DO YOU REALLY EVER GIVE YOUR ALL? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 106

Have you ever told anyone that you give 110% to your job?  I know I have said things like that at times, but in truth none of us can give more than 100% because 100% means ALL.  With the advent of the Internet and Smart Phones, people spend a great deal of time sending text messages, taking photos and videos, playing games, shopping, and just surfing the Internet.  It makes me wonder how many people are really giving their best to their spouses, children, friends, employers or customers.

No one gives their best or their all 100% of the time, and every person needs to have rest and recreation. However, if you learn to manage your time, to set your priorities and re-set them when appropriate you will give your all and get much more joy and satisfaction from so doing.  You will be a better friend, a better spouse, a better parent, a better employee, a better boss, and a better person.

Today's message is:

DON'T HOLD BACK!

HAVE YOU LOST YOUR CURIOSITY? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 56

There are so many wonderful things about children whether they are babies, toddlers, or school-age.  One of the best things about them is their curiosity.  They cannot resist exploring, reaching, touching, or questioning any new thing that comes into their line of sight.  Think of how much children learn in the first three years of their lives.  If they went on to continue to learn as much in each future three-year segment they would all be absolutely amazing.

Unfortunately, some children and many adults lose their curiosity and their quest for knowledge.  Whether it is bad schools, bad parenting, poverty of resources, poor self-esteem, lack of support systems, or some verbal wound inflicted by a parent, sibling or teacher something definitely turns them off of learning.  If that has happened to you, it is not too late to change.   For children either Public Libraries, the Internet, Boys and Girls Clubs, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, Churches, or grandparents there are ways to re-stimulate your curiosity about anything that might interest you OR to find out what does interest you.  If you are an adult you have even more access to information through libraries, the Internet, community colleges, vocational education, informational interviews, community groups, churches, and various non-profit groups.  It is up to you to ask questions, get answers, and keep on learning your entire life.

Today's message is:

BE INQUISITIVE!

WHAT TALENT DO YOU SHARE WITH THE WORLD? CHANGING YOUR LIFE WITH WORDS - DAY 35

Even if you are unaware of it, you have a special talent.  Each person has talent even if it is yet untapped.  It might be playing a musical instrument, dancing, painting, crafting with clay or metal, fibre arts, acting, writing or any of the many art forms available to us.  Not everyone has an opportunity to take lessons to unleash talent, but there are other ways to discover your creativity.  Library books, Internet searches, local shops and craft stores are possible venues to learn how to do something that appeals to you.  Visiting art museums when the admission is free will expose you to many works of art.  Painting, sculpting, carving, dancing, singing, acting, writing, and film are just some of the options from which you may choose.

With something as simple as a pencil and piece of paper, try your hand at drawing.  With sand at the beach try making sand sculptures.  With a brush and some inexpensive water colors try painting.  Charcoal drawings or pen and ink drawings may be your forte. Needles, thread, yarn, crochet hooks, and fabrics may open up new vistas for you by creating something new or by up cycling something old and worn.  With something as simple as a plastic recorder you can make music.  Modern dance may be your way of fulfilling your creative desires.

There are so many art forms, and since many schools are no longer teaching the arts it is up to individuals to find their creative talents.  Art and music take the rough, harsh edges off of life.  Life without creative arts is never as beautiful or enjoyable so find your own path and share your creativity.

Today's message is:

Create art!

Create lace or other fibre arts.

I Did Not Vote For Meanness, Vulgarity, Stupidity and Trash Talk. Did You?

More and more I am less and less pleased or impressed with the veritable garbage dump that the Internet has spawned in terms of people leaving comments on websites, in forums, and in chat rooms, etc. When did it become okay to spout vulgar insults at strangers? When did it beome okay to pepper every blurb with profanity? When did it become a badge of toughness to see how many times the "F" word can be used in a sentence? Who decided and when that it is unnecessary to respect other peoples' rights to their own opinions regardless of how much they differ from one's own ideas? When did we become a nation of self-appointed experts droning endlessly on and on about topics for which no research or fact-finding has been done? Who decided that it is okay to make pronouncements as if they are indeed the Gospel truth when in fact they are either half-truths or blatant lies? Who ? Who voted to change from professional, polite, intelligent, sophisticated conversation to rudeness, interrupting, talking over other people, never listening or allowing audience members to listen, and that mass stupidity would be on display for the entire world to see? There are millions of children in this world and in our country, and we are raising them in what is looking and sounding more and more like the City Dump. I did NOT vote for these changes, and in truth I don't know anyone who did. SO HOW HAVE WE ALLOWED THIS TO BECOME THE NORM? WHY ARE WE TOLERATING IT? IS THIS HOW WE WANT OUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO BEHAVE AS CHILDREN OR AS ADULTS? I for one say, "No, no, a thousand times no!"