World Kindness and Elections

World Kindness Day and Election Day

Today I'm going to do something that I rarely do, discuss politics. The ONLY thing I will say is this, 

GO VOTE!!!

I so often hear people comment that "well I'm only one person" and that is true, but that one person becomes two and three and so on. We have the freedom to vote, don't waste it. Read about the candidates platforms. Not their past, not who they slept with or if they inhaled. I could give a crap less about that. I want to know what you plan to do to make this country better, to bring us back to our values, to strengthen our economy, to protect our children, educate our children in a safe environment and so on. Don't sling mud and tell me what the other person did twenty years ago, or even last week. I do care if it was illegal, it if caused harm to our county, state or country and if so I think they should stand trial just like I would have to. So please, exercise your freedom of speech and 

GO VOTE!

Now...part of what I stated has to do with what November 13th is in celebration of:  World Kindness Day. We could all use a little more kindness.
I saw this many years ago and printed it off. As a reminder to myself...

I'm not sure who started this, I have found it on several websites but the above JPEG is from Journey To Complete Wellness.com

I love this. It really made me stop and think. Sometimes we are quick to judge and that affects how we respond to someone, how we speak, and especially how we see them and not just physically. I had to ask myself these questions before I spoke, was it true? helpful? inspiring? necessary? or kind? And sadly often times I found it was not. So I decided to keep my mouth shut. Not an easy task.
Our world is filled with sadness right now, more so than ever. It could be because we can see it now. Oh we saw it before, but now we see it as it unfolds. Bullies picking on kids on the bus because someone is recording it and uploading to YouTube or Facebook.  People committing crimes and videoing the entire time like they are actors in a play. We are surround by social media and flooded with scenes from accidents within minutes of it happening sometimes before the next of kin has even been notified. Are these things kind? No. Are they necessary? No. Are they inspiring? Definitely not.True? Maybe but helpful? No.
What would happen if for just one day...ONE DAY, we all used the acronym above? Do you think it would make a difference? Would it change something inside of you? Me? The world?
It sure would be nice if we tried.

Just last week I found I had not been near my laptop all week. Why? Because I was avoiding it. The TV had been off and once in a while I'd scroll through FB on my phone. I was avoiding social media. Why you ask? Because I was sick of all the violence, all the mud slinging, all the name calling, all the well meaning folks throwing their opinions out for the world to see. I was just tired of it all.
So I made a decision. I would post the Amber Alerts because those are important and helpful. I would share about the weather, what I was doing and eating. I know y'all love those food photos! LOL but mostly I would be sharing inspiring, cute or funny videos only. Because I was just sick of all the junk floating around.
Remember when that is what Facebook was for? Remember all the cute baby videos, the cats, the AFHV post, the jokes, and the pokes. Just to say "HI" to a friend.
Where are those days? We say we use FB so we can keep up with friends and family far away. Do we really? Do we keep up with them? Talk to them? Message them? Or are we just trolling FB to see what the Jones are doing and then post our dinner/outing photos too?
There's nothing wrong with sharing your life, I do it. There's nothing wrong with the videos and "likes" on a post. But maybe, just maybe we could stop our busy lives just long enough to actually type out "hi, wondering how you are today" because it seriously could mean life or death to someone battling demons we are not aware of.
So today, not just on the 13th, how about everyday, we celebrate
World Kindness Day!!

Your smile could save a life. Your "hi, how are you?" could give hope to the hopeless. Your "hey cousin just wanted you to know I love you" could give love to someone feeling unloved.

Thanks for stopping by. This post is a group effort to spread kindness. If you would, stop by and say HI to the other participants listed below.
Have a Kind Day! 💕👍

https://www.bakinginatornado.com/2018/11/world-kindness-election-day.html
https://dlt-lifeontheranch.blogspot.com/2018/11/thats-how-you-were-designed.html
https://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com/2018/11/kindness-matters-worldkindnessday.html
https://sparklyjenn.blogspot.com

I Love Me - SSS

Welcome to a Secret Subject Swap. This week 7 brave bloggers picked a secret subject for someone else and were assigned a secret subject to interpret in their own style. Today we are all simultaneously divulging our topics and submitting our posts. 

Here are links to all the sites now featuring Secret Subject Swap posts.  Sit back, grab a cup, and check them all out. See you there:

Baking In A Tornado                             https://www.BakingInATornado.com

The Lieber Family Blog              http://thelieberfamily.com

The Bergham Chronicles                        https://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com  

The Blogging 911                            http://theblogging911.com/blog    

Cognitive Script                       https://cognitivescript.blogspot.com/

Never Ever Give Up Hope             https://batteredhope.blogspot.com    

Climaxed                                    https://climaxedtheblog.blogspot.com

Your “Secret Subject” is:

Is it necessary to love yourself before you can love someone else? Why or why not?

It was submitted by: https://climaxedtheblog.blogspot.com      

 The subject is, "is it necessary to love yourself before you can love someone else?"

 My answer is not a simple one. 

 For years I’ve put myself down and did not hold myself in a high regard at all. I was very self doubting, negative, and brutally self defeating.  

 I had a friend tell me that if I was as forgiving to myself as I was to others I would be in a better frame of mind. Why you ask, because I would forgive people in my life of offenses and wrongs that they had done me without any second thought. I would forgive their faults and their shortcomings even though most of them should have been red flags to an upcoming abusive relationship. To the point of forgiving abuse even though deep down I knew they were not sorry and it would happen again.  

 In not loving myself I loved others to an extreme. Almost smothering. Because   I was afraid that they would see me as I saw me, very unlovable and unloving, and they would leave.  

 I did not want to be alone or lonely. 

 Had I in fact loved myself the way I did them, I would have realized I did not need them. Not in an arrogant way but in a self preservation way. 

 I do believe that you need to take care of your self in more ways than just appearance. Sometimes we need a mental break from life, like a hot bath or sitting on the beach and watching the sunset. Maybe even watching videos of babies giggling on YouTube. Sometimes we need a physical break and we need to get away.  We need an emotional break and we need to take a hot shower and cry until we get it all out. Then we can look at things fresh and start over. In doing any or all of these  that is loving yourself and if I can do these things, like love myself it makes me free to love someone else without restrictions or unrealistic expectations. 

 I can love myself and I can love others with freedom when I am secure in myself and my abilities. It is not arrogant nor is it being selfish to take care of oneself and to love oneself. It is the highest form of a complement to love your self and freely give love and love others with realistic boundaries. 

 As a mom, the greatest gift I can give my children is to show them that it is okay to love yourself, take care of yourself and to love others with the same respect.

Thanks Jennily

Assumptions are Dangerous

Assumptions are dangerous or as my boys youth pastor used to say "don't assume anything because you will make yourself the first three letters". The first time I heard him say that I thought it was awful and HOW DARE he say such a thing to my boys and our youth.

Well over the years I have learned just how true it is.

More times than not I have found myself jumping to conclusions due to my assuming things and found that I looked and or sounded like an ass. There ya go, the first three letters.

Never would I imagine that his words would ring true over and over again. Like the time I received an email from a friend, it was almost cryptic in nature, and left a ton of open ended questions. Did I ask? No. Who was I to question what they were saying, instead it was much easier to come up with my own  conclusions and assume. There again, ass.

The hideous thoughts we have, jumping to conclusions, never taking into consideration ALL possibilities but instead falling head first into a sea of self righteous indignation...oh wait, what. I'm the only one?

Tonight I sit here, waiting for someone to walk through the door, questions on my mind, assumptions of what they REALLY meant by an earlier comment, accusations in my head like those damn flying monkeys that tormented Dorothy. I have grown, I have learned a few things, so I sit here, waiting. No jumping to conclusions but asking at the right time, what did they mean, what was the reason behind their comment and what role do I play in this. Yes, I have learned a lot, grown, mostly through being damaged, hurt, crushed even. Tonight I simply say, you know your comment earlier today caused me concern, even hurt my feelings just a tad. Can we discuss it? Will you elaborate on what you said, spell it out, make it clear? Yes, I've learned a lot and it has had a high price but it has been worth every moment to find myself where I am right now.

Your words are:

never ~ jumping ~ tonight ~ email ~ hideous

They were submitted by: http://www.bookwormkitchen.com/                           

Today’s post is a writing challenge. This is how it works: participating bloggers picked 4 – 6 words or short phrases for someone else to craft into a post. All words must be used at least once and all the posts will be unique as each writer has received their own set of words. That’s the challenge, here’s a fun twist; no one who’s participating knows who got their words and in what direction the writer will take them. Until now.

At the end of this post you’ll find links to the other blogs featuring this challenge. Check them all out, see what words they got and how they used them. 

Links to the other “Use Your Words” posts:

Baking In A Tornado                  http://www.bakinginatornado.com

The Blogging 911                   http://theblogging911.com/blog

On the Border                           http://dlt-lifeontheranch.blogspot.com/

The Bergham Chronicles                  http://berghamchronicles.blogspot.com    

Southern Belle Charm                    http://www.southernbellecharm.com

Bookworm in the Kitchen                  http://www.bookwormkitchen.com/  

Part-time Working Hockey Mom            http://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/

Climaxed                                            http://climaxedtheblog.blogspot.com 

Me Without Him

Moving through time

A spiritual being

Trapped in an earthen vessel 

Longing to be free

Needing to breath

Struggling in the flesh

Warring with the emotions

Thirsting for home

Striving for the goal

Seeking out the crown of

Everlasting jewels of righteousness 

Hoping for praise with life giving words

Spending eternity free of pain

No more tears

Nothing but joy

Walking the streets of gold

My heavenly home awaits

For I am an alien in a foreign land

This is not my home

I'm only passing through

Waiting...

I am not alone

He walks with me

Even though I do not see

He talks to me

Even though at times I do not hear

He carries me

Even when I feel left out in the cold

He cares for me

Even when all hope seems lost

He watches, waits and moves

Only when His time is right

He is love

I am love thirsty

He is giving

I am selfish

He is strong

I am weak

He has a plan

I am clueless

Me without Him

Nothing

Him without me

changes nothing

He is Love

Me Without Him...

Nothing

True Love - I'm looking for you

True love, does it exist anymore? Do people really fall in love forever these days? It is rare if so. We live in a throw away society. It is too easy to get married and far to easy to get divorced. Folks do not respect the sanctity of marriage, the commitment, the vows. It's hard work and the majority just get busy with life, work, kids, bills, lack of money because they are living above their means and they lose sight of what brought them together in the first place. So when the relationship needs work, they walk away, it's so much easier.
Something else I have noticed. Most people who claim to be "in love" are just in lust. Not love.
Love, what is it?
According to the dictionary: love is= (found at dictionary.com)

noun

1.

a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.

2.

a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child, or friend.

3.

sexual passion or desire.

4.

a person toward whom love is felt; beloved person; sweetheart.

5.

(used in direct address as a term of endearment, affection, or thelike):

Would you like to see a movie, love?

6.

a love affair; an intensely amorous incident; amour.

7.

sexual intercourse; copulation.

verb (used with object), loved, loving.

15.

to have love or affection for:

All her pupils love her.

16.

to have a profoundly tender, passionate affection for (anotherperson).

17.

to have a strong liking for; take great pleasure in:

to love music.

18.

to need or require; benefit greatly from:

Plants love sunlight.

19.

to embrace and kiss (someone), as a lover.

20.

to have sexual intercourse with.

verb (used without object), loved, loving.

21.

to have love or affection for another person; be in love.

Verb phrases

22.

love up, to hug and cuddle:

She loves him up every chance she gets.

Idioms

23.

for love,

1. out of affection or liking; for pleasure.
2. without compensation; gratuitously:
   He took care of the poor for love.

24.

for the love of, in consideration of; for the sake of:

For the love of mercy, stop that noise.

25.

in love, infused with or feeling deep affection or passion:

a youth always in love.

26.

in love with, feeling deep affection or passion for (a person, idea,occupation, etc.); enamored of:

in love with the girl next door; in love with one's work.

27.

make love,

1. to embrace and kiss as lovers.
2. to engage in sexual activity.

28.

no love lost, dislike; animosity:

There was no love lost between the two brothers.

before 900; (noun) Middle English; Old English lufu, cognate with OldFrisian luve, Old High German luba, Gothic lubō; (v.) Middle Englishlov(i)en, Old English lufian; cognate with Old Frisian luvia, Old HighGerman lubōn to love, Latin lubēre (later libēre) to be pleasing; akin to lief

Related forms

outlove, verb (used with object), outloved, outloving.

overlove, verb, overloved, overloving.

Synonyms

See more synonyms on Thesaurus.com

1. tenderness, fondness, predilection, warmth, passion, adoration. 1, 2.Love, affection, devotion all mean a deep and enduring emotional regard,usually for another person. Love may apply to various kinds of regard: thecharity of the Creator, reverent adoration toward God or toward a person,the relation of parent and child, the regard of friends for each other,romantic feelings for another person, etc. Affection is a fondness for othersthat is enduring and tender, but calm. Devotion is an intense love andsteadfast, enduring loyalty to a person; it may also imply consecration to acause. 2. liking, inclination, regard, friendliness. 15. like. 16. adore,adulate, worship.

Antonyms

1, 2. hatred, dislike. 15, 16. detest, hate.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2017.
Cite This Source

With all of that said, I wonder where "real love" has gone. Couples hop from one relationship to another, one bed to another, some having several partners simultaneously. With no concern for feelings, consequences or even their life. Disease is no joke, some serious illnesses can be passed around to unsuspecting partners.

The biggest issue is this, what is real love? I think real love is finding your best friend. The one who "gets you" when others think you're weird. He finishes your sentences, knows your thoughts before you do, buys you the perfect gift every time even when you don't tell him what you want. He knows your favorite resturant, what you order, your favorite drink, color, flower, song, your worst fears, nightmares and life long dreams. He knows secrets that you've never told another living soul. And you know all these things about him as well. He has your back no matter if you're right or wrong. He knows exactly what to say and what not to, he holds you when you're scared and makes you laugh when it's inappropriate. He drives you nuts in good and bad ways. When the going gets tough, you might yell at each other, you might think about quitting but the thought of being without this person makes it difficult to breath and so you work through it. You laugh hard, you work hard, you love harder.

Does true love exist anymore? I don't know, but I'm determined to find out. I'm looking, seeking and praying to find it. I thought once I had it and was devastated when it turned out to be a ruse but I have faith, determination and a great desire to find that "one special someone" who is my "one and only" the great love of my life. I seriously hope I'm not wrong and that I'm not living some school girl fairy tale but I want all that I listed above and think that it is mine for the asking. I'm asking, I'm knocking at the door and I'm waiting.

I pray that whoever he is, he hasn't given up and settled for less than, I hope he hasn't quit looking and that one day, soon and very soon, we will find each other and in the words of a starry eyed school girl, we will live happily ever after.