Tag: Family

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we tend to forget about those we care about along the way


oldfamIn the hustle and bustle of our modern world we tend to forget about those we care about along the way. Have you called your mom, dad, siblings or old friends? Have you told your mate how much they mean to you and how much you love them today? Have you had any quality time with your children today? When is the last time you sat down at the kitchen table and had a family meal and converse with your family about what happened today? It is so easy to allow work, stress, TV time and the everyday routine get in the way of sharing your life and time with those you love.

 

Just some thoughts for today.

Raymond Barbier

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The Family unit is the foundation to ones entire life


p10061  Slow down and enjoy the little moments that make life so wonderful, for life is too short to waste it rushing around blind to the beauty of this world. Stop putting your job and or career before your family, friends and your own life. Yes we all must work, but working is not the sole purpose or meaning to our existence. Having fun with friends and family as well as some alone time are all  important parts to our short life that we live. We started working so we can pay the bills and to provide a decent lifestyle for ourselves and our family, but if that work consumes all of our time it leaves both ourselves and our families lacking in quality time together. It seems it is rare for a family to sit down and eat at the kitchen table anymore, daddy is at work, mommy is juggling being a mother and a working woman as the children run to their electronic escapes from the world.

The family unit is slowly dissolving or morphing into something with little closeness and that is very dysfunctional. Luckily there are still some families that function quite well, but they are becoming far and few between in this modern world. The family unit is where children learn their life skills and develop their emotional blueprints to their adult selves. For one of the most important things in life is the family unit and we need to start focusing on its development.  Though it may be hard to balance time between work, family, friends and yourself but it is a crucial element in the development of children to have a good home life. It will take an effort from every person within the family to maintain a functional family, every one will have to sacrifice something in order to make time to be together. For those sacrifices they will gain family closeness and well as love and respect between the family members.

The Family unit is the foundation to ones entire life, for a strong foundation can create a sturdy infrastructure.

May Love, Faith, Hope and wisdom guide your every footstep.
Raymond Barbier

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To be stuck in such a vicious cycle


p10303 I have noticed a lot of people who go through life stuck in a vicious cycle of buying , using and wanting something more. It seems nobody can be satisfied with what they have, they want the newest and best of everything there is. Even when the newest isn’t necessarily better than what they already have. It doesn’t seem to stay just in the materialistic end of the spectrum, it is in every part of the modern psyche. From your house to your soul mate, nothing is ever good enough or there is greener grass on the other side of the fence. To be stuck in such a vicious cycle consumes your finances, energy and your happiness. The temporary gratification from the new wears off quickly leaving you wanting more. It seems modern society is addicted to consumerism and needs to reevaluate its priorities as well as its habits.

We need to revisit the ways of our grandparents and great grandparents, they lived their life in simplicity and only bought mostly only what they needed. They would buy a few luxuries but they knew happiness came from the people around them not trinkets or toys they can buy. There is nothing wrong with buying a few things you want but you should not be consumed with having every new version that comes out. Seems this generation and the generation growing up are stuck with the mentality that everything is disposable and replaceable. Shame is that this is not just limited to possessions, it also includes people in their lives. If a lover isn’t perfect just dump them and get a new one, if grandma is becoming a burden dump her into a rest home. If a friend becomes boring or disagrees with you toss them aside like a used tissue. This kind of mentality is corroding the core of society and eventually there will be nothing sacred or valuable in our world.

Family, friends and community should be the first priority for each one of us, keeping up with the Joneses or having the biggest and newest shouldn’t be a concern. For what makes lasting happiness is in the social groups we form and not in the trinkets we gather along the way. Since life is but a temporary state for all of us, we should live life in peace and loving one another instead of satisfying our selfish wants. I look at it in this way, I am not the only person or living creature on this planet. Thus I am not the center of the universe or even this planet. I share this world with so many and should enjoy the fact I have some great company here on earth. I will not always agree with them all, but I will always accept them as fellow travelers of this path called life.

Wrong or right, This is my 2 cents worth.

Raymond Barbier

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The family that eats, plays, prays and works together stays together.


dd43853The family unit is one of the most important part of society. Without a functional family unit t individuals would have no preparation for the harsh realities of life we all face. Some families are more functional than others and there are some that are quite dysfunctional. One of the shortcomings I see in modern-day families is that once the children approach the preteen and/or teen years the family group activities diminish if not cease to exist. Without family group activities the communications between the family members become less frequent as well as the trust that the family should have. The once close connection between parents and children break down as well as the connection between siblings. I had first hand experience with some of the problems mentioned above. I watched what once was a close family drift apart as I grew older.

I know that some of it is just a part of growing up, but it seems families are not as close as they once were and that the basic communication skills are lacking in the family unit. The family that eats, plays, prays and works together stays together. The family unit is a child‘s first social group along with its only true support structure. The child learns right from wrong, how to communicate with others and how to relate with the world outside through this or her family. Eventually the family unit will become second to the child’s social peers, and if there was not a strong bond amongst the family unit the social peers will be the social group that will influence the child the most.

The children and teens of today are the leaders, thinkers and the creative force of tomorrow. They are our greatest asset and the family unit is our greatest tool in molding and shaping their future as well as our own. Just something for all you out there to think about .

Peace and Wisdom be your Guiding light in life.
Raymond Barbier

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Has left most of us without the knowledge and/or tools to survive


Great Depression: man dressed in worn coat lyi...

I was just sitting here thinking about how my grandparents lived without running water, electricity and lived off the food they grew / raised. My grandmother was born in 1902 and she lived through 2 world wars along with Korea, Vietnam, the first gulf war and many other little wars / conflicts our nation had been involved with. She told me of how her dad would be gone for months doing odd jobs and how her and the rest of the family would live on the vegetables from the garden and on what eggs and game they could raise or trap. I really wonder how many of us could survive now days if we had to live off the land and have to garden, forage and hunt or trap our food. To live without central heating / air conditioning or running water. Mend or make our clothes out of what material we can find, cook on campfire since most of us do not have a wood burning stove like my grandma did. Live without light since most of us don’t have enough candles or even a kerosene / oil lamp nor oil to burn in them.

For the most part our grandparents or great grandparents were quite self-sufficient and lived a sustainable lifestyle. They knew the correct way to prioritize and how to manage their resources what little they had anyway. To be honest we can learn a lot from our grandparents and those who lived in the 19th to early 20th century. If my grandmother was alive today and a catastrophe struck she would be the one id run to. she would know exactly how to survive on the bare necessities and would know all the old remedies etc. Modern technology and conveniences has left most of us without the knowledge and/or tools to survive a long-lasting disaster. Good thing is that it’s still not too late to educate ourselves and prepare a little for the uncertain future.

 

Well enough babbling for now
Peace and Love to all
Raymond Barbier

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Allow distractions to interfere with our lives


100_0063Life is short and full of distractions, if we allow ourselves to be distracted by things we tend to overlook and neglect the people who are important to us. So many things left unsaid and undone every day because of our willingness to allow distractions to interfere with our lives. We tend to put our families, friends and lovers on the back burner to our jobs and sometimes to our recreational activities. This can create tension in our relationships and usually it tends to create an unhappy atmosphere. I do not think that anyone purposely puts their career or recreation above their family, lovers or friends. I believe for the most part it is you start working more hours and etc. to give your family a better life financially. Our society has went from one that focused on the family and on making sure they had food, cloths, a roof over their head along with a good education to more of a materialistic society. Sure we still focus on the family and try to give them the necessities but we also try to make sure we keep up with the Jones’s next door.

  Trying to keep up with the Jones’s and Smith’s is one of those distractions that takes away the time and energy that could be focused on your family, lover and friends. Possessions can be stolen, lost and will eventually either break down or become obsolete unlike the love and companionship of friends and family.Maybe a camping trip or fishing trip with the kids and spouse would be better than buying a new game console for the kids or that atv. Togetherness and sharing experiences is what builds strong relationships along with good character in children.Family outings teaches children the importance of family and even friends.

  Now there isn’t anything wrong with wanting to give your family the things it wants along with the things it needs as long as you don’t work so many hours you are at loss for time to enjoy life with them. Now don’t get me wrong, I do understand one must work to pay the bills and keep a roof over their head. But you should always try to find time to spend with the family and worry less about the less important thing like luxury items.There is always a way to balance out things and a way to both give the family what it need and some of the things they want. We all just need to evaluate everything in our lives and prioritize with the family as the main focus.

“Family is the foundation of the life we live”

Raymond Barbier

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Blessings, Curses and Thanksgiving


The First Thanksgiving, painted by Jean Leon G...

With Thanksgiving coming up, I thought I should write about thankfulness. To be thankful for all that you have is to realize that you are blessed even if your life is a mess. Look at me for example, I am 800 miles away from family and friends in several directions and lead a pretty dull life. Yet I am thankful for the family that I still have and for having the friends I do even though they are so far away. Age is catching up to me and my health isn’t as good as I would like I am still generally healthy and thankfully I have awoke to see another day.

Too many of us focus on what is bad or causes us ill in our life way too much and rarely look at the blessings that are in our life. No matter how big or small a blessing may seem they all are equally important and should be equally cherished. Life is way to short not to focus on the blessings we have and defiantly too short to ponder on our curses.

So on this Thanksgiving take a good look at all the things that are blessings in your life and give thanks for them.

Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving

R. Barbier

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