Reflextions: Gifts of Life, Love & Hope

I didn't want to let pass this opportunity to have some words (lots of them: rant ahead) to express how grateful I am.  This have been a hard year for a lot of us.  Many have lost their jobs, houses, their health or loved ones, as here in Puerto Rico & in many parts of the world, violence have been rising fast.  As living proof I can tell you that there's always a little light even in the darkest hour. I've been in a rough patch economically and personally for more than a year; but even when things seem to go down, there are small things that add up to fill me with hope.  In September I went back to college and I'm more motivated than ever to graduate and work harder to make things happen.  Economy is being quite unpredictable and I know, that the goals I have now might need modifications from time to time; but I won't give up.  I have many projects that not only will change my life, but will affect others, in a positive way.  Many times I wake up frustrated because of different situations but them I remember "Don't be sad for what you don't have in your life, be grateful that you have enough of what you need to live".

I'm grateful that I have a family, its small, but its by my side like the most powerful battalion. I don't have tons of friends, but the ones I have posses a heart of gold.  I'm thankful because in many occasions I was able to control my temper, suck it up and move forward.  Forgiveness is powerful; but many times we take it for granted, seeing it as a sign of weakness or being plain stupid.  We have to experience being forgiven to really know how valuable it is.  I'm grateful that in difference of millions or woman in the world I have power over my future.  I can practice my religion/believes freely. I can dress and wear as many makeup as I want, I can go places, I can protest, I can work, I can vote and have a voice over my country's issues.  I can decide whether I'll get married, have children or remain single. I can have a blog in which I can write about whatever I feel like to and I don't need to hide it. I can go to college at any age, get educated and have a better quality of life and many other things that escape my mind right now.  I don't see this things as perks of my citizenship, I see them as the rights that every single woman on heart should have.  I'm grateful at at my 29 years of age, I finally understood that the "simple" things I can do as a woman, are prohibited to others without valid grounds; and I should never ever take them for granted again.

Weeks ago I was very sad because I didn't had the money to buy gifts for my family.  But some things happened later that let me realize sometimes money is out of the picture for good, so we can appreciate other things that are extremely valuable, like being alive for example.  If you are in the same situation but still you want to gift:

Gifts of Life, Love & Hope:

• Be a blood donor
• Register as bone marrow donor
• Donate books or magazines to your local library
• Do volunteer work at hospital, hospices, shelters, low income communities, etc
• Want to get rid of Rapunzel's look? donate your shiny locks to kids that have lost theirs due to illness or medical treatment
• Check in your community if there is an elderly person who needs help on house hold chores
• Identify hard working woman in your family and gift them vouchers for manicure, pedicures, massage, hair or makeup.  You can design the gift certificate and of course, give them the beauty treatment!
• Pledge to do at least a good deed daily: at work, college, at the mall, the grocery store, doctors office, etc
• Reconciliate with relatives or loved ones. hint: FORGIVENESS IS POWERFUL
• Check your closet for any clothes or shoes that you don't wear any more and donate them to charity or even re-gift to relatives.  After I lost weight, I did that with a lot of my clothes that even had price tags on.
• Donate to Salvation Army.
• If you are an extreme couponer, use some of those coupons to buy groceries and donate them.

And the list of ideas could go on and on!
What other gift of life, love and hope would you give?