11 Monday Mar 2019
Posted in Bonus Content
Tags
America's Musical Treasure, Classic, Freedom, Great Music, James Taylor, Peace, Shed A Little Light
I love this song. Enjoy one of America’s musical treasures.
Until next time…
Dave
10 Sunday Feb 2019
Posted in Bonus Content
“At times, our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.” – Albert Schweitzer
We all experience a slump. Nothing seems to work well. We lose our motivation or desire to do what we set out to do. We begin to doubt what we are doing is worth doing.
How can you get yourself out of a slump? Use the GOYA principle. If you are unfamiliar with the GOYA principle, you can thank Tom Hopkins. Tom is the author of How to Master the Art of Selling. In this book he describes a slump in his life. He was a fledgling real estate salesman and was having a tough time of it. The story about how he got himself out of his slump involved his boss taking him on a ride to cool off. Once they had driven around for a bit, his boss told him to get out of the car. He then told Tom to knock on every door of every house on his way back to the office. By the time he got back to the office he had a few leads and some potential homes to sell. The moral of the story: Use the GOYA principle. What is the GOYA principle you ask?
G-Get
O-Off
Y-Your
A-Ass
When you let your mind and emotions get in your way and over-analyze what you are doing, you will begin doing more analysis than work. Slumps come when you stop doing the work that works in your field of endeavor. We all do this from time-to-time. We sabotage our own efforts when we stop doing what we already know works.
In this example, Tom’s boss was the catalyst that rekindled Tom’s faith in the process of selling homes. Who is your go to when you are in a slump? Is it a boss? Is it your wife or significant other? Is it a good friend who knows you better than yourself? For me, my catalyst has always been the many great authors of the world.
I discovered this this morning as I worked through my morning journaling. I obtain inspiration from the books I read. I obtain inspiration from the stories of heroes taking on challenges and overcoming them. I read about others who have struggled with their inner demons and conquered them. My heroes are the scientists, philosophers, explorers, generals, writers, artists, musicians, and poets. I am also inspired by quotes. I pass along the quotes I find to my followers with the hope they will do for you what they do for me. Quotes inspire, motivate, and awaken us to the wisdom of the ages.
Slumps come and go. Work through them. Get back to basics. Stop analyzing. GET OFF YOUR ASS.
Until next time…
Dave
27 Sunday Jan 2019
Posted in Bonus Content
I’ve got a few things to cover today. The first is to offer my thanks for all the new followers this week. Thank you so much for following Daily Ramblings. I really appreciate it. The next thing I want to cover is my new character trait I’ll be adding in February. February is the month I pursue the character trait of detachment. So far, I have the following character traits on my list of pursuit each month: discrimination, tolerance, forgiveness, and contentment. This has been an interesting journey.
I have also been monitoring the habits I’ve been establishing for the last year. My daily journaling and blogging are finally wired in. I literally cannot go a day without getting these done. It is interesting when you think about how our brains work. Initially, the brain resists the addition of a new task or habit. Then it begins to tolerate the habit. Finally, it expects the habit to be accomplished. This is the one surprise I attained over the last year. I have always been looking for some form of a trigger or sign that I have truly mastered a new habit. My realization over the last week was proof to me that these habits are ingrained. Now, I can begin looking at other habits.
We’ve got snow again last night and it is clean, crisp, and white. I love the Winter season. It is nice to feel the cold when you walk outside to shovel the driveway and sweep off the walkways. It is nice to feel the temperature difference when you come back in and pour yourself a nice cup of coffee. I finished the rough draft of my book and will begin the rewriting process on Monday. I have been contemplating the writing process or just the process of creation in general, and writing a book is no different from painting, sculpture or any other type of art form. You always start out rough and slowly transform the creation into a final product. I am glad I began this project last year and stuck with it.
I hope all of you have a terrific Sunday!
Until next time…
Dave
22 Tuesday Jan 2019
Posted in Bonus Content
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I’m up late and felt like writing a bit.
It was a great four days spending time with my sister at her new place. We ate some steaks, watched television shows, and relaxed. It was a great time hanging out with my sister.
We watched a movie that was awesome. The title was Black Mirror: Bandersnatch. If you haven’t watched this film yet I highly recommend it. This movie allows you, the consumer, to make choices with your TV controller throughout the film which affect the outcomes of the movie. It was so much fun!
I hope all of you had a nice day off yesterday with the Martin Luther King Holiday. We’re scheduled to get some more snow tomorrow. It’ll be a nice slow drive home. I am really loving the snow right now. It is so clean, crisp, and awesome outside. The sky, the last few days was so clear.
Well, that’s it for now. I’ll get my Ted Talk posting up later today.
Until next time…
Dave
16 Friday Nov 2018
Posted in Bonus Content
“When you think this pain is all you deserve, you are right. You are the only one that can decide how long you will walk in hell.” – Shannon L. Alder
From time-to-time, I am prompted to write something. Today, I was prompted to write about self-imposed rules. Think about your life as it is. Are you living your life or someone else’s?
Are you in the job you want because you wanted it or because you felt that society expects you to do that work? Are you buying things because you really want them or are you making purchases mindlessly because it’s what will make you the “cool kid on the block”? Are you afraid to be yourself because of outside expectations of who you should be, what you should be, or how you should act? Are you failing to act because you are so afraid of failing that you do nothing instead? Do you automatically assume you cannot do something before you even start? These are all self-imposed rules.
We all impose rules on ourselves. We tell ourselves what we can do and what we can’t do. We tell ourselves we are good at this or bad at that. We tell ourselves we should wear this or wear that. If we violate these rules, we become uncomfortable. Something inside us says, “Whoa, what are you doing wearing that color?”
I’m currently reading a book called, “How to Be an Imperfectionist”, by Stephen Guise and it discusses a great many of these self-imposed rules. Some of us have so many self-imposed rules we are actually paralyzed. Rules that tells us:
“You can’t do that.”
“You aren’t strong enough to do that.”
“You aren’t smart enough to do that.”
“What if she says no?”
“What if I fail?”
These questions are derived from our personal set of self-imposed rules. Much of what we do is not derived from what we really want. Much of it is derived from what everyone else wants.
A few years ago, I found myself in a really dark place. A place where I envisioned myself walking off of a cliff—a place where I felt something chasing me, all the time. A place where I could feel a web of knots wrapping themselves around me, providing me a situation where I had fewer and fewer options.
The only option I had was to change. I had to change the way I was thinking. I had to change the way I was looking at the world. It is at these dark times that change really becomes our only option.
What happened to me was truly revolutionary. I realized that all of my self-imposed rules guaranteed my failure. They guaranteed my results. They guaranteed my misery.
I’d like you to picture something in your mind. Picture a new you without constraints, without limits, without any potential to fail. Picture yourself totally content with what you have—totally grateful for everything in your life. Picture yourself doing something you could only dream about before, not with any strings attached like “I want this or that because of this effort” but doing this thing for the very act of doing it. Doing something you know will benefit you whether you are a master at it or remain a neophyte forever. Liberating isn’t it?
If you can’t visualize this, practice it for a bit. Read some books for inspiration about what type of life you would like to live without any ability to fail. Just act “AS IF” anything you wanted was yours, act “AS IF” you had already arrived. Act “AS IF” anything you wanted to do, you could do.
Many will balk at this type of thinking, assuming it is just total BS, “pie in the sky” thinking. I get that. This is where self-imposed rules become detrimental. If you think something is the way it is—IT IS. Just try and visualize doing something you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t because of a self-imposed rule.
I do this exercise each time I am writing out my goals. Guess what? These goals change all of the time, particularly when you begin checking your older goals off of your list. Write down 100 things you would do right now without thinking of failure. Just write down all of the things you’d like to do before you die—Your bucket list. Once you’ve written down all of the things you’d like to do. Start working toward one of them.
Think about what it would take to cross the finish line. Then, start writing down all of the discreet action steps you would need to take to get there. Then, one by one, work on these action steps. If you find yourself resisting one of these steps it means it is still too big. Take that action step and minimize it even more. Then, get right back at it again tomorrow.
Get rid of any rules that limit you. Get rid of any constricting rules or influences that are imposing their will on you. Just begin executing and acting on your list. Start small. Take one step each day. You’ll get there—promise.
The rules we impose on ourselves are just that—rules we create. We can uncreate them. We can write new rules. If you’re stuck, if you’re afraid, if you’re in a place that allows you less and less freedom to act, the only way out is to change the way you are thinking and re-write the rules that have created the prison you built. Just, re-write the rules.
Until next time…
Dave
27 Thursday Sep 2018
Posted in Bonus Content
If you’ve been following my blog, particularly Thinking Thursdays, you’ll see an entry of West Wing in my entertainment section. I’ve watched this series all the way through about 9 times. I’m watching it again. I was thinking about this the other night, wondering why I like the show so much.
As I sit here writing, with West Wing playing in the background it came to me. I experienced one of those life experiences a few years back. My marriage was failing, my finances were collapsing, my work was unfulfilling, and it felt like I was watching myself walk off of a cliff and couldn’t stop it. It was a really tough time.
Guess what show I was watching to get some escape from my troubles? You guessed it–West Wing. I watch it today because the acting, the characters, the writing are phenomenal. I still tear up during different episodes and “feel” the stress the characters do in other episodes. West Wing was my comfort during a time that I didn’t think there was an end to my pain. It seemed at the time that everything I cared for was going away.
Then, it all changed. A solution presented itself in December of 2016. Initially, the solution seemed insane. I think this is what happens sometimes when we are at our “rope’s end”. We get really creative. We search our souls for anything–I mean anything–for relief. Then, out of nowhere, a solution arrives.
That solution, although imperfect, was liberation. It was a way that came my way when I was in the darkest period of my life. This proved to me that there is always an option, there is always a door, there is always a way out.
There is a very wise man that mentions that our greatest learning is during those periods in our life when we think that all is lost (paraphrased). This is one of the most simple and true statements of wisdom I have ever read.
This is one of the major reasons I decided to share the quotes I do on my blog. Quotes are the wisdom from the ages. They are sometimes offered by our contemporaries. At other times they are drawn from the times of the ancients.
I really enjoy sharing my thoughts with you. I enjoy passing on the things that affect me and awaken the dormant things inside that can only be reached by these quotes.
It is my wish that these words reach people. It is my wish that these words help others. This is my wish for you, my readers.
I’ll see you later today.
Until next time…
Dave
17 Sunday Jun 2018
Posted in Bonus Content, Father's Day
Tags
To all of the Dad’s in my readership, have a great Father’s Day! I’ll be heading out to dinner with my folks this evening to have a Father’s Day dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants. As an added bonus, we’ll be taking Dad to a movie tomorrow.
I hope all of you have a terrific Father’s Day!
(The Featured Image is a picture of me and my Dad at my nephew’s High School graduation)
Until next time…
Dave
10 Sunday Jun 2018
Posted in Bonus Content
Tags
Hey, all. For those of you who have recently begun following my blog, I normally do not post anything on Sundays. I consider Sunday to be what I call “A do nothing day”. What this means is that my typical rituals, other than my exercise routine and weekly review (every Sunday) are not done today.
I use Sunday as a day of just doing what I feel like doing, like tackling a book for more than 25 minutes, doing some extra-long writing sessions, or heck just getting caught up on my favorite shows on Netflix or Amazon Prime.
Today is a day of reflection for me. I look at what went right the previous week, what went wrong, and ponder ways to improve just a little bit more.
Well, that’s it. I’ve had quite an influx of followers the last few weeks and wanted all of my new readers to know.
Until next time…
Dave
27 Friday Oct 2017
Posted in Bonus Content
Hello, all!
I read quite a bit during the day and from time-to-time will find great articles that I share here. Here is one I found today. As you know, I have a goal to lose 11% bodyfat by January 24, 2017. There is a three-fold strategy for this.
Intermittent fasting is on fire right now on the Internet and has some amazing benefits, provided you can work this into your schedule. Typically you select a 16-hour window to begin your fasting period. Obviously, it is easier if you sleep for most of it. For me, 8 pm to 12 pm is my window. I tend to stay up late to write and read (typically until 2 am) and then sleep until 9:30 am or so. Then I take care of my morning ritual until around 12 pm, take my pre-workout and hit the gym.
Here’s the article link below. I think you’ll enjoy reading about this terrific technique for weight loss:
I hope you enjoy this read and also hope you begin using this for your weight loss goals. I’ll keep you posted on my progress starting next week.
Dave
