If Thanksgiving is about gratitude, Christmas is about giving—and receiving. We give to get something in return even if it is a thanks from recognition of having given. We give in turn to say, 'Thank you for your kindness.' Sometimes giving is from gratitude that we have more than others. So, volunteer at soup kitchens, give old clothes to thrift stores, or drop change into Salvation Army buckets. Sometimes we give simply for the sake of it to say, 'I'm thinking of you. You have a special place in my heart.' Those are the most wonderful gifts to give and receive.

When giving during the holidays, we must prepare that recipients don't always return the feelings, thus, often don't even say, 'Thank you.' Giving, sometimes makes others uncomfortable. To understand their rudeness we must put their shoes on our feet.

If someone whom we hardly know or really don't wa...

I wrote this maxim more than two decades ago that says, 'Joy, we must look for, misery will find us.' Well, maybe not always.

Decades ago, when I was in acting school, an assignment for the following week was to express joy. I had no problem with the other emotions we were to emulate. Yet, I had no idea what joy felt like. While walking down Highland, passing Hollywood Boulevard, just past where I worked at Max Factor, suddenly, what I could only describe as joy seized me. A better description is that it passed through me. Wow! Is that what joy feels like?!

At the time, I had no idea what was the modus operandi of suddenly experiencing joy. Now, of course, I know. It was the same as when suddenly I began crying and stopped just as quickly without any reason for doing so, wondering, 'What the heck was that all about?' Then I went about my business.

Today...

That move us along aren't always gentle.

Life Paths aren't limited to numerology definitions. If reincarnation is reality then our existence ebbs and flows like the sea to the shore. It moves throughout the Universe and is not limited to this dimensional space. Why we exist and what is our purpose are good questions that multitudes have asked over aeons.

Some think we are to serve a god or higher power. If meaning that we are to learn goodness, nothing can be wrong with that. Genuflecting for favors, however, seems like bargaining with our souls. Also, if we exist merely to accumulate wealth, we may very well limit our existence to this earth plane. Would the Universe have long-term use for those with this limited self-serving mentality?

Apart from numerology Life Path numbers, we may have a Life Path job, mission, assignment, or duty that we accepted. This duty sure...

Being broken doesn't always mean that we are the victims of others. It may mean that we have victimized others, so broke ourselves when doing so. The philosophy that says when we hurt others, we only hurt ourselves has validity when realizing the tangible process. When we come to terms with hurting others and are truly remorseful we make up for it in many ways.

When the first Cave Man clobbered the first Cave Woman over the head and dragged her into the cave, he erred against her. He may have only thought he was being clever to get what he wanted, but did that really make a difference to her? She may have held him accountable for her headache and abuse. When Roman soldiers raped and pillaged, they may have told themselves that they were only following orders, but did the victims care? Presidential candidates who are trying to eliminate the EPA may be, satisfying their donors. Ho...

That's a question we will all face sooner or later. Perhaps, though not always possible, being sooner is better.

Dogma walks on a tight leash and has no tolerance for straying. Burning, beheading, battering behaviors are all consequences embedded into subconscious minds from eons of past lives to remind Seekers not to do so. Not only the Punished, but the Perpetrators live among us. Some extract pleasure from their beliefs as it is my contention that some sociopaths use religion to justify their own demented desires by torturing those they consider heretics. Some use and have used religion to control others. They are impotent to the winds of change, feeling securer when oppressing others by their beliefs whether true or not. Some people will lie to themselves and others to keep faith with their doctrines, defiantly and desperately clinging to their illusions. Some with re...

I've been chewing on this title for sometime. I didn't know how to approach it. I don't like to write frivolous blogs unless I have something to say. I leave that to my Twitter nnnTheCode feed. Anyway, I'm sure that I've alluded to this topic before. So what was there to say, really? I dropped it.

In this morning's early hours the 'Universe' gave me a gift. My heart is still swelling and joyous tears still form over it. I may have to stop writing from time to time to blow my nose and compose myself.

In my earlier posts, you may have read a tribute to my cat Patch that I inserted at the end of a blog, unrelated to his death. If no person on this planet ever loved me, I know that cat did . . . does.

Strangers loved Patch. People, young and old, males and females would come up to him when seeing him, exclaiming their love. One li...

. . . Shouldn't we throw them out?

Yet 'he' says, 'I will always be your God. So, no matter what I do to you, you must accept it with good grace.' Isn't this the creed that most religious believers live by? Because well, 'he' knows best. Don't those who live by such tenets prove they are better than their gods who caused the damage and expect or accept no blame? If it isn't clear what the aggrieved should do, perhaps some analogies will make it more so.

Acting like demigods, members of Congress and the Executive Branch put themselves in charge of the rest. They do the same thing that gods do. Isn't it the same as Congress saying, 'People are going to have to get used to the fact that we made promises we aren't going to be able to keep?' Just as when politicians send young men and women to wars, and when they return broken, Congress and the Executive Branch cut funding to r...

Or, is it that no real love or friendship existed in the first place?

I'm meeting many more people who, upon greater evidence, aren't really married. They gave all the signals, but when it came down to it, did not formally say 'I dos' that tied the knots.

Okay, so tax laws are restrictive. When married women work they lose Social Security benefits, receiving only the husband's, if they remain united into old age. Of course, if the woman made more money, the man can opt to share in her benefits, but not his. The big one is really that if another either of them fancies more comes along, breaking up isn't then so hard to do. The penchant of waiting for someone better really seems a male wont. Generally, women work harder to please than men do. Men are too used to having women cater to them from past societal structures—wrong as they were.

Have we lost the ability ...

A politically correct society is constantly asking us to be tolerant of alternative lifestyles. The faster that society moves, the more extreme that lifestyles become. The 'Animal Planet,' 'History Channel,' or another channel, I can't remember, recently reported that in India, the society allows citizens to marry pets, even if pets are alligators. Okay. Just don't expect many three-ways.

When checking this out, the always available Internet said that they do it out of superstition. According to Yahoo Answers, they do whatever their 'god men' tell them to do.

'They fall prey to the so-called god men who are out to make a quick buck. They do whatever these guys tell them to, whether it is marrying an animal, a tree or killing newborns. It all boils down to ignorance and the greed to succeed in whatever they want to do. You can go to this site for news reports of...

Becoming irrelevant is easy. The phone can stop ringing for a myriad of reasons: we become ill, our children left the nest, friends moved away or got too busy, etc. We can no longer look to our family and friends for validation. Believing that whatever we have to say or give is no longer of worth can be a dispiriting feeling.

I once gave a performance for one audience member. I gave that one person the same performance I'd give to a filled house. He paid his money. He deserved my best. In fact, the pressure was off. He probably got a better performance.

Human beings are reliably unreliable. This is merely a fact of being human when we are blessed with aspirations, whether those desires are to tend to a family or a career.

Remaining reliable is a test on its own. Setting priorities is an important lesson. So, if we understand that our offspring and friends have their ...