Author: Cesar Abeid
My Christmas Gift
This past Christmas my daughter (14) and I were asked to play a few songs during Mass.
It was a bit weird because of the pandemic: the church was almost empty to comply with social distancing rules, everyone in masks, etc.
I used to play guitar at church back in Brazil when I was in high school.
So it was a truly special moment for me to be playing the guitar while my daughter sang so beautifully.
THAT was my best Christmas gift.

A lot of Americans will be disappointed in the next few days. Growing up in South America when democracy meant dictatorship, and watching every single election go the wrong way for decades, I’d like to remind everyone that we are more than our government.
Vote your conscience, yet form your conscience by reading and dialoguing, not by what the government does.
Invest your time to go out to the polls, but invest your emotional energy into your personal relationships instead. No politician deserves the power to take away your joy.
The good candidate is not God. The bad candidate is not the devil. Place your worship where it is due.
Remember that the world does not move in 4-year, discreet cycles; everything is connected in a continuous way. Trump’s America will elect his successor. Obama’s America elected Trump. We are all trying to figure things out along the way.
Your joy belongs to you. Keep it close and do not give it away.
A Full-Time Job

Minding your own business is a full-time job.
Working on your own shortcomings is a full-time job.
Focus on bettering yourself and being the person you want to be. There’s no time for anything else.

I have found that if you give all you do your best, you’ll have fewer regrets in life.
Knowing that you did all you could have done removes the what-if-I-had-done-more brain worm.
Boundaries

Roller coasters are fun because of the rails.
Boundaries create true freedom.
Centralization

The more we centralize decision-making, the less those on the edges will identify with the decisions.

What are cats so tired of?

I think we are shocked at the inevitability of death because we are hard-wired for eternity.