In your life, “There Comes a Time” when things change from simply hoping to do something or wanting to do something, to realizing that that you need to do it. You MUST do it. I started thinking about some of these things after the tragedy that happened in Charlottesville when white supremacists clashed with those protesting against them with many hurt along with three people dying. Here are some of those “There Comes a Time” moments that came to me and I hope others will have. “There Comes a Time” …When we realize that Peace, Kindness and doing the right thing are tools we should use with every decision we make. …When we realize that the grudges, anger and sometimes hate that we carry with us, is only hurting us and we need to let it go and reach out again. …When love can carry us though so many things that we never thought we could make it through. …When so many times, “how” things have happened isn’t nearly as important as that they did happen. …When we don’t need to understand everything and it is OK to utter the phrase “I don’t know.” …When we believe “down to our soul, that bullying of any kind is UNACCEPTABLE. …That the things our soul whispers to us, are much more important than the things others are shouting at us. …That giving or receiving just one small gift, smile, hug, compliment, etc… can make the kind of difference in someone’s life that is life changing. …That hopefully, pessimism, hate and jealousy will eventually lead us to optimism, love and a sincere “wanting” to help. …When we learn that we don’t need to be perfect. Instead, all we can do is to do our best. …When it dawns on us just how good it feels to feel good. …That we can never understand another person 100%. Our job is to better understand ourselves and our perception of them. …That it is just as important to allow ourselves to cry as it is to laugh. …That words matter. …That the most important time in our lives will always be right now, because that’s the point that everything happens. …When we both understand and begin to act on the difference between understanding the definition of empathy and actually allowing it to become part of our character. …When what we have, just doesn’t matter anymore. …When we decide we must reach out and help someone, even if it might inconvenience us a bit. …When you’re happier that you catch yourself smiling for “no reason at all,” than figuring out why. …When those that espouse hate and bigotry not only bother you, but drive you to stand up for what’s right. …When opening your mouth isn’t nearly as important as opening your mind and listening. …When you realize it’s OK to stop and appreciate. …When, as you live your life, you capitalize the word GRATITUDE. …When you not only appreciate those around you, but you take the VERY […]

  For the most part, we have a want and a need to take care of others. This need is so big in fact, that many times we focus so intently on others even though we know it’s to our own detriment. So what are supposed to do, we need to help these people, right? Think of it this way…I call it the “Airplane Effect.” On a plane, the flight attendant during the safety speech always says “If you’re traveling with a child or someone who requires assistance, place the mask over your nose first.” Why? Because if you don’t take care of yourself first, something bad might happen to you and then you won’t be able to help them. This makes so much sense on the plane but somehow, as soon as we get off the plane and into our regular routine, what’s the first thing we do? We focus all of our attention on helping someone else and completely and totally forget about taking care of ourselves. Just answer this…Would you be able to give better advise, to understand more, to see more signals that might be being sent out and/or to facilitate more if you took better care of yourself? Of course you would! More sleep, more prayer or meditation, better nutrition or maybe just eating at all, as opposed to not eating (which is often common) all fall into the “taking better care of yourself” category. Look, the drive to help others is an amazing and commendable trait. It’s one way we can all make the world a better place. Make sure though, that you’re not causing yourself a problem where down the line, someone just might have to take care of you. “I’m not indestructible” is a mantra we can all benefit from telling ourselves. So….. Do your best to take care of yourself. Do your best to take care of yourself. The people you are helping will thank you. PEACE Gregg