Real Medicine 2017

We have done our Best Medicine posts for several years and beginning last year, we gave a nod to some of the posts that are more serious in nature.  This was Tammy's brainchild as she felt our end of the year retrospective posts seemed to ignore some valuable writing.  Thank you Tammy for thinking these were worthy of another look.

Our 2016 Efforts are linked here.

Enjoy the excerpts - and if they motivate you to read the rest of some of these posts, please follow the links.
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Gratitude is something you need to work for.  But, once you put forth the effort, the rewards are significant.  Give thanks today.  Give thanks tomorrow.  Give thanks every day you are able.  And, when a day comes where giving thanks is difficult, let those things of value and worth that have led you to be grateful sustain you until you are able emphasize the positive once again. 
from  If It Were Easy, I Wouldn't Do This November 23 

Until you remind yourself that there is a strength in knowledge.  If you are careful about what you share and you think hard about what goes out there, perhaps you can help inform people about things that they should know about.
from Enough to Make You Cry July 19




A combination of recent events led me to consider what some of the reasons might be for why I have reacted the way I have to them.  I must warn anyone who is reading this post that it is NOT happy.  There will be a few photos that are disturbing.  And, if they do not disturb you, then I am worried for you because they represent truly awful situations and terrible suffering.  I am sharing these photos as a reminder to myself and anyone else who might read them why should work harder to understand each other and find ways to live together respectfully - regardless of what else we might hold as our basic beliefs.
from   Dangerous Pastime August 18

Busy lives with heavy responsibility and daily puzzles that need solving can be a bit like the Winter.  The relentless weight of the cold can numb your senses and turn your thoughts toward negativity.  There are only so many days that a person can work long and hard to accomplish all that needs doing only to find that the effort wasn't enough.  It can be just as demoralizing as the upcoming windchills we are looking at for the next few days.

But, there is still that life stirring just under the surface.  And once you open your eyes there is beauty to behold.  Even in Winter.
from Baby, It's Cold Outside December 25

Rather than continue to rant about how things are not right in the world, let me say this:
I think many of the farmers and land-owners in this state want things to change.  But, I also suspect that there are two things that are stopping them.

1. Change is scary and it is hard to know where it will lead and whether it will hurt you or not.
and
2. People aren't sure how to go about making change.
from What's Wrong With This Picture September 5

Our favorites for 2016 are below. Enjoy. Rob and Tammy

Success is doing the right things in the right way and doing it even when the situation is difficult and maybe even in situations where it didn't seem to make a difference at the time.  
from Words to Live By April 22

One thing I need to do more often is to look at things in different ways.  So, I put together an exercise for myself on the farm.  Why?  Because I believe that if I practice changing my point of view with little things, I will have an easier time exercising it on bigger things. 
from  Point of View October 25