Thank you!

I have written 1,000 posts for this blog and I have enjoyed my time putting the ideas collected forward. I have written on politics, retirement, work, elder abuse, relationships, self awareness, self confidence, children, grandchildren and family, spiritualism and religion and other humourous things.

What has kept me going, (besides ego :-) is the fact that I have had over 43,000 people have read my writing and many have left me comments that I have enjoyed reading, have challenged me or set me off in new direction.

Thank you for your support and I look forward to writing another 1,000 posts. So has you enjoy this wonderful February day remember that:

"It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed."

Thanks to the Olympic Athletes

Over the last 15 days I have watched the Olympics in London with interest with high hopes for the Canadian athletes. The young men and women who competed for Canada should be very proud of their achievements. Many outdid themselves and although our medal count was not as high as we as a country had hoped, our athletes did themselves and our Country proud.  

In addition to the Canadian athletes, my thanks go out to all of the young men and women from every country who competed. These athletes should be proud of themselves and their countries should be proud of them. To compete at the highest level is an honour that each athlete will remember for the rest of their lives. The athletes have honoured themselves and their countries with their positive attitude and their dedication to the spirit of the games.

The coaches, managers, trainers, medical and equipment personnel that helped each team also should be thanked for their dedication to the team.

Finally, to the friends and the families of the athletes who have been there when no one else was and who were the difference makers, encouraging the athletes when they needed the support, thank you.

Things I like

Thinking of things that I like:

• The smell of books and hearing the crack of the spine
• The heft of a book and turning the pages, dog-earing them
• Reading
• The last page of a novel read first
• Rainbows
• Sun showers
• Rivulets
• Snowflakes
• Fireplaces
• Greyish blue and purple
• Cuddly animals
• Anything that makes me feel nice and cozy inside
• Listening to music while dropping off to sleep
• Drinking Ice Tea on a hot summer day
• Lily-of-the-valleys
• Falling in love with a book or movie character
• The symbolic things I like are
• circles
• pathways
• doorways
• boxes
• Love that makes my soul happy
• Words that sound like their meaning like 'soft,' 'whisper'
• Trees with lots of branches and no leaves
• The colour Red

Reflections

 I lost my mother when I was in my early 30's and was not able to say thank you to her for her wisdom, courage and hard work that helped shape the person I was and would continue to grow into being. She left a personal diary, which as I read her words, I was allowed a glimpse into the wonderful person she was when she was young and the hardships she and my father went through until the mid 50's. So for those of you lucky enough to have your mothers in your lives say thank you. Gratitude works to help your soul, feelings of gratitude enhance well-being and one’s one's sense of meaning. This  post is based on the ideas of Martin Seligman

Seligman suggests that you think of a person in your life who has kind or generous to you but whom you've never properly thanked. You write a detailed "gratitude letter" to that person, examining in concrete terms why you're grateful. Then you visit that person and read the letter aloud. According to Seligman, the ritual is powerful. "Everyone cries when you do a gratitude visit. It's moving for both people."

Pass it forward, or one good deed begets another is an ancient idea and is based on our need to be needed and to say thank you to those who have helped us out over the years. When I was teaching grade 10's I would have them do an autobiography and to help them organize the work, I would have them write about elementary school. In almost every essay I read students talked about the impact a teacher, a friend, an adult made in their lives. I would ask have you taken the time to say thank you to that person. Most students had not, in fact many of us do not practice this courtesy.

When I was young my mom would tell me, as I told my children (as I suspect many of us boomers did) "Please and Thank you are magic little words, use them and you may get what you need" As we grew older but not much wiser, many of us forgot the magic little words or forgot how to use them wisely and with meaning. Today on the radio, I heard a lady who had a show about aging gracefully talk about birthdays and how she now celebrates not a birthday but uses the day as a celebration of a major milestone for the year, she said: I have had a European Vacation day, I had a Roman Holiday adventure day". She went on to talk about using your birthday to celebrate major milestones that you did in the year, or hope to do in the following year.

Another variation on moving your birthday from growing older is to create the birthday gratitude list.  The birthday gratitude list is simple. On your birthday, make a list of the things for which you grateful-with the number of items equalling the number of years you're turning that day. (So as a 65 year old this year I will be creating a list of 65 things I am grateful for this year). As your list grows by one each year-the theory being that the older you get, more you have to be thankful for and if you keep your list, it gets easier to fill out as you only have to add one item. :-) The tough job is to create the original list

Gratitude should be something we build into our lives and one way to do this is to try this just for one day, then the next day try it for just one day. Keeping resolutions is difficult, but we can all try something just for one day,  Build a way to be thankful into your daily routine (try this for just one day). Tomorrow, at a certain time think of one thing for which you're grateful and write it down.  I also suggest that you not only think about the one thing you are grateful for but take a few minutes and explore the deeper meaning behind why you are grateful.  (try it for just one day and then the next day try it again but only for one day :-)

Doing these little gratitude exercises, I think, can help you restore your sense of balance and your sense that for all the bad things that happen to us, good things do happen to us. Over time and little by little a new sense of seeing the world can grow.