Decision's

Decisions, Decisions, always one to make. The making of them will forever exist. Some you only have to ponder for a moment. Others for a lifetime. Every decision we make affect our life in one way or another either for the good or for the bad. As an over fifty and extraordinary person, what have I learned about the decision making process is that the importance of a decision should be considered before the decision is made. As I reflect back, there were some I should have given a lot more thought. Some should have been given prayerful consideration. And then I recall those that I put too much time and thinking in that didn't really matter. Life has also taught me that indecision is just as bad as making a wrong decision. Decisions must be made carefully, with the proper amount of fore thought. But they must be made. Indecisiveness leads to insecurities. This is an age old dilemma, Shakespeare once pondered the question: To be or not to be, that is the question. If we live a lifetime of this, it can rob us of our mental stability and cause us to be fearful lacking confidence. And unfortunately as we age the decisions we must make become more of a serious nature because they involve our health or our residence, finances, etc. Yes, I've found as we age, believe it or not that the decisions we are required to make are much more complicated. So its important the we (extraordinary people)after all these years learn the art of decision making. Learning this art we will fare much better. Lead a less stressful life. We will become stronger and more emotionally confident.  Acquiring this decision making habit will allow us to face head on the things we must and not put off. When we put serious decision making off, we can suffer more serious consequences in the long run. There was a saying and I quote" when you think long you think wrong." Now some things do require a lot of thinking, but the point is there is an appropriate amount of time to the decision making process for whatever it is.  I have a friend who put off the decision of having hip surgery for fifteen years. It was always talked about, visited several surgeons got a few different opinions but never made a sound decision and continually put it on the back burner because she couldn't decide, only now to face unavoidable and must have surgery with the prognosis far worse than she was given ten years or even five years ago.  If you all remember one of my previous blogs on having regrets. How we need to learn to live with as few as possible is good advice to consider.  So my dear friends, even in the face of fear, pray for courage and decide affirmatively how you will do things. And I think you will find what I have found that once the decision is made you will feel, think and be a lot better off. Don't forever limp on two opinions. Life and time is precious. You will be so happy you did.

Being Brilliant

The dictionary defines it as great ability or magnificent. How can we define brilliance in relation to intelligence? What does it take to be brilliant? How many of us will achieve brilliance ? After we become over 50 and extraordinary? It's possible. As long as we live we learn. Believe it or not , not many of us can claim to be brilliant.  Or should I reword that and say , how many of us will act with brilliance as we age? Even with age on our side many of us may have not led a brilliant lifestyle or will ever. But now alas we have brilliant thinking ability. Is it too late to become brilliant people? It's never to late for anything, the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. We are now mentors, we can teach our young to be brilliant. This they can easily accomplish, all it takes is a listening ear. With that they can live a life of ease. It is  just that simple. This opportunity is open to everyone. Not just those who can afford something better. The kind of brilliance that can give us all equality. Is that even possible?  It's been said that the smarter you are the better off you will be.  What kind of smarts?  Book knowledge? But I'm not talking about higher education. I'm talking about the education that living a life on a day to day basis teaches each one of us. Kinda like common sense, something that's known by many, not a rare thing. But even today, its been said that common sense is not so common. This is because many choose to live by their own standards and not what is commonly acceptable.  True, life experiences of ourselves as well as others happen to us every minute of our lives. We hear of other's life experiences. Some are good and some are not so good. Do we learn from them?  We should, these are the very thing's that determine how brilliant we will be or become in the life that remains yet ahead of us. As extraordinary people, we must act with brilliance. No secular education can teach us what life does. My mother use to say"What I cant teach you life will." And this is the truth. So the next time you give your young some solid advice. Don't say"" Be smart", because smart people learn from their own mistakes. Rather, tell them to be brilliant. Because brilliant people learn from the mistakes of others. What a better way to learn a difficult lesson in life. This is the  type of brilliance we want to pass on!

Interruptions

Interruptions , doesn't it seem the older we get the more interruptions we seem to have of some sort? Just when we start thinking we are really on a role. When we think we got it all down, we have waited a long time, the kids are gone, we have a measure of freedom, time, finances in control and things are looking up, that's just when something else comes up that slows us down or sets us back, who would have ever thought?  I remember my mother used to say and I quote" Just when you think you have won the rat race somebody throws in another rat!" And Gilda Radner's grandmother used to say" It's always something." And no truer statements have ever been spoken. What lesson was she really trying to put across? My mother used to also say" What I cant teach you life will." I get it now,life has taught me so many things. How I wish I could tell her so, there are so many things I understand now. But what she never said is that I would be over 50 and extraordinary before I would be able too.  Maybe she herself didn't know. By now I have learned life is full of interruptions, setbacks, hindrance's. That's life, L-life I- interruptions, F-forever E-exist. Perhaps I learned this a long time ago and just never put it in perspective or accepted it.  I have to truly say I appreciate that wisdom does come with age, so in a sense we do get better as we age. And these things are just a part of life and will never go away as long as we live. There's only one way to cope with them is to accept them for what they are. Then continue on with our forward march. They are only temporary. We cant let them stop us from achieving some personal goal long awaited for. Some of these interruptions can last for years, like raising a family and meeting their needs even after having done so. We have to look beyond the interruption and see the end goal. Can't allow discouragement to make us give up.  I can speak from experience, I've waited a life time to publish a children's picture book and for the first time I am nearing that goal. I've had my set back and hindrances, one after another, but I'm on my way nearing the finish line! I can see it clearly. I am so excited, I cant wait to share it with you! So no matter what it is you have always wanted to do, don't give up, it is still there to be done, just waiting for you.  And if we move through this life, coping with the things it will always inevitably hand  us and accepting it as just a part of the big picture , only then will we be able to deal successfully with the interruptions until we are all satisfied with the goals we have set and achieved. Always remembering that once we have reached our goal that the interruptions are behind us and there is more Life ahead.
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Been Gone A While ! I'm Baaaack!!

Hello my dear Over Fifty and Extraordinary friends!!!,  I'm Baaack!!! Its been a while since my last post. I may have been gone but guys have not been forgotten. You have been on my mind daily. I have had to take care of some significant things that have kept me away from posting. I hope all is well with you and yours. I have certainly missed our little chats or blogs. My wishes are that you all are proceeding on in your plans whatever they may be. If you should experience some  or are having setbacks always remember that they are temporary. Just as they began , they will also end. This is a lesson we should have learned by now. Makes us unique in knowing that. Nothing good or bad last forever. I've learned the true meaning of due process. Everything in life involves a time element. I was just telling my Son the other day why patience is so important. It just helps us to deal with the things that must take place in their own time and being impatient does not speed up the process, but adds misery to the natural order of things as you wait it to run its course. So why add misery to something that may not be going as well as you like? Good question huh? I have lots of things to share and will do so in time as I gather my new thoughts together. I'd love to hear from you about whats been going on with you and what you would like to do. Please feel free to share. So I hope I haven't lost you because I have a lot more to share as it feels good to be back!!!

The Best Things in Life

Oh we all know to well how that saying ends. I don't know who penned that statement originally, but I do know that  it's age old. And it is as unique as it is old. The best things in life are free!! Even as an extraordinary person as far back as I can remember, that saying has been expressed. Used to express the sentiment in simple pleasures derived from seeing, doing or having the most pleasures from the simplest things. The times spent with someone we hold dear. Receiving refrigerator art, a walk in the park, giving ,sharing, helping, etc. A picnic lunch that consist of simple peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and water lying on a blanket next to a child, spouse or other loved one can be counted as a simple pleasure. Simple pleasures are the best. If you don't have any, make up some. It's not that complicated. From watching the sunrise to enjoying a starry lit sky at night. An extreme simple pleasure for me is walking hand in hand on a cool night. How refreshing! From this we learn that a lot never is needed but only a little.  When we go all out putting a lot more work into things than is necessary, we tend to miss the real joy of it. Often times it leaves us too exhausted to enjoy the event itself. By now life should have taught us to do things spontaneous. Favorable circumstances are rarely present together. Carp Diem! Seize the moment! It's said that their free because we don't have spend any resources or just a very little but only our time and not very much energy and we get the best feeling from doing so. Sometimes we are on the receiving end and the full pleasure becomes ours. The good thing about it, is that there is no limitations.  The sky is the limit. So now is the time  to indulge yourself like never before. Yes, the best things in life are free, but are they things?  Certainly not. If I could rephrase the statement, I would say: The best things in life are not things! Simply put they are the simple pleasures that come from the ones we love the most. So do things in the simplest form now, don't hold back by waiting on favorable circumstances. Life is too short.

Down Time

Down time. Just what exactly is down time? I think it means to take time out from the norm. Just another expression for laying back, taking it easy, a lil rest and relaxation. People are generally described  by their personalities. I've learned that some personalities like to go go go. They have to keep moving. Sitting still is not something they can do well. It seems they have a lot of nervous energy. I could be one of these people, I don't like idle time. I personally like to be busy. The thought of staying in my pajamas all day seems to me every bit as abnormal.  But I've learned that this type of personality is not healthy. Worth while activity is good, but still, it's good to stop and just reflect. Take it easy sometime, especially when pressures abound. Just when we think we got the rat race under control, somebody throws in another rat. Statistics sadly show that people with this type of personality on the go, always moving are good candidates for heart attacks and strokes later in life. And research study has shown that this is how they end up. This type of personality is not good for anybody. I also learned that our life circumstances can give you this type of personality. Family responsibilities sometimes can have you constantly on the move, never a dull moment as they say. Thus making the pace at which you do things constantly and quickly becoming a habit. These consequences are dire. Who wants to go there? Certainly not me or anyone for that matter.  So after thinking about this, I said to myself that down time is suddenly beginning to look like a good thing. As extraordinary people, we've gotta use good sense, we want to live  fulfilling and productive lives. We need to use wisdom in the choices we make. Finding the balance again is the key. We all need to gain control of our own time.  If we are guilty of allowing other  people to dictate how we use our  time, it needs to end. It's human nature to try to control the time of others. But for our own good, we need to take a closer look at having down time and the benefit's we can get from it. It can come in many forms, a lil break, ten or fifteen minutes here or there. When fighters are fighting in the rink, they stop periodically for a lil down time. Otherwise they could not continue in there best form. I want to be in my best form always, so I'm thinking bout staying in my pajama's one day real soon. Under the new things I've considered, I will probably enjoy it. Hey, maybe you should try it too or maybe get  a lil more of it.  Even God rested on the 7th day. Yep He took some down time. He  also said in his word that there is a time and place for everything. I think that would include down time. So be the best you can be, take a a little down time when you need it. I'm sure you wont regret it!!!

Social Networking

When I think about the social network and what technology has done for it, it's mind boggling. And it continues to grow constantly with new channels opening up almost daily.  Then I think about the span of time it has taken to get this big is also mind blowing. If we reflect back just ten years ago, it was nearly unheard of.  Its no wonder people today who has gone beyond fifty and extraordinary is so intimidated by it. Or if not intimidated just not as accepting as those of younger years. What has happened to the days when we really made new friends? When we really sat down to write a letter, send a card? What about when we would stand in the yard and talk to a neighbor? Oh I think those days were so much better! Now a friend is made with a click of a button. The reading of a profile and accepting it verbatim. Things are quite different now. Socializing was something we did in person. How many of you miss that?! Now it's done through a click of a button on a computer. Granted there are some awesome people out there that we read about. But are we really friends? Do you really feel that sense of friendship? My opinion is and it's just my opinion that if technology goes at the rate its going that we will be forced into a robot like world. A world where everything is programmed and controlled.  Nothing will feel real anymore. But rather more like artificial. I always enjoy the feeling of warmth you get from a true friend in time of need or encouragement. I'm sure many of us extraordinary people still have those kind.  They truly are to be cherished.  Hold them dear. They will become a rarity. Why they are the very ones who can reminisce with us about yesterday. Bring back my yesterday! If only that were possible. The truth of the matter is, that technology, although it sets us back in some ways, it is also beneficial in others.  The thing is when we are experiencing the benefits of modern technology we don't think about the positive things new technology have changed that we wished had remained the same. Like my dear old mother used to say"you cant have everything". And I used to say "why not?".  So I think it better to move ahead with the times. I must be a part of at least five social net working sites. And a piece of work it is. Like my blog here. Just another social net work.  But I do enjoy blogging. I hope I'm making some good friends and they are enjoying hearing what I have on my mind!  So I guess its true, you have to got through some of the bad to get to the good.  And if that be through social net working, then let it be!