Saturday, December 15, 2012

MAYBE

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MAYBE

It is time to have a discussion about mental health in this country; violence in this country - as I watch the news coverage, even on Fox, an ultra conservative media outlet, when they cut to commercial after talking about psychosis and sociopathy, the immediate commercial is about an upcoming VIOLENT film with the actor having a knife in his hand ready to slash a woman. Face it, we feed off violence. Maybe somewhere people are going to say enough and our images in toys, television, film, books, games will shift; maybe we will also value the lives of countless people who die on our streets in our urban centers - the kids there who don't even ever expect to live past 18; maybe we will talk about the upsurge in hit and run car accidents where people are killed; maybe we will have a discussion about why America seems to have legions without a soul; maybe we will talk about the children we have killed as collateral damage in our wars and defense around the world; maybe we will get around to talking about PEACE - inward, outward, and demonstrated. Maybe we will get to the point of each and every one of us being the STAND that THE VIOLENCE MUST END!

© Dr. Ethel Drayton-Craig, 2012
Living An Exquisite Life ™




Monday, June 18, 2012

LIVING AN EXQUISITE LIFE




Living An Exquisite Life ™

     Exquisite living is for today…not tomorrow.  How are you living today with what you have?  Do you go about your life with exquisiteness?

     To live exquisitely we don’t have to acquire things to get to some other point.  While we have goals and visions for the future, there is no place that we must arrive, nor something we must obtain before we can start to live exquisitely. 

     Tomorrow is not promised.  Are you giving yourself the quality that you deserve today?

     One suggestion is to savor the moment.  Along the road of achievement, savor those moments that allow you to see how far you have come and how many things have been accomplished, even if there is further to go.   More on this topic in my article, Giving Yourself Credit When Credit is Due,  written for BlackLifeCoaches.Net 


     Also, Dr. Ethel Drayton-Craig’s Signature System, Living An Exquisite Life ™, will give you
the keys to living exquisitely.  For more information about how to book Dr. Drayton-Craig for a speaking engagement write, dretheldraytoncraig@gmail.com, or call, 484.695.1453.


© Dr. Ethel Drayton-Craig, 2012
Living An Exquisite Life ™

Monday, April 2, 2012

LOOSE ENDS

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The spring is here and all types of preparation have begun to ready myself for the warm weather.  This has happened sooner, rather than later because the butterflies were roaming in my yard before St. Patrick’s Day this year, and for two weeks in March we went without coats in the northeast.  My tulips bloomed and the trees popped colorful buds way before they were expected.

     As with Spring, I knew this would probably not last.  This weekend proved me right:  So, this past cold, rainy, and dreary Saturday, I cocooned in my house and began to tie up loose ends.  It was a perfect day to put music on, stay put, and tend to all the correspondence, and follow-through items that I had been planning to get to “some day”. 

     I began right after breakfast and kept at it until about 7 p.m., and I was amazed at the papers that got discarded; the letters that got written and put into envelopes with stamps on them; and the small areas of rooms that got cleaned.  At the end of the evening I had such a sense of accomplishment and freedom.  Places where my eyes saw piles; torn-off scraps of paper in my top drawer with contact information for me to get back to someone; pamphlets and letters that I wanted to inquire about; and stick-ums reminding me to do something, all got handled.

     I did not plan to devote the day to these things.  As I said, the day was ideal for it and once I got started, I stuck with it.  While it was not major spring cleaning for the house, it was essential spring cleaning for my mind!

Happy Easter.  Happy Passover.  Happy Spring!

© Dr. Ethel Drayton-Craig, 2012

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

JUST IN CASE

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     I thought I had prepared well last Friday morning – raking the leaves and creating a neat pile of them at the end of my property line.  At least if the snow came, the existing leaves would not become mush on my lawn, I thought.  I was also delighted that I had acquired a radio with power alternatives consisting of a rechargeable battery, solar panel, and a crank option.  I had food in the house.

     On Saturday morning I saw that the October snow had begun to fall a half day earlier than expected.  Smart me decided to begin to cook two large pots of food just in case power went off and I did not have access to my electronic ignition gas stove and oven.  Things were going well, it seemed.  Every now and then lights would flicker.  I ran to the store for not more than 15 minutes and saw how deceiving things were from my home window.  There were downed limbs across stretches of road.  The streets seemed as if a giant Slurpee machine dumped gallons of the stuff on them.  Traffic light after traffic light were inoperable.  I returned home quickly only to find emergency vehicles at a location I had just traveled because of a downed tree limb. 

     Glad to be home just past mid-day, I decided to update family about how things were.  As I typed on the computer I lost power to the house.  That was that!  So I rounded up candles, the emergency lights, and the radio just in case. 

     “Just In Case” lasted 3 days!  My radio, books, candles, lanterns, and food kept me comfortable as I watched a chunk of my tree fall on the side of my house.  There was no heat in addition to no lights.  I was smart to take rapidly thawing food to a dear friend’s house after 24 hours.  She had her electricity restored.  I had saved the charge on my cell phone by having it shut off when not in use.  I had a landline telephone in one room that worked independent of the cordless phones in the electrically powered cradles in which they sat. 

     I was lucky.  I had hot water and I had stove top gas.  Monday morning was a revelation, however.  After listening to the radio of all the school and business closings, and still with no power, I decided to head for warmth at Starbucks where I could sit and use my computer.  I also decided to bring my adapters for the radio and lantern so I could charge them in the process.  By 11:00 A.M.  Starbucks was packed and people were sitting in the frigid cold with laptops plugged in the sockets on the gazebo walls. 

     I hightailed it to Barnes & Noble and it looked like the day after Christmas there!  People were on the floors with computers, people walked around the store with computers in hand, looking for an open socket.  Every pillar socket was taken with people charging phones, computers, and emergency gadgets.  There were long lines for food and coffee.  Suddenly, I realized that a chair was a prized possession.  A chair!  How simple Life became in a crisis.
A chair was as good as gold.  A socket was even more valuable.

     With all of our technology, best plans, and forethought, I see that the gizmos and gadgets are only as good as a charge.  In a serious crisis our cities are not equipped to handle the volume of need – this we see played out over and over.  I think I will really give serious thought and action to contingency plans given the numerous climatic events around the globe and earth rumblings.  After all, with all of this, winter did not even get here yet!

     I am grateful for caring friends and neighbors because that is what makes a difference for all of us in times of need and crisis.

© Dr. Drayton-Craig, 2011