02Dec 2014 by CJ

Remembering our soldiers during the most wonderful time of the year

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living, Love & Relationships
“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” - Joseph Campbell As we all sit in the warmth, comfort and safety of our homes this holiday season, it’s easy to forget about the thousands of soldiers stationed half way across the world – making the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedoms every one of us takes for granted daily. I thought about this recently as my wife and I were decorating our home for Christmas – the sound of holiday tunes joyfully playing in the background; a comforting glow radiating from the fire place; a steaming cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows warming us from the winter chill. Beyond the simple pleasure holiday decorations seem to bring, we had each other to…
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26Nov 2014 by CJ

Give thanks to the people who bring your life joy and peace

Generosity & Kindness, Love & Relationships
“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.”  Marcel Proust This Thanksgiving, while you’re busy watching the football game, cleaning up the dinner table and planning your Black Friday shopping experience, take a moment to give thanks to the people in your life that we so often take for granted. As our lives settle into a routine, I think it’s easy for all of us to just assume that the people in our lives will be here for an infinite amount of time. But that’s not reality. Life is filled with unpredictability, which can easily rob us of our time here on earth. Giving thanks to those who’ve brought joy, laughter and care to our lives on…
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17Nov 2014 by CJ

Going out on a “date” can truly ease another’s loneliness

Generosity & Kindness, Life & Living, Love & Relationships
The other day I read an interesting article about a wife who told her husband she was going to set him up on a date. When I first read that line you can imagine how many things were running through my head – how many assumptions I was making about what kind of couple they were. I was wrong. It turns out she was setting her husband up on a date with his mother. The story tells that the husband had made very little time for his mother over the years, and this was the only way she could think of to get him to spend more quality time with her. The mother of course was overjoyed by her daughter-in-laws matchmaking abilities. She was so excited to spend this quality…
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30Oct 2014 by CJ

Holidays are a time for missing someone you love

Love & Relationships
It’s hard to believe, but Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before you know it. Stores are already stocked with Thanksgiving tableware and traditional recipe ingredients, while simultaneously brightly lit Christmas trees and an endless stream of holiday décor fill aisle after aisle. These are my two favorite holidays of the year, and I suspect many others would agree. I love the warm colors and the decorations; the holiday music and movies; the smell of freshly baked cookies and a turkey with all the trimmings permeating the house. It’s a magical time of year that always brings about memories filled with joy and laughter, but it’s also a time for missing the people that are far away from your heart. The unfortunate reality of this time of year is that…
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26Oct 2014 by CJ

Don’t underestimate the magic of ordinary days

Life & Living, Love & Relationships
There are some titles, quotations and song lyrics I find so simple and inspiring that I often find myself carrying them around in the back of my mind to be retrieved at a later date. One such example comes in the form of a title, from author Ann Howard Creel’s novel, “The Magic of Ordinary Days.” The word “ordinary” gets a bad rap in society. Far too often anything that’s ordinary is deemed boring and mundane in a world so pathetically obsessed with popularity and excitement. But I can tell you with great certainty that when your normalcy all but vanishes, you’ll soon find yourself craving the undeniable magic of ordinary days. Moments of exhilarating excitement are just that – moments. They can never be recaptured or relived and for…
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