Are you choosing insanity?

I'm sure you've heard the quote that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  I guess under this definition, most of the country chooses to be insane.

I wonder what it is about things like politics/religion etc that makes people think that if you offer a differing opinion of either "norm" that you are disagreeing with them. It really seems to rub people the wrong way.  

I don't disagree with anyone, usually. I only offer up something new that most people may have never thought about before. I also call things as they actually are. I don't delude myself or others. I am a realist in every sense of the term.

I am going to guess it's a boundary thing where most people do not have healthy enough boundaries to understand that just because someone says something a little different than what you think is right, doesn't mean that it invalidates you or what you think.  

We live in a very unhealthy world people. Be mindful of who you want to be. I choose to be creative and find new ways to do things so I can get different results.  What do you choose? The choice is yours...

Dear World

Dear World,

You win.  I will always be someone you don't want. I will always be someone you refuse to love. I will always be someone who takes care of all of you yet gets nothing in return. 

So I hope you're happy. I hope you feel at peace now that you know you've won.  I can't change for you. I've tried. And I'm not proud that I even tried.  

So go on with your superficiality, go on with your cruelty towards those who are different. I gave you all of the chances to love and accept me and not one of you chose that.  So that's your choice and I respect it.  

I'm done. You go be with your communities and families and people who love you, go be with the people who respect and appreciate you.  And I'll be here with no one. You won. Hope you're happy.

The Power of Choice

I always tell my boys that they always have choices in life.  I simplified it for a five and seven year old and I tell them there is always the loving choice or the harmful choice.

It was one of those parenting experiments that I came up with in the middle of an issue, where I was thinking on my feet. What I've come to realize is that I had actually hit on a profound truth for life. For anyone's life!

We always have a choice. That is our power as humans. That power of choice is so great, probably more so than most people realize.  In telling my boys this, I've not only diminished my battles as a parent, but I've also given them the ultimate personal power.

They are learning that their choices determine the outcomes of everything.  They make good, loving choices and the outcome matches that.  They make bad, harmful choices, and there are consequences.  

I am always reminding my children of their choices and when I do, I remind myself that I always have a choice.  I have gotten ridiculed sometimes for making things in life "too simple" but let me tell you, just being a mom is difficult enough. Why should I make it any harder for myself?

That is my choice. :-)

~ s.h.  

Our Own Prisons

Life is about moving on. I had a few different experiences come up today that reminded me that part of our job as humans is to never remain stuck. Stuck in our grief. Stuck in our attitudes. Stuck in our relationships. Stuck in our lives.

Acceptance and moving on has never been easy for me. I have had this lesson time and time again in my life in some of the most painful ways.  I'm still figuring it out.  I think that's why I question myself. I think that's why I pay attention to the thoughts I tell myself.  

I realize that when I do this, I actually change my brain. I grow.  I become better. I realize that I don't want to be stuck and I do whatever it is I need to do (even if it's painful) to continue moving forward.

It's easy for us to get stuck with our lives and to place the blame on someone else.  But I think as soon as we begin taking responsibility for being active participants in life, we free ourselves from our own chains.