Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Grateful for Authors

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Authors, Books, Entertain, Experience, Fiction, Non-Fiction, Storytelling, Teach, Writing

This week I’m grateful for the many authors that have entertained me or taught me something.

So many authors I’ve read and so many have contributed to my way of thinking. It would be impossible to list all of them here, but I have learned a great deal from the authors I have read. Covey, Sowell, Tolstoy, Tolkien, Allen, Shapiro, Seneca, Aristotle, Einstein, Feynman, Hawking, and the list goes on and on.

I’ve probably read more Non-fiction than fiction, but fiction writers like K.M. Allan, Tolkien, Burroughs, Poe, Doyle, have also taught me a great deal. Fiction teaches, too. You just have to read a talented author and peer into their words to learn something about them. Good fiction is drawn from life experiences. So when I read an author from an unfamiliar part of the world or time period, you learn about what they experienced in their lives and what they are teaching.

So, today I am grateful for the many authors who have contributed to the world.

Have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Grateful for Summer

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Barbeque, Good weather, Grateful, Iced Tea, Lemonade, Lime Ade, Seasonal treats, Summer, Sunny, Thankful, Warm

I love the Summer! It is so warm and nice outside. The Summer brings Barbeque! My favorite way to cook. I love to cook ribs, chicken, steak, hamburgers, hot dogs, you name it. I also love the iced teas, lemonade, and all the rest.

We in America are approaching our Independence Day, July 4th. I particularly enjoy celebrating our nation’s day of independence. It is a very important day for me.

My nephew, a senior in college, is coming to visit with his girlfriend in a few weeks. I look forward to seeing him again. It’ll be good fun and the grandparents love to see him too. After he has graduated, he’ll be heading to Medical School. He wants to study abroad, but hasn’t mentioned where he’s been accepted.

All, I wish you a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Grateful for Podcasts

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Entertainment, Grateful, Learning, Podcasts, radio, Thankful, Thanks

Podcasts are one of the greatest inventions of this century. There are so many to choose from and enough content that you can never ever listen to it all. I truly enjoy podcasts because I can listen to them while I do other things.

There are also many platforms for podcasts. I use Spotify for all of my music and podcasts, but you can also find them on Groove, Google Play, Apple Music, and many others. If you have never experienced a podcast, I recommend it. They cover topics like history, politics, music; you name it. I guarantee you will find something you are interested in within the podcast genre you enjoy.

I discovered podcasts after learning that many people listen to them while they work. Since I do a lot of programming every day, I like having one on while I code.

Podcasts are the new “radio”. Radio wasn’t huge when I was growing up, but as I matured, radio became a normal part of my life, particularly when I drive long distances. It’s a great source of information and entertaining as well.

So, today I’m grateful for podcasts of all shapes and sizes. They entertain, teach, and are a welcome part of my time during the day.

Have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Life

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Adventures, experiences, Grateful, Learning, Life, Thankful Thursday, Thanks

Today, I’m grateful for life. Oh, the adventures I’ve had. Some horrific, others wonderful. But the journey has been a great ride.

I’ve experienced love and heartbreak, achievement and failure, sickness and good health. Opposites are the nature of our universe. We have light and dark, good and evil, fun and boring, and the list goes on and on.

What makes the journey worthwhile? The ups and downs. When you’re up, you’re on top of the world. When you’re down, it sucks. But either side of this equation is necessary, so we know the difference.

How many people truly cherish life? It really depends on their outlook and belief system. For the nihilists out there, life is meaningless. For the optimist, everything is terrific. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone that is totally this or that. Instead, you’ll find people that are in the middle somewhere.

I have always chosen optimism over nihilism. Perhaps I was lucky with my upbringing. Perhaps I was born at the right time period. Honestly, I choose to be happy.

My father taught me a terrific way to look at things. He said, “Son, you will always have things you have to do in life. You have to go to school, you have to work, you have to fulfill your responsibilities. You will not escape these responsibilities, unless of course, you want to have a hard life. If you fail to graduate your life will be hard. No one will want to hire you. If you don’t want to work, you will starve, or you will live a life of crime to support yourself. If you’re irresponsible, you will cause great pain for yourself and anyone that joins you on your life’s journey. So you have a choice. You can do the things you are required to do happily, or you can be pissed off your whole life. I choose to be happy. What will you choose?”

Obviously, I choose to be happy. Why be pissed off about the things you have to do anyway? The choice to me was obvious.

So today I’m grateful for the gift of life. I’m grateful for the things I’ve done and the things I have not done. I am grateful for the people who have come and gone in my life. I am grateful for the teachers and mentors who have helped me learn something new, grasp a new concept, or suggested I make an adjustment to the way I think or act. All of these things are a blessing.

Happy Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Grateful for Time

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bored, Grateful, Measure, Monitor, Schedule, Thankful, time, Too busy

Is it Thursday already? Time sure flies when you are focused on the things you consider important and focus on those things you do each day, one at a time. Earlier in the year, I realized I was becoming very efficient at knocking out my daily rituals. So efficient, that I found myself becoming bored. I hate being bored. When I am bored, time slows to a trickle. This is how I know I my new schedule is working. Time flies because I am focused on various tasks throughout the day and week and they occupy, entertain, and fulfill me.

Are you bored? If so, add some things to your schedule. Read more, write more, learn more. If you are stressed out and resisting your daily to-do list, do the opposite. Trim back to your core tasks–the things you consider most important.

Most of you in my audience still work. This encompasses most of your day. For those of us that are retired, I think the biggest challenge is staying busy. Not busy, busy, but busy. Any of us could binge watch Netflix or sit like zombies in front of our laptops watching hundreds of funny animal videos, but is there any challenge to this? Is there any purpose behind this, besides doing something to pass the time. To me, that would be a total waste of my life.

When I am engaged in writing, reading, coding, learning, or exercising, I focus in on that task and that task only. When I am meditating, there is nothing else to concern myself with. If you are working full time and trying to add something to your day, the one thing I would recommend before retiring is a hobby. Your hobby could be computer programming, photography, writing books or poetry, starting a blog, anything.

Most folks dream of a time when they can just golf, travel, or stick with one thing. In my experience, you need many things. Personally, I am pursuing all the things I wanted to when I was too busy. When I was working, about the only thing I had time for was exercise. I’m glad I did, but there is so much more available now that I’m retired.

I’m grateful for the time I have. It allows me to do so many things during the day. The things I consider important. When I feel I’ve packed too much in my day, I trim it back. When I find myself finishing my work too quickly I adjust. This week is perfect. I am getting all the things I need to get done, and have some time left over for frivolous things like Netflix and other things I enjoy for leisure time.

Have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – My Ability to Learn

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audio, classics, college, Joy, kinesthetic, Learning, scholars, visual

Today, I’m grateful for my ability to learn and love of learning. Like most boys, I wasn’t interested in reading or writing, or any of the things I am interested in today. Instead, I enjoyed running around outside, playing baseball and other games with my friends.

I didn’t get my degrees until later in my military career and glad that I did. I began my college in 2003 and did not realize how little I knew. Once I began reading and writing for school, I was hooked. I marveled at Aristotle, Socrates, and Seneca. I enjoyed reading about psychology, history, mathematics and the sciences, and particularly enjoyed programming courses.

Learning about learning is an interesting exercise. I learned about the ways people learn. Some folks learn visually. Picture someone who can read a set of instructions and put together a model or piece of furniture.

Others are audio learners. Instead of reading, they prefer music or audio books to learn. They learn best in situations like lectures and such.

Finally, there are kinesthetic learners. These are the folks who learn by touching things and experimenting with them. They are the “learn by doing” crowd.

Each of us has a dominant modality. The other modalities still contribute, though. For me, visual learning is strongest, with audio and kinesthetic coming in at a tie after that. Coding, for example, I learn by doing. I can read about it all day, but until I clack away at my keyboard and run my code, I don’t know if I did something right or wrong.

So today, I am grateful for the ability to learn new things and my love of learning.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Thank you Followers!

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Blessed, Blogging, Freedom, Grateful, Happy, Readers, Thankful

Today, I’m grateful for you, my readers. I think about the beginnings of my blog, and how it has evolved to its present state. It’s been quite a journey. I think the best part of blogging is the freedom to write what I wish. Yeah, I try to keep categories for each day of the week, but there’s still a lot of freedom to write about the things I care about.

I really appreciate those of you who took the time to respond to my posts. I hope this continues, because it is nice to interact with people all over the world. Each day I check my stats, I’m amazed by the geographical spread of people who visit my blog. I thank each of you for stopping by when you can.

Well, that’s all I have for today, folks! I hope you and your families are doing OK in your particular part of the world.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Grateful for my Teachers

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Books, Colleagues, Friends, leaders, Life, mentors, Parents, Professors, Teachers

All of us have had teachers in one shape or form that contributed to who we are today. I’ve had some great ones. I had great teachers in grade school. I had terrific professors in my undergraduate and graduate studies. The best teachers I’ve had were my parents, my leaders in the military, and life itself.

My parents taught me how to treat family, how to be a man, and how to treat a woman. My teachers gave me insights into the topics I was studying that you could not get from a book. They demonstrated how the book knowledge could be applied to the “real world”.

My military leaders taught me what service was about. They taught me how to take care of my equipment, learn my job, and lead others. They also taught me things that couldn’t be measured—things like honor, discipline, keeping your word, and being honest, even when things get screwed up.

One group I didn’t mention are the group of teachers I have not met. These are the authors of all the books I’ve read to date. Teachers like Covey, Allen, Guise, Twain, Einstein, Hawking, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Tolkien, and so many others.

All of us have had great teachers in our lives. Life is the final one. Life tends to blindside us. We learn from the cuts and bruises life dishes out. We learn things like being thrifty, planning, always striving for something better, but the most important lesson of all—we learn to treat other people with decency and respect.

I love learning. I love learning from the greats. Whether it is a book, a quote, a video, or in-person advice, our teachers have helped us achieve what we are achieving today. Today, I am grateful for every one of my teachers. I would not be where I am today without them.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Grateful for Siblings

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Appreciative, Brother, close, family, Grateful, Sister, Thankful, tight

Today, I’m grateful for my brother and sister. My brother lives in Arizona, and my sister lives in Michigan, about 2 hours away. My brother is a Network Manager for Fender Guitars and my sister is a Program Manager for GM/Chrysler.

Both have a unique sense of humor, always attuned to the Gardner clan. I stay in touch with my brother via phone and playing coop video games together. He also likes to find funny memes and send them to me and my sister. My sister is closer. She visited this last weekend to hangout for Mother’s day and get out of the house and see something else for a change. When she comes over, we have long conversations into the wee hours.

I know some families that don’t get along so well. Not mine. My brother, sister, and I are like peas in a pod. Yeah, we have our own interests and my brother is a long way away, but all of us stay connected one way or another. I’m thankful for that.

It’s great to know you have two people, roughly the same age that have your back. It’s a comfort knowing that we will stick together through thick and thin. When I needed help, my brother and sister pitched in to help. When they need help, I hope I did the same. I always try to help out my family whenever I can. For me, it’s the only way to live.

Well, that’s it for today, folks. I hope you find something to be thankful for each day. It is a great practice. If you have a few minutes, start keeping a gratitude journal and write down three things you are grateful for everyday. It is a great practice and one that will keep your spirits up.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Grateful for Mini-Habits

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Books, Change the rules, doing something is better than doing nothing, Life Changing, mini-habits, Stephen Guise

Featured Image Credit: Mini Habits Book Cover (Stephen Guise)

Welcome to another Thankful Thursday. Today, I wanted to express my gratitude for the concept of Mini-Habits, introduced by Stephen Guise, a few years ago. It is such a novel idea, and it took me by surprise. You see, I had a hell of a time getting done what I wanted to get done. I just couldn’t get anything started or accomplished. Then came this book, Mini Habits.

After reading about his one-pushup a day beginning, I knew this was the right thing for me. The freedom to do some minimal thing that would allow me to check something off of my daily to-do list was shocking. I began to see the wisdom in this as I looked at my own inability to do anything I wanted to do.

So, I gave it a shot. And you know, it worked. I don’t recommend this book to everyone. I only recommend it to people who are stuck, or who know what they want to do, but just can’t seem to get started. This is all I needed. Just a little momentum.

So, today I am grateful for Mini Habits and the changes it has brought to my life. If you are stuck like I was, here’s a link to Stephen’s book: Mini Habits. It’ll set you back about $6 dollars US for the Kindle version. Trust me. It is worth every penny.

Until next time…

Dave