A Good Piece of Advice

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I am not usually a person who seeks advice on how to make a decision about something I’m stewing over. I figure I can solve my own problems, thank you. Furthermore, I don’t appreciate people who don’t know me very well to offer their solution to my dilemnas. If I really need someone’s advice, I will ask for it. However, when I read today’s prompt to write about the best piece of advice I have ever had, I immediately thought of what my dear Aunt told me when I was preparing to leave home for a university where I would be living in residence while studying for a Bachelor of Arts degree.

We are going back to 1963 when leaving home to go to university was still a big deal. Many of us gals who were lucky enough to go beyond high school were going for an Arts degree with little thought of what we would do once we achieved that. Oh yes, I had a couple of ideas in mind such as teaching or social work and possibly even as a foreign diplomat. Unfortunately, at that time being a foreign diplomat wasn’t a job which wanted women unless she had very high marks. Sensing that I needed some advice on what to do with my undergraduate education, my aunt advised me that I had better not graduate with an MRS degree. “A what,” I asked? When she pointed to her fourth finger on her left hand, I got her message loud and clear. I will never forget that moment. Not only did I learn about a new kind of degree, but one which turned out to be the best advice I could have gotten. She wasn’t far off the truth as many of my friends and other classmates were engaged by their senior year. Nevertheless, it did bother me a bit because I worried too much about whether I would even have a date for the Senior prom.

Not forgetting my Aunt’s advice, I realised I had to pursue more than an Arts degree, so decided on a teaching degree. Then, after two years of teaching, I managed to save enough money to take a sabbatical for a year to fulfill my life long dream to travel. Along with two girlfriends, the three of us having graduated without rings on our fingers, we took off to backpack in the year of 1969/70 around Europe, Israel and Turkey on $5 a day.

Thank you dear Aunt Dee Dee for your support and guidance which was one of the best things I have done in my life.

I Am So Excited

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“What was the last thing that got me excited?” I must admit there hasn’t been much to get me excited lately. Nevertheless, as soon as I read today’s prompt, my first thought went to Kamala Harris’s acceptance speech and the joyous reception it got from all those who were there to be a part of what could become one of this century’s most historic events.

I actually felt my adrenalin rising causing chills throughout my body and my heart to flutter. Mind you it was all in a good way. Most of the time when I hear the latest political news about my country, Canada, and that of so many other countries around the world, I am left with a sense of despair.

Kamala, as we have come to call her, has to be one of the bravest people on the planet to take on the job of winning over the confidence of her fellow Americans especially those who support her opponent. Somehow, she must gain the confidence of all of those who feel left out, such as those of colour, new immigrants, the poor and disadvantaged, the youth who are now able to vote, and those who have been so discouraged they have given up voting.

She faces huge challenges more crucial than anything her predecessors have. Never has there been a woman President of the US one of the most influential countries in the world. She will somehow have to address much of the mess that she has inherited from those before her. Let’s face it! Never have there been so many wars going on all over the world at the same time. Never has the world had to face a rapidly changing climate and how to deal with it. Never has our world been faced with having to change almost everything we have ever known, such as our past beliefs, old traumatic experiences, and outdated customs to name a few. We are being forced to make changes to our thinking and old habits so quickly. We can’t do it on our own so we need strong and open-minded leaders to help take us on this journey. It truely is boiling down to a matter of survival. I am feeling confident that Kamilla is the kind of leader we need: a beacon of light we will need to begin the process of making our world a better place to live in.

Daily writing prompt
Tell us about the last thing you got excited about.
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A Persistent Travel Bug

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The travel bug hit me as far back as grade school in grade five to be exact. Yes, in those days we had geography as a subject and I can still remember the countries our book took us to. Japan was my first choice followed by Australia and Peru.

Fortunately, I am happy to report that I did visit Australia in 2018. Their strange animals and birds and the outback were the main attractions for me. I was also curious to see how similar we Canadians were to the Aussies and discovered that the most we had in common was we spoke the same language. I have never been to Peru but did get close when I visited Equador in 2016. Now what about Japan? Thanks to an eight hour layover at the Narita airport on my way home to Canada from Thailand in 2010, my husband and I decided to take the train from the airport to the town of Narita. We could have gone further into Tokyo but knew that it would be impossible to see much in such a large city except for hoards of people..

All told we had about six hours to tour this typically Japanese town. We were there in early April when the cherry trees were just beginning to show some pink. It took me back to one of the pictures in my geography book. When I look back on that day, I am flabergasted at what we managed to cram into those hours.

After warming ourselves up with a coffee at a MacDonald’s, we headed for the centre of the town and came across a large temple which fortunately was open so we were able to go inside. Japan as we know is famous for their temples. After roaming around the gardens with bonsai trees and other strange plants, we were fortunate to meet two lovely ladies from the Chamber of Commerce all decked out in their traditional kimonos. They had no trouble convincing us that we should come with them to take part in a typical Japanese tea, all for free. They insisted that I try on a traditional bridal kimono and took our pictures which I have packed away somewhere. As we continued our tour around the town, I was astonished at how clean the streets and sidewalks were, even the alley ways. There was not a bit of litter anywhere. I don’t remember there being much traffic. It was all so quiet and there was classical music playing on every street corner. We felt very welcomed by all those we met. One man we met on our walk recommended a restaurant where we could have a typical Japanese lunch. Although our waiter didn’t speak much English, he was fun and tried to be very helpful about putting together a typical Japanese plate of sushi accompanied by some saki to wash it all down. However, although the soy bean dessert was ornate and looked delicious, I wasn’t too keen on it.

By the time we had finished, we had just enough time to get out to the airport for our flight home. I didn’t want to leave and ever since I often think that I ought to make this my last country to visit before my travelling days are over. I know it will be an expensive trip, but if I start saving now maybe I can make it. Kyoto here I come! I watched “Somebody Feed Phil” on Netflix recently who took us to that city’s culture and food. It took be back to my one day visit to Japan and my dream as a grade school student that Japan was my first choice for countries I wanted to visit.

Daily writing prompt
What countries do you want to visit?
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Having It All

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Is it really possible “to have it all”? From my own experience, I have never really wanted to have it all if it pertained to having material things such as lots of money, a big house, a late model, fancy car, a huge closet filled with designer clothes, travel to exotic places and staying in luxury hotels.

For most of my life, I have always been attracted to learning more about myself resulting in numerous courses (a major in psychology), workshops and retreats, books, and even sessions with good astrologers and psychics. From all of this, I have learned that if we want to have a good life where we can honestly say, “I now have it all” then we must take the time and work it requires to first learn who we are and accept the fact that we have imperfections but forgive that and try to make ourselves better.

If we can do this and get to know, accept and love ourselves, then we have a better chance of bringing more abundance into our life such as more money, loving relationships, a happy family, or whatever else you might want that will ultimately make you happy. Fame and fortune as we all know don’t always guarantee a peaceful and happy life. Having it all for me is about love of self and others which I know is the way to achieving a sense of peace about myself. It also gives me a purpose for being on this earth at this time because if I can spread positive energy to all those people I meet then I’ve done something worthwhile. Just think what kind of world we could have if more people could change their focus on not gaining more material things but those things we can only see if we open our hearts to love rather than fear and hate.

It can be done but it won’t be easy because it will take changing how we have been taught to be be, think, and love which we are now realising is why our world is in such a mess.

Daily writing prompt
What does “having it all” mean to you? Is it attainable?
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Taking A Risk

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What constitutes a risk you might ask? For me it’s about doing something that could be done on the spur of the moment when suddenly I get a notion that this seems right. I guess you would call it a knowing that comes from inside you and not from the outside as on a dare or because someone has said you should do this or that. For some people taking a risk could be carried out after thinking about what they must do to attain it. That would be called a calculated risk. However, most people tend to risk doing anything because they overthink it. I have discovered that the more I think about doing something that could be risky, the less successful it has turned out.

A risk to my mind is doing something new which you haven’t done before. There is usually some fear attached to it. It could be something like jumping off a diving board into the water for the first time or climbing a mountain. Or how about crossing a street in Viet Nam where the rules around traffic and giving way to pedestrians are non-existant. I have been to this country and will never forget the first time there in Hanoi when I had to go outside my cozy hotel room and face the main round about in the centre of the city to get to the nearest coffee shop. As I waited with a couple from Britain on the curb hoping the onslaught of motorbikes would slow up and give us a chance to cross, it finally dawned on me that I had been warned about Viet Nam’s chaotic traffic but never did I think it would be like what I saw. Finally, I looked at the English couple and said, “Shall we go”? They looked at me in agreement. We stepped out into the traffic and just kept walking but keeping our eyes looking forward to the curb ahead. To our amazement, the traffic seemed to gracefully manoeuver their way around us allowing us to reach the other side safe and sound.

This was a risk to my phyical body and one I won’t forget. When I think about what risk is all about, I realise I’ve taken many in my life. In fact, doing anything new could be called a risk. My most recent risk was one I took last August when I volunteered to take on the responsibility of managing the community garden where I live. This garden was founded about fifteen years ago by a woman who saw a vacant piece of land which she wanted to make into a community garden for the residents and a nearby elementary school. Last year she decided to retire after suffering various health problems forcing her to neglect the garden. Unfortunatly, no one responded to her reaching out for someone to take it over for her. Since I was renting a plot there, I took the risk of saying that I would try to fill her shoes. I have to admit I gave it about a week’s thought before I made the committment. I had no idea what lay before me which is probably a good thing. If I had known how much of my time it would take to get the garden back into shape, I probably wouldn’t have taken on the responsibility. Now as I look back over the last eight months, I am happy to say that it’s been successful for me. I have learned how wonderful it is to work with a team of gardeners which has given me a useful purpose for being here on this planet. I feel like I am helping this community to pull together. Four of us who have formed a committee are working hard as a team which is more than enough to say in all honesty that taking the risk when no others would has paid off in spades for me. I have learned more about myself and others than I ever could have by taking the risk of reviving a dying community garden.

Daily writing prompt
When is the last time you took a risk? How did it work out?
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