Watching tv is a bit of a gamble at the moment.  Especially right now I guess with Melbourne Cup day tomorrow.  That sort of thing is not what I am thinking of.
So often Merril and I will be watching a show on tv.  It may be a renovation show or nature thing.  Right in the middle of it is an ad for some other station that might be horror.  If we had been interested in that, we would have been watching it.  The fact we are where we are is because we did not want to watch that sort of thing.  Yet it is thrust on us.
One thing has been really noticeable to me recently and that is how negative and shocking most of the new series are.
It is not like I am a “bury my head in the sand” person and pretend something does not exist, but I choose to avoid some things.  If I wanted to take a deep dive into it, there are plenty of places I could go.
But what I want is to think about things that inspire and lift up and show the best in people.  Certain things I may know about or have experienced, but my aim is to assist out of, not to participate.
It is amazing but I found that so much that entraps or pulls down appears attractive initially.  I enter things like “I’ve got this.”  But I soon find “it’s got me” instead.  I do not want to go there.  Once bitten twice shy I guess.
I want to promote the best self in myself and others.  I will not enable entrapment but attempt to enable freedom for anyone who chooses such a thing.  I am a great believer in choice.  I will not attempt to force my will on another but will, if given opportunity, tell of what I have found to be the case, or tell of what another has found to be the case.
I guess for me it all comes back to choice.  I will choose what builds up every time and assist anyone who pursues the same.

What I am talking about today is like a gratitude part two.
Yesterday Merril and I knew was going to be a big day.  We had set up Friday afternoon for having a thank you lunch for a number of volunteers.  It’s funny, but just as an aside, helping out is just their nature.  We had set it so that volunteers would not need to do anything.  We figured they do heaps throughout the year, and we would try to make it so they did not need to do anything.
That did not work when it came to finishing up.  They were washing up and repositioning chairs for the next event and putting away tables.  Oh well, we tried.
We had ordered Subway for 40.  I was actually so impressed with what was provided.  It was delicious.  Not everyone who said they could make it did.  The reason I was least expecting was Covid.  One person who was keen to be there had tested positive for covid so could not make it.  Others were on holidays or celebrating birthdays.
It was probably just as well not everyone could be there as we did not end up with much left over.  We topped it off with ice cream and fruit salad.  Thankfully one of the volunteers helped with serving that.
Merril and I had run a market in the morning and the N3C food pantry was in operation.  We were pretty cactus.  I would not swap anything but must admit I was happy when we were heading home.
It really was a good time.  Except maybe the trivia questions.  I got them from the web and it said they were the easy ones.  If that was the case, I would not like to see the hard ones.  We had prizes of 1st, 2nd and 3rd.  The winner got six right.  Third was three.
One question everyone would have got.  I accidently read out the answer before asking the question.  I told them that, then read the question.  Everyone seemed to know the answer.
Anyway the point was a thank you.  I felt that was conveyed.  To me so often the volunteers are the unsung heroes.  Volunteers are often the hands and feet of great ideas.

Merril is doing study at the moment.  The particular topic she is covering right now is personal development.  One of the tasks she has, is to write a gratitude diary.  I actually think that is a great idea.  I reckon I have heaps to be grateful for.
It is interesting to me that that sort of thing helps me maintain a balance.  I reckon there are a lot of problems.  Heaps of doom and gloom.  To me it is out there.  My role is to, (where I can) alleviate suffering.  I so want to be part of the answer rather than part of the problem.
I have found that whatever I concentrate on grows bigger.  If I concentrate only on problems which for sure exist, I can become unbalanced and “take my work home with me” as it were. Yet I really want to make sure that I am seeing both sides of life, and experiencing as best I can the aspiration I promote.
That to me is where a gratitude diary is important.  It helps me to see there is another side to problems, and that life is more than a continuous difficulty.
So right now I am thinking of the things I have that I am thankful for.  I am thankful for a good wife who has similar aspirations.  I am thankful our differences cause of to grow and make us more complete and better people.  I am thankful for her personality.  I am thankful she loves me despite my flaws.  I am thankful for her talents of which I am in awe.
I am thankful for the block of land we live on.  I am thankful it is big enough to be a challenge but small enough not to overwhelm.  I am thankful for the birds that feel comfortable enough to wander the yard.  I am thankful Merril is not into the willy nilly spraying of pesticides.  I am thankful Merril loves life.  I am thankful for family and friends.  I am thankful for hobbies.  I am thankful for challenges that keep me growing even in older age.  I am thankful for days off where I can just veg if I want to.
I really have a lot to be thankful for.  Bad things happen for sure, and I would prefer they did not occur, but I have done a little experiment and even those contain good if I look.