Antidote:
An antidote is a substance which can counteract a form of poisoning.“Piglet noticed that even though he had a Very Small Heart, it could hold a rather large amount of Gratitude.”
― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh“Sometimes life knocks you on your ass… get up, get up, get up!!! Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
This is hereby our Gratitude Journal. All expressions of gratitude (I know I have many, including the blue sky outside my window) welcome. It’s worth a try! Thanks for the idea, OMG!
“OMGheesstillanamerican” starts our journal:
Maybe what we need to do is start a Gratitude thread where we share the things we are grateful for in our lives no matter how small they might seem. Maybe calgary411 or somebody else who can post new threads could do that for us. Negativity is contagious but so is positivity.
My gratitude list goes like this:
1) My husband has a great job which means I don’t have to go out and get a job even when my business is not doing well. I can ride out the storm.
2) My son is working and contributing to the family’s finances which also helps. He rarely drinks, doesn’t do drugs, or hang out with skanky girls. He’s a good boy and I thank God for that.
3) We live in a beautiful large home in a small town which is something I always wanted.
4) I’m still young enough to make a big splash in the business world before I retire.
5) Sooner or later the Americans will come to their senses and even if they don’t we’ll find a way to deal with this mess. My son and I are not Americans so we’ll just rearrange our finances.
Amongst the many, many things I am thankful for, I am grateful that after reading this blog for over two years I am finally able to participate. Being able to share what is on my mind with like-minded souls has been tremendously therapeutic. It has allowed me to go about the rest of my day and think about other things the way I always used to before the FATCA nonsense began. It is an honour and a joy to be among you!
I am grateful with fingers crossed that for over a year and a half my son’s health has been reasonably good. This sounds like a lot of quantifying but, it’s not really. It’s the best I can hope for given his situation and I AM grateful for it!
I’m grateful that my father is still with us as I still have some time to be with him.
I’m grateful that I had the grandmother I had who was the most formidable, bravest and kindest woman I ever knew. She lived until I was well into my forties and for that I am eternally grateful. I’m also grateful that her last words to me were “I will be with you, wherever you go” and so she is.
I’m grateful that spring is coming and that I have a cozy inviting home with a wonderful spouse and a sweet loving pet.
I’m grateful for all of you and inspired by your dedication to helping others.
@muzzlednomore
Yikes! It’s hard to imagine being more obsessed than I already am, but I suppose I might be if I was unable to connect with other like minded people. Thank you, all like minded people who participate on Brock and MS – and those who challenge us, because without them we would become just an echo chamber. (I say this at the risk of a certain eloquent somebody’s going to maybe have something to say about that).
My Gratitude, Part 2:
I would likely have been a welfare mom or dead (and that is not an understatement) had I stayed in the US — all medical conditions would have been “pre-existing” and as a single mom there, I am sure my life path there would have been very different than here. With Canadian medical care for all that I have received since 1972 when diagnosed for Crohn’s Disease and that my son has received for medical as well as developmental disability, I feel that I have been able to be a somewhat contributing member of Canadian society.
I had worked for a caring and accommodating employer and paid Canadian taxes through all the years (minus the months and months of hospitalization, including many surgeries). I have strived to volunteer my time to things I feel important. I’ve tried to make a difference as best I can. I have tried to pay back. I have also tried to be responsible in contributing to the innovative Canadian RDSP to hep with future care of my son when I am no longer here (though have fear that can somehow be sucked away by the US as my son is “entrapped into US citizenship”). I am grateful every day, for many reasons, that my life path brought me to Canada.
Grateful the Lord made it possible for my family to move to Europe.
Grateful the people of Europe accepted us, welcomed us and made us part of their community.
Grateful to have found this website and being able to engage with others similar situated. Grateful that the cloud of fear of being alone was lifted, I am not alone, we are not alone. As most of you reading can tell I am a person of faith so I believe that the Lord led me to this place/website. The Lord knew what I needed and you all helped provide it. Had I not come to this place my health would have been far worse and I would have been in a very dark place.
@All
I was in a terrible funk yesterday but today the sun rose and I am past the fog.
You are all right in telling me that there are many things to thank for .
My first gratitude is for all of you. You are my present each and every day with your wise, witty and inspiring words.. Thank you, all.
I am grateful for living past that one hour the doctor gave me live when I was a baby..
I am grateful for being almost deaf because it gave me the gift of love of reading..
I am also grateful for the hearing aid that enables me to have better hearing.
I am grateful that Canada accepted my husband and me as refugees when we were in need to escape the American regime.
I am grateful for being able to live in Canada and have the health care where Canadian doctors advised me that a hearing aid would help . The same Canadian health care provided my family with excellent care, especially in the times of my husband and son fighting their cancers.
I am grateful that the Canadian health care system gave me peace of mind and not have to worry about medical bills.
I am grateful for having been able to fall in love at first sight with my soul mate and be married after 24 days to stay married to him for almost 33 years until he died.
I am grateful for two wonderful sons. One now who is with the love of his life living abroad. and his brother who did have the love of his life before he died.
I am grateful to be able to travel to visit my son in Europe and also other beautiful places , the most recent having a great sun filled turquoise water, blue sky and creamy sand holiday with good friends.
I am grateful for having fairly good health and to be retired without the stress of worrying about living month to month . I am thankful for having good jobs that gave me good pensions and my husband as well.
I am grateful to wake up in a dry, warm, comfortable bed in a comfortable home that my friend lets me live in..
I am grateful for a full refrigerator of good food, clean abundant water. and being able to take as many hot showers or baths I like.
I am grateful for old friends of decades and new friends of months.
I am grateful for a car that works.
I am grateful for having my eyesight saved by the Canadian doctors so that I can read of the past, present and future and be on the internet to visit my son and friends and learn of new things and history.
My older son is my Pooh Bear and my younger son was Tigger. I am a cross between Kanga and Rabbit. Thank you all for bringing me back to Kanga to remember the glass is half full NOT half empty.
Thanks so much, nothernstar, for letting us know how you count your gratitude. Glad you went through the exercise — it was good for me as well. It is obvious that we all have much in our lives to be thankful for. It is so hard to be isolated in this weird and wrong situation we find ourselves. I’m grateful it is not all that defines us. Take special care.
I’m grateful people I’ve never met trusted IRSCompliant, NobleDreamer, GwEvil and me enough to quickly send money to us and for believing we will represent them well now and in the future/.
I am grateful to IRSCompliantForever, GwEvil and NobleDreamer for their outstanding work at C3f.
I am grateful to Outraged Canadian as my partner at Maple Sandbox.
I am grateful to have had Victoria as a co-author.
I am grateful for Elizabeth May, Murray Rankin, Ted Hsu, Scott Brison and Irwin Cotler.
Bless your heart, Lynne. Meeting and working with you has been extraordinary. And there will be more work to do ’cause we are far from done.
And to all the Brockers here – God bless you. You folks kept me from going nuts and gave me the courage to try to do something about what was driving me (and you) nuts. Onward!
@Calgary411
So glad you and all my other Brock friends prodded me to think positively and not wallow in self pity and depression.
I am isolated up here in the north but I know there are so many of you all over Canada and the world. I am not alone. I am on the Big Brock Bus.
@Victoria,
read your blog and you are going to DC… I loved DC for its museums. It has been decades since I have been there. I once was inside the Pentagon for a hearing. interesting place.
@northern star. we feel with you. i personally have been there, FATCA and all other
c*** around CBT actually now beginning to be actually enforced sent me into clinical depression….. I took months to get better and the cure was complete when I renounced and excised the abusive relationship
I am grateful for your and George’s words on this thread and all the other brockers, Maple Sandboxers (really it’s Lynne!) and Franco American Flophousers (really it’s Victoria!) who literally in some of the darkest days of my life helped me through it-I knew I was not alone,
I am grateful HM and the British nation for giving me the ultimate gift of British Citizenship, after nearly 3 decades here, to secure my future.
I am grateful to have experienced decades of rich European culture
I am grateful not to fear medical bankruptcy (leading cause of bankruptcy in USA)
lots to be be thankful for.
Grateful for C-Span!
http://www.c-span.org/video/?313376-2/white-house-daily-briefing&start=4617
@NotThatTara – wow thanks for the CSpan link from summer 2013….. choked on my white wine with laffter at this complete tosh peddled by a professional. FATCA = “simple global standard?” to quote Charlaine Harris-my “round rosy a**”!!!! over and over my decision to renounce is validated……
viva freedom!!
more wine material (2009):
http://www.c-span.org/video/?284675-1/investment-fraud-offshore-tax-evasion&start=1783
First and foremost, I am thankful that God is still in charge, no matter how chaotic things appear to me. After one particularly sleepless night (FATCA related), I happened to be reading Psalm 4 the next morning, which says in verse 8, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.” I have been sleeping well since.
I used to fret about how unfair this was, being a law-abiding citizen but being branded (and treated like) a criminal – not even afforded the rights guaranteed in the Charter. Then recently, when reading in Job, I was reminded that he was “perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil”. Compared with what Job was subjected to, I will take FATCA any day! Through all his suffering, one of Job’s conclusions was, “My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.” I have always known these Biblical truths (heard of them), but as a result of the FATCA-induced suffering they are becoming more real to me (seeing them first hand).
Secondly, I am very grateful for my fellow Brockers and Sandboxers. I felt lost and alone until I came across these websites. From my first contact with Petros, who was so helpful, I began to realize that I was not alone. Since that time, I have learned so much from all of you who post here. We come from all across the political spectrum, but are unified by this injustice imposed upon us by the Democrats in the US and sanctioned by the Conservatives in Canada! I believe that our diversity is a strength, as each unique perspective has so much of value to contribute.
I really appreciate this thread, as I often have to remind myself to focus on the 95% positive in my life, not the 5% negative. I continue to pray for wisdom in dealing with my particular situation, and I draw on the incredible accumulated wisdom of posters here. God bless you all.
Thank you, Canadian Cop, for contributing to this gratitude post.
I am especially grateful to you for each post you have contributed here at Isaac Brock. Each one is a masterpiece, so clear and compelling that really speaks to everyone here who reads those but, more importantly, to readers that are not us — especially our government representatives.
@Calgary411……I’m grateful to you for starting this thread and to all others on this site who have offered me information, encouragement and support during the short time I’ve been here. Like everyone here, I’m not sure where I’d be with all this if it weren’t for this site. To all of you smart, funny, gracious, generous, kind and strong individuals, thank you, thank you thank you from the bottom of my heart!!!
Not to mention where the personal data of Canadians-US information could go— to a completely unsecure data base. Check this. More crime:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-18/irs-employee-took-home-data-on-20-000-workers-at-agency.html
http://downtrend.com/jaye-ryan/irs-employee-stole-personal-info-irs-commissioner-says-not-exactly/
http://www.kmov.com/news/investigates/Alabama-Runaround–244145971.html
I’m actually grateful for my anger over FATCA combined with US citizenship-based taxation law and what it is doing to many innocent individuals and families, the injustice that has brought us together and kept us in this fight.
Acting on my anger has kept me from inaction and insanity so actually a therapy for me. I do strive to keep how I use my anger somewhat appropriate as I realize what some of my friends and family think about how it has affected me.
An interesting look at the worth of anger:
@calgary411
Anger is an effective tool if used correctly, it would seem. From a family of hot-heads, this is encouraging news!
bubblebustin,
Which family of hot-heads — yours or mine? Just think what it would do should we be holding all our anger in!
@Calgary411
Mine. You too?