Suicide Awareness Season

September was Suicide Awareness Month. Coming into the Holidays we need to make sure we are reaching out.

If you need help, reach out. No judgement.

If you do not, please reach out to your friends, family, strangers in your path and show them kindness and compassion.

The days are getting shorter, the sun is more limited, the temperatures are dropping, all of this affects our mental and emotional health. Be the sunshine in their life.

There will be some who will not find work and cannot afford their heating bill or coats for their family much less the extra expense of the holidays. Help them out. If not monetary, give them the warmth of friendship. Help them find the help they need. Coats for Kids, Food Banks, Churches, etc..

If someone pops into your thoughts, CALL them. If you have a dream about someone, CONTACT them, if you see something or hear something that reminds you of someone, let them know they were in your heart at that moment and it made you smile.

Write them a note and snail mail it to them. Who doesn't love a little dose of positive in the mailbox from time to time. It shows you cared enough to stop and write them a note in your own hand-writing and mail it.

While you are cooking or baking, make extra, share. If you are hand-crafting something, make extra and share.

You may never know who is suffering, most mask it very well, so try to make a conscious effort to BE KIND - BE COMPASSIONATE.

If it is you, please know we are here for you and there are resources for just about anything you may need to get you to your next breath. Even if you do not know what you need, let's figure it out together.

YOU ARE LOVED-YOU ARE NEEDED-YOU ARE NOT DONE-YOU HAVE A PURPOSE TO FULFILL

I Love You!

Children are Children

I had this thought randomly this morning, which means I think I should share it because things aren't really as random as we think.

I attended a fairly large church in my hometown with a strong youth presence. We were always doing something as a group most days of the week and often went to camps and retreats.

One of the retreats the church put on for us we were allowed to watch the movie Psycho. I have never seen the whole movie, even today, I don't care for that genre. About a week later, if that long, there was a rumor about a girl who's parents had pulled their whole family out of the church because chaperones allowed us to view a bad movie. It was the family's right to do just that. But here is what happened that should not have, the girl and her family were talked about, considered weird, her parents, mean. This is a small town, so it wasn't just in the church that she was teased, ignored or looked down upon, it was school, other organizations she was a part of, it was in the grocery store and so on. Was it Christian, no, was it right, no, was it childish, yes, was it a normal reaction, unfortunately.

I am not a parent, by choice, so I can not give parental advice. However, I am human and I can give human musings.

TEACH your children that children are children. They are not their parents, they are not the clothes they wear or the movies they are allowed or not allowed to watch. They are not the cash or free-lunch line they get into at school. They are not the disability they may have or the vehicle in which they arrive. They are not the friends they hang around or the grades they make. All of these things and so much more will make up who the child becomes on a daily basis, but that child is not finished growing until they are gone. Teach your children to be accepting of other's differences. Be curious about the things they do not know about other people, research and learn. Show kindness when someone is having a bad day or life. Show love when confronted with hate. Even as adults we have to work on all of the above. As we are working on it, let's be the example.

Raise compassionate humans with a backbone. It is a fine line but as humans, we are all capable of doing more than we could ever imagine.

Eat the CAKE!

Why can we not have our cake and eat it too? What's the purpose of having a cake if you can't eat it?

Why can't we enjoy the sunshine without experiencing rain? Isn't sunshine wonderful on it's own, without being compared to something else? And why does rain get such a bad wrap?

Every rose has it's thorns, yes, it is to protect them in their natural habitat from predators. If you leave them in their bush and stop to smell them, the thorns won't hurt you and have done their job of protecting the rose.

Can you not grow without pain?

Can you not love without heartbreak?

Is it really too good to be true or are we just conditioned to believe that nothing that good could come to us?

Can't we be strong without nearly being killed?

I think it is time the old wives take a rest and we learn some new tales.

Eat cake, bask in the sun, dance in the rain, stop and smell the roses, take pictures but leave them be, find growth opportunities in baby steps but take the steps, love with all your heart, it really doesn't break and the cracks can be beautiful, you are goodness and deserve goodness, expect goodness and it will come to you, when it does, embrace it. Strengthen your core, body, mind and soul, that is your armor.

I love you and I know you have the capability to be anything you so chose to be. Go be that! I got your back!