Sandi Thomasson

Something Bad Could Happen

It’s easy to get swept away by the bad news: someone is treated badly; someone is swindled out of their life savings, the life is savagely snuffed out of a good person, a young life is lost.

Knowing about the bad things that could happen can be scary. It can get us to a place where we are waiting for the next shoe to fall. When will it be OUR TURN to experience something bad? It could be around the next corner. And it COULD!

Even after something bad, though, most likely, there will be something good around the next corner. Remember that the media has to pull news about something bad from all around the country and the world, just to keep us informed.

It’s not news that 16 million school children arrived safety. There’s no headline in knowing that 45 million husbands chose to come home to their families and share their lives tonight. The fact that 34 million of them were met with a hug and a smile; you’ll never hear Fox News report it.

So take the news with a grain of salt. Something bad did happen to them. It could happen to you. And if it does, you have the strength and courage to figure out how to handle it.

In the meantime, enjoy the everyday good times. Treasure them. Don’t let them get by without celebration. They are what this good life is all about.

[#322]

Are You Lucky?

Are you lucky? If someone asked you that today, what would you use as a benchmark, to determine your own good fortune? What is going on with you that makes you feel lucky? Have you won a prize lately? Did you get the job you wanted? Have you always had a job that you love, or the man or woman of your choice?

Any one of those things could be considered very good luck. But there are so many benefits that we have that make us luckier than most, that we were born in this time, in this country.

It’s easy to forget how many basic things we have that would make others consider every one of us to be very lucky. We turn on the faucet and clean water comes out. Do you know how many people can only dream of that?

When you turn the lights out at night, you can reasonably expect that there will not be soldiers banging on your door, dragging someone away, never to be seen again.

We can learn and participate and speak out. As we hear complaints about our country, our government, our citizens, let’s remember that within all the chaos, we are still free and well fed and allowed to go about our business as we please.

We can go to church . . . or the mall . . . choose the shows we want to watch on TV or travel across state lines. We can hear what the opposition has to say, voice our concerns and seek justice.

How lucky are you? Lottery winner or not, chances are you are one lucky dude.

[#524]

Conflicting Advice

There are so many experts out there; people who think they know better than you, what is best for you. Listening to them all can seem like a cacophony of conflicting advice.

You follow the rules for overcoming this bad habit this week, and the next week, the rules are the reverse of what you’ve been doing. Today the advice is to turn left; tomorrow, you’re told to turn right.

Seems to me, the key is knowing your own mind, spirit and body and making your own decisions about what’s best for you.

I saw a news report recently about how Facebook is bad for your health because it is addictive. Of course we’ve all heard stories about people getting sucked into online chat rooms or dark places or social media to the exclusion of all else – job, family, friends. But we don’t shut down a tool that facilitates billions of communications because of the few who get lost.

One third of seniors will fall this year. But we don’t put old folks in football helmets to save them from this fate.

Maybe what’s needed is a large dose of caution and a little common sense, added to the advice of experts. Get more than one opinion. Check the accuracy of the facts. Consider the pros and the cons. Set up your own filters before following advice blindly.

That even applies to the advice just provided.

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