1296 WELCOMING MEXICO WHILE RELAXING

2015
Let's bid a warm welcome to our friends in Mexico ...
79 nations and counting :)

I'm still not in a writing mood, suggestive of the fact that
Aging is not for sissies, meaning my body is still achy, so
I've booked a massage, Followed by blood tests, ordered by
My opthomologist in readiness for cataract surgery, which is
Coming up in two weeks time, and after that appointment ... It's date night ...
And with my plate so full, that's all I'll say for today, except for
The addition of one specific insight, which, from time to time
Feels need to pop out of my mind and onto your screen and mine:

With hindsight, an expanded sense of objective reflection has been known to change my perspective of that which had once felt so wrong as to cause me to heap undeserved guilt upon my own head, and in keeping with 'my first thought's not always my best thought' (because, generally speaking, first thoughts are born of emotional reactions based in 'what will others think of my decision'), I've gained insight into the importance of re-evaluating mindsets absorbed early on, most especially mindsets, which blinded me to layers of guilt, which weighed so heavy on my head that I could not see how often I'd pressured myself to meet the needs of others to the exclusion of my own.  And not until a door (labeled Adventures in Self Discovery) opened inside my brain (where insight drew me to embark upon a never-ending quest for self awareness), did the mountain of self-imposed guilt, which I'd unknowingly shouldered since childhood, begin to lighten, little by little, over these past twenty years of my life.  And not until the extrovert, I knew myself to be, grew introspective did my inner life begin to match the attitude of sparkling, high spirited courage with which I'd faced the world, and as all of me works, presently, to reconsider beliefs that had undermined my sense of wholeness, I find my mind wholly embracing a peaceful sense of inner balance, whereby emotion and logic intermingle, coherently, so many layers deep within my mind as to have created a sense of inner calmness that cannot be unseated by external noise, and thus has my decision-making process gained the patient sense of self respect necessary to permeate my entire being within such a zen-like state that I am astounded at the degree to which my ability to coach others to embrace a positively focused, patient attitude, concerning change for the better, continues to strengthen.  And if you ask, how did that come to be?  I'd serenely reply:  Over these past twenty years, I've grown so full of knowing all aspects of myself that emotional chaos, swirling around me, can't permeate my personal space, where a balanced sense of the peaceful person I've consciously worked to become reigns supreme, not over the minds of others, but rather over all of the traits that make me uniquely ... Me.

As presently, I'm looking forward to relaxing while relieving 'achiness' that accompanies more birthdays than my youthful attitude and spirit can believe, your friend, Annie, is off to place herself in the experienced hands of a well-trained massage therapist, who is about to do for me that which I cannot do for myself ... And with a brief salute to division of labor, nuff said for today :)