Posted on by BWThomas

Siblings are the greatest gift we are given after, life itself.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

The bond between a sister and a brother is sometimes tightly woven, sometimes loosely held but never broken. Unknown

Today my heart is filled with gratitude. My daughter went into early labor and delivered a healthy baby girl. She’s a tiny five pounds fourteen ounces, Mommy and baby are doing well. When things start happening before term we worry and every precious day is a blessing but she decided she was getting out of there, and came with a force.

Today our grandson will visit his new sister. At two-and-a-half, he is missing his mommy and this morning he asked me to make her coffee. He saved her popcorn the first night, and yesterday he saved her part of a gummy and licorice. He was very stoic yesterday and I thought he was waiting for his Daddy to come home standing at the window, but when I went to see what he was up to he ripped the wallpaper in the office. He did this when he was much younger and ripping it yesterday is a sign of how hard he was trying to be good, but he needed an outlet for his frustration.

I can’t remember when my brother next to me was born, but I think I can remember when my youngest brother was born and Grandma and Grandpa came to visit. How do we process a new baby coming into the family, is it the best gift ever, or do we feel a loss in status we never recover from?

When I had my daughter I saw it from the mother’s point of view, now I am watching it from my grandson’s point of view, and it is interesting to watch and hear what he is saying as he takes in this momentous event.

Sister and brother friendship is the rainbow between two hearts sharing seven colors: feelings, love, sadness, happiness, truth, faith, secrets, and respect. Unknown

The first night he slept alone and when his grandpa asked if he had a good sleep, he said, “No, I miss my mommy.” Last night he woke up not long after going to bed and didn’t want to go back to bed, so when he went back to sleep I stayed with him and all night a little hand reached out to see if I was still there. This morning, Grandpa asked if he slept well, and he said, “Yes, Grandma slept with me.”

Meeting our new sister or brother has to be one of the biggest days in our lives, even if we don’t remember it, as most of us don’t. Does sibling rivalry start now, and if it does, how do we create a supportive sibling relationship instead of the rivalry that sometimes exists?

Having siblings is one of the great joys in life, and those who don’t have siblings might think they know what they are missing but truly they can’t understand the depth of the sibling relationship. Siblings fight, and we pick on each other, but woe to anyone who thinks they can treat our brother or sister unfairly.

If we have siblings we know we have a port in any storm, and is the greatest gift we can give our first child, a brother, or a sister?

Siblings are like branches of a tree. We grow in different directions, yet our roots remain as one. Unknown

Your parents leave you too soon and your kids and spouse come along late, but your siblings know you when you are in your most chaotic form. Unknown

Brothers and sisters are special. They fight. They make up. They laugh. They cry. They’re far from perfect. But when you really need them, they have your back. Unknown

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Gratitude makes our soul blossom, changing our attitude, brightening our outlook, and broadening our perspective.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Take one thing with another, and the world is a pretty good sort of a world, and tis our duty to make the best of it and be thankful. Benjamin Franklin

People are gathering in their homes to celebrate Thanksgiving. We give thanks for the bounty and blessings we’ve received. Is it as easy to give thanks as to complain? Isn’t there always something that is not quite right we can complain about, but blessings flow to us daily?

Isn’t it a blessing when we turn on the tap, flush the toilet, open our fridge, and start our vehicle? We pick up our phone, turn on the computer or TV, and are connected to the world. Life has probably never been so simple, we don’t have to lay up stores for the winter like long ago when if we didn’t have enough, death was certain.

We don’t have to spend all our waking hours hunting for food. We have time for pastimes, reading, learning, and discussing world affairs. Do we see a cup half full or a cup half empty? Are we part of the problem or part of the solution? Are we waiting for someone else to do what needs to be done or are we getting in there and making the best of what there is?

We may think we should have made better decisions throughout our life, or just different ones, life might not have turned out how we thought it would, but life isn’t so much planned as meandered through in many ways. If we’ve seen the movie “Up” it was a good analogy of how life works. Something comes along to derail our plans. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t make plans, but we need flexibility.

When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude. G.K. Chesterton

As life twists and turns is cultivating an attitude of gratitude the best thing we can do? Does it make a difference if we are grateful for the blessings and challenges of life? It’s easy to be grateful for the blessings, the challenges not so much, but facing challenges is where growth lies, and when we meet people who have faced many challenges we are often impressed with who they’ve become. We wouldn’t want to face those challenges ourselves, but aren’t we impressed, and just like coal under immense pressure becomes a diamond perhaps pressure on people turns them into people who sparkle with life, character, and gratitude.

What if we start life as an old lump of coal but could be a diamond someday? Sweet old people who have faced the challenges in life are a joy to be around. They have wonderful stories, insights into life, and an encouraging way about them. They are givers, encouragers, supporters, and uplift those around them.

Who can we uplift, encourage, and support? Times will get hard, situations seem impossible to overcome, relationships may seem beyond repair and if we give up they will stay that way, but what if we don’t give up, what if we keep dealing with the hardships, we keep trying to make peace, we keep looking for common ground, and we look for a way to make things better?

What if in the end, we come out the other side and things are better, the road behind us is rougher than the road ahead of us. Will we be grateful for persevering and being steadfast? Will we have taught our children and grandchildren the benefit of not giving up? In most stories there is a point where the character thinks they can’t go on, what is the use, defeat is sure, but if they continue, though they pay a heavy price they are rewarded in some way.

We all have a story, and we can’t go back and change the beginning, but what if the ending is in a good part up to us?

Being grateful does not mean that everything is necessarily good. It just means that you can accept it as a gift. Roy T. Bennett

The more you practice the art of thankfulness, the more you have to be thankful for. Norman Vincent Peale

Never let the things you want make you forget the things you have. Sanchita Pandey

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Creating an Illustrated Journal to celebrate our life, document our days, and excavate our soul.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open. Natalie Goldberg

Has creating an Illustrated Journal been something you’ve done or would like
to do? I’ve kept journals for many years, mostly written, and I believe they
have helped me in ways too numerous to mention. Most of my journals are written but sometimes we can’t find the words to say what is in our heart and mind.

Long ago I gave up the page-day Diary in favor of the blank page Journal,
but I picked up a few yesterday that inspire me, for 2025 I might try a page-a-day guided journal, and one I like is called “Fit Happens.” It includes gratitude, goals, fitness, and inspiration with a two-page spread for each day. I purchased it at Dollarama.

Our journal is a place, to be honest with ourselves; we can pour our heart
and soul onto a page in words, art, or both. Sometimes it’s hard to find the
words and a picture might let us get all our angst out on the page in a
scribble, maybe we want to color in the blank space, or maybe we don’t. Georgia O’Keefe tells us, “I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way.”

Zentangles are patterns we can add to our illustrated journal.  Lines, circles, and dots create a pattern. Four patterns create a tile, we can incorporate lines and patterns in our journal in any way we choose, and can become a mindful meditative practice. Creating mandalas is another way of expressing ourselves.

Writing is another powerful way to sharpen the mental saw. Keeping a journal of our thoughts, insights, and learning promotes mental clarity, exactness, and context. Stephen Covey

Art is for all of us, and expressing ourselves on the page might be one of
the best ways to sort out our feelings, fears, goals, and aspirations, and help us deal with the problems and challenges in life. Art isn’t only for those whose artwork will end up in a museum or gallery. It doesn’t need to be hung up on our walls, but it can be.

The benefit of art is in making it, expressing ourselves on the page, and when we keep that art in a journal we can look back on it and see our progress. The words and pictures will bring us back to that day. We think we remember everything about our life but I read my journals and am surprised by what is in them. There are events written about in my journal I don’t remember until the journal jogs my memory. We might think we’ve always looked at things the way we see them now, but if kept over a long time, our journal will document how our view on things has changed.

A written journal or an illustrated journal is a way to examine our lives,
we may get more out of life by looking for things to put into our journal, live more fully, and drink more deeply from the cup of life. Does our life call out to be documented in some way? Isn’t this why we love taking photos? They can also be included in our illustrated journal and other memorabilia we can glue or tape in.

My idea of an Illustrated Journal is to excavate the past, document our
present, and plan our future. As a scrapbook, life planner, and vision
board nothing is too small or too big to be included.

Will creating an Illustrated Journal help us to live well from the inside
out? Will it change our lives in ways we can’t imagine? Is it true the more you
put into life the more you get out of it? Would creating an Illustrated Journal
be a way to get more out of life?

In the journal, I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any
person” I create myself. Susan Sontag

Documenting little details of your everyday life becomes a celebration of
who you are. Carolyn V. Hamilton

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. William Wordsworth

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love. 

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end. 

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program. 

 

Posted on by BWThomas

Taking the long view, time can heal a lot of hurts.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Most evil comes from the belief that one is a victim, or one’s group is a victim. Dennis Prager

I watched a YouTube video with a U.S. Marine convicted of something he didn’t do and he said he came out of prison a better man. He learned how to get along in prison, the other prisoners, Warden, and guards believed he was innocent, and he helped other prisoners with their legal problems – with the Warden’s blessing.

Even if we are convicted, there is dignity in innocence, which is evident in real-life stories and movies. When we accept hard things in life and become better, not bitter we might see situations and people in a new light, one we could not have gained any other way.

With all that is going on in the world, there is a lot that has made people bitter and hardened to the other’s story. So much injustice has been done on all sides are we best to see it as a fact of life? Some of us hate to hear that wrong has been done on all sides, and also hate to hear meddling in other country’s politics has created situations we don’t know how to solve.

We can take a smaller view and look at meddling in other people’s relationships – that doesn’t work well either. Is it possible to live in a live and let live world, to agree to disagree? Have we ever lived in that world? Catholics and Protestants fought to the death but now we live side by side. There was a time not too long ago when a Catholic president of the United States was a big thing.

Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world. Arthur Schopenhauer

Are we expecting groups in parts of the world to live beside others with different ideologies and beliefs that took the West hundreds of years to come to terms with? A thousand years ago The Hundred Years War between England and France was waging, it started in 1337 and ended in 1453, and England and France both survived.

We might be expecting instant results that can only come with time. We in the West have carved out our place and might think we have the right to meddle in disputes that aren’t our business. Jockeying for position in the world is messy and everyone has a view that makes sense to them, and few acknowledge they are in the wrong even if they are, and often meddlers make things worse, not better.

Why can’t we all just get along? We can’t do it in our families, or our communities, why do we think it is so easy to do it in countries? We don’t only want everyone to get along, we want them to get along so we benefit, and this is the real problem. Dwight Eisenhower warned against establishing a “Military-industrial complex” but the warning wasn’t heeded. So here we are and I for one am trying to take the long view that in a thousand years, the Middle East will live in peace.

For a thousand years in your sight, are like yesterday when it is past, or like a watch in the night. Psalm 90:4

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they shall never sit. Greek Proverb

Perspective is the way we see things when we look at them from a certain distance and it allows us to appreciate their true value. Rafael E. Pino

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Inspiration, perspiration, and determination shape our society.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

What you do today can improve all of your tomorrows. Ralph Marston

The world wasn’t simple during my childhood, we had the Cold War going on but it seemed like a wonderful safe place. Living in this world is safe where I am, but listening to the horror other people are going through I wonder what is it for? What is the end game, I understand some of it, but some of it I don’t understand. But, perhaps war to some is an economic driver and not the horror others see it as. Do we have competing interests, some wanting peace, and others wanting war, and we can’t always understand who is who?

We say our people are our strength, and people from other countries are giving us strength, but what are the people leaving their countries doing to their home country? Who will build and rebuild Haiti with so many people leaving?

Even in my household, we don’t agree on what is going on in the world, who is best to lead America, and what policies will heal our society. But, even if we don’t know how to heal the world, (and who does) we get along building our life.

What a job it would be to run a country. Knowing what policies to bring in and what the consequences down the road will be. There are always unintended consequences it seems. Things we mean for good don’t always work out that way because the hardest thing to figure out is what help that heals looks like.

Yesterday I was listening to a YouTube talk and someone had money they were giving to help a community and someone representing a church group spoke up asking if the money had been allocated. People erupted in anger because they didn’t like how religious charities operated in their communities.

You can dream, create, design and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it requires people to make the dream a reality. Walt Disney

We need to talk about what is happening in our societies and what we want to happen in them. But, we have such diverse views, that we think help should look different. We think some help is enabling, some is too harsh, and some gets gobbled up by those who don’t need help.

I’ve wondered for a long time what real help looks like, and how to build a good society. How were cities, towns, and communities built? How did we manage to have towns that worked? What principles are behind building them, and were the people different? Could we build the National Railroad now, and why not? If we built a good society, we should be able to sustain a good society, and if we can’t, why can’t we?

One of the problems we have is looking at everything we’ve done, and everything we’ve built through a negative lens. I don’t think the Canada we’ve built is perfect, but it’s pretty good, maybe we can make it better, but we know we can make it worse.

Personal responsibility was one of the things that built Canada, America, and probably everywhere that is good. Are people responsible for the lives and societies they build? If not, why not?

It is necessary for us to learn from other’s mistakes. You will not live long enough to make them all yourself. Admiral H.G. Rickover

The most powerful force ever known on this planet is human cooperation – a force for construction and destruction. Jonathan Haidt

Brick by brick, stone by stone, every great thing was built by those who believed they could. Tom Mitchell

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the purchase price through the Amazon affiliate program.

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Self-expression, being part of a group, finding our voice, and helping others to find theirs.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Self-expression must pass into communication for its fulfillment. Pearl S. Buck

On Saturday I attended the Mississauga Writers Group, it was a lovely day so we didn’t have a huge attendance but members trickled in throughout the morning. Being part of the writer’s group helps push us forward as writers. We listened to members talk about what they disliked about some of the books they read, and what authors did the same thing, but did it well.

In groups, we get inspiration from what others are accomplishing, and we learn about what is happening in the community. We share the struggles we face. We are encouraged and we encourage others on their creative journeys.

Writing is a solitary journey but if we are too hidden away, what will we write about? The stories happen out in the world, and even if the world of our story comes only from our mind, we need to people it with characters others can relate to. It must be relatable or readers will not connect with the story or its characters.

Finding our group is a bit like finding ourselves. Finding a group that resonates with us is a different experience than when we don’t quite fit.

Finding mentors and being a mentor is part of life and maybe we don’t take advantage of enough, at least I never have. When I look back over my life there are a lot of changes I would make in some areas and in other areas, not so much. Maybe the areas I’m proud of are good because I didn’t spend the time on the areas I’m not so proud of. Life is all about choices and being a creative person as we age may be more important than focusing on it when we are young. I see what it gives to people as their life changes and they have creative pursuits to pour themselves into.

Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways. Sigmund Feud

I saw how good it was for Mom to have her quilting, and she didn’t start quilting to a big degree until her eighties. She could lose herself in her quilts and forget to eat. When we still have busy lives we don’t have that many days to lose ourselves in creativity, we sandwich our creativity with the busyness of everything we need to do. But one day that busyness will be gone, creativity can fill the empty hours, and bring joy to our lives we may get no other way.

Some of us are writing about life we’ve lived to get what has been bottled up inside out where we can look at it. Some of us write to understand the world and ourselves. Some of us dream of becoming famous writers, and some of us write because we must, and what form that writing will take will be discovered along the way.

Writing and painting are connected for some of us. We paint what we cannot put into words, and write what we cannot paint. It isn’t the world that needs our writing, paintings, or quilts, it is us, we need to find a way to express what is in us. If everyone found a way to express what was inside in a way that didn’t hurt anyone else, would we all be better off?

Writing is a minefield, we have to watch what we say and how we say it, but a painting or a quilt, who can know the inspiration behind it? What if self-expression plays a role in improving our mental health, what if it serves as a bridge between what is on the inside and our outer world, what if expressing our thoughts, feelings, and experiences is what we need to do? We don’t need it so other people understand us so much as to understand ourselves and make peace with our place in the world. We can choose to change the things we can and make peace with those we can’t.

Finding a way to help others express themselves may be one of the ways we help ourselves. Being part of a group and helping others may help us in ways we can’t imagine. We may find helping someone fulfill their dream is even bigger than finding ways to fulfill our own. I look at the leader of our group and others in it as midwives helping us as we give birth to the stories within us.

He who seeks truth shall find beauty. He who seeks beauty shall find vanity. He who seeks order shall find gratification. He who seeks gratification shall be disappointed. He who considers himself the servant of his fellow beings shall find the joy of self-expression. He who seeks self-expression shall fall into the pit of arrogance. Moshe Safdie

Self-expression is always a right, but it’s still not there to be abused. Isaac Hayes

I think any form of self-expression is half confidence, half sheer hard work and, maybe a bit of talent thrown in. Kate Winslet

Thank you for reading this post. Please return and read more and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Thank you to everyone who reads my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

Staying positive, choosing a good attitude, and being the person we were created to be.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. William Shakespeare

Do we have faith we can deal with the challenges ahead of us? No one knows what is ahead, but we all know it will be different than it is now. We see the changes coming and many of them we don’t like, but what if changes weren’t coming? Would life be better? Better for whom?

In the game of life, there are winners and losers and no one minds being on the winning side, but when we think we might not be on the winning side, we’d like to see no more change.

My parents lived through a lot of change, some good, some not so good, but they rode the roller coaster of life to the end. My parents lived through one world war, and my grandparents lived through two. We will live through the changes coming, some we may fear but never face, some we don’t worry about but they will hit us.

Is faith what will get us through? Faith in ourselves, our countries, our fellow citizens, and our governments, and what helps most of all in my opinion is faith in a higher power. We often don’t know what the ignition point of a powder keg will be, and we feel a powder keg building up with inflation, immigration, the rich getting richer, wars, and rumors of wars.

Is it possible to live in a precarious world with faith to deal with what comes? Hasn’t it always been a precarious world? What can we do in our own lives to make our lives less precarious? Being part of a strong family is a safe harbor in times of trouble. If we are resilient and able to see what is still possible and make the best of what is, life will be better than if we feel we are victims of circumstances.

A man sees in the world what he carries in his heart. Johann Wolfgang

Victimhood does not build a good life, what is the difference between facing hard challenges and feeling like a victim? When we face hard challenges do we have to find the courage to deal with what is, and when we feel we are victims, do we not take advantage of what we can do to make our lives better?

We are told we always have a choice, sometimes the only choice is our attitude, sometimes our choice is between two goods, and sometimes we have to choose the best of the bad. Sometimes our choices are for our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Is what we stand up for, rail against, and support, for the greatest good? Do we even know what the greatest good would be? We always come up against the unexpected consequences of our decisions. Sometimes we get good consequences from bad policies and bad outcomes from what we thought would be good policies.

Policies are in place and many were made with the best of intentions. When we see those policies not working, do our governments have the strength to turn things around? Will there be unexpected consequences for every change we try to make?

We might think we know the obvious direction we need to go in. But we don’t know, we can’t know what the unintended consequences of our best intentions are. For instance, won’t it be great when everyone is driving an electric car, and we don’t have gas emissions anymore, but we need the infrastructure to support the electric grid, with all the challenges that entails?

We’ve often heard to be careful what we wish for, and one of the things we’ve all wished for was to be richer, but we didn’t know when we got here, we wouldn’t feel any richer, because life is harder than ever affording our rich lifestyle.

What changes do we hope for, and can we think of unexpected consequences if we get it?

Never let a bad situation bring out the worst in you. Choose to stay positive and be the strong person that God created you to be! Unknown

No one else can choose your attitude for you. Your perspective and choice of attitude gives you the power to be in control. Irene Dunlap

Choose the positive. You have choices, you are master of your attitude, choose the positive, the constructive. Optimism is a faith that leads to success. Bruce lee

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

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Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon affiliate program.

Posted on by BWThomas

A can-do attitude and enthusiasm keep us going in the face of adversity.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. Winston Churchill

School is starting soon and children will once again walk past my door with their mothers, fathers, grandmas, and grandpas on their way to school. Going back to school is always the catalyst that makes me think about changes I need to make. New Year’s resolutions are not the same, as that seems more like a time of hopes and wishes instead of real change.

Fall has been the change agent in our lives. It was when we started afresh, took on new challenges, learned new things, and met new friends. Our lives flow with the seasons and if we are in sync with the seasons our life flows better.

It is easy to lose hope and see the negatives instead of the positives, but I think we have to take hard, long looks at how things are going in our lives, our country, and the world. We shouldn’t pull the sheet over our face instead of facing the changes that must be made.

Sometimes we do things hoping for one result and getting another. We didn’t understand the unintended consequences. Many good-hearted people want to help but sometimes help doesn’t do what we thought it would – safe injection sites come to mind.

One thing that rolls around my mind often is what help looks like. When are we helping and when are we enabling? When are we creating more chaos instead of self-reliance, independence, and order?

We are very good at fixing things, we know how to repair roads, bridges, and houses, and we know when something is beyond fixing and needs to be rebuilt from scratch instead of patching up what is already there.

For success, attitude is equally as important as ability. Walter Scott

Building society is different because we never get to scrap the old for the new, and where it has been tried, it hasn’t worked out well.  We have to balance the needs of everyone in society; we need to provide education for the brightest among us and those with special needs.  Perfection is the enemy of the good, but when is more help detrimental? George Bush talked about the bigotry of low expectations.

Do low expectations of ourselves and others affect our lives in negative ways? I remember a conversation years ago about easier math classes in high school. She said, “The math is about twenty percent easier, but the environment, is one hundred percent worse. Why would she say that? Is she writing the kids off in the easy math or is it the attitude they bring, an attitude of I can’t instead of I can? An attitude of embracing trouble instead of expecting a great life they will work hard for. Do we need to guard against learned helplessness with ourselves, our families, and our society? I can because I think I can, is a great attitude.

If we look back on our lives there was so much opportunity we didn’t see. It’s why if we had a do-over we often think we could build a better life by taking the opportunities that were there we didn’t see. But we don’t get a do-over and opportunities we missed were perhaps a lesson not to miss them when they present themselves again, or new opportunities we don’t recognize because opportunities often look like hard work without a guaranteed payoff. Is it looking for easy and the guarantees in life, that catch us up?

I think it is Jim Rohn who said, “Don’t ask for easy, ask to be better.” What would it mean if we took that advice to heart?

You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. Winnie the Pooh

The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude. Oprah Winfrey

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which, more than anything else, will affect its successful outcome. William James

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Posted on by BWThomas

Free and open society, building a good society should be our goal.

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

If we lose freedom of speech, it’s never coming back. Elon Musk

What does a free and open society mean? When is it free enough and open enough? How do we square the views of, “No one is illegal” with “Close the borders?”

Somewhere in the middle of those two sentiments is where we should probably be. We need to find the common ground between the left and the right, the compassionate and the harsh. Neither extreme leads to good results.

Overreacting to horrific things that happen in society does not improve that society. Building a good society is never finished, we are always in the process of making it better or making it worse. We won’t all agree on what will make it better or what will make it worse, but can we agree on general principles that it isn’t getting better when more and more people don’t have a place to live or enough to eat?

Some people think controlling prices will make food cheaper. I worry it will make producers quit producing, stores shut down, and we will have less food for more people, instead of cheaper food. Each country has to figure out how to sustain its population, and I believe have a right to limit those who want to come to the country especially if they have problems housing or feeding the people already in the country. This seems like common sense to me, and I don’t think telling someone who doesn’t have a place to live or food to eat they should be more compassionate, and tighten their belt even tighter, seems right.

Do desperate people who get in boats or on planes have a right to go to any country they want to? When they land on our shore do we have to accept them? It might be a lovely thought, and even a compassionate thought to say, “No one is illegal,” but what are the ramifications of that? What if everyone in Canada decided they had to live in the best place in Canada, we might not all agree on where that would be, but I think we would all agree that 40 million people moving to one location would overwhelm the infrastructure, services, food and housing supply, and make the residents already there very unhappy.

My freedom of speech stimulates your freedom to tell me I’m wrong. P.J. O’Rourke

I don’t know what the answers are, and I don’t know how we will deal with challenges that need to be dealt with. But, I don’t think the West can take in all the people that want to come to our shores. Many people in the West are complaining that life isn’t as good for them as it used to be. Often I think we long for nostalgia that never was, we minimize the challenges and glorify the successes of the past.

We will always face challenges, make mistakes, misjudge people’s actions and motives, and worry about our children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren’s futures.

We need to live with rules and laws, we might not all agree on what fair laws are, what a good level of immigration is, and who qualifies as a refugee. We might not agree on who is elected as the government, but once it is decided by the majority of voters, we must live with the decision until our next vote. We should however be able to voice our displeasure at how our government is conducting itself and the decisions it is making, peacefully.

If we can’t talk about what we think is wrong, won’t pressure build up? Isn’t free speech the pressure valve in society? By voicing our concerns we don’t have to get violent to make a point. Free speech has its perils, but silencing free speech might have even more.

Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone says anything back, that is an outrage. Winston Churchill

Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech. Silence Dogood, likely pseudonym of Benjamin Franklin

To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker. Frederick Douglas

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Posted on by BWThomas

Does luck favor those who believe they are lucky?

Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas

Don’t minimize the importance of luck in determining life’s course. Alex Trebek

Where does luck fit in our lives, do we consider ourselves lucky, or unlucky?

When a situation could have been terrible but isn’t what can we call it but luck?  Last Thursday I planned on giving a speech at Toastmasters about the exhilaration one feels after a close call. When I was nineteen a girlfriend and I drove down Highway 401, I was in the passenger seat, when she hit black ice and the car skidded out of control. A police officer was speaking to the driver of a car he’d pulled over. Our car’s front end came within inches of his legs as it did a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree donut coming to a stop in the same lane, going the same way we started. The police officer didn’t motion to us to pull over so we drove off. It is times like that when time seems to stand still and I still feel lucky that we didn’t end up in a horrific accident hitting the police officer and parked car.

On Wednesday night I went for a bike ride and as I was heading home riding down a path, a woman turned the corner to come down the path so I moved to the right, and my handlebar must have touched the wire fence on the right because the next thing I know I was picking myself off the pavement. It happened so fast that I felt momentarily stunned, but I picked myself up, mumbled, “I’m okay,” to the woman,” I wasn’t expecting that,” got on the bike and rode home.

Bruised but not broken, another instance of wow, that could have been so much worse. My face was swollen and bruised enough that I didn’t go to Toastmasters and give my speech, which was going to be about how fear, especially a fear of death, also results in a fear of life.

You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from. Cormac McCarthy

Luck often comes if we are prepared for it through hard work. But, if a bullet misses killing you by a quarter of an inch you’re lucky. When things could have been terrible but aren’t, we are lucky. If we are born healthy, into a good family, and in a great country, we are lucky.

There are things we work hard for and if luck comes our way we might prosper, but some circumstances in life come down to luck. We might do better in life if we feel we are lucky than if we feel we aren’t. Some of us might feel if something bad happens we are unlucky, and some might feel lucky because they escaped a worse outcome. A lot of life is about perspective, and feeling lucky or unlucky might be one of those things. We can look at almost any situation and think if I was lucky that wouldn’t have happened, or wow, I’m so lucky, because it could have been worse. Is it true, that luck favors those who believe they are lucky?

If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it. Bette Davis

Luck is a thing that comes in many forms and who can recognize her. Ernest Hemingway

All of us have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad luck – who keeps right on going – is the man who is there when the good luck comes – and is ready to receive it. Robert Collier

Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read some more. Have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.

To subscribe, comment, and see archives or categories of posts click on the picture and scroll to the end.

Thank you for reading my books, and a special thank you to those who leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you click on the Amazon link and purchase an item I receive a small percentage of the sale through the Amazon Affiliate program.