“If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one.” Mother Teresa

How many times does this happen?

You are on your way out to dinner and you get stopped by a red light.  There you are in your air conditioned car listening to music on the Ipod or chatting on your cell phone.  Outside your window is some person, male or female, who looks like they haven't showered in a month holding a sign.  Inevitably it says something about being hungry.  "Me too," you think as you contemplate which steak you are going to get and if you should get everything on your baked potato.  The light seems to last forever as the pathetic excuse for a human being stares hopefully from driver to driver.  Eyes forward so you don't make contact, you punch the gas once the light shifts from red to green.  Now that that bit of unpleasantness is behind you, you can enjoy your evening.

I'm not going to lie to you and say that isn't me.  I've stared straight ahead many times, embarrassed to be at that light.  But I've also been happy to be caught by the light too. 

I don't have excess money lying around waiting to be handed to the down and out.  There are have been low times in my life when I contemplated which corner would be best for me to stand with my own sign.  Luckily I've never fallen quite that far, though.  And that is what goes through my mind while I stare at the red light.  "Thank God that's not me...but it could be."

I'm not advocating for you to hand out hundred dollar bills when you see these people, or even all your spare change .  What I suggest is that you do like one of my friends.  He keeps a couple of bottles of water and some cheese crackers in his car within easy reach at all times.  When he comes to a stop light and he sees some one, he grabs a bottle and a packet of crackers and hands it out the window.  It's not much, but it is a start.

Now, the cynical of you out there may say it's all a scam.  That most of the people standing on the corner are just lazy or down right liars praying on the bleeding hearts and guilty consciouses of the passersby.  I'm not so naive that I don't know some of them are. 

I once read an article in the Dallas Newspaper that interviewed some of the homeless beggars there.  On a good corner, the interviewee claimed, you can earn $140 a day.  That works out to over $36,000 a year... more than I'm making.  But the article also went on to document the truly needy out there.  Those people who are hungry.  Hungry for food, a job, a safe place to live, love, understanding.  Not every person on the corner is an addict or con artist.  

I know I can't save everyone.  But if I can help ease one fellow human beings pangs of hunger, I'll try.  I've handed out burgers before, and received a real smile and thanks.  The good feeling only increased when I saw the gentleman break the burger in half and share it with another man with a sign on the adjacent corner.  I had truly helped someone. 

My challenge for you is to follow Mother Teresa's advice.  Help feed one person. 

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” Frederick Keonig

This week is Thanksgiving.  It is a time that many families gather together and consume enormous amounts of calories, watch football, and pass out from a food coma in the Lazy Boy.  It's also a time to count your blessings and express your gratitude.

For many people, Thanksgiving is a singular day.  Oh sure, they may say prayers of thanks before Sunday dinners through out the year, but it is usually done quickly and by rote.  It is something said because it is expected, but not because they truly feel thankful. 

We are a generation of wanters. We want more, bigger, better.  We have been brainwashed into thinking that what we have is not enough.  If we accept what we have, it means we relinquish any claim on more.  That someone else who has more is happier.  Keeping up with the Jones's is not the goal anymore, we have to pass them and rub their noses in it.  I have to admit, I sometimes succumb to the desire for more than I have.  I'm not proud of it.

Of the people in my life, it seems that the happiest are those that are thankful each and every day.  They see every thing, every person, every incident in their lives as a gift.  I'm sure they have wants and needs that drive them forward, but they don't overlook the things that life has already brought them.  They appreciate.  They are joyous.  They are thankful. 

I want to be more like them.  Sometimes I see it.  I look at the bounty that is my life and am truly amazed.  I know that I am blessed.  I have a roof over my head and food in my pantry.  I have a wonderful husband and son.  My parents are both still alive and healthy and I have an amazing extended family.  Although not numerous, my friends are loving and loyal. 

I am thankful for these things, but I'm also thankful for the challenges.  I am thankful for the hard homework that makes my son ask for help.  I am thankful for my husbands cold that has him looking at me like an angel when I bring him crushed ice.  I am thankful for the endless list of tasks at work that leave me exhausted and feeling accomplished. 

What are you thankful for?

There are whole years for which I hope I'll never be cross-examined, for I could not give an alibi. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960

Pardon my lateness in posting to this blog.   I have (and have not) been busy. 

I recently started a new part time job.  It monopolizes a whopping 25 hours of my week.  I am left with only 143 hours left in the week.  Subtract 56 hours for sleep (if I'm lucky), 21 hours for the preparation and eating of meals, 20 hours on line with e-mail and Facebook, 19 hours reading or watching television, 10 hours running errands and grocery shopping, 7 hours for health and beauty functions, 6 hours walking the dog, and at least 4 hours of 'quality' time with the family. 

Okay, so some of the times are estimations and may overlap each other.  Truth is I seem to pack a lot of nothing into my week.  I lay in bed at night, tired and exhausted, but can't seem to say what I've accomplished.  I know I can't be alone in this.

Granted, I'm not the Uber Mom who has a color coded chart cross referenced with sticky notes and entered into her blackberry detailing every move of every family member.  I've always been a go with the flow kind of gal.  My question is, do you really benefit by such meticulous structuring of your life?  By cramming more in, what do you gain?

I think every now and then you have to have nothing to do.  A little down time.  By not over scheduling yourself, you give yourself permission to enjoy the time as it passes.  It allows you to actually experience things and perhaps make a lasting memory.  I encourage you to reduce your schedules and increase the time spent with the more important things...like your loved ones.

Four hours a week is not quality time!

“If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.” Neil Peart (drummer for Rush)

Article first published as Nuggets of Wisdom: Choice on Technorati.

It happened the other day. I stood in a grocery store aisle staring at a plethora of cereal, completely overwhelmed, for what seemed like an hour. This choice was so much easier to make when I was younger.

There were fewer choices back then, and I was able to narrow the field even more by seeing what toy was offered inside the box. That's how kids choose these things, after all. The real problem arose when there was more than one special offer for a particular cereal.

I guess in some ways having an overwhelming amount of choices is better than having too few or none at all.  I know I get extremely grumpy when I'm told I have to do this or go there or do that with no options available.  Very few people like not having the ability to make decisions for themselves.  It leads to dissatisfaction and disobedience.

Equally as upsetting is being offered a choice between two things that are essentially the same thing.  An example might be our two party system of government here in America.  Both parties try to tell you that they are unique.  One claims to be a white horse with black stripes and the other one is proud to be a black horse with white stripes.  The truth is they are both zebras.

It all comes down to choice.  If we are given too many,  we become overwhelmed and find making a decision nearly impossible.  If we are given no choice, we become angry and seek retribution.    But even if we choose not to take the choices offered to us, we have still chosen.

What ever options you are given in life....chose wisely.