Living Proof

There are many times when I get down on myself. I tell myself I'm not good enough, I don't have 'this' or I don't have 'that' - and my life just plain stinks. I'll complain about life's challenges and difficulties and all the things that I should've done, or should've been graced with. I complain and complain and complain. Then it hits me:  "I may not be where I want to be, but thank God I'm not where I used to be."  - A line taken from Joyce Meyer. But even then, it wasn't so bad. But there were great challenges, like seeing my father fall ill to cancer. We all took turns and shifts sitting all day and evening with Dad in the hospital, even if he was knocked out cold by the pain meds, just so he wouldn't feel alone. I remember standing in the elevator with about 5 other people. I played this little game, guessing why they were here, or if they were a patient getting clearance and finally out of their 30 sq ft room. M...

Generosity While growing up in my mid-teens or so, my sister and I would sit on the floor of her bedroom and play Rummy 500 for hours at a time. She always won, until one day when she told me her secret. We both knew the rules of the game, but there was a strategy to it. She said, “ Always give up your most important card and you will always win for some reason.”  It didn’t make sense to me - why would I want to give up my most important card if I wanted to win? But after losing a million & one times, I tried it. I started giving up my most valuable cards, and in return, I ended up receiving them back and then some. I then started winning. I guess that’s how it is in real life: when you give, you get back in return. And it’s not meant in a selfish way. To genuinely give in real life is rewarding in itself, but to see someone else happy and take joy in seeing that person happy, says a lot about who you are. And yes, it may be a “risk”, just like in Rummy 500 - but it’s a ri...

"Love is not just looking at each other, it's looking in the same direction." ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery Yesterday I spent some time with mom for her 74th birthday. She always gets excited like a little girl on her big day, which is rare for many people. Dad was there and feeling much better. He was joking around, trying to hit me with his cane and being his ol’ sarcastic self again. He’s appetite finally came back too. At 3pm, the nurse and the social worker from hospice came over to check on him. As he was speaking to the social worker, he mentioned all the things he did in life, like running the fish market, a restaurant, had his own excavation company and made foundations for many, many homes around the area. He said to her, “Don’t get old. It goes just. like. that,” as he snapped his fingers. “One day, you own your own business and do well with it for years, and then it’s gone...just like that.” I didn’t know how to respond to it and thought the social worker would...

Everything changes. People change. Minds change. Hearts change. There’s no stopping it. Whether good or bad, I was told the change should be embraced, whether through a friend or some cheesy quote I found on the net. “What won’t kill you will make you stronger.” While I know that hardships in life do make us more knowledgeable so we can cope with it better the next time around, I wonder if it truly makes us stronger, or does it possibly cram us back into our shell a little more? They say knowledge is power, but I’m not sure that “power” has strength. I do believe the mind is underestimated, so I have conflicting thoughts on it. For instance, if you put your mind into it, you can conquer almost anything. But, on the other hand, what if fear trickles into that “you can do it” mindset? It kind of puts a monkey wrench into the works. We all have some level of fear whether we admit to it or not, and some people can do it above and beyond the fear while it’s still present. A good friend o...

You’ve said it, I’ve said it, we’ve all said, “I want I want I want I want ______ .” Either we’re not happy with where we’re at or we just want more of what we already have. It’s called being human, and unfortunately, once we have grasped everything that we’ve ever wanted in life, our dreams start dissipating into thin air. What do we keep striving for? For someone who has everything, can you imagine what dreams they still have left? Do they start seeking out other things for gratification other than materialistic and monetary items, like having affairs or dipping into drugs or alcohol to make them feel differently? I’ve always wondered about this, until one day it finally hit me: what if we are here to make every single moment of our life count? Okay, so you want to get from point A. to point B. in your life, but what about the journey? What about all the little things in between? Even if you have all the money in the world, what about making a difference in somebody else’s life? Bu...

Is it true? The more we get, the more we want? Are we ever satisfied with where we are in life? Or is it a constant quest to find true happiness? What is true happiness? Some say it’s finding the perfect love – our ‘soul mate’. Others claim it’s finding stability in career and money and to be able to establish great wealth. There are people who believe that having great faith in God is true happiness. Many will say that finding love within family and friends is what makes life. But, what if you don’t have all of these at once? If the person who gains wealth doesn’t have their ‘soul mate’, will they ever be happy? And if a person finds they don’t have many friends or loved ones, will getting rich substitute for it all? Recently, I heard “a certain someone” say that their neighbor has a nicer house than they do. "This person" who said this has a gorgeous home. It’s filled with love, beautiful things they obtained over the years and quite a few luxury items. But, their neighbor ...