Hello!  Where are you?

Hello!  Where are you?  Hi everyone.  I’m not asking for your location.  I want to know where you are in the important areas of your life—spiritually, financially, relationally, work, business, and goals related.

A few months ago I blogged about how we are getting close to the end of the year and how we should take time to revisit our progress on hitting our goals or dreams.   Well, here we are in the final quarter of 2019.  Where are you?

Has your spiritual life improved?  Have you made progress on your financial goals for your family, business, giving, etc.?  Are you more nurturing to your intimate, family, friend, work, and business relationships?  Have you hit the work/career goal?  Are you closer to the promotion, special project, sales target that you want?  Did you take that course or class that will prepare you for your next move?  Are you close to launching the new business that you have been developing?  Did you lose the 50 pounds yet?  Have you overcome that health-related challenge yet?  Has your dream come true yet?  Where are you?

Ok. I know some smartie pants is probably asking—Marilyn, where are you?  My answer is this.  I have revisited and tweaked all my plans, goals, and dreams.  I have learned where I am.  I am doing the work.  I have thanked God for removing and dealing with anything, anyone who may be blocking my progress.  And, now know where I am and where I am going.  Friends, I again, challenge you to know where you are so that you can know where you are going.

Join me on the next show this Saturday, October 26th on https://www.youtube.com/MarilynsCafeSociety.  Be sure to “like”, subscribe, share, and/or follow my social media platforms at marilynscafesoc on Twitter; Marilyn’s Café Society on Facebook, YouTube; and marilynscafesociety.com.  Peace.

Live. Laugh. Love.

Marilyn

What’s happening everyone?  How are you doing?  I am good.  I’ve taken another moment to come up for air after having my nose in a couple of books for the past few weeks.  I’m really trying to get done.  It’s not that they are difficult reads.  It’s the time factor.  I mean, I am in such demand!!!  LoL

Anyway, so, the question of the week is, “What You See is What You Get?”  I don’t know why that catchphrase came to mind but it did.  It wasn’t referenced in any of my reading material.  Nevertheless, here’s a quick history on this saying.  It was made popular by a character created by comedian Flip Wilson in 1969 and later became an acronym (WYSIWYG) from the tech world– meaning what you see or type on the computer screen is what will print on paper.

Anyway, I guess we could approach this question in a variety of ways or from various life experiences.  Right?  For example, when meeting people; when dating; when purchasing things; etc.   You’ve heard the phrase “All that glitters ain’t gold.”  Meaning just because it looks like gold doesn’t mean it is.  Or, just because something looks good, doesn’t mean it is good.  Another way to put it is “some things just ain’t what they seem to be”.  {Pardon my not so good English.}  A song by the old school R&B singing group, The Dramatics, even comes to mind.  They use the catchphrase in the song.  Take a listen when you finish reading.  https://youtu.be/PgG6SU8L-dl

However, the focus of the blog is to get you to “see” a little deeper and how you wonderfully you impact lives.  Think about something you recently purchased.  As far as you are concerned you saw something that you wanted.  You paid for it and took it home or ate it, etc.  But, pause a moment.  Let’s say that what you purchased was a chair.  What you see is a chair.  Now look a little closer.  What is the chair made of?  Wood?  Metal?  Plastic?  Were nails, screws, or bolts used to keep it together?  Is it painted or stained?  Does it have a cushion or fabric on it?  If so, what material is used to make the cushion or fabric?  Cotton?  Polyester?  Are you seeing the chair differently now?  Now, think about this.  Where did you purchase the chair?  A furniture store?  A department store?   Ok and omg–Online?  LoL

Is the chair WYSIWYG?  So you may say, yes, Marilyn.  I saw a chair and I got it! Again, the purpose of this blog is to get you to “see” things a bit deeper.  The chair is more than just a chair!  The chair represents all the various industries involved in making the chair.  Within the various industries, people are working/laboring to create, design and manufacture the chair.  Then, there are people involved in the shipment and/or distribution of the chair.  Once it arrives to the store location where it’s sold, there’s more people involved in that process.

Furthermore, the people behind the “creating, making, distributing, and selling” of the chair that you purchased have families, responsibilities.  They must Live. Laugh. Love.  And, guess what?  You just helped them do so.  Yes, you wonderfully impact lives more than you know.  And so, yes, for the purpose of this blog message, WYSIWYG and so much more!  Let’s continue to help each other by keeping the cycle of creating and consuming going.

The next show is this Saturday, October 19th on https://www.youtube.com/MarilynsCafeSociety. Be sure to “like”, subscribe, share, and/or follow my social media platforms at marilynscafesoc on Twitter; Marilyn’s Café Society on Facebook, YouTube; and marilynscafesociety.com.  Peace.

Live. Laugh. Love.

Marilyn

Hello everyone.  Rumor has it that most people are “over” the Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday shopping events.  What do you think?  Are you?  I think of Thanksgiving Day as “Family Time”.  At least until later in the evening/night for some single 20 to 30 “some things” when they then go off to visit and hangout with friends they hadn’t seen in awhile; or couples go out to the movies, concerts, etc.  Nevertheless, Family time.

Well, many retail business, commerce, and online trade publications are reporting that the “brick and mortar” in-store shopping frenzy of a few years ago is over.  Meanwhile the number of online shoppers increase more and more each Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday shopping season.  According to Adobe Analytics, the Thanksgiving Day 2018 online spending hit $3.7 Billion dollars showing a nearly 28 percent growth over 2017’s 18.3 percent growth rate.

Now, back to the “brick and mortar” shopping.  I have spoken with a lot of people over the last few years about this Thanksgiving Day shopping trend and roughly one half of them don’t like it.  A quarter of them do; and the rest could care less.  ShopperTrak (a retail intelligence firm) backs the results of this unofficial survey of mine to some degree.  They reported that the 2018 in-store foot traffic fell by nearly 2 percent on Thanksgiving Day and Black Friday combined.  Another firm that measures in-store traffic reported sales dropped and traffic was down as much as 9 percent from last year.

So, it seems that many people are more content shopping online on Thanksgiving Day from the comfort of their homes or family member’s home enjoying “Family Time” rather than running around from store to store standing in long lines.  Aaah.  Thanksgiving Day.  Family time.  One of the few days in the year when just about everyone (except those who provide essential and emergency services to the public)  has the same day (or two) off work/school.

It’s also reported that more brick and mortar stores are opting to NOT open on Thanksgiving Day.  Now, the question is who will work to fill the abundance of online orders that’s predicted to come through retailers’ websites?  Who will have the online orders packaged and ready for pick up OR delivery on Black Friday?  Well, there are always a few souls that will jump at the opportunity to work on Thanksgiving Day for various reasons.  Sadly, others will do it because they have too.  Whatever the case, I hope everyone gets to enjoy “Family Time” all the time and not just on Thanksgiving Day.

The next show is Saturday on https://www.youtube.com/MarilynsCafeSociety. Be sure to “like”, subscribe, share, and/or follow my social media platforms at marilynscafesoc on Twitter; Marilyn’s Café Society on Facebook, YouTube; and marilynscafesociety.com.  Peace.

Live. Laugh. Love.

Marilyn