THANK YOU FOR EACH GIFT--BIG AND SMALL.

If you feel the time I have devoted to helping you merits it, feel free to contribute. If not, no worries. Maybe something you have read here resonates. Feel free to share with friends and family. Thank you in advance for reading and trusting me to listen and lean in to consider alternate approaches and joyful living lessons.

I appreciate feedback and hearing your constructive thoughts. 

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MY STORY:

Welcome home. I hope we can share thoughts on bringing more joy and satisfaction to your life and to the lives of those you love. A deliberate effort to cultivate a life full of joy, in most countries, does not come naturally. Even with workshops, inspirational teachings and workshops, its purpose, status and presence can be difficult and elusive. It requires a commitment. Focus. Purpose. Destiny. Perserverance. With everything on our individual plates, who has time for yet another project or assignment? This assignment is worth the effort. It's worth the focus. Even one tiny step toward recognizing the importance of creating and sustaining joy in your life, will yield intangible benefits and alter the course of each day you choose it. Guaranteed.

No matter your financial circumstances or consequences of life's choices, you can choose joy. It is a choice. Choosing it is within each person's power. For those who learn to recognize our ability to make a statement of contentment, satisfaction, and/or peace a part of every day, makes life richer, fuller, and less burdensome. Sometimes, it's a simple propellor that keeps you putting one foot in front of the other --moving forward.

ALWAYS SEEK JOY! That has been my mantra for decades. Without knowing or recognizing this power at the time, upon reflection, it is what helped me manage more adroitly, especially in turbulent or challenging times in life. Looking on the bright side of things was a childhood habit as the expression was drilled into our psyche by educators and family. "Focus on positivity", and amplify it, was yet another instructive message and refrain throught the 60s and 70s. These very turbulent, violent and oppressive times of civil unrest and a collective struggle by women and people of color for equal rights required faith and persistnce as we waited for the "joy in the morning", promised by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and other civil rights leaders.

Through segregation, integration of schools and public spaces, college admission and job hiring selection anxieties, promotion opportunity disappointments and successes, job changes, relationship manuevering, friendship creation, turbulence, dissolution, family crises, deaths, divorce, child-rearing, moving abroad, finding joy or holding on to the fragments of it that remained, when it felt tenuous and tattered, kept me moving forward. It is like sunshine and water--something I need to nourish my soul. So, with this mindset I begin this effort of sharing, caring and learning life lessons from one another on a global scale.

LIFE LESSON LISTENING (SHARING MY ADVICE AND COUNSEL ABILITY)

 After 30 years of practicing law at global companies as an executive, I retired to Mexico & Portugal.  For people who have limited knowledge of what lawyers actually do, let me explain. They are problemsolvers. They listen, analyze, ask questions, propose solutions, give warnings or caveats to minimize the risk of any selected decision. They propose a range of options and let you consider factors that might not have occurred to you. The ultimate decision remains with the client, no matter if in a criminal matter or a civil one or a business setting. Many times we are simply a sounding board with keen sense of honing in on major issues and dispensing with trivial ones of "red herrings".

Most people think lawyers possess super powers and know everything. The truth is most of us know a little about many issues. We sometimes specialize and know the ins and outs of a particular area. The most important asset that I believe lawyers have is the ability to ask questions. Good ones have the ability to listen and focus. They ask questions to discern the relevant facts. They also ask questions to help people recognize consequences, options and/or the range of outcomes.

A key question I have asked in a variety of settings for personal and corporate executives confronting a legal quandry is this: WHAT DO YOU REALLY WANT? HOW DO YOU WANT THIS MATTER TO END? The answer to this question often sets in place a strategy to achieve that may or may not involve a legal process. The same concept and approach can be taken with our own personal dilemmas and struggles.

From that wealth of experience, people seek me out as THE VOICE OF REASON or a SOUNDING BOARD for travel, lifestyle, ex-patriation and other concerns. You   may know, I love to connect WITH people, to CONNECT PEOPLE and be a resource . It’s a passion and habit to help others by sharing info, knowledge, connections or resources. 

Since moving to Portugal and Mexico, I receive no less than a dozen inquiries a week seeking recommendations, general or travel advice, opinions etc. It’s flattering,  but overwhelming at times. I love hearing people’s stories and try to answer quick queries and redirect them to the appropriate professional that might be needed.

People I have helped  ask me how they can thank me for listening, for offering advice and counsel. “Pay it forward” is my usual retort. When I heard of this “BUY ME A COFFEE” website and concept, it seemed a great solution for grateful individuals who want to thank me in a different manner. 

Feel free to make an appreciation contribution here. I’m thinking of ways to help others, as I’ve helped you, on bigger scale. Your acts and donations of gratitude will help me fund that additional platform.

If you feel the time I have devoted to helping you merits it, feel free to contribute. If not, no worries. Thank you in advance for valuing my time and attention to your concern. Thank you for the gift of your acquaintance. Your referrals are appreciated.

May you be well, joyful and loved! Thank you. Merci, Gracias, Obrigada.

Edwina "Joy" Divins

Created Summer 2026