Why I have conversations

I have conversations as because I like hearing what other people have to say. I don’t mind the amount of people I have a conversation with but I enjoy conversations because of what and how people speak about different topics.

I have conversations mostly to gain some sort of knowledge. I tend to end a conversation when I feel it is not going anywhere and that I cannot learn anything from it. I have conversations to gain some sort of understanding. I tend to question things from different people, from different countries, different religions and even similar backgrounds.

I have conversations to say the things that need to be said. I tend to tell jokes, be sarcastic and give advice. Most importantly I have conversations to initiate conversations. I tend to make friends by starting of conversations of similar interests. When I’m with a group of friends I tend to bring them closer through conversations.

And if this was not a blog topic, this would be another topic for a conversation because I would have liked to hear what you would have to say.

Here are 100 Things That Make Me Happy.

1.   Knowing that my Mom is being taken care of.

2.  Chocolate. I am a woman, after all.

3. Having a sense of purpose in life.
4. Having a family that loves me no matter what and knowing that they will be there for me when I need them.
5. Knowing that I can afford to support myself and be independent.
6. Having friends who put up with me, even though I drive them crazy sometimes

7. Being able to write articles that touch lives.

8. Buying any book that I want, whenever I want to.

9. Taking the time to read my favourite books over and over and over again with no interruptions.

10. Taking up writing again and publishing articles on my own site.

11. Publishing an article that I worked really hard writing.
12. Learning something new.
13. Helping someone solve a problem in their life, especially if it’s something that has been an issue for a long time.
14. Being given a compliment, particularly when I’m feeling down.
15. Having someone say Yes to me when I was sure that they would say No.
16. Being debt-free and not owing any money to anyone.
17. Going to see a movie with my best friend.
18. Being asked for advice because someone respects my opinion.
19. Sleeping in on a Saturday morning and not having any firm plans for the day.
20. It makes me happy knowing that I’ve travelled to some places in the world that others haven’t.
21. Going for a walk with no destination in mind.

22. Knowing that I have invested in my future and my retirement funds are growing daily.

23. Watching HDTV on my big screen LCD TV.
24. Receiving money in the mail or my Paypal account unexpectedly.

25. Watching the notebook back-to-back. They are two of my favourite movies.

26. Getting an email from a reader telling me how something I’ve written has helped them.
27. An unexpected hug from a family member.
28. Smelling freshly-mown grass and feeling it under my bare feet.
29. Being pleasantly surprised by someone special.
30. Doing what I want, when I want to.
31. Travelling to Las Vegas every year makes me happy and it gives me something to look forward to.

32. Going out to dinner with friends.

33. Receiving flowers, particularly my favourites – tulips.
34. Getting an unexpected bonus at work.
35. Working on my site and knowing that I’m making a difference.
36. Receiving a phone call from a friend out of the blue and talking to them for hours.
37. Looking out my balcony and just enjoying the street scene below.

38. Knowing that I graduated university and that no one can take my credentials away from me since I accomplished them.

39. Going on a picnic on a nice warm summer day.
40. Being responsible for my own happiness. It’s kind of circular, I know. But, it’s also true.
41. Knowing that I am not just sitting around, but am actively working on creating a better future.

42. Going outside and enjoying nature.

43. Calling someone who I’ve been thinking of and making their day.
44. Listening to some jazz music on a lazy Sunday afternoon.
45. Being asked to guest-post on other sites. It makes me happy to be asked.
46. Attending a concern of one of my favourite singers.
47. Going swimming and feeling the water all around me.
48. Attending birthday parties and celebrating with friends and family.

49. Being appreciated at work and feeling that what I do makes a difference.

50. Having supportive friends who give me great advice when I particularly need it.
51. Having clean, crisp sheets on my bed.
52. Being inside when there’s a thunderstorm outside. Being able to watch thunder and lightning and seeing the majesty of mother nature.
53. Recognizing some Spanish phrases from my two Spanish night-courses and being able to speak it a little bit.
54. Getting a letter in the mail from a friend.

55. Having a guest-post published on my site and it receiving a great response.

56. Being appreciated for who I am and not what I can give.
57. Going on a long bike ride.
58. Knowing that I can book a plane ride back to Toronto and stay with friends any time I want to.
59. Looking at the posters that I brought back from Rome, Paris, and Boston hanging on my walls.
60. Reliving some of the moments I spent travelling with my friends.
61. Going on a road trip with my friends.
62. Decorating my home the way that I want it decorated and painted.
63. Being with my friends, just enjoying each other’s company.
64. Making dinner for people that I love.
65. Going camping for a long weekend.
66. Going to my favourite sushi place for lunch.
67. Three and four-day long weekends.
68. Having all my bills paid.
69. Having money in my chequing, savings, and investment accounts.
70. Eating ice cream, particularly Haagen Dazs.
71. Having a clean apartment.
72. Attending night school and learning something that I’ve always been interested in.
73. Realizing that what I thought was so hard years ago, didn’t turn out to be so hard after all.
74. Having the courage to move cities and jobs and not be stuck or settle.
75. Knowing that no matter what, I will figure things out.
76. Being able to give things to my family.
77. My new MacBook Pro computer and knowing that it’s paid for.
78. Going through my digital pictures and remembering all the great memories associated with the pictures.
79. Laughing with my friends and just being silly.
80. Seeing fireworks live, rather than on TV.
81. Writing on my next ebook and knowing that it can help so many more people.

82. Having a fully-funded emergency fund and being prepared, just in case.

83. Doing something that I thought I would never get the courage to do.
84. My online friends and the support they give me.
85. Dressing up and making an effort on my appearance makes me feel confident, which makes me feel happy.
86. Working out and feeling my sore muscles the next day. Knowing that I’m doing something for my health makes me happy.

87. Looking at my vision board and knowing that I’ve already accomplished some things that are on there.

88. Going to the grocery store and buying my favourite foods, and not caring what they cost.
89. Coming up with the perfect word when I’m struggling with my writing.
90. Getting great feedback from the readers of my site.
91. Seeing people share my articles with others.
92. Watching my favourite cartoons, especially episodes that I haven’t seen before.
93. Reading a new book and being wonderfully surprised at good it was and then sharing it with my friends.
94. Walking to work through the grounds of the Legislature Building with the water fountain, green grass, and beautiful statues every weekday.

95. Learning from my past mistakes and growing as a person.

96. Giving what I can to other people who are less fortunate than I am.
97. A good night’s sleep.
98. Being creative and making something crafty with my hands.
99. Getting out my paints, brushes and easel and just starting to paint.
100. It makes me happy knowing that I don’t have any major health concerns, unlike so many others.

My big fat BIG dream

A place where fresh coffee is always brewing and the sofas are so big you can sink into them. With bookshelves lining the left wall and poetry on the right. It'd be an insomniacs paradise, open 24 hours a day and always cooking up a storm. A snug little refuge where old and new friends gather, where lovers whisper to each other behind old books and family come to indulge their sweet tooth.

So I've always had this dream and perhaps it's a bit random, but my big dream isn't really that big at all. I've always wanted to own my own little bakery and coffee shop. A cute, cosy little place that's always warm and sends smells of cinnamon and vanilla travelling down the street, luring passers-by to come inside.
The food would of course be out of this world amazing, with everything from halloumi and avo bagels to Nutella and banana pancakes. Oh and cupcakes of course, there'd be plenty of those. The aroma of home-made hot chocolate with a hint of chilli to warm you on wintry nights and refreshing age old recipe ginger beer or lemonade for those hot summer days.

My dream is to have a place where people come together to share. Share food, share love, share life stories, share time, share dreams  and visions, share ideas and inspirations. Beacuse after all, sharing is caring....and that's my big fat BIG dream

Conventional is a good fallback position isn't it?

Change is a word that a vast number of people dread. For many change means uncertainty, a feeling of not knowing what to expect, the inability to plan and the constant worry whether or not you will be able to embrace the change or not. Change in most situations is inevitable, in one's personal life, at the office and in day to day activities. Imagine how boring life would be, if you knew exactly what to expect each day, you would reach a point when you no longer were challenged. Is this a reality that you can accept? For many not being challenged, staying in one's comfort zone and going about your own business is what makes your world go round. Is this a way to live? Are you fulfilled knowing exactly what to expect each day, does this add a level of security to your life?

In any situation change is bound to be a factor whether you want to embrace it or not. The more one resists the change the harder it will be to eventually adopt the change. In many situations if you do not adopt or embrace the change you will eventually be left behind. Its important to adjust your attitude, identify the positive impacts of the change, consider the new challenges and allow yourself to make mistakes and learn from them.

You can’t chase two rabbits at the same time

The old saying goes:  If you chase two rabbits, both will escape. With today’s modern times we find ourselves forced to chase two rabbits at the same time.

As much as we find ourselves chasing two rabbits all the time, it is very hard to catch them at the same time. You might have caught one, and the other one runs away. Multi tasking comes with a heavy price most of the times. This especially impacts on the modern woman, who wants to do it all. I mean achieve her career goals and still be the perfect wife and mother. Women are tired of just chasing one rabbit, or at times are forced to chase more than one rabbit.

It has become doable, but at a price in most cases, as a focused career woman cannot focus as much as she would want to in raising her children. It was made easy for women in the days gone by, however it also marginalized them, as it limited them from powerful positions in societies around the world. So it was up to a few women to start by showing other women across the world that it can be done.

So if I were to be asked about catching two rabbits at the same time, I would say, depends if you want to hold both the rabbits dearly in your arms.

Have you figured out the second head fake?

 “It's not about how to achieve your dreams. It's about how to lead your life. If you lead your life the right

way, the karma will take care of itself. The dreams will come to you.” Randy Pausch

I am a huge believer in the above statement. I think that the energy you put out into the world will always come back to you, maybe not through the same channels or straight away, but it will.

But it is not only for this reason that it is important to live life in a positive manner. It is also important to have dreams. Dreams can come true if we really want them to. As Pausch said in his last lecture, the walls (obstacles) are there just to keep those who don’t want things badly enough from getting to them. If it is your dream you will want it badly enough.

So dream away and go chasing after them. Live fully and live well to bring good karma into your life.  What goes around comes around.

Andy Warhol said, “In the future everybody will be world famous for fifteen minutes.” You can’t choose the 15minutes but why would you be world famous?

With the world growing at such a rapid rate I do to some extent think that we may be famous, not by name, but for anything less than 15minutes. And I’m not talking about the people who are already famous, just us normal folk. Also some of us don’t really want to be famous, we just chill in the background and keep a low profile.

I believe that this is where being online comes in, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or even just you attending a party once upon a time. I do not however think that everybody will be world famous for 15minutes, simply because there are still a large number of people who unaccounted for. Also if we were to be famous in the future we would probably not all have exactly 15minutes of fame.

I may have had my ‘less than 15minutes’ moment already, but it was not what I wanted to be famous for. And like the blog topic says, ‘you can’t choose it’ I’d say that time did not happen. I can’t choose the 15 minutes but i would be world famous for inventing machinery that generates electricity, without fossil fuels, at a cheaper rate for everyone. Bold but watch this space.