Month: July 2019

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On Hold

Bruce Lee said “Choose a path with heart.” Very wise.

I recently read a book by a well meaning person, on how to become a millionaire by the time you are 30 or so, and then pursue your dreams. This sounds feasible to a young mind when you are healthy and energetic. Oh, but how quickly life can snatch away your life and abilities. At any age.

I suppose if you don’t have a passion or an interest, then by all means, go for the money. Just do good with it however.

Though I don’t disagree that life is not so great when you lack money, I do disagree with putting your passions on hold, or watering them down until you are rich enough to do them full time.

For one thing, there is no guarantee in life that you will live long, be able or be rich, no matter what you do.

For another, one persons get rich methods don’t always work for others. There is no one solution that fits all. And luck always plays a role in what happens. Always.

You should pursue your dreams when you are young. This is when you are most physically and mentally able and hopefully have many years ahead of you to learn, grow, perfect your craft, and evolve into other new and exciting passions. It is so much easier to do this when you are young and fresh. It makes life an adventure and a whole lot more interesting.

Some careers cannot be put on hold. You cannot become a surgeon after you are 35, and you certainly can’t pursue that part time.

I would never ever tell someone to pursue a meaningless, boring, soul sucking career just to maybe be rich enough to quit it by middle age. UGH. Are you kidding me?

You cannot determine what you want to do with your life based on money alone. We are already in a crisis with passionless people who did just this and are now our non compassionate doctors, greedy seedy lawyers and the lot.

Imagine if everyone quit their jobs at 35 and just sat around. Is this even feasible?

Or if people only did careers that brought them the best bang for their tuition.

When people enjoy their jobs, they enjoy their life and make the world a happier place. Have you ever dealt with someone who hated their job – like a surly waitress, and unkind clerk, an uncaring receptionist, a non helpful manager?

I am not saying being rich is bad. Never. I would like to be rich! But I want to be doing something I love, something that is honest, true to me, so I am happy. When I am happy, automatically I benefit the world.

Don’t put your life on hold. Life can be way too short – or way too long – before you do what you want.

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Hippie Wisdom

Three older women dressed as hippies; headbands, peace symbols, suede fringed vests and flowered bell bottoms, were having a blast doing a photo shoot in the mall yesterday at one of those specialty photo booths, where for a price you can be anyone and get a photo to prove it.

I stopped to watch because my head has been in the 60’s and 70’s lately.

I am on vacation and doing a lot of reflecting back on my life, and I had a moment of hippie sappiness.

My life up to this point is meaningless and pointless, a common realization to most who have lived past the age of 50 or so. But the hippie sappiness came when I remembered that the only thing that gives life meaning is love.

I know, break out the Beatles records!

Work is tedium, boring and meaningless. I am just a worker bee, like countless millions of others, serving the machine, making the select few rich. Most of us work for the ‘machine’ which enslaves us with debt and never rewards us for being good or working hard at anything. It promises us if we behave and conform and do more then maybe we can be more. A promise that fails to deliver.

The only parts of my life that were not a continual grey are those times I experienced love. It is love that brings colour to our existence.

Being in love is like taking a deep breath of fresh spring air. You expand and grow. Love is the only thing worth living for.

If you focus on anything else, your world will become very small, you will contract into a very tight ball.

I once met the happiest man in the world. He drove a tow truck, worked in a garage, not much money, hard hard work, long hours. His life had a lot of drama. However, he positively beamed when he talked about his wife and kids. He told me then, a long time ago where I should put my heart. He had his priorities right. I should have listened.

Love is everything. Family. Friends.

All else is nothing.

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50+

If I had my way, then all women who find themselves in the all too familiar predicament lately of being 50+, divorced or single, unemployed or underemployed, perhaps with some developing health issues, and not much money, would be helped.

Our old way of doing things is coming to an end. Our old ways of getting work and supporting ourselves is changing.

Help would come in the form of transitioning into this new way of being.

Of course, it concerns money. Everything is about money now. And NO it is not about lending money. It is about giving with no expectation of financial payback. Especially with interest. Gee whiz.

What I would like to see is free education for these women, so they can transition into a new way of supporting themselves. They could take higher education and get a new career, develop craftsman skills and apprentice. Be taken in and mentored in a field they would enjoy. There would be money to start a new business, and funding to help supply housing and food while making a transition.

So many women have so much to offer but are being ignored by the traditional way of finding work. These women have to reinvent themselves at a time when it can be most difficult to do so, usually for lack of funds and health issues. Many are caring for aging parents and children returning home.

There is a wealth of experience and knowledge many women have to offer to a world desperately in need of such counselling. We need to find ways to open doors for this knowledge to be tapped and used.

I realize that this is not for everyone, and there should be no pressure for someone to change. However, for those who do want to, then we should make it easy for them to do so, so they can get back out into the world and make a positive contribution. We are wasting a valuable resource when our world is in desperate trouble. A world that needs intelligent and compassionate solutions to enormous problems.

We can no longer rely on or trust our politicians or governments to do the right thing. They have their own selfish agendas and the money seldom wanders far from their own pockets and interests. What needs to be done in the world will have to be done by individuals helping one another. People who will take on the issues that our elected officials and governments are supposed to do and find ways to do it ourselves.

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Poverty In Our Own Room

In this world of an ever increasing divide between the rich and the poor, the haves and the have nots, we tend not to notice that poverty can be right in our own rooms.

The people we work with.

Our friends.

Ourselves.

How many wealthy bosses and business owners, world leaders and politicians don’t even notice the sometimes wide spread poverty of their own employees or constituents or worse, don’t even care. Many have been rich a long time and have no understanding on any level of what it means to struggle financially. To not be able to pay bills, make ends meet, save money. To not have any future.

There is a failure to see that poverty is not just the masses of people living in horrific conditions elsewhere in the world. It is right under our noses.

Poverty is on the increase in our country, not just for the unemployed and seniors, but prevalent in the working masses. Single parents forced to sleep at work because they are homeless. People walking for miles to work because they can’t afford transportation. People without heat or electricity or water – right here in our own country. What about people who are wiped out by hurricanes, fires or ill health who have no “emergency fund” or insurance. The “emergency fund” and buying insurance by the way, are just clever ploys to make us think financial difficulties are our fault (good luck trying to collect from insurance when you need it too). The real problem is low wages and the resulting debt load (how the F can you put money away for a ‘crisis’ or afford insurance, when you can’t put food on the table). How can your wages compete with runaway inflation (look at the cost of food, housing and transportation-out of control and caused by greed).

Totally disgusting that many states and provinces have blocked the increase of minimum wages. Corporations, governments and banks have enslaved the majority of the population with debt. Debt is no longer a symptom of overspending on luxuries, that was back in more prosperous days – now it is a necessity in order to survive.

For want of sometimes a very small sum of money, a person cannot go forward in life, or worse, loses what little they have. Even if the rich do help, they want pay back, with interest.

Gone are the days – long gone are the days, when if you just work hard enough, get more education or kiss the bosses ass, you’ll be a success. Now you have to kiss the bosses ass just to survive.

Many of us will have to keep on working long past the point where we are physically and mentally able. Probably many are at that point now.

My Mom always said, charity begins at home. And we have a big problem, right here at home.

The answer to poverty in our own room is just that. Charity begins at home. We can no longer turn to our governments or politicians for help as they are greedy and self serving (politicians are just wannabe rock stars and governments serve big corporations). No, it is happening in the hearts and minds of ordinary people.

People rally together to help those in need. When we are made aware, we take action. Look at the website Sunny Skyz and you will see all kinds of people doing all kinds of acts of kindness that make huge differences in peoples lives.

A pair of shoes. A blanket. Another chance at life.

We can no longer look up to the big wigs, the bosses, the politicians, the corporations, the uber rich. We have to do it ourselves – and we are. In even small ways, every day, we can change the world into a much better place.

Our governments and world leaders fail us. They are not interested in our welfare or the worlds. Most of our leaders are self serving or dictators. The more we realize this, the more we can fix things ourselves. Right here in our own rooms.