This is a very important question.

Who do you allow to impact the course of your life and the decisions that dictate that course?

Let’s look at some potential influencers:

YOUR SPOUSE OR SIGNIFICANT OTHER?

I would imagine you are greatly influenced by your life partner.

YOUR FRIENDS?

We all want to have friends and be accepted by them. This makes them strong influencers.

YOUR POLITICAL PARTY?

There is tremendous animosity and strong emotional rivalry between the two major political parties. Are you swept up in it and how great a power does it have over you?

YOUR EMPLOYER?

Your major source of financial security is in the hands of your employer. How likely are you to reflect your employer’s value system?

YOUR ETHNIC GROUP?

Are you a member of a certain ethnic group? If so, does your ethnicity greatly affect your decision making?

I think it might be a good idea to review those who influence your decisions and make changes if necessary!

If not today, when?

Where are you headed in your life?

What values are in place that will never be compromised?

Are there additional values that you will become committed to?

How about the priorities of your life?

Are they in the right order or should some of them be re-arranged?

How about the loves in your life?

Do loved ones get frequent reminders of the depth of your love for them?

How many issues in your life make you happy?

How many make you sad and can hopefully be corrected?

As I look back on my 80 years of living, I realize that a value system, priorities, love and personal happiness greatly impact “The Journey!”

It’s your journey.

Make it count!

If not today, when?

 

Large UK companies are required to reveal their gender pay gaps. But the rules are failing to address inequality, according to a new report.

The research, by the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London and the Fawcett Society, concludes that the UK’s mandatory gender pay gap reporting, which came into effect in 2017, “has no teeth” and is less effective than other global reporting systems which require a commitment to change.

Researchers analyzed pay gap reporting systems in six countries — the UK, Australia, France, Spain, Sweden and South Africa — and ranked the UK and Australian systems in joint last place for lack of effectiveness.

They assessed the gender pay gap reporting policies of each country by scoring them against 11 indicators, including accountability, transparency and enforcement. London (CNN Business)

This is obviously a worldwide problem whose time has come!

If not today, when?

The pandemic that has sickened and killed so many people has been devastating in other ways, too — primarily to America’s women.

And the setbacks may be permanent if we don’t act soon.

A new survey of 65,000 US workers from McKinsey and LeanIn.org found that a whopping one-third of women said they were considering quitting their jobs or reducing their hours.

Female workers were more likely to say that they were burned out.

And more of them were discouraged now than they were in the early, shocking months of the pandemic.

And that too many men have also failed women — as bosses, colleagues, partners and co-parents.

The factors fueling female burnout and American women’s extraordinary pandemic job losses are many and complex, but they generally fall into two areas: policy failures and personal ones.

We need to assess both if we ever want to see anything close to gender equality in this country. (CNN)

And there is a growing shortage of childcare workers.

I think the central message in the “Our Father” is the passage, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. I’m assuming heaven is a beautiful place where love abounds among all its dwellers.

So, every time we recite the “Our Father,” we ask God to make the earth as nice as heaven is.

Well, that’s not happening!

We still have violence, hatred and a world where the have-nots vastly outnumber the haves.

We have injustice.

Think of the thousands of veterans who fought our nation’s wars and were so traumatized by the horrors or battle that they live on our cities’ streets while being unable to rejoin a civil society.

So, how will this world become more heaven-like?

Only if you and I do something about the unfairness and injustice we see all around us

If not today, when?

1. Shop smart. Read labels and avoid foods that have been stripped of nutrients (refined grains, for instance) or have lots of added sugar in favor of those with shorter ingredients lists. Buy frozen or fresh fruits and vegetables, cans of beans and legumes, and, from the bread aisle, items made with whole grains.
   
   Tune into your cravings. “It’s important to dig deep and see how you’re feeling, or whether or not you really are hungry, but also, what you’re really hungry for. Really satisfying a craving is more likely to keep you from going back for more.
   
   Bake less, cook more. So many people have turned to baking to relieve boredom or as a fun project to do with kids. But baking usually makes a large amount of sugary or fatty food.
   
2. Linger at dinner. Eat slowly so your brain has time to actually receive the signal from your stomach that you’re full, which helps to prevent overeating. (CNN)

In 2010, there was a movie released called, THE KING’S SPEECH.

It is the  story of King George VI Who unexpectedly became king when his brother abdicated the throne.

It happened on the brink of WWII and the new king had a stuttering problem.

Government officials thought the country needed a well-spoken leader and not a stutterer.

So, the new king hired a private tutor to help him overcome his affliction.

He finally addressed the nation with a clear, calming voice that rallied the people to persevere.

If you have a handicap, you are as important and needed as much as anyone else.

You have a positive contribution to make to our society.

If not today, when?

60% of today’s college students are women.

Years ago, 70% of college students were men.

Women college students outnumber men in college 3.8 million to 2.8 million. (CNN)

An increasing number of men are just accepting menial jobs or don’t even have a job.

The reason the U. S. is facing a mating crisis is the fact that women, who graduate from college, usually don’t want to marry a man without a college degree.

This marks the first time in our history that college educated women greatly outnumber men.

That means that the pool of eligible husbands is shrinking which may become a source of despair for the educated women and the ineligible, uneducated men.

This can lead to turmoil in society.

There doesn’t seem to be an obvious remedy.

This is an unbelievable , but true story.

In 1986, five year old Levan Merritt fell twenty feet into the gorilla enclosure of England’s Jersey Zoo.

As parents and onlookers cried out for help, a full grown male silverback named Jambo placed himself between the motionless boy and the other gorillas.

Then, he began to gently stroke the child’s back.

When Levan began to cry, Jambo led the other gorillas into their own enclosure as zoo-keepers and an ambulance came to the rescue. (Our Daily Bread)

The animal world will always be somewhat mysterious to us, but this story teaches us that the animals we fear and hunt down are more capable of good than we give them credit for.

The same applies to people.

We have a tendency to fear or dislike entire groups of people based upon their color or ethnicity.

We must treat every person based upon their own merits.

If not today, when?  

MAKE THE RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR SPOUSE BETTER.

You can do many things to improve your relationship.

Sit down together and discuss what changes you could make.

If you can do something to make your spouse happier, you’ll be happier too!

ADDRESS A PROBLEM WITH YOUR KIDS.

Get some input from their teachers at school.

Try to get them to open up to you about their problems. Right after school (with a snack) is a good time.

Is there something you can do or should you seek professional help?

SCRUTINIZE YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION.

Ask your superior if there are positions available that would provide the income you need.

If not, every business is short of staff right now.

There has never been a better time to seek a better job elsewhere.

If not today, when?