Grateful for a great full year

There is no possible way I could end this year on a note of anything other than gratitude.  It tops my list of all time 'fave' aspects of the human experience. It is such a large, affecting and deeply healing concept, defined thusly by Dictionary.com:

grat·i·tude

 [grat-i-tood, -tyood]  

noun

the quality or feeling of being grateful 

or thankful

...... that's it!....... the entire definition of this enormous force for good.  

What a lesson that is in and of itself.... that the things, ideas and actions that are the most profound and effective needn't be weighed down by a torrent of words or dogma.  The definition is simple, as is its explanation, yet its life-transforming effects can hardly be described. 

I am grateful for everything and everyone this year has brought me and taken from me.  A year ago I could not have imagined much of what life now holds and the promise 2012 offers. 

Gratitude, by Louie Schwartzberg

Have a beautiful New Year's Eve my friends.
I am grateful for you!

with thanks & joy 
xoxo

The Ultimate Mulligan

A common theme this time of year is starting over, with a clean slate. And I for one have no problem embracing this potentially cliche concept. In golf, a do-over is called a mulligan, a second chance for the player to try the same shot again, hopefully with far superior results. The best part is, the golfer's previously botched attempt is not recorded as part of his score.

Very often we think of a second chance or new year as picking up right where we left off, with the opportunity of successful moves from here on out.  The only catch is that we still have to deal with all that preceded our current situation.

But what if you could hit the reset button on your life and not just undo your last mistake, but wipe out all the mistakes you've had to work around to get to where you are now?  I don't mean erasing your entire existence, but think about when you reboot your computer.  It doesn't obliterate everything on it.  You don't lose your documents, images or projects you'd worked so hard on.  You merely get to start over with a clutter-free desktop, with programs humming along unfettered by sluggish performance do to things caught in your cache, or open windows & issues clogging up your memory.

A synonym for 'reset' is 'restart' -- literally to begin again.  And that is what New Year's suggests -- an opportunity to start over from a place of pristine, wide-open perfection.  What better holiday gift could one receive?

So let's give that to ourselves -- the grace and space to restart anew.  Come and share your inspiration and success with us on Facebook at LOVE 24/7.  You'll find you're always welcome... and loved ❤

renewedly yours,
Joy

The Gift Tray

Yesterday on my Facebook page I asked friends what I should blog about today. My classy, gracious, and obscenely talented friend Mary Corinne offered this:

"I believe we are born with a tray of gifts. These are the things we do well and enjoy. Never look on someone else's tray and try to BE them by employing those gifts. To be happy is to explore your whole tray and spend your life honing each gift. I have small gifts...ie...I love to iron, sew, wash clothes, mop floors, weed, organize all the stuff around me, smile, laugh..."

After getting to know her a bit, I can tell you, even the smallest of her many gifts is a treasure. 

How wonderful and heartening to know, I mean truly KNOW that EACH one of us comes with our very own individual tray of gifts.  We all have a different assortment.  Even those we have in common, such as humor, are still unique in the way we express them.  Perhaps the best parts about these gifts are the facts that we all get to share and enjoy each others!  I was agog to learn that someone as creative as Mary Corinne loves to iron and mop floors and I immediately sent out a huge shout of gratitude to the heavens for everyone who loves to do those things.... I don't think I've worn well-pressed clothes since living under my mom's roof. Fortunately, I have a dog on which I conveniently blame my slovenly appearance.

But you know, there are things that I enjoy that others find tedious.  I used to write html code as a way to wind down and relax after work; and with that gift have been able to build a number of websites for friends.

This time of year is a perfect opportunity to recognize and be thankful for the gifts that make us US -- and to strive to hone and share them to a greater degree with each passing day and year.  You have so much to offer.  You are such a gift.

joyously yours...

Grinches without their meds

I spent my tween and teen years in an affluent area in Southern California that is routinely mocked by the media for its shallowness and skewed priorities. I quickly became a product of the mental environment around me and fell easily into the role of material girl and label baby.

When I graduated from high school I did not get a car.... that's because I got a shiny new Italian sports car the day I turned 16.  Instead, I received a summer-long trip to Europe as a graduation gift.  A number of school friends thought I was crazy to miss all the parties of our last pre-college Summer together in order to go globe-trotting.  
That was the beginning of my realization that in some way I yearned for more out of life than could be found in the Louis Vuitton section of Neiman Marcus.  I wanted quality.... of thought, not just footwear.

for more warm fuzzies, go to: http://sharpindian.in/funtoo6.php

To date, that rite-of-passage trip has been the single most beneficial gift I have ever been blessed with.  The travel to ten or so different countries, with different languages, customs and (at the time) currencies opened up my thinking in ways I never knew were possible.  I returned a changed girl.  It has taken many additional years and trips to internal third worlds, but after completing several major spiritual treks, I believe I finally have my priorities straight and now understand what life is about, and what it is not.

The frustrated tweeters who feel 'dissed' by their benefactors, whose posts are included in the screenshots featured here, represent what I hope is a minority sector of society's youth. Of course, we are all responsible for defining our own priorities, but I can't help but wonder how many of the attitudes expressed in those ungrateful tweets are a by-product of the environment in which these people live, whether in their families, schools, or just as part of a consumerist society.

How can we combat and cure such misguided, unhealthy, odious attitudes?  I may not be able to sit each of these individuals down to chat with them about the meaning of life, but I can do my best to set an example of gratitude and self-worth.  And if I do my job well enough, perhaps I will inspire someone to do a little soul searching of their own so that they may find the rich rewards of prioritizing things like random kindness, patience, and giving to others less fortunate. And what a gift should they find that in so doing their heart grows a size... or three.

I am very thankful for what I 'got' this Christmas, which in my case was not 'stuff', but opportunities to express a spirit of giving from a heart overflowing with love and gratitude. And I hope to score even more of such treasure next year.

joyously yours...

As If!

How would you act during your day if your life was perfect?
How would you interact with others if everything in your life was exactly the way you wanted it?

What would a perfect life look like to you?
I bet you would likely paint a pretty picture of love, abundance, friendship, companionship, laughter, health, family harmony and so on.

Well why WAIT till everything is perfect to start living this way?
Why not ACT like things are already healthy and in balance and live out from that premise?

"I pretended to be somebody I wanted to be and I finally became that person. Or he became me. Or we met at some point.” Those words were spoken by Archibald Alexander Leach in reference to the man he would become.... Cary Grant.

I admit I am not much into 'acting' myself, or playing make-believe. My guess is this has something to do with having written a couple of dozen plays and running a traveling theater troupe for about 12 years.  So to me this whole exercise is not some sort of real-life cosplay.  It is a choice as to how to lead one's life.  Do I want to be saddled with the mental baggage I toted around yesterday or do I want to approach each day afresh, from a standpoint of wholeness and wellness?

My life is far from perfect.  In fact, from the outside most regular folk would deem it a shambles.  Well, I am not regular folk and just because I have chosen the road less traveled doesn't mean I am on a dangerous path.  Starting with the dawn I am going to strive to begin each day with an attitude of gratitude for its perfection. And I have a sneaking suspicion that if I work at this consistently and buoyantly I can have a Cary Grant experience of my own.

joyously yours
xoxo

Pulling No Punches

Happy Boxing Day!
This UK-based holiday, traditionally recognized as a day to give a Christmas box of goodies to tradesmen, has become a symbol for many things:

• for giving to the poor
• for banks to close their doors 
• for churches to collect and dispense alms
• even boxing up leftovers to share with others
• and boxing up things that are no longer needed in order to give them to charity in the spirit of end-of-the-year clean-out

What a wonderful metaphor Boxing Day provides, not only for sharing our abundance, but dispensing with that which no longer serves or benefits us.  The same can be done with what we have been storing in our hearts and minds.

What ideas and attitudes are we holding onto that no longer fit us?

What emotional hurts are we clinging to, though doing so does us absolutely no good?

What unhealthy, dismal views of ourselves are we mesmerized by and buying hook, line and sinker even though those closest to us tell us we are flat out wrong?

My new Boxing Day tradition - starting today - is to give the old one-two punch to all the nonsense that tries to pose as my life and identity.  I am not just a list of statistics!  Nor am I merely a chronicle of past activities, successes and so-called failures or mistakes.  I am a person with a purpose and great capacity for love and joy.  And I am determined to k.o. anything that tries to suggest otherwise!

So watch out Grinch-like thinking... you're goin' down for the count!

putting on the gloves... with joy xo

Merry Christmas sweet friends

I am down for the count today insomuch as I am feeling far too unwell to go to Christmas dinner. So instead I thought I would share a couple of Christmas treats here with you.

one of the sweetest & most poignant scenes in an animated cartoon

and something sublime from my beloved King's College Choir

Wishing you a meaningful holiday full of love and well-being.
May every day be to you a very merry Christmas.
God bless us everyone.