Voting equals freedom

Wow.

I can NOT believe how excited I am about this election!! I went to my voting station this morning promptly at 9:00am! There was a line up!!! AWESOME!!! I am a rural voter….so it was really amazing for me to see a line up so early!  We live in such a great country! I feel like I live in a great province as well! 

 

I have been working out in the yard all day and the tv has been off. I came in got dinner ready, poured a glass of red and turned on  Decision Alberta….the polls just closed – my husband thinks I am nuts. 

I just love being able to vote. The freedom to have a say in how my country, province, and city are run!  I love going to the polls, running into my fellow voters and neighbors, standing in line and talking about “what’s what “. It brings a smile to my face – seriously…I look like a fool when I go to cast my ballot.

I blame my “pro-union” parents for my excitement, appreciation and respect for this process. Ok, blame isn’t the right word;  thank, I thank my “pro-union” parents for my feelings regarding our democratic practices.  They believe. Believe in doing the right thing, in speaking up when something isn’t right and for fighting for what is right - popular opinion or not! Growing up I was able to see, at different times in my life, both of my parents on a picket line in their respective professions. They were accomplishing so much, surrounded by friends, colleagues, supporters, well wishers and optimism.   Of course there were also, non-supporters, “scabs” and sometimes even hate.  As stressful as it was for them, they stood their ground, because in Canada we can! And it makes me so proud. 

“fighting the good fight”

I think it is the feeling of optimism that I get so excited for.  The feeling that marking an X offers; the anticipation, the excitement, the potential is what it is all about! Whatever the outcome; if your party wins or your party does not win you can be proud that you went out and exercised your right to vote!  Tomorrow, as we go about our day we will be talking about the outcome, whether we agree with it or not, and the fact that we are able to do this out in open is simply fantastic! 

We are so lucky to live in a country in which we can have a say. 

Imagine -the changes that we are able to influence!

Imagine-the future in our hands!

Imagine – the voices of so many expressed through an X in a circle!

And then imagine…..not even being allowed to vote.   

It is hard to believe there are still places like that.

8 things that make me happy.

   

There are so many things that make me happy!  I love to be happy! I love to laugh and to make people laugh. I love to smile – it makes me happy! I try to be happy and I try to experience and appreciate happiness everyday....we all need more of it! Here are eight things that make me happy, I am sure and I hope there are things in life that I haven’t even experienced yet that will make me happy. 

A relaxing day off makes me happy! I love a day off spent doing whatever it is I feel like doing with the people I feel like doing it with! That makes me happy! 

Cooking!  I love to cook. There are many reasons I love to cook but I think it all comes down to making people happy! I love when a meal or dessert turns out perfect! I love sharing the food I make with the people I love and I love watching them enjoy it!  It makes me happy!  I also feel connected when I cook. I feel connected to my family,  my past generations. Cooking grounds me. That makes me happy.  

My bed! Ohhhhh my bed, my bed, my bed! My bed makes me happy! I love that moment at the end of the day when all the chores are done, everything that needs to be said is said and all that is left is to take a load off and just be still. That makes me happy!

Sunshine! Sunshine makes me happy! The warmth of the sun on my face! The blinding light, forcing me to squint and find the nearest pair of $10 sunglasses tossed in my glove box! That makes me happy! I love when the sun appears – you know? Like on a cloudy, slightly windy day all of the sudden the sun bursts through the clouds. Just bursts. A pleasant surprise.  You knew it was there all along but you forgot because you were focused on the clouds. That makes me happy!

Doing the crossword! Man, I love a good crossword puzzle! Enough said.

Being kind! Being kind makes me happy. I think because it is sometimes a challenge for me. I can be a teeny bit judgmental from time to time (maybe a little more than teeny) so when I am kind to someone it makes me feel happy!  

Driving nowhere! I grew up in rural Saskatchewan and spent some time driving nowhere! It makes me happy. Getting a slurpee, grabbing a buddy and just driving. The talks, the laughs, the adventures and discoveries on these drives to nowhere are what make me happy!  Something to be said for driving nowhere.

Making connections makes me happy! When someone says they are looking for something or do I know anyone that can –insert thing they need here - and I am able to say, "yes!" my buddy has one, is one, is selling one, can fix one or knows where to get one! Connecting people makes me feel like I am on the right path! And that makes me happy!  

What makes you happy?

surround yourself

The longer I am taking up space on earth the more “relationship spring cleaning” I do. We all have relationships in our lives that just won’t go away – ever. Good or bad, positive or negative, these relationships will exist as long as we do. Then there are those toxins, you know the ones, the people in your life that just take so much of your energy and that just bring you down.

You can let them go!

You need to let them go, send them off with some positive thoughts and well wishes and move forward on your journey.

They don’t even always have to be relationships, sometimes they are just the random people we pass by throughout our day. The person at the grocery store that is rude, the wrong number that dialed you and then left you feeling bad like somehow it is your fault, or the car on your way to work that cut you off. Those are people you may never see again but somehow you find yourself thinking of them later and maybe even blame them for something negative that happened in your day, or the reason you are in a bad mood. Those are the days, that when the sun is going down you realize that you and you alone have wasted a perfectly good day being negative because of how you reacted to something.

It was your doing, your choice.

 Maybe the person at the grocery store is in fact a jerk, or maybe he is just having a bad day and has allowed it to spill out all over for everyone to see. You can feel sorry for him and send him some positives thoughts, or you could be extra nice to the lady at the till that he was just rude to (in turn replacing his negativity with your happiness and therefore helping her keep her day on track, which who knows how many more people throughout the day that will get passed onto); OR you can chose to let his negativity spill onto you, soak in and just keep sloshing around throughout your day. 

 You need to be aware, be responsible.    

It is so easy to get caught up in the drama that surrounds us and sometimes that is ok as long as you can stay detached and just take it for what it is - drama! It isn’t healthy though, to get so caught up in other people’s problems or negative current affairs that it affects your well being.  How do we find a balance? That is one of those age old questions. 

You need to surround yourself with people you love, and that love you! You need to surround yourself with happy people. You need to try to be one of those happy people so people want to be surrounded by you!  I wasn’t surprised was I when I opened the paper today and read that I live in the fifth happiest city in the world!

  
IN THE WORLD!!

That is no coincidence!!

are we responsible?

Responsible - being accountable for one's actions and decisions

We are all responsible.

Responsible for:

how you act,  who you associate with,  how you treat people, how you treat yourself,  how you allow others to treat you, what you do with your talents, what you want, what you get, your actions, your health, your happiness, your failures, ……..and the list goes on!

Basically you are responsible. period.

You might not want to be…..but you still are. You just are.

I feel like we are living in a society that lacks responsibility. We talk in length about responsibility and who should be responsible and how are we going to hold them responsible. We talk about why we are not responsible or how we can prove that it was someone else that was responsible. We try so hard to justify our "non-responsibility". We try so hard to prove that obviously it is due to someone else’s action and thoughts as to why we can’t hold this  - child, man, rapist, murderer, animal abuser, parent, teacher, hockey coach, politician, pedophile, drunk driver, woman,  (you get the picture) accountable for their actions! No! How can we expect people to be responsible in a society such as ours?? No one has to be anymore. Just pass the buck. Blame it on someone else, blame it on the media, blame it on the internet, blame it the guy who took prayer out of schools, blame it on the weather, blame it on your mom, blame it on the violent video games, blame it on the dog. 

Whatever you do, do not ever blame it on yourself! 

You can't possibly be responsible for your actions, you are just going with the flow, conforming with society, doing what everyone else is doing,  you always have everyone’s best interest at heart. You need to be happy , you deserve to be happy, you need to do what you need to ensure your happiness,  you are entitled to happiness, but you  are insane if you believe that you can achieve happiness without responsibility!

You are responsible. How can we get that across? How do we change the thinking of so many people? How did we get here? It wasn’t more than two generations ago that this train of thought….wasn’t.  Can we get back to a time like that? Is this progress? Is this the way of the future? Am I becoming a cynical 30 something woman? Do we roll over and just accept that from now on we just try our best to pass the blame to whomever we can? Do we just accept the “nanny state” we are living in as the new reality? Do we just carry on  with our lives not worrying about how our actions can affect others? Can we do anything but accept it? 

Of course we can! 

Because we are responsible.  Deep down we want to be responsible. It is our responsibility to be responsible! 

responsibly happy.