Giving Thanks for Lessons

Thanksgiving is my favorite Holiday. It reminds me to do the one thing I should remember to do every day, which is to give thanks. I have so many wonderful things, opportunities and people in my life. I am lucky and I can never forget that or start to take it for granted. The minute I do, I begin to lose. When we take things for granted, these things eventually get taken away.

Being thankful doesn't always have to be about what you have. You can be thankful that you recognize what you don't.. The universe may give you a bad moment, or a bad day but that does not make a bad life. Everyone has troubles. Everyone makes mistakes.

You also should be thankful for lessons. They mold us and mature us. Life continually teaches me lessons whether through my own experiences and feelings about things and stuff, or through the experiences of those around me. Here is what I have learned lately:

Never chase. Be you, do your thing and work hard on your passions. The right people who belong in your life will eventually come to you, and more importantly, they will stay with you.

Cruel to be kind: People can be cruel, and sometimes they will be. People can hurt you and break your heart, and sometimes they will.  You MUST value yourself enough to choose to spend time with people who treat you the way you treat them and know your worth enough to choose to spend time with people who know your worth, too.

Open your eyes: What you see or feel in a relationship isn't always necessarily what the other person does. Recognize that and take a step backward. It is okay to protect yourself but more important to know your place. Sometimes the balance shifts. That's life.

Each day when you say thanks for the food in your refrigerator, the relationships in your life, the roof over your head... be thankful for the lessons you have learned as well. I promise you won't regret it.

Don't forget, during this Holiday season to let others know when they've done something that you're thankful for.

"I'll never forget how you stuck up for me. It meant a lot."
"That text you sent really made my day."
 

The secret of happiness is to count your blessings while others are adding up their troubles.

It's 2012. Birth control, really?

I think back on this election season. I have to start with this comment. We are indeed, a nation divided. I am happy it is over and /I am happy that the senseless bashing of human charcter can finally subside for at least 3 years. But where do I stand? Where do you stand? Anybody who knows me can say with certainty that I probably am the most socially liberal conservative around. They also know that I am all about small government, economic freedom and energy independence. So where do I stand? I like to say that I'm a conservative, but traditional conservatism these days is more Liberatarian. Will a Liberatarian win office? Not in my lifetime. So what do I believe in?

I had a thought last night, as I was hanging out with some girlfriends. I was thinking about our lives... very different lives. One has been married, divorced and has a grown child. The other, in a relationship with the same person essentially all of her adult life. And then there's me, I'm not going to birth any children of my own. I'm 40 for crying out loud. But it gave me pause to think about the Republican party, focussing so much time and energy on birth control in the primaries. It's 2012. Really? Here's how to polarize an entire species of females: talk about how you don't believe in birth control. Maybe you don't.... maybe you personally don't believe in birth control. Maybe you think it's bad... immoral. But in focussing on that topic, one that realistically you can't outlaw or ban, regardless of whether or not you win the election, you have managed to ostricize single women and married women alike. You have even made an enemy out of married men, who have Fathered all the children they want to have in their lifetime. It's hard as a conservative, middle-aged female to answer for that. And don't think I haven't had to. My girlfriends will ask me 'how can you support somebody who believes they have the right to tell me what is right for me?' It is almost unfair to leave me, your supporter, holding the bag for that one.

Don't worry. I haven't jumped ship. I still believe in all of the things that make me a conservative woman but how do I share this universe with people who can't see past bad ideas. Some people are easily offended... I mean, Women in Binders? It wasn't meant as an insult. I'm sure Obama has a Binder of Terrorists somewhere in the oval office. So people taking things out of context isn't what I'm talking about. I'm talking about bad ideas that offend entire groups of people. We have to be smarter if we want to win elections. We have to welcome people to understand our politics and our differences instead of alienating people for not being like us. ALL SIDES.

How do we find a way, as a nation to come together on some of these issues without abandoning our core, fundamental and individual beliefs?