Preparing for the new year using Twitter

The following is a "tweet" posted this morning:


marwilliamson

  

For 2010: Have a talk with your Higher Self; what 1 thing do you know in your heart you should give up, and what 1 thing should you do?

Do you use Twitter?  I have a mild interest (or curiosity) regarding social media.  Pasted above is am intriguing tweet I just received from internationally acclaimed spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson

I instantly knew what the one thing I should give up is.  My eating habits have been appalling.  I really don't wish to try to get away with it any longer.  I could go on and on about the issue of getting away with it, about how I am and how I'm not, but that's irrelevant.  What is relevant is that I'm not OK with my eating habits.  I want to change.  I've indulged long enough.

The answer to the other question, the one about what I should do, was also on the tip of my tongue.  The Child is now in Middle School.  He won't be with me much longer.  People have warned me since he was born that he'd grow up fast.  

In truth, the days are long but the years fly by.  

In my talk with my Higher Self,  I will have to admit that I've spoiled The Child pretty seriously.  It was not what I planned; I planned to be The Perfect Parent.  I read all of the parenting books which were in line with my philosophy.  I took parenting classes before he was even born.  I hired, at great expense, the best babysitters available in the area.  Daycare was unacceptable; The Child had to have one-on-one interaction with creative and intelligent sitters.

I have been engrossed in my job throughout his life.  I felt guilty about focusing so much on work.  When The Child was 2, I asked The Child's father to move out of my house.  I did not feel guilty about that, but I felt competitive.  Durings visits, the father plied the child with hitherto denied candy and toys.  I had to compete.  I broke my parenting rules; I became indulgent.  It was also at this time that I started hiring sitters because the father was no longer babysitting.  The guilt over hiring others to be with The Child coupled with the competition with Disney Dad caused me to become The Over-Indulging Parent.

I had abandoned my own Parenting Plan. 

The Child will be with me for a few more years.  The days will be long, but the years will fly by.  During those long days, I owe it to the Child to be mindful of my words and actions.  I am molding a human being.  I can do it consciously and responsibly, or I can instead respond to the guilt and competition. 

How about you?  Do you know what your answers would be?

A very happy holiday

The Child wanted a new computer for Christmas this year.  I said yes......under one condition: you build it yourself.

He's in 6th grade.  Most parents don't require children of that age to build computers.  But I know this child.  He needs a challenge and he's motivated.

So I asked him to choose the components for his computer online.  He did, and I sent his list to a friend who is an engineer.  He's built a few computers himself.  He approved the list, surprised that it had originated from a child.

The parts arrived early.  The Child wasted no time.

There were a few moments of frustration.  I kept telling him to read the manuals which had come with each component.  (He learned to read in Kindergarden on such technical manuals.)  By golly, he did read them, and before long, the fan was running.

The monitor wasn't getting a signal, though, and he seemed truly stuck.  I told him to load the computer into the car, and I drove him to the local computer repair store.  The geek/owner seemed shocked by The Child building a computer , especially such a powerful one, and after getting over his shock he seemed glad to offer his expertise.  He saw a disconnected cable which solved the problem when connected.  That was easy!

Within minutes the computer was up and running, and The Child was installing Windows 7.  Now he's happliy playing games on it, just like any other child his age.

Merry Christmas!  May you take the steps to make your dreams come true.

So much for lightening up......

Censorship is the suppression of speech or deletion of communicative material which may be considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or inconvenient.  Mention the word "censorship" and you're likely to encounter an automatic reaction of self-righteous indignation.

There are many types of censorship, with the main categories being moral, military, political, religious and corporate. But many of us automatically associate the word "censorship" with unthinkable control such as by a Communist regime. Here is a photographic example of censorship in Russia in the year 1940::

 Nikolai Yezhov, the young man strolling with Stalin was shot in 1940. He was edited out from a photo by Soviet censors. Such retouching was a common occurrence during Stalin's reign.

I think it's time for us all to update our understanding of censorship.  In reality, censorship is part of everyday life.  It's just that usually it's self-administered.  How many times have you felt like saying something cruel but instead you chose to bite your tongue?  Did you ever become so enraged that you felt like throwing something or hitting a person, barely stopping short?  That's censorship. Those of us who don't exercise censorship usually end up in prison, real or virtual. 

Sometimes censorship is absolutely called for at the workplace.  Sometimes it's in the best interests of the organization as a whole for individuals to exercise self-restraint, which is a euphemism for censorship.

Why does this seem to be such a foreign concept?  A little self-restraint of pen and tongue can make the world a better place.  Whoops- that would be censorship, wouldn't it?  Heaven forbid.

 

Whirlingbetty lightens up for the holidays

A friend sent me this via email.  I laughed so much that I wanted to share it with my blog readers!      

Hugs,
Betty


Be sure and read story at bottom.

"Good news is that I truly outdid myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take my fake man down after 2 days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down. First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by. Second, a 55-year-old lady grabbed the 75-pound ladder, almost killed herself putting it against my house, and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was only one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."