Tag Archives: life

My new What If book now available on Amazon

August 19, 2014 – 11:57 am

Hello,

It’s been some time that I’ve sent a message on here. The past few months have been quite eventful. But I have some good news to share with you. When I first started this What If blog I had a certain idea in mind— what if I were to write my third book as a blog. I ran the idea by a good friend and she was very excited. So I thought OK I will make it official. So in considering what I would blog about that would be worthy of one day becoming a book, the idea came to me— I should blog about various what if scenarios, especially since at the time I was using the expression so much, as you will see if you have been following this blog, or if you now purchase the book.

The book is not identical to the blog. I’m sure you’re wondering that by now. You’re probably asking yourself “why would I buy a book that has all the same details that’s on a blog that I can read for free?” But no, the book goes a step further than the blog. The blog has a lot of humor and touches on some inspirational themes, but the book digs deeper and gets into even a little bit of controversy. It asks the tough questions that have never been published on this blog, questions such as “what if God did not exist?” It gives you commentary from historical figures such as former president Robert Kennedy and former French Writer Voltaire. So if you’re looking for a book that raises tough questions on matters where the answers rest within your imagination, then this is the book for you to read.

This eBook costs only 99 cents, so it is quite affordable, less than a dollar. You can access it at this link What If.. All You Can Imagine. It will make you laugh and it will make you wonder. Use it as a base for coming up with your own what if questions. We live in a big world, and it’s a big universe. Surely there are endless questions we can ask ourselves and rely on our great imagination to suggest the answers.

By whatifsometimeslifehappen | Posted in Blogs | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

What if we relied less on hope?

September 18, 2013 – 2:30 pm

For five years I held on to hope and faith concerning a specific life changing event, which, to my hurt and disappointment, did not work out. So it led me to question hope, but as I started my research on that I ended up finding that my question was more on the issue of faith.

So what exactly am I talking about? Let’s first define these terms to get a bit of clarity. The Oxford English Dictionary defines hope as a feeling of expectation and desire for something to happen; and it defines faith as complete trust or confidence. So with this context, for those five years of my life I had the expectation and desire that things would have worked out, and I had complete confidence that it would.

At first I became angry with “hope” when things didn’t work out. I was angry that I had expected a positive outcome, and so I asked myself the question, “what if we relied less on hope?” I started to think of the many situations where we apply the concept of hope, such as when we tell a friend “I hope you will have a good day”, or “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow.” I laughed as I considered these statements, and thought to myself, we have absolutely no control over the weather, and most of the time when we “hope” that others will have a good day, we won’t impact those persons’ day and have no control over what obstacles those persons’ may experience on that day, but being the humans that we are, we “hope” anyway. I laughed as I considered how at work we tend to start off the body of our emails with “Hope you are well”. Me having hope about a client’s health is not going to impact whatever is the reality, yet I “hope” anyway. In all these questions something became evident to me. Two things in fact – faith and fate. I kept seeing the answers can’t change the outcome; different to reality, and I thought, oh so fate is a big part of my unfortunate setbacks. I realized that there is little escaping “hope” because one way or another you have to have expectations and desires in this life, even if at the very least it is that you will wake up the next morning. Or on the contrary, for those who don’t want to wake up, they could have a desire to die! I further realized that for those five years I had not only hoped, but had held on to “faith”. I trusted completely that things would have worked out as I had planned, so I did not make adequate preparation for Plan B, in case things did not work out. To be honest, I was the kind of person who always had so much faith that I thought that it was all I needed in order to achieve whatever I wanted. But this setback reminded me of something. It reminded me that God is in control, and not me. While faith is good, it is even better to be conscious of our limitations. This is where fate comes in. The Oxford English Dictionary defines fate as the development of events outside a person’s control, regarded as decided in advance by a supernatural power.

So my setback helped me to realise that all along my faith had been misdirected. I needed to put my faith in God, and accept that I do not have complete control over my circumstances, and as such will not receive every desire I have in this life. Now I still hope, but while I do I pray and ask God for His guidance. I no longer lean on my own understanding, but trust that God knows what is best for me, and whatever that best is, I choose to accept it. When he closes a door on me I know it’s because it’s not His will for me, and I accept that and patiently wait for His will to be done in my life.

By whatifsometimeslifehappen | Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

What If…What Now…Beyond 2012

December 29, 2012 – 11:31 pm

Many people all over the world went through much of 2012 wondering what if the world comes to an end this year. Others wondered what if we experience some major occurrence at the end of 2012 that leads to a new world order in 2013. So now that December is almost over and the world is still very much in tact, I wonder what now; what happens beyond 2012.

Leading up to December 2012 many persons all over the world anticipated that as per the Mayan calendar, the world would come to an end on December 21, 2012. Worldwide catastrophe was anticipated. Some even thought that maybe global warming would lead to this worldwide catastrophe. I remember back in Easter when the weather in Canada made a sharp jump from freezing temperatures to a more summer-time +20 degree Celsius temperatures. It was reported to be one of the warmest winters in Canada.  As I sat having tea with my neighbour one afternoon, she openly wondered if the warmer temperatures this year was a sign. She said she didn’t believe that the world would end on December 21st, but wondered if we would experience something major, and if it would result in us starting a new, better world in 2013. Her fantasy made me think of the story of Port Royal, and I too started to wonder if a new world order was on its way.

Port Royal, Jamaica was once known as the ‘Wickedest City on Earth’. It was a haven for privateers and pirates – lots of drinking, prostitution and killings abounded there. Then on June 7, 1692 a massive earthquake hit Jamaica and over 2,000 residents of Port Royal died that day as result, with up to 3,000 more deaths from injuries and diseases in the months that followed. Many people viewed the occurrence as God’s punishment on such a wicked city. Today Port Royal is a quiet city, very unlike the place that it used to be.

Well no worldwide environmental catastrophe occurred and the world did not end on December 21, 2012, but for many persons it’s just as well if it did. I don’t recall any other year where there were so many tragic events worldwide than in 2012. Just to name a few, there was and continues to be the bloodletting in Syria. The current death toll stands at approximately 40,000 people. Back in October a former university colleague was killed and burnt in Jamaica. She was four months pregnant. Also in October, a woman in New York who was eight-months pregnant was stabbed to death on the day before her wedding.  Beneath her body was a note which stated that more pregnant women would die until the DC sniper is released from prison. Just a couple weeks ago, on December 14, 20 children and a few adults were shot and killed by a lone gunman at an elementary school in Connecticut. On that very day, over in China a man used a knife to injure 22 children and one adult. These killings remind me of the Bible verse Luke 21:23 which reads “Woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.” (King James Bible – Cambridge).

Death came closer to home this year when in November my mom’s patient died in her presence. Then my step dad passed away on Christmas day. I still feel emotional as I think of my own dad and my mom. I pray that God will keep them alive and well for years to come.

Death is an ever-present reality these days. Times feel less happy than they once did, but for those of us who still have life, we must go on. Those who have suffered loss have to find a way to cope. Those who currently suffer in the midst of war and destruction must also find a way to cope or possibly escape. I’m not sure if there will be any further predicted world end now that mankind has survived 2012, but one thing is for sure, we can’t curl up in our homes  and refuse to stop living (unless of course you commit suicide). So we have to go on with our plans and dreams, and continue to have hope for a better world and better circumstances.

By whatifsometimeslifehappen | Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (1)

What If…Sometimes Life Just Happens

February 26, 2012 – 12:28 am

Growing up I’d hear kids say “what if your nose was a door post, where would you put the hinges?” It was a bit of an upsetting query because surely there’s no way my nose would ever transform into a door post, so why on earth would I wonder about that? Well the same thing could be said about more realistic things in life that we spend our time wondering about. I’m 100 % guilty of always reflecting and thinking if I had just, or what if were to do this or that. It gets a bit frustrating at times. But one day I thought, you know what I’ll just get my frustrations out in writing, as I always do. So I decided, I’ll write a book  about it. Maybe that will get it out of my system. I started writing what I thought would become my third book, but then of course, I wondered, what if I were to do this is a blog? I wonder what kind of “what if” stories other people may have. I’d love to hear their stories and share mine with them, and voila, that’s how this blog began.

There’s so much I think back on in my life about and wish things had gone differently, if I had just had a different attitude, if I had just been a bit more patient, and the list goes on. But despite all my should have, would have, could have, whatever was ever meant to happen, happened, and one day it just finally hit me, sometimes life just happens. So get over whining and pining already. We may think we ought to have full control because we are in the driver’s seat of our lives, but sometimes we don’t have full control of the situation; there are circumstances often beyond our foresight and beyond our control. Even if we feel bad about certain outcomes, we just never saw those end-results coming so we didn’t know how to stop them. And we don’t have all the keys to the future either. I know, easier said than done, it’s like a drug. So why not have some fun with it? Let’s see how often in our lives we get caught up with this ‘what if’. I know a common ‘what if’ facing most of us right now is ‘what if I were to win the lottery?’  Well all I can tell you is that if you don’t have a ticket you don’t stand a chance. I bought a pick 3 ticket recently with the numbers 2,7,3 but just my luck the winning numbers were 3,7,1. So I almost won the lottery, but almost doesn’t count. If I had just played a 1 instead of a 2. But you know what, sometimes life just happens.

By whatifsometimeslifehappen | Posted in Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)