Thinking and Acting in the Positive

 

I have often written about complaints, complaints from other people, about other people, about the human race and just the general idea of complaint. I have tried to end my blogs with positive notes that do not drag down the post so much that no one wants to read my work. I am not the great marketer of myself and rely on the graces of other to share and repost my work. Thank you to those who have done so. As one of my readers I am sure you are asking “where is she going today with this opening?” Well I thought I would talk about the positive of life and count some blessings.

Thinking of positive things in life can be fleeting as we are compounded by the negative so often. So in writing this particular article my goal is to up lift and motive people into the positive. Showing a side of humanity that is often missed or disregarded and even expected but not acknowledged.

We miss the positive things in life from the constant bombardment of negative energy. The kind stranger at the grocery store that holds the door open for you, the nurse that bandages a scrape on your child’s knee at the beach. And just because she is a prepared Mom that way she is doing it and it is in her nature to care. The true kindness and not the fake covered up people that cheat behind the back of the honest. I am talking about the true positive, those with integrity, respect and dignity. That is what we as humans should strive for. Not the wolf in sheep’s clothing but the true and the real.

I know most of you are thinking we must have the ying with the yang and of course we do otherwise we would not be human. Not everyone of us can be in a good mood and not all of us can be positive people. That is the nature of humans. Some of us are just crusty and that is that. But there are many of us who can be the positive and bring the light to the dismal and dismayed. Sometimes it is a simple smile or the larger ability to forgive an act from the past, even just the offer of your seat on the subway. These simple acts of kindness of positive will come back to you three times more when delivered with a light heart and joy. Or for that matter delivered at all. What does it take to smile at a stranger, nothing really even if they do not smile back you may have given that person the up lift that they needed for the rest of the day. We really never know what is going on in the lives of others and gracing our humanity with simple acts of kindness, dignity, respect and compassion can make a world of difference that you or we for that matter may never know.

It is difficult as humans to remain positive and forgive yourself for the bad days, but remember there is always sunshine and there are always brighter days ahead. Things happen in life for reasons that we cannot always explain, but one thing I do know is that keeping a positive outlook is healthy and less stressful. Take that moment to hold the door for a stranger you never know who that person might be and how positively you may be paid back.

Photo courtesy of Google Images

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Summer Heat Wave vs. Winter Cold Blast

 

I have come the conclusion that the heat, although welcome, is actually worse than the cold for the human personality. With no escape from it’s powerful grip we bear what we can. At least in the winter we can put on a sweater!!!

It has been almost a week that our great province has been under a heat advisory and the temperatures have climbed steadily into the thirties. It is without relief that many of us sit like panting dogs suffering and wishing for January???? Well… maybe not January but certainly the cooler weeks of September would be a welcome treat right now.

 

I must be clear that after the winter we had I will not complain about the heat. My thought is though that we cannot escape the heat the way we can escape the cold. Let’s face it in the months we refer to as winter, being December through mid-March or so we can dress for the weather and participate in activities indoors and outdoors. We can enjoy the days that are short by making a special effort to be with family and friends and plan activities that engage us through the cool and cold months. Even the spring rains are fun to play in. But when it come to a heat wave…..what is one to do?

Trapped inside where the cold air blows, most of us give into the AC quickly. I am one of those people who cannot stand the heat and gives in as soon as the temperatures are above twenty-two. I mean really why should we suffer? I have often been accused of being a creature of comfort and I suppose to some degree I am just that. But does that make me mad? No just the opposite, I enjoy the finer things in life and AC is one on the top of my list.

So to compare the summer’s heat and the winter’s cold and the effect on personality is actually quite fair. I have been yelled at, although why someone would spend that energy in this weather to me is torture to one’s self, bumped into, disregarded, cut off in my vehicle, grumbled at and have seen the general disregard for humanity that comes along with the long cold and deep winter months. I thought that summer was the season of joy for us Canadians, maybe I stand corrected and that is not the case but when I see what the heat does to us and in a shorter period of time I question how we managed in the past to survive without eliminating ourselves through one barbaric way or another.

So what to do about the heat??? We, as I have said earlier in this article, in winter we can put on a sweater. “So” you say, “but what do we do when we are already down to our skivvies and there is nothing left to remove?” Good question and one I wished I had the answer for, but I do not. I have seen many crazy ways to cool down and I am sure social media and the video sites are full of crazy ways to build that homemade AC unit (do not do that at home). Try a local pool or the lake if you are near one. Seek out a cooling centre. Visit friends or family with a cool place to be. Do not let the heat get to you even if your truly are a winter person. I think I am a fall kind of lady…looking forward to harvest season.

 

Stay cool!!!

 

Photos courtesy of Google Images.

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Short and Sweet, Blocked by Nothing

 

I do not know if it is summer or just a good case of writer’s block but I have had blanks in my overly creative mind for the last couple of weeks. The exercising went downhill with the rise in temperatures and out the window flew the words that usually end up on a page. Frustration for someone who never stops thinking.

I have often wondered how other writers deal with writer’s block, but have never asked or even really thought about asking another writer. I suppose it is just something we deal with and try as hard as we can to move on. I force myself to write this blog right now. I think it maybe loosening but there is still that feeling of pressure in the back of my mind.  

 

Writing is such a self-motivated career especially if you are a fiction writer and rely on your own thoughts to produce the work. Now if you work for a company in which you write technical manuals I suppose the writing never stops as it is fairly cut and dried what one puts down on the page. But those of us who adore the fiction, the creation of the story, the settings, the development of characters and the journey the mind takes as the story unfolds we have a tendency to get lost in the creative abbyss of nothingness. Sad really when you think of it because I know when I am driving and cannot write anything down I have great lines or story possibilities. Another bummer of a place is the shower when everything is wet including paper and pen and jotting down the next best seller is out of the question.

Another killer of the inspirational mind is the having he children home from school. Do not get me wrong I love my children deeply, but, as most and all parents can attest children sap your mind of all things and distract you to a point to where all the good ideas just disappear. Now that being said the opposite can take place too. If you write children’s stories you can spend the summer with your note book and jot down all kinds of great story ideas and listen to them talk to catch great lines. We all know that children can say some of the most amazing things at times.

So I must say there is an A side and a B side to all of this writer’s block and the mind drain of summer. I must just walk about with my note book and write it all down. I am sure my children will fill the creative gaps if I listen and they will help refuel the empty tank.

See I am writing better already!!! Now go ahead and try it, you may find that master piece is just in front of you!!!

 

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Waste Not Want Not: The Grocery Store Waste of Food and The Dollars it Costs

I know some of you are going to call me crazy for this one but I hate waste of any sort. I have just read an article from the Penny Hoarder and was shocked by the USA numbers given for food waste. 40% yes you read it right FORTY percent of the food that is grown, imported, caught, and/or produced in the USA is thrown away. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! We have starving people and obesity at large how can this be happening????????

The article first caught my attention as it says ways to reduce your grocery bill without coupon clipping. I am not a fan of coupons as they kill trees but use them because it is what I have right now along with price matching the flyers to conserve our limited grocery budget. So I read the article. The first paragraphs were relatively uninteresting until I got to the number two “Rescue Otherwise Wasted Food” this not only infuriated me but made complete sense. The infuriation came with the report of the amount of wasted food, which made me think of all the money wasted and now how frivolous I feel as a westerner. By the way I disagree with what is happening and would love to change the world. But this young couple from the US has begun dumpster diving behind grocery stores to lower the food bill. Don’t go ewwey just yet. They wear gloves, they was all packages before they open them and they have never gotten ill according to the article!!! I am not surprised we throw food away when it is at its best before date. My experience is that a lot of product can last beyond that date. Sour cream is one of those products. Check it out next time yours is at its date. It will not be bad I promise unless it was left unrefrigerated.

 

So anyways they have a grocery bill of about $50.00 per month, mind you they are a vegan couple so they are not eating expensive meat and that helps but they also donate to food banks and other sustainable places that can use the food. So is this stealing? No once something is in the garbage that is what it is and is now open property for anyone to take. The police often use this in finding evidence so why can we not use it for finding food. I know it sounds so gross but if the package is sealed and it has not been in the searing heat for days chances are that the food is good. Most grocery stores close around nine pm so when the food is disposed of it is later than that and dark and cool outside.

Another article I read, Food Waste in Canada Costs $31 Bill on per Year,was how much food was wasted in Canada. It was to the tune of $31 billion dollars each year!!!! Yes that is right, $31 billion. That is more than the gross economy of some countries on this planet. Shocking I have inserted the link take a look at the article.

There is a hope on the horizon this article France Makes it Illegal for Grocery Stores to Throw away Ratable Food, states that France has made it illegal for grocery stores to waste perfectly eatable food. So the next time you are at the grocery store and picking out that perfect package of bacon (I am so guilty of that) or choosing the apples that do not have bruises remember most of what you see will go in the trash and ask yourself what can you do to stop the waste???

 

I have always said charity begins at home.

Photos courtesy of Google Images.

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Check Yourself for Rudeness

 

After living through the last few months of winter and a particularly upsetting issue it has come to my attention that nothing has changed. People are still the same. I find it impossible to see how change is going to occur when we are not a maturing race of humans.

I went to my local gym this morning for the second time and was harassed by a man who was just sitting there wasting time with nothing to do but speak rudely to a woman. It astounds me that some men have not grown beyond this illegal and disgusting behaviour. We as a society have made this behaviour against the law so that people get the message that it is not acceptable. So where did the message not get through to this guy???? Does his own arrogance help him believe he is above the law???? I suppose I cannot answer that but my best guess would be “Yes”.

 

 

There are a multitude of reasons why people are rude, some being that they just do not know that they are rude and that is blind stupidity to ones personal behaviour. Now not saying yours truly is perfect because I can be cantankerous with the best of human beings. But it is to me so obvious that we have lost our ability to be polite. No one says excuse me at the grocery store people just barge right through. If you are looking at the shelf from across the aisle someone will inevitability park their cart right in front of you and stand between you and the shelf and block your view. This is where I have no patience. I have been known to speak up and say “Excuse me, is there something on the shelf behind me I can get for you as I see that I am blocking your view of the shelf?”. Usually I get a cross and very confused look.

 

 

But human stupidity is linked in my mind to poor behaviour. We concentrate so hard on ABC’s and 123’s we forget that teaching respect and discipline is so very important. The English brought a very stiff and proper manner of behaviour to us centuries ago. Now I will not agree with it all being called civilized but I will say that many of the concepts of respect are a good place to start and should be in our daily lives. Simple things such as courtesy. If you do something wrong then apologize. Be aware that you have hurt some ones feeling and have the nerve to make it better. Or better yet have the frame of mind to know when you are hurting someone and stop. Think about repercussions before you act. Be a proactive person not a reactive person.

 

 

Please understand this is not my view of the entire race of humans that roam this planet, there are kind people out there. I have met some very lovely ones in the last few months, but in the same breath I say I have recently felt the sting of the whip too. There is only so much negativity we can shoulder before we need an outlet for it. I get it I am human too. I will never look at your emotional explosion as you being crazy as I get we are all under the same pressure of mankind, but I will not stand for rudeness or arrogance or a combination of the two.

 

 

Please be aware of your own self and know what is polite and what is not.

 

All photos courtesy of Google Images.

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Ice, Snow and the Christmas Lights

 

Driving home through Toronto I found it amazing how many people still had Christmas light out and on. We then pulled into our driveway only for me to remember we have not taken ours down. Well, where we live we have an abundance of snow and removal is difficult during the winter months. What an excuse. Christmas was over two plus months ago.

I then glanced at our neighbours home with their lights not only up but on as well. I looked around the street only to see that we were the only two homes with lights still glowing as if it were the season. I giggled to myself as I looked for the buried plug to unplug our lights. No such luck, the cord was iced in and the plug itself a mystery to find. I figured as much for my neighbour as well.

I began to think how nice these lights may look with the leaves on the tree and have toiled with the idea of leaving them on and now calling them seasonal lights. When the snow melts and the buds begin to push through I think they might just look pretty. But what is it with us leaving the lights on for so long?

As I pondered this question I came up with answers that I found to be a justifiable excuses for this down right insidious behaviour. First of all as I mentioned earlier I could not unearth the cord to my lights and therefore I will need to wait until the snow and ice melt to perform the task of shut down. The lights are plugged into the socket that is under the soffit and I cannot reach it without a ladder. I do not particularly like ladders so I might just find an excuse for that one too. My last excuse is that it looks pretty.

I then began to think that pretty or not I am pushing it here. We are trying to move into spring and it seems as if my household is holding on to the last vestiges of winter. Why in the world would we want to do that? It has been the coldest February in history in our fair country and I am ready to let that go but yet when I turn on our exterior lights on come, the dreaded Christmas lights. I might add that I still have the swag wreath and three sparkled birds still hanging in the tree as well. They hang there mocking me and my inability to remove them as they swing in cold north winds. It is as if they somehow know that I cannot reach them quite yet and so they swing and look at me with their tiny bejeweled eyes glowing in the white light of the bulbs just taunting my every thought about taking them down.

The swag gently dusted with snow quivers in these winds as well. Frozen to its mount and not going anywhere for a while longer. The shiny fake poinsettia flowers and the glittered silver balls that drape down towards the snow bank yet again appear to mock me without words. The wire holding the swag to the tree is incased in ice, unmovable ice. I look one more time at the swag, the flowers animated by the wind appear to be laughing with their centres glowing, still, in the white of the Christmas lights.

 

 

I have dreamed of tiny purple and yellow crocuses pocking out of the final melting snow and daffodils to follow with tulips bursting open in succession with little fruition from Mother Nature. The snow keeps coming and the winds keep blowing and we continue to done our heavy winter coats and boots until the day that with the warmth of the sun and the grace of nature I will be able to take down my exterior Christmas decorations.

To all of you stuck in the same frozen situation it is in my best advisement that next year we all make some preparations to keep plugs above the freezing and snow level so they are ready to be pulled at the end of Christmas. And for the sake of all of us gardeners out there, take the lights out of the trees as soon and you can, please. Even by any another name these lights still say Christmas.

 

 

 

Note: The picture at the top of this blog is an actual photo of the tree discussed in this article. It was taken during the early parts of February 2015.

See my other blog: Lisa Anne

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Wal-Mart Changed Their Price Match Policy and Target is Leaving Canada

I was going to write a blog on Wal-Mart vs. Target until I got up today and read the news that Target is closing its 133 Canadian stores. I am not surprised. Any visit I have to a Target store has not been pleasant and has greeted me with empty shelves and product listed in flyers that was not available in the stores. So what is a shopper to do???

Target Leaves Canada

 

Well I am not a Wal-Mart fan either. I have just discovered that they have changed their price match policy and no longer match store- to- store brands for the Great Value brand. Well that has done nothing but lose my business. I thought I would become a Target customer and was hoping that the stores had improved. No apparently they are just giving up and turning tail and running home. Maybe that says something for the Canadian consumer. We maybe the country accused of saying sorry all the time but our passive aggressive nature has just won a war on discount stores. But back to Wal-Mart for a moment, why would a large chain of stores that is making a huge amount of money on the backs of people who can barely feed their family change a policy that makes them money?

Simple…greed. When I see a large store chain change something that betters their bottom dollar and takes more away from the consumer my blood boils. It pains me to see the customer who scrapes together every penny (sorry nickel now) to make a weekly grocery trip to Wal-Mart stand at the cash and be turned down for price matching store-to-store products and have to put groceries back because they do not have enough money and to make it worse it is stapes, eggs, bread, milk and meat. What has this world come to? As far as I am concerned Wal-Mart can leave Canada too for this selfish action alone.

 

So what if they did leave Canada? What would happen? I believe we may just be better off. For many years we survived with our Zellers and enjoyed the lower priced items available. We did fine as the Canadian consumer kept the Canadian dollar north of the boarder. Not the case anymore we are passive and allow large US companies to come in and buy up our retailers until there are none. I suppose this was a survival technique, although it did not go over well with this writer. So who is going to replace Target?

Who knows and who cares? I hear the Target employee’s cry of what am I going to do without a job and my sympathies are with those people. I am sorry to say I am not sorry to see you go Target. The only deal I ever got there was the school supplies for the children, otherwise it was never a deal and the prices were always higher than Wal-Mart (look there is my comparison).

 

So as we move forward from another failed attempt to Americanize Canadians we look back on the lesson learned and thumb our noses at you on the way out. Bring on the next retailer we will judge you as passively and aggressively as we have your predecessor.  Score: Maple Leaf 1.

Hey here is a good plan...buy local!!!

See my other blog:Lisa Anne
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