Sister Knowitall: Introducing- Dear Sister Knowitall Column at the G...

Latest Article link to my new Dear Sister Knowitall Column at the Gwinnett Citizen.
So very excited about this. 4 years of blogging and now so many people will get to benefit from my 12 years of real life experience.  This is one of my dreams coming true.  Thank you Gwinnett Citizen. You are awesome!

Sister Knowitall: Introducing- Dear Sister Knowitall Column at the G...: by Cindy Pitts Gilbert  Gwinnett Citizen  July 2016 Permalink Sister Knowitall Just wanted to say Hello Gwinnett.  Sister Knowi...

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Cherish the now, It's the Moments that Matter

by Cindy Pitts Gilbert Buford Weekly Illustrated July 13, 2016

Have we completely lost our minds. You can not turn on the news without hearing terrible tragedies: animals hurting children, adults hurting seniors, police being targeted and multiple serial murders. Over the last week, I've had an opportunity to reflect on the moments. We are so over exposed to what happens around the world. Gone are the days where we just hear about what happens in our own community. We are now inundated  with all the traumas, explosions, mass shootings all over our nation.

Last week, I had  good friend pass away unexpectedly, full of life and 5 years younger than me.  Social media keeps me in touch with friends around the world. Another friend's family now sits in hospice with a dying parent. It sounds so cliche', I know. Yet, what does that mean, Cherish the now?

Now is this very moment, no matter what you're thinking, stop and take a moment to breathe in deeply. Feel it in your lungs, count to 5 and release it. Take a couple more deep breaths. Enjoy the feeling it gives you. You are breathing. Becoming aware of your breath and letting go of all thoughts, gives you a chance to step away from the insanity that is this world and gives us a moment to reflect on the fact that we are alive, we are breathing and that is not a given. Do you worry about what has happened to you in the past? Do you keep your eye on the prize? Do you spend all of your precious time in a place that is no longer here or has yet to come?  

I would like to challenge you for one week to cherish the now. Be present because it is truly a gift. It is summer time. Go outside feel the sun, look around at your surroundings and cherish the moment. Enjoy family time. Let go of that person who cut you off in traffic, or that person who hurt you in the past; it is wasted energy. Stop worrying about how you are going to pay that bill or that you have so much to do. Cherish the moment.  

My friend had no warning; he was simply tired. He went home from work a place that he had built over time. I watched him start that business with no prospects and no hope of making a dime due to a crashed economy, and over the years, he built a great team and will truly be missed as a well respected member of our community. He truly had his eye on the prize. He sat down last week on his couch after a great day at the office, closed his eyes never to open them again.  

So I challenge each reader to take deep breath let go of the past. Stop thinking so intently about the future and concentrate on this moment. Do your best in each moment even if you don't love what you are doing. I'm not saying you shouldn't prepare for the future or work hard for it.  Just remember to be in each moment as you make plans and stop dwelling on the future so much that you miss the now.  You are here and if you don't cherish each moment it will too become an instant part of your past. The future never ever gets here.  All we have is now.

I often tell my husband that it's all about the memories.  I plan to be really old and as my husband and I rock together in that chair on the porch. I want to have a full life to reflect on.  I want to know that whether I make it to that rocker or not that I cherished the now, each moment as it happens.  The time with my children and grandchildren while they are with me.  The laughter with friends and family while we are together.  The flowers and trees from my patio. The work I do each moment which is why at this time of my life I am doing what I love.   

Challenge yourself to be present in the now.  I think you will find that you are more productive in the now. You will smile more in the now and will have an unlimited number of  memories from the now in your own rocker on the porch.   

Pick Your Battles, Are we focusing on all the wrong things?

by: Cindy Pitts Gilbert  Buford Weekly Illustrated June 22, 2016

photo credit: mosiacprep.com

Summer is upon us the graduations ceremonies a memory Yet, there are students who worked hard and made the grade yet didn't receive their diploma.  I have always told my kids as they were growing up pick your battles.  I lived that  as a parent  as well. There were just some rules not worth fighting over with your kids, So what, if my kid didn't want to change their or yours wants to sleep in the bathtub one night. 

Crazy stories on the news recently that caught my attention.   A straight A student had a beard  throughout high school and was given a choice shave the beard or don't get a diploma,  Really? The kid was a the top of his class and he made a choice. He shaved all but just a small portion of his beard and sat in the audience and cheered on his fellow classmates.  I applaud his decision.  What are we thinking when it comes to educating our children are we really so narrow minded that we can't pick our battles any better than this. 

The Board of Education in South Carolina  passed a skinny jeans policy as improper dress.   They are too distracting. My question is who is it distracting?  Apparently, it is distracting to the clothes police at the school.  Are they are so busy policing student attire that they are forgetting about the real issue. Educating our children to become the leaders of tomorrow.  I am a big proponent of the dress for success philosophy in business. 

I also believe in being yourself and expression through clothes are how teens express themselves.  It is somewhat puzzling that the U.S. specifically here in the south with Georgia being right in the middle of the "Bible Belt"  is unlike much of the world.  

We spend so much time worrying about who is going to be disturbed we lose focus on the really important issues.  Is the fact that they wear jeans that are form fitting  or have a beard worth all the hoopla?  Teens dress the way other teens dress. They want to be popular, accepted or perhaps  they take the other route and dress completely unique. I am not going to dwell on the transgender bathroom issue in the school system I just have to ask myself and those who make the rules?  

Here are some staggering statistics:  

 28% of all students report that they have been bullied ages 6-12 according to  stopbullying.gov.  According to bullyingstatistics.org. one in four kids are bullied in the United States on a regular basis.

-According to the Department of Veteran Affairs' National Center for PTSD 13-35 percent of students have intentionally harmed themselves at some point. 

-Teens 16 to 19 years of age were 3 ½ times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape according to the 2012 maltreatment report released by the US. Department of Health and Human Services

-According to a 2013 survey titled "Youth Risk and Surveillance" ten percent of high school students reported physical victimization from a dating partner before they were surveyed. 

-According to dosomething.org the United States represents five percent of the world's population and 75 percent of prescription drugs taken. 60 percent of teens who abuse prescription drugs get them free from friends and relatives.        

Our teens face a great deal more at school than facial hair which bathroom they use or how baggy or tight their jeans are.   Why are we drawing attention to all the wrong things?