Just a Smile

One smile at a friend or a stranger can help with endorphins, create empathy

and break tensions
A smile is a universal "feel good"

Let's share a smile with someone today.  I know one will come back to you

Love Me?

Do you love me?  How often have we thought that?  In dating it's a frequent thought in the beginning.

Say YES often too then.  Say YES I do love you to yourself, to our world, to each other.

Tevia asked Goldie via song in Fiddler on the Roof.

When I asked KD  he said "I'd be a fool not too."

We all want love in some form so live love often - define it as your are but at least LOVE

Creating Change

I spoke with some people about World AIDS Day offering my own background, history and hopes

What I left out is what  we can or should do now so I ask you, not  just about HIV/AIDS but other parts ideas or things in your life

What did you do to make change

Lets make them so

Lose it

I fear a few things. losing my health, my job, my fiance, Rubio.
I take steps to ensure them all

Somethings I fear that I have no  control over - for those things I'l Let Them Go

My friend Devon wrote  

I let go of the hate and anger of ghosts past and focused on happiness and facing my fears.

Wise words Devon and another tool to use toward happiness and affirmation

What can you loose to love more?

I bet you and I will gain more when we do

Thanks

Do I say it often enough? I hope so, Do you?
It's a simple phrase that can pack a wallop.

  Thank You

To the sky for each new day
For health, good or otherwise you and I are alive
For friends
For family in any way we define them
To you my readers

Old Ideas

When I hold onto old ideas such as "I won't find... (love, a better job, a new home, acceptance) odds are I'll keep those ideas.

When I grasp new ideas and hopes odds are they'll come true

Let's reach for the new empowering affirming thoughts and actions and make them so

Relax

Taking time for ME is not usual. Sure I start my day with meditation often adding "Spirit and Truth" readings along with it.
My 'down time' never makes it to Facebook since it too is my own time.

Still I don't really give myself a lot of me time.

You won't be getting updates or my affirming message in your email or via Facebook for a few weeks. I am off to relax. Starting with a few days in San Juan Puerto Rico then farther away

Let's all RELAX and enjoy ME TIME as  YOUR TIME

Trust me it will help Love and Live longer

Journey

I've heard it said and wisely too "It's not the destination but the journey"

I  know I've had an awesome ever changing life.  HIV, cancer, great career, loving family, tested yet sound faith, my way fun puppy and this blog

Never did I expect to work for a grand theater, supervise/manage a community service or hear life stories of people in good and less than good times.

What a journey it's been and continues to become a wild one.  There is no longer ONE destination in sight,  I continue to work on my masters degree and begin yet a new life calling

Where do your journeys leading you?

Empty

I have a tendency to keep "stuff"  Old flags, one sock, books and I mean those about events I attended and such, clothes that don't fit. I also hang on to memories of times that were not pleasant.

Some of the later I hope never to Empty from my memory others only take up space where love and peace can fill better.

What are you holding onto that can be let go of?  Let's empty our junk together

Keep Trying

When you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this - you haven't.”
    - Thomas Edison

Let's not life's unpleasant times or events get us down. Our affirming loving attitude holds more substance
I'll keep trying, improving and looking to a great today with you

Light

I freely admit times I'm feeling 'down' or as if the 'world is against me' are not uncommon feelings

One way to work around this is thinking affirming thoughts, saying affirming uplifting words.

Simply "Let there be light" may work


Try it then imagine it coming true.

Let me know if  it works

Gratitude

List something your grateful for today

Then share it!!

 

Do It

It seems that we try to pack more things to do into our every day but few of these things improve our health or nourish our soul.  Here are some ideas to help you bring more joy into your days:

1.  Brew a pot of herbal tea, sit down with a book or magazine and just take a break from the world.

2.  Smile. Even if you don’t want to.  Smiling tricks your brain into thinking you’re happy. (

3.  Call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while (someone positive who just makes you feel good).

4.  Do something nice for someone else.  Sometimes just doing a good deed can bring so much joy to both the giver and receiver.  You can donate to a charity, take clothes you’re not using to Salvation Army, donate blankets to an animal shelter, pay for a stranger’s coffee at a café, give books to your local library, and so much more.

5.  Tend a garden.  Don’t have one.  Find a way to join or start a community garden.  Even if you have a balcony you can grow some flowers or herbs in containers.

What else can we do for our soul?

Do it!!

NO!!!

Some times it's best to just say "NO."  Being a workaholic I find more tasks to do. I improve my life and career constantly.  I also volunteer at two places.

Remember the old adage "Want something done ask a busy person?"  Well that's me.

To take care of my self, my own self worth, my time, my health I know to say NO

Let's all keep our lives less 'reactive' but active- active to affirm our goodness

One Good Word

I often exclaim how much I like something.  Just the other day I got a sandwich at a place I frequent. The clerks pretty much know what I'm ordering.  HOW I confirmed my request made all the difference.

"How about that awesome bbq sandwich, please?"

The clerk smiled and said "do you mean that? Is it that good?"

Of course it is or I wouldn't buy it more than once.

The simple word "awesome" to describe something he may make several times each day but never himself has eaten "I don't eat pork"

Lets UPSELL our good words more often. Thank a check out clerk, the grocery bagger, your letter carrier, etc.  Make it all about US

Help

It's OK to ask for help.  No one is an island.  For me I'll be seeing a therapist soon. Is asking or needing help a form of defeat? NO- it's knowing that I'm ready to search beyond the wisdom of friends.

Loss of friends, partners, family, pets, jobs, housing are all life changing times where having some one qualified to hear you out will help.

Let's be comfortable in seeking help to add solace to our lives

Desires

Orihah Mountain Dreamer's book "The Invitation" has a phrase I adore
"I want to know what you ache for and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing"

That's just a part of the poem but the one part I recite almost daily. 

Those who know me personally know I've become a work a holic.  I may look for a twelve step group because of that (OMG That's the 1st step!)

I've only recently began to ask if I'm "meeting my hearts longing" 

Realizing my priorities work is not on the top of the list. Love, the ability to love someone and share that is now "JOB ONE"

What are your desires and are you living them, seeing them and then acting on them?

Let's work on this together - unlock our heart and open up possibilities

Make this one all about YOU

Small Things

"I don't do great things, I do small things with great love" 

   Paraphrased from Mother Teresa

  

I volunteer one day a week. It's not a lot but what I do seems to save lives and help others create better ways of living and acting.   Having a way cool family, enough food to eat, energy to spare volunteering doing darn good work is least I can do.

What do you do to live greatly in small things?

Leaving Was

There is no need to worry about what happened - we cannot change the/our past.

I'm leaving the regrets behind focusing on today and how I can make my life better, affirming and productive.

"The past is the past and the present has infinite possibilities"  - Durrell Watkins

It's about Love

Just this past week I have had friends who have had some not so good health issues.  A few break ups and too many misunderstandings.

Do know I love  you. Each person who reads my dribble that "Isn't about me" though it is I say THANK YOU and I love you for reading and some times commenting on it.

It is all about LOVE: that feeling that connects us.

Sure we can say "I love my new flat screen TV" or "I love my car"   - those are things.

You are someone: a person and capable of giving, holding, sharing, grieving love.

Years ago a guy named Paul wrote to someone in a town called Corinth

Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love.

Safe Harbor

Tonight I saw a video on Gratitude.   Those of you who've been reading this blog from the start know I'm all about gratitude or being thankful.

Sure I could focus on  what's gone wrong or when I erred and I have I choose to focus on challenges.

Dating when my heart has been broken. Well it happens and I've overcome other hardships.  Broken bones, fear of heights (that zip line in Honduras changed that), fatigue.

Now I see by choice the good things: a job where my employer appreciates me. Wisdom to apply to new happenings,  a family that really loves each other.

"A ship is safe in the harbor but that's not what ships are for"

Let's leave the safety of the harbor and embrace challenges with gratitude

Always

Years ago I took on a role with a new company where I was asked by the CEO "to help effect change"

When addressing the organization I used the familiar phrase "Let's say this all together and when we're done never say  it again ' I hate change -we've never done it that way before'"

To my dismay right before  I spoke the CEO read his resignation letter. Without his full support I knew I could not start to bring change.  I watched that organization die.

Those who know me know I've had a colorful back ground. Worked all over the world and for some wildly unusual folks.  I embrace "Not doing it that way"

Let's step out of our comfort space and do something new; something that may scare us

Trust

The components of love, forgiveness and commitment are as necessary to trust in a relationship as is honesty

Whom do you trust?  I start by being honest with me first then others will see how honesty and trust are related.
Trust is some thing we always build. Each person we meet, each challenge we face, each story we tell. 



“Trust is like a mirror, you can fix it if it's broken, but you can still see the crack in that mother fucker's reflection.” 
― Lady Gaga

Choose Happy

In the musical "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" there's a song  Happiness Is
Here's some of the lyrics

Happiness is playing the drum in your own school band.
And happiness is walking hand in hand.
Happiness is two kinds of ice cream
Knowing a secret
Climbing a tree
Happiness is five different crayons.
Catching a firefly
Setting it free. 

To me happiness is being ok with who I am, how I look, how I feel and how I act/ react/interact with others.
It's having you as a friend read these simple messages and maybe, just maybe touching something that sparks joy.

                    -Thanks Dean for todays inspiration

Guilt or Shame

Guilt says I did something wrong
Shame says there is something wrong with me

Where do we fit in this?

What Works

Doing what works for you is a statement offering confusion. What works for me may not work for you.
There's that old saying "what's good for the spider is not so for the fly"

When faced with decisions other peoples ideas or suggestions may help while ours is the one that counts.


For me one big question ahead is "Can I handle full time employment while studying full time for my masters degree?"

We all face choices like that, some major some routine.  You are the the person who will live with that and that dear friend is What Works For You

Outstanding

You don't beg average people to be phenomenal. You just are phenomenal and you will attract phenomenal

Be Present

Life gives you plenty of time to do whatever you want to do if you stay in the present moment

                 -Deepak Chopra

Fit

Keeing fit means more than "working out at a gym" - it's how we exercise our mind, awareness,  expectations too.

I read, talk with friends and learn.

Let's flex all we are

Happiness

Notice the people who are happy for your happiness, and sad for your sadness. They’re the ones who deserve special places in your heart.

Differences

We're all different.  Our back grounds ideas opinions, likes joys etc.
I choose to accept all that makes you NOT like me. That diversity is awesome.

Let's all look beyond what we're not and what we are together- knowing there's more to you and me than appearance.

There There

Giving a pat on the back can be healing and  affirming. I know when I do some thing good hearing "Well done" means the world. Do we say or show appreciation enough? I know I'll try to more often

Thank you for reading this blog "Way to go!"

No Pressure

I'm starting with a graphic; one that maybe familiar to you or those with OCD. The "Over or Under DEBATE"
Sure we had this in our house.   I would place the roll one way, he the other. It all depended on who changed the paper.

In some households this would be that "Great Debate" and almost did in  ours.
Then it hit me: this is a small thing. While I know small things can build into larger ones there are some that are left well enough alone.

No pressure that way.  After all it's just TP not cooking spaghetti sauce!

I really really try to release pressure in day to day situations that can be looked at from two sides.
Can you join me in this?

Pressure

The only difference between a piece of black coal and a priceless diamond is the amount of pressure that it’s endured. You are in the refining process

And yes it is a process!!!

Simply Beautiful

I'm channeling Willy Wonka again "If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it"
-----
Those who know me,  met me personally know I do live by what I write here: Look for the good, Be the good, Share the good.

I'll admit that there's times I don't FEEL the good though. Maybe it's the new meds that caused me to notice my appearance.

Then all at once it hit me reading a friend Kylon's Facebook post (btw the content of his post is not about this message it's that he often brings out the beauty in all he sees/does) that I am ME!  Bold, learning, capable and making changes for me.

That's the kind of beauty I seek in others. Do you?

Signs

"Sign sign everywhere a sign, smokin' on the scenery breakin my mind. Do this don't do that can't you read the sign?"  That popular song from the 70's by Five Man Electrical Band pops into my mind far more often than one would think.   It's anti this and that message holds true to much of my life.

There's signs all around us/ME telling or suggesting what to do or not do. Some are worth heading others not so. The signs I pay attention to are the ones my body produces.

• EAT WELL
• SLEEP NOW.
• EXERCISE SAFELY

Others I ignore and won't even note here. I find keeping signs of goodness and affirmation to help me in daily life more than demands. DREAM MORE, PROMOTE HAPPINESS are signs I like to post through quality living and example.

What are the signs you follow or create?

Self Care

There are times to say "I need help" or "I can help"
There's also times we need to be alone or with others
It's all dependent on circumstance and abilities  - No one is an island or is stranded on one. You are not on Gilligan's Isle!!

Let's care for ourselves our time, our privacy and our desires in a healthy way

Light

No matter what you're going through, there's a light at the end of the tunnel and it may seem hard to get to it but you can do it and just keep working towards it and you'll find the positive side of things

Music Makers

"We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams"
I really like this quote by O'Shaughnessy used by Willy Wonka too
As I start to write my autobiography I realize how much I've live my dreams and took my own path to get to where I'm going. Sure others have been down roads like mine paving the way but it's MY journey

"If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it"

Create your own dream and enjoy that music along the way

TEAM

Together Everyone Accomplishes More

I heard that used T.E.A.M. used in a workshop recently and thought "I can apply that to me and my life along with work."  You can too.  

Recently I was invited to write a book about my life and I spent one entire day writing. I missed out on seeing other people, being around folks, etc.  When so much of my life is about others that seems odd.

I can't write my story without including how I interacted with others- a TEAM of friends, co workers etc.

Let's all apply Together Everyone Accomplishes More in our daily affairs, 

GO TEAM!!!

Forests and Trees

Recall the idiom "I can't see the forest for the trees?"  I do and it helps me to stay focused on the overall or "big picture."  If I can't see a huge forest or even a small one it's often due to being caught up in small details.  Sure details are important so is the overall situation/problem or life event.

I try to see them both, the forest and each tree in perspective.
There is news, both good and not so good all around me.

Audition for Life

No Need to Audition: When we pretend to be someone we are not, we set ourselves up to be in an “audition” mode. We are always trying to be what we think others want us to be. We can sacrifice everything to give people what we think they want, when in reality, we have zero control over what people think. When we scale back and simply focus on the genuineness of who we are, there is no need to audition.

Be unapologetically YOU

“Stop living within the confines of how others define you! You weren't created to live their life; you were created to live yours - so LIVE it! You can reignite that fire within and bring the passion back into your goals, dreams, ambitions, careers, and relationships by reclaiming control of your own life. Be unapologetically YOU!” 

            ― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

Broken Boards

"Master, when will I learn to break boards?"
"Why, what did boards do to you"

I've wanted more out of life.  Sure I'm doing OK yet there's always more to be had, places to see, people to meet and books to be read.

Right now I can say I'm happy with what I have. A loving pet, a home, work that i really really enjoy and feel what I do makes a difference. Caring friends and a  family.

I don't NEED to "break boards" or learn how to.

Do you?

Move On Move Up

I'll admit that I had a date that did NOT go well. No need for details.  In my past I'd dwell on what went wrong, why this is not the right guy, etc.  Now I use affirming thoughts. That's a tool we all can use.
I will meet someone I like and likes me back for me. I know that someone will appreciate all I have and I'll adore his quirks.

I'm moving on and moving UP. Knowing where I've been only shows a trail. Knowing I have a great future is proper planning.  Let's Move on and Move Up together

Best of Our Lives

I've stopped looking at the not good events and parts of my life. Sure they exist while they're not worth sharing, at least in public. It's how I stay POSITIVE and affirming.

I'm liking this as a mantra, how about making it yours too

Life Stone

I'm writing my Easter blog message the evening before since I'll be at the Sunshine Cathedral by 7am.  The message of Easter is to me, about love. Loving ourselves, our neighbor and others.

Risen is not a special man but a message of hope that many people, the ruling classes at one time tried to stymie or kill. Much like what those in Uganda are doing today.

Roll away our past hates, rise today with love acceptance and caring.

That's my Easter goal.

It is about Love

Thursday night, or Maundy Thursday Christians mark this as "the night" it all started. On the third day of Passover a new commandment was pronounced "Love one another"

I don't need a religion to tell me that or ordain it. I prefer to live it.
Loving your self as a start helps.  Loving your home, your family, those at work in the area you live or where you come from.

Offer hope, offer care, offer a help.  Donate and know it's ok to ask so someone else's way of loving can help you.

Basics

With all of our social media, iPhones, iPods, etc and yes even blogs some times its comforting to just go back to the basics. Write a letter and send it via post.
Spend more than a text worth of conversation with a friend

Success

A strong friendship doesn't need daily conversation, doesn't always need togetherness, as long as the relationship lives in the heart, true friends will never part..."