Please note: If this is your first time visiting our blog, please click here to hear the premise of Pass It On, Baby! and how it all began.... Pass It On, Baby!
This song has a very special meaning to our family and is mixed with happiness and sadness. The words however contain the beauty of life and love for each other that I hope and pray we all have in our hearts and souls....to the very best 2011!
This song has a very special meaning to our family and is mixed with happiness and sadness. The words however contain the beauty of life and love for each other that I hope and pray we all have in our hearts and souls....to the very best 2011!
Happy New Year! Wishing each one of you who reads this peace, happiness and change in the new year. If you are anything like me, you used the beginning of the year as a time to take stock of your life and look at what you do like and what you need to change. Lately, I get that it's kind of a joke to tease about New Year's resolutions and how foolish it is to make them, but I completely disagree. Even if you don't stick to them as long as you wish you had, the time spent looking at yourself and deciding upon areas to change is wonderful. All of the changes we ever make start with a thought. Does it work the first time? Probably not. But each time you try, the thought becomes a little more ingrained in your mind. With that the first steps of action take hold....we each just need to keep moving in the right direction.
When I looked at myself and areas in which I hoped to change, I decided I wanted to be a more thoughtful person that gives simply to brighten people's day. I've been blessed enough to have AMAZING friends in my life that are great models for me and I look at what they do and want to try to create that within myself. I have a few cousins and friends and other family that never forget anyone's birthday. Each year without fail, I receive a card wishing me a wonderful day. They too have families and struggles, but they take the time out to make sure that the other person knows they are thought of and cared about. I have another friend who picks up items at a grocery store that she loves and wants me to try. It's something so easy, but I literally feel so good just receiving whatever she is giving me....not because of the item or gift, but because of the thought. Right after the New Year, I was in line at Starbucks. I ordered my drink and drove through to pay. The cashier wouldn't accept my money and told me that the car in front of me had paid for my drink with the message "Happy New Year and here's to new beginnings. " I honestly had to pull over because I was so overwhelmed by the kindness that I had to sit and have a good cry. I have another friend who was buying her daughter a shirt from a local store and picked one up for my daughter and sent it in the mail. These people are wonderful gifts in my life, but also examples for me.
In life, your attitude and outlook has incredible power of how you view the world, other people and your own future. Have you ever noticed that when something goes wrong during the day and it really upsets you, it's likely going to be one thing in a string of occurrences? Perhaps that's because the first mishap changed our outlook enough to cause other annoyances to really build to something much bigger that affected us in a much bigger way. We all have situations to deal with. And how we deal with them shapes the happiness in our life.
Take a simple example that has happened to me....a party invitation goes out and I am not invited. (I know, this should be SO juvenile, but I'm being completely open and honest so bear with me... =) Now, I have no idea who was invited, maybe it's only a handful of people or people for some specific purpose, but my feelings are hurt. I begin to wonder why they don't like me and feel a little rejected. I start to personalize and internalize those actions which throw me off and make me think, "Maybe I don't socialize enough, I need to get out more." So silly....no need to internalize....let it go. I don't know why I wasn't invited and I can't do anything about it, so accept it and move on in a more positive direction. Easier said than done, but nonetheless can be done.
So here's to new beginnings!! Here to a creation of a happy life! Here's to people helping people! And here's to better times for so many....we only have this one life, so you may as well give it everything you've got. Lots of love, tonight to all reading these words....
In love and kindness,
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