29Aug 2016 by CJ

Guilt can be a useful tool in moderation

Life & Living
“When you are guilty, it is not your sins you hate but yourself.” - Anthony de Mello, One Minute Wisdom I grew up in an Italian-American family, and if there’s one thing Italians know how to do well it’s guilt each other. I try not to play that card in my personal life – having lived through enough of that drama for the majority of my life. But today my Italian heritage was shining through. I was trying to make a point – trying my best NOT to play the card hidden up my sleeve. But after much going back and forth with little to no progress, I embarrassingly played the guilt card. For a moment I felt like my mother – overdramatizing the situation in order to get the reaction…
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28Aug 2016 by CJ

A person’s life is more than what you see

Life & Living
This article was first published back in 2007. I dedicate it to my grandfather, whose birthday was August 24th - he would have been 93 years old. He taught me many lessons, but perhaps the greatest being a person’s life is more than what you see. ____________________________________________________ As the night grew cold, I found myself unable to read as my body shivered - causing the book to become unstable and unreadable for that matter. I gathered a large woolen blanket from the foot of my bed and covered my frigid body -  hoping for warmth so I could continue on with my reading. Just a few days prior, we all enjoyed a record heat wave and yet tonight the temperatures were well below freezing. The grandfather clock struck midnight and…
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14Aug 2016 by CJ

Do you want more out of life?

Life & Living
I’m ashamed to admit that sometimes, regardless of my personal satisfaction, I always want more out of life. I live fairly simply, but on occasion I allow myself to get caught up in the spell of society – the one which manages to convince us all that we need to spend more and buy more in order to be relevant. But inevitably something pops up and reminds me of my good fortune – today it was the article below: FRANKLIN, Ohio -- A southwest Ohio police officer has befriended a 7-year-old boy police say was trying to sell a teddy bear to buy food. Many of us are incredibly fortunate, and yet far too often we fail to acknowledge the bounties in our possession. Even when we reach the pinnacle of…
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31Jul 2016 by CJ

Convenience – the luxury of time wasted

Life & Living
Convenience has been defined as, “the state of being able to proceed with something with little effort or difficulty”. We are perhaps living in the most progressive society yet. Our lives are full of advances and conveniences, which are squarely aimed at providing people with more time to do the things they never seem to have enough time to do. While a logical assumption on paper, I have yet to see how our modern day conveniences have truly afforded us more time. Convenience = Time Right? Parents these days seem to be running around in a continuous state of chaos and anxiety – a state I never remember my parents ever being in. Why has the extra time from our modern day conveniences not provided some relief? The elderly of…
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25Jul 2016 by CJ

Material possessions will never define WHO you are

Life & Living
“How good something is should never be determined by its cost, designer, origin, or its perceived value by others.” – Ashly Lorenzana The other day while perusing Motortrend’s website as I do on a daily basis, I came across a startling statistic. First of all, for those who don’t know, Motortrend is a popular automotive magazine, which first appeared in September 1949 and has been a favorite of mine for decades. But I digress. The post was about material possessions – more accurately the average transaction price of a new car or truck sold in American in April 2016. Are you sitting down? It was $33,560 – 2.6% higher than just a month earlier according to automotive researcher Kelly Blue Book. What is a car really? While fully aware of new…
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