front of the shirt, but of course the back of the shirt is of course optional, but it won't be part of the judging part of the contest.

The shirt design is required to have some identification for your positive imprint podcast.

You can use my taglines.

What's your PI or even 'rise to the challenge'.

You can use my logo.

The hat designs are a little bit different as they're going to be embroidered.

Oh, and on the shirt, you can also use guest quotes.

Yes.

Use guest quotes.

That would be so much fun.

So now the hat, the hat designs are a little bit different as they're going to be embroidered.

The hat designs must have some sort of identification to your positive imprint podcast.

And only six ink colors are going to be accepted.

So for questions, email me Catherine@yourpositiveimprint.com, C a T H E R I N E.

Email the design by July 3rd, 2022.

And have fun designing.

It's something different that I'm trying, Hey, you could win $75 in a visa card to spend anywhere.

And you can get all of the information for the contest at yourpositiveimprint.com.

And next week's guests are Matt and Niall from the Matt Palmer band.

And a happy father's day, week to all of you around the world.

Today's episode honors my dad, Rozier Sanchez.

Your positive imprint.

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Music for this episode by Chris Nole are the songs from songs of the high country album, "high country", "blue Vista" and "Cheyenne bride."

Also songs of the wide horizon album "Homeward".

And of course your positive imprint "elevated intentions" composed by Chris Nole.

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It is with a broken heart, shattered spirit and soul that need mending and sleepless nights that I write this letter on Christmas, which we celebrated on December 22nd.

We celebrated an evening of bliss only to be followed by the collapsing of my dear dad in my brother's arms.

His leaving us was sudden.

It was untimely as all passings are, but his passing here at the house with everybody around as so well said by his dear friend, my dad's dear friend, father Richard was a vigil, a prayerful send off to heaven.

As beautiful as our singing songs with dad, there was, and we were holding his hand, kissing his cheeks and praying together- the pain, of course, still tremendous dad received full military honors.

Well-deserved for his years in the air force and as a Korean war vet.

And as Mike and I grieved together, we remind each other of the circle of life and dad's wisdom that he shared, of course, with me growing up

but also with Mike.

Mike and I spent many years with mom and dad, camping, hiking, watching movies and football games and touring here and there about the country.

Mike and dad spent much of the time on their own journey together, sharing stories, hearing dad's wisdom and his philosophies- bonding.

So I'm going to share some of dad's legacy with you.

Growing up I needed a lot of reassurance and dad knew that.

I was just, like I say, I was wired differently.

I was different.

And I loved the outdoors, which set me apart from many of the students at that time.

And today I benefit from friendships from those students today, which is very nice.

But.

Dad knew that in order for me to understand deeply and deeply understand what he was trying to teach me, he knew he had to use storytelling such as Jerry, the bear

and other examples.

So Jerry, the bear was dad's imagination.

It was his imaginative bear that he weaved storytelling every night, almost every night before bedtime and all of us siblings we'd get together and sit on one of the kids' beds.

And dad would tell a story about Jerry, the bear.

And it started from when Jerry of course, was born in a cave and started living his adventures.

So dad used those stories to help me learn lessons as well as other examples.

And sometimes those examples were in the skies, literally, in the form of constellations.

Dad loves the constellations and the stories behind them.

He loves navigation.

Dad taught all of us kids how to navigate using the stars.

And some of us siblings could look up and see the pictures, like myself, while the other siblings could see the brilliance of the shining stars, but nothing else.

Mike does not see the skies as pictures, but dad taught him how to identify the constellations using patterns.

That was genius for dad, for Mike, because

mike has that engineer's mind.

And of course, dad has the navigator's mind and engineering.

Well, when I was in college, dad and I built an astrolabe and we would walk about a mile from the house and set up the map, protractor and plot our reading.

We would map our location and we would be within a quarter mile of where we wanted to be.

That was pretty rad.

We would then walk a mile farther and plot.

So awesome.

And that was time with my father together.

How sailors use this with the rocking of the boat is beyond me.

Dad took the opportunity to talk about the circle of life using north, south, east, and west, knowing that I would understand what he wanted to teach me.

So he taught about north south, east, and west when I was a very young, young child.

And I'm going to share that with you.

It's very philosophical.

When we were together with this astrolabe what dad wanted to do was teach me.

He used the constellations and their stories to teach lessons because I understood more deeply.

I like storytelling.

Dad's words were more poetic than mine, but I always remember dad's conversations.

So now I'm going to begin his philosophical teachings and how I am and why I am the way I am today.

North begins the first steps around the circle of life.

God gives us wisdom to begin our circle.

It is to the north where we find our path, our position.

We look north when we are lost.

And when we find the big dipper, we figure out the best path and map it.

And we are no longer lost.

Always use a guide when making decisions.

We use the big dipper at night to help us navigate think of your experiences as the big dipper and let those experiences guide you.

It is simple, or is it?

Putting this wisdom to practice has proven to be difficult.

The Northern steps seem to be the hardest because it is in the beginning of every voyage where we seek the answers.

Dad always said, "you won't find your answers here.

Not yet.

You have to complete each step just as in plotting your location.

The north is not where your fulfillment can be found.

It is only the starting point.

We always look to the north to find our bearings."

Dad told the myths of the constellations and often used the Zodiac to tell stories because I could envision the animals.

And for those of you who don't know, the Zodiac is an imaginary band in the skies.

Constellations pass through this imaginary line and astronomers call it the constellations of the Zodiac.

Zodiac

pretty much translates to circle cool of animals.

Uh huh.

Yes, indeed.

Now you know why dad chose this way to teach me.

He understood it well being a navigator and he knew I would envision the animals doing whatever his story was about.

I always understood the lesson.

He made up other stories about Leo the lion, Sagittarius the Archer, others.

And my favorite stories he told aside from Jerry, the bear were the stories that he embellished on the original myth of those being about Orion.

Many life lessons I learned from those stories.

He told.

Every time I look to the skies and winter time and see Orion in the sky, I remember.

Again he expressed feelings through words.

Well, dad and mom welcomed Mike into the family with open arms and love and told Mike that his journey is only beginning with the family, but that the journey is like a book full of chapters and paths.

When dad and Mike would be in deep conversation dad would ask afterwards, Mike, what do you think it was dad's way of not beginning a conversation again, but just something to ponder about their conversation.

As we choose our paths, our direction, we continue to the east- a new day.

The east represents today.

The present.

Daddy is always with you.

So you can always come to me about anything.

I will always listen.

I won't always give you an answer, but I will always listen.

That was dad.

And he always explained that the 'today will affect all of my tomorrows, but you can change your tomorrow's by mapping a different direction

if you don't like where you are headed.' And he would say, I don't ever want you to feel trapped in a situation.

If you can't figure out what to do, remember, you can always come to daddy, we can work through it together.

Well, dad would then go on to tell a story about Orion and how he would be off with his bow, but forgetting his arrow, getting caught up in situations that he has to figure out how to get out of.

Which constellation would Orion turn to for help.

These were always fun, little anecdotes that dad had.

My siblings and I enjoyed those anecdotes.

And.

I tell you, Mary and I still share some of those stories even today.

Mary and I, and my brother can see the pictures in the skies.

It's a picture book to us.

Well, dad and mom both always tell us that it doesn't matter what age we are.

We still need to learn from our experiences.

Through those life lessons.

Mike and I have attained astuteness in making decisions, and we have developed a stronger faith and deeper life.

In our walk around our circle we now come to the south.

Dad says, this is where we must take our present and ascertain its meaning.

Mom and dad both tell us that our present becomes our experiences and through our experiences comes our learning.

Dad shared a story with me.

It was very little and I often felt alone because I had a hard time making friends at school and I didn't feel alone at home just at school.

Well, his story had a profound effect on, on me and I still today will get teary-eyed whenever I remembered this story.

Well, dad's story goes, when I was a little boy, I had to sleep by myself in the parlor.

I slept on the couch because there was no other bed.

One time in the middle of the night, my father was awakened by me crying.

My grandfather and that would be mine.

My grandfather got up to see what was wrong with my dad.

So dad told him that he felt alone and scared.

And why was he chosen to always sleep by himself without a bed while his brothers had each other

and both of his parents.

Well, dad said that his dad, my grandfather sat him in his lap and told him that he, my daddy was the strong one because of his strength, the knowledge of how the world spins.

My grandfather then told dad how proud he was of my dad.

And to always remember that he is strong.

Well, my dad's relationship changed with his own father after that conversation, they became closer.

Dad asked his dad, if he could go with him on excursions.

And some of those were to the Socorro, New Mexico courthouse.

Hence the love for the law was born in my dad.

Now we come to the west.

The west is where the sun sets or so it seems as we look at the horizon and life on earth becomes dark.

We need to teach ourselves how to bring the light of our emotional state and accept change.

It is in the west where we realize the teamwork needed to love each other, care for one another and take care of God's people and his creations, his land, his flowing waters.

We are responsible for our faith.

We are responsible for teaching others how to use their own experiences as a means of growth.

We are responsible for making the world a better place by bringing the light to others who feel like they live in a very dim world.

Dad always reminded me of the many authors who taught those lessons through their writing, such as Jack London's to build a fire and other wonderful authors and great stories.

So dad has always taught us to volunteer within the community, in the international community.

He was a member of and actually he was the founder, one of the founders of his Civitan chapter club, which is an international organization that helps communities and individuals

These are special moments everybody shares because mom and dad role model every day through giving back to the community with volunteer work.

Mom and dad taught us where to seek out wisdom, faith, and strength.

And like dad's imaginative, nighttime stories of Jerry, the bear we all continue on our paths to find what we need to nurture our lives and to be better and wiser individuals, just like Jerry, the bear had to.

And Mike and I are blessed that we share many, many years of listening to dad's stories, hiking, camping, and listening to the wisdom of both mom and dad and listening to that wisdom

I have enough wisdom passed down to me from my parents.

At least I hope I do.

And I plan on continuing to practice what they both have taught me.

I have a very good start as I have my dad's eyes, very creamy white skin and dark black fine hair.

And I have his traits of showing affection.

I am like my dad in many, many ways, including my ability to express my feelings in words.

We also love to write poetry and tell stories.

Mike's and my relationship with dad is very multi-dimensional and his absence in our lives touches us with just enormous grief.

The pain is strong and the memories right now are not so comforting, but they're getting better.

The pain is getting better.

And I know that as we continue to experience life and our journey, those memories will be happy and joyful.

When I was young, my younger sister and I experienced death.

We didn't know the person at all.

Actually it was two people.

We never met them, but they were our childhood friend's cousin and uncle.

I witnessed the hurt from this loss, through my friend's tears and her parents' tears.

And it hurt me so badly.

And it also made me very scared.

In the middle of the night

I woke up dad.

I was crying because I couldn't sleep.

And I shared with him how I was scared about what happens to my friend's family who died.

Where are they?

He got up with me and we went to sit in the living room on the very famous gold chair.

It was this big gold velvet chair that was big enough when dad was in it to hold my younger sister and me in his lap.

I sat in his lap and he held me while I cried and cried and he just wanted me to get it all out.

Linda, my younger sister joined us and he had both of us in his lap.

He then hugged us closely and explained to us that our friend's family is hurting very much and we need to pray for them and continue to play with the kids just as we have always done.

He told us about heaven and what he envisioned it to look like.

And this is what dad envisioned heaven.

He said, heaven has all of the animals and all of the people we want to be with forever.

It is colorful with lots of mountains and flowing rivers.

My friend's family is there right now, looking down on us, sitting here.

They are happy there.

Their relatives are there to hug them and to tell them bedtime stories.

They are not sad.

Heaven is where mama and daddy will be when you die.

You can be sad for your friends, but there's no reason to be scared.

Daddy's always here for you and I will be in heaven for you too.

I can tell you stories of Jerry the bear, or we can go for a hike.

Now tell me what you think.

Well, Linda and I both told him that we loved him.

And then I told him that I just wanted to be held.

Well, dad held us until we fell asleep because we both woke up in our bed the next morning.

And there was Linda too.

He probably carried us to bed as he did that.

Well, the circle of life is a never ending loop that we walk and pass through all of the time.

From the west

we journey back to the north where we have gained more wisdom and insight to make decisions and to continue to grow spiritually.

We plotted many different directions and paths using our astrolabe and the constellations.

The lessons we have learned along the way, provide wisdom and knowledge for making decisions on our next journey.

This is the circle of life- a loop that bonds family and friends together through experiences.

As broken as Mike and I are right now with the rest of our family we have our journey together and dad is with us every day being who he is best for us.

Dad.

Well, thank you so much again for the emails and for joining me here on this episode of your positive imprint.

And now I will share with you a short part of Jerry, the bear as told by my dad.

Thank you again and enjoy your compass of north south east and west- your journeys.

In the paths that you take and may, all of the people who are on this podcast inspire you to find your positive imprint and inspire others.

Be exceptional.

Rise to the challenge, Your Positive Imprint What's YOUR P.I.?.

Where can I find this honey hive, Mr.

Fish.

That fish told him, but then they said, when you find it it'll be on gone, you know, mean he plenty of honey.

But you must leave enough honey, for the bees when they return.

If you leave enough honey for the bees, you come back and I will tell you how to find your mother and your sister.

Jerry, the bear Cub ran off to find the honey hive.