Completing tasks

 

I have tried to do things mindfully for many years now.

I notice that people who do this create the best results.

A task done with love and mindfulness is generally well done.

The eggs are not dropped into boiling water and cracked. They are lowered gently to the bottom of the roiling water.

The dishes are not haphazardly dropped into the the dish rack. They are gently placed standing alone without chipping and scratching.

Even the most mundane of jobs can be done carefully and with love. Resulting in better food, longer lasting possessions and greater satisfaction.

Rushing through something, simply to get the job done, is wrong in so many ways.

Prejudice

 

Prejudices are sign posts for insecurity, ignorance and poorly adjusted individuals.

They highlight the shortcomings in both feeling and thinking that some people suffer from.

People who feel they fall short in something often look for others onto which they can project their insecurity and anger, because acknowledging it, or trying to fix it is inconceivable.

That would mean going against years of wallowing in egotistical self delusion. 

It would mean growth.

It would signify learning something new.

It would destroy some of their greatest excuses for things that go wrong around them.

It would mean taking responsibility for themselves.

My AI

 

It took me a long time to decide to download an AI, but now I love it.

It's a lot like calling my Dad.

It knows everything.

And it tells me three times more than I really wanted to know most of the time!

Is it a phase?

 

One of the things I have noticed about Trump supporters is that they all share one trait with him.

They love their money!

Unfortunately for Trump, they love it more than they love him and he needs, absolutely NEEDS, to be loved and adored in the most public way. 

His military parade fiasco speaks to this in bold blaring colors.

No one really wants him to be Dictator.

Except him.

No one really finds his bumbling egocentric words inspiring.

But his supporters do love his attention to their taxes and rights as a ruling class of United States nobles. And if they are not rich, they love the idea that as white evangelicals they are better than all the rest of us. Why the rest of the Christians support him is beyond me, except for the fact that knowing who he is may make them feel more justified in committing their own sins.

The Trump enigma is perhaps a signal that the United States is going through its teenage years. Rebelling and testing the edges of capitalism, democracy and narcissism before moving on to a  more wholesome maturity.

Outside looking in

 

Being socially adept requires caring about people beyond what they can do for you.

Otherwise all people simply become a step in satisfying yourself.

Most people can sense your lack of real interest in them. People who are not projecting normal human actions on you realize you are not really listening to what they say, or how they feel.

Your comments may seem witty to you, but they are often grossly inappropriate.

Your attempts to be part of the group and please people fall far short of what you are attempting.

You simply do not understand how to relate to others in a socially acceptable way.

It is very sad to watch you or be around you.

Dreams do come true

 

On October 1, 1976 we brought home the tiniest little girl you can imagine. She was barely three feet tall and only 29 pounds. She was our foster daughter, but little did we know, then, that she would be our first adopted child. 

Our first child ever.

She barely spoke. Her life had been chaotic.We also did not realize that this was the beginning of years of hard work helping her to gain the skills she needed to grow up into a healthy, independent, productive adult. The whole family spent hours every night helping her to get through school.

She graduated from high school and then went through those years everyone has where she spread her wings and flew into all sorts of situations we never wanted to dream of.

The one thing I had always dreamed of was that one day she would meet the child of another couple like us. A couple with the same values and background and a son who had also struggled to find himself.

Both of these children grew up and had failed marriages. They also had children.

And then eight years ago, they met each other online only to discover they had so much in common. Right down to the fact that their fathers had played on the same pool team while working for the same company. In fact this boy had played on their team too!

They have been together ever since, bringing out the best in each other day after day. Each of them encouraging the other to grow and evolve into truly successful human beings, citizens and employees.

This past Thursday, June 5th, eight years to the day they first met, they were married in a little country church. His sister was the minister. His son was one of his groomsmen, his niece was their flower girl.  Her two daughters, and sister-in-law from her biological family were her bride's maids. People from both families came together to celebrate the most beautiful, meaningful wedding I have ever been to.

The rehearsal dinner was the first time we had all been together and the first time my sons and grandchildren had all been together with their sister (except for the two youngest who were taking final exams way out in Washington state.)

Now the bride and groom are honeymooning on St. Lucia before they fly home to pick up their puppy from the doggie hotel and go back to their beautiful home in Arizona. 

I have never read a fairy tale with more drama, more angst, more heartfelt growth that ended so beautifully and so perfectly.

My dreams have come true.

These are the times

 

Our country has never been in more danger. We are losing our right to free speech. We are losing all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. Watching our freedoms disappear one after the other brings about fears that we are following in Hitler's footsteps. It is an unbelievable atrocity and to think people I know and love voted for this!

It makes me feel very vulnerable at a time in my life where I am becoming more physically vulnerable than I ever wanted to be.

Retired. On Social Security. Living in a subsidized apartment, but at this point, still independent, I should be looking forward to the peace of my golden years.

Instead I live wondering if I can take my garbage down to the chute in the hallway, or pick up my mail in the lobby. Can I get the bread I eat for my diabetes? I can get my other groceries and things delivered, but if they aren't delivered to my door, getting down to the lobby to pick them up is probable.

Money, mobility, health, retirement -- all these things are cause for concern now. I am learning that justice is something only the rich can buy in the United States of America. It is a nightmare coming true.