I am me and you are you.

Everyone is unique.

We all have a past and our past experiences are what makes us who we are today.

Before we pass judgement on a person, we must consider where they have been. It is so easy to make assumptions and criticize a person for their actions or character, but what we must learn to do is become more understanding.

I am me and you are you. Getting upset with how another person behaves will not better a situation. We must accept people for who they are.

By becoming more compassionate and understanding, we not only learn a lot about the other person - we learn several lessons about ourselves.

Today, I will challenge myself to learn what makes another person who they are. What makes them tick? I can then appreciate their actions and better understand why I respond the way I do to these actions.

-C.Ann

Choosing Your Own Karma

I began my morning off with my normal ritual: checked all four of my Twitter accounts, (yes, I said four) Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Foursquare and my blog. Somewhere along the way, I stumbled across this quote, "How people treat you is their Karma. How you respond is your Karma."


Pondering on this for a minute, I concluded that I couldn't agree more. The way people treat others is their problem. The only thing we can do, being the compassionate people some of us are, is work hard in our efforts to make up for others bad karma. 


Working for a non-profit, I have had to accept this wholeheartedly. Not everyone will care about putting people with disabilities to work, or volunteering to make a small mark in their community but for the ones of us who do - we must persevere. 


This brings me to one word - humility. We could all use a small dose in the morning before we get our day started. At the end of my life, I want to be remembered for what I did for others, how I made others feel and how I impacted others lives. What I don't want to be remembered for is lacking humility. This is the most important quality a person can portray.


At the end of the day, I may have not changed societies view on the things I believe in, but I did my part to make a difference in what I believe in, and in my eyes, that's all that really matters. 


-C.Ann

Through a Unique Set of Eyes

With life's obstacles, planning of future events and our day-to-day challenges, it is easy to get caught up in the moment. We forget what we are working towards, why we are working towards certain goals and tend to lose our sense of grounding. Then when we least expect it, we meet a special person or have these magical eye opening experiences that change our sense of priorities.

Today I had the pleasure of meeting a very special woman. See for me, my job is easy. I am surrounded by all these inspirational people and fascinating stories. My only job is to relay their messages to our stakeholders in order to continue to receive funding or the resources needed to continue to make a difference in other people's lives. I digress...

For respect of this woman's privacy, we will call her "Lisa." "Lisa" was born with nerve apathy affecting her vision. She grew up during a time when society was not so warm to people with disabilities. Everyday "Lisa" would come home and maintain the house but her mother constantly reminded her of her disability and assured her that she would never amount to anything or be able to live independently. One day "Lisa" built up the courage to leave her mother's home, move into a shelter and seek the help she needs.

After hard work and true dedication to proving to the world that people with visial impairents can work and live independently, "Lisa" is now a supervisor at Bosma Enterprises, lives on her own, and has found inner happiness.

You see... the thing some people sadly fail to identify is the beautiful qualities people with disabilities posess. We are so quick to turn our head to the unfamiliar instead of embracing the uniqueness of other individuals. As I continue to work with people with disabilities and watch my brother struggle with his own disabilities, I have begun seeing the meaning of "beauty" in a different light. People with disabilities are just like you and I. They have feelings, they know the meaning of love and they all want what we want - the chance to be accepted.

Who are we to say what is "normal" or "not normal?" If beauty is truely in the eye of the beholder, I challenge you to ask yourself, "What is beautiful?" Beauty is unique. Beauty is different. Beauty is having the courage to be, think and act different. We must embrace one another and love each other's unique qualities.

The differnce between someone with a disability and someone without a disability is, someone with a disability will never judge you. They have the incredible gift to look past imperfections and what is "not normal" to see who a person really is.

Ask yourself, when you first meet someone, do you judge them? Do you have the ability to see who they really are on the inside before making any superficial judgements based on exterior? When you can do this, you than can identify beauty. Uniqueness is beautiful and people with disabilities are beautiful.

-C. Ann

The Measure of Happiness

Think back to the age when you were most hopeful for the future. You dreamed about what you would be, who you would marry and what color of picket fence you would align your yard with. Now take a look at your life now... Is it what you dreamed of as a little girl?

Likelihood is probably not - not to be negative - but stop and take a look through the eyes of realism. Why is it people can not find happiness in the lives we make for ourselves? We are the creators and decision makers of our own lives, right?

The truth is, life is not what we dream about as a little girl. Things complicate it, life happens and people change. So how do we find happiness in the realism?

There has to be something that drives us... something that helps us carry on... Before answering, think again... Is that what truly makes you happy?

For me it is simple, I love myself. That is how I carry on. You must love yourself before you can have inner happiness. Before you can reach the top of Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, you have to meet the basics needs. Loving yourself should be number one. Put yourself first for once and you may not be so disappointed when everyone/everything falls through.

Ahhh... feels good for once.

-C. Ann

Selfless Journalism

When I began my career as a writer – in my mind – successful writing was measured by how well you wrote. Let me explain. A good writer could manipulate words, string those words together into beautifully blended sentences, paragraphs, articles, etc…

As my experience as a journalist grows, I am beginning to better understand the duty of a “journalist.”

“True journalism” is not about how good your words sound, or how great your portfolio looks. True journalism is a service to the people – our audiences. It is about the characters in our stories. Journalism is selfless.

So what defines a “good story?”

Journalism is not about getting the best story to the largest audience before any other news medium… well not completely.

It is about capturing the beauty in the people that cross our paths. Every person has a story to be told.

Some people just seem to sparkle. The more you talk to them and learn about them, you realize – one person can be and see so many incredible things in one lifetime.

And although there doesn’t seem to be many in this world – it is our duty – as a journalist – to share their unique beauty with others.

A great, selfless journalist should have the talents to take the milestones of our characters, their beauties and transform that into a series of words, paragraphs, articles and stories. Then, share that with their audiences. To me, great journalism is defined by moral judgment. A great journalist is selfless.

-C. Ann