Dear Reader:

Isn’t it amazing how just by expanding our perception, even a little, the answers to many of our questions lay in wait…and always did. We just didn’t see them.

Case in point: Thursday morning…I was on a mission. Ever since my bank switched over to a new digital/electronic customer service program, I have experienced several password dis-functions. resulting in new passwords. (I find much security in my ‘old’ passwords because my feeble brain can remember them. But if I start messing around and changing an exclamation to an asterik, or whatever I am required to do, it takes me forever to transfer my brain neurons into accepting the new password/icons.)

I had finally gotten that straightened out, mentally, when I noticed another problem. When I went into my account…it only showed the location where I spent money, usually with my bank Visa check card, or perhaps a partial copy of a check…but it didn’t show me the amount.

To me that is equally important! Now and then I would get a glimpse of part of a check I had written but that was it. When I explained the problem to the teller, she had me wait outside an office for additional help.

The woman was so nice and after explaining my dilemma, she said that I should be getting all the information…type of payment and amount for each purchase made. So she went into my account and bingo…there it all was.

I sat there stupefied (is that a word…it should be if it isn’t) staring at the screen…”That’s not what my screen looks like at home”  I responded. She clicked on something and suddenly it looked just like what I saw. “Yes” I said excitedly…that is all I am seeing.”

“Then you are seeing only half the screen.” You need to enlarge it in order to see the amounts listed beside each purchase… on the far, far right.”

Where is a shovel when you need one? If I could have dug a hole through the office floor to China, I would be in  Shanghai as we speak.

Even though I was embarrassed, when I returned home, I realized that my screen was automatically on as big as it could go…in order to squeeze in the location on the left and the amount on the far, far right I had to center the screen perfectly and then I could just barely see it all at the same time.

There is way too much space between the location information on the far left and the monetary amount on the far right. Two-thirds of the screen is just a blank screen….doesn’t seem too efficient to me…I find myself having to turn my head from left to right to take in both pieces of information at the same time. That seems a little silly…why aren’t they closer together?

Never-the-less, I now have the information I wanted and needed. It was right there the whole time…but my perception was limited resulting in misinformation. I started thinking about this problem on a bigger scale and isn’t that how most conflicts begin? Two sides don’t see the same problem at the same level of perception. One side might only be getting part of the escalating troubles, while the other side is privy to the whole picture.

…And what gratitude I felt when I was given a simple explanation for the confusion and a quick remedy to the problem. Even after just a day or two I am automatically adjusting my screen to the “magic centerfold” that allows me visual access to everything I need.

Now I smile when I open my electronic account instead of shaking my head in frustration. It just took a bigger perception than what I had available in my knowledge on this particular dilemma. I needed someone to show me the way.

Now gratitude has replaced frustration and I am more open to exploring new possibilities with other digital sites as they appear now and in the future.

Thorton Wilder said: “We can only be said to be alive in those moments where our hearts are conscious of our treasures.”

So until tomorrow..If our treasures consist of measures of gratitude, then we are wealthy indeed.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

A mystery solved: Remember my challenges with my red cardinal who insists on beating himself up on my right reflective mirror and then leaving splatters of “white” all down the side of the door. Yesterday I had finally reached my limit of tolerance. I had gone out and cleaned the mirror, the car window, and the sides of the car a few minutes before I left to meet friends.

As I approached my car…to my dismay, the cardinal had returned and made the most of its time completely messing up the mirror, glass, and car door again.

While eating a friend suggested that there must be a nest nearby where I am parking my car and the cardinal thinks an “enemy” (mirror reflection)  is lurking nearby who could endanger the nest. So that is why it keeps attacking over and over again.

Sure enough, in the woods and Azalea Ally, located beside and farther down my drive-way…I discovered a bird nest with Mr. and Mrs. Cardinal pecking away in the foliage near the drive-way…not far from it.

I didn’t have a white flag…but I cranked up the car and moved it to the other driveway…as far away as possible. Stay tuned…I will let you know if this was the right solution to the problem. I sure hope so…and if so…this solution will be met, on my part, with much gratitude…treasured gratitude.