What are you Thankful for?

Let's be honest with ourselves... How many of us do not really provide the thanks needed for what we receive? It is a fact that this world is full of negative thoughts, feelings, complaints and all around bickering on what is going terrible in our lives. Have you every truly sat down and wrote down EVERYTHING you are thankful for? Don't you think that if you were more thankful for what you have verses complaining about what you don't have... that things might all change for you? You might be able to be thankful for a whole lot more than just the small things when realizing that being Thankful for the small things is where you need to start.

Life is an Obstacle Course for ALL of us. Even those you think might have it all given to them, they have had their Obstacle Course also and are still on it. We all have our story... I grew up in a bad neighborhood, my parent's abused me, I was homeless, people always pick on me, nobody liked me in school, I went from home to home, trouble seems to always find me, I grew up and always have been poor... the list goes on and on.

Now what do you think can change this? What in this world will change a negative past in to a positive future? It is so simple... it is right in front of all of us... in the palm of our hands... YOU hold your future, YOU decide what you will do when those Obstacles come in your way, YOU are responsible for the outcome of your life, YOU bring into your life what you are thinking and feeling. So dwelling on what is so terrible in your life and in your past is just going to bring you more of that. Focusing on all the Positive aspects of your life and what your goals and dreams are will manifest them.

Take a step back... starting today BE THANKFUL for all the small things. The things that we all take for granted... the things that for us may seem terrible but for someone else would be a dream come true. The roof over our head, the food in our fridge, the car that we drive, the fact that we just had another day to enjoy in this world... I could think of a million things to be thankful for and I bet you could too.

This time of year during the Thanksgiving Season it is a time to give Thanks and receive Thanks, to give back, to donate and all around come together. Being Thankful should happen all year long, everyday. It should be something we do automatically. Something that when we wake up in the morning, we have a list of what to be thankful for...

Our children, families, roof over our head, food to eat, car to drive, friends, warm clothes, shoes on our feet, our jobs, our businesses, and the list goes on and on!

As you can see there are both sides... Positive and Negative. You need to decide what you need to focus on... The Negative or the Positive? Being ungrateful or being grateful? Giving Thanks or being Unthankful? Again, don't you think that if you were more grateful and thankful that there would be a lot more abundance of positve in your life and more to be thankful for coming your way? And just maybe the things you feel you are lacking or not receiving would end up being placed in your life?

Remember... to ALWAYS be Thankful for the small things so that you can soon be Thankful for the things you are striving for. The small things will come to be the most important to be Thankful of.

I am THANKFUL for my beautiful son, my family, my friends, those I am helping, the lives I am changing on my journey, my home, the shoes on my feet, the car that I drive, the road I have been blessed to choose, the blessings that came my way so far in this life and many, many more... THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for giving me the chance to bring my positive impact in this world and continue on this path of helping other's. No matter how big or small, I will always make it my purpose to help another and help change lives!

Happy Thanksgiving to ALL!

Really

I respect and admire Michael Jackson as much as anyone. Meaning…I acknowledge like everyone else that the man had talent! He could dance and sing like nobody’s business! But, he was also a drug-addict, lived beyond his means and skirted the law because of his fame.
Had he be you or I, we’d be in jail a long time ago.

So, on the third day of around-the-clock coverage I just have to say that we idolize some freaky people!

If only we idolized the people who are working to cure cancer, keeping the streets safe or the people who feed the hungry or the myriad of other choices instead, huh?

I grew up with Michael and I am truly saddened by the loss his family and friends are going through but his fans were never as close to him as they are now! Even MJ jokes are suddenly inappropriate! Great! And, Michael can finally be at peace with who he is! Great!

We have issues with North Korea threatening to wipe us off the map while we have a popular and entertaining president in office who is floundering like crazy and a questionable-beyond-belief cabinet!

We have the Iran hierarchy ordering the execution of their opponents and Afghanistan officials inviting the Taliban to vote in their upcoming election!

We are going to be blind-sided by one of the biggest tax increases in history and we still have troops fighting on foreign soil!
We’re going to hell in a hand-basket!
Wake the hell up!
This ain’t heaven, Man!Snap out of it!

Do you remember the days of playing Stick-Ball in the street? Do you remember running through the sprinklers, and getting wet with the water hose? Do you remember hurting your stomach, and scraping your knees on the Slip and Slide…or better yet, not being able to slide all the way down the Slip and Slide cause you veered to the left and ended up on the grass? Do you remember being so excited about the Slip and Slide that you didn’t wait for your parents to wet it, and tried to slide down it anyway….talk about a pink-belly.

As adults, we’ve forgotten the simple things that used to make us happy. Now, it’s all work and no play. The only ‘play’we really get to have is either watching our favorite sports program at family and friend get-togethers, or going to the local bar to get sauced-up.

I often dream…’only if the Twilight Zone was real’. Do you remember the part in the Twilight Zone Movie with Scatman Crothers, where he was visiting the old-folks home? It was the part when he showed them the game of ‘kick-the-can’, and they all turned back to kids. Wouldn’t that be cool…if only we could do it for just a little while? I know most of us have children of our own, and can’t take time to play, but sometimes you gotta let your hair down….

Now-a-days, all we do (well at least me) is work. No fun, no games, no smiles…and with every passing work week, we always start our Monday’s off by saying “hey, how was your weekend?”…patiently waiting for the inevitable “too short” response that we always hear. Funny, huh? It’s always the 'same ol’ $^&%, different day' with us adults. My mom often said “stay a kid as long as you can, cause once you grow up, you can’t go back”…and just like every ignorant kid, I responded with the “I can’t wait to grow up” line. Silly me….I’d pay through the nose to be a Toy’s R Us Kid again.

Those were the days when the biggest decision you had to make was deciding what game you were going to play….hide n’ seek, or hide n’ go get it ;-), or most important of all…what outfit you were going to wear on the first day of school. The only game I play now is, ‘let’s see who can dodge the credit card people’s phone calls the longest’. So sad...

WHAT'S IN A SMILE
Why do the smiles that we receive from strangers make us feel so good? Is it the fact that they are acknowledging our existenced, or just that they are courteous enough to do so?

Well, have you ever taken the time to really look at someone's smile, or more importantly, how fast their smiles drop as soon as they past you? I like to smile when I see co-workers, or strangers because I know that it makes them feel good, but when I smile, I like to make sure that it is genuine. I'm not one to smile just as I'm passing someone just because.....I like to smile if I mean it. If not, I may grin a little, but I don't over-do it.

But....there are lots of people, if not most of us, that do.

I really love people watching, and monitoring people's social behavior, and what I've noticed lately are the fake, or passing smiles that I receive daily. To clarify a little, what I mean when I say "passing" smiles, I mean those big bright, make you feel good smiles that you get when you're near, or passing someone, but, as soon as they are out of your sight, their faces drop as if you were never there. That is so fake and worthless to me, and that's why I ask, "What's in a Smile"?

Is a smile really worth it if it's not heart-felt?

If it's not real?

If it's just done until you're out of sight?

For me, the answer is no.

I tend to smile at those I'm either happy to see, or that I may find cute ;-), but still, my smile is real. When I smile at someone, I usually hold it for a while...maybe out of habit, or out of pure consciousness, but that's just me. What I also do when I smile is look back at the person who just smiled at me to see if he, or she is still smiling, and often times, they are not and that just kills my "happy" mood. It pretty much makes me not want to smile, but then that defeats the whole purpose of being sociable, and that is something that we could all stand to be a little more of.

Everyone often seems to be either high stressed, or too caught-up in work or their own social agendas to where all we can do is try to smile, and continue to move on. It's a feeble attempt at being polite, but without that fake passing smile, where would we be?

These are just my thoughts on how people interact and although they seem to be weak at best, I guess it's better than nothing. So, what does a smile mean to you?

QUESTIONS THAT HAUNT ME! This list has been compiled over many beer in hand nights...

Can you cry under water?
How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered?
Why do you have to "put your two cents in".. but it's only a "penny for your thoughts"?*Where's that extra penny going to?
Once you're in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity?Why does a round pizza come in a square box?*
How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up like every two hours?
Why are you IN a movie, but you're ON TV?
Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?
Why do doctors leave the room while you change? They're going to see you naked anyway.
If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a stupid song about him?
If the professor on Gilligan's Island can make a radio out of a coconut, why can't he fix a hole in a boat?
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!
Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you,but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Well.....what did y'all think?