I'm No Dummy

I'm pretty smart, but it could be said that my children are smarter than me. It could definitely be said. They learned in elementary school the things I learned in junior high. They learned in high school the things I learned in college. They are smart for sure. They have to be to make it in this world.

My married daughter has a generous  understanding for other humans that is unmatched by anyone I have ever known. She sees the goodness and potential in others before she sees anything else.

My seventeen year old daughter will be a senior next year. She has an ancient soul that understands the world like many never will.  She understands the purpose of life. She has eternal perspective.

My children have brilliant minds.

I believe that everyone does. Every human ever born is brilliant. Our minds are sponges that absorb everything around them.  Involving our hearts can accelerate the learning process. Even those who for various physical  reasons on the outside look as though they cannot absorb are somehow accruing all they need to for this life. They are gaining knowledge, even if it doesn't register in human measurements. While there are those who are able to stuff more facts, events, happenings, ideas and theories into their minds through schooling, I don't feel that those who are looking for other planes of  learning are any less informed than those who go further in traditional schooling.

Education is definitely important. It provides everything from basic living skills to broader understanding of the way things work. It helps our brains learn how to calculate and form opinions. It takes persistence and teaches patience. While I understand the need for education, I believe education can be earned in so many ways. Continuing education is a must for humans. We have an innate need to progress, but there is so much more to learning than traditional schooling. I do not begrudge traditional schooling and encourage any who seek those paths to do so with gusto. I admire anyone who can take in more and use it to broaden understanding. I do, however defend those who feel knowledge can be gained outside of the classroom.  Simply put, I'm no dummy because I don't have a PHD. Life is a grand school. Living and living well provides knowledge that cannot be found in a classroom.

A mother taking care of her children is certainly as intelligent as a doctor. An auto mechanic is figuring things out just as effectively as an aerospace engineer. A nanny uses just as many skills in a day as a marketing director. The learning and fact retention can be broadly different, but the intelligence used for all these jobs is enormous. The guitarist plucking strings is using his brain just as actively as the professor teaching history. It is just different information.  How we process and use that information is just as important as having it. Knowledge itself is not power. Knowledge becomes power depending on its use.  The point of living is to make a difference-for the better-everywhere, as often as possible in all the ways we know how.

So get an education, and get a good one. Find it in all that you do, take advantage of as many varieties as you can, but understand that having a piece of paper that says you absorbed facts in a classroom doesn't make you any better than the person that learned in the school of life. It just means you learned it differently. How you use it is what really matters.

 Post script: I have been asked if I wrote this because I don't have a college education or if
I disagree with continued education. To answer the first item, I have gone to college as well as completed certification at a vocational school, so I have experienced all of the above. I still say life teaches in ways a classroom can't.  To the second I say gain your learning in any and every way you desire. But know that those who gain knowledge in a different way are just as able as those who complete a doctorate in science. 

Confessions of a Junkie

I have a  confession to make.  I love reading blogs.  I do. I am a blog junkie. I love learning from others.  I love seeing personalities,  discovering different points of view, understanding the heart of another, seeing what makes someone tick. I love expression. I love feeling. I have to set a time limit when I read blogs because I eat them right up, and it eats my time right up. Admittedly there are some blogs that are a much better use of time than others, but I love blogs because I love people. One of my favorite things about blogs is that a good portion of the time, I find something I need in someone else's writing. I get inspired, I get questions answered, I feel vindication, I feel kinship, I learn. And when this happens, I am usually spurred to write, and then hopefully I say something that someone else needs. I feel blessed that with almost every blog post I write, someone ends up talking to me about it or thanking me for what I write. I do not accept credit for that. I blog quite sporadically because I most often have to wait to be inspired by something before I can write. I am always extremely grateful to receive inspiration-Heavenly or otherwise. I really want to be the kind of person that can be prompted and inspired and then be able to do something with those promptings. That is the purpose of my blog; to be inspired, then pass it on.  In doing so I hope to find joy, and to share goodness with others-to then inspire. I love how that works. I love it that expression can be transformed into service. If not service, then at least some small form of inspiration another can relate to. Feeling light-sharing it.

Sharing Light

This post is to thank those who share and those who inspire. Please don't stop. We need each other. To get through this life it helps to know that someone else out there is doing it too. Someone else feels our pain and our joy, knows our discouragement and triumph, understands our losses and our gains. It helps to know that someone else has made it. That someone else is cheering for us. That someone else has been there. That someone else is imperfect, that someone else struggles, that someone else overcomes. So share away. Share your joys, your experiences, your advice, your warnings, your support, your observations and motivations. Inspire me so I can pay it forward. And if I inspire you, please share that too. Share my blog because chances are if you are reading it, you are one of the people who has inspired it, so your influence gets passed on once again. That's how we keep each other going. It's how we stay steadfast.

Thanks for being someone in my village. I'm so grateful I have such a good one. My wish is to make sure others have a good village too! Keep sharing.

25 Ways to Pay it Forward

A lot of people ask me why I feel the need to be positive and look for good. The answer is simple. It makes me happy and hopefully it helps others to be happy as well. I am not one to run around in a happy daze pretending that life is lollipops and sunshine, but I do believe that no matter what is happening in life, there is good to be found. And if I find the good, it is my responsibility to share it.

There are times when it is hard to reach deep inside and pull the good out. Life gets burdensome and overwhelming. Sometimes the clouds start to block out my sunshine. Sometimes I need someone to share light with me-so I can pay it forward and brighten the day for someone else who might need it too.  Simple things are some of the best ways to give some joy and pay it forward. If we all took the light we have and then passed it on to someone else, there's no telling how far the light would reach. There's no way to measure the ripple effect that would take place because of one small, seemingly insignificant act. It's something I would love to witness for sure. So I will light the torch right here and start it moving forward. Here are 25 simple ways to pay it forward. There are millions more, I am sure, but one only needs to get started...

1- SMILE. Smiling is contagious. Sometimes that is the one thing a person needs to move forward.

2- Send a thank you note. Tell someone how they have touched your life and made it better. Do it once a month. Once a week is even better. This helps you acknowledge the good in your life, helps someone feel good in theirs, and can inspire them to pay it forward-again.

3- Compliment someone every day. Sincerely.

4- Let someone go in front of you-in line at the store, moving over in traffic, walking into the pizza joint.

5- Pick up the tab. Pay for a serviceman's lunch, a missionary's donut, a single mother's gallon of milk. It doesn't have to be an 8 course meal for a family of 12. Small items count.

6- Lend an ear. Not your mouth. Listen without offering your own experience or advice (this is harder than it looks!)

7- Acknowledge. Everyone. The homeless man in the street, the grouchy office worker, the person who gets on your last nerve. A nod and smile is plenty. We all need acknowledgement.

8- Pick up that mess you didn't make. The piece of garbage on the floor, that coat in the hall, that half a banana you didn't eat. Pick it up and put it where it needs to go.

9- Clean up your own messes-so someone else doesn't have to.

10- Say Please.

11- Say THANK YOU. These simple words are becoming a thing of the past. It amazes me how many people forget to thanks. Saying thank you gives drive to do good things over and over again.

12- Realize that EVERYONE ELSE is just as busy as you are. Maybe in different ways, with different things. Everyone has places to go, things to do, people to see. Realizing this gives you sympathy, empathy and basic courteousness.

13- Take care of your responsibilities so someone else doesn't have to.  If you said you would do it, then do it and do it the best you can.

14- Wave at a police officer. They are so used to being seen as the bad guy. Acknowledge the good things they do every day.

15- Thank a military service person. You are safe because these people put their lives on the line every day to save yours.

16- Pray for someone. So many people need our prayers. Yours could be the one that tips the scales.

17- Save a few cookies or an extra loaf of bread for someone. There is a woman at work who loves my cookies. I always take a few to her when I bake them. It has strengthened our relationship because she knows I care enough to remember this about her.

18- Take a treat to work and share it. It may be the pick me up that gets someone through the day.

19- Keep a small gift with you-a lotion, a candle, a candy bar.  When you see someone who is down, someone who has done something kind, or someone who is doing a good job, someone who is brave- hand it over.

20-Keep a couple of extra dollars with you. When someone is a little short at the checkstand, give a little. I did this for a woman at Christmastime who was buying some gifts for some soldiers. It made us all feel good.

21- If a co-worker is coming up for a review, give a note or vote of confidence.

22- Thank the people in your life for being in your life.

23- Wish someone well EVERY day. Send a text, a note, an e-mail, give a call, talk to someone. Tell them to have a good day. They just might because you said it.

24- Thank the "little people"; the ones who don't get remembered very often. The garbage man, the people who plow snow, the bank teller, the custodian, the mailman. They will be touched you remember them.

25- Share small pleasures. The sunset outside, a flower you picked, a piece of your candy, a sliver of your heart.  Share it with someone.