DoOver Week?

Why Not?
Yes, that was
the cat's name

This week did not go as I had hoped it would.

Between a waffling flu-ish grippe; an allergic reaction to some unknown substance kicking in during the middle of the week; and my hand deciding to go absolutely banana bonkers painwise -- I've missed 3 very important events; and will miss a fourth tomorrow.

Communication to create change

Some of the things that have never created change for me are: Fighting.  Attacking.  Trying to prove right/wrong.

The original title of this post was "Communication -- Abuse or Healthy?"

Is your communication a healthy means of expression?

Gratitude is Power

This is one of my *family*.  Her name was LePounce.
I am grateful she graced my life.
I am grateful someone else chose to facilitate her
during a time 10 years ago when
I found myself with no home.
Yeah, the picture bites, I'm
still grateful I was able to rescue it
from my elderly computer.

We can spend so much time focusing on our trials and tribulations we forget our power.

Our power is All Ways to find in our circumstances what is a benefit or a boone.  Our power is being able to make the choice in our mind and take action to find at least one thing to express constructively about.

Since I'm overtly attempting to coerce you into taking that mental/physical/emotional/spirit action, I'll give you an example of this morning and me:

Thoughts on Help - omg'dss it's long and rambling!

My therapist said to me two days ago, “You don’t accept help” or “You have difficulty accepting help.” Or did she say, “You have difficulty asking for help.”?

I’m thrilled to say we have a difference of opinion ‘cuz it can be traumatic to confront an authority figure. I get 100 points on the courageous-acts-scoring for daring to disagree! And, my therapist will figuratively pat me on the back for acknowledging my disagreement in two weeks when next I see her.

I definitely want help.

However, what you think is help may not represent help to me at all.

It is critical when you “help” that you and the “helpee” are resolving the same perceived crisis.

One person’s definition of help is another person’s definition of trouble, danger or abuse.

If I were a business person considering an opportunity, you’d expect me to analyze and decide whether it is of value to me.

As a consumer, it is my right to say, “this product meets/does not meet my needs”.

I am:

• previously homeless;
• currently housed only because a group is paying a third of my bills (I call that “me-accepting-help” on a monthly basis by-the-way);
• not in the best of health;
• coping with a lower than anticipated income due to unexpected circumstances still being dealt with; and
• unable to meet my survival needs.

I am still a business person and a consumer, with the same rights when I assess *help* that is being offered to me.


Yes, I want help.  (I don't suppose you know anyone willing to come in daily and help me dry scrub Borax into the carpet and then vacuum it up in the evening for another two weeks, so I can finish dealing with my allergy to flea bites?  It's wearing me down. And I don't even have any animals in residence.)

• The fact that I am starving is a symptom. When it happens repeatedly it becomes a pattern.
• Resolving for the symptom does not solve the challenge.
• Doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results does not solve the challenge.

Someone handed me some some spinach to eat as I left to catch the bus Wednesday.  It was important to that person to tide me over for that moment. Yes, I’m grateful. Yes, I needed it. Yes, I accepted it.  Yes, I munched it down.

Yes, that solves the immediate symptom, however, the symptom is going to crop up again, and again, and again, and again and …. many agains.

Does it change your brainstorming suggestions if I say, ”I’m depressed ‘cuz I perceive no change available to the pattern of me starving for a number of days each month”?

Oh, the D-word. That changes things entirely, eh? Say the word depression and two things struggle to come out of people’s mouths:

Are you going to hurt yourself or anyone else?
Why don’t you take a pill prescribed by a doctor to stop the depression?

Talking about depression in public is on a par with talking about death. It’s a social taboo.

By-the-way, no, I’m not suicidal, no I will not take prescribed (or non-prescribed) pills or alcohol to mask depression. And I have a brilliant therapist, so I’m *safe*.

However, even copping to having depression is yet another way to be stigmatized by narrow-minded people.

Just like the word “homeless” brings about stigmatization.

It’s also a social taboo to turn down an offer of assistance. If you handed me a loaf of bread, a package of sliced cheese, a package of hot dogs; a carton of milk, and a couple of oranges – you’d most likely feel you gave me healthy food and resolved my immediate dilemma.

Two points:

1. If I ate your offering I’d wind up unable to think (wheat, red meat & sugar); congested (dairy, wheat &; salt); blood pressure skyrocketing (salt); with mouth sores (orange); and with a headache and sticky, congested inner ears (processed foods & chemicals used on non-organic foods).
2. Your offering does not help me alter the fact that starving is only going to happen again when my body signals it’s hungry as I have no means of obtaining healthy food for half the month.

Yet, if I turn down your offering there’s a 90% chance you’ll look askance at me with an internal musing of “she just turned down help, she doesn’t want help”.

Seldom am I asked, “What have you explored to resolve this issue?”

Most often, I’m told, “Well, have you done this?, what about ________?, have you tried ________?”

I am an intelligent, articulate person, used to solving problems. Yes, if I have a problem it’s not usually something I’ve just whipped up in my imagination. Chances are I have already found out about (or implemented) the first- and second- round of brainstormed resolutions.

That said, there are some things I have to tell you "Treat me as if I were a Kindergartner while you are explaining this."  Trust me, if I say that phrase to you, I mean it.  I generally know when I'm not understanding something.

The fact that issuance of my SSDI check on the third of August is caught up by a bunch of people who cannot agree on what is and isn’t important on a national scale  http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/exclusive/uncle-sam-pay-no-debt-deal-182942805.html is something I don’t have the energy to focus on. I'm too tired from Boraxing my rugs daily to give much thought as to what will happen if I don't get my scheduled SSDI payment on Wednesday.

Constant hopelessness wears you down in any situation in life.

It’s one thing to ask for help, it’s another to have to ask for it continuously.

I am not the only person this is true for.

Listen to those who are homeless.  Listen to the 99ers.  Listen to the elderly indigent.  Listen to the youth indigent.  Listen to those with low-income.  Listen to the middle-class who are becoming low-income.  Listen to the upper middle-class who are becoming middle-class.  Listen to the upper class who are afraid of losing their way of life.

Listen to anyone. Actually listen to them. Put your work, your next meeting, your next telephone call, your next social media interaction, your next entertainment moment on hold for 15 minutes. Just be with someone and encourage them to talk. Listen.

I hear my friends and associates saying to me, “talk to us” and “why don’t you ask me for help?”

What would you have me ask you for and how often would you have me ask it?

Money every month?  Food every month?  Rides and helping me schlep stuff for my advocate and personal endeavors at various and sundry hours, particularly at night when the buses to my local area dry up and the one-mile walk from the nearest stop becomes very dangerous?

If this particular lack of food was a one-time thing I could ask for a couple bags of groceries to get me through the next few days; or $200 to get me through the next 30-days foodwise.

It’s not a one-time thing. It’s been 4 months and will continue for I don’t know how long.

What kind of help do I need? I need to finish dealing with the impossible things I learned as a child and have carried into adulthood. I do that through an excellent Wellness Program at a shelter. The therapist who facilitates these programs is worth her weight in gold (or fresh food, depending on what you value most).

I know some of you are persistent about “what can I do to help?” So for you, I'm putting up a list of what I physiologically need at the bottom of this post. (The food I need EVERY month, the items are one time deals.) If you read something that you feel attuned with, then you can connect with me about it.

That's the most effective way I can think of to let people know, otherwise I'm constantly talking and dwelling on it.  I've got to say, I'd much rather be putting my focus on finding ways to smile because the frowning is changing the structure of my face, and except for my severe periodontal disease and poor eyesight, I pretty much like my face.

What do I expect from anyone?  And what do I expect to be able to give to people?

I love that you care. I love that you are aware. I love that you make time. I love that you listen to me. I love that you let me listen to you. I love that you spend your energy and time to express and interact with me. I love that I am on your radar.

I love that you consider whether or not to take the time to write out your thoughts on this diatribe and post said thoughts in the comments section.

Remember this – I’m housed.

I’m not sleeping on the streets and in danger of skanky people traversing those self-same streets.

I’m not directly confronted by the cold and heat of each day without any protection from it.

I can go to the bathroom when I feel like it as long as I have something to wipe myself with. TMI?

I can take a shower or a bath when I feel like it.

If I don't have any clean clothes because I cannot afford the quarters for the laundry machine, I can wash an outfit by hand the day before.

I have a place to be where no one else can come in unless I open the door.

In comparison to a huge portion of the global population, I am well off.

And I am grateful for being in the position I am in.  Even if it's miserable.  It's another opportunity,

:) Here, have a smile, I have some hidden away for times like these.  It's always good to have a stash of smiles.






The list for those of you who want to know what I need:

Food:

• Raw shelled Sunflower Seeds, cashews, almonds, walnuts, pine nuts
• Dried: Organic Adzuki Beans, Large Lima Beans; garbonzo beans/chick peas
• Dried, textured soy protein
• Andean Dream Quinoa Pasta (Gluten Free)
• Ancient Quinoa Harvest Supergrain Pasta (Gluten Free)
• Gluten Free Old Fashioned Rolled Oats
• Yellow Corn Grits/meal (for making polenta – not the denatured white grits)
• Chia seeds
• Dried goji berries
• Cold pressed extra-virgin kalamata olive oil
• Fresh uncut pineapple
• Fresh organic:
• Apples, key limes, bananas, celery hearts, red onions, green onions, blueberries, whole unpitted dates, grapes, papaya, peaches, plums, raspberries, carrots, cranberries, figs, watermelon, avocadoes, cucumber, tomatoes; potatoes; yams; parsnips
• (No oranges, lemons, mangoes, strawberries, cantaloupe)

Items:

• A new arm stabilizer as mine has worn out-- Futuro arm stabilizer

• Vita-Mix blender (www.vitamix.com) (yeah, they are *that* expensive)

• Excalibur 3926T or 3526T dehydrator (http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/Dehydrators-37-cat.htm) (yeah, they are *that* expensive).

Treatment/Health

• Periodontal Care (I estimate six-figures easily, since every tooth in my head has to be pulled and replaced so I can breath without flinching, eat without wincing and chew regular celery stalks for their texture rather than having to food process it so I have a chance of digesting what I ingest.)
• Chiropractic and massage therapy for my disabled arm/leg issue.

Crap Happens - A Follow Up

“Are you frustrated? Do you feel you must be crazy because things don't make sense to you? Do you gawk in total befuddlement as you approach someone ask them questions and they give you answers that leave you feeling as if there's a total disconnect? Do you ever find yourself wondering if you're crazy because you know you took steps to accomplish something and not only is there no tangible accomplishment, you can't even find the traces of those steps?

Yeah. It's very discombobulating when your very survival is tied up in the communications.

You begin to wonder if you're making sound decisions.

Crap happens.

When it all happens in one fell swoop, you can cry (been there done that); scream (been there done that), rage, depress, bemoan, bewilder, and befuddle (been there done all that).

For the moment I am laughing.

And personally, I hope it stays this way.

Not the crap. The laughing.

Yesterday, I received acknowledgment that I desparately needed. What freed me most yesterday was not any kind of resolution from the earthshaking circumstances surrounding me. It came from recognizing that I was being listened to, acknowledged and validated.

It didn't even come from someone who knows me, it came from a technician, a service provider of internet.

It came at the end of an already full day, and I very much needed to have it happen.

The previous part of the day?

I spent hours waiting for a call from legal counsel I was led to expect I would receive regarding the biggest survival issue of the moment, the offsetting of my SSDI income.

After the first half hour of waiting, I called their number and left a message politely indicating I understood we would be connecting and verifying my working telephone number to their voicemail.

After the second half hour, I began to wonder if perhaps I had misunderstood the notes I had taken at my meeting with the advocate and written down the wrong information.

After the third half hour, I had more news from another front that added to my stress, and I had to take a shower to help me cry, breathe and release emotional stress – get it out of my system and be able to continue on.

The words of a valued friend spoken the day before (and paraphrased because I don't remember exactly what he said – it can be an exercise in futility at times to remember things when you're dealing with mind fog) replayed a few times in my head, “You need to use phrases that include 'homeless' and 'hardship' when you talk to these people. I get to points where I have to resort sometimes to pulling in under my blankie.  Then when I've been under my blankie long enough I force myself to take steps even when I don't want to.  I put on the boxing gloves.”

I have taken steps my whole life I didn't want to take and fought just to survive; I'm sick and tired of it. Not just figuratively speaking, but literally.  So I wasn't able to grasp onto the import of his expression at the time.

However, because I have a need to prove to my friend that I value his advice and wisdom highly, I am writing this to acknowledge that I was able to put a small portion of his insight to use, and effect a change in my circumstances.

The fourth half hour I decided to quit waiting for the legal advocate to connect with me, it obviously wasn't happening and I obviously wasn't going to be able to make it happen.

Instead, I picked up the phone and called the student loan folks again.

I opened the conversation with this long bit of wording:

“Who can you put me in touch with to assist me? I have recently been housed, after being homeless and sleeping at night in winter shelters. My source of income is my SSDI and you along with the IRS have both offset (garnished) that income at the beginning of this month, without warning to me by 15% each.

This puts me under severe hardship and it puts me in jeopardy of becoming homeless once again, after only being off the streets for a month. The last person I spoke with in your agency a little over 2 weeks ago, indicated he could do nothing for me but send me a form that has to be filled out by a doctor, which I don't have and with you garnishing my income cannot even hope to afford to find, stating that I am permanently disabled.

Are you someone who can assist me with this, or can you put me in touch with someone who can assist me with this?”

  

The gentleman on the other end of the line said “I can help you.”

“What information can I give you to help you help me?”

  

He asked, “Were you sent a hardship form?”

I blinked, “A hardship form? No, the only thing I was offered and have received is a form that has to be signed by a medical doctor, which I don't have, indicating that I am permanently disabled. I have had to go to a legal advocate who has my authorization to contact the Social Security Disability doctor who examined me and declared me disabled. However, that is going to take time during which I am unable to meet my basic needs due to the loss of the percentage you are taking from my monthly SSDI income.”

  

“Okay. Let me put the form in the mail to you. It will take 10 to 14 business days for you to get it. When you do, fill it out and return it immediately, so we can try to get you a year's stay on the offset, to give you time to find a doctor to sign the form.”

“All right, I can do that. I need to ask you a question. Why didn't the person I dealt with a few weeks ago tell me I could do that?”

  

“I don't know.”

“Will you please note in my records that I am asking this question and that I think it is important for your agency to know that some customer service representatives are not giving us all the information we need to deal with you?”

  

“Yes, I will be happy to do that.”

“Thank you. I am extremely concerned about what can I do to survive right now, because this loss of income stands to make me homeless again, after I've just been housed.”

  

“I have the ability to put a stop on the offset on your next check.”

“You do? That would be a great help to me right now, and I am very grateful to know that is possible.”

  

“I'm setting that up for you right now. ::pause:: I have stopped the offset for your April check. Fill out the hardship form I'm sending you within 30 days, so that it can be evaluated and that we can extend to you a year to be able to get a doctor to sign the other form.”

“Thank you.”

  

This is major, and I truly am grateful for it.

You'd think that this bit of information would be what made my day, rather than the incident with the internet service provider technician.  It wasn't.

The only difference I am aware of in this telephone communication with the student loan folks was that I used the words homeless and hardship in my discourse with the person on the other end of the line. I cannot say if those were the key words, but certainly the result this time was vastly different than the previous phone calls and outreaching for ways to deal with the circumstances.

In dealing with what I call "bureaucacy" ---  people whether they are homeless, poverty stricken, or otherwise disaster-stricken are confronted with innumerable instances of disparate information.

For me it's crazy-making situation.  Why after 22 days of trying to find ways to resolve the dilemma does a call to the same number I called in the first place garner a response totally opposite of the initial response?

I can't use the same imagery my friend uses ... for me putting on boxing gloves is deterimental, whereas for him and many others it is a contstructive and highly productive scenaro, but he wasn't telling me to use the same tools he did.

Whether or not my friend and I can use the same imagery is irrelevant.

The gift he gave me was sharing with me that moment in which he gave himself permission to go under the blankie (i.e., take time out to withdraw and provide nurturing for himself) and then take the actions to transform the situation.

I cannot resolve the crazy-making game at the moment, but I can substitute another game for it.

Just call me PollyAnna.


Yes, I can play The Glad Game -- instead.

This trauma-drama

1. has put me in touch with agencies and people that will help me further the endeavor I am working on with Project Return and We Are Visible;
2. it has given me the physiological testing grounds to prove to myself unequivocally that foods I ingest are heavily involved in many of the things that have plagued me over the years, including mind-fog, and for which I will never, ever again let a medical doctor tell me "it's only my imagination";
3. it has given me the opportunity in psychotherapy to address and begin transformation in core issues that have kept me from being who and what I am;
4. it created a sitatuation in which a woman I value highly was able to present to me some books which she had no way of knowing that I had once had and treasured in my private collection and had to give away when I became homeless in August of 2010 (as well as a couple of new ones that I didn't have) by an author I admire and strive to emulate -- the book I'm currently reading is of tremendous support and empowerment at this very moment
5. it has given me the opportunity to share with you a portion of myself in case it reflects anything you are feeling.

What the friend who used the imagery of boxing gloves did for me, was the greatest gift we (the human race) give to each other, every moment that we breath.  The gift is showing a part of ourself.  It was something my biological family didn't train me in.  They didn't know how, and to them doing anything other than denying oneself was dangerous.

We affect everyone one around us.
My final thought in this blog entry?  This is how we change paradigms:  By giving ourselves and each other permission to be.

Congratulations!

It's the first day of January, 2011 on the Pacific Coast.  The weather at this moment is clear with some clouds expected today and cold.

A lot of folks spend time right about now making resolutions.  For me resolutions tend to emphasize what was or is wrong.  Nothing inherently unbalanced with that.   However, as I've done it every year since I knew of the tradition, I'm thinking ... why not try something new?

For 2011, I prefer to use a technique I've learned in group Stress Management sessions on Wellness Wednesdays at the shelter.

"What can I congratulate myself on?"

And while I'm doing that, I invite you to do it for yourself, in addition to whatever tradition you delight in for January 1, 2011.

I have gone from giving away everything (except for my puppets--which a friend still holds for me; and my dearly beloved Champion Juicer--which another friend still holds for me); being homeless, on GR & Food Stamps, and without enough cash to provide anything for myself ...

to ...

...being homeless with SSDI & enough cash to make small provisions for myself.

I congratulate myself for that.

I congratulate myself on having found the best therapist I've ever dealt with (I've dealt with many over my lifetime!) and going every Wednesday to be part of her 2 facilitated groups along with my individual session.

I congratulate myself on being social enough to have found a number of great communities on Twitter and FB.

I congratulate myself on opening my mouth and speaking, even if others don't want to hear what I have to say, or find what I have to say uncomfortable.

I congratulate myself on being self-response-able.

I congratulate myself on protecting myself emotionally, mentally, physically and in spirit.

I congratulate myself for getting up every morning and making it the best day ever, no matter my circumstances.

I congratulate myself for not being perfect.

::grin::  Now it's your turn ... what do you congratulate yourself for?  Leave a comment, I want to know!  ::large smile::

Happy 2011.

November 15 -- Choice and Awareness

Dreamcatcher by
Dino Manes David

 In everything we have choice.

We always have at least one choice -- "what attitude we want to face our current circumstances with." A second choice we always have is to view each moment in our lives with the perspective of "How do these circumstances help me accomplish my goals?" A third choice is "to live in the moment".

I can hear you grumbling ... but those are not the choices I want. I want love, happiness, health, wealth, good teeth, the purple cloak rather than the beige one, to go to Disneyland, to go to school, to get *this* job, to be healthy ....

Crud happens. The bottom line is:

You are always going to have *something* going on in your life. It may not be something you want. Or, it may be something you want passionately.

*The something* may not be an occasion where you can control the outcome.

Controlling a specific outcome and choice are not the same thing.

Yet, in any instance ... you make choices that affect your life, and in tandem with a ripple effect the lives of all those around you.

Truly heinous episodes can be jarring, emotionally laden, and stultifying.

Is it possible to release the learning we have accrued in viewing a crisis, or being thwarted to being frozen or curtailment? Instead can we use the exigency as a bridge to where we want to be?

By choosing to live in the moment with awareness, yes.

Since this is my birthday, and in the face of all the circumstances I currently have going on (from homelessness, to disability, to general health, on the stultifying side -- to having wonderful mentors and food to eat and the opportunity to write, and a brilliant EMDR therapist, on the joyous side) I choose to use all these things to manifest my goals.

Happy birthday to me and my explorations of what can be. Here at Lost Awareness, I am channeling my focus on Homeless Advocacy. At studio rd I am channeling my focus on what I do well and can do in other areas of advocacy, in providing myself with sources of income, and most importantly, play.

And to you I wish the best of all worlds.

What does your awareness mean?

What does your awareness mean?

To you?

To others?

To your community?

To your environment?

You may never have empirical knowledge of what it means.

You can, however, have an inner *knowing* which is equally, if not more valid.

What does just one action of yours accomplish?

Whether you see it or not, it has a ripple effect that touches more than one second of life on planet Earth.

One smile, one word, one gift, one action.

The ripple effect is astounding.

"I am creating this blog entry on the notes application of an iPod touch at 4:53am in the dark of a temporary homeless shelter."

One simple sentence, yet if you examine only a few layers of its meaning you'd have nothing less than a book from sheer volume of words.

You make a difference.

You may not believe it at this moment in time.  In fact, you may even be thinking "Phllbbfftt!  The action I'm taking is such a small thing it's not even worth acknowledging."

You would be wrong.

I'm not going to tell you *what* to act on.

I am going to tell you to trust yourself and to engage.

*Engage* is a buzzword today, so let me give you another phrase from one of my heroes, "Make it so."

Thank you Mark Horvath (aka:  @hardlynormal, invisiblepeople.tv, WeAreVisible.com) and the bevy of communicators with which you bowl.  This blog post is because of you, and your actions.

Everyone reading this ... what does *your* awareness mean?  It means the difference of a lifetime -- it's magic, never believe it's not so.

Tale ... Take One

Director, Producer, here’s the scene to put on the screen:

An individual, in yesterday’s clothes, teeth unbrushed, and disheveled is now heading toward a bus stop; possibly looking mildly (but not emergency center ) ill.

Watcher, Observer:

What are your first thoughts and reactions to this verbal picture? Be totally honest, because you’re the only one who will know your answers.

Director, Producer:

Pan to the plastic bag the individual has hooked over a brace on the left arm. Slowly track down to the backpack on wheels being drawn along the sidewalk

Tracking back up, bring into focus the material six-pack cooler slung over the individual’s shoulder and resting at about hip height.

It’s Sunday. The scene takes place at 6:55am on an industrial/commercial business corner of the city. It’s not cold, however, the individual seems to have a taken a chill.

Watcher, Observer:

Have your thoughts and reactions changed, remained the same, or zoned out?

Director, Producer:

Fade out on the bags and dissolve to the upper arms and hand of the individual. Very small blistering and skin discoloration are visible on the underneath of the upper arms and on the right hand.

Bring the nose into the picture to catch the chapped, red, and apparent runny-ness of the proboscis. Zoom into the area of the eyes, be sure to pick up the watering, and slight crusting.

Flash the image so it is now from the individual’s eyes to what they are seeing.

Watcher, Observer:

What is the facial expression on your face this individual is now seeing? What are your thoughts and reactions as you observe this individual?

Whatever your thoughts and reactions to the verbal image presented are, you don’t have to share. However, keep them in mind for me for a bit longer.

Backstory:

The individual being described to you is homeless, staying in a temporary shelter during the nights. The items in the backpack include as many things as possible to deal with allergic/sensitivity symptoms that are vacillating from mild to moderately severe.

The symptoms are not severe enough for the individual to go to the emergency room (a huge expense to the tax-payers), yet are distinct enough that the individual needs to lay down, rest, and have access to fresh water and a restroom.

The collapsible cloth-made six-pack cooler is what the individual uses for a lunch bag.

The shelter has to have its clients out of the building, as there is no one at the facility on the weekends during the daytime. So the individual cannot stay there during Sunday in the daylight hours.

Watcher, Observer:

Have your thoughts and reactions changed in any way? Just keep track, your answers are for you, not me, and not the rest of the world.

Backstory [continued]:

Lest you draw the wrong impression, the shelter is a fine one. Filled with caring and humane people. The fact that it has hours when it is closed and no official is in the facility is simply a mix of time, fiscal reality, and human manpower. Every place and every human (including service workers) needs to have respite time.

The individual is marking time looking for a place to be.  To have a restroom nearby (and be safe) until 1:pm when most public libraries open on Sundays, so that the person can then be in a building.  While in that building to have 1 hour computer time and then wend their way back for when the shelter opens.

During the 6 hours that need to be whiled away, the individual, goes to two stores to purchase items that are now needed to combat the allergic/sensitivity physiological symptoms.

Watcher, Observer:

Note any differences in your thoughts and reactions now.

Backstory {final}:

The individual is me.

During my stops today:

• I have given directions to 3 sets of tourists (at 3 different bus stops) because 2 walked up and asked; one couple looked like they needed them so I offered, offer accepted.
• I have complimented a bus driver verbally because he is an artist at his job. He took the time to show concern and respect for his patrons as they boarded and exited – the elderly (female and male); the young; those of color; those not of color; those able and those disabled. I also took the time to get his bus id# and his sleeve badge id# and will be sending a huge “atta-boy” to the MTA folks when it’s my turn on the internet computer in a few moments.
• I have had 6 people, from the physically bedraggled to the possibly mentally bedraggled ilk, speak to me during the day, wanting to be heard. I’ve listened and chosen to respond to them. They smiled or thanked me during our conversation, even if it was not particularly coherent.
• I have traveled through 5 cities.
• I’m still as sick as I was this morning, yet I have directly made an impact in the lives of at least 12 people whom I’ll never see, and most probably would not even recognize again.

  

Watcher, Observer:

Have your thoughts and reactions changed any now?

Now, come back to this written blog.

Be not stressed one way or another by your answers.

However, I’ll ask you to keep this in mind as you go throughout your days …

Due to your perceptual filters how you interpret what you observe affects your reactions. Reacting is letting the circumstance act on you.

If you choose to be aware, you can also choose to respond. Responding is you acting on the circumstance.

Make a difference, for yourself. Act on the circumstance.  By doing so, you’ll make a difference for others.

Trust me. It’s so.

Photo by: Andy
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0

A Mission

I am on a mission.. Nope, I'm not Dan Akroyd--Blues Bros--nor am I religious ... nevertheless, hear it with all the fervor and passion as it was said in the flick!

The quest I am on is one of awareness and expression.

Most of us have been taught to stifle our expression. That's one reason, why advocates are in such high demand.

It's not just one "cause" that needs advocacy in our time -- and our time is "Now".

The patterns that are evidenced in one cause (such as homelessness [edit note:  well the homemessness was valid as well, thanks 'typo' on the phone .. but it's changed to the word I actually meant now], or animal rescue, or in health and welfare) are visible in other causes as well.

It's a bold statement, and if it catches your intrigue, or ires you, I recommend you read my next post.