Enough about me....

So far all of my posts have been about projects I am doing. Yes, I love to be busy with creative projects but sometimes have to stop because I think that it takes away from time spent with loved ones. After spotting a homeless man today on my way to an appointment with a dog and stopping to give his dog some dog food (I know, not the man..but his dog), I started thinking. If that man is homeless and can't find food for himself, but is still taking care of his animal, he must still be thinking of something else but himself. No, he cannot provide proper veterinary medicine and nutrition, but was showing true selflessness. There seems to be a growing number of homeless people and homeless animals, it breaks my heart.

Thinking of others is not always an easy thing to do. Do you think you do it often enough? I'm quite sure I don't. I try but as with any human I am sure I fall short of purity in this area. However, tonight I feel the need to discuss the subject of thinking of others.

Every day we affect other people. Be it the people in our own household, guests who visit us, other drivers we pass on the road to wherever, people in the stores we go into, co-workers, and so many others. My question tonight is do we consider them when we make decisions? Do we think of them when we take actions?

I have discussed before in my writings how any decision or action may not only affect someone we can directly see, feel, or touch but also someone we may have never met. That is not the extent to which I want to delve this evening. I wish to only look at that first step. Do we consider our partner, lover, child, family member, neighbor, etc.. as much as we should?

Let's try a situation on for size, shall we? Let's paint a picture first. You are married with 2 children. You live in a large home. You have pets, oh lets say 2 dogs and a cat. You and your partner both work but on different shifts so that someone is always home for the kids. Ok, there's your basic picture. Probably this matches a LOT of people out there and for those of you that it does not currently match it may someday or you can at least relate to it.

Now, you have a three day weekend but unfortunately your spouse has to work all weekend. Saturday morning you are woken by the normal sounds of your children playing in their rooms. You sleepily arise from bed. Being used to occasionally being the at home parent in the morning, you go make everyone some breakfast. Your spouse has left you a note saying that all three kids are being picked up by Nana at noon and will be staying the night there. "Hurray", your spouse has arranged for you to have an 'actual' day off. How thoughtful. You prepare the kids and at noon, as promised, are freed from responsibility for the day. Now here's the question. What do you do with your day? Think seriously about it. What would you do? Be honest with yourself, nobody else will know and lying to yourself will only hurt you.

Do you take a nap? Do you mow the lawn? Do you do some much needed repairs around the house that your spouse has been begging you to do? Do you make phone calls to friends? Do you play a video game? Do you clean the house without the children running behind you remaking the mess? Do you make your spouse dinner? Do you go play golf? So many choices. Probably more than I have mentioned. Now think about how you honestly answered yourself. Did your choice take anyone but you into consideration or was the day all about you? This will begin you on your journey to seeing if you consider others.

Every day you are given the opportunity to consider others. So you may not wave to the neighbor and make their day better. You may not think about stopping for the person who is obviously broken down on the side of the road. Maybe you don't help the old lady struggling to walk down the street. Maybe you don't give homeless men and their dogs food...LOL. Maybe you are not ready for that, but do you consider those closest to you? Do you consider your spouse/partner, children, family, lover, or friends? Do you show them that they mean something to you, that they are special to you? Do you make time for them? Do you go out of your way to do things for them just because once in a while?

Do they do this for you? Think about it. How often do the people in your life do something for you because they love you or care about you? Do you return that?

People who are special to us need to be reminded sometimes that they are special to us with actions instead of just words. Going out of your way to make a phone call just to say hello or goodnight can mean so much to a friend or family member. Making dinner without being expected to or asked to can say more than words. Taking time away from something you are doing to run an errand for someone or spend time with someone says they are important to you. A moment in time, a small action, a gesture, these things can speak louder than words. Are you saying what you feel?

Actions, even the smallest ones, send messages that speak much louder and last far longer than words do. Make sure that your actions are speaking what you feel. I try MY BEST, but am not perfect, to live this way. If I commit to live this way, then I know that I can be always be proud of who I am and the life that I have lived.