The 25 Things That Have Made the BIGGEST Difference to My Health, Wealth, Comfort, and Happiness

I try to follow diabetes expert Dr. Richard Bernstein’s prescriptions about to eat ,and what not to eat, to keep my blood sugar under control.  Which of the vegetables in the picture above, are on Dr. Bernstein's EAT list? Which are on Dr. Bernstein's DON’T EAT list? Can you guess?

Here is the full list of The 25 Things That Have Made the BIGGEST Difference to My Health, Wealth, Comfort, and Happiness...

Switching from an employed Commissions Analyst to a Contract Commissions Consultant

The benefits:

Freedom

Respect for my time

A continuously expanding professional network

I get to work with different BI Tools, erp systems, and commission software tools

I avoid performance reviews - a workplace practice I detest

It gives me exposure to different sales structures and comp plans

Each assignment has unique problems to solve

I don't get stuck doing repetitive work

Changing from Helicopter Mom/Tiger Mom to Hippie Mom

The benefits:

I went from being the bane of my daughter’s existence to her best friend

My daughter shares more things with me, and feels comfortable doing so

My daughter decided to live with me for her undergrad studies – yay!

I have become an available parent in the best sense of the word (as described in the book The Available Parent). Word of advice – read The Available Parent if you haven’t

Going Low Carb

The benefits:

I lost 37 lbs within months

I got my A1C down from 6.4 to 5.9, and then to 5.6

I believe it has helped me dodge the diabetes bullet

I can go without food without experiencing the jitters of sugar drops

I experience less aches and pains

Learning to Meditate

The benefits:

I have found it to be the best tool to deal with stress and frustration

It has made me feel more connected with other people

I have had some miraculous experiences

It has made me a better person
My life is getting more and more spiritual. I am not sure where it is headed but I have definitely been moving in the direction of heightened spirituality

Being a Commissions Consultant at Solution Partners, Epicor, Spectrum Biz Tech, White Hat Security, Varian Medical, Paypal, Infoblox, Aruba, and Fortinet

The benefits:

I have met bosses who have become friends for life

I have met coworkers who have become friends for life
I have enjoyed a variety of opportunities and challenges

My knowledge and skills have been enhanced at each company

Checking my blood sugar with a home glucose meter, 1 and 2 hours after eating something

The benefits:

I know exactly what happens to my blood sugar after I eat or drink anything

This has made me check the carb content of everything I eat, because I have found that carbs, and particularly some kinds of carbs, cause the most spikes

The awareness has made me eliminate some carbs

The awareness has also made me reduce the quantity of carbs or proteins I eat at one sitting

By checking, and modifying what I eat and drink, and how much I eat and drink, I have been able to maintain tighter blood sugar control 

Starting this blog in 2010, and keeping up with it

The benefits:

I have found it to be the best way to articulate my thoughts

I have found it is the best way to keep at my goals

I have found it to be therapeutic

Because I am in the habit of writing, I have found it easy to transfer the skill to the professional arena, and I routinely write documentation for my commission consulting clients 

Using Scoop – the carpool app – to carpool to work

The benefits:

I have eliminated rush-hour driving stress from my life

It is good for the environment

I save on car wear and tear

I have met and continue to meet many fascinating people 

Walking the Santa Teresa hills

The benefits:

It is always good to get out into nature

I have found it to be the best form of exercise

The beautiful views never fail to catch my breath 

Getting my assignments through Robert Half, Nelson Staffing, Kula Consulting, and Controllers Group

The benefits:

Staffing agencies have been a great resource for a Commissions Consultant such as myself

I have been on some truly great assignments thanks to these agencies

I enjoy working with staffing agencies, and see it as a partnership

Working with the SPM implementation companies Solution Partners and Spectrum Biz Tech

The benefits:

I have worked on premium implementations – Splunk, FusionIo, Linda.com, Cyberonics, Paypal

Thanks to SPI and Spectrum Biz Tech, I have experienced all the different aspects of SPM implementations – gathering requirements, writing functional requirements documents, creating the rules, prototyping, UAT testing, and user testing

Thanks to SPI and Spectrum Biz Tech, I know the business side and the design side of Xactly Incent and Varicent

I have a portfolio of different FRDs and User Manuals to show for it

My family, their company, their support, and advice

The benefits:

Loneliness is not an issue

I have someone to turn to

Lots of fun meet-ups and events

Their advice and support has got me out of some tough spots

The San Jose Public Library

The benefits:

Thanks to SJPL, I have read more books than I can count, all for free

Thanks to all these books I read, I never run out of things to wonder about, talk about, and to blog about

I have to make special note that I have read over 100 finance and investment books all from SJPL

Discovering Turbotax

The benefits:

Turbotax is so user-friendly, I have been using it to do my taxes since 2004

It has made me more tax-savvy

Turbotax gave me one more area in which I could become self-sufficient

The free Excel Visual Basic code available on the internet

The benefits:

I have been able to automate so many different excel operations.

I have found VBA code to List all sheets in a file, create links to all sheets in a file, copy a filtered table, rename all files in a folder, and so on and so on.

One of the easiest ways for me to add value when I am on an assignment, is to look at what I can automate using VBA code found on the internet.

Reading The Diabetes Solution by Dr Richard Bernstein

The benefits:

I learned the list of foods to eat, and the list of foods not to eat, to bring my insulin resistance under control

I have learned about every aspect of managing diabetes

I learned about the different diabetes medications, and their pluses and minuses.

P.S. Were you able to guess which vegetables in the picture above are on Dr. Bernstein's EAT list and which are on his DON'T EAT list? I will tell you.  The carrots and tomatoes are on the DON'T EAT list. The other vegetables are on the EAT list.

Meeting my walking pals Becky and Lyla

The benefits:

In them, I found people who were willing to walk 5 miles and more with me, on a regular basis

I like walking with them, because time flies when you are talking while walking. It is half the fun

I wish everyone had a regular walking pal

Watching videos (and reading articles) by Dr Jason Fung on Intermittent Fasting

The benefits:

Dr Jason Fung explained the benefits of fasting to me in a convincing, easy to understand way

He quelled any fears I may have had about fasting

He supported what he said with data and evidence

I got into fasting because of him

My friends - and their friendship, support, wisdom, and advice

The benefits:

Need I explain?

Joining Adlibmasters Toastmasters Club and completing my CTM

The benefits:

It enabled me to get over my extreme shyness and fear of speaking

It gave me the courage to give a money workshop to 30 kids at an elementary school

It gave me the confidence that I could write a speech and hold an audience with a speech

  

Finding a sane way to invest in the stock market and stay invested

The benefits:

I was able to stay the course in the scary 2008 crash

I am able to resist hot tips

I was able to eliminate the desire to get rich quick

The internet and Google

The benefits:

I can find answers for anything

I can find information about anything

I can find solutions to almost any problem

It is great for a curious person like me

It is the easiest way to pass time

GPS and smartphones

The benefits:

Whatever you can do on a computer, you can do on a phone

Netflix and Amazon Prime Streaming

The benefits:

I have seen scores of wonderful movies.

It is the second easiest way to pass time

Finally, you my blog readers

The benefits:

I spend 8 hours a week on writing my posts.  Having readers like you makes it all worthwhile. Thank you for taking the time to read my posts!

            xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 

acknowledgments:

Two brave souls from the other side commented on my last post about the progress of women's rights. Thank you Ananda and thank you Ajay

next, Thanks also to all readers, current and future, for sharing my Journey to Wisdom, Meaning and a Better Life.  Like you I am trying to find my way through this complex maze we call life, and I am honored to have you share my journey, as I continue to seek the wisdom hidden in plain sight.

FINALLY, A Happy Birthday shout-out:  to those with October birthdays.  Hope you use your birthday month to birth something new and wonderful in your life. What are the 25 things that have made the biggest difference to your health, wealth, comfort and happiness? Your birthday month is a good time to list them and be grateful for them.

P.S. Not sure if you have time, but if you do, you may enjoy these other posts:

Friendships

The United States of Friendship – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12

Family

Our Cake Boss Family, Family Songs, The Nightdress Brigade, Family Advice I Am Grateful For, The Porki And Bonkers Tradition, No Need for 23 and Me, Letters to Lucas, Flying Lessons

Pets

A Fresh Perspective on Pets, Secrets of The Super Models In Our Family, BowWow, Meoww, Why You Should Not Abandon Your Pet

Nature

Post on Trees, Reprising Joy Kilmer

Hobbies

Cricket, Glorious Cricket, Splendid Post, What!

Managing Your Money

Yoga for Investors, How to Turn Your Girl Scout or Cub Scout Into a Stock Scout, Financial Piece of Mind, Financial Piece of Mind – Part Deux, A Retirement Planning Formula You Won’t Find on Oprah

Simplifying Your Life

You know what Wesabi is, How About Wabi Sabi?  The Simple Life, The Element of Simplicity and Its Hope for Living a More Satisfying Life

Getting Over Your Self-Consciousness

The Element of Release From Inhibition, The Element of Being Less Self-Centered and Its Hope for Seeing Things in The Correct Light, The Element of Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone and Its Hope For Experiencing More of What Life Has to Offer

Learning to Laugh

How To Deal With The Sheldon Coopers in Your Life – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, The Nightdress Brigade, You Aced the SAT, How About the LAT?, How To Cause Atmost Confuzen at the Scripps Spelling Bee, How To Go From Madonna to Lilly to Myrtle in The Course of A Single Evening - And Even Have a Sex Change, A Facebook Face-Off, A Short Stint in Advertising

Learning to Relax

How To Become a Low Maintenance Person, Connected Minds, How To Become The Kind of Person People Want to Work with, How Many Times a Day Do You Visit Ireland? The Art of Carrying Things Lightly

Health
Raising the Bar, 4 Healthy Eating Ideas I Learned from My Friend Julia, The Element of Becoming More Focused and Precise In Our Goals and Its Hope for Achieving Powerful Results

Pursuing A Dream

What’s Next For You? The Element of The First Step and Its Hope for Getting Big Things Started In Our Lives, She Victories

Resources:

Health:

David Mendosa

Dr Jason Fung

Jimmy Moore

Dr Richard Bernstein

Wealth:

San Jose Public Library

Ray Dalio

Howard Marks

Charlie Munger

Dr Steve Siggerud

Turbotax

White Coat Investor

 Comfort and Happiness:

Adlibmasters

Toastmasters

Blogging

Meditation

Why I Am Not Afraid To Call The 'Good Old Days' The 'Bad Old Days'

“Perhaps I can stay by the fire and mend your socks and scream if I hear any strange noises.” 

Why I Am Not Afraid To Call The 'Good Old Days' The 'Bad Old Days'? Hmm...Let’s See…

1959 and earlier

Birth control pill not on the market. Margaret Sanger’s good work has yet to bear fruit.

Good old days? Hmm…I don’t think so.

1878 and earlier

Women are excluded from higher education at Harvard and most American colleges. 

Good old days? Hmm…I don’t think so.

1828 and earlier

If a woman’s husband dies in India, she has to allow herself to be willingly burnt to death on her husband’s funeral pyre.

Good old days? Hmm…I don’t think so.

1918 and earlier

American women are not allowed to vote, and do not have the rights and responsibilities of citizenship. The 19^th Amendment has yet to be passed. The results of the tireless work of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott and Susan B Anthony are still in the future.

Good old days? Hmm…I don’t think so. 

1838 -1867 (and earlier) (and for a good deal of time after)

An American married woman has no legal existence apart from her husband. Her rights and obligations are subsumed under her husband’s. She cannot own property, enter into contracts, or earn a salary.

Good old days? Hmm…I don’t think so.

2017 and earlier

Women are sexualized and objectified. Jason Gaddis of the Good Men Project posed the question to his men friends on Facebook “Why do we objectify women” and here are some of the answers he got:

It’s biology

Because we just want to have sex

Because I’m a guy

I’m an animal, I’m supposed to want to have sex with every woman I see.

I’m just horny

It’s normal male behavior

I don’t objectify women

There were also some more sophisticated responses, but even after reading those, my answer is the same:

Good old days? Hmm…I don’t think so.

1814 and earlier and later

Women are not allowed to be ordained pastors.  Men fight and succeed in keeping women out of spiritual leadership roles, even as recently as this year, when the Orthodox Union adopted a policy banning women from serving as clergy, from holding titles such as "rabbi", or from doing common clergy functions even without a title, in its congregations in the United States.

Good old days? Hmm…I don’t think so.

1899 and earlier

Women are not allowed to participate in the Olympics. Starting with the inclusion of women in lawn tennis and golf in 1900, women were allowed to participate in more and more events, but it was only in 2012 when we were allowed to participate in all events.

So 1899 – 2012. Good old days? Hmm…I don’t think so.

1000 A.D. (and earlier) (and later)

The timeline for misogyny is infinite.  We can’t say when it started, and when it will end. There are no good old days ever when it comes to misogyny.

Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo Regius (354-430): Woman was merely man's helpmate, a function which pertains to her alone. She is not the image of God but as far as man is concerned, he is by himself the image of God

Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900): When a woman has scholarly inclinations, there is usually something wrong with her sexual organs

Martin Luther, Reformer (1483-1546): The word and works of God is quite clear, that women were made either to be wives or prostitutes.

Thomas Aquinas (paraphrased) (1225 – 1274): Women are defective men, imperfect in both body and soul. They are conceived either because of defective sperm or because a damp wind was blowing at the time of conception. Women have a higher water content than men and that this makes them sexually incontinent. Since they are so watery, weak and unreliable they are inferior beings. 

Samuel Butler (1612-1680): The souls of women are so small, That some believe they've none at all.

      XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

So, can any of the periods of time when these celebrated men were alive be considered 'good old days' for women? No, Nahi, Bushi, Nyet, Nee, Iaa, Nan, Non, Nej, Ne, Nun, Tidak, Nu, Khong, Nage…I don’t think so.

2017 (and earlier) (and later until it is stopped)

Women in backward areas in countries like India are regularly banished during their menstrual periods to a gaokor – a hut outside the village, or a room outside the main house.

Good old days? Hmm…I don’t think so.

2017 (and earlier) (and later until it truly ends)

“A woman’s place is in the home” is the spoken or unspoken message, all women continue to receive, in one form, or the other; even the very clever tactic of modern husbands and fathers to over promise and under deliver on their household and parenting responsibilities serves to propagate this edict which was immortalized by Martin Luther, The Reformer, and which many 20th and 21^st century men have no hesitation in secretly or openly believing.

John Wayne (1907-1979): They have the right to work wherever they want to, as long as they have dinner ready when you get home.

          XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

And so therefore, do I think the current times will qualify as the 'good old days' for women of the future? Hmm…I don’t think so

2016 (and earlier) (and later)

An American woman stands for elections, and does not win. Many American men are relieved.  Even watching the 2016 Democratic National Convention was too much for some of them.  Here’s Scott Adams of Dilbert fame:

Scott Adams (Dilbert creator): I watched singer Alicia Keys perform her song Superwoman at the convention and experienced a sinking feeling. I’m fairly certain my testosterone levels dropped as I watched, and that’s not even a little bit of an exaggeration. Science says men’s testosterone levels rise when they experience victory, and drop when they experience the opposite. I watched Keys tell the world that women are the answer to our problems. True or not, men were probably not feeling successful and victorious during her act.

Good old days? Hmm…I don’t think so.

So to conclude, the good old days are still in the future for women. Now if you will excuse me…I have to go by the fire to mend some socks and scream if I hear any strange noises.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Kristin Cashore, author of Graceling for the phrase " Perhaps I can stay by the fire and mend your socks and scream if I hear any strange noises" and thanks to Artsy Bee for the image used in this post.

next, Thanks to all the women and men who think women deserve better, and who act as if women deserve better.

next, Thanks to Ajay, to Divya, to Jyothi, to Kevin, and all else for their heart-warming feedback (comments, likes, shares) on my post 20, no 40, no 60 Things About Me That Surprise People Most. .

THEN, Thanks to all readers, current and future, for sharing my Journey to Wisdom, Meaning and a Better Life.  Like you I am trying to find my way through this complex maze we call life, and I am honored to have you share my journey, as I continue to seek the wisdom hidden in plain sight.

FINALLY, A Happy Birthday shout-out:  to those with October birthdays.  Hope you use your birthday month to birth something new and wonderful in your life. If you can do anything to improve even one woman's life today, you are my hero.  If you can do anything which would improve many women's lives, you are an even bigger hero. Yay for you!

P.S. Not sure if you have time, but if you do, you may enjoy these other posts:

Friendships

The United States of Friendship – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12

Family

Our Cake Boss Family, Family Songs, The Nightdress Brigade, Family Advice I Am Grateful For, The Porki And Bonkers Tradition, No Need for 23 and Me, Letters to Lucas, Flying Lessons

Pets

A Fresh Perspective on Pets, Secrets of The Super Models In Our Family, BowWow, Meoww, Why You Should Not Abandon Your Pet

Nature

Post on Trees, Reprising Joy Kilmer

Hobbies

Cricket, Glorious Cricket, Splendid Post, What!

Managing Your Money

Yoga for Investors, How to Turn Your Girl Scout or Cub Scout Into a Stock Scout, Financial Piece of Mind, Financial Piece of Mind – Part Deux, A Retirement Planning Formula You Won’t Find on Oprah

Simplifying Your Life

You know what Wesabi is, How About Wabi Sabi?  The Simple Life, The Element of Simplicity and Its Hope for Living a More Satisfying Life

Getting Over Your Self-Consciousness

The Element of Release From Inhibition, The Element of Being Less Self-Centered and Its Hope for Seeing Things in The Correct Light, The Element of Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone and Its Hope For Experiencing More of What Life Has to Offer

Learning to Laugh

How To Deal With The Sheldon Coopers in Your Life – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, The Nightdress Brigade, You Aced the SAT, How About the LAT?, How To Cause Atmost Confuzen at the Scripps Spelling Bee, How To Go From Madonna to Lilly to Myrtle in The Course of A Single Evening - And Even Have a Sex Change, A Facebook Face-Off, A Short Stint in Advertising

Learning to Relax

How To Become a Low Maintenance Person, Connected Minds, How To Become The Kind of Person People Want to Work with, How Many Times a Day Do You Visit Ireland? The Art of Carrying Things Lightly

Health
Raising the Bar, 4 Healthy Eating Ideas I Learned from My Friend Julia, The Element of Becoming More Focused and Precise In Our Goals and Its Hope for Achieving Powerful Results

Pursuing A Dream

What’s Next For You? The Element of The First Step and Its Hope for Getting Big Things Started In Our Lives, She Victories

20, no 40, no 60 Things About Me Which Surprises People Most

You Haven’t Had Health Insurance For How Many Years?????

The twists and turns of my life have led me to make some non-conformist unconventional unusual decisions and experience some notable unparalleled unusual circumstances. Here are the ones which, when I talk about them, surprise people the most.

#1 I have lived in the same apartment for 17 years

#2 I have not had a permanent job since 2010 since I began consulting

#3 I read, write and speak only one language: English

#4 I taught 2 semesters of advertising copy at Loyola College, a Jesuit college in Chennai, India

#5 I completed all of my 10 CTM speeches at Toastmasters in a year

#6 I spend 8 hours every week writing my blog posts

#7 I have read over 100 finance and investment books

#8 I lost 37 lbs in less than 1 year

#9 I have published over 385 posts on my blog

#10 English was the only language spoken in my house growing up.

#11 I used to be so shy as a teenager, if I was alone at home, and a visitor rang the doorbell, I would hide and not open the door, because I did not know what to say to them

#12 I was a pass-out drinker for 2 years in my 20’s. If the night was long, I would drink beyond my limit, pass out and have to be carried home

#13 I entered a disco competition in my mid twenties and won second place

#14 Between the ages of 18-20, I composed 30 songs with basic guitar chords, which I frequently played and sang for family and friends

#15 I regularly go on 5 mile walks

#16 I have done 5 consecutive days of a 24-hour fast

#17 My current diet is a low carb diet of 40 -60 gms carbs a day

#18 My phone is an Alcatel Lucent Fierce 2 phone, which I affectionately call ‘my not so smart phone’

#19 I enjoy being single

#20 I don’t have a college degree.  I dropped out of college, before I got my degree.

#21 I have seen my rent go down a few times, not just up

#22 For most of my career as a Commissions Analyst, I have worked from home

#23 In my leanest income year, which was 2011, I earned a gross of 18,000, and a net of 16,800 after self-employment tax

#24 I used to have an anger management problem which ended only with my mother’s death in 2005.

#25 I detest performance reviews. It is one of the reasons I have resisted converting to permanent employment during the last 7 years

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#26 There was a time in my life when I argued that Dhirubai Ambani was doing more for the world than Mother Teresa (it was many years before I saw the light)

#27 I am a better consultant than I ever was an employee (the freedom, and the respect for my time, brings out the best in me)

#28 After I learned to meditate in 2010, I have had several telepathic experiences. I love telepathic experiences and stories

#29 I have no debt

#30 I am frugal - I drive used cars, I use pieces of furniture until they are worn - my frugality surprises people

#31 I am cool about all my daughter’s choices and desires, having changed for the better when she was in high school

#32 I encourage my daughter to spend her money on experiences, rather than things, because I know from personal experience, as well as reading, experiences make us more happy than things

#33 I never feel hungry (it’s one of the benefits of going low carb)

#34 In my early days of going low carb, I ate a lot of high fat foods for satiety

#35 I also drank Bullet-proof coffee (black coffee with butter and MCT oil) in my early days of going low carb, and I enjoyed the taste, and how awake and alert it made me feel.

 #36 I suffered a depression in my 30s, but it’s all good since then and all good now

#37 For all my love of being single, I enjoy romantic movies

#38 I check out between 15 and 40 books from the public library at a time.

#39 I was the cry baby of the family.  Now, I cry only when I am moved, not out of self-pity

#40 I want to be born again as a vegetarian monk without desires in my next life – if there is a next life

#41 I have 31% body fat, even being as thin as I currently am.  I found this out by doing a DEXA scan.

#42 I was struck by Cupid’s arrow multiple times starting from when I was a teenager, and I had a few different boyfriends and a husband before I became the single person that I am

#43 Before having Tanita, for the longest time, I never had any desire to have a child

#44 I ran a profitable creative shop in India, Purple Patch, for a few years. I had a staff of 6 people, plus up to 30 contingent copywriters, art directors and print production people, helping me

#45 All the Toastmaster speeches I’ve delivered were completely memorized before I went to the mike.

#46 When I ran Purple Patch, I scripted my customer calls and read from the scripts, especially if I was making a call to a client to let them know what I was going to charge them

#47 When I need to think, I like total silence.  In peak Chennai summer, I would turn off the fan when I needed to think

#48 Instead of tracking my budget, I track my expenses

#49 I sleep on the floor on a mattress

#50 I was a hot-headed feminist when I was younger and have walked out of parties when someone said something sexist

#51 The commissions team I am currently on went to lunch at Il Fornaio with the CFO – just us, the commissions team and the CFO - of a company with more than a billion dollars in revenue - it was a first

#52 I read only non-fiction books

#53 I get addicted to a purse and will continue to use it even when it is in tatters. At that stage, I cradle it like a baby in my hands. I tend to settle on a single pair of footwear likewise

#54 I was sponsored by one of my consulting clients to do Varicent training at Toronto Canada

#55 I have documented the commission processes, or written user guides, at 6 different Bay Area companies

#56 I was a vegetarian for 3 years of my life, which is why I want to be born again as a vegetarian monk (see #40) and why I have published a post on vegetarianism The V List, and also reviewed the Amazon book On Becoming Vegetarian by Anita Saran

#57 I have worked at 14 different companies, as a commissions analyst, a commissions software implementer, or a commissions software tester

#58 I remained stoic calm during the 2008 stock market crash due to my investment philosophy

#59 I used only big words for a time in my life (I think it has something to do with being a Mangalorean)

#60 And finally, the biggie, the one that surprises people the most –I HAVE GONE WITHOUT HEALTH INSURANCE FOR THE LAST 5 YEARS. Read my post What I Learned I Could Live Without and you will understand how that came about.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Ajay, to Audrey, to Jacinta, to Jyothi, to Krysia, to Padmini, to Sangeeta, to Shalini, to and all else for their heart-warming feedback (comments, likes, shares) on my posts Things I Learned I Could Live Without and How I Went From a Girlie Girl to a Strong, Independent Woman.  I need affirmation that I am on the right path and you gave it to me in generous helpings.

NEXT, Thanks to all readers, current and future, for sharing my Journey to Wisdom, Meaning and a Better Life.  Like you I am trying to find my way through this complex maze we call life, and I am honored to have you share my journey, as I continue to seek the wisdom hidden in plain sight.

FINALLY, A Happy Birthday shout-out:  to those with October birthdays.  Hope you use your birthday month to birth something new and wonderful in your life. A commitment to living more authentically and doing things which fulfill you is the way to go. It's okay if other people are surprised by your choices and decisions.

P.S. Not sure if you have time, but if you do, you may enjoy these other posts:

Friendships

The United States of Friendship – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12

Family

Our Cake Boss Family, Family Songs, The Nightdress Brigade, Family Advice I Am Grateful For, The Porki And Bonkers Tradition, No Need for 23 and Me, Letters to Lucas, Flying Lessons

Pets

A Fresh Perspective on Pets, Secrets of The Super Models In Our Family, BowWow, Meoww, Why You Should Not Abandon Your Pet

Nature

Post on Trees, Reprising Joy Kilmer

Hobbies

Cricket, Glorious Cricket, Splendid Post, What!

Managing Your Money

Yoga for Investors, How to Turn Your Girl Scout or Cub Scout Into a Stock Scout, Financial Piece of Mind, Financial Piece of Mind – Part Deux, A Retirement Planning Formula You Won’t Find on Oprah

Simplifying Your Life

You know what Wesabi is, How About Wabi Sabi?  The Simple Life, The Element of Simplicity and Its Hope for Living a More Satisfying Life

Getting Over Your Self-Consciousness

The Element of Release From Inhibition, The Element of Being Less Self-Centered and Its Hope for Seeing Things in The Correct Light, The Element of Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone and Its Hope For Experiencing More of What Life Has to Offer

Learning to Laugh

How To Deal With The Sheldon Coopers in Your Life – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, The Nightdress Brigade, You Aced the SAT, How About the LAT?, How To Cause Atmost Confuzen at the Scripps Spelling Bee, How To Go From Madonna to Lilly to Myrtle in The Course of A Single Evening - And Even Have a Sex Change, A Facebook Face-Off, A Short Stint in Advertising

Learning to Relax

How To Become a Low Maintenance Person, Connected Minds, How To Become The Kind of Person People Want to Work with, How Many Times a Day Do You Visit Ireland? The Art of Carrying Things Lightly

Health
Raising the Bar, 4 Healthy Eating Ideas I Learned from My Friend Julia, The Element of Becoming More Focused and Precise In Our Goals and Its Hope for Achieving Powerful Results

Pursuing A Dream

What’s Next For You? The Element of The First Step and Its Hope for Getting Big Things Started In Our Lives, She Victories