Category Society

There’s no fooling Mother Nature

Michael 13 Comments

We sure pulled off a couple good ones on old Mother Nature these last couple weeks, didn’t we? First, last week we added an extra day to her natural progression around the sun because nobody who was ever important enough (or perhaps self-important enough) to proclaim this is the calendar we are going to use was smart enough to create a usable calendar without readjusting it ever 4 years. And then Saturday night we took an hour away from her because we don’t like when she decided to have sunsets. Well she got back at us for sure.  I din’t know about where you are, but here, after a week of beautiful spring like weather, she gave us torrential downpours on Saturday and snow (snow!!!) on Sunday. Of all the nerve!

The way we willy-nilly our way around physical constants you would think humans are in charge. Ha! You know what we’re in charge of? The universe’s blooper reel! We can start with the clock and calendar. Pick point, any point in space and call it Point A. Now however long it takes for this planet you are sitting on to go around the sun from Point A to Point A is one year. Period. Now… however we want to divide it is up to us. Maybe something like this, 10 months in a year, 10 weeks in a month, 10 days in a week, 10 hours in a day, 10 minutes in an hour, 10 seconds in a minute, and we can make the second as long or as short as we need to make it come out even.  No, after a variety of questionable decisions we finally land on 365.25 days in a year made up of, 12 months in a year, 28, 29, 30, or 31 days in a month, let’s forget about weeks in a month but put 7 days in them, 24 hours in a day except for twice a year when we make one 23 hours and one 25 hours (but make those changes at night so nobody will notice), 60 minutes in an hour, and 60 seconds-ish in a day except on those days we randomly add a “leap second” or two so everything comes out even.

People have a hard enough time dealing with other people, do we really want to pit man against nature? Is it because we know we can’t amicably deal with other humans that we decide we’ll just make up stupid “laws of nature” and that will show everybody else how masterful we are. Guess what? We aren’t! As a species, man is selfish, stupid, and stubborn. People see things right in front of them but claim it didn’t happen. You don’t like the facts? Make up alternate facts. Don’t like what somebody says, make up a catchy insult. Don’t like that it gets dark so early? Push the hours around on the clock.

Nature isn’t like a mousetrap that you can make better. We can argue with each other as much and as long as we want. Chances are, neither side is right. But let the natural order of things go on naturally. Or else, don’t complain when next year there are more hurricanes than last year, that lakes appear and disappear in the dessert, and when eventually the Yellowstone volcano erupts. Until then, be happy you got to wake up this morning. Many didn’t and now what will they do with an extra hour of daylight. (By the way, you know you can get that “extra” hour by just waking up an hour earlier.)

Now, let’s talk about the genius who put 128 ounces in a gallon and said the metric system is too confusing?

It’s time to make a New Year’s resolution. What now? See why we say “Yes, Now!” in latest Uplift!

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I’m so bored

Michael 11 Comments

Yesterday, at our weekly Dad and Daughter get together, Daughter mentioned to Dad, “The problem with kids today is they don’t appreciate boredom. They don’t know how creative that time can be. I used to stand in the line at the grocery store waiting for you to check out reading the headlines on the magazines thinking I can write a better line than that.”

Wise words from a 30-something, and yes, she did end up writing better lines than those come-on headlines, now running her own copywriting business. And it all started because when she was parked in the seat of a shopping cart during the weekly grocery runs instead of staying home with her child’s-app-loaded iPad in heavy duty protective case. It was after she dropped her adult appreciated iPad that she spouted this wisdom, noting the colorful protective covers sold to minimize damage to the children’s themed tablets would certainly have inflicted more damage than a mere week’s long bruise that her lightly protected covered unit inflicted upon her toe. And thus, we were off on to an hour’s long discussion of the things your mind can do when it seemingly is doing nothing, and of which we are robbed because parents would rather perpetually occupy their children’s time with electronic babysitters rather than risk answering a question like, “What’s that word?” several times while waiting to unload their haul onto the conveyor belt for the cashier to total the bounty.

We decided that although creatives intentionally turn their brains on when they write, or paint, or film, the ideas that lead to those compositions are often born from idleness. Filling up every moment of a mind’s time is actually a great way to suppress moments of mental creativity and might have led to the loss of some of the world’s greatest creative works.

When are you at your creative best? Something to think about the next time your child or grandchild or strange child looks to you and asks, “What’s that?” and how you choose to answer.

Valentine’s Day was celebrated by lovers around the world last week. We celebrate love for everyone everyday. Read about why we say All We Need is Love in the latest Uplift!

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Valentine, Oh Valentine, where did you come from

Michael 10 Comments

I had no intention of writing about Valentine, neither Saint nor Day. To tell the truth, my intention was to write about how now that January is behind us, the gym has gotten so less crowded. But a few days ago, I was researching material for an upcoming presentation (itself having nothing to do with Valentine (neither Saint nor Day)), when I ran across something I wrote for this blog in 2013, about Valentine, the Saints. Yes, plural. I said to myself, maybe it’s a sign and I should bring that post back. Val hasn’t changed much in the last eleven years. Oh, but I have. I still liked the idea of bringing him back, so with a fair amount of editing to keep those who might have read it back in an earlier decade from getting bored, here is my Valen-tale.

When you sit across the table from your one and only later this week, you will certainly flash to Saint Valentine, considering it may be Valentine’s Day, and you may, just for a moment, ask yourself, who is this Valentine guy who made greeting card companies, florists, jewelers, and restaurants so much money over the years. You may even ask your one and only what he or she or it or they know about him, assuming that Valentine himself is a one and only. Oh, how wrong you are!

The most common story is that of Valentine, a priest and martyr of third century Rome during the reign of Claudius II, also known as Claudius the Cruel.  He believed that his army was not giving its all because the men were more attached to their wives and families than to their emperor. (Oh, the horror of it all!) To solve that, he banned marriages.  No marriages, no families, strong fighting men. He should have been also known as Claudius the Stupid because as we knew even in the 200s, no marriages and no families eventually leads to no subjects and no empire, and thus no need for an emperor.

Claudius didn’t get a chance to think that far ahead because Valentine continued to perform marriage ceremonies, ban or no ban. Well, old Claude finally caught on to old Val and Valentine was imprisoned and ordered to be executed.  While in prison, Valentine became enamored with the daughter of his jailer and legend goes on to say that on his last day in prison, he wrote her a farewell letter and signed it, “With Love, Your Valentine.”

I like that story.  It has a love interest, a creepy villain, a secret plot twist (priests aren’t supposed to fall in love with women, even in the late 200’s), and a story that would have made a nifty second bill on a Saturday double feature down at the local movie house. And for a little dark side to it, it is St. Valentine’s day of execution, February 14, that we celebrate.

But there are other stories.

There are other stories because there were other Valentines, other Valentines who were priests, and other Valentines who were martyred and became saints. (There was even a Pope Valentine.  He served for only 40 days in 827.)  In all, there are twelve St. Valentines, the most recent, St. Valentine Berrio-Ochoa, a Spaniard who served as bishop in Vietnam until his beheading in 1861, was elevated to sainthood by John Paul II in 1988.

Twelve Valentines, twelve months? Hmm… enough for a Valentine’s Day every month of the year. Hopeless romantic that I am, I am really considering distributing a petition for just so many holidays. But then, that would be twelve times a year instead of just one that rather than celebrating with my one and only, I’d been an one only celebrating alone. [sigh]

I hope you learned something new about love’s favorite holiday. Learning is good. Learning whets your appetite for life! Did you know it also can extend your life? Read how we came to that conclusion in the latest Uplift! Hungry for Learning.

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Go to…where?

Michael 12 Comments

Oh you can just go to…where?

Before you start reading, please be warned this post contains some dramatic and often controversial concepts. Words like forgiveness, repentance, and hope are used, and not ironically.  We may even talk about politics and religion. Certainly, about the religious.

It has been a week and a day since Pope Francis was asked in an Italian television interview, how he imagined hell. He answered “It’s difficult to imagine it. What I would say is not a dogma of faith, but my personal thought: I like to think hell is empty; I hope it is.” It would seem, as Cindy Wooten wrote in an article for the Catholic News Service, to be an answer we should have expected. She wrote, “An emphasis on God’s mercy has so dominated Pope Francis’ pontificate that it should surprise no one that he said he hopes hell is empty.”

As of yesterday, social media is still buzzing. Perhaps people had to take a week to check out how their followers, connections, fellow former Twitterites, and “friends” felt about this, because we know that in the world of social media, we must all take a stand in every subject imaginable, especially after we find out what stand the loudest of the loud are taking. I won’t go into all of the ridiculous excuses people came up with to garner their 15 seconds of fame, suffice it to say that as with most issues from the Bill of Rights to the Las Vegas odds on the NFL playoffs, the loudest of the loud also demonstrated how easy it is to formulate an opinion before, and often instead of looking at obvious facts. The most often cited arguments against hoping hell has a lot of vacancies are what about Hitler (and other examples you don’t have to go back 80 years to find), what about serial killers, what about justice, and what about the devil himself.

“I like to think hell is empty; I hope it is.” None of those 11 words states nor even suggests there is no hell or there are no people bad enough to be worthy of hell, nor the existence of the devil if that is what you believe. The statement can be twisted into a more secular aspiration, “I like to think no newborn ever is sick enough to have to be admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit,” or “I like to think there will never be a car accident so bad the fire fighters have to cut an injured person out of a burning wreck.” It is a statement of hope, of desire, even of a challenge made to mankind to admit wrongdoing, confess and repent and rely on God’s mercy to save you from the sure damnation to the hell that we’d rather see empty.

I bring this up because it so reflects how far people will go to argue a point. It is not a matter of religion. We do this with statements from religious leaders, world leaders, celebrities, pretend celebrities, politicians, athletes, anybody we perceive as trying to “tell us what to do.” The arguments are universal. Much too often people don’t read, don’t listen, don’t know what’s been said before they start arguing a point, often the point they want to argue rather than whatever has been said, or to only parts of what had been said. (Note Pope Francis’ qualification “my personal thought.”) Just as big a concern are the people who have no stake in the discussion. Continuing with the Pope’s statement, there were many social media posts along the lines of “what does it matter, there is no Heaven or hell.” In that case, why even address the situation.

We do this with religion, with politics, and for too many even within our own families. It is easier to argue a point than defend it or to logically challenge it. Just look at the convoluted arguments surrounding the First and Second Amendments. People want to interpret to fit their expectations rather than read and understand what was intended.

Every religion believes in repentance, contrition, and mercy. Each has some dogma that says we can be forgiven for whatever wrongs we’ve done. Stepping outside religion, most societies also have systems of repentance and forgiveness. (“I’d like to think we are good enough to each other that prisons are empty.”) Every religion also has some prophetic personages. Ask most people of the role of the prophets and the response most probably is to foretell events. And although some prophets sometimes did, most carried messages to the people to repent. Now, ask most people what it means to repent, and the most common answer would be to express recognition of transgressions. Repentance also includes remorse and acceptance, and then recognize and correct the offensive action.

Without sounding like the street preachers of the 1960s, when you understand the process that has been created for us, the us who believe in Heaven and hell, who believe in God, a merciful God, we see it is possible to “repent and be saved,” and the Pope’s desire to see an empty hell is possible. It is improbable because there are too many people who believe themselves to be the center of all creation.

Likewise, it will be forever impossible if we never release our petty desires to always be right and if we can’t be right, do all we can to prove someone else wrong. It we can’t do that, we don’t have to worry about hell being empty. We will find ourselves already there.

You cannot make anybody like you, but you can make a place where they might. Read our take on how being honest, available, and caring can maintain healthy relationships in the most recent Uplift If You Insist.

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Leaping into the New Year

Michael 5 Comments

Last week I moderated a program on of all things, leap year. I didn’t know much about leap year, other than one comes around every 4 years, mostly, and this year is one.  So, I made it my business to learn what I could about this quadrennial event, and now that I have all this knowledge floating around in my head, you’re going to learn what I could too!

To start, do you know that leap year does not happen every 4 years. Unless you are over 124 years old you would not have ever experienced a 4 year cycle without a leap year.  That is because the leap year of 2000 was the exception, not the rule. Although we began leaping years in 46 BCE, it wasn’t until the 16th century that we started leaping them with the rules we now know.  (And if you ask me, but neither Caesar, nor Pope Gregory did, leap year is a misnomer. We aren’t leaping anything, we are adding. Thus the more technical “intercalary year” is also to more accurate description of what we do every 4 years, but also harder to say.) Now, if we add what amounts to 1/4 day a year, over 100 years, we’d be gaining time compared to our actual solar orbit, negating what we have been trying to correct. So the plan was that every 100 years, on the “century year” (1700, 1800, 1900) we would skip the traditional addition to February. But then, “they” figured out we’d be back to losing time if we did that all the time, so every century year that is evenly divisible by 400 (like 2000) gets its February 29.

Not everything I learned about leap years was that dry. There were some truly fun facts too. For example, we might actually know somebody whose birthday is February 29. Before we started making February 29 the extra day, local customs could add a day anywhere in the last 5 days of February, and it would keep the same date! Imagine how confused those people were, but at least they got to celebrate a birthday every year.

We’ve most all have heard of Sadie Hawkins, Al Capp’s cartoon unmarried, 35 year old “old maid.” To make a long story short, Sadie, with the encouragement of her father, set out to literally chase and catch an eligible bachelor. This morphed into the Sadie’s Hawkins days and Sadie Hawkins dances when the women asked the men on dates or to dance. Sadie Hawkins Day has nothing to do with leap year and in fact, began sometime in October 1937, decidedly not a leap year. But did Mr. Capp perhaps get his inspiration from Queen Margaret of Scotland (1503-1513). Legend has it that she enacted a law setting fines for men who turned down marriage proposals from women during a leap year. Because February 29 wasn’t recognized by English law; if the day had no legal status, it was OK to break with convention and a woman could propose. I wonder if Margaret was the inspiration for these Scandinavian leap year customs. In Denmark, a man refusing a woman’s proposal must give her a dozen pairs of gloves, and in Sweden, a gentleman refusing a woman’s proposal must gift her with enough fabric to make a skirt.

A last couple fun and still historical facts. Before Leap Years were inserted into the calendar, all months in the ancient Roman calendar had either 29 or 31 days specifically because they felt even numbers are bad luck (Julius Caesar probably would have argued that point on March 16 had he been given that chance). All this talk about Leap Year is only valid for the Gregorian calendar. Leap Day is a phenomenon specific to solar calendars like the Gregorian Calendar we are most familiar with. Other calendars approach the earth’s inconsistent orbit around the sun differently. Lunar calendars like that used to determine the Asian Spring Festival insert a leap month 7 times every 19 years, not always in the same place, and taking the same name as the previous month. By coincidence, the Chinese lunar calendar leap year is occurring this year and will be placed in what the Gregorian calendar calls February. So, if I have it right, this year, there will be two months of Zhengyue in this Year of the Dragon. I think. Maybe. I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure out what the Romans had again even numbers.

Have you broken your resolutions yet? Personal improvement is not a one-time activity. Anytime can be a great time to embrace improvement. We talk about that in the latest Uplift, “New Year Not Required.”

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Non-Wishes for the New Year

Michael 9 Comments

Happy New Year! Did you wash your hair this morning? I do hope that wasn’t too personal. I ask only because if you did, you are pressing your luck. Just as you would be if you swept your floors this morning. Odd superstition those two are. You don’t want to wash away the good luck of the year. Or sweep your good fortunes outside. It’s equally odd “they” have no qualms with vacuuming or taking a shower, presumably while wearing a shower cap. What other bad luck omens should we be avoiding this New Year day?

On the good side of the omens, there are plenty of options for leveraging luck and prosperity. Are you wearing red underwear? Oh darn, there I go again. Too personal. If you have already selected your undergarments and they aren’t of that shade you can still almost guarantee good luck by having lentils for dinner or are you sticking with the old standby of pork and sauerkraut. Whatever you eat be sure to serve pomegranate for fruit course. And don’t forget to roll an empty suitcase around the house if you’re looking to fill the year with travel. Ah, travel. Where would I go? Where would you go?

Good omens, bad omens, good and bad luck. New Year’s, Halloween, and Fridays the Thirteenth have to be the most superstitious days on the calendar. The most superstitious superstition may be the least well known. A wish made exactly at midnight between New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day will surely come true. Most people are too busy looking for someone to kiss and trying to remember the words to Auld Lang Syne to worry about making wishes. The wish making doesn’t happen until hours later when many are wishing they hadn’t opened that last bottle of champagne.

It’s a terrible thing to know you might have had a wish come true and missed your chance. But that chance is a lot chancier than you might think. It must be made right at midnight, the magic moment. It’s the most chancy of good luck omens because nobody knows exactly when midnight is. That’s more obviously true this year than most. This is a leap year so we are more aware that man’s idea of a 24 hour day and a 365 day year are no match for nature’s more exact timing. Even our quadrennial intercalary addition of a spare day in February isn’t enough, hence the random “leap second” inclusions from time to time. The wish grantors aren‘t going to accept man’s claim of when midnight happens. No, it must be the one, true midnight, and even when that happens changes with every westerly taken step.

Perhaps it is just as well. Wishes are no way to go through life. I know. I’ve spent the equivalent of a lifetime wishing for a better life, not knowing then the one I have that was made by hope and faith and hard work, positive energy and prayer and meditation, beats the heck out of one built on wishing. Knowing wishes rarely come true, and never without exacting some price, has been freeing. Among other things, freeing me to find someone to kiss and to remember those darned lyrics.

Happy New Year. May all your wishes never come true.

It’s time to look back at 2023. Will you be wishing for any do overs. In the most recent Uplift we look at the perils of the redo versus the practicality of the refine. Read it here!

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Happy Christmas to All

Michael 3 Comments

Merry Christmas to all,
and to all a good start for
a healthy, happy new year!

Buon Natale

Frohe Weihnachten

Veselé Vánoce

Joyeux Noël

Nollaig Shona

Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus

Feliz Navidad

Hyvää Joulua

Boldog Karácsonyt

Feliz Natal

Nadolig Llawen

Mutlu Noeller

Geseënde Kersfees

Selamat Hari Natal

Linksmų Kalėdų

Gëzuar Krishtlindjet

Sretan Božić

Glædelig jul

Maligayang Pasko

Häid jõule

Wesołych Świąt

Καλά Χριστούγεννα

Lorem Nativitatis

Merry Christmas!

Our gift from ROAMcare to you is finding 7 gifts that make the best re-gifts. Read It’s Better to Re-Give here.

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The Bishop’s Christmas Movie

Michael 14 Comments

If you’re keeping track, it’s the first Monday in December which really means nothing most years but this year I remembered so it’s time for my Kind of Yearly When I Remember It Annual Holiday Movie Special Post. It’s not a “best of” list or even “my favorites” list. You see, every year I seem to find a new holiday to be my current favorite. “I say my current favorite because like children there can be no real favorite among Christmas movies. The favorite is the one making you smile today or remember yesterday, the one encouraging a perfect alternative to an imperfect world and providing an escape from the ordinary.” That was true in the 2019 version of this post, was true before I wrote that, and is true today.

There are so many movies to pick from. Christmas movies, real Christmas movies, not the movie mill versions put out by television networks that would have been better off sticking to greeting cards, come in two varieties…this who ask of a great deal of suspension of disbelief such as “It’s a Wonderful Life” and those that seem they could have been plucked from among your own family movies like “Love the Coopers.” This year’s choice falls between. It certainly asks for a great deal of suspension of disbelief but is the perfect alternative to the imperfect world as seen through a rather special home movie.

There is something for everybody in this year’s favorite.  For the lover of classic film Elsa Lanchester shows up now and then. Intellectuals will enjoy seeing Monty Woolley and for the more down to earth there is a scene or two featuring James Gleason. Gladys Cooper is the perfect gift for those who look for high society types in their movies. The lover of all things continental will love seeing David Niven, the lover of poise and grace will love seeing Loretta Young, and lover of people whose very lives beg for a suspension of disbelief will love seeing Archibald Alec Leach. Once told by an interviewer, “Everybody would like to be Cary Grant”, Grant is said to have replied, “So would I.” And so Archibald spent his life becoming Cary Grant.

If you haven’t recognized it from that cast list, the movie is “The Bishop’s Wife,” David Niven is the bishop, Loretta Young the wife, and Cary Grant is an angel is disguise. Actually, not much of a disguise as he tells the bishop at their first meeting that he is an angel sent to help the bishop once the bishop figures out where he needs help.

The story of the making of “The Bishop’s Wife” is as much a story as the movie itself. Originally Niven was cast as the angel and Grant the bishop. There are differing accounts if producer Samuel Goldwyn or director Henry Koster made the switch, but there is no question the role reversal worked to the movie’s benefit. Critic Bodley Crowther wrote, “it comes very close to being the most enchanting picture of the year.” (New York Times, Dec. 10, 1947) It’s also been said Grant did not want to switch roles but did at Goldwyn’s insistence. Considering Archibald turned himself into Cary it was a piece of cake for Cary to turn his bishop demeanor into that of a charmingly charismatic guardian angel.

The movie is Christmas. It is most of what anybody would want to expect from any holiday. It’s charming, delightful, thoughtful, warm, and fells like an old friend. If it doesn’t leave you with a tear starting to form, if not already running down your cheek by the final scene, then you have no soul. Adapted from Robert Nathan’s novel, it was not well received in 1947, audiences feeling it to be too religious. In 2023, I find it perfect to be this year’s favorite holiday movie. Maybe it’s time we get some religion in us. That would be a true escape from the ordinary.

Merry Holidays!

Does stress get a bad rap? Most people find stress distressing especially during this season. Don’t let that stop you from finding a positive way to think about stress and enjoy these days! Read how we stress the better side of stress in ‘Tis the Season,” the most recent edition of Uplift! at ROAMcare.org.

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It’s that time again

Michael 12 Comments

It’s that time again. You have one person on your list and after a month’s worth of early holiday sales, you still don’t have anything for her. Or him. Or them. Not even an idea.

Fortunately, you’re in luck. We’ve entered that no man’s land of take no prisoners marketing blitz that falls between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Get ready for it. Every day will bring a new email from some company you bought one thing from 18 years ago before you even had an email address. Your physical mailbox will be bulging with sales flyers for stores around the corner than you thought closed last April. Television and radio will exchange political ads for “The very very last chance at Black Friday savings!” sale ads. And even the grocery stores will line their entrances with poinsettias, wreathes, and 6 foot inflatable Santa and reindeer yard balloons.

Speaking of yards, I was amazed at how many yards were over-the-top decorated for Halloween this year and the number of huge (like 10 foot tall huge) skeletons and Jack Skellington replicas. I am happy to report that many of the people in my neighborhood who spent hundreds of dollars on these monster size monstrosities have repurposed them for Christmas by soliciting their giant skeletons to help string lights across the front of the house. Very festive.

Back to business though, you can also count on your sleepy neighborhood hardware store to fill their parking lot with every Christmas character from Santa and his sleigh to a life size nativity set all in inflatable forms, and a special section inside devoted to “As Seen On TV” leftovers.

Excluding paper routes and summer grass cutting/winter snow shoveling gigs, the first real job I had was working for Gimbels department stores during college semester breaks. Admittedly that was in a different century, way way back in a different century when the day after Thanksgiving was just the day after Thanksgiving, no fancy name to it other than the “official” start of the Christmas season and sales were still four weeks away. You wanted door-busters back then, show up at 7 on the morning of the day after Christmas. Now those were sales! Anyway, I still recall being told I was not only there to run the cash register and suggest our gift wrapping services available at the service desk. I was also there to help, make suggestions, and see that the customer found what he, or she (those were the only choices then) wanted.

If you haven’t had any luck shopping for that elusive perfect present for your special him or her or it while shopping over the previous week’s many iterations of Pre-Black Friday, Every Day is Black Friday, Black Friday, Black Friday Weekend, and Cyber Monday, and toss in Small Business Saturday, you aren’t going to get it now, so don’t bother to look any more. Instead, maybe check out the crafts aisle in the dollar store, spend a ten spot and make something personal for the one person in your list you can never buy anything for.

She or he or they probably won’t like it, but they’ll love you for trying because after all that is what the season is all about. And don’t bother with a gift receipt. It won’t be returned.

Especially during this season, we know we can never say it enough. Read why we say saying thank you for the little things in your life makes a big difference to it. We can never say it enough is our most recent Uplift! article, and did we thank you for reading it yet?

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A prayer for Thanksgiving, one more time

Michael 9 Comments

ThanksgivingPrayerI first published this in 2017 then most recently in 2021. Each time I read it, even though I wrote it, I seem to find something different to ponder. For example, this year – “while I think of all that I am thankful for I’ll manage to miss most of them.” We take too much for granted, our blessings, our talents, and most sadly, our fellow humans, often even the ones that occupy space right there next to us.

Wednesday at the ROAMcare site we will post our annual Thanksgiving greeting, this year encouraging all to express their gratitude for the many little things done for us throughout the day, things that seem to just happen like that extra cup of coffee you didn’t have to get up for. Maybe by concentrating on, and being grateful for, and expressing our gratitude for the little things, the big things will fall into place like they just seem to happen.

I’ll start – thank you all for opening your computers or tablets or smart phones and reading along with me. Your virtual presence adds to my day and lets me know I’m valued.

Enjoy the run-up to the holiday! May your week be filled with expressions of gratitude for all the little things you do. You know, the ones that don’t just happen.

Today is Thanksgiving in the United States. It was or will be likewise around the world. Everybody is thankful for something and most nations have managed to work in a holiday to legitimize the feeling.

I don’t know how others do it but Americans have been managing to delegitimize feelings quite efficiently lately. We’ll tout our tolerance and claim to accept all and then slur anyone who doesn’t feel the same and blur want for welcome. We support everything and everyone as long as it or they support us in the manner to which we think we should be accustomed. Our gratitude for what we have is matched by our appetite for what we don’t.

Sometime today while I think of all that I am thankful for I’ll manage to miss most of them. So will everyone else. Mostly we’re not bad people as much as clueless ones. Clueless to the differences between our reality and the one that’s really out there. And clueless to how much we rely on what we don’t even know is happening.

So when you give your thanks today that hopefully you won’t restrict to just today I offer you the prayer I started today with.

Heavenly Father, this is the day set aside to give thanks for Your surpassing goodness to human beings. Let me give proper thanks for my blessings  –  those I am aware of as well as those that I habitually take for granted. And let me use them according to Your will.

Happy Thanksgiving today and every day you think to be thankful.

Do you feel like the time from Halloween until the day after New Years Day is your Winter Holiday Stress Zone? We do and we wrote how Toilet Paper Wisdom makes things roll along a little more smoothly. Check it out at Uplift! It only takes 2 minutes. You can spare that in your holiday prep plans and maybe even walk away a little de-stressed.