Changing mindset VS Doing something tangible

How many of you out there tell yourself when angry or sad to think about happy good thoughts and pleasant things and then you find yourself turning that facial expression from upside down to up and around into a smile?

Self talk or the power of positive thinking can be quite impressive, and the same can be said for negative thinking or not allowing any positive vibes to infiltrate your downed brain waves of logical resolve.
One step further on this plateau of decisive reasoning for mind conditioning would be to truly alter pessimism is to do something more than just thinking yourself out of the doldrums but doing something tangible.
Whenever in the past I felt too much in myself, have it be the realization of daily efforts gone awry or just unhealthy with my many medical issues I found helping others was a concrete way to change things for others while uplifting myself and my feelings about the world.
I always said whenever I volunteered, which I did on and off for over forty years that it was my selfish way to feel really good about me!
Yes! Helping other is a wonderful way to feel great, because it is true evidence of what you are doing, proven in anyway, shape or form that has been done to aid all the others. From as minimalistic, as a kind word, to teaching them how to contend with their own physical needs, to giving them some much needed items or time or just plain listening, honest caring is really something!
And so whenever I had been down in my life, for me meaning in health or emotionally; I have served others and soon would forget my own problems and know that my help was what they needed at that time, oh what a feeling!
Whether it is after a natural disaster, or working with ‘special kids’, or scouts, or the elderly, or ills, what-have-you… life is more fulfilling when you can help others over and above yourself, and there is a wee bit of selfish joy in that. And this is not for money it is purely from volunteering and receiving self-satisfaction.
Collecting things to distribute for need or challenging the public to help financially with fund raising it all does have its place.
The most fun is when trying to come up with new ways to do any of the traditional methods in any massive community, but when needs are rather basic, such as food, clothing, and shelter than that’s a no brainer and can be just a bit of thinking, brain storming with others; in considering the logistics of where and how to assemble the needed components in a safe place while so much is still going on… and that is a conundrum I would say. Much over the next several months, years will have to be done for our neighbors who have lost it all due to Mother Nature’s wrath, and the best ideas to get it done have to be assembled with logic and realism on how and where to begin.

Different organizations and emergency management people are a place to start, but never be an added part of the problem think and proceed with caution.

After Hurricane Andrew hit on August 17, 1992, we watched it all unravel on the TV and felt compelled to go and help and so we did, but we planned out how and what we would do.
We brought all our own camping gear including food and a port-a-pot and contacted local businesses with requests for goods to bring down in the lawn trailer that we would be filling with the items. And when all was said and done we received two thousand pounds of dog food from the Greyhound Pet Association, and two pallets of sun screen from Hawaiian Tropic. I had negotiated with them being in promotion at the time we worked with them on occasion, and so that is how we got the sunscreen, logically feeling with homes destroyed people would be exposed to the elements not unlike the soldiers in the Gulf War who they had also sent the sunscreen too at the time. The dog food was just dumb luck because the gentleman who loaded, the fork lift driver, the sunscreen into our trailer told us he volunteered with the Greyhound pets and that were where we got the dog food from his garage, he insisted we take two thousand pounds!
Our plan was to go down and deliver the two items and then help the Red Cross however they needed us.
But to our surprise they had more people than they knew what to do with and so after we dropped off the dog food to the Campbell shopping center, where some veterinarians and others took over since the building wasn’t stable enough for people, it had been a Humana medical space, we helped vets with pet triage, not unlike a MASH unit for people with injuries.
So many touching stories came out of that time we spent there, we reunited so many people and pets and found foster care for many others who of course had no homes to take their pets back to… hugs and thanks were our rewards and love was abundant and constant shown with each and every person who knew that you were there for them, just so simple…but a tangible reward for all the parties involved.

Remember the most important thing in life is how you live it, and we all know this is not a dress rehearsal, and even though I do get down with thinking, as many do with chronic illnesses, my sadness is often over all my many mistakes that at this point I have no way of changing… and so I take solace in the things that I did do right too… and feel sad that I can no longer do what I once did in that realm… but I self talk and turn my frown around as I recall the good I did do, as we all should!

Tis the season to show you care, actually its all year long and so just do it! Especially when the need has been so violently been thrust upon us all…

On that note of remembrance of how we all can do our part no matter how small…let me be the first to wish you a very happy good night and ask you to count your blessings and to share your overages and we will too!

And next time be here or be square, OK?