Family Encourager

Good Bye 2018, we wish you adieu.  You have been a friend, a foe, a comfort, a joy, a pain, a fear, a stab in the dark, a stab in the back, a crutch, a delight, a forever after, a good bye, a dream, a nightmare, a lesson learned, a hope for the future, a bet, a wish, a survival, a journey. The end of a year, is for most, a time to say farewell to the old and accept the new. Parties abound and midnight is rung down, like there won't be another midnight in 24 hours again. We don party hats and blow on noise makers and welcome a new year with promise. We make resolutions, and promises to ourselves and others. We have hope in our hearts and strength of will to change or accept. We hold ourselves accountable to fulfill shelved dreams and vows made. We welcome a new year, as a way to turn the page and forge a fresh chapter. We look forward, always forward! This year, I intend to look back. I intend to reflect and question the year that was. I plan to dissect...

There must be a conspiracy against me. As I get older and less judgmental. Less black and white and more shades of grey (not that shades of grey). I seem to stumble on issues that bother me, that I had not given a whole load of thought to. It tests my "be and let be" motto on life. As I am living what I think is a zen existence, allowing less to irk me. I discover that I am hugely discontent with certain aspects of modern society. You, the reader, will now point out to me, that I am older, and therein lies my answer. I will reply, not true! I am not quite sure how to write this blog entry, without offending my readers. There are topics that are slightly taboo. This one rather then being taboo, is more a freedom of expression debate. In this space, its my freedom.  Let me dictionary define "freedom of expression";  According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,  freedom of expression  is the right of every individual to hold o...

Okay so beast might a bit too much, but I wanted a blog title that makes a point.  Beauty vs. ugliness, attractive vs. repulsive, handsome vs. plain, gorgeous vs. drab, all may be a better choice! The thinking behind it is; if you were born lucky in the looks department, are you guaranteed a better life then your average looking human? This post, as with all my previous posts, are personal opinions and observations, infused with scientific studies when necessary. Keep that in mind as you enjoy this! Whenever I sit down to write, my inspiration, is mostly my life. As a writer "wanna be", I am always observing situations and people for possible writing material at a later date. I have always had a love of humanity and studying what makes us tick, why some of us are the way we are. I have always loved reading psychology articles and related books. I find human interactions are the greatest adventure. I question why someone reacts as they do, and what could hav...

The other day, as I sat reflecting on my life, which I seem to do every year around the time the new school year begins. In other words, September! I thought about all I wanted to do and be when I was 16 (my son's age now). I thought back to all the day dreaming I did, and all the ideas I had. I did a mini audit in my head. How many of these dreams became a reality? How many I am glad never did? How many I still hold in my heart as a "maybe one day"? On most days, I am content with my lot in life, never looking back in regret, nor wishing I was somewhere else doing something else. Now that my children are older, and I feel I have time to pursue my own interests and discover new hobbies. I occasionally wonder what more I could have done and been.  Do we all fall into our lives? Do we determinedly stride forward knowing exactly what we want and seek it? Do we start out in one direction and end up somewhere else? Even better then we envisioned? How many people do ...

I have a few pet peeves, and one of them, is lack of or terribly miserable customer service, customer experience, client relations, consumer service, call it what you will! I always feel that if I am paying for a product or service, I need to be treated with respect and decency from the retailer/service provider.  My career has exclusively been in customer based industries, providing services for face to face interactions. In other words, industries that required human communication. It has been an absolute pleasure seeing happy return clientele and at times challenging "please never come back" clientele. The one commonality in both, is us, as service providers needed to remain fair, courteous, helpful, and non-judgemental in either case. It is not up to us, to treat the difficult less satisfied guest any differently.   Studying the exceptional, the mediocre, the awful, and the down darn atrocious customer experience has been a secret hobby of mine. Yes, I worke...

I am known to be a tiny bit honest, in a nice way! I try and tell it, as it is, without hurting feelings (I hope). I like a sense of magic in my life, a touch of whimsy, a reminder of fairies and enchanted places. The reality of my daily existence is a complete routine and a daily grind of what to do's and who needs to be where when. I am a mother and a wife and part time blogger and training consultant, there is a constant load of duties to fulfill, and I love being wanted and needed! A full life equals a life well lived, I would like to think. In other words, the less I think of the basic needs the better. I still enjoy that tiny bit of flexibility, in what I wear, what I read, what I eat. Well, you get the drift. I have been on this planet for 40 odd years, wink wink, no need to know the exacts! The world has progressed in those 40 years at lightning speed. The future we envisioned when in our teens, is nowhere to be seen. The world our children are growing up in, is comp...