Everyday is a Do Over...

Thank you Ken Grimwood ~ RIP
By @nit@

I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply all my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy. ~ Og Mandino
Many years ago at my husband’s very wise suggestion I read a book from an author I knew nothing about. I hadn’t done a lot of reading for quite some time; I think I was just too busy raising kids, being a good wife and trying to be a good daughter on this “Sandwich Generation” as we’ve been called. http://www.sandwichgeneration.com/.

I had often wondered what would happen if only I could go back and do my life over again, what would I change in order to have a better outcome; but hard as I wanted to go back and relive it, I knew I just couldn’t do that, it was IMPOSSIBLE!!!

This book answered many questions for me, but the most important lesson I got from it was that even if I had been given that chance to go back and do it over, knowing then what I know now, there are no guarantees that the outcome would be a better one, different, no doubt, but better, who knows? Now I know what I should have known then, so I have to take responsibility for the choices I make to have a greater chance at the outcome I want to have.

I just know that right now I am living the best part of my life, I have a multitude of dreams, goals, a very clear vision of what I want to do, have, and most of all what I want to be! And it might take more than this lifetime to do it all, but at least I know I will never run out of things to strive for.

I now approach my life as an "Adventure", with the good and the bad, and that allows me to always hear the “Music in the Background”.
Start your lives TODAY! Start your lives EVERYDAY!

Thank you Ken Grimwood ~ RIP
@nit@

Replay
By Ken Grimwood

Jeff Winston, forty-three, didn't know he was a replayer until he died and woke up twenty-five years younger in his college dorm room; he lived another life. And died again. And lived again and died again -- in a continuous twenty-five-year cycle -- each time starting from scratch at the age of eighteen to reclaim lost loves, remedy past mistakes, or make a fortune in the stock market. A novel of gripping adventure, romance, and fascinating speculation on the nature of time, Replay asks the question: "What if you could live your life over again?"

Linear descriptions of Replay do not convey the book's rich philosophical and spiritual underlying themes. Critic Daniel D. Shade outlined the book's buried messages when he reviewed the novel in 2001:“Yet in spite of all the pain and anguish we go through as we follow Jeff through his search for an understanding of why he is replaying his life, the book has some important things to say to the reader. First, life is full of endless happenings that we have little control over. We should live our lives with our eyes set upon the horizon and never look back, controlling those things we can and giving no second thought to those events out of our hands. Second, given that we only have one life to live (Jeff is never sure he will replay again with each heart attack) we should live it to the fullest extent possible and with the least regret for our actions. Everybody makes mistakes; the point is not to dwell on them but to pick ourselves up and keep on going. Keep moving ahead. Third, choices must be made—we cannot avoid them. The only failure is to live a life without risks. In fact, I believe Jeff Winston would advise risking everything for those you love and for the life you want for them and with them. To not experience risk is to fail. And what does Replay have to say to a poor, old man like me who is still going though his mid-life crisis? Just this—that every year will be new. Every day a new chance to begin again. There can be no mid-life crisis when we are living each day to the fullest extent possible. From what Jeff Winston has taught me, I would define mid-life crisis as a period of selfishness when we turn inward and think only of ourselves. Jeff inspires us to look outward toward others and think less of ourselves.—————————————————————————————————
Kenneth Milton Grimwood (February 27, 1944 - June 6, 2003) was an American author of fantasy fiction combining themes of life-affirmation and hope with metaphysical concepts, themes found in his best-known novel, the highly popular Replay.
Born in Dothan, Alabama, later growing up in Pensacola, Florida, Grimwood took an interest in EC Comics and radio journalism while growing up in Pensacola. In the early to mid-1960s, he worked in news at WLAK in Lakeland, Florida. Heading north, he studied psychology at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, where he contributed short fiction to Bard's student publication, Observer in 1969.
Some of his early novels were written while he was the news director at KNX 10.70 Newsradio in Los Angeles, but the success of Replay enabled him to leave KNX for full-time writing. He wrote under both his own name and several pseudonyms. As Alan Cochran, he wrote Two Plus Two (Doubleday, 1980).
At age 59, Grimwood died of a heart attack in his home in Santa Barbara, California. At the time of his death, he was writing a sequel to Replay. His works are included in the Santa Barbara Authors and Publishers Special Collection at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

"Who Cares!!!"

Those who know me in real life, know that this is my philosophy. When you experience enough of everything in your life, when you can clearly see why we live in this much contrast, you stop caring about what others think of you, and instead you start "Making Life Happen on Purpose".

One day I'll be sitting with Ellen saying the same thing! you just wait and see.....

JUST PUT ME ON THE AIR!

Hugs xoxo

@nit@

Just Put Me On the Air

by Ron White

It was May 2000 and I was in the seminar business and discouraged. His name was Mr. Palmer and he was a 75 year old wealthy real estate mogul and my mentor.

"Mr. Palmer, I am so down. I have made so many mistakes and my business is in pieces." "Ron, I make mistakes everyday... because I Do Something everyday."

I looked up from my drink and saw Mr. Palmer smiling. He then asked, "Do you follow me?" I did. Loud and clear. He was saying, "Who cares if you made some mistakes. Mistakes only signify action and that is much better than inaction."

It was barely 12 months later and I knew I could break a memory record listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. It was set by a man who memorized 27 numbers in 1 minute and 21 seconds. I knew I could beat that. Although, I never had. I persuaded FOX television to let me attempt it on live television. My best friend Brian helped me practice all week. He would call out 28 random numbers and at the same time he held a stopwatch and clocked me. It was very frustrating. Not once did I get it right.

Brian asked me, "You do realize you are going on FOX this week and you have never gotten this right. Are you sure you want to do this? It is live TV." "I will get it right when it counts." I said, nervously hoping I was right. The day before the show aired the FOX producers had me come to the studio to practice and I didn't get it right then either. The producers looked at me and said, "You don't have to go on tomorrow, if this is something you can't do." My response without hesitation was, "Just put me on the air."

She sighed and shook her head as if I was about to bring down the entire FOX network if I failed. What the producers didn't understand is that I now lived my life by the Mr. Palmer philosophy and that philosophy says, "Who Cares!"

March 1, 2001 the FOX host read out 28 digits and I nailed it with 6 seconds to spare! I had never gotten it right, however when it was clutch I nailed it! In baseball terms it was the bottom of the ninth, the bases were loaded, down by three runs with two strikes and I knocked it out of the park. The amazing thing is that I had never done it before!

My friends, family, neighbors and the bank teller all high-fived me that day. Eight years later, I still get speaking engagements because of that 1 minute and 15 seconds of my life. If I had given into inaction and fear, I wouldn't have much of the income that I do today. And if I had failed, according to Mr. Palmer... "Who Cares!!"

This "Who Cares!!" philosophy that I learned from Mr. Palmer, not only causes me to risk in my life. It also makes me a fun speaker. I am not on the platform wondering what everyone thinks. I am having a Blast and it comes through. And you know what? People buy into what I am saying because they can tell it is really me and not a phony persona. However, they only see that because I believe in the "Who Cares!!" philosophy of Mr. Palmer.

I encourage you to live your life by the "Who Cares!!" philosophy and be willing to make a fool out of yourself (even if it means being on live television in front of the world).

If you are willing to do that... I can guarantee you massive success even if you fail in your initial goal.

Dirty Dancing...

I don't know about all of you, but I go on stages. Sometimes I like certain foods and I can eat them every day for months and not get tired of them, same as reading, or walking, or listening to music, or watching movies, etc. etc. I focus on one thing from each category in my life, and I try to keep some sort of continuity. I think I do it more as an escape, an illusion of having some sense of control when my life seems too chaotic. Lately it's been movies.

At the end of my long day, once I finally rest my head on the pillow, I just like to transport myself into a fantasy world, so depending on the type of adventure I feel like experiencing, that's the type of movie I will play on my little portable DVD player. I've been going through A LOT!!!!! of big time challenges, that made me wonder how to better control my thinking, so as not to continue to attract what I seem to be attracting lately, and it was only after I watched Dirty Dancing last night, for the umpteenth time, that I decided to see the 'Special Features' and read the huge challenges they had to go through to make that movie. It reminded me that when we are going through rough waters, we just have to let go of the resistance, trust, believe, stay focused, and the the storm is sure to pass.

I paused the 'Special Features' to write down all the facts of the Making of the movie, so that you can see what I'm talking about. What is most important is to realize that challenges will continue to happen, it's how you handle yourself while going through them that matters. Some people just quit, some others begrudge going through the challenges, some fall apart, some thrive and are passionate enough to keep on going until they succeed. Which of these are you? I hope you enjoy these facts.

Hugs, xoxo @nit@

The Making of Dirty Dancing

• Movie Budget $5,000,000
• New York was too expensive for the shooting, so Kellerman's was filmed at the Mountain Lake Hotel in Giler County Virginia, but the cast and crew had to lodge there in order to make it viable.
• Record rainfall had the crew wearing hip boots.
• The clouds parted for 4 days, just long enough to shoot all exterior scenes.
• The scene where Johnny teacher Baby how to do the lifts in the warm summer lake, was done on an icy 30 degree lake.
• Throughout the production the set was plagued with bad luck.
• The rehearsal place was burglarized, heavy flooding blocked the roads, an art department station wagon destroyed the prop department van, and a set decorator fell off a ladder, injuring his face.
• The wardrobe assistant broke her toe, the second assistant director fractured her wrist, and three crew members were stricken with food poisoning.
• To add to the bad luck, the production crew was experiencing, it was soon discovered that much of the green foliage surrounding the resort was turning red, left with only one solution, they spray painted the leaves green.
• When the cast and crew moved on to Lake Lure, NC to film the staff quarter scenes, they faced overwhelming heat.
• During the filming of the final dance scene, many of the cast were overcome with heat exhaustion.
• Miraculously on October 27, 1986 production of Dirty Dancing wrapped with all involved surviving bringing the film under budget.
• Ten months later on August 26, 1987 it premiered.
• It was greeted with highly favorable reviews and a brisk opening weekend business.
• It went over to gross over $65 million in the US and propelled both Jennifer Gray and Patrick Swayze into stardom.
• As a result of the film's success, two chart topping soundtrack albums were released, a nationwide dance tour was launched, and the subsequent home video broke many records...

Help Other People First

Hello everyone, I trust that you all had a great day and are managing to sit back, relax and ponder on what your accomplishments were, if you had more wins than loses, and what you learned.

None of our days are the same, some we like more than others, but they are all important and as such we must live them.

It's time for me to do just that, so I thought I'd stop in and leave you a little something to end your day well.

Hugs, 

@nit@ xoxo
Help Other People First
by Gary Vurnum
===========================
Zig Ziglar got it right when he said “You can have anything in the world you want if you'll just help enough other people get what they want.” By giving first you set up a chain of events, which, although not always obvious, will move you closer to your goal. Always help without expectation of getting something back…and you will undoubtedly get some help in return.

Action Point:

How can you focus more on the other person instead of yourself? Take some time today helping someone without a direct benefit to yourself. Do this every day for a month. This will benefit you in two ways. Firstly…you will generate a good feeling between yourself and the people you help, and secondly…you will begin to receive the benefits of your action in return. Try it and find out for yourself!
=======================

If G-d brings you to it......

I thought this was a nice story to share with you...it looks long to read, but it truly isn't...not to mention that it is well worth it!

I decided to give it a title since it didn't come with one, and I have no idea who wrote it, a good friend of mine from childhood sent it to me.

I'm just like Rose, I take classes every chance I get, travel as much as I can, anywhere, I'm fearless, daring and thrive on adventure, and if the opportunity arises, I'm there!

Hope you enjoy the story as much as I did, and remember to be like Rose, it's the only way to be!

Hugs,
@nit@
If G-d brings you to it, He will bring you through it!
(Thank you Rose!)

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being. She said, "Hi handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"

I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze. "Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked. She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids .." "No seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.

"I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me. After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know.

" As we laughed she cleared her throat and began, "! We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!

There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old.

If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunity in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets." She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose."
She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.
One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.

REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a Living by what we get, We make a Life by what we give. G-d promises a safe landing, not a calm passage. If G-d brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

--- We are all like one-winged angels. It is only when we help each other that we can fly.

--Luciano de Crescenzo

You are an Explorer/Negotiator

The other day I decided to take a test on one of those dating sites, just to see how I was perceived according to my answers. Since I really like learning as much about myself as I possibly can, so that I can make better use of my strengths, while working on my weaknesses, I made sure that I answered all of their questionnaire truthfully, and these are the results of that questionnaire.

It made me very happy to see that it described me pretty much the way I see myself, so I guess I must be getting close to vibrating at the same frequency as my Source Energy. Here are the results of that test.

"You are an EXPLORER/Negotiator. You are a highly spontaneous person who always likes to try new things. Novel and unpredictable situations don't bother you; instead you find them challenging and exciting. You tend to be focused and resourceful and you are able to juggle a lot of projects at the same time; as a result you are sometimes a whirlwind of activity. You have a firm grip on reality and enjoy living in the present tense. But you have a keen imagination that enables you to lift off from time and space to be remarkably creative. You are humorous.

You are able to laugh at yourself, and you like entertaining others. You have a deep sense of compassion. You can show genuine insight into the needs of others; you are good at listening and talking; and you express a genuine desire to be helpful. Yet you are easy-going. Your tolerance for others and their beliefs, your lack of prejudice, your ability to compromise and your occasional antics make you popular with others and a great companion.E-Explorer - 31%
N-Negotiator - 25%
B-Builder - 22%
D-Director - 20%
How your personality breaks out :
Explorer - 31% of your personality
Known for high energy, high creativity and spontaneity. Seeks novelty, risk and pleasure. Intellectually curious and not easily swayed by opinion.
Builder - 22% of your personality
Usually very popular. Deep attachment to home and family. Calm demeanor and low anxiety. Often consistent, loyal and protective.
Negotiator - 25% of your personality
Excels at seeing the big picture, long-term planning and consensus building. An intuitive thinker who is flexible, verbal and socially skilled. Imaginative, empathetic and nurturing.
Director - 20% of your personality
Daring, original, direct and inventive. A non-conformist. Skilled at abstract thinking and short-term planning. Often assertive and quite competitive. Tough-minded and efficient."



How do you see yourself?

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

The part of "The Secret" that wasn't on the video...

A lot of people don't know that there are two versions of "The Secret".

The original version which included Esther Hicks who channels Abraham was removed apparently because many people are not ready to understand channeling, which I believe is nothing too mystical or too weird, but rather a heightened sense of intuition that some people can tap into, where you open your perception and allow more through. Much like the energy that comes through for song writers, painters, sculptors, etc. a sense of inspiration.

I don't really understand what the big deal is, wouldn't people rather know that these things are possible? that we are all somehow connected? so we can live in a better world, ALL OF US? the way we were intended to live, rather than continue to remain ignorant and not experiencing life to our full potential? Or at the very least be given the option to decide for themselves whether they believe this is real or not?

I don't get it, can anyone explain that one to me? PLEASE!

Happy Birthday to You....

A Measurement is Born…By @nit@
First and most important of all allow me to say Happy Birthday to my new measurement. I’ve been thinking about this for a quite a while, and I finally figured out why my new measurement could change the way people view their lives. So this is a celebration, I think any birth is worth celebrating!

I’m sure most of us realize there is a measurement for EVERYTHING… the only thing I can’t figure out why we don’t have any measurement for, or at least none that I have come across in my 56 years on this Earth, is a measurement for 'ABUNDANCE'….. I don’t believe there is such a thing, so I want to give Birth to a 'MEASUREMENT FOR ABUNDANCE' sort of like a standard where we can base ourselves when we want to see how we are supposed to be feeling, and whether we think our lives are happy, harmonious and content for the most part. I don’t mean to say that we shouldn’t have challenges, how would we know otherwise what it feels like to win, to feel euphoric, content, happy, excited, etc. if not by having experienced the total opposite.

I ask you how much Abundance are we supposed to have? Is there such a thing as too much Abundance? I don’t know, you tell me. All I see is that there is such an ENORMOUS gap between total poverty/helplessness, and some people who seem to have everything they are told they should have to deem themselves successful in life; the relationships, the money, the health, their physical appearance, their successful careers, and they wind up trying or succeeding at messing up their lives and even some at committing suicide. And yes of course there are many shades of gray in between. What I believe is that if we don’t create a lower expectation of what abundance should be, there will come a time where we will never be able to reach total harmony. The standards seem to keep on getting higher and higher.

I’ve been reading a lot about “The Law of Attraction” and I think I can finally understand why my life has been the way it has. It is exciting to know that with the right thoughts, feelings, accompanied by actions, I can accomplish anything I want out of life, and from experience I realize now that I was always in control of my destiny, but I only started realizing this about two years ago, so imagine all the mistakes I made my whole life, even as early as 2 yrs ago I was still doing most of it wrong. Now you can understand how this made me shift the responsibility of the outcome of my future entirely to me, and I take my responsibilities very seriously. So the hard part was just starting, forget about the way I was doing things and learn new tricks. No more blaming the environment, the job, the family, the friends, luck, etc. Can you imagine the wake up call I experienced?

I have gone from the worst of tragedies to the heights of success and back a few times, and when I think of those moments that stand out in my mind, where I keep my fondest memories, my best ones happen to come from the simplest of times.

We can have a surplus of Abundance, and that could be much better than just the standard, but we have to be very careful that we don’t have an overflow of abundance, where we amass something to the degree that it goes to waste. Just think about it for a moment, we have say Royalty. In how many rooms in their palaces do they live? I bet you they have rooms they don’t see too often if at all. How many cars, jewels, clothes or "stuff" that we pile up do we really need? Is bigger always better? Or maybe it’s just bigger. As a child I know I liked the simplest of things, and even though I’ve developed a more sophisticated taste and more desires, I find that it is still simplicity that brings me the most warmth, joy, serenity and inner peace.

If you are born in a third world country out of poverty, chances are that your standards are set very low for you from the start, because as we all know, for some people it really does seem like an uphill battle that they will never win, so they settle for very little, and anything extra that comes their way, they appreciate it probably more than those who have everything they can possibly need from the start.

Then there are those who are born of wealth, and without too much of an effort they have over abundance and it either overflows and drowns them, or it goes to waste when others could be making great use of it, or they simply can never get enough of it, and in my opinion, in non of these cases can you experience true harmony, there is turmoil going on inside. Too much, too little, or none at all.

This is a 'HARMONIOUS' Universe, and as spiritual beings we are all connected through mind and soul, and if we set standards and we can stick as close to them as possible; although some will ALWAYS have more than others, because not everyone either understands the concept or is willing to make changes, the closer we get to the baseline, the more Harmonious this Universe will be for everyone.

This is an Abundance Universe, we can all have anything we want, but it shouldn't be what we have that determines how happy we are, or how much we enjoy our lives.

To those of us who are lucky enough to know what we want, we should always be able to make every single one of our wishes come true, and there should always be someone out there happy to help us along our quest to reach our dreams, as we should be happy to help others reach theirs.

We don’t all start out the same, some have better and easier beginnings, but if we teach and help each other, get a little bit closer to the baseline, maybe we can have more strength to bring on a lot more Harmony into this World…

I’ve gone from Pleasantville all the way to The Matrix, I have learned how to pack my backpack, although I do have a few pebbles inside my shoe. I better take them off and stick my hand inside to get all those little annoying pebbles out of my nice shoes…

Ahhh, that’s much better, now let me just wash my hands so we can hold hands and keep on walking, this promises to be a GREAT TRIP…

All aboard whose going aboard…..

I HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR TRIP!

@nit@

An Age for Celebration

An Age for Celebration
written by my daughter at age 17
Brighton Gardens was a beautiful peach building with an enormous green landscape centered in one of the wealthiest communities of Southern California. The retirement home not only attended to Senior Citizens but to High School teens that sought volunteer hours. It wasn’t long before I joined in and added “Bingo Caller” to my resume. B32 I would call out dully, just to hear quiet murmurs and shuffles of old and discolored bingo chips. I would hear snickers from the Queen Bees, talking about how naïve Olga was to put mustard on her sandwich. Didn’t she know how bad mustard was for her cholesterol? Not only was gossiping a commonality, but complaining was quite routine as well. It was always too hot or too cold, there was just no winning with them.

First, there was Doris who’d sit at the living room’s plastic fluorescent couch everyday at the very same time. If someone had “her chair” occupied, there would be a beheading. Then there was Richard, the bachelor, who strolled around in his walker nodding to the attractive women who still had a head full of hair and a mouth full of teeth, dentures that is. Howard played checkers every Wednesday, and every Wednesday he’d forget he was to play checkers. Then there was Mae. She was the most vibrant, hilarious, and childish out of all of them. Oh, she was also the oldest, 103. I never heard a complete sentence from her without a pun to it or a chuckle that anyone who knew her could identify. It was loud and obnoxious, as was she. While I would watch the majority of the inhabitants sitting lifelessly and waiting to die, I would turn and see Mae swinging on by, cackling with her groupies. Her smile could light up any dark alley way, any night in absence of a full moon, any person in need of a bit of happiness. Here I was subjected to all these elderly people who were bitter and angry at life, and there she was making a joke about it. Along with what I used to call a burden, volunteering bestowed insight, appreciation, and clarity upon me, the clouds had finally made room for the sun. Despite the age, a certain maturity is never met and a certain immaturity is never left.

While I used to drag my feet to make it inside Brighton Gardens, I was now walking, fast that is, to get there. I’d stumble through the door first thing after school in search for Mae. I didn’t want to turn out like the rest of them, holding grudges, spewing anger, detaining regrets. I didn’t want to drag my feet anymore, anywhere. For the last 17 years I had been rushing my life; now I wanted to pull the reigns tight. I didn’t want to get old and sit in a chair and stare at the wall! I wanted to go play on the swings, scrape my knees, and get into childish trouble. I was young, I was healthy, and I hadn’t been satisfied with my being. I had been too preoccupied with the latest Hollywood trends and the gorgeous boys with the baby blues, that I hadn’t even appreciated my existence, my youth. I had always been worried about something, but I didn’t want to be worried anymore, I wanted to be Mae.

That was my turning point in life. My perspective and my attitude, changed. I discovered a difference in me, a positive one. I had a bounce to my step and an optimistic touch in my soul. I had never been so passionate about being who I was! I let go of my regrets, forgave the guilty, and just smiled. I had been at Brighton Gardens for seven months, and every hour I spent there was a blessing, for it opened my eyes to more than anyone could ever imagine. I walked in one day, with that little bounce, and searched for Mae’s presence. She wasn’t at bingo, she wasn’t in the living room or the dining hall, Mae was no where. As I learned, she passed away the night before. The receptionist told me stories about how she had difficulty breathing. While she was being reeled out with an oxygen mask attached to her face, she was laughing and hitting on the firemen, calling them “Cuties” and “Sugar Muffins.” I was told she proclaimed that if it was her time to go, at least she was going out with a set of good looking men. I will never mourn her death, but celebrate her life, as I now do with my own. Thank you, Mae! 

Religion and Politics...Oy vey!!!...

The main reason I don’t vote is because I don’t know enough about Politics, I’ve never really been interested in it, in my humble opinion it doesn’t seem to work very well. If I were the ''President of The World'' you can be sure I’d do things a lot different. And I believe that unless I take the time to learn and decide to educate myself more on the subject, it would be irresponsible of me to cast a vote.

Same thing happens to me with religion. Now that we have all the access to information that came about with the new 'Computer Era', there is so much that you would have to read to become well informed to make an educated decision on what seems to make the most sense, that the best I have found that works for me is at least exposing myself to as much knowledge about the different religions as I can, simply to be able to pick and chose the teachings that I like about each one of them, and build a religion of my own.

My experience with organized religion has been interesting. I was born a Jew with two great-grandfathers who were Rabbis and in a mostly catholic country, was raised by my very Jewish family and a nanny that was like a second mother to me, a tiny Mexican/Indian woman who was as Catholic as they come. So I went to Temple and I went to Church too. I love the traditions of my people and have always celebrated all the holidays and always will, but I never considered myself a religious person, rather a spiritual one. I find good things in most religions, and some I don’t believe in, so I don’t adopt them in my lifestyle.

I dated a guy who was a hardcore Scientologist, so I decided to expose myself to a bit of that as well. It too has some good teachings but only on the practical day to day life, some that don’t apply to the way I see life, although I failed to find the religious aspect of it, and some things were very strange, more like weird to say the least, I adopted what I liked like how to learn better when you are trying to study any subject or communicate with people, and left the rest for those who believe in it.

Now I’m exposed to the 'Laws of the Universe', and that makes the most sense to me of anyything else, because it explains my whole life. Before I was confused as to why some things had happen to me, and now I understand why. I recently started to learn Kabbalah and this 'Science' as the Kabbalists refer to it is totally new to me so I'll have to wait and see.

If you ask me, I think the “Laws of the Universe” should become a religion, that way you get more people interested in doing the right thing as a group, helping each other by re-enforcing and strengthening their beliefs. And I would definitely vote for that!

To your continuous harmony

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Yes it’s a Daybreak!...

I was listening to Barry Manilow’s songs tonight, they help and inspire me to keep on believing because I finally came to understand that all these people who had become GREAT at something, anything, were just people who believed, and whatever it is that I still want to become and haven’t yet, is because sometimes it’s hard to believe because you have been without for a while and you forget what it feels like to have.

As Daybreak started to play, for a moment I wondered if I would remember the words, it has been a long time since I last heard that song, I found that I did remember the words, for some reason I memorize many songs and never forget them, even in languages I don’t understand, but what I also noticed was that I never paid attention to the meaning of the words, and that this is not the first time that this happens to me with a song.

I even remember as an adult singing children’s songs to my kids, and as I was listening to the words that were coming out of my mouth, to see what I was teaching them, I paid attention to the meaning perhaps for the first time. It sure came as a surprise to me to realize I have done this many times throughout my life, so now I try to listen and pay attention to the meaning intended when the artists wrote and sang the songs, and try to imagine what was behind them.

Tonight I was having a particular enlightening type of an evening, and when I feel like that, songs seem to talk to me, and Day break sure did.
And as I listen and sing and dance to this music, feeling it deep inside of me, I realize I’m already making it shine, shine, shine all around the world!
YES IT’S DAY BREAK!

Wanna come White Water River Rafting with Me?

Five years ago I couldn’t figure out if my life was about to end, or about to begin. I had so little energy left to deal with the many obstacles and challenges I had ahead of me that I couldn’t seem to make sense out of the madness. But since I was still breathing, and somewhat excited with the thought that maybe, just maybe, I could still fulfill my last dreams, I decided I had to do something about the way I was looking at my life, and try to turn it into a game, an adventure.

At first I picked the game that matched the feelings I had inside, so I could make the game believable for me, and since I feel like I am living in a “Science Fiction World,” in my game I saw myself having all these extra-terrestrials sending me tasks to do with a lot of challenges, and if I didn’t accomplish the task right, or even if they were just in a playful mood, they’d throw meteors that I was supposed to dodge. In the meantime, I’m here on Earth, on the California freeways, trying to make sure the cars that drive by at 80+ mph don’t hit me, while I run across back and forth avoiding the darn meteors.

I don’t know, maybe it’s all those realistic looking video games that my son has been playing for years, but that’s the way I felt about my life at the time.

So as you can imagine, even though I was managing to move forward in spite of the chaos, I wasn’t doing it without lots of scratches and bumps, not to mention the many negative emotions like fear, disappointment, anger, stress, amongst others. So after all the mistakes I was still making, I decided I needed to change the game I was playing. It still had to be credible to me or it would feel like a lie, but it also needed to feel exhilarating and adventuresome, so that the otherwise negative emotions could become positive to help me move forward faster.

Now I’m becoming much more familiar with White Water River Rafting. I’m still not fully on the driver’s seat, but I help steer with one hand, while grabbing on with the other, and it’s definitely getting to be a lot more fun.

Once we can realize that no matter how many challenges come our way, we can only take care of one thing at a time, that if we stress it makes things even harder, and that if we trust that we are still going to stay afloat, that even if sometimes it feels that the raft might tilt, we can still get back on it, then we can see that anytime now, maybe even on the very next turn, there is a serene lake where we can just float for a while, maybe do some fishing, enjoy the sun, the peaceful setting, the scents and the sounds, until we decide what game we’d like to play next.

 'Life is an Adventure' make yours a fun one!

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Because We're Keeping the Dream Alive...

When my kids started attending school I began to pay more attention to the way people act and interact, I guess I was reliving my childhood through my children's eyes, while using the wisdom of my years.

I used to volunteer endless hours at their school and after school activities, and noticed how other parents did it. After all children don’t come with instructions and I certainly didn’t know if I was doing it right or wrong. I wanted to be a “perfect” mom, and not do what my parents did, “the best they knew how”. I decided to set my standards high and wanted to learn as much as I could in order to make as few mistakes as possible.

Some of the mothers were right there with me, every day, as volunteers in the classroom and field trips, as well as the multitude of after school activities. There were so many to chose from that I'd go crazy trying to decide which one was best for my kids, so many classes that no matter how many hours they could add to the day there were never enough to do it all, learn it all and be it all, but there we were, trying hard and doing our best.

There were the working mothers and the playing mothers. Those that would meet for coffee at Starbucks and a game of tennis, shopping, a day at the spa, a few trips around the world, some craft making class and wine tasting on Friday night, while the kids stayed with the nannies; or those who couldn’t afford to give their time to the kids because they needed her salary to buy books and shoes. Some I interacted with for years and some I never even met.

Then all of a sudden my kids grew up, and the friendship we had developed over the years started to blossom, but I realized I had put my life on hold this whole time, and although I loved what I did, I needed to find out who I was now.

I knew then I needed to go back to my own childhood and try to remember some of the things I had experienced or maybe even those I left unfinished. I have 'some' very vivid memories of my childhood, but I could hardly remember most of my formative years, I had moved away in my early 20s, so I decided to go in search of my past and started with my long lost family and childhood friends.

I spent many hours doing this, but I had the internet, and never doubted something good would come of this new 'Science Fiction World.' I started by placing a call into my highschool and asked for the principal at the time, to see if he had any information, and found out curiously enough that he was one of my old classmates cousin, so he got me her e-mail address and she gave me someone else's, and in a fairly short period of time, 4 or 5 months, which is nothing compared to the 35 yrs. I had not been in contact with most of them; I had collected about 80+ e-mail addresses. Then I looked for a venue where we could all meet again one more time and catch up with our lives.

I did remember that we were never really a close generation, nor a large one, unlike my kids who just graduated from a generation of almost 1,000, we must have been about 90 give or take. But I did know one thing, that no matter how close we all were, we did have wonderful experiences together for many years, and at one point in our lives, in some of the most impacting formative years, we were spending a big portion of our days witnessing and being a part of each others lives.

And just like the mothers from my kids’ school, there were those who wanted to get involved in making this happen, some that had major careers and trips and busy lives, some who lived very far away, those with not much interest in delving into their past, and some who had challenges and just couldn’t participate.

5 years ago I stood in front of about 70 of my childhood friends. They could have brought Ricky Martin to that party and we would have still continued to talk to each other for hours without paying attention to our surroundings. We had history together and we all seemed anxious to share on the history of the lives we had lived for the past 35 yrs.

We are a very special generation, a lot of stories have come out of our lives, some challenging, some successful, some failures, and we’ve even experienced the loss of a few of our dear friends.

Not long ago I stood again in front of many of them, we put our arms around each other just like we did when we were kids and we will continue to do each time we see each other, with the appreciation of a friendship that lasts a lifetime. A special part of our history. Only this time I know who I am…

55 and Suddenly Alone, What should I do for FUN!

Not long ago I became a senior citizen, and suddenly realized that I took back my life at 50. It took me 50 years to do it, but at least I did it, which is much more than I can say for most people.

Here I was all alone for the first time in my life, separated from a 30+ year marriage, and broke, but if I was going to just sit down and wait until the aftermath, the healing and the adjustment to changes before I started to have fun again, I might forget what it’s like to have fun and not remember how to get it again.

We just have to keep on enjoying the ride no matter how steep it gets, there’ll be coasting just ahead.

I know it works different for everyone, but this is how it works for me.

At first I started to travel all over Europe. I couldn’t get enough of it, I wanted to spend there months and months, perhaps even move there as soon as my kids went off to college, but since like I said I was broke, I had to do the best I could with what I had. Everything outside of the money to support my travel took a second place. Except of course for my kids, they knew they could always come to me for whatever they needed and I would make that happen as well.

I could write books about my adventures traveling in the past 5 years of my life, Europe, Israel, many small towns and cities in Mexico, the United States, Canada, at times I don’t believe some of the things I did, but I continue to LOVE every minute of it, even the things that went wrong for me on my trips, actually I love those more because they are the ones that give the spice to my experiences, and as a Latino woman, I LOVE SPICE :o)

I was sitting at home this morning thinking of something to do. My son was lazy, my daughter is on a trip, and I couldn’t think of anything. All I knew was that I was hungry.

So that brings me to “Los Panchos” in Pacific Beach.

I would describe Pacific Beach as a young surfer’s area. There are many beautiful young people walking around the streets. Tons of restaurants, and cute little boutiques with inexpensive clothes, fast food, supermarkets, hair salons, tattoo parlors, bars with hookah pipes, piano and dance lessons, gyms, there is even a rubber life-size dummy on the street outside a store that says “Punch me with a smile”, and of course I did :o).

There are furniture stores, and smoke shops that sell paraphernalia. And if you walk inside those shops to look around and start asking questions like I do, “Which Pipe works better? Why the different shapes and materials?” The attendant inevitably will look at this 55 year old woman who looks like a Jewish/Mexican mom asking about bongs and pipes, and they will reply, “well you get your tobacco and put it in here” and they are pretty much all the same, “it’s all in taste.” Although I know for a fact that’s not the case, because I happen to have a teenage son!!! OY VEI!

So the last time I was in PB (that’s how its referred to around here), I stumbled into Los Panchos, went in to eat and had this feeling of being back home in Mexico.

There is nothing really special about this place that would necessarily draw people in, just a normal size semi-fast-food type place; there is usually a homeless man outside by the tables picking up the leaves that fall off the trees to keep the place clean, I’m not sure who pays him but you see him with the top of a filing-type cardboard box picking up the leaves and whatever garbage he finds, places it on the boxtop, walks to the closest trash can and empties it, just to go back and look for more trash.

The place looks like any ordinary small restaurant in Mexico City where I grew up and would go to eat tacos every chance I got. It has booths all around and a sign that says “Please come in and have a seat”, kind of like saying “Mi casa es tu casa”. It’s decorated with tacky posters or paintings and banners advertising beer that go all around the place. There's a metal shelf by the side door next to the cashier that holds bundles of tortillas; I forgot I wanted to buy some!

But what will keep me going back to Los Panchos as long as I live in San Diego, is the food and the way I feel when I am in there.

The food is abundant and well priced. First they bring you fresh crunchy chips with spicy tomato salsa and a plate with spicy carrots, chiles and onions. I was so hungry and wanted to order a large plate, but decided to start with three small tacos and see if I still felt hungry after that. I thought for $3.99 for all three tacos, how big can they be? And to drink I ordered “Agua de Jamaica” (hibiscus water) delicious, refreshing, and very healthy for you, and they keep on filling your glass if you want more.

So for example take the three tacos I ate. Each one of them comes with two tortillas. They are small and easy to eat, with the right consistency and most of all fresh made. You don’t feel too guilty because they look small, but they have A LOT of meat, seasoned just right, and chopped even better. Then they sprinkle the right amount or fresh chopped onions and cilantro, a couple of slices of lime or lemon for you to squeeze it on the tacos, and you add some of that delicious salsa. The meat was a little greasy, (reminds me of the ones I used to eat as a child) but I figure if that is all I eat all day except for something light at night, then it’s not so bad, and besides, remember you are in PB, you can just keep on walking straight west when you finish your meal, do some window shopping, maybe get an extra piercing on your ears so you can wear two little studs in each, and go all the way down to the beach and jog or walk off the calories and feel invigorated and ready to do something else, like go to Old Town, it’s a very cute area for walking around and people watching, or just go to a movie, they change every week ;o)

I hope you enjoyed what you did with your day.

What should I do for fun tomorrow?!...

Anyone care to join me? :o)

There are Mexicans, and there are Mexi-Can'ts

There are Mexicans…and there are Mexi Can'ts…

by @nit@
There are many things I am proud of, and one of them is having been raised Mexican, more so because I also happen to be Jewish growing up in a country that is mostly Catholic, nobody ever showed me any prejudice and I was lucky to be part of that passionate culture. I am also a very proud American, because as a Mexican/Jew I was welcomed with open arms when I came here to start my adult life, and I don’t deny that I experienced some culture shock at first, but I managed to adapt very quickly, I speak the language well, and can tell jokes ;) don’t they say that if you can tell a joke in a second language you must know the language well?

We tried to help the Latino community here in San Diego for the past 15 yrs. by creating Medical Clinics that catered primarily to that community, because we were grateful and knew we had something to offer, more than anything the knowledge of our idiosyncrasies or differences in culture if you will, since that’s where we had grown up.

We met many wonderful people along the way that really were trying to make a difference and bring back the pride in our country, but we also met many people who don’t help with that. People who will do anything to get as much as they can get out of someone else without any pride. A sense of entitlement if you will.

Take for example the ladies I have hired over the years to help me out with the house chores. If they were back at home first of all they would have a difficult time finding a job, because there are way too many people, especially in Mexico City where I grew up, and there are not enough jobs to be had. But lets say they did, their salary wouldn’t begin to come close to what it is here. I copied this from a Mexican government site:Minimum Daily Wage:
There are three 'zones'; The average daily wage in Mexico is currently MX$48.70 a day, although the IMSS's (Social Security) register, with 13.5 million members, showed that the average pay in January 2006 was MX$197 per day.
Converted to dollars that means between $5-20 dlls per day (minimum of 8 hrs.)
Lets compare it to their jobs here. An office manager in a large corporation that has been working there for a while makes about $20 dlls/hr. She or he have a formal education, they’ve worked themselves up the ladder, and they do whatever it is required to get the job done, whether it is to call the plumber to unplug the office toilet, or make sure there are supplies, as well as create important reports. No matter what it takes they get the job done. And we shouldn’t forget they have to pay taxes on that money.

Now back to the cleaning ladies I’ve hired. They don’t want an hourly wage because it wouldn’t be enough for them, so instead they tell you they will clean your apartment for $60. The first time it takes her about 4 hrs. That's $15/hr. more than an Executive Assistant makes and she had to go to college for that. She's trying to leave a good impression or so she thinks. I even let them pick their schedule, whatever works better for them. The second time she spends less time, 3 hrs. She claims she had to go to her other job, so that cost me $20/hr. for her without the results I wanted or the time I wanted her to spend working for me. So then I decide I want to ask for what I want and give her one more chance to show me she deserves my hard earned money, I tell her to do a specific tasks and she says that it’s not part of what she does, like I don’t do windows!

I don’t believe in anyone who claims that they can’t find a job. There are so many jobs that are being filled by people who don’t put any effort into it, who are constantly begrudging and feeling shortchanged, as if someone was out to get them. And I’m constantly seeing people look for good help, the problem is that there are more people who don’t do windows, than those who are willing to melt the glass and shape it till it’s just right, and then make sure it stays clean!

May you always have clean windows!

Hugs xoxo
@nit@

Happy Holidays and a Magical New Year!

Dear family, friends and strangers:

Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as not remembering how many candles we have to light tonight, or trying to find a parking space at the mall, running around at the last moment trying to get those last minute gifts, figuring out what to wear on New Years Eve, or maybe even deciding that we don't really feel like going out altogether and falling asleep right in front of the TV while waiting for midnight to come.

Whatever it is that you and your family are doing to celebrate this Holiday Season and the beginning of a New Year just remember to make it fun, and may all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions!

With Love and  BEST WISHES!

@nit@ xoxo

If I Can Make Someone Smile....

I finally found something that I’m so passionate about, that even though it takes a lot of work, discipline, time, concentration, solitude, I can’t seem to get enough of it. I always liked writing, so don’t ask me why it took me this long to figure that out, maybe I was just trying to search for something easier and less time consuming? 

We rely only on ourselves to get that writing done, and it’s draining, especially when what you write is a reflexion of your life's experiences and the way you feel about it. You relive every moment when you write about it, and you can do it over and over again throughout the years and be able to travel through time and space.

I have been writing one thing or another my whole life, and just now figured out that’s what I should have done all along, and now I’d be good at it, instead, I’m just now learning how to do it right, and I’m overwhelmed with what I still need to learn, but I sure won’t stop climbing now that I’m passionate about it.

Writing can make me sad, or can make me very happy, it depends on what I write about, but I’m ok with sad, because how would I know happy without it, in the end its always a release, a new lesson, a new perspective and I always always feel great afterwards.

I write about the places I’ve been and those I want to visit, the friends I’ve met along the way, the experiences I've had, my views on life. I write children’s stories and to friends and strangers just because I hope that anyone who crosses my path and chooses to read what I write can have a smile on their face and forget about their stress and worries even if just for a minute.

What are you passionate about?

Hugs xoxo
@nita

Life on Broadway

I’m 22 years old and I’m about to start playing my first “Adult” role, in a way I’ve been preparing for this role my whole life, so when the Rabbi said “I now pronounce you husband and wife” I know I’m ready for the part.

We live in a small studio apartment where we can barely store the few things that we have, we save the change because sometimes we don’t have enough money to take the bus to work, but we make every day an adventure, because we know that the role we are playing is just preparing us for bigger and better ones.

We have places to go, people to meet along the way and a lot to learn, and we try to stay true and focused and in total alignment with our dreams.

The years go by and as we begin to feel comfortable with the roles we’ve been playing, we audition for more challenging parts and hope that we can play them just as well and enjoy them just as much, and all of a sudden we find ourselves winning awards, buying our dream home, taking the trips, buying the clothes for each one of the parts we are playing, raising the kids, running the businesses, and we forget about the small studio apartment and the bowl of change, it feels good to have more, it begins to take precedent over the dream, so since it feels so good, what about having more, I’m sure it will feel better, and we begin to forget where we came from, how far we’ve come, and most of all, we forget to be grateful for what we have, instead we are never content because we always want more, and one day I turn 52 and it was all gone. Don’t ask me where it all went, all I knew is that it was no longer mine, none of it, well maybe a few photo albums and knick knacks that tell the story of my life.

Now I’m 55, back in a lovely 3 story townhouse, I call it my fancy Hotel Suite, not ready to unpack here and get all comfortable because it’s just a brief moment of my life. I have a new career that I like. My children just completed High School; my daughter will be going to a great University and my son and I will soon pack and continue our journey.

What happens to us when we find ourselves in situations like this is that we simply forget how to play the roles. We already played them at least once, if not many more times, and not because I’m 55 does it mean I can’t play the role anymore, we can play ANY role we want, and we must, if we want to see ourselves playing every role we want before we die and fulfilling every dream. So here is the formula that works for me.For the fulfillment of all your dreams all you have to do is remember that
“The Main Thing is to keep The Main Thing, The Main Thing!”~Anita~
Do you know what “The Main Thing” is for you? I do! Directions:

If you think of life as a 'Broadway Play', you can clearly see how perfectly it is all orchestrated.

We spend our lives either auditioning for a part, or rehearsing a part, or playing the part. And hopefully as we get older, we pick the parts that we would like to play so that night after night, and day after day, when we are up on that stage, we can not only enjoy the role that we are playing, but so that the people who are watching us, enjoy it so much, that we can get standing ovations and derive harmony from this in all aspects of our lives.

So while you get offered the role you want to play, this is what you have to do:

Act the part
Act as if you are already there
Act proud
Act wealthy
Act happy
Act funny
Act energetic
Act generous
Act honest
Act spiritual
But most of all act grateful

And then by Miracle, the part will come, and you’ll already be an expert at how to enjoy this game of life, because of how well you rehearsed and acted even before you were offered to “Play the Part.”

So like they say “Fake it till you Make It!” and don’t ever look back, you might be missing something that’s right in front of you.

What part should I audition for now?....
@nit@