12Nov 2013 by CJ

Celebrate Thanksgiving with those you love – not strangers in a shopping mall

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living
To me holidays are a time to hit the “pause button” from the rituals and responsibilities that surround our daily lives. It’s a time to reconnect with family and friends; to break out the fancy china and linens; to prepare a feast uncommonly found on your dining table during a busy work-week. In short, it’s a time to be thankful for all the blessings you have before you on a day which should be considered special, not ordinary. When I was growing up you’d be hard pressed to find a food store or retailer open on time-honored holidays. Highways and side streets were like utter ghost towns – void of frenzied commuters rushing from here and there. It was an opportunity for reflection and appreciation as the entire population shed…
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25Oct 2013 by CJ

Being thankful for the things you already have

Generosity & Kindness
This week started off with what I suspected to be allergies, but unfortunately it turned out to be a cold. I hate when I’m sick - so does my wife. For I readily admit that I turn into a 5 year old boy – whining and looking for coddling as often as possible. To spare her some of my germs – and my constant snoring due to sinus congestion – I’ve spent the last few nights sleeping in our guest room. Lonely, yes, but why should we both be tired in the morning? Last night, for some reason, I just couldn’t fall asleep. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I was only breathing out of one nostril! It was during my time in the darkness, my…
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27Aug 2013 by CJ

Start your morning off right and it will carry you the rest of the day

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living
My mornings typically involve some moderate exercising and a simple breakfast, before preparing myself for my 9 to 5 workday. Some people enjoy starting their day watching morning news programs. But for me all they do is make me anxious – not really the way I want to start out a long day of work. Today when I turned on the TV, one of those news programs was on – no doubt from a television station we were watching the previous night. In an effort to further educate myself about the goings-on in the world, I figured I’d take a few minutes to be an active viewer. War and violence, uncontrollable wild fires, the possibility of another financial crisis – and that was just in the first five minutes! I…
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25Jun 2013 by CJ

What you say reflects the person you are

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living
Teenagers from every generation tend to have their own unique “slang” growing up – leaving adults in bewilderment as they struggle to figure out what they’re trying to say. But I’ve noticed something interesting about the current generation of young people, and even adults trying to recapture their youth by staying on the cusp of popular trends. The world of text messaging has created a new language of abbreviations across the digital superhighway - BFF and OMG being some of the more popular ones. But now there are thousands more – even websites dedicated to deciphering this new language for those of us who were once stumped by the abbreviation TTYL (talk to you later). But it’s a little frightening when people start to use these abbreviations in more than…
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21Jun 2013 by CJ

Recognizing and appreciating what we have

Generosity & Kindness
Today was my grandmother’s funeral. As you can imagine it was a difficult time for me. Beyond simply dealing with the loss, I also had estranged family members to contend with. I’m happy to say that I truly surprised myself by remaining calm and collected – remembering that I was there for my grams, not for anyone else. While sitting at the church lost in my thoughts of her, instead of listening to the homily, I discovered something. It’s not the noteworthy things we do for others that truly matter as we journey through life. No, it’s all the little things and ordinary days together that we remember when they’re gone. Some might consider me unexciting, maybe even boring that I enjoy just spending time with people regardless of the…
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