Stop Thinking About the Number and Start Living.

As we get older we try to come up with better ways not to look or act our age. We try new hair colors, inject ourselves with toxins, triple our vitamins and go on retreats with a guru who tell us the same things our mothers tried teaching us as a child.

(1) We are special

(2) We are loved

(3) We are perfect as we are.

I say, Stop living a number and start living the life you choose!

You are special, loved and perfect for you! There is only one of you, yes even if you are a twin, s/he isn't like you, except maybe in looks. You have your own heart, loves and mistakes. Be who you are. Special in your walk, special in your talk, special in your smile but most of all, special in your heart.

No one has your feelings nor your way of showing them. Changing your outward appearance will not change that. No true love will love you less for growing with age. I'm not saying to sit down and die. I still want you up moving, growing and learning with each year. I want you to know why you are doing it. If it is because you want it, and not because some television commercial told you to, go for it. Living the age we are, should not be shameful in any manner. God has blessed us with a long life for a purpose. We need to find that purpose and move with it.

No amount of hair dye, vitamins or toxins can change the real person we are, within. That's the person we need to be neutering and loving. Taking care of the heart that loves by searching out ways to share that love.

(1) Volunteer more, the need is there.

(2) Laugh more, even if the joke is not funny.

(3) Bigger smiles at strangers. Count the smiles you get back.

(4) Giving away free hugs to the young and old.

(5) Sing more, off key counts too.

(6) Use kinder words when talking about yourself.

(7) Free up the restraints you have on your heart and love someone.

Your list may have different points on it than mine but I hope this gives you some ideas on how we can grow in years and still love every minute of it. Knowing with each year passing, we are still that little person our Mothers believed we were: Special, Loved and Perfect.

Forgiving the Past Hurts, Who to Start With?

Forgiveness is the key to letting the past stay the past. Deciding the line of people to forgive or ask forgiveness from, is sometimes harder than we think. If we have had a long history of pain from or toward others, remembering names and causes can be even harder. Either way the forgiveness should go, I suggest you start with yourself.

Sometimes forgiving ourselves is the hardest part of moving forward. No one will lie to you more, than you lie to yourself....thus making it harder to accept that no one is prefect, we all make mistakes but owning up to them is the true route of moving on.

Asking the ones you have hurt for forgiveness, then accepting their answer whether it's the one you want to hear or not is a doorway to moving forward. You can not make someone forgive you for the past hurts but once you have ask,,,you have done your part. If they decline, that's their burden to bare, not yours.

Once you have reached the end of asking for forgiveness of others, accept the fact you have done all you can do to right the past and move forward with an open mind and a new love for yourself.

Whatever it is you are searching for, be ready to accept it, when it's offered. Give yourself the trust to make good decisions and in time, you will.

Faylee