Search Results for: gifts

Decisions You Make

Today, you will have decisions to make: whether to get up now or sleep another hour. . . what to have for breakfast. . . what to wear. . . whether to take that phone call as you’re ready to walk out the door or not.

Each of those decisions seem inconsequential. You may make them by rote without even really thinking about them. But the chain of those decisions becomes your life.

How well you live that life depends on the decisions you make. Some people are very good at making decisions, and their life thrives. Others – not so much.

That’s when we hear the excuses about what went wrong: it was the economy. . . a bad start in life. . . not enough education. . . parents who did not care.

But the truth is . . . every one of us has the right – and obligation – to make good decisions to keep our lives running in the right direction. YOU have control, regardless of the economy or your schooling or your parents.

Making the right decision is not always easy. You may not have immediate gratification. It may take years to get where you want to be. You may have detours or false starts that need do-overs.

But It’s never too late to start making the right decisions. Something to think about.

[Show #451]

Sending Cards

You can tweet up to 140 words on Twitter. You can share your latest hairstyle with the world on Facebook or send your message the old fashioned way – by email. But I still enjoy using the totally antiquated form – a personal note through the US mail. Emotions conveyed through your own handwriting seem to have such a special effect.

Have you ever FOUND an ancient hand-written note; something tucked away in a trunk or a drawer because it was too precious to be discarded? Maybe a love letter sent from granddad to grandma while they were courting . . . a letter sent from a battlefield to a loved one at home or a picture drawn with love and crayons by a child for a parent.

The note you send to a friend or loved one today may be kept with the same kind of loyalty and become a treasure to be shared, years from now. Wouldn’t it be interesting to know who kept a hand written note that you sent?

You might be surprised to hear how many of your notes and letters are carefully stashed in someone’s special place. It’s a place where spelling and grammar don’t count and sentiment does. It’s like a peek into a person’s soul.

Love seems to come through so much better, when it’s hand written.

[Show #325]

Life on Fast Forward

Whoa! Just like that, another season has rushed by. Where did it go? Who put our world on fast forward?

Everywhere you turn, someone is marveling at how quickly the time goes by. You wake up and barely get going, when it’s lunchtime and the afternoon is here. Blink and the day is over. There is even a magazine called Fast Forward.

What is this new warp speed getting us? No doubt, we are accomplishing more . . . producing more . . . adding more to our pocketbook. But if we’re not . . . does it make any sense for time to move this fast? We don’t seem to have the ability to slow it down, so I guess we’ll just go with it.

Just be sure that your fast day includes kind words . . . gestures of love . . . hugs and smiles. Even if you have to give them as you dash past in your virtual running shoes. And when you go to measure how you made the world a better place today, don’t put the tape around your middle . . . or your pocketbook.

Put it around your heart. If it’s full and you’ve had laughter and joy today, if you have shared with someone and made them feel good, you’re doing just fine in your fast forward world.

[Show #323]

Counting Calories

So we have to lose some pounds; about 20 or so. Which way to turn to get serious about this?

We already cut out ice cream, cake, bread, butter and cheese grits. We have cut down portions. No, really. Have not seen a slice of pizza in a month.

Then we find out that 2% milk has more calories than whole milk: that strawberries and blueberries have a bunch of carbs; that it’s a myth that there are no calories in cookies that are broken. We could quickly get back to ground zero in this quest for a healthy, slim future.

Eating out seems out of the question, what with super sizing and lattes and the smell of fresh rolls and butter. Eating in should work – until you’ve found out you made a mistake. Like – who knew that corn is a grain!

So we sit here munching on celery sticks, dreaming of fried chicken and banana splits and remembering the good ole days when you were only concerned with whether you could afford it, not how many carbs it had.

OK, so we obviously need an attitude adjustment . . . or maybe a program that delivers only legal food. . . or someplace where we’d get gold stars for every pound lost. . . or a personal trainer who will work us sweaty.

We will decide very shortly . . . and stick to it this time! Meanwhile, has anyone seen the Frosted Flakes?

[Show #304]

Salute To Young Mothers

It’s so difficult to be a young mother today. There are so many restraints on young mothers that require concern and worry. The media’s emphasis on negative happenings can convince you there is a boogey man around every corner! How do you teach children to be open and sociable – and yet wary of strangers, at the same time? Outside forces are influencing your children and they seem to get exposed to less gentle things so very early.

Yet in most families here in the country, there is a loving young mother doing her best to counteract the downsides: to make life safe and sweet and secure; to assure that her children know they are loved and the benefits of being good, obedient and respectful. It’s hard to know how much of an impression you are making. But you know what? Don’t stop!

Kids learn the lessons you are teaching. They learn from the examples you set by what you do and say. It will serve them well in the years ahead when they have hard choices to make. You are setting their moral compass and that’s never easy.

To those young mothers, accept this salute for the fine job you are doing as you juggle home, job, volunteering and most of all, caring for your children and helping them to grow and prosper, meeting each day’s challenges.

Thanks for all you do, young moms. Never give up. We’re counting on you!

[Show #292]

Books for Christmas

I’ve been thinking about Christmas gifts. Books used to be a favorite gift of mine. The placement of ideas into the mind of another is an awesome gift.

And books become more beautiful with time. The treasured, hundred-year- old family bible, now worn and threadbare, could not be more beautiful. The children’s story book with its finger prints and jelly smears, with stories read so many times that a parent has them memorized; far more beautiful than the leather-bound, gold in-scripted book sitting on a shelf that looks like it has never been opened.

Of course we see the transmittal of words moving to other media now. My Christmas gift list this year might include a Kindle or other electronic reading device. I might bring up a book on my iphone or read it on line. But somehow it’s still captivating to curl up with a good book.

Yes, I think books will remain on my Christmas gift list. That and CDs of books for listening in the car or CDs of, say, this radio show. (Blatant hint.)

Consider This IS now on CD and ready for Christmas gift giving. But only if you too are into sharing wisdom, ideas, humor and mirth.

[Show #391]

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