March 2018

The Private Worlds of Wink and Nod!

March 25, 2018 / / Life and Living

I recently saw a clip of suggested ball tampering in Australian Cricket.   Neil Armstrong’s fiasco as he peddled to championship after championship is old news, and the ball tampering with The Patriots in our NFL didn’t go anywhere either.   Back a while there was also the scandal  of ‘stand-in’ test taking in some of our colleges and universities. The banking and real estate debauchery was another ‘prize’ for some, and I haven’t even touched on the investment schemes which have cost many investors their life savings.  Is this the  “Everyone-can-be-bought-for-the-right-price” or “Integrity-be-Damned”  or “Win-at-any-Cost” daredevil trip that is just too alluring and apparently never too steep for those tempting their very souls as they pull the plug on what I call at the very least “the principle of the thing?”

In my naivete’  I’ve come to recognize this is a bigger world in more than one view that I never considered much until now.  Is dishonesty and cheating so prevalent in the human experience that the human being of today is bored with doing something which rewards with self-fulfillment?  Is it the pervasive thought to “win at all cost?’ Has it come to “The Love of Money is the Root of all Evil” and it is proving to be so?

I live in a consumers’ world.   I’ve witnessed for years how gross product shrinks in size and/or quality and costs the same or more.  I live in the world of fixed income. I am forced to pay the price for items I need,  and I guess the manufacturers’ view is,  ‘my gross profit margin will not suffer  and I will stay in business… consumer be damned!’  (And not to forget, we, the ‘damned consumer’ are keeping up that profit margin by continuously buying their undergraded, overpriced product!)

I live in a world where people are clucking from every corner how to do this, or that, to accomplish this or that, to be this or that…the world of everybody-has-THE answer-to-ALL-THINGS-FOR-ALL-PEOPLE!

I now  can understand “Stop the world I want to get off!” or “I don’t want to play this game anymore!”  I don’t understand “I Quit!”  I do understand more than ever that idealist thinking and going back to square one, and getting pleasure out of the little things, and words and phrases like pride, humility, gratitude, integrity, and the heralding of times gone by, most probably fall on many deaf ears.  And, when I’m speaking, maybe I am throwing pearls to swine, to paraphrase another biblical reference.

I now conclude more than ever, I will be more my own counsel,  heed more my own advice,  guard more my little world steadfastly, and preserve it the best way I know how.  And I also conclude NOT to fall prey to those in the large numbers of  scam artists. This term isn’t just for the ‘artists’ who want to cheat the elderly and more vulnerable citizen.  I think the real SCAM ARTISTS are those whose GREED has taken them over to the point that their own happiness got thrown under the bus!  Their families have suffered for their exclusive AND ADDICTIVE attention to earning the almighty dollar and then having to EARN MORE AND MORE AND MORE.

Are we now a society that has fallen prey to itself?  The word “sacred” comes to mind.  Is there nothing sacred anymore?  And there’s another word, “sacrifice.”  A person can sacrifice the privilege of living life to its fullest, and shrivel up and die inside, while counting their ‘wins’ –  not realizing their ‘losses’ meant everything to their life itself…. what a long road back to square one.  I wouldn’t wish this on anyone.

Blessed Be…and to All Be Blessed.

 

I Can Stir Two Pots, Set the Table, and Keep Checking the Roast in the Oven Simultaneously! BUT DO I WANT TO?

March 10, 2018 / / Life and Living, Living in the NOW

What does it take to ruin a  whole day? My answer to that is NOTHIN’!

I am grateful for my frame of mind.  I am grateful that I can frame my mind…yes, I put myself into the frame and picture it!  I live in the NOW, and always am trying to keep a ‘lookout’ on what I’m looking at, thinking about and trying to figure out.  I know I have an advantage because I am retired and nothing particularly dominates my wakeful hours – like an 8-hour job, let’s say.  BUT, I do recall when I did work for a living, and even then, the series of events that came and went in my day HAD TO TAKE THEIR RELATIVE PLACE FOR CONSIDERATION AND IT WAS I WHO HAD TO PRIORITIZE IT ALL.  In the mornings when the kids were younger, when I drove to work I would  be planning my day  and when driving home I was planning my dinner meal, and wondering if I had laundry to take care of.

Thinking back on this time of my life, I guess it would have been pretty difficult to be in the NOW…at least, it seems like it would have been. I was juggling so darn many balls – while one may have threatened falling to the ground another would flip in and become a part of the circus of my life.  I think all of us who had this kind of action were going with the flow and didn’t even know it…and by and large we all did a pretty good job of it too.

Actually, when I was that busy I guess I was living in the NOW because I had to “take it as it came’…deal with what I HAD to deal with, WHILE I picked up the kids from daycare, got their snowsuits on (wintertime, of course), piled them into the car, continued on to the house, facing the possible snow storm, slipping and sliding on the roadway, pulling into a snow-filled driveway, into the house,  snowsuits off, dinner started, eating done, bathwater run, in bed by 7:00, because we started the rat race all over again at 5:00 the next morning.   In those early years I had demanding jobs, and not to forget, had to get my drinking/wind-down time into this picture, eat later, and get myself into bed by 10:00.  Dishes, phone calls, and whatever socializing while I was overseeing the boys’ activities in the bathroom had to fit in somewhere too.  Also, if it was still snowing I had to get out and clear that driveway so I could leave the next morning…and not to forget, set the alarm earlier if I anticipated more snow had to be cleared before I could back out in the morning to begin the day all over again! As the kids grew school age, God Forbid there was a “School Day”…then I had to scamper to find someone to look after them so I could go to work!

WHEW!!  I HAVEN’T LOOKED BACK THIS FAR FOR A LONG TIME…IT WAS TIRING JUST TO WRITE ABOUT IT!!

Well, that was then, this is now, and I am grateful I somehow managed to get through the ‘series’…groundwork for today, I suppose.  Yet, thankfully, I’m more conscious of what is coming to me and how I will try to handle it…There is a moral to this story:  I am so glad I am trying to be more conscious to take myself off the wheel of haste, and keep too many cooks out of my ‘life kitchen’, and too much business of others which is not ‘my business’ away from me, and halt the  juggling of balls that don’t enhance my life in any way, and stop as much as I can the activity which keeps me from a modicum of peace and organization, and defers my enjoyment of what is really important!  I always want to be mindful to take optimum care of ME, what is my assumed responsibility, and to treasure my relationships of Love.  And, too, I want to always be mindful to give of what I have, especially if I perceive someone has a need…never to presume what I have is what they need.

NOW I try to hand over the reins to Life and keep uppermost in my mind how grateful I am for every thing that presents itself to me.  There truly is so much joy to be recognized – with humor…even delight…when I remember how minuscule my presence really is, and how all I’m really up to is trying to get through each second of my existence with this gratitude and observation of how everything is as unimportant as it is important.

I DON’T WANT TO BE EXHAUSTED when I go to bed these days at 8:00 at night…I want to feel like I’m ready to close my eyes after a long day of ‘doing my thing’, with an enthusiasm for what’s going to be around that corner of life tomorrow morning.  WELL, I’M AT IT AGAIN, CUZ’ THIS BLOG WAS STARTED AROUND 4:00 AM today!

GOOD MORNING!  WHAT’S COOKIN’?  Blessed Be All, and to All Be Blessed.

Trustee or Trusted or Trustworthy or ENTRUSTED? ALL THAT AND THEN SOME!

March 3, 2018 / / Life and Living

Have you ever been handed something from someone for safekeeping?  Years ago a friend of mine was going through a divorce, and she asked if she could put a collector china bowl in my house for safekeeping.  She entrusted this item to me.  My friend never was able to situate herself permanently after that divorce, and she died a few years later.  She never spoke of the bowl from the time she handed it to me nor asked for it back.  It wasn’t until I moved to Arizona, that I sold that bowl…to a reputable collector, again for safekeeping.  I have a bedside table which I purchased from her which brings me directly back to the very day she and I were wallpapering her kitchen getting her home ready for sale.  In spite of the circumstances, I remember we were laughing a lot, as we diligently matched the stripes in that paper!  (Funny how one remembers certain things fondly…she and I had many good times together, and I know she ‘visits’ from time-to-time and so appreciates that I treasure the table I bought from her!)  We were both working single moms, and we met when volunteering to share the position of Co-Den Mothers for Cub Scouts our boys were joining.   We both trusted each other in so many ways.  We said what we meant, and meant what we said.  That makes for a good start of a friendship.  I’m positive we’d be fast friends to this day, had she chosen to spend more time here.

Well, today, I got the same feeling of being trusted..relied upon.  My granddaughter asked if I would proofread her Ph.D dissertation!  What an honor for me!

When I wrote my books, I did proof and edit them…and felt comfortable doing so.  Both my formatter and consultant/adviser had complimented me on the first book, so I didn’t hesitate to do it for the second one.  But today, when my granddaughter asked me if I would do it for her, the feelings were so sweet and I felt so humbled, yet respected and revered as a fully capable person to do a very important job for her.

Come to think of it, I felt the same way when my friend, Jannette, asked me to read the book she had written which chronicled the last days of her mother’s life.  I was honored, and loved doing it for her and, more over, I gleaned so much from her heartfelt story:  a daughter’s devotion and love toward her mother with  her entire family rallying together to serve her in this adoration of those sad events leading to her mother’s passing.

I would say, if you know someone you trust utmost, exert this trust and faith in them…let them know how much you rely upon their safekeeping of your Highest Self….whether it be holding something in confidence, a special teaching you seek only from them, or a skill they possess like none other.  This gift to them will surpass anything of a monetary value, I guarantee it.

Blessed Be, and to All Be Blessed.