Every Day is Thanksgiving Day

Day of Thanksgiving.

Holiday Thoughts from 1951!

Want to Save more?

Want to Save more?

A few weeks ago I wrote about my realization that I have to much Stuff. For two decades, I had been a willing participant in our consumerist culture, buying books and magazines and video games and compact discs and George Foreman grills. After twenty years of this, all I had to show for it was a mountain of debt and a home filled with Stuff.

Recently, Kris and I have been working to purge our Stuff. While we’ve discarded some of it as trash, we’ve also managed to sell some of it. We’ve donated some of our Stuff to charity. We’ve given other Stuff to friends.

At first this was painful. Then it became appalling. It was shocking to think that I’d paid tens of thousands of dollars to buy this Stuff, and then paid even more in interest fees. Now I’m casting much of it aside, shipping it off to a landfill.

This has made me realize that Stuff has more than just a personal financial cost. Every time I buy something, it has an impact on the world around me. When I buy a new kitchen appliance, for example, there’s an environmental cost for the manufacturing process, for the packaging, for the transportation, and for the marketing. By reducing my role as a consumer, couldn’t I help myself and help the environment? Here are five strategies that I’ve developed to help me accomplish both goals at once:

• Reduce your consumption — buy less stuff. Such a simple notion, yet so powerful. The less you buy, the less money you spend. When you buy less, you’re also reducing your environmental impact. Buying fewer things means a little more money in your pocket, and a little less pollution in the world.
• Reuse the things you have. Last week, Amanda encouraged us to get value from the things we own. Before you buy a new computer game, ask yourself if you’re finished playing the last one you bought. Before you buy a new bicycle, consider taking your old bike in for a tune-up instead. If you currently buy disposable diapers, disposable razors, or paper towels, consider switching to re-usable alternatives.
• Recycle the Stuff you no longer want or need. If you replace your 1996-era 19″ Sony television with a new widescreen model, don’t set the old TV out in the trash. Find another home for it. Put it on Craigslist. Set it outside with a “free” sign on it. If you really want to save money, place yourself on the other side of the equation: look for Stuff that people are getting rid of. You can find nearly everything you need for much less than you’d pay new. You just need to know where to look!
• Embrace imperfection. We like the things we buy to be perfect. But that perfection comes at a price, both financially and environmentally. Learn to look beyond the surface:
  • Hand-crafted goods may contain minor imperfections.
  • Organic fruits and vegetables often have visible blemishes that do not affect the quality of the food.
  • The things you find at garage sales and thrift stores will often require mending.

  All of these flaws can be disconcerting at first, but in time you may find yourself wondering why they once bothered you.

• Pursue quality. I used to buy a pair of $3 gardening gloves every spring because I didn’t see the sense in spending more. They’d work fine for a couple months, but by the end of the summer, they’d be worn to pieces. Then one year I bought a $15 pair of gloves. I haven’t bought another pair since. We often assume the least expensive option is the best way to save money. That’s not always the case. Quality items usually have a higher initial cost, but the total cost of ownership can be much less than a cheaply-made equivalent.

These rules can be difficult to follow — I’ve been working on some of them for years. Most of the time, I still think like a consumer. But because it’s important to the environment, and because
it’s important to my bottom line, I’m willing to keep trying.

Want to Save the Environment? Buy Less Stuff!

Taken from http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/

What Will Matter

Children See Children Do. Make your influence positive!

A moment can change your life!

As I look back on my life, I realize that certain decisions, certain encounters, certain meetings, and certain events were extremely determinant in my personal growth. These crucial moments profoundly changed the course of my life. A few moments to change an entire life! A few moments to change me forever! Such moments are precious and rare. They happen because of universal laws or because we have intentionally created them for ourselves. They stand at crossroads in our lives. Today or tomorrow, one of these wonderful moments may occur in my life. And I will be faced with an important decision that will mark my existence until the end of my days.

Generosity

I see very clearly the value of generosity in a world that is too often cold, rude and austere. Generosity is a soft light that shines from the hearth to light the path of others. Today, I know that I have nothing to lose by being generous. There are only winners in the game of generosity, never losers. How can I succeed if I have no interest in the success of others? How can I reap the benefits of my success while I see others experiencing hardship? How can I grow and see others fail to grow?

Today, I understand that the universe is not a one-way street. If I wan to win, I also have to support others in victory. By being generous, I give back a little of what the universe has given me and I contribute to the success of others.

Real Beauty

These are the definitions of real beauty in real time, modern times, old times, and ancient times.

We all strive for a beautiful and healthy body. This not only makes our hearts come alive but it keeps us alive and vibrant.

Unfortunately, there are some individuals who strive for beauty for reasons that not only are unhealthy but which in time actually detract from the over all attractiveness of the individual. One of the main unhealthy reasons to try and look beautiful is out of a need for attention or need for validation. Such needs usually stem from a fear of being alone and this is most often associated with low self esteem.

Using beauty to try to compensate for low self esteem is like trying to make your old broken down car attractive with a new paint job in order to get it sold when the engine no longer works. Sooner or later the truth will come out and any perceived gains will be lost. In the process there will also come a great deal of heart ache.

Attractiveness is more than skin deep. It is something that can only emerge from a fully self respecting and self confident human being. All of this can only come when an individual truly loves or esteems themselves in every way. Now many feel this is a distant and unachievable reality so they look for a quik fix from a good make over. A lot of organizations are making a lot of money feeding off of the poor self esteem of individuals.

What price do you pay when you buy into such "easy solutions" and pretend to yourself that this is the road to happiness? Well, what happens is that you go into a state of denial about what you really feel inside and then these feelings need to be kept suppressed. Where do they go then? Well, they actually go "into" your body and turn up sooner or later as some form of emotional or physical illness.

So in the end you're left with a reminder of the problem that you tried so hard to forget. The worst part about all of this is that once the illness stage emerges the tendency is again to find a quik fix in the form of some medication or drug prescribed by a physician. Most medications come with numerous side-effects. Staying on one or more long enough will cause you to likely experience some of these side-effects. The solution? Well, another medication of course, and so on.

Now if you are a young person you may think that this is all sounding a bit too pessimistic. Well my 20 years as a psychiatrist has given me enough experience to know that this is an ever recurring scenario. I'm presenting it to you here so that you will reflect carefully on your situation and make a wise and self respecting decision to take what ever feels like the truly right course for yourself.

Self esteem is something that can be improved more easily than one thinks these days, and in the right way. So I challenge you to strive for the true lasting beauty that can only emerge from a heart that is truly alive and open. It's the only way to be truly attractive!

Dr. Nick Arrizza

Beauty is not caused. It is.

Emily Dickinson

Do not adorn yourselves outwardly by braiding your hair; and by wearing gold ornaments or fine clothing; rather; let your adornment be the inner self with the lasting beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God's sight.

1 Peter 3:3-4

I wonder why we do not understand the concept of real beauty.

The Truth

Inside each of us lies the possibility to choose between the high road or the low road. The individual can choose between a life based on the satisfaction of urges and personal interest or on the achievement of more noble goals.

When an individual listens to the call of his inferior characteristics, he gives in to the world of appearances, putting the physical ahead of the mental, living a superficial and finite existence. The inferior being knows nothing of virtue and is unable to achieve true success. The inferior being cannot come to know the deeper meaning of love and life. The inferior being is unable to see the dynamic forces inherent in life and events. The interior being is doomed to fail because he has no access to profound knowledge or to the wisdom of the soul.

When an individual listens to the call of his superior characteristics, he reaches a new level of knowledge and self-awareness. He makes consistent use of his many sources of discernment, a faculty which springs solely from the spiritual. He looks at the world and sees far beyond appearances, he makes choices based on wiser and more valuable criteria and he directs his efforts and energy at reaching nobler goals. The superior being always triumphs because he values the virtues of the heart: gentleness, goodness and compassion. The superior being can achieve his goals with approval from the universe.

Virtue is the tool of choice for the superior being. The superior being is virtuous because he understands the strength and breadth of virtue. He knows that by being virtuous, he is true to his profound nature; he becomes the instrument of goodness and greatness. He knows that virtuous behavior brings him closer to the divinity within.

My beautiful Country "A Paradise called... Colombia"

Para mi gente... Colombia! Arriba Colombianos no perdamos la fé que Colombia es grande aqui afuera y allá adentro también. Mantengamos la características que nos destacan como el país con la gente más felíz del mundo. Esta corta pelicula muestra lo que somos, lo apasionados y felices de ser Colombianos. Gracias por sus comentarios pues nos hacen sentir que nuestra gente está aquí con nosotros. Saludos a esa Colombia bella.

Colombia is Passion

Promo about Colombia to show what colombia is really like. Key words: Shakira, Juanes, Carlos Vives, Barranquilla, Bogota, Festival, Feria, Musica, Passion, Teatro, Libro, Amazonas, Selva, Asi es, Medellin, cali, Transformacion, Pais, Trip,Colombia, Colombia, Colombia, Playa y Cartagena. Colombia es Passion!