I AM SICK OF POLITICS!

I try not to listen to the news because it rarely is about anything good, especially when politics are the topic.  This week was no exception.  I heard Prime Minister Trudeau apologizing for something he should NEVER have apologized for because he really did nothing wrong.  He dressed up in fun and I could see nothing ‘racist’ about his behaviour.  Every year tons of people, including myself, dress up for Halloween, painting their faces black, white, yellow, purple, green and various other colours to become their favourite hero, an actor or someone famous.  Are these people being racist?  What about people who make movies and dress up to play the part of another nationality?  Racism?  What about kids who just like to dress up when they play to have fun?  Racism?  Come on people.  If you were hurt by these pics, then you have some very serious identity issues.

Racism is wrong.  Hatred is wrong.  Evil is wrong.  We see real examples of racism every day and we need to address the real problems, not waste time on non-issues like this.  Nobody should ever hurt another human being for any reason.  We should all work hard to lift each other up with our words and actions and when we fail, we should apologize.

These photos were conveniently dug up to make Trudeau look bad just before an election.  The person who did this has way to much time on their hands and if they truly care about racism, they should be spending their time with organizations that actually work hard to help people in these situations.

Instead of saying someone is “running for election“, they should more aptly say that they are “running around trying to find something bad to say about the other parties“.  I am really sick of listening to parties running each other down and digging up stuff in their past.   We can look into almost anyone’s past and find something to make them look bad if we try hard enough.  We all do things we are not proud of, but unless they are affecting the people around us in our present life, they are not worth addressing.  Purposely destroying another human being is wrong and this is just as bad as racism.

Politics should be about different parties that consist of people with integrity and honesty, bringing the best leader possible in front of the country.   Parties should be spending their time researching ways to benefit the country and how they can make things better instead of looking for garbage that is destructive.  Leaders should be telling us what they can do for us and not what the other party can’t!

The world is in sad shape and we need responsible leaders.  Where are they?  I am still looking……….

Ontario minimum wage increase already causing problems

Is this a surprise for anyone?  It certainly doesn’t surprise me.  Everything is happening as I expected.  Raising the minimum wage in Ontario was not a good idea.  It is unfortunate that people are struggling to make ends meet but this was not the answer.  Someone will always make minimum wage even if they raised it to $100 hour and they will still be at the bottom of the wage scale.

Increasing wages from $11.60 to $14.oo is a big jump and it sounds really appealing but it really won’t make any difference in the long run.  People may have an extra $50 a week in their pockets but where do they think this extra money comes from.  Businesses certainly aren’t covering this increase themselves.  It will come from changes within companies.  Prices will increase and there will be cutbacks.  That extra $50 will be needed to cover an increase in groceries, clothing and everything else with a price tag.

Small companies will be hit hard by this increase and some are already cutting out paid breaks and benefits.  Others will shorten hours which will result in smaller paychecks.  And of course some companies will be forced to close causing employees to lose their jobs and be forced to survive on unemployment while trying to find work.  And what kind of burden will be put on the government and our taxes to support more unemployed people?

On the news this morning, they had great news.  Unemployment rates are down.  Yeah, this is wonderful for today BUT the minimum wage increase is predicted to cost Canada between 60,000 – 90,000 jobs by 2019!  So who wins?  Employees who have a bigger paycheque but spend it all because of increased costs?  Employees who make less money because their hours are cut back?  Employees who lose their jobs?  Companies who are forced to close because they can’t afford to pay more wages?  Seniors and others on limited income who have to pay more for products and services?  Personally I don’t see how anyone wins.

Following is an article that outlines the coming problems.  http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bank-of-canada-minimum-wage-1.4469912

 

 

Make volunteering a priority in 2017

There have been many studies done on the benefits of volunteering.  Without a doubt, it has proven to have positive effects on our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health.  Volunteering can bring happiness and fulfillment to your life.  It helps you become more confident, connects you to other amazing people, may help advance your career and give you a sense of purpose.

Volunteering not only benefits you, it also benefits the people you are helping.  It brings encouragement and makes them feel more valuable.  By feeling that someone cares, it can change the entire direction of their lives

Families and friends also benefit from your volunteering efforts.  It lets them see love in action and it shows them how volunteering makes a difference.  Anyone who notices your acts of kindness will be affected in a positive way.

However, even if nobody notices what you have done, it still makes a huge difference in your own life.  The real purpose of volunteering is doing something and expecting nothing in return.  We should never volunteer just to get recognition.  Working for an organization that answers calls from people in distress or writing letters to lonely people far away can go unnoticed by others but it will still bring positive benefits to you.

Start the New Year with a resolution that will make an important and valuable difference in your life and the lives of others.  Resolve to volunteer for a local organization and bring in the happiness!  Even 2 hours a month can make a difference to someone.  I have volunteered for years and I know the benefits it brings!

Here is an article on the benefits of volunteering for teenagers.  Being a volunteer and showing a good example to your children will teach them valuable lessons that will enrich their lives.  Get them started young and help them become responsible, caring adults.  https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320432.php

A Christmas checklist

What is on your Christmas checklist?  Buying presents, preparing for guests, creating a tasty meal plan, attending special events?  These are certainly things that need attention but when we get caught up in all the excitement, we can end up feeling stressed and full of anxiety.

There are a few important things that you should have on your Christmas checklist.  These include:

 

• LIST  First you need to make a written list.  Many people just make a mental list of what needs to be down which can result in confusion or things getting missed.  When you can actually see your thoughts written down, you can review it and make necessary changes.  If your list is too long, determine what can be eliminated and cross it off.   It is great to be busy but doing too much can really drain your energy.
• HELP  Get family and friends to help.  Think of an aunt, cousin or friend who is bored and would like to help you wrap gifts, clean the house and prepare meals.  Things go faster and are more fun when you have help.
• FAMILY TIME  Spend time with your family.  In our attempt to create a perfect Christmas, we often neglect our family.  This certainly won’t create a feeling of love and peace in the home.
• GIFTS  Don’t buy gifts at the last minute.  Watch for special sales all year and pick up the rest early in December so you can get them wrapped and under the tree.
• SHOPPING TIME  Organize shopping so you aren’t running around in all directions or going out every day for wasting time running out for just one item.  Combine gift shopping with your regular errands and make plans to go several places in one day.
• DIET  Make sure you eat properly.  When you are rushing around, it is easy to grab fast food or go without meals.  Your family also needs proper meals, so take time to prepare something healthy.
• RELAX  Book time to relax in your schedule.  Make sure you spend at least an hour each day relaxing.  Read a book, take a bath or just sit and meditate.
• SHARE LOVE  There are so many lonely, unhappy people, especially at this time of year.  Spread some love around by smiling and saying hello to everyone you see.  You might just get a smile back!

If you want Christmas to be a joyful event, you need to make sure you are not focusing all your attention on gifts and glitter.  Focus on what is important and what the Christmas season is all about.

Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. ~J.L.W. Brooks

 

 

 

 

 

What are you doing to change the world?

There are certain topics that I am very passionate about.  These include confidence-building, relationships, children, faith, poverty, injustice, violence.  It breaks my heart when I read about people hurting other people, especially when it comes to children.  Every day I hear something that brings a tear to my eyes and sends pain through my heart.  People can be so cruel to each other and even to themselves.  Where is all the love and compassion?

• We need to examine our lives and figure out what we can do to help people instead of hurt them.
• We need to watch our words carefully and think before we speak.
• We need to stop ourselves before we do anything that we might regret later.
• We need to put ourselves in the shoes of others and try to understand who they really are instead of making a quick, incorrect judgment.
• We need to support, love and pray for each other.

People often think they can’t do much to change the world by themselves but if we can do just one small thing it can have a ripple effect.  We might never see the end result when we show kindness to another person.  Just a few encouraging words spoken to someone who is broken and defeated can lift them up and help them make positive changes in their lives.

The world is so full of anger, hatred, violence and despair.   We need to do what we can to stop this negativity from growing by showing love to everyone around us.  What are you doing to change the world?

 

What would you do if you had 1 month to live?

We don’t get to choose our birthplace, our parents or when we will die but we DO get to choose how we live during our short time on this earth.  We ever know what tomorrow will bring so we should live well today.  How?

• love the people around you
• do everything to the best of your ability
• help others
• forgive quickly

Each day is a gift that we can enjoy and share with others.  Instead of wasting time filling our days with things that don’t matter, we should be doing things that will make a difference in someone’s life.  This could be as simple as taking a friend for coffee, calling a distant relative or volunteering a couple of hours a month for a local organization. It is all the small things in life that add up to a huge amount of blessings.  Make sure every day counts and don’t end up with regrets, wishing you had done more during your life.

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. If you only had 1 month to live, what would you do?

A game plan for happiness

If you could have anything you want in the world, what would that be?  A new car? A better job? An all-expenses paid vacation?  Do you really think any of these will bring happiness and success into your life?  Sadly none of these things can provide you with lasting happiness.  They may temporarily put a smile on your face and some excitement in your life but these will be short-lived.  Nothing in this world can provide you with happiness and success unless you create a game plan for happiness.  What does this involve?

• Change any negative thinking into positive thinking.  When you have negative thoughts, they will keep you from enjoying your life.  Negative thinking is very destructive and can result in physical illnesses, mental issues, workplace problems and relationship breakdowns.   Thinking positive thoughts will change the way you see other people and help you deal with difficult situations.  Saying positive affirmations or positive statements on a daily basis is a great way to create a habit of positive thinking.
• Join an activity group or take a course where you can keep your mind and body active.
• Volunteer for a local organization.  Helping others has been proven to benefit your mind, body and soul.
• Lower your expectations.  We tend to expect more of others than they can give and then we are disappointed. We also expect more of ourselves than we can do and this leaves us frustrated.  By lowering our expectations to a realistic level will help us feel less stressed.
• Stop comparing yourself to others and just try to be the best person you can be.  Use your unique abilities and special strengths and be the confident person you were created to be.
• Love other people.  When we feel anger, bitterness , resentment or hatred towards other people, we cannot be happy.  If we can try to love everyone we know, we will feel happier and have a more successful life.  This can be hard when people are difficult or hurtful but it is possible when we make it a habit to be loving and forgiving.

Happiness is possible when we have the right attitude towards life.  Make a commitment to developing a positive perspective and work at it daily.  You will reap the rewards!!

Positive thinking will let you use the ability which you have and that is awesome.  ~Zig Ziglar

 

Finding happiness

Are you on a mission to find happiness?  We search for happiness everywhere and we often come up empty.  We think that special someone will make us happy and they do for a while but the initial excitement soon wears off and we start looking for someone else.  We think that new job will make us happy and it does for a few months but then it gets too difficult, so we quit and look for another job.  We think that expensive dream vacation, new car, new house or new trinket will make us happy and it certainly does for some time but then when the bills come in and we have trouble paying for them, we soon lose our happiness.

Why do we have so much trouble finding happiness?  It is because we are looking for other people and things to make us happy.  This is a selfish desire and when that person or that thing doesn’t provide us with the happiness we want, we just give up and look for something else.  It is like an addiction.  We crave happiness so we look for a quick fix somewhere.  This is why there are so many relationship and marriage breakdowns today.

If you want to find real happiness, you have to bring happiness to others.  Instead of thinking about what someone can do to make you happy, think about how you can make their life better.  Instead of believing that ‘stuff’ will make you happy, think about what you can give to someone else to make their life better.  When you bring happiness to other people, this is how happiness comes to you.

We live in a selfish world.  One that teaches us to think about ourselves first and try to fill our lives with things that don’t matter.  Loving others and trying to spread happiness around is the only way to find happiness.

Are you ready for Christmas?

People are always in such a hurry, especially at this time of year.  We rush here and there trying to get everything ready for Christmas and it often seems like we are getting nowhere fast.  What we do get, is a lot of stress and frustration.

Christmas should be a time to create new memories with family and friends.  We should be able to stop our busy lives, take some time to relax and reflect on what Christmas is all about.  Christmas was never meant to be a mad rush to spend a lot of money trying to impress people with lavish gifts.   Consumerism has taken the joy away from this wonderful season.  We spend more time and money looking for gifts that people don’t really want or will soon lose interest in or even replace with something that is newer or more interesting, than we spend sharing memories with the people we love.

Think about the time you spend shopping versus the time you spend with your families and friends and ask these questions:

• Do you spend more money or more time with your loved ones?
• Do they really need those items you are madly searching for?
• Can you afford those items or will you be paying for them months and years down the road?
• Are you feeling relaxed or stressed?
• Are you happier before, during or after Christmas?

We all need to slow down and stop rushing through life.   We all feel pressure to want things to happen immediately and we don’t want to wait for anything.  The problem is, we are often disappointed with our lives and in our busyness we miss a lot of what is going on around us.  There are so many little, important things that happen when we are too busy to notice: the smile of a child, the chirp of a bird, a beautiful sunset, laughter, acts of kindness.

Are you ready for Christmas or are you still rushing around doing things that are not really that important?   Take some time this Christmas to slow down, relax and reflect.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.  Luke 2:11

Christmas repost from 2012

We all have different holiday traditions and we celebrate according to our beliefs.  Many families gather together to share a meal and open presents.  Others travel to a vacation spot to relax and forget about the stresses of everyday life.   Some people don’t celebrate Christmas because of various reasons and it is just another day for them.  Then there are those who don’t have anyone to spend Christmas with because their families live too far away, they have no family, there is conflict or all their loved ones have passed away.

Most of us have high expectations of Christmas.  We want to spend time with family and friends, enjoying the season.   When this doesn’t happen we feel like something is wrong and we react in a negative way, often hurting ourselves in the process.

Christmas can be a difficult time if you are alone.  However, being alone does not have to result in unhappiness.  Many people spend Christmas alone by choice and they are not lonely or miserable.  It is all a matter of perception.

Instead of feeling bad about the season, try making a list of things you like to do and then take action.   Here are some ideas:

1. Watch some favourite movies, read some books, listen to music.
2. Call some friends and invite them to come for coffee.  They might feel lonely too and enjoy the company.
3. Consider getting a pet if you don’t have one.   They are great companions.  Find one that suits your needs and is easy to care for.  Having a dog is a great excuse for taking a walk.
4. If you belong to a church, make sure you attend Christmas services.  If you don’t, consider attending one as it will help you feel part of the celebration.
5. Organize your home or start a new project.
6. Do something creative.  Starting writing, drawing or do some crafts.
7. Play a game like solitaire or do crossword puzzles.
8. Visit a mall while they are open and watch people.
9. Help volunteer at a soup kitchen or visit a senior home and share yourself with others.  This is guaranteed to bring happiness to all.
10. Always be positive about life.

These ideas are great for anytime of year.  If you fill your life with positive activity and surround yourself with positive people, you won’t have time to feel lonely.  Treat yourself like the special person you are and have a very merry Christmas!  Love to everyone!  🙂

This is the message of Christmas:  We are never alone.  ~Taylor Caldwell