Band Aids Never Cure Anything...

... they only stop the bleeding.

Am I the only one who thinks there are three basic things in our society to which band aids are being applied instead of a cure being found?

And by cure, I mean these institutions need to be completely leveled to the ground and built back up from scratch.

They are our healthcare system, the internal revenue service and public education.

Am I really the only one who feels this way?

Habits

Every once in awhile, it helps to be reminded of something that we already instinctively know. It helps to see the concept boiled down to its pure essence.

I received the following from a friend in an email this past week. Unfortunately, I don't know from where it originates, I just know that it resounds deeply with me. It is so easy to be overwhelmed by the big picture, the end goal, and then it's too easy to give up when we feel overwhelmed.

The 14 steps that follow though are a reminder that the big picture is achieved by making small daily improvements. Keeping this concept in front of us helps to make our goals seem so much more achievable. The mind works in mysterious ways.

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14 KEYS ON DEVELOPING YOUR DAILY SUCCESS ROUTINE

1.  Men do not decide their future.  They decide on the habits that determine their future.

2.  What you do daily is deciding what you are becoming permanently.

3.  Nothing will ever dominate your life unless it happens daily.

4.  You cannot change your life until you change something you keep doing ...daily.

5.  You can trace the failure of every man to something he permitted to occur daily in his life,   body, or his mind.

6.  You can trace uncommon success to habits that were created...a daily success routine.

7.   Your habits are creating increase or decrease.

8.  Your habits are being strengthened or changed by the friends you permit daily close to you.

9.  What you keep looking at daily is deciding where you will go.

10.  Gaze only upon that which you desire in the future.

11.  You will always move toward the dominant picture in your mind; that is why it is important that you place pictures around you of the things you desire to move toward and have.

12.  You can change a failure routine into a success routine within 21 days!

13.  What you keep doing daily is creating the future you have always wanted...or the future you dread.

14.  Your money habits are making you a pauper or a millionaire.


                           

The Engagement

I'm always taken a little aback when perfect strangers come up to me and start conversations about their personal thoughts and feelings. It's just a little weird. On the other hand, when those perfect strangers are children, I'm highly amused. You just never know what they'll say.

Recently I was browsing through a local retail establishment that can best be described as an acre of accessories. It is not to be believed. Mostly it consists of well made but extremely reasonably priced costume jewelry and it's all arranged by color, a concept that highly pleases me.

There is one section of this shop where you'll find rings only, and it was while I was browsing this section that a little girl struck up a conversation with me. She was diligently pouring over the "diamond" solitaires and pointing to one she said:

"I'm going to have my boyfriend buy that one for me for my engagement ring. I know it will have to be resized but that's OK. He told me that we're going to get married when we're seven. I really don't like the ring he gave me and he said that I could just throw it away when I outgrow it."

Then she held out her ringless left hand for me to see. "I know it doesn't look like I'm engaged, but really I am. You know, I have $29 with me. I think I'm just going to go ahead and buy that ring myself and give it to him to give to me."

At this point, my mind was reeling. At six she was obsessed with being engaged and even having the ring. A thousand questions began to run through my mind while she was talking. Is this normal behavior for a six year old girl? Are they all obsessed with being engaged and getting married? In my mind I searched back to when I was six. I remember playing house and having an imaginary husband named David Hill. (I have no idea where that name came from.) But, in those games, I think I had an imaginary name, too. I wasn't me. I was just some imaginary woman who had an imaginary husband.

And while my mind is trying to put all this in perspective, she's still talking on and on. I wish that I'd been able to record everything she was saying.I tried to think of all the little girls I know now, including my granddaughter, and I couldn't think of a one who talked like this. And then I began to wonder, who is this girl's mother?

Just then, the little girl's mother walked up to her and she was embarrassed almost to the point of tears. She couldn't even bring herself to make eye contact with me. She told her young daughter to stop talking to strangers and then it wasn't long after that they left the store. The engagement ring was still there.

The whole incident left me feeling a little breathless and I find myself wondering just how that little girl's life will turn out. I guess I'll never know.

A Vacation From Time

I need a vacation. I'm sure you need one, too. Is there anyone who doesn't feel this way at almost any given time? And those fortunate enough to be able to get away for awhile do indeed take vacations and almost to a one they return saying, I need a vacation to recover from my vacation.

I've been on those type vacations way too often. We get away from our homes, our jobs, our everyday lives and put ourselves into a new locale and often a different climate. Then, to make sure we make the most of it, we schedule our free time to death. We're not happy unless we visit every historic home, church, battleground or cemetery; sample all the 5-star restaurants and make sure we've shopped every boutique containing local artisan crafts or duty free goods. At least one day must contain physical activity, i.e. horseback riding, hang gliding, scuba diving or snorkeling. Then it's time to go home. In one week's time we've stuffed more activities into our calendar than we would have scheduled in a year if we'd remained at home. And we wonder why we're exhausted when we return.

What I need is a vacation from time.

I want to go somewhere far from home (preferably where it's warm) without my laptop and throw my watch and cell phone into a safe, lock them up, and forget about them for a week or two. I want to arm myself with a stack of books, a sketchbook, markers and maybe a glue stick and I want to park myself next to the pool, or on the beach. I want to wake up whenever I feel like it, nap whenever I feel like it, eat whenever I feel hungry and not necessarily at designated meal times and to speak only if I really have to. I don't want my senses assaulted by a TV or to even watch a movie. I just want to be, to breathe, to truly recharge my batteries.

And then, I can return home and face the world again, fully restored.