Granny-O Speaks

November 25, 2023 Saturday

Hi Gabby,

I met you today while you worked meeting and serving the public at your bar-b-que restaurant! It was the first time and only time I will have, to be in your company… It was my pleasure. You are a people person, and you do your job with enthusiasm and ability. I don’t know you, but I like you!

You are young probably 19 or 20. I am old 75. I love being old and you said out of a one to 10 your happiness was 10. So I guess you are happy being young. Gabby, the secret of having a wonderful life is to appreciate what you have and to be grateful you have it. Your life is a gift, and you are a gift from God to the rest of us. When you look in the mirror in the morning do you see a miracle of God looking back at you? Look again. and again, until you see how special you are. You were given talents when you were born, and if you use your talents, you will never have to work a day in your life, because you will love what you are doing and will do it gladly.

Gabby your happiness is a 10, that is great! However the sky has no limits. maybe you will have a happiness level of 500 and 33 million by the time you are 75. Just make every day the best day of your life so far, every day for the rest of your life. YOur happiness is a heart thing not a circumstance thing. Listen to your heart, and let your spirit lead your way.

You have a responsibility to people you love, people you know, or strangers you have not yet met. Help others to find their happiness one person at a time. Share your happiness with others. Help them to shine. Life is not supposed to be a competition… Life is rather a lot of connections with other people who are each also one of God’s creations Enjoy people and let them enjoy you! Have your life be a win win situation instead of one with winners and losers, create a life where you and everyone you come in contact with are winners. What a wonderful world we would live in if we could love others the way we love ourselves.

Gabby, it was really swell meeting you! Have a fantastic life going forward,and make every day the best day of your life so far!

All the best to you! You have made my best day so far even better by just being. Just by being yourself, you added more happiness to my already wonderful day!

God bless you Gabby! So far so good, keep it up you are on the right track!

Love,

Granny-o

November 25, 2023, Saturday

Hi Bridgette. How wonderful it was to talk to you today. You have a wonderful spirit, and an amazing smile. You are enthusiastic, and very accommodating. You are for sure a people person. Thank you for being there today. You have made the best day of my life so far even better. Thank you!

The only obvious problem I can identify is out of a one to ten your happiness level is only a four! Horrors! How can that possibly be? You are young and have the miracles of God all around you! Bridgette start appreciating what you have, and be grateful that you have it.

For one thing you have a dog, a kitten, and your mom. What is wrong with this picture? First of all, your priorities all wrong! Let’s go through this again you have Your MOM, your dog and a kitten. Your mom should be the most important person in your life right now. Do you see how special she is? Bridgette? Appreciate your mom. Love your mom, because if you live long enough you too will be an orphan and you will be missing her. Second of all your mom’s past will determine your future. Learn everything you can about your mom. What was it like for her when she was your age? What made her laugh, what made her cry. Did she feel loved, did she feel safe? What was her world like? Ask her. Get to know your mom, because when you learn what has made her to be like she is, the great or the not so great, what she has learned is what she has taught you. What makes your mother tick. Also, Bridgette, she knows a lot, ask her to share. What stresses did she have in her life when she was 19? Learn from your mom. Ask her how happy she was on a one to ten. Was she a four? What is she now? What is her happiness level now? Bridgette, talk to her. Enjoy her and let her have the opportunity to enjoy you.

Bridgette, life is not meant to be lived alone. There will be many people in your life that can help you have a better life if you are able to listen to what they have to say. You know I am having the best day of my life so far over and over again. How many people do you hear say that! I am 75 and I love being old! How many people do you hear say that? You and I had only one moment in time to share. You have brightened my already wonderful day by being at work, where we could meet. I thank you! Maybe you will think about your life again. If today is going to be the best day of your life so far, you have to bring your number four up a lot. 10 might be a good start, but even a 10 is not good enough for you who have everything going for you! You are a creation of God! You are a miracle! You really have to start acting like a miracle! You know how to smile, but you haven’t learned enough about appreciation and gratitude yet. You are young, and every day forward is another day to go WOW… my life is such a gift! And then to say thank you over and over again.

Bridgette, circumstances are not the controllers of your life. You control the circumstances. You can create your day to be perfect or not perfect, It is up to you! Make it work. Perhaps some of my blogs will help you! Take a look, check it out!

Take care of yourself. Your life can get better and better every day if you want it to… it is all up to you Bridgette, it is all up to you!

Love,

Granny-o

November 11, 2023

It is November, again and the holidays are just around the corner. I wrote a blog on November 23, 2022. I wrote about appreciation, love and gratitude, but also about expectations and traffic and road rage. Check out that posting if you want to get a head start on what you might have to look forward to in a little less than twenty-four days.

What excitement, what exhaustion, what expense and what an effort to make new memories. Memories of how wonderful it is to have family and friends getting together to celebrate the blessings of our lives.

So many people traveling to be with their loved ones. There will be hugs, kisses, conversation, turkey with all the fixings, football games, and wonderful moments to remember! But there will be some added surprises that will bring laughter, or maybe some tears along the way! Be ready for anything and everything. But never forget for a minute, the time will pass quickly and before you know it you will be back to work on Monday. Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day. Enjoy the very important people in your life and give thanks to God for making you possible.

I got an E-Mail from a woman whose name is Emma Johnson. Emma lives in Minnesota. the E-Mail was entitled; “Mental Health & Road Rage” I read it and was very impressed with all the information in the new guide, that she helped put together, explaining road rage and its connection to mental health. So, if you are interested, maybe before you are on the road again, check it out. I have included the link, Drive with care, it is a jungle out there! Thank you Emma!

https://www.siebenpolklaw.com/road-rage/

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I am sending my love, and my gratitude to all of you! Enjoy!

Granny-o

March 12, 2023

Be first? I do not mean you have to win a race. The victory of competition is short lived. Don’t worry about being first, when you are competing. Train as much as you can, and then do your very best. Everyone running around the track will be doing their very best, so even if you do not come in first, you are one of the winners for the day because you have to be good even to be in the race at all. When playing Scrabble with my friend, I do not mind coming in second. We each do the best we can, and then depending on the way the letters show up on our racks, and what opportunities we have to put words over double letter or triple word will determine the outcome. What is the old saying? It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it only matters how you play the game. If you play “the game” well, eventually you might win, or at least you have given it your best shot. So, it is the same way when you choose how to live your life today, and every other day as well. What will your day be like? Will you have the best day of your life so far? Will you get up in a state of appreciation and gratitude, or will you slog through your day as though the sky is falling down on you? Are you giving your life your best shot on a day- to-day basis? Are you revved up and ready to go as your feet touch the cold floor for the first time? Do you smile at the bathroom mirror as you brush your teeth and wash your face knowing you are looking one of God’s creations right in the eye? I mean do you realize not only is your life a gift, but you are also a gift. Do you feel like the gift that you are? I am not kidding… do you feel like a gift even before you go down to turn the coffee maker on? You should because you are.

When I talk about being first, be the first to fix a problem. If there is a disagreement going on, don’t wait for the other person to apologize. Be first to unruffle the feathers of disagreement. Sometimes just acknowledging the problem can solve it. For instance, you had an argument with your husband. You both go storming off. Now what? Give yourselves time to figure out what has happened. What caused two people who love each other so very much to storm off in the first place? Then go to him and talk it out. Sometimes expectations are not being met, sometimes someone is frustrated. Maybe sometimes you are both frustrated, or tired, or overworked. Maybe the argument is not really about something silly like why you not put the top on the toothpaste…but that is what you are arguing about. Maybe you are really upset about money, or maybe you just want to have a date, or feel appreciated. Maybe you have not found the time to fall into each other’s arms, and you feel like everything is on only on your shoulders. You forget for a moment that “Better together” has been your slogan. Be the first to diffuse the situation. Be the first to say Thank you. Be the first to say I love you. Be the first to say I am sorry. Be the first to appreciate each other. Life is not a competition. Life is a collaboration, two minds and two hearts figuring everything out together. Every relationship, in life is one on one, two people at a time over and over again. Bride to groom, parent to parent, parent to child, sibling to sibling, relative to relative, friend to friend, stranger to stranger. Everything happens between two people over and over again. Appreciate, enjoy and be grateful for all the people in your lives, and if there is a problem… be first to fix it.

Let me be the first to say, thank you to you today. Thank you for reading my blog, and thank you for trying to be the best you can be for another day as your feet touch the cold floor for the first time today. Have a wonderful day!

Granny-o

February 22, 2023

February 22, 20223

I can’t believe the last time I entered anything new to my Blog was on November 23, 2022. Wow! Let me think about it for a minute. It is not because I have stopped thinking, that is not going to happen. It is not because I am sad, because I am not. I am happier than I have ever been. It is not because I am old. I was old back in November too, and I love being old. So, what is going on? I think part of it is, not as many people are reading my Blog anymore. Maybe it is because I haven’t written a new one since November 23, 2022. Could it be MY inactivity has caused inactivity of my Blog? Wow that is an eye opener. Is it possible everyone is happy, and consequences are not interfering with people’s happiness anymore. Let me think. Maybe people want to figure out their own happiness. Of course, that is the way it is supposed to be, but how many people actually try to uncover their real essence? Right this minute how many people are really happy? I know nothing about what your happiness is or what your happiness could be? Absolutely no idea. You have to find your own happiness. There are no shortcuts no one else can tell you what makes you happy. What my Blog is about is pointing out circumstances that get in the way of your happiness or get in the way of finding your happiness. I deal with circumstances, and how to diffuse ones that might cause you sadness. I identify a problem that may occur and show you ways to possibly diffuse it. I have lived a very long time, I am now 75, and have had many circumstances interfere with my life. Well, they used to, but now I have found better ways to not let the real world upset MY REAL WORLD. For instance, I have stopped watching the news. The news can be overwhelming, and on the world front I am incapable of solving the world’s problems. What I can do, by changing myself, I can see circumstances in ways in which they do not destroy my happiness. Then I am a better person. I am able to improve my attitude, thereby making it possible for me to be better able to appreciate the world around me. As I have uncovered more love and happiness, I am enjoying more people, and more people are enjoying me. I can’t fix the world, but by fixing me, I can make my world a better world. I have always wanted to make the world better, but I had always overlooked by how changing my own perspective could change my world. Now I know I can change nothing but myself. Circumstances should not and cannot take over my everyday life. Sometimes things happen, and they have to be dealt with, but normal bothers do not have to be a bother to me. They do not have to be a bother to you either. For instance, maybe you get a flat tire on the way to work today. That is a bother. Well, fix it. Life happens. Maybe your baby is waking up in the middle of the night and wants to be fed or have its diaper changed. Deal with it. Aren’t you glad you have a baby? I mean AREN’T YOU GLAD YOU HAVE A BABY? Okay, so get up, your baby needs you. These are just two quick examples. Maybe circumstances ARE life. Figure your life out and you will find your happiness. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel at every turn. I have lived for many years, and yet, I am incredibly happy. I have found my happiness, by putting circumstances in their proper places. Maybe some of my Blog entries will sound familiar to you, and maybe you will see how something in your life is getting in your way. I only want to help you see that everything can and in the long run will always work out. Wait a minute. Maybe because I have not published any new Blogs since November 23, 2022 is why not as many people are reading it? Is it possible a light just went off in my brain? Wow I must continue to work on myself, SO I DO NOT create circumstances that get in my way. WOW! Hit me in the head with a rock. Have a super dooper day.

Granny-o

November 24, 2022

The holidays are upon us, and there is so much emotion on the line. Of course, everyone wants there to be continual happiness, love, appreciation and gratitude for the four days they have together. But Thanksgiving is a time of high expectations, road rage, stop and go traffic and a lot of extra expenses. Families are on the move on highways, at airports, and at train or bus stations across the country. Everyone has a deadline, and everyone is in a hurry. Like I said emotions are clearly running wild. Then let us not forget about the shopping, cooking, cleaning, decorating. and waiting for the guests by the hosts or hostesses. Wow, talk about emotions running wild. The guests are hand-picked and are mostly family members or maybe some close friends. It should be incredibly peaceful as each person arrives, but there are personalities involved. Everyone wants to be appreciated, but family issues seem to come out when everyone is together, and some people are bossing everyone else around which complicates things even more. Children are crying or running about with fathers and mothers chasing close behind. I know you have been in this situation or one like it sometime during your lifetime. Everyone gets together, and then after the welcoming hugs, kisses and hellos all around, slowly at first, but sooner or later everything might start to fall apart right before your eyes. Before you know it all you want to do is to escape into the comfort of your own reality, but this is a four-day commitment… you cannot leave. The volume goes up as the table is set and serving dishes are placed all around. Everyone is in their seats. The turkey has been carved, the prayer of Thanksgiving has been said but before the food can be passed or the first forkfuls of food reach the mouths of hungry people of all ages, there are already squabbles because Children are not known for their patience. If any two are sitting next to each other, watch out. It is very possible as a child reaches for a roll that a glass of water is going to tumble, and the tablecloth will be totally soaked near the tipped over glass. Parents are running into the kitchen to find rolls of paper towels to sop up as much water as possible, the culprit is crying, and the hostess is really upset. She had just seen her efforts for perfection dashed. Everything is all messed up. No pun intended. Other children are now reaching for their own rolls as the adults are busy trying to get things back to the way it was before “the flood”. Possibly the answer is to let the children have their own table, or at least invite them to the adult table when their plates of food are in front of them including the rolls. Children will probably be happier if you let them take out their phones with their games to keep them occupied until it is time to actually eat. Everyone does not have to arrive at the table at the same time. Everything soon settles down, and the food is of course delicious. Dinner is done and the men are watching football and hooting and hollering for their favorite teams. The boys are throwing balls around in the yard, and girls get together to do something girls like to do. The women all get together to clean up and put leftover food into the refrigerator. There will be time for dessert and coffee later. After everything is done in the kitchen, the women sit down at the table and talk about the day and the family. the consensus is It was a great day. A bit crazy, but great. The actual time of food consumption was very short compared to the preparation and the time spent getting the family home to sit down at the table together. Don’t sweat it. Be happy. This is your family. These are your friends. Enjoy them. Be grateful these people are part of your life. Someday, you will be looking back and remembering this day and the way it used to be. Do your part to make it the best Thanksgiving ever. Enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving. Sending my love to you all.

Granny-o

October 21, 2022

Forever in awe of what you ask. Forever in awe of God. Where would we be without God? Actually, we would not even exist without God. Okay, for you nonbelievers, I am not preaching here. For those of you who believe in evolution, more power to you, but I do not believe for a minute I was evolved from a monkey. I believe with all my heart I was created by God, and I will not apologize for my belief. Everyone has to figure life out for themselves. The truth is what the truth is, and it does not matter what anyone of us think, but the way we live our lives is based very much on our beliefs. For instance, because I feel so blessed and so loved by God, I am able to love people in my life. I have experienced love so I can share my love with others. It goes to follow if love is part of my life, so much a part of my life, I am happy. Love is the greatest gift I have ever received and every day I say thank you over and over again. I so appreciate my life, and I am grateful for everything I have. I don’t deserve what I have, but because I am loved I have what I have. How great is that? I am 74 years old, and I can say today is the best day of my life so far, because every day I appreciate my life more than I did the day before. I get up happy. I live happy, and I go to bed happy. Wow, I am so glad I am old. Old is a great thing. At least it is great if you thought your childhood, young adulthood, and middle age were great. If you loved being all the ages of your life, then you are ready to be old. Old age is like your reward for having been young. I bet you have never heard someone say that before. Old age is wasted on the old. Old age should be a celebration of appreciation and gratitude. Not a time of gloom and doom. By the time you are old you should be in awe of everything! Everything in your world is pretty much created by someone else. Did you manufacture the car that is parked in your garage. Maybe, but probably not. Did you wake up in the wee hours early this morning to put a bunch of raw dough into boiling water. Probably not, unless you are the bagel maker. Did you forge the spoon you eat your cereal with. Let me guess, it was probably someone else who stood in front of the furnace to get the metal hot enough to shape. Okay, to be happy you first of all have to appreciate what you have and be grateful you have it. Then you have to know what your God given talents are and to use your lifetime to hone your talents using them to make the world a better place. I do not know how to make cars or make bagels, but I know how to be happy. I know love and I love being old. My gift is to help other people find their happiness. I have been learning about happiness since I was a very small child. I have learned what makes people happy and what makes people sad. I for one like being happy better. I am happy mostly every morning, noon and night. My gift to God is my being happy. Just like a bagel maker’s gift is selling delicious bagels to his customers. We are each using our God given talents. So, in my life I am forever in AWE of this world and how all the talents people have, make my life perfectly wonderful. I say thank you. I say wow, and I say,” Have a wonderful day.”

Granny-o

September 2, 2022

You are your reality, because you choose the reality you are to have. Your reality is not the World News. Your reality is how you react to the World News, or even if you choose to watch the World News at all. Stimulus from the outside world is bombarding you continually 24/7. When I was little. people got the news by listening to the radio, there were very few televisions back then, or by reading newspapers, or by watching newsreels before the features at the movie house downtown. The news was sometimes two days old before anyone even knew what had happened. Things have so exponentially speeded up in my lifetime that it makes my head spin. Now it seems like there are cameras right there where the action is before the dead body is even cold. From Baby Boomers to Leave It To Beaver, to the 1960’s, to computers and to clouds that don’t even live in the sky anymore. Wow, what a ride I have been on. Now I am 74 years old, and I do not even know most of the people in People Magazine. It is not because I live in the past, it is because everything is happening so fast, I can’t keep up with everything that is going on in the present. Of course, if you don’t mind it doesn’t matter…right? Ask somebody my age how many planets there are in our solar system. They will say nine. Ding dong we are wrong. There are only eight, because Pluto isn’t a planet anymore. It is now just a big rock floating around in space. Everything changes. Until we reach our final destination, we are on a continual journey. No rest for the weary. Just like you cannot hold sand in your hand for very long, it is also impossible to stop the hands of time from going around the face of a clock. Life happens. The better you are able to make sense of what is going on, the better your life will be. It is all up to you how you choose to interpret the moments of your life. Will your memories be happy ones, or the rehashing of old hurts over and over again. Get over it. The bad is never permanent, and the good lasts forever if you are focused on the miracles and the magic. Two different people who are both eyewitnesses to some event will each have totally different take on what had happened. It is up to the eyewitness to decide what he will see. People can choose to let bad memories fade into oblivion. There is no gain for your life to dwell on that which cannot be changed. Get over it. Start a new day with joy in your heart, and appreciation and gratitude on your lips. Look for the good and you will find it. Look for the bad, and you will find it. What is your pleasure? You decide how you are going to play your life out. You decide your reality. I have been sad, I have been angry, and I have been fearful. For a very long time now, I have chosen not to be those things, I have chosen to be happy. Now I am appreciative. Now I am grateful. Now I see God’s love everywhere I go. God has created it all, and all He knows is love. Wow. What miracles have you seen today. I have given myself one year to think of 1,000 things I am grateful for. I am two days into my second month, and I am already at number 155. How cool is that? I find so many regular things in my daily life that I have chosen to appreciate. I don’t take anything for granted. Everything is a gift. Start seeing the wonder of what is in your life. Make happy happen for you. Thank you for reading my blog. I am here to tell you old age is an incredible adventure. Everything now makes sense. It is amazing I can sleep at all… my cartoon eyes are always looking around. Wow. Have a most wonderful day. You are in charge of yourself, and if you have a wonderful day, or if you don’t, it is because you are your reality.

Granny-o

August 8, 2022

My mission statement for my blog, and the entire purpose of my life is to help others find their happiness. I have spent my entire life; from the time I was four or before trying to understand happiness. Sometimes I learned about happiness by knowing about sadness. I have lived my life in a way I could observe people and learn what makes some people happy and what makes some people sad. I have known throughout my life being happy is better than being sad, and I have always wanted the whole world to be happy. Now that I am old, I totally get happy. I also understand sad. Life happens, and tear drops are shed, but on days when the sky is not falling there are one- hundred- million reasons to be happy. I believe happiness is a choice. Happiness can and will happen if you appreciate your life and the people you love. Happiness will happen if you are grateful for everyone and everything that has decorated your life. You cannot be sad and grateful at the same time, because it is virtually impossible to be both simultaneously. I hope my blog can help put life’s circumstances into perspective for you. Circumstances are temporary. How you decide to respond to circumstances is who you are and will determine the quality of your life. What words does everyone in the world repeat at the same time once a year? HAPPY NEW YEAR. Everyone wants to be happy. Remember always…life is a gift. Being happy shows your gratitude for the gift you have been given. Have a super wonderful day.

Granny-o

July 27, 2022

What is your name? I met a young woman as I entered the door of a surgical Center a few weeks ago to have cataract surgery. She was the greeter and did the preliminary screening. She took my temperature and asked to see my ID etcetera. I asked her what her name was, and she said, “It is Samantha or Sam it doesn’t matter to me.” It does matter a great deal. What do you want to be called? You are the person who is going to make your name wonderful or just plain crummy. You are giving your name its identity as your name is identifying you. Be proud of your name say it like you were a queen and wear it royally. If you want to be called Samantha, say with pride, my name is Samantha. If you want me to know you as Sam, say my name is Sam. Say your name with the spirit it was given to you. Stand up and be counted as a woman who loves being who she is, and a woman who wants you to remember her and her name. Today, if I am fortunate enough to see Samantha or Sam smiling as I walk through the door to have my second cataract surgery, I will again ask her what her name is. When we first met, I told her to choose which name she wanted to be called, don’t give people a choice. I wonder how she will respond to the question today. I will never see Samantha or Sam again, because we are but ships passing in the night, but my dear Samantha or Sam I will remember your name. I will hope you have a new appreciation of what a wonderful name it is, because it is your name, and you will hopefully wear it with pride into your future. Thank you for making the day better for people as they walk through the door. You are super! I just wanted you to know you made a difference in my day two weeks ago and you are continually influencing each person as they walk through the door and see your smiling face. Have a most marvelous day and be happy because happiness is a choice.

Granny-o