Timing is Everything, Just Ask Tim Tebow

It's all about the choices we make.

You ever wonder what would have happened if...?

Sometimes we make a choice and the choice can be simple like do I want coffee or tea?  Red or white wine?  Hit the snooze button or get up?  (I hit the snooze).  Most of us live in the real world full of choices and not in a 30-minute reality series world where the only choice they seem to have to make day after day is who to get into a fight with and cuss up and down.  We all make choices throughout the day.  I heard we make thousands of choices every single day.  But, it's those choices that we ultimately make that  matter.

What am I getting at? Well, the other day while I was exchanging the 1980's outfit Mr. Bricks got me for Christmas this year, a friend who is really close to me and I were talking about the really tough time they were currently going through.  They were sharing with me all of their troubles and that they had made some really bad choices.  It broke my heart to hear what they were going through.  All I wanted to do was wrap them up in bubble wrap and protect them so they wouldn't hurt anymore.  But I couldn't.  That wasn't an option and besides, the sales clerk at Kohl's would have charged extra for all of the bubble wrap, just sayin'

So, instead of safety wrapping my friend I tried to express some Ava's Greek wisdom.  Ultimately, I said, it came down to one thing.  In life we only truly own one thing. Our choices.  Our choices are what define and shape us.  For example, in Mr. Bricks' case the choice of going to McDonald and eating a Mcrib and an order of large fries every day is defining and shaping his larger than life frame. Oh, umm, sorry about such a graphic mental image. I hope I didn't burn your eye balls.  That's not exactly what I'm really talking about, but hopefully you get my point.

We get to choose our thoughts and which ones to let wallow around the deep dark crevasse of our noggin and which ones we decide to ixnay and discard.  With that said, we all can choose our words and speak whatever we feel about those thoughts.  We can choose what emotional response we will have with that thought or series of thoughts.  Then we can choose if we are going to respond to that thought and how it makes us feel.  The choice is ours.  We get to decide these things.

The key however that most people miss, a key that even the Greek Blonde Girl misses from time to time, is making sure it's the right time.  Often we jump the gun and overreact to these thoughts and feelings.  Sometimes, if the timing is not right, the result can end up hurting us or those around us.  Or sometimes we hesitate.  This can have the same effect that can lead to regret and anxiety.

I'm not trying to be a Debbie Downer because it's not all doom and gloom. There are always plenty of those instances where the choice we make is just at the perfect time.  These are the magic moments that we find God in the details.  When we act out of patience and faith through prayer. It is through that faithful obedience when God shows up and makes things work out in our favor. Yep, chalk up one more for the Big guy. (No Bricks, not talking about you!)

God does this so He can get the praise and thanks for our being blessed.  The interesting thing is when you see this happen it can come in so many forms.  What we may see as a bad thing for getting every yellow light on the way to the movies may have been instead just God keeping us from being in a terrible car accident by delaying our timing to an intersection he knew a speeding car would be coming through.

What's my point?  Well, with the year 2012 coming upon us and 2011 passing away for ever quickly by the minute, we are given the opportunity to sorta "start over".  (When I was a tow-head little Greek girl in elementary school we called them do-overs.)  With each year we are blessed with a sort of "reset button" that allows us to make new promises to ourselves and those around us.  The problem is by mid-January  most of us always forget what we even said as our New Years Resolution.

So, this year, as you draw a close on your past and keep an eye on the future, keep in mind that the choices you make when rooted in faith, you will find that timing is everything.  God will show up when you least expect him too. He is always there to keep us in the palm of his hand, no matter what the "circumstances" may look like.  The person you need to meet will come into your life.  The friend you never knew you had will suddenly appear in your life or maybe the job you crave will be offered to you. And if it doesn't - just know that there is a reason. And that reason is called God's timing.

Remember as we head into a new year that the only thing that you truly own, are your choices. Denver Broncos quarter Back Tim Tebow kneeling down on one knee is his choice, but his timing is perfect because in a world where it seems like bashing Christianity is a new Olympic sport,  Tim has made a conscious choice to acknowledge God's blessing in a very public way and all of the media is talking about it! Besides, his choice hasn't seem to hurt the Broncos' record either! Just sayin.

Blessings, Love & Music ~

Ava xox :D
www.avaaston.com 

Hindsight is 50/50

What is wrong with Lemons anyway?

There is the old saying that says, "hindsight is 20/20" but really I might have to disagree.  Sure, if you can look back and see what you did wrong or right in a situation you can "see clearly now" what did or didn't go the way it should or shouldn't have.  But really, let's take a closer look.  The only time Hindsight is truly 20/20 is when we are past a choice or circumstance and look back on it.  However, what we don't know are the repercussions of the choices we made at that time when we get down the road from where we are seeing things as being 20/20.  What we may think was either a good or bad situation in our past may in our future come to be a curse or a blessing in disguise.

What do I mean?  Well it's like this; we all know the saying, "you're damned if you do or you're damned if you don't", right? Like the women who knowingly always ask the same stupid question, "Do these jeans make me look fat?" Well if you don't want the answer, don't ask the question.  Better yet put yourself in the guys shoes.  Either he lies and says, no when you do, or says yes and then she gets mad at him for answering a question truthfully that she really doesn't want the answer to.  The poor guy knows he's damned if he says yes or no.  Either way it's a no-win situation.  So why put yourself or him through that?

Here's an example that just happened to me just this week.  I was out doing some errands that didn't need to get done immediately.  I was just filling my day/night with stuff to do. So after leaving Wendy's (If my fitness coach is reading this - relax I had a side salad and a dry baked potato) and on my way to Kohl's with a pitstop scheduled at Dunkin Donuts (doesn't everyone drink coffee at 9:30pm?... well greek people do) Back to the story... I was rear-ended at full speed by a lady in an SUV while sitting at a red light.  At first all these thoughts of, "If I just had stayed home" or "I should never have gone to Wendy's" ran through my head.  All I could think was what I should've done or wish I had done different.  The truth be told, I still don't know what the lesson is that I am being faced with through this situation.  Yes my car is a wreck and yes I was injured, but is there something in my future I have yet to come into that is a blessing?

Sometimes life is like that.  Take Michael Jackson and his doctor.  He is currently defending his entire life's work and what he did in those last moments of Michael's life.  His defense is that he removed the vile's of medicine to preserve the image that would be portrayed of MJ had he killed himself.  Though on the other hand it looks like he was trying to hide something instead.  In the end, the Doctor's still damned if he did or didn't because he should never have left MJ alone with such drugs within his reach let alone give him those drugs in the first place.

"Your windshield is bigger than your rearview mirror because you are supposed to spend more time looking forward than you are looking back." - Joel Osteen

Now, no I don't want to get all doom and gloom and that's not the point of my blog.  My point is that in life we have to make choices.  In reality the only thing we truly do possess to be 100% all our own ~ are our choices.  So here's how I look at it in my Greek Noggin.   Sure life can give you lemons, but who says you have to make lemonade?  Why can't you just slice the lemon and enjoy the wedge in a cool glass of iced tea?  What's wrong with lemons anyway?  Oh well then if life is a bowl of cherries, you have to deal with the pits, right? But what if they are maraschino cherries and plopped on top of a vanilla sunday? Then what?  Is life still sour grapes? because if it is, isn't that we make wine out of?

I guess what I am trying to say is, no matter what we are faced with in life it's all a matter of perspective as to how we perceive things.  Let your Yes be Yes and your No be No. Own your choices and learn to be content with what life hands you.  Like Michael Jackson said, sometimes we are "talking with the man in the mirror" and that man is us, and sometimes life is a test and on the other end you never know what blessing may come from what you perceive to be a curse.  Like my beautiful blue "Johnny Jetta" being destroyed could lead to a Bumble Bee Camaro... a Camaro named Camille or Christian Just sayin' ;o)

Love, Blessings & Music,
Ava xo
www.avaaston.com 

You Don't Have to Like What I Like

Paula Abdul's  Opposites Attract

When you are in your own home and you don't even know the person across the dinner table from you, you can chalk it up to "opposites attracts", or hello, you just invited a stalker for dinner. Let's hope it's because opposites attracts and you and your soul mate are having a Mars vs Venus moment.

However, this is not just a romantic issue, because even many of your BFF's and close co-workers can be totally opposite than you, and not like what you like, yet there still could be a good working relationship or friendship built upon the differences with that person.

Take my manager Mr. Bricks (Take him please, SFX: rim shot) Thank you, thank you, thank your very much. I will be here on this blog all week. (SFX: rim shot) Tonight you have a choice between fish or chicken and I recommend the fish. (SFX: rim shot) Don't forget to tip your waiters and waitresses.....Seriously, Mr. Bricks and I are polar opposites, yet somehow we stumble along in our business relationship just fine.

Here are some examples:

Ava's Favorite Beverage:  Vitamin Water Zero

Mr. Bricks' Favorite Beverage: Diet Coke

Ava's Snack of Choice:  Zone Bars

Mr. Bricks' Snack of Choice: Slim Jim's Sausage Sticks

Music on Ava's Ipod: Goo Goo Dolls, Bruno Mars, Kelly Clarkston, U2

Music on Mr. Bricks' iPod:  Disco

Ava's Favorite Workout Trainers: Jillian Michaels, Bob Harper, Brett Hoebel, Tony Horton

Mr. Bricks' Favorite Workout Trainer: Ronald McDonald

Ava's Favorite Chain Restaurant: Panera

Mr. Bricks' Favorite Chain Restaurant: McDonald's  (tied with Wendy's, Arby's, Carl's Jr., Taco Bell, Subway, Quiznos, Zaks, White Castle,   Popeye's Chicken, Dominos

Ava's Favorite Phrases: "Muckery", "Good Gravy" and "What's wrong with your noggin?"

Mr. Bricks' Favorite Phrases: "Do fries come with that?" and "Can I Supersize the meal please"

Ava's Favorite iPhone App:  iTunes App, Doggies Mamas App

Mr. Bricks' Favorite iPhone App:  None. Rotary dial phones don't  have apps

In my fan mail I get all sorts of muckery sent to me. Clearly, I am thrilled with each and every person who takes the time to write to me, but I can tell from what some fans wrote and send that they sometimes like very different things than me, and perhaps my music is the only thing we might have in common.  That is OK with me. You don't have to like what I like. I enjoy learning about different places and different things. This whole learning thing is pretty cool. It keeps my noggin free of cobwebs.

Blessings,

Ava

xox