Monthly Archives: August 2018

Daily Ramblings – Thinking Thursday

30 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in Thinking Thursdays

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Thank you for following Daily Ramblings!

Daily Ramblings has gained another 7 followers! Thank you! I am glad you are on board and I hope to meet your expectations. For those of you who are new, my blog postings follow a daily theme. Motivation Monday, Ted Talk Tuesday, Wisdom Wednesday, Thinking Thursday, Funny Friday, Spiritual Saturday, and for a brief time, Series Sunday. The upcoming series of essays I am going to write will focus on character attributes I am trying to build for myself personally. I hope you visit!

“Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change.” – Stephen Hawking Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/intelligence

Thinking Thursday!

The late Stephen Hawking was one of the great thinkers of our time. He wrote multiple books, gave a myriad number of presentations and talks, and was the guy that gave us more insight into the black hole—all while stuck in a wheelchair with the equivalent of Lou Gehrig’s disease. Talk about an achievement.

Our ability to adapt to change is literally what helps us survive. We get sick, we get old, things happen we didn’t see coming that throw our world into chaos. It is our ability to accept and adapt to these changes that mean the difference between our surviving the change and thriving despite it.

I like to read about folks like Stephen Hawking because it provides me with a great perspective. His life tells me that regardless of what life deals out, we can overcome these challenges and live extraordinary lives. If you are ever down in the dumps, ready to quit, read stories about Stephen Hawking, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and the other greats. You’ll discover that their lives were wrought with the same challenges you and I face, if not worse. They demonstrate by their actions and character, that true greatness is not having everything go your way. It is about recovering from the disasters and tragedies that sometimes occur for no reason and seemingly through no fault of our own.

Books:

Ethics, Aristotle

The Shariyat Ki Sugmad, Paul Twitchell

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

Classes:

Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential, Coursera

Western Heritage, Hillsdale College

Mini-Habits Course, Udemy

Documentaries:

I’m a Killer (Netflix) – decided to stop watching this one. It was a little too dark for me. As I grow older, the violent, bloody, and vicious don’t appeal to me anymore.

Movies:

Fun:

The West Wing (Currently on Netflix)

I’ve been playing a video game with my Army buddy called StarCraft II. It is great fun.

Change is inevitable in our lifetime. Our bodies change, our relationships change, our jobs change, our health changes. Learn new skills, develop new character traits, be prepared. You are stronger than you think you are.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesdays

29 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by in Series Sunday, Wisdom Wednesday

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“Talent is God-given. Be humble.

Fame is man-given. Be grateful.

Conceit is self-given. Be careful.”

–John Wooden

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_wooden_386606?src=t_wisdom

Humility and contentment. Awesome traits but hard to cultivate. When I was at the top of my game in technical recruiting I changed. I became boisterous, over-confident, and vain. I didn’t like myself that well. I was an absolute ass. I learned at that point that I was not destined to be wealthy.

With all the hoopla out there about living the good life—a life of comfort, wealth, security, and all the rest, it is hard to escape the images that bombard us daily. We have people telling us what to buy, what to eat, what not to eat, where to live, where to travel and so on. 1 out of every 2 advertisements on the television tells us what drugs to take, along with the laundry lists of side-effects that come along with eliminating your physical problem.

I believed all these images and pursued a life I thought I wanted. What did I find out? I didn’t want any of what I bought, consumed, or achieved. I also didn’t like the feeling that I had when I was making a lot of money. Why? I was worried all the time about losing it.

I also didn’t like the person I became when I was making a lot of money. I was conceited and overconfident. These two attributes caused me more pain than I am comfortable writing here. All the wealth, cars, and toys I accumulated went away, along with my high-level of income.

I don’t have any problem with people who pursue wealth, a comfortable lifestyle, and all the rest. It just wasn’t for me. I enjoy living on my retirement income at the young age of 54. I also enjoy spending time with my folks in their senior years to help them around the house and help my Mom take care of Dad. Had I continued to make the money I was making, I would have never come home to help. I love the freedom that I have.

Over the last 2 years, I have learned a great deal. I have embraced minimalism, journaling, daily exercise, eating right, and practicing a few character traits I have adopted. These traits are:

  • Discriminating
  • Tolerant
  • Forgiving
  • Content
  • Detached
  • Humble
  • Compassionate
  • Patient
  • Disciplined
  • Curious
  • Minimalist
  • Contemplative

I have decided to write another series of articles addressing these traits. This series will be presented on Sundays. My new title for my Sunday postings will be “Series Sundays.” I hope you stop by and read them.

Each of us has traits we like and those we do not like. Changing these traits is tough but well worth it in my opinion. My first article in the series launch will be this upcoming Sunday.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday

27 Monday Aug 2018

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“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.” – Mark Twain

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mark_twain_118964?src=t_motivational 

Well, readers it is another Monday! What do you have planned this week? Are you pushing forward with your goals? Are you tackling the challenges of the day?

None of us will achieve anything if we do not act. Even the smallest action toward one of your goals will yield results. With each action you get that much closer. What is stopping you?

This week for me is another week of learning, reading, writing, exercising, and of course, having some fun. We had a power outage early this morning but we are back up and running. Luckily, we have a generator that kicks in automatically to keep the critical stuff on.

If you doubt yourself–start. If you are afraid–start. If you don’t think you’re good enough–start. Once you start, all of these things will fade away. You’ll be too busy doing rather than worrying.

I hope each of you has a great week! I know I will. Here’s to your success. Go get’em!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thank you!

26 Sunday Aug 2018

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Since my last thank you posting, Daily Ramblings has added 23 readers to its audience. My heartfelt thanks to all of you who have begun following my blog!!

I hope each of you is getting something from my work. If you would like to see anything different, any additional content, etc., feel free to comment on one of my postings and I’ll take it into consideration. For those of you who are new, here is my weekly schedule:

Motivation Monday

Ted Talk Tuesday

Wisdom Wednesday

Thinking Thursday

Funny Friday

Spiritual Saturday

I don’t do a heck of lot on Sunday, other than what I want to do. This is my one day per week that I literally “do nothing”, hence the nickname I’ve given it – “Do Nothing Day”.

My Do Nothing Day today consisted of reading Aristotle, some game time with my buddy playing Starcraft II, and listening to music on Spotify.

Thanks again, everybody! I really appreciate the follows and the comments this week. See ya tomorrow.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday

25 Saturday Aug 2018

Posted by in Spiritual Saturday

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“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to the choices that are my own…” – Epictetus

Found at https://dailystoic.com/stoic-quotes/

So many people worry about things that they cannot control – the weather, other people, and traffic. What they should be concerned about is what they can control—their attitude, the people they associate with, and the way they react to these outside, uncontrollable conditions.

If you are satisfied with things as they are, you will be contented. If you are not satisfied with things as they are—change yourself. Change how you do things, change what you know, change your action. Take the time you need to think about a problem. Look at the solutions. Create a plan to overcome the problem and then ACT.

When I have taken the time to really think through potential solutions to my problems, then create and execute that plan, things tend to turn out better. When I panic and react to things without any forethought, I tend to make the problem far worse than it would have been had I taken some time to really think it through.

Take a look at your life today. Take a few minutes and think about where you are now and where you would like to be, what you would like to be, the skills you want to attain, the job you want to do. Are you happy with what you discover?

If you are, stay on your current glide path. If not, perhaps a change or two is in order. With change comes challenges. These challenges result from your mind resisting change. Our minds are wired to avoid change and stay with the status quo. Embrace change but only when you understand the “why” behind it. If you have a strong “why” you’ll get through it. If you are changing for the sake of change, changing for someone else or society—stop. Lasting change will only occur when you want it and your “why” is stronger than your habit or routine.

Have a great weekend everybody!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thinking Thursday

23 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in Thinking Thursdays

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“Continuous effort – not strength or intelligence – is the key to unlocking our potential.” – Liane Cordes

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/liane_cordes_385862?src=t_intelligence

Thank you for following Daily Ramblings

Before I get into my posting, I wanted to thank my new readers who followed Daily Ramblings recently. I’m up to 441 followers and appreciate everyone who has decided to give my blog a whirl. I hope to keep you entertained. My goal for followers is 500 by year’s end. If you know of anyone in your blogging network that could benefit from my words, send them my way. One thing I want to note for everyone. I am not an affiliate of anyone right now. Who knows? Maybe in the future. Currently, however, I recommend products, websites, videos, and other services without any kickbacks from anyone. I enjoy sharing the things I find so that others may benefit from these things as well.

Thinking Thursday!

When I find a quote, I have been taking some extra time to find out more about the person who wrote it. In this case, Liane Cordes is the author of The Reflecting Pond – Meditations for Self-Discovery. I enjoy reading quotes that reflect my values. I value persistence.

I don’t know when I adopted this. Maybe it was ingrained in me as a child. The thing is I want to learn new things, I want to be a published author, I want to leave something behind for this world to ponder.

I was brought up to always leave a place in better shape than I found it. When I was in the Army and heading to a new assignment I tried to do everything I could for the person who would end up replacing me. I made sure furniture was clean and polished, ordered all the manuals, publications, and regulations the unit was missing, left some notes on things I wanted to do but didn’t get done. I also left private notes to my incoming replacement on any personnel issues they would need to know about (who is on vacation, who is up for promotion, that sort of thing).

I want to do the same thing with this blog, my personal, private writings (diaries and journals), and get a few books out there. Writing is one of these things that takes continuous effort. It takes practice. It takes learning about writing and reading about the challenges other authors have faced. Writing requires writing. It always feels good to get a comment that tells me what I wrote is what they needed today—this is what keeps me writing for this blog.

I use this blog to practice my craft. Sometimes the writing is great—other times, not so great. I return from time-to-time to earlier blog postings and wonder “how the heck did I think that was worthy of getting online?” Then I sit back and realize that we evolve. We improve. What we wrote a year ago isn’t the same level we are writing now. This evolution will continue I think.

On to my current activities. I’ve hit my goal of 36 books for the year. Now it’s on to 48 books next year. I will continue to read more books but wanted to brag a bit. I always get a rush when I hit a goal or achieve a major milestone. It feels awesome.

Books:

Ethics, Aristotle

The Shariyat Ki Sugmad, Paul Twitchell

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

Kobo: A Story of the Russo-Japanese War, Herbert Strang – When I first found this book on the Project Gutenberg website I thought it was a history book. After reading it for a bit, I discovered it was a fictional story using the Japanese-Russian War as the backdrop. The story was terrific, and the characters were endearing.

Classes:

Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Hidden Potential, Coursera

Public Policy, Hillsdale College – Discusses the nature of changes that have taken place due to progressive influences across a large group of topics like immigration, education, taxation, and marriage. Great course! (Hillsdale.edu).

Western Heritage, Hillsdale College

Mini-Habits Course, Udemy

Documentaries:

I’m a Killer (Netflix)

Movies:

Ready Player One (Amazon Prime) – I haven’t watched this yet. My sister recommended it and it is on my hit list.

Fun:

The West Wing (Currently on Netflix)

Getting good at things, improving, evolving, and achieving your goals is all about continuous effort. If you just keep moving forward, you’ll get where you’re going.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday

22 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by in Wisdom Wednesday

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“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” – Mahatma Gandhi

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/mahatma_gandhi_109078?src=t_health

Exercising consistently is hard. It’s supposed to be. Have you ever pursued something that was really worthwhile that was not difficult?

I am a huge advocate for exercise. It is not easy, I don’t like going to the gym every day, and I don’t like dieting, but they are all necessary if I want to keep my body in shape and make it last into my senior years. I’m 54 now.

I would like to live into my 90s at least and have a good quality of life to boot. I don’t want to be one of these seniors that have to spend more money on pharmaceuticals than food each month. I don’t want to be hooked up to an oxygen tank. I don’t want to be confined to a wheelchair. These are all a reality if you don’t take care of yourself today. Eat good food, exercise daily, drink water, and get enough sleep.

The mind’s health is also something I consider important. My Dad has vascular dementia. Chalk this up to a life of smoking, lack of exercise and a horrific diet composed of small meals my Mom makes, with the rest being every candy, candy bar, ice cream, and snack you can think of. I love my Dad, but all his current issues could have been avoided had he only taken care of himself. This is the “negative example” I use every day when I don’t feel like working out or feel like buying a bag of candy at the market and scarfing it down when I get home.

I keep my mind active by taking online classes, playing video games, and meditating. I also enjoy reading and writing. One of the courses I took on Coursera was Learning How to Learn. In this course, it explains the scientific discovery that your brain builds new neurons when you exercise. This means you can grow new neurons into old-age. Science used to think the brain had a set number of neurons and that was it. With this new discovery, we can keep our minds young and sharp by exercising.

Keeping the mind healthy is also about what you put into your body. It’s ok to have a goody now and then. I enjoy ice cream, a candy bar, or a piece of cake or donut from time-to-time. The bulk of my diet, however, is composed of protein and fat (I’m on a low-carb diet). The brain loves fat. So, does your body. They both need healthy fats to do the business of using enzymes, hormones, and other chemicals. The body needs protein to repair and build things like bone, teeth, brain cells, and all the rest. When your body processes protein and fat it can build up the glucose it needs, without carbohydrates.

Do you take a multivitamin? Do you take any probiotics? Do you take Omega 3 supplements? I do, but with caution. I used to be a supplement junky, buying everything I saw at my local GNC. The problem with this is 1) it’s expensive, 2) there is a lot of marketing hype in the supplement industry with little or no proof that the product works, and 3) they can hurt your health if you make the mistake of taking a supplement that interferes with one of your prescribed medications or take a supplement that overdoses you on vitamins and minerals (yes, you can be harmed by taking too many vitamins).

The best advice I can give you is what I have learned. If you really want to try a supplement, do your due diligence. If you believe the supplement will help your performance, buy it. Then, test it out. Does it do what it advertises it can do? Does it help your exercise performance? If you answered yes to both questions, you’ve found a winner. Unfortunately, I have found that a bulk of the supplements that are out there do not satisfy one or both questions.

Do you feel uncomfortable going to the gym? Fine. Many people do initially. Find a trainer or a friend who frequents the gym and they’ll show you how to use the equipment. You can find tons of videos on YouTube. You can borrow exercise, nutrition, and even bodybuilding books at your local library. Just consider that you are unique. One exercise program will work for me, while it may not work for you. Your exercise program will also depend on the type of goals you have. Read about exercise, do some research online, and find a friend that is in good shape and ask for their advice. You’ll find something to start with. After you’ve been doing this for a while, it’ll be easier. Then it’s about consistency.

I could go on and on about these topics because I enjoy how I feel at the end of the day. I feel accomplished, I feel true to my goals. Most of all, I don’t feel guilty about watching some TV or playing some video games with my friend online, once I’ve knocked out the critical tasks I have slotted for the day.

Until next time…

Dave