[Home-on-the-range] Thanks and Giving

[Dianne Hemphill]

Good morning federationists! The count down is on for putting the turkey in the oven and and dreaming about all the delicious things we will have on Thanksgiving day...
One of my favorite shows is that of Dr. Oz. His focus  on health and wellness, prevention on rethinking how to get healthy, helps me to  be mindful of my lifestyle journey. As one of my former doc's said to me a few years ago, "you are now at an age where you will have to work for good health". (meany!) So what does this have to do with our movement...probably more than I would have dreamed when I first became  aware of the organization...after all, I had already successfully completed an under graduate degree, married a wonderful man and had three beautiful and healthy daughters. None-the-less, in the back of my mind, I wondered what contributions I could make to outside the home as a blind woman...the NFB showed me endless possibilities.  I think the NFB gave me inspiration to be "all that I could be" and to take the necessary steps, including  a graduate degree, work, as well as volunteer work, etc,  and to build courage to "go out into the world" and make a difference. 
Yesterday's Dr. Oz focus was on ensuring a strong brain and and how to help  our memory. The wholistic approach of health and wellness leads me to share the following four points noted as those that can lead to our "pursuit of happiness". If a "happy life" can be defined, in a very simple way, as a "balanced life", the following elements are what can help us achieve the happy, balanced life:
- love (pretty obvious but critical, none-the-less, to work on as we go through our daily lives)
- feeling useful - (I listed a few ideas on my last posting about how the NFB needs you, your time and energy, if you wish to give back of yourself)
- expecting something to happen from everything we put our efforts into- we must have a reason to face the day... Though life will not always go our way (surprise!), we must get over our disappointments and move forward...
- and, , having gratitude

It's so easy to sometimes dwell on the negative, the slights we've felt, the short comings we sometimes think life has dealt us. If you think back on the different convention presentations, you can likely note that we may not be where we want  to be but we're not where we used to be...the federation has completely changed the future "pursuit of happiness" for us as contemporary blind people. Within this organization, we can find all the components  of a balanced life; friendship and love from our blind brothers and sisters a reason to get up in the morning with a focus on doing useful work for both ourselves and those that don't yet know us, reevaluating our expectations  of ourselves and other blind folk and raising the bar a bit, and feeling gratitude for the organization in its relentless   tenatious forward movement "changing what it means to be blind". 

So I give "thanks" to the National Federation of the Blind and how it has changed my life in so many positive ways and look forward to "giving" back in ways that might help others to move forward in their pursuit of happiness. I wish each of you a wonderful Thanksgiving and a wonderful, energetic  journey in this special experience we call life. Love, Dianne