Day 114 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Lessons!  Now I am admittedly stubborn and I don't always like to learn things the easy way.  But as we get older we realize there are some lessons in life that are worth hanging onto.  If only I could go back and heed some of these when I was younger.  But...alas that was not my path.  Below are some very simple lessons that I have learned the hard way and now they have become engraved in my subconscious.  I share them here just because they make life easier once you learn them - for the most part.

• Know someone through and through before you marry them
• Buy good sheets 
• Be kind even when you don't want to
• Trust yourself and listen to that little inner voice
• Eat good food
• You can never love your kids too much and tell them so everyday
• Know that we are all the same - one kind - human kind
• Treat others with respect even when you don't feel it
• Don't buy the newest gadgets right away
• Buy the best house you can afford but not the most expensive car
• Have faith
• Share..
• Listen.....every chance you get...be quiet and just listen....
• Learn from others...

Day 113 of Thanksgiving.....

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Today I am so very Thankful for the fact that we can Choose!  Just like this verse says - we can choose what we want to be, what we experience, how we handle what comes our way.  The choices we make create our reality.  If we choose to see the good in people, we will find it.  We can choose to try to find joy in what we do and we will.  This is a very hard concept to embrace at times but I have found it to be so true many times over.  When I choose to focus on the negative that is what I get.  When I choose to see the world as a dark unfriendly place, then it becomes that for me.  We have to practice this each and every day and it becomes habit and makes our world a kinder place to live in and those around us are much happier to be in our lives.

Day 112 of Thanksgiving.....

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Today I am so very Thankful for my Twisted Brain!  I saw this little graphic this week and I knew this one was all about me.  While I have quite a few brain issues, I still find myself very thankful to be able to do all that I do.  I try my best to embrace all of the positives of having attention deficit issues, poor cognitive skills, memory issues and more.  What positives you ask.....believe it or not there are many.  For one thing I don't get as anxious as I used to because many times I forget what it was that I needed to be anxious about.  I don't expect much from my thinking so I am very surprised and thrilled when I accomplish even small things. I no longer set myself up for big disappointments by expecting unreasonable things - I just enjoy what I can do.  But most of all - I no longer allow myself to be embarrassed or upset by my limitations.  Life is too short and we must make the best of every day and each and every active brain cell we have left......twisted or not.

Day 111 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Sisters!  I don't have any sisters in the traditional sense, but I have women in my life who have become sisters to me!  While I may not have the history with these women that a sister would, we do have shared experiences and we have supported each other through times good and bad.  I can tell them anything, discuss anything in the world with them and feel support even when I wax on about ridiculous things that are of no consequence.  We have watched our children grow into adulthood and we are Aunties to each others children as well.  I have known many women in my lifetime who were afraid to be close to other women or didn't genuinely like other women.  How sad.....you miss so much in life if you don't have special Sisters in your life.  Whether they be the blood related kind or just related from the heart - Sisters are the best!

Day 110 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Breezes!  If you live in the South or anywhere that it is very warm, you will appreciate this as well!  Our Springs are normally warmer than most here in South Carolina and it quickly gets humid here.  This year has been a little different and we have had the most wonderful enjoyable sweet breezes.  This makes a walk outside such a joy.  I know this might be hard to understand if you live in a cooler area.  But...for us, a breeze is a gift and they don't go by without being recognized and enjoyed. Ah Sweet Breezes - nothing like em.

Day 109 of Thanksgiving...

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Art from the Heart by Amanda Cass

Today I am so very Thankful for Freedom!  We live in a country of Freedoms and we are so very fortunate to have freedom of choice in our lives.  I am also talking about the freedom that we acquire as we age and are able to be free to show love and true feelings to others.  When I was young I was very hesitant to just give someone a hug or tell them how I felt.  Now I feel free to hug, gush, express or whatever the feeling may be and I can do so without much forethought or worry about it.  I am not sure why that is but I am so very thankful for this freedom.  I would not want to leave this place without those around me knowing how much I love them and being able to show it each and every day!  When you set yourself free and allow yourself to be free you can begin to really live life!

Day 108 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Answered Prayers!  I heard a quote last week that has really stuck with me...there are more tears shed for answered prayers than unanswered ones.  I have found this to be so true - sometimes we don't know what we are praying for and don't realize that what we believe we want and need is not in the plan for our lives.  No matter your beliefs, we all have wishes and dreams and sometimes in life we have a small dream that is so important to our hearts and when those dreams are realized, we are so very thankful.  As the old saying goes - Be careful what you pray for....  Many times prayers have been answered - with a different answer than anticipated....but answered all the same.

Day 107 of Thanksgiving

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Today I am so very Thankful for Peace!  I know we are far from world peace and we are in fact not at peace as a country....but we are still able to have Peace in our hearts and our minds.  It's not always possible and it can definitely be challenging but we have to find time to find a little peace for ourselves so that we are our best selves.  I so love this quote by Noetic Alchemy - it reminds us that peace can be found most anywhere - we just have to tune into it and calm our selves - many times easier said than done.  I can tell that when I am grumpy and irritable that I have not allowed myself to be at peace and I, as well as those around me, suffer for it.  I used to believe that there was great ritual required to obtain peace but it can indeed be very simple.  Close your eyes and think of something calming and enjoyable and you are on the road to the right place.

Day 106 of Thanksgiving.....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Beauty!  There is so much beauty in this world of ours and all we need to do is be aware.  Some days I see only grey and I can't seem to get past it to the color.  If I make the effort to pull back the curtain and look for the beauty, I am rewarded each and every time.  There are the obvious things such as a child, beautiful people, a sunset or sunrise, animals, flowers and on and on.  But, as I get older, I find beauty so much easier to find in the bright colors of a bird, the green lush grass, music, my boys, color, food----there is too much to name.  Sweet smells, babies, our sweet home.  Take a minute and take note - there is much to see.

Day 105 of Thanksgiving

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Today I am so very Thankful for Procrastination!  Okay - so you are saying Now I know this girl is a looney toon for sure!!  Well - you would not be wrong but that is beside the point.  With a brain like mine, procrastination is a huge part of my life and no matter the impetus or the situation, it clings to me like a sad old friend.  But....I have learned to work with my dear friend and use his ugly habits to work for me.  When the ills of nasty old procrastination sink in, I, for some unexplainable reason am able to kick into gear and produce my best efforts.  Now is this how I want to do things - surely not.....no one wants to be like this.  Ask anybody.  I want to be the girl who had the wedding favors done 6 months in advance; the house cleaned at least a month before the event, food made with loving care and frozen ahead of time just waiting to be enjoyed.  Linens clean and fresh with every crease and wrinkle smoothly starched out and rolled to perfection awaiting their use.  Bows tied, i's dotted....t's crossed....but for me this is the stuff of fantasy and the chances of it happening are nil to none - not ever!!!  So - I work with the friend I have in Procrastination and he pushes me to do things very last minute and allows me to say Whew...I did it - not exactly how I wanted but it will do.  Sometimes or most of the time for me That is as good as it gets!!  But that's okay too.

Day 104 of Thanksgiving....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Sharing!  Ugh - that is such a hard thing to learn but it is tried and true.  The trick is that you have to share with love and kindness and genuinely have a desire to.  The joy you receive from sharing what you have is limitless.  The funny thing is that when you have the least, you find out that you have the best ability to share and give.  It starts out small and then once you begin to believe that you can truly give of yourself with sincere joy, you can't get enough.  I used to be someone who would hang onto clothes that I had not worn in years because someday I might need them.  Now, I love going through what I have and donating anything that I have not used in recent months.  This grows and becomes routine in all areas of your life.  Small things - true - but they can be very big things to someone who needs what you might not.

Day 103 of Thanksgiving.....

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Today I am so very Thankful for Trust!  I found trust hard to believe in for many years when I was younger but age has made it easier to relax.  One thing that is helpful to me is that I have been married to the same man for 27 years and we have known each other for almost 30.  I trust him with my life and he is my best friend.  Broken trust is a very hard thing to recover from and I sometimes am in awe of those who do.  I trust my boys and believe in them wholeheartedly - that is a wonderful thing.  Without trust in life, there is much angst and turmoil - I have known this in my life and it is definitely not a place I want to revisit.  As our money says ~ "In God we trust".....true above all else.