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Monthly Archives: October 2019

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Life is a Celebration

31 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Thankful Thursdays

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Tags

Blessings, God, Grateful, Happy Halloween, Harold Klemp, Life, Thankful

“So few know what a love for living means. They’ve put a web around themselves and called it spiritual. Life is a celebration. Some will read that as wanton living, but true celebration is loving God and Its own.” – Harold Klemp – The Language of Soul

This quote struck me today as appropriate for today, because we are celebrating another Halloween. If you do not celebrate today, cool. We celebrate by passing out goodies to the kids that come around to the house. I enjoy watching scary movies and we enjoy the many costumed kids that come to the door.

Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday season for me. When Halloween hits, there’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day and then we’re off to a new adventure. It’s also nice because my wife’s birthday and our wedding anniversary is in December too.

I love life. I really do. I enjoy what I do every day; I feel great physically and mentally, and it is a true gift to spend time with my folks in their senior years. Yeah, as a family we have our days, but for the most part, it’s great fun. My Dad likes telling stories about his childhood and my Mom does too. We eat most of our meals as a family and we are all readers, spending most of the “bad weather” days inside combing through our books.

My love of life is spurred by my gratitude. I try to find gratitude for all I do and receive. I am grateful for my family, friends, colleagues, siblings, and God. It is a wonderful feeling to wake up every day knowing that God loves me and every moment I am here is a blessing God has given me to gain experience and learn how to love and serve others. This is simplicity itself.

Happy Halloween! (for those that celebrate)

Have a great Thursday, the last day of October, and get ready to attack November.

Until next time…

Dave

 

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Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Fear

30 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Wisdom Wednesday

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Attachment, Detachment, Fear, Frozen, Ignore the Naysayers, Love, Paralysis, passion

“If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie

Fear hits me from time-to-time. sometimes I’m fearful that my writing won’t be good enough when I begin publishing my work. Sometimes I fear that I won’t learn to be a good programmer so I can create applications people will want to part with their money to own or use. Sometimes I fear that this blog will go nowhere. I’ll write here and no one will care one way or another.

Fear only takes hold when you are attached to something you want or desire. Eliminate that want or desire and fear dissipates. It’s hard, but it makes sense right? When I look at my writing or blogging fears, I only care about what others think of my writing when I desire or want others to like what I’ve done here. When I write for me, the fear disappears. The same thing happens when I remember that I am doing all the things I do for me and me alone. If someone likes my book, they’ll purchase it. If they don’t they won’t. I have no control over who will like or dislike my book. I have no control over who follows my blog or who elects not to. I have no control over anyone other than myself.

 

It’s comforting when I realize that all I do is for me and me alone. If, by chance, another person enjoys my writing, my blog, or my future applications, awesome! If not, who cares?

I realize I am in a unique position. I am retired and financially secure. It’s easy for me to take this attitude when my livelihood isn’t at risk. For others, this may not be as easy as it is for me. I get that. However, you can still achieve the same thing for yourself. When you develop an attitude of detachment, you do the best you can with what you have, and leave it there. You’ll discover how great it is to stop worrying about your critics. The key is to do things for yourself.

 

If you have a job, you need to please your boss and do the best you can to keep your job. But if you are pursuing things on the side like writing, online teaching, writing a mobile app, or whatever, this is the time you give yourself a break. Do it for the love of doing it. I enjoy writing. I enjoy learning. I enjoy reading and learning. I enjoy keeping myself healthy. I enjoy spiritual pursuits. I only do what I love to do. You can do the same, outside your day job.

You may not have as much time as I do, but you can still get a lot done with the limited time you have.

One of the biggest discoveries I have made since retirement is the benefit of completing small actions toward my goals every day. For example, I set a goal of reading 48 books this year (4 books a month on average). I read one chapter a day. Sometimes, if I have more time than usual, I read more than one chapter. Currently, I am at 61 books so far this year. Just by consistently reading one chapter each day without fail. This compounding is powerful. You can do the same thing.

When I write, I goal myself to write 500 words a day in my book. I started in January and I’ll finish the first draft by the end of this year. Again, 500 words a day, which amounts to about 15 minutes of work. I also write articles for my blog every day, journal every day in the AM and PM, and write discussion board responses for the online course I am taking. None of these feels like work because I absolutely love everything I am doing. It is a joy to get up in the morning and begin my work.

Fear is a powerful emotion. It can stop you in your tracks or talk you into believing that any effort you make is a waste of time. It will tell you that your work is not good enough. It will paralyze you. Let fear go by letting go of any expectation of outside applause or approval. Do the work or side hustle you’ve committed to for the love of it. If you don’t love it–STOP. This is your time, not your boss’ time. This is what you choose to do when you are not on the clock. Love what you do, lose your need for approval. The folks who love what they do will always do better than those who do not love what they do.

I’ll stop here. I hope all of you have a terrific Wednesday!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – Plural Words

29 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Ted Talk

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

History, John McWhorter, Learning, Plural Words, Ted Talk, TedEd

Enjoy this short education video on plural words. I enjoy these videos and hope you do as well. If you liked this or are interested in other topic areas, reply to this post in the comments.

Have a great Tuesday!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Workout Routine – Week of Oct 27, 2019

28 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Workout Routine

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Apple Watch, Bodybuilding, Cardio, Exercise Bands, Full-Body, healthy living, Treadmill

I just got an Apple Watch. Wow! What a great tool this is. Now I can track my heart rate, my steps, and a whole host of activities that I couldn’t before. That being said, my workouts have grown in intensity and consistency since getting this thing for my birthday.

Ok. Here is my workout routine for the week!

Monday – Sunday

Full-Body Workout Exercise Bands will be used to hit 5 strength workouts throughout the day and 1 cardio workout at the gym

  • Exercise routine 1 – Squats, Glute lifts, and Calf Presses 3 sets of 20
  • Exercise routine 2 – Stair pushups, Triceps Extensions 3 sets of 20
  • Exercise routine 3 – Ab crunches, Oblique crunches, Flutter kicks 3 sets of 20
  • Exercise routine 4 – Bent over rows, Bicep Curls 3 sets of 20
  • Exercise routine 5 – Shoulder presses, Front raises, Lateral raises, Shrugs 3 sets of 20
  • Cardio 20 minutes at the gym on a tread mill

I have found these little routines spread through the day should be a great way to keep my metabolism cranked. Since I am doing these every day, I am not working to failure on any sets, just knocking out sets until I get a good burn in the muscle groups I am working.

Have a great week everybody!

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday -Here We Go!!

28 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

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Achievement, Consistency, Dreading Monday, Drive, Goals, habits, motivation, rituals, Routines

It’s time to grind folks!

Are you one of those folks who dreads Monday? I think it’s pretty common across all cultures. For those of us that work Monday – Friday, the weekend is our relax, binge-watch, and laze-around time. Then we have to get up on Monday and head to work.

Since retirement, I’ve tried to keep a Monday-Friday schedule. Last week I tried an experiment of not having a real weekend. In other words, I kept my daily schedule consistent across 7 days. I still have a blow-off day on Sunday called “my do nothing day”, but this last week I continued to plug away at all the things I schedule for myself daily.  What did I discover? My Monday wasn’t that bad when I consistently kept doing what I normally do during the Monday-Friday workweek.

For me, consistency is the key to accomplishing what I have set out to do. This consistency is what keeps me going. I love to habitualize everything. I find comfort in the consistency of my schedule and the automation of daily tasks and routines. The key, however, is I love everything I am doing.

When I retired I knew I would still want to be active. I didn’t want to fall into the trap of binge-watching videos, playing video games 12 hours a day, and all the rest. I wanted to finally do what I have always wanted to do–focus on exercise, learning, writing, reading, meditating, and coding. Subsequently, this is my day. I love what I do. Since I love what I do, I am no longer “working”. It is a great place to be.

For those of you that are still doing the 9-5, find aspects of your job that you love. Then, carry some of these things into the weekend with you. Instead of piling up all the personal things you have to do during the weekend, spread them out through the week. Clean as you go, do your laundry in batches, prep all of your meals on Saturday or Sunday. What you’ll find is your weekend will slowly begin to blend in with your workweek and each day will be more consistent.

I started doing this in my final years in professional recruiting. I used to do something work-related each weekend day. Maybe I would source for candidates and begin building out call logs for my work week. Maybe I would do some research into some company or new technology hitting the market place. I could even knock out some social networking. I thought that if I make everyday the same, there will be no more “Monday dread” because there would be no separation from my work day and my weekend.

Give this a try. You may be like me. You may enjoy the consistency of your day and thrive on it. I know I do. I just feel good when I can knock out little chuncks of my goals each day. I wake up each day knowing what I am going to do and it never changes. This consistency is my life line. I’ll stop here.

Here’s my schedule for the week:

  • Work on my book daily
  • Work on my blog daily
  • Learn daily
  • Journal daily
  • Meditate/Spiritual Exercise daily
  • Exercise daily (See my Workout Routine Posting today)
  • Eat less than 2500 calories daily
  • Read daily
  • Get out of the house and interact with the public daily

Ok, folks. Get out there and crush your goals and have a great week ahead!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Spread Your Wings Sunday – Weekly Challenge

27 Sunday Oct 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Spread Your Wings

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Expanding, Exploration, Growth, Pushing Boundaries, Spread Your Wings, Variety, Weekly Challenge

This week’s challenge provided by the 5-minute Journal:

Take a cold shower. As cold as you can take it. For as long as you can.

This will be a tough one.

Alternate challenge:

Read something that is totally opposite of your belief system to open your mind. If you are liberal, read something conservative. If you are conservative, read something liberal.

Example:

Conservative reading: article on Rush Limbaugh’s site or the Daily Wire. Liberal reading: read an article on the NY Post, Washington Post, LA times, or CNN.

I try to read as broadly as I can. You’ll know when you’ve hit your boundary, you’ll be triggered. I believe we need to stop fighting from extreme positions and meet in the middle. There is no perfect ideology, no perfect political affiliation, no perfect opinion. They are just opinions. Each opinion is worth listening to or reading about to arrive at a truly informed position.

Post in the comments when you accomplish one of these. I look forward to your responses.

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Selfless Service

26 Saturday Oct 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Spiritual Saturday

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Charity, Giving, Lending a hand, Selfless Service, Service, Serving, Spiritual, spirituality

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” ― John Bunyan

Courtesy Goodreads

Have you ever done something nice for someone without saying anything or expecting anything in return? The feeling you get when you do something like this is different than the feeling you get when someone knows you did them a service. It is a more complete feeling. It’s hard to explain.

Obviously, we all like being appreciated or thanked for our efforts, but doing something selflessly provides so much more. Here are some ideas for you to think about:

  • Picking up someone’s trash can that has fallen over, while they’re at work
  • Paying for someone’s coffee at your local coffee shop or paying for someone’s meal at a restaurant without them knowing
  • Leaving a note on a colleague’s desk telling them they are awesome, loved, or terrific (I enjoyed leaving sticky notes on someone’s computer screen before they got to work)
  • Picking up trash while on a hike or when you walk down your street
  • Picking up something that has fallen off a shelf at your local department store
  • Leaving a sticky note on someone’s car window wishing them a great day!

These are just a few examples of some things you can do that contribute. Here are some things you can do for people that can’t pay you back:

  • Volunteer to work at a homeless shelter or Food Kitchen
  • Volunteer to work at your local library
  • Help someone when they’ve broken down along the side of the road
  • Get some food for a homeless person
  • Deliver a holiday basket to a military recruiting station, police station, or fire house

These are just examples of the service you can give to other people. You’ll feel terrific when you’ve done these things and the people on the receiving end will feel good too. I prefer to do things when people don’t know that I’ve done it. The feeling you get back when you do something out of pure love for people is a great thing. It really is.

I wish each of you a terrific Saturday.

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

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Daily Ramblings – Funny Friday – Funny Riddle

25 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Funny Friday

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Chuckle, Friday, Funny, Giggle, Happy, Laugh, Party time, Relax time, Smile, Weekend

Where do you find a cow with no legs? Right where you left it.

Courtesy Pun.me

Have a great Friday everyone!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Holiday Season

24 Thursday Oct 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Thankful Thursdays

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Christmas, Eating out, Exchanging Gifts, family, Friends, Good Food, Holidays, Movies, New Years, Thanksgiving

Today, I’m grateful for the holiday season that is fast approaching. My family celebrates Thanksgiving and Christmas. I used to be a big New Year’s Day fan, but frankly, my religious New Year occurs on the 23rd of October, so other than watching the ball drop on TV if I remember, it’s not that big of a deal.

 

I think the best part of the holiday season for me is the ability to just do whatever on these days, eat what I want (think potatoes, cranberry sauce, pies, cakes, and cookies), and hang out with family that comes to town.

This year, my Brother is coming to visit for Christmas. Mom and Dad are obviously excited about their middle son coming home, but so am I and my sister who is also going to be coming up to hang out with us. It’ll be a grand time!

During the times family comes home we gather in our home theater and watch movies, hang out in our living room over coffee in the morning, and go out to dinner once or twice during their stay to give Mom a break from cooking. If my brother comes, it guarantees us to get in some time on the Xbox.

What is so interesting about this venue is the ability to interact with so many people around the globe. What are the holidays you celebrate in your part of the world, and what do you do?

 

Post these in the comments below!

Have a great Thursday, everyone!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday –

23 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by Dave Gardner in Wisdom Wednesday

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Consistency, Exercise, Healthy Food, Meditation, Sleep, Water

Today’s wisdom is about the wisdom of living healthy. There is so much hype surrounding supplements, exercise routines, and what to take, and how much exercise and what type of exercise to do. Let me simplify health advice for you:

  1. Drink water
  2. Exercise daily
  3. Get plenty of sleep
  4. Eat enough food
  5. Meditate

How much water? 8 glasses a day (I try to drink a gallon, but rarely make it)

How much exercise? 30 minutes a day comprising cardio and strength

Sleep? 7-8 hours or more if you can pull it off

Eat enough food? At least 3 meals a day with a mix of carbs (fruits, grains, vegetables), protein(beef, pork, chicken, fish, tofu, vegetables), and healthy fats (olive oil, avocado, nuts, seeds)

Meditate (10-20 minutes each day)

These things are addressed in hundreds of articles every week. The challenge is discerning what is true and not. I’ve read articles about eggs being bad for you, only to be contradicted a week later. I’ve read articles about red meat being bad for you, only to be contradicted a week later. I’ve read articles about which exercises are the best and worst, how long a person should work out, and on and on and on.

Avoid reading articles about food and nutrition that are not well-cited and supported by serious research. Avoid articles by people who are selling you something or are represented by constituencies like the dairy or sugar lobbies, you’re just asking to be lied to.

 

After 3-4 years of reading and researching about various aspects of health, I can tell you that 90% of what you read on the web that is not from a trusted authority like the Mayo clinic, are absolute bullshit. Listen to your own body. Pay attention. What benefit does the information do for the author. Does it spur you to buy their product? Does it motivate you to buy a certain type of food? Buyer beware. 

I used to love Squats and Deadlifts. After back surgery in 2003, those are both a no-go for me. You can still get the same benefit from other exercises. I’m not a big fan of cardio, but it’s necessary to keep your blood pressure and circulatory system healthy. I love strength training and this is also a necessary component of any exercise program.

If you can’t afford a gym, you can use bodyweight exercises and get yourself an inexpensive bench and some dumbbells. You could also get exercise bands. Anything that provides your muscles resistance will work. Your body is stupid. It doesn’t know whether you are using a commercial-grade piece of equipment or a dumbbell set in your garage or basement. The same goes for cardio. You can get a good workout on an elliptical, cycle, treadmill, or stair-stepper. You can also get the same workout with a walk or jog around the block in your neighborhood. Heck, you can even buy yourself a bicycle or get yourself some hiking boots and hit the trails.

I have always liked Occam’s Razor. I’ll paraphrase. Occam posited that the simplest solution to a problem was one that required the least amount of assumptions. Drink water, get enough sleep, eat enough healthy food, exercise your body, and reduce your stress through meditation. You do these things, and you’ll be better off.

 

 

Why does a country as rich as the United States have an obesity problem? We eat too much easy-to-make (processed) food; we don’t get enough sleep; we don’t meditate; we don’t drink enough water, and we don’t exercise and move around. We sit in front of a computer all weekend, sit in front of a computer at work, and our bodies pay the price.

If you want to gain weight, eat more. If you want to lose weight, eat less. I used to be really worried about weight and all the rest. I don’t anymore. I worry about being healthy. I worry about being able to take care of myself and have a decent quality of life as I approach my senior years. I worry about keeping my brain healthy and maintaining my ability to think and learn throughout life. All these things are possible if you take care of yourself consistently. You can’t cram for a health exam. Health is consistency. If you want to feel good consistently, you have to work on your health consistently.

 

I hope this helps some of you avoid all the things I didn’t. Ignore diet hype. Ignore exercise hype. Ignore supplement hype. Most of it involves you parting with your money for something that most health organizations cannot verify. Some of these companies are even scummy enough to use questionable ingredients that could put your health at risk.

When you read anything online, consider the source and their motivation. In most cases, you’ll find it is about gaining followers for their newsletter, getting your hard-earned money for one of their unverified claims, or convincing you to pay a subscription fee for one of their apps. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not against someone making a living. What I am advocating is to let someone else support that person’s living. You stick with the basics I’ve presented here. There is no diet, magic pill, magic supplement, or food that will achieve your health. It is a combination of water, sleep, healthy food, consistent exercise, and meditation. Nothing more, nothing less.

 

Have a great Wednesday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

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