What Are Your Favorite Moments in 2021?

1) Luckily bumping into an artist that is excited to illustrate my book

2)      Relaxing at a wine orchard and meeting a web designer to design my new website

3)      Deciding to start a flag business and getting set up with a computer router (Thanks to my son and   husband) so I can create many

4)      Happy to discover family members that survived Covid

5)      Having all our children visit for a long time as they transfer to other states, priceless!

2021 has been a good year and 2022 can only get better.

Listened to the audio book “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau with the study. Thoreau was a great man his wisdom is as true today as ever.

 

Eleven Lovely Things

The refreshing feeling of an ice bath

 

The first aroma of a fire in the cool air of Autumn

 

Watching Maple tree wing seeds whirl round and round to the ground

 

Walking on a nature trail enjoying colorful leaves

 

Seeing the vibrant orange, blue, and yellow sunrises and sunsets

 

Dreaming of seeing loved ones at the holidays

 

Seeing turkeys, pheasants, deer, groundhogs, eagles, and more…

 

Standing on the edge of a lake breathing deep with fresh clear air

 

The taste of home-made pumpkin soup

 

Family fun picking apples

 

Enjoying a cup of coffee and a cider doughnut

 

*Beautiful life, good times, easy living, life is good.

 

                                           Thank you, November, 2021 

Every Question You Have Has An Answer

Where you go to get the answer depends on who thinks for you.

Once you think for yourself regardless of outside influences, you will research many sources and take notes to see the bigger picture. Do you take the time to listen and read multiple sources even if you think you disagree at first glance?  Do you accept the easy answer so you can tuck that question away and get back to your regular programming?

When anyone disagrees with you, do you want to MAKE them do as you dictate, or do you embrace diversity and independent thinking? Your answer to this question reveals your hunger for power over everyone.

My life has many questions, and I do not have the time to research all my questions, so I focus on the things that concern me personally. When a question affects me deeply, I examine closer until I get to the bottom of my confusion. I find this rarely involves anyone's opinion; the research will influence my decision. To live with such continual negativity under the surface of my conscious mind of anger is emotionally exhausting.  This inability to admit "I could be wrong" creates a hostile attitude towards opposing opinions. I used to be afraid to admit I was wrong, not so much anymore. I know better. I do not want to be the fool in the room that thinks "I know it all."

"Ignorance is NOT bliss!" Ignorance is a pandora's box of weapons to be deceptively used against the unaware when specific forces of power are in play.

To make the questions dissipate, if I go to the regular programming, the familiar, I don't have to take action. Most people placate these confused feelings with any defense, such as arguing, silent obedience, exercise, food, alcohol, drugs, violence, spending money, etc.  Any of these are more accessible than seeking an answer that may require me to change.

And if I have academic or material wealth, I may tell myself "I" don't need to change. THE uneducated  do!"  My academic degrees and peers with wealth agree I'm right! I'll MAKE EVERYONE ELSE CHANGE to suit my answers. After all, it is for their own good. Now I can eliminate any debate to my authoritarian thinking by manipulating monetary influence, forcing "others" to obey me! 

Except... "the others" have questions.

Money and power to influence laws and confuse people with convoluted rhetoric will not work long term for freedom thinking people worldwide, like me. We all have intelligence, and we are free to think. It costs nothing to use the intelligence you are born with.

Individual independent ability to think can only be eroded little by little when we fear speaking up to question anyone. When we give up and give in, we allow others to control our lives. If we disagree inside but do as told outside, we go back to our regular programming.  How to respond positively takes quiet contemplation before action. 

To live free is a responsibility to have all information available to decide the decisions we make. We can take a chance and let others think and answer for us, and we might be OK for a while if we are lucky. However 'My" life is not yours to rule; it is mine.

And, if I choose to investigate any issue myself, it costs you nothing; it costs me, my time. Can I do that? Yes.   

I can honestly tell you some answers I sought took decades for me to find the truth of it, but if we are willing to question and stick to it, the puzzle pieces eventually come together. You will say, "I see the answer now. What took me so long?"  Ignorance of how the world works is a big one.

Sometimes "I" was wrong. I had to change or remain angry for no reason. I found I was programmed not to question authority figures as a child, especially male authority figures. Then, as an adult, I began to read books and experience life. I found that society has programmed me to believe things that are not true. It was not until I stepped away from traditional expectations that I trained myself to be free to think differently. 

I do this through daily personal research of every topic that interests me.

Therefore, for those who prefer knowing the truth that brings clarity of thought to have confidence and peace of mind, we must be brave enough to ask the right questions to clarify the confusion and remain stubborn enough to educate ourselves through research until we have the answers we seek.

I am grateful to now have the patience to listen calmly to others and then research to answer my questions. It will be harder for anyone to lead you down a primrose path that benefits them more than you when you learn to think for yourself. 

It is a beautiful thing to be alive, enjoy your life. Your ability to think is legal.

 

 

 

We Can't UNSEE the Light

When a light is shined in a dark corner of our mind, we can choose to correct or NOT. If we want to update the misunderstanding of a fact we thought we understood but did not, good. If we decide not to investigate further, understanding will go unanswered, and a division is created. Still, we can't "unsee" the flicker of light that made us question that thought, if only for a second. It nags.

I have revisited the questions in my mind many times until I decided to look closer and remove my confusing thoughts one thought at a time. If questions involve someone I love, we talk until we resolve our differences. What I learned; confusion in our minds causes stagnation, and we will not move, physically or mentally, until we see a clear path. We wisely decide NOT to move until we are ready to make a move in the right direction.

Exploring the corners of my mind is the most frightening voyage I ever began, for there, I found my true self, and there I found fears I did not know I had. To rid myself of these fears, I had to change. I was scared, at first, I did not want to change. The unfamiliar scared me. I was ashamed to let anyone know I was not perfect. I had to appear in control of myself even when I knew inside I was faking control of my life. I wanted to change without others knowing my struggles. I did not want to let another person see my weaknesses. My appearance of perfection was more important. I did not want to let another person help me. Anyway, another person may help me by giving advice, but only I could CHANGE myself. The first step is to shine a light to see the need to change, the second step wanting to change. Life experiences will shine a light whether we like it or not.

This voyage has been one I chose to take decades ago because I wanted to get free of automatic negative opinions about everything that led me to anxiety and depression. If I felt guilty or ashamed when I did nothing, I had to dive deep to discover why I felt this way. When bad things happened, I had to figure out what part did I play in this? Maybe I played no role in it, and perhaps I created the entire story. I wanted to become confident that I could see the truth. I tried to calm my mind and learn to enjoy my life. It was challenging to change.

I had much to be thankful for but found I  had a blockage and could not feel grateful. I used to pick things apart to find a complaint. Today I am free of automatic negative thinking, depression, and continual anxiety. It was a choice, and I will always discipline my mind to remain free of both. It is a formula I discovered that worked to free me from stress. I choose to practice this every day. It takes conscious effort, brings change, and is hard at times, but I choose to make an effort every day because it feels great to have clarity of mind with a positive attitude. I am so grateful to have come this far and look forward to the future with positive expectations. The best is yet to be, I may not know the future, but the world is full of so many good people it is sure to be brighter.

We can choose not to change. Everything is a choice, and choices have consequences. People that add to my good life are welcomed. People that use me, I don't have the time or space in my life anymore. It has taken a long time for me to learn to enforce healthy boundaries that allow positive influences in my circle of trust as friends. Now I know there is "no perfect normal life," I can thankfully get on with the one I was born to live.

Thankful for everyone that loved me enough to help me get here. Now may I be a light to love others.

How to Be Powerfully Dangerous!

 If you can learn to write your thoughts in grammatically correct sentences, then you can think. If you can think, you can control your thoughts. Turn off radio, TV, iPhones, media and see what comes to mind. Can you think outside of what you see, touch, feel, or taste?

If not, create space in your mind to think independent thoughts? How? Learn to meditate with silence. Once you make space through meditative silence, YOUR thoughts will appear.

Once you can articulate your thoughts in words on paper, you can state your case. Once you can think things through to make YOUR case, you can listen and counterpoint. Read, research, write, and speak to be powerful. You are not easily misled when you know the facts of your research.

To be dangerous, truly dangerous, and powerful simultaneously, take the time to learn to write YOUR thoughts. Did you know most people can’t do this? Most people do not know what they think unless they are told. Be bold, be brave, be different, dare to think outside the box, and write your thoughts.

If you can read, you are ahead of the game, and if you can write your thoughts, you are the winner.

Steps

The first steps we take in life are to stand.

The next steps we take are to walk.

Then steps evolve into running.

As people that are born free, we all learn to take steps of personal responsibility to stand for our autonomous freedom in unity with kindness and compassion.

As we gratefully walk free we remember the “citizens” that debated and created the documents for us, the future citizens of this country to have a voice in our government forever.  We are a kind compassionate people who enjoy prosperity and welcome peaceful diversity.

We are a nation born of great innovative ideas to live free as individuals and to prosper.  We are U.S. Americans, the only race we run in is human.

Thankful to be alive in these exciting days of truth in the land of freedom for people worldwide.

If peace is to be, it starts with “Free Me.”

 

Every Experience in Your Life is Taking You to Your Destiny

As the years go by I am amazed at how many of my dreams as a child come true.  The gratefulness for life and my courage to move to get to the next mountain to climb to see what is over the other side has given me great joy. Some mountains took me to the next adventure and adventure after adventure lead me to find wonderful things I never knew existed. Along the way, I uncovered many latent talents within me and met wonderful people with great advice and positive attitudes.  

There are YouTube podcasters with successful podcasts I enjoy visiting to see these young people moving forward living their dream because they have a positive attitude and keep moving to the next adventure. Living life on their terms moving forward with another plan, another job, another direction, learning lessons about life every day, confident they can overcome any challenge that gets in the way.

If I could impart this one thing to anyone, I would give you the confidence to know, things will get better and you will find a way to live your dream if you keep searching, living, exploring another direction. If you have a job and you don't like it, then file that knowledge in your brain, and get another one, move on. If you are living somewhere you don't like, find another town and move. If you don't like your unimaginative friends, find new ones. Life is not about hiding from your troubles, it is about running to your dream. Your destiny is your decision. It is not about where you started, it's about where you end.

It really is that easy but you just have to find the confidence to change everything if you need to. For me, letting go of family drama on both sides of the family and setting personal boundaries were the first two steps. When a family supports your adventurous spirit it makes life easier to explore, if they don't you will need the courage to go on where they would not. In the end, as you get older, you can learn, things will work out if you don't get scared and give up. This generation is amazing to me, they are courageous and kind.

Families may even come together after all those years if you remain true to your course and let them go. Families are wonderful. After all the core goodness of who you are, came from those good folks. You found you needed to find your life separate from theirs but you always forgive and love them.  When families unite it is meant to be, if not accept and move on.  Life is wonderful if you have the courage to live it on your terms without malice.

Thankful for my life and the people in it every day.