Mantra Blog: Change and gratitude in the world.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Be the change you want to see in the world". Perfect words in a not so perfect world. On a daily basis many struggle to maintain a calm and peaceful demeanor. Some people don't care how their actions affect others, but then they complain about the world around them. This is life. It's not that we don't care, it's that we don't stop to take time to stop and look around us.

My dad told me a great customer service story the other day when I was in San Diego visiting. "Give'em the pickle" he said. Well of course my less than perfect mind said, "what did dad just say to me?" Then he explained. A man was dining at a restaurant. After his check was closed out, he still had a hankering for a pickle, so he asked for one more. The server said he would have to be charged for it. Well of course this didn't sit well with the man, understandably, since he was just a patron of the restaurant, and after all how much can a pickle possibly cost? It would have been easier for the server just to give him one. Long story short, he wrote a letter to the company and after some time, he heard back from the CEO with sincere apologies. The CEO then made a video to be shown at every location. "Give them the pickle" he said and what he meant was, make the customer happy, because in the time it took him to get the customer's letter, the customer had probably spoken to several people, who spoke to several people, and so on...in summation, not good advertising.

This is how being the change works. When you share something positive with someone else, chances are they will share it, then someone else, etc. I haven't had the best of year's in my recent past, not so much my own doing, but as you know, losing people (my mom, an auntie and soul-sister) I care about to Cancer. Depression runs in my family, but I refuse to take meds, because they dull my writing sparkle, however, I needed to keep myself from spiraling. That said, I started practicing gratitude. I think sometimes I am too giddy, but it's who I am, I love to smile and laugh and be a complete goofball. However, people started to notice, and then it got around the office and then someone complimented me for "handling" my personal issues so well.

Gandhi spoke of good things. He believed in the good of people. He had hope for the change of man and woman and though long gone, his words live on and still speak truth. "Be the change you want to see in the world." Hold a door open for someone, if they don't say thank you, then thank yourself for being a good person. Let someone in on the freeway...I am pretty sure my turn indicator is ready to go on the fritz, because people rush to make sure I don't get in, but when I do get over I thank the person behind me. If I have to just get over, with plenty of time of course (naughty), I still thank them and sometimes I notice they end up letting someone in behind me.

There is no wrong way to practice gratitude, even down to the most minute things. There is a wrong way to create change, if it is negative. Be the positive change in the world. Know that even if you think your actions have gone unnoticed, they haven't. Someone always sees, even when you think they don't. Trust yourself that you can be the change this world needs to see. We live in uncertain and volatile times, but there is proof that people can change the way they think, we just have to let it start with us.

Have a beautiful day.

From a personal journey to...

I have blogged off and on about a personal journey I have been on for about a year or so. It's nothing earth shattering for anyone but me. I hate to say it, but I kind of became a cliché. Indeed, I had become that person who needed to find themselves. One of my favorite quotes along the way came from Tolkien, "Not all those who wander are lost". It kind of contradicts my previous statement, well not kind of, it does, because I talk about finding myself, but truly, I knew where I was all the time. Are you confused yet? Think of it as standing outside of your body inside a hall of mirrors. Like a carnival there are images of you everywhere, but only one of those images are you. So you go about seeking the solid figure and along the way you hit dead ends, walls, other mirrors with images of yourself and so on, until you finally stop, breathe and realize if you look at the mirror in front of you, there you are. You stop trying so hard...

Journey to 40 Day 1.

Well the title is misleading, because my Journey to 40 began on January 10th, but in an attempt to turn my blog into something more than just a random thought or picture, I decided that maybe if I document my day to day trials of weight loss and getting my heart into better shape, it might help me to stay motivated, because this isn't just about being healthy and fit, this is about saving my life. I was born with Tetralogy of Fallot. It's several things, but most importantly it entails a hole in my heart that in my case was coupled with a crushed valve. I had a dacron patch placed on my heart's hole (insert pun or joke here) and according to recent tests, the pig valve I thought I had, turned out to be a reconstructed valve. At least that is what we all have come to believe and I prefer to not be opened up to find out. That said, my life has always been slightly different than other kids. For what seemed like an eternity, but was only about 8-9 years, I walke...

Coping in the aftermath...mama is gone...

People keep asking me, "how are you?", or they keep saying, "I can't believe how strong you are", or "how well you are holding up", but the truth is, I feel like a mess inside. I'm no different than anyone else though. I hurt, I feel pain, I cry. I mourn, but I suffered through depression for twenty years, many of them without medication and I learned that by suppressing my feelings, they just fester and burst out like a bottle of Coke that's been shaken and the cap left on. I'm not strong, I just have a good, tight fitting mask, that comes off every night when I crawl into bed and goes on every morning before I step out of my room. Actually I take that back. I do feel like I have gained a little bit of something I never had before, my Mama's strength and the I'm-not-going-to-take-your-sh*t-attitude. Yeah, she wasn't big on swearing, hence the *. I guess it is a little shout out to her, since I am sure that even though I ...

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