Daily3 Life’s Moments

After 2 separate trips to the Alberta Children’s ER with 2 different children, I have add to my list of LISTS a daily gratitude list.  I have finally realized the profound impact of such a list…especially during those “down” times. 

Here are the 3 things that I am grateful for:

**  There is universal health care for my children.

**  My children’s laughter and the way they say “I love you mommy”

**  We have a roof over our head, clothes on our back and family to share our moments of fears, joys and happiness.

Do you have a daily gratitude list?  If not, start one!!

**  Scenario:  my eldest son (4 years) is running around the kitchen pretending he is on a boat fishing (he is holding his fisher price fishing reel and hook).  He runs around about 4 or 5 times and suddenly I hear this excitement in his voice…”Look mommy, I caught a fish”.  Then he runs around the kitchen screaming….”I am great hooker!!”

 **  Scenario:  At dad’s cafe…I tell my kids to do “quiet” things and not run around when there are customers around.  I took the kids to the cafe and they were fine for most of the time where there were customers around.  However, there was one table where a man ordered a combo dish and didn’t quite finish what he ordered.  My son came up to me and not so discreetly told me “I don’t think that man likes daddy’s cooking because there are still food (on his plate).

**  Scenario:  On one of our many trips to the grocery store.  We were nearing the end of our journey when my son wanted to buy a toy he saw when we were down the toy aisle of this particular grocery store.  He really wanted the toy but I told him we couldn’t get it because “Mommy does not have enough money today to buy it” His response was :  “We can still buy it mommy, you just need to use your debit card”.

 I hope you enjoyed some of these adventures with one of my darling sons.  Share some of your funny stories with me.

** Happiness — we all define happiness differently.  What may be happiness for you may not be happiness for me.  However, I do know that no amount of money can buy happiness.  I have come to know  many people and families who are what I deem “well off” who has never and will never find happiness.  The reason is because they think having financial security will bring happiness and well roundedness in their lives and the lives of their families…in reality…it doesn’t.  Yes, it brings financial security but these families live very lonely lives…what they realize is that money can only buy “temporary” happiness…true happiness comes from being secure with who you are and all that God has given you.  Material goods can never buy happiness.  Unfortunately, this is what we are teaching our kids — for our lack of quality time we spend with them we try to make it up with material goods.  Have you ever noticed that in our materialistic world these days, in order to “maintain” this so called happiness, we always have to “buy” more and more goods just to sustain this sense of false happiness?  After the initial “high” of buying something is over, we go back into our “slump” and then we feel like we have to purchase more and better stuff to “get back” that happiness.  This becomes a vicious circle…as a result, we end up with a house full of “things” we DON’T need and we still haven’t achieved TRUE Happiness. 

One of my all time favourite books is “City of Joy” and I would recommend everyone to read this book.  For those who have read it, I would love to hear your reviews!

**  Compassion — more so than ever we need compassion in this world we live in.  There too many sufferings that many of us tend to close our doors and view these sufferings as “other people’s sufferings”.  Unfortunately, they are OUR sufferings too.  It is important for us to understand that in order to make this world a better place to live in and a healthier place to live in, we all need to help each other.  Homelessness, prostitution, spousal abuse, just to name a few, is not OTHER people’s problem, it is our problem too and we need to help as much as we can. 

It is important for us to try to put ourselves in other people’s shoes.  It is nice that we have a warm, loving home to live in, we have many friends who care for us, but there are many people out there not so fortunate.  WE can all pitch in and help…the simplest thing we can do EVERYDAY is SMILE!  It is amazing how just flashing a smile at someone can uplift their maybe not so sunny day.  So, if there nothing else you feel you can do — then try smiling.  Obviously what I am writing here is quite simple..my goal here is to hopefully start a dialogue and get people interested and hopefully because of this, they start taking on their own research and initiative to helping others and become more compassionate.

** Unconditional Love — I think I am pretty safe to say that no one shows this better than animals.  I have learned so much from my loving little yorkie.  Anytime I am having a horrible day, my little yorkie is always there giving me lots of loving kisses and attention.  Those of you who owns a pet will be able to understand better what I am saying. 

One change I have made and am still making is trying not to buy too many “things” for my kids.  I tend to go off the deep end with this…I am now spending more “quality” time with my kids (ie. doing arts and crafts, taking walks (when possible–especially during winter months)outside or we just go “mall” walking, etc).  This is one challenge I have made for myself this year… 

I hope this post inspires you to look deeply into your life and will also inspire you to start thinking about your life and to make the change(s) you feel important or necessary. 

** There are no direct eye contact - - they usually shift their gaze to the floor or somewhere else but not looking at you when talking to you.

** Their reason or explanation is short and makes no sense at all — the answer given seemed like something that has popped into their head; they’re choppy; they’re fillers — just so they can GIVE you an answer

** They add too much to their reasoning or explanation.

Here are some more ways to tell that someone is lying. How do YOU tell someone is not telling the truth?

**  Food, Food, Food!   There is a vast amount of multicultural food to try and some for a very good price.

**  The mountains, ocean and great weather! Need I say more.

**  The fresh seafood and their environmental intiatives.

What is your favourite city to live in?  Share with me.

** The Three Musketeers

** The Three Stooges

**  The Three Amigos

Being sick makes you think of the weirdest things to write.  Here are my famous “3s” of Hollywood — share with me who are your famous 3s.

**  You will miss beautiful sunrises.

**  Miss the unique hairstyles  of your children.

**  Miss the chance to exercise or do yoga to better your mental and physical health.

**  War torn countries and USA will realize that war is not the solution to obtain peace in the world.  Since when is it okay to kill people to “save” people?

**  We are able to find a better and more successful way to help women and children in abusive situations.

** People understand that the homeless situation is not just “other peoples’ problem” but a problem for everyone.  No one is born “wanting” to live on the streets, eat garbage, fear for their lives everyday….this is not a choice they want.  The homeless people all have stories as to why they ended up on the streets…try to understand it from their point of view…we truly are all just a “paycheck” away from living on the streets ourselves.  Here is a website with some of their stories.

 Share with me your thoughts ….