although it sounds bit strange, on this weekend of giving thanks for the blessings in our life, it is all too easy to give thanks only for the better things in life and not for the challenges we all face...

it has taken many years to realize one of the greatest blessing I have been given…

i am blessed with the gift of the medical disorder of Fibromyalgia...

although much of my life i have felt as though it was the scourge of my life, it is, in fact, a blessing in disguise...it has shown me how much my mother and father have helped me deal with my pain and how much i need the gentle smile of my wife...but it has also provided me with much, much more...

the road of life is long for us all...and each of us faces problems either the world does not know about as we tend hide them, or because the world simply does not care...

the rest of the world goes on whether we have problems or not...the world is busy and as fast as you can explain your problems to another person is the same rate that they forget all about it...they simply have too much on their plate to take on your problems or mine...i know i am guilty as charged as much as anyone is...

and so it is, we must face our problems and stop blaming God... or our parents ...or as far too many times I have done in my past life: anybody but myself for the challenges we face...

to do so is a grave injustice to our well being...to suffer and to blame is not productive...

to meet a problem head on and deal with it is The Road Less Traveled (see Peck, M. Scott)...and the road more fulfilling...

i can be disgusted with the US media as much as the next guy...or more accurately, more so than the next guy…although it refuses to ask my opinion or care what I have to say...

and so it is best for me to deal with it in a way that is more productive...ignore it completely...it does me no good to cry in my bucket of cerveza on the incessant unhealthy messages and extreme pace of life in the US driven by a thirst for more of just about everything in the culture...everything is extreme, yet that is not enough anymore...

nor is it productive to discuss with the iguanas off the back deck the drug war being waged on the Americans by the pharmaceutical companies that have a grip on the minds of the people and the wallets of the politicians...the US drug cartels are infinitely more dangerous than some thugs along the border...they are winning the war of the mind and of the money...and of the media...

and so i choose not to participate in a physicians endless prescriptions that inherently seem to cause yet another two problems while solving one...at least for me...

i choose fresh air, slow pace, sunshine, fresh seafood, sunrises, sunsets and the time to enjoy them all...it is preferred over the endless medication i took in the past...add in a few naturally healing aspects of life here and i can live life with a more manageable level of daily pain than before...

the greatest pain reliever of them all comes in the form of better sleep...better than anywhere i have been in the entire world...and for those of us with sleep disorders, a good nights sleep is worth a million bucks...and a million prescriptions...

and none of this would be possible without the gift provided to me by God...the gift of Fibromyalgia...

i will most likely go the rest of my life living each day in some amount of pain...but it is no longer in the forefront of my body and my mind each and every day...although i must admit some days the grip is tighter than others...

but this precious gift has brought me to a beautiful, warm, tropical, Mexican, Caribbean, friendly, gracious, small sliver of health and well being...

how can i possibly be angry with my body, my mind or my God?

on this long weekend of giving thanks, i say a prayer of thanks for the gifts i have been given...my wife, my parents, my children, my family...

but i encourage you to be thankful for the problems you have been given in your life...you may be surprised where it leads you if you pay attention...

thank God i paid attention to my body, my mind and my God when visiting La Isla de Mujeres, Mexico several years ago...

most assuredly, it is easy to pay attention here, as there is so much beauty to behold on this gorgeous, sunny, calm Saturday on a Thanksgiving weekend...

disfruta la vida...

Jimbo

Check out these other cool businesses on Isla Mujeres!