Thanks-Giving – 10 Sacred Things To Be Grateful For

If we are what we eat, then we are what we think.  And if we think ‘gratitude’ we will not only embody it, but we will also receive it.  I usually like to take this time in the eve of the forthcoming holiday and reflect on what is most sacred and worth giving thanks to.  Happy Thanks-Giving to you!

1. Be grateful for every NEW DAY because it grants you the miraculous opportunity to start fresh, re-connect to what’s important, and re-invent yourself. We are too often convinced that we can’t change our patterns, that we can’t change the course of our lives, yet each new day affords us the opportunity to grow and take our life in any direction we so choose.  Every new day is a new chance. So choose to be the better and kinder person today, and forget about what you said or did yesterday. Do it better today!

2. Be grateful for the LOVE you receive in your life.  Never mind the love you feel you are not receiving or getting enough of. That doesn’t matter. A drop of love can fill an ocean!  Focus on the love that’s been gifted to you in every shape, size, and form and return it tenfold – not only to those that give it, but to those that are in need of it.  The world could use more of your love!

3.  Be grateful for what you can GIVE  of yourself to others. This is truly one of the most beautiful and tangible of gifts.  You don’t have to be rich to give your support, love and understanding to another being on this earth. Giving is free! When you give something, anything, the Universe opens up to you and surrounds you with love.  I can’t think of hearing anything better than the words “thank you.”  I can’t think of anything that feels better than GIVING.

4. Be grateful for this LIFE.  No matter what hard circumstances and challenges we encounter along the intricate and often complicated pathway of our lives, we always have the chance to make our life better. Life unfolds and expands like a beautiful tree, so stay in the light and avoid getting stuck in the shadow for too long.  Make your life into a song. Dream it and it will happen!

5. Be grateful you are the ARCHITECT of your own life.  The canvas is blank before you start painting on it.  The paths are open in every direction, so choose where you want to go.  No one else, despite the crippling belief that we are often at the mercy of life’s circumstances, can choose for you.  You are the most powerful person in your own life!  Create what you wish and watch it unfold.

6. Be grateful for your MISTAKES.  If we made no mistakes, then we would never grow.  Mistakes allow us to stand taller in their aftermath and take inventory of where we went wrong.  Think of any inventor, philosopher, scientist, or mathematician and the myriad of times they tried to break a code, solve a puzzle, failed, then went back to the drawing board until they had that ‘Eureka!” moment.  Without mistakes there would be no breakthroughs.

7. Be grateful for SOLITUDE.  When you have the chance to be alone, take it and embrace it.  In solitude we find the doorway to our inner selves.  We can’t reflect when we’re surrounded by external stimuli.  We can’t have that inner dialogue with ourselves, and tap into our higher selves – our needs, our abilities, our dreams.  Solitude is a form of meditation and a direct channel to what lies beyond our human form. It is our chance to connect to the Divine.

8. Be grateful for your HEALTH if you’ve been blessed with it, and likewise for the chance to rise above any ailment you are facing, because in the end it’s all about empowering ourselves to be strong for the sake of providing strength and inspiration to those around us. We are here to live by example, so inspire others to live better!

9. Be grateful for your POSSESSIONS, however modest they seem they are grander than they appear.  Imagine if you lost everything in a natural disaster, yet only one thing remained: a photograph, a cup, or a blanket.  Either of those things would become the most treasured mementos and objects in your life.  It’s not the quantity of our possessions, it’s the feelings they evoke in a moment of unbiased appreciation which gives us something to be grateful for.  So enjoy that fragrant single flower in a vase, and let it become your most valued possession for a moment, if not just for the simple reason that it gave its life to bring a sliver of unparalleled beauty into your world.

10.  Be grateful for your TALENTS.  Every single person is born with a talent, and the sooner you appreciate yours, the sooner you will have the chance to share your gifts with the world. Having a talent doesn’t always mean that you have to be artistically inclined.  Maybe you have a talent in being able to connect with people, tell a story, plant a garden, bake a cake. However small you think your talents are, remember they are unique gifts that only you can bring into this world.  One’s talent is like imprint of a foot in the sand. No two are alike.

Sex And The City 2: Bring It On & Keep It Up Ladies!

Last night, all giddy with excitement like a teenager eager for the Twilight sequel, I got all dressed up and went to see Sex and the City 2 with one of my girlfriends. Much to my dismay, I had heard mixed reviews about the movie.  But then again I’ve never been one to care about other people’s reviews anyway.  Taste is such a personal thing.  Besides, it’s like being a Star Trek fan – once a Trekkie always a Trekkie.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bro, by Craig Blankenhorn

What I always loved about Sex and the City is how over the years it has consistently managed to take women’s lib and kick it up a few hundred notches into the left hemisphere. Let’s be honest, women have had their naked bodies plastered on film for decades, so I’m pro exploring male nudity on camera Candace Bushnell style. Sex and the City is all about US fickle little creatures — our superfluous whims, incorrigible fantasies, obsessive genetic inclinations, and self-deprecating insecurities. And if you’re a woman, don’t even try to pretend  that you don’t fall into any of the above categories!  Throw in incredible fashions and all the IT things a girl could want, and you’ve got one major guilty pleasure.  If what I’m about to say next makes me sound even shallower, then I’m prepared to be burned at the stake like great old Savonarola (hey, at least he got a chair named after him!).

Some have dubbed the movie as too self indulgent, especially in light of the global economic crisis, exalting shallowness and excess.  Yet, I haven’t heard anybody complain about James Bond, the whole premise of which is an unrelenting extravaganza of sex and men’s gadgets that sends most members of the opposite state into an orgasmic coma.   Sex and the City is merely a take on 007, for those of us without penises.  Sorry, I cannot talk about the movie without invoking sex – after all the nomenclature speaks for itself, and to ignore that is to take away all that Betty Friedan and Bushnell have done for the further emancipation of women!  The former feminist would have never dreamed that in 2010 a sexually voracious and liberated vixen of 52, played by a glorious Kim Cattrall, would be throwing condoms at the screen and screaming at the top of her lungs in an Arab market, “Yes, I have sex! Bite me!!”

Photo courtesy of Warner Bro, by Craig Blankenhorn

That was definitely the highlight of the movie for me.  And to those critics who dubbed the movie racist or mocking Muslim culture, well, let’s be honest, those people lack a certain sense of humor or fail to understand the meaning of voyeurism through entertainment.  As a voyeur you observe and are intrigued by certain things which most of the time are not shared or are kept private.  The fact that Carrie expressed her fascination with the way Muslim women get around performing everyday tasks, including eating fast food in public while wearing a hijab, or traditional head covering, actually brings a level of humanity and realness to the character. I think it would have been actually very awkward not to address those uniquely cultural details and pieces of every day life that would intrigue any traveler – let alone an outspoken group of ladies from the Big Apple. Curiosity doesn’t spell out racism.  Speaking what’s on your mind doesn’t either.  And indulging in a guilty pleasure and spending two hours in the company of four liberated designer clad chicks who’d rather be fanned by Arab men than strut their stuff through a New York subway – well, all I can say is where do I sign up?

This movie definitely and unapologetically left me feeling good – heck, fabulous – about being a woman, stereotypes and all.  Thanks to Sex and the City we’ve transitioned beautifully into the 21^st century, and I can only hope that as time goes by we’ll continue to evolve and help other women who are less emancipated to achieve the same level of liberation – one beautiful Louboutin stiletto at a time!

Vatican says ‘Avatar’ is no masterpiece and that’s tragic!

Vatican says ‘Avatar’ is no masterpiece (AP) – Yahoo! Movies.

I must say that I am painfully dissapointed by the comments and reviews made by the Vatican on Avatar, one of the most stunning and inspiring movies ever made.  For the Vatican to comment “Not much behind the images” is actually one of the most ignorant statements ever released considering the powerful messages this film delivers.  The biggest criticism made by L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, is that the movie actually extolls Nature over Divine power encouraging the masses to pagan rather than religious worship. When was the last time religion protected our environment, prevented the extinction of species and the glaciers form melting?  Humans need to be moved and inspired in order to take a stand and make a positive change in their lives and the world.  And if the beauty and sanctity of nature cannot inspire us, nurture us, and bring us to our senses, then we are completely lost. I once hiked through the El Yunque rainforest in Puerto Rico with a few of my friends and natives of the island, and as we climbed high up nearly into the clouds to the top of this majestic waterfall one of my Puerto Rican companions suddenly stopped, took a deep breath and said “This is my church!  Look around, listen, and feel God.”  We all paused in awe and silence, and tears welled up in our eyes.  I felt so alive in that moment, so in touch with spirit, and more awakened than I had ever been.  I felt love.  I felt connected with my source, with my friends, and with the Earth.  I can’t remember ever feeling so profoundly touched while sitting in a church and listening to a sermon.  That’s not to dismiss the special dwelling that is a church and all that it represents.  But there are many ways to connect through God, and Nature is one of them!  If Avatar promotes the worship of nature then this movies has accomplished what few movies or sermons have in a very long time. I believe that art, whatever its medium, can challenge and influence people to think and open their minds and their hearts.  It can advance us, unite us, dissolve prejudices and old ways of thinking that have contributed to the demise of civilizations. When was the last time the Vatican inspired us, awed us, and encouraged us to think of the future of our planet and the responsability of human kind rather than live in the past, study the scriptures, and worship relics of the past that often keep us bound in a medieval mentality?

Thank you James Cameron for  enlightening us and bringing beauty and awareness into our hearts.  I think God is looking up from above and smiling upon you.