Have you ever really watched a small child play, preferably one who had not yet bought into parental messages of values? Give them a box, a few pieces of wood, a blanket, a pot and watch their imaginations go and grow. You don't always know what will emerge next from their fertile imaginations. They see and think things our adult eyes are blind to.

While on a recent walk, I chanced to pass a park where a young father was playing with his child with a large ball. As he watched the joy on his offspring’s face, he remarked with a smile to a companion. Best three dollars I ever spent!

Now that the leaves have fallen and the holiday season approaches, I am again faced with the dilemma of Holiday gift giving, and I am sure that you are feeling the same. We have been caught in the more is better syndrome which defines successful giving more by how long the receiver must take to open all the gifts rather than the satisfaction received from any single gift.

In the beginning there were three Rs: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The original concept of the Three Rs was intended to reduce the amount of waste being sent to landfills. It was soon apparent, however, that there were many other Rs which could be undertaken to reduce the amount of waste and pollution we each produce.

Recently, I thought of another R to add to our list: Revive. The concept sprang from a quote in Alan Durning's How Much Is Enough?.

When Benjamin Franklin penned those words, income tax was not the law of the land. Today, a penny saved is worth much, much more than a penny earned.

I have seen several references to the story of the Hundredth Monkey. The story first appeared in Lyal Watson's book Lifetide, but may be more well known from the opening of Ken Keyes' book The Hundredth Monkey. For those of you who do not know the story, here is a synopsis.

It's tempting to look outside ourselves for answers to life's big questions. If we could just read a book or go to a seminar to discover our true purpose, it would make things so much easier. While the answers that others have found may inspire you, ultimately you have to answer life's big questions for yourself. A personal journal is the perfect place to begin figuring out your hopes, dreams, and visions.

Author Richard Mahler explains to us the importance of slowing down in our daily lives. He emphasizes "stillness" as a key to gaining calm in a hectic world.

Alan AtKisson writes about over-consumption and consumerism.