Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – A Spiritual Life

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Bible, Choice, Lou Holtz, Personal, Religion, Religious path, Spiritual, spirituality

I believe that having a spiritual life is so important in everybody’s life.

Lou Holtz

What is spirituality? What is spiritual? It is what you decide it is. For some, it’s reading a Bible and going to church. For others it is meditating. For others, it is being in nature or spending a quiet afternoon with family.

Each of us gravitates to what we need. I enjoy reading my Bible daily, doing my spiritual exercises, working through my yearly discourses, journaling, and doing my best to live up to the things my religious path requires.

I believe that each of us chooses the life we want. We choose what we believe and ignore what we don’t. It was Henry Ford that said, “When you believe you can do a thing, or not, you’re right.” I believe this quote fits what I’m trying to say here. Whatever spiritual beliefs you hold are right.

Each of us lives our lives the way we want to (with certain limits). For me, having spirituality in my life is a wonderful thing. For others it may be a bunch of “mumbo jumbo”. This is OK. Each of us needs to follow our own path. That path is perfect for us.

Now, if you are unhappy with what you’ve chosen—change it. Go out and investigate various spiritual paths and start experimenting. If you put your effort into this, you’ll find something that aligns perfectly with what you need.

My path is exactly what I want and need. It fills gaps in my life that would be empty without spirituality. If you feel yourself feeling “empty”, this may be what you are missing. You are the only one who can make that decision.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – In Times of Trouble…

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Bible, God, Inner Peace, Meditation, Prayer, Religious Practice, Spiritual Exercises, spirituality, The Calm

They say that we seek comfort during times of trouble. Many reach out to friends and family. Others use activities to take their mind off of things. Some turn to their religious beliefs.

It’s hard now because they’ve banned public gatherings across the country. Religious institutions are closed. No one but families in the home can get together. So how do you get comfort?

Some religious institutions are offering worship services online. Others are doing charitable work in the community by delivering food and other items to those less fortunate or at risk. Some will read their Bible or religious tome and rely on the faith they have in their hearts. I fall into the last group. I have a faith belief that all things happen for a reason and that whatever happens is exactly what should happen. “Everything is in its rightful place in the worlds of God.” – Harold Klemp.

How you comfort yourself and your family is up to you. I am comforted by the timeless principles in the scripture I read daily. I am also comforted by the daily spiritual exercises that help me reach the calm within. It is always there—waiting.

I hope each of you finds the calm in your own way. It is a tremendous place to be during calamity, disaster, and chaos, when the world seems to get more frightening daily.

Be safe. Follow the guidance provided by authorities. Take care of each other. We will all get through this together.

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Counting Our Blessings

Tags

Bible, Calm, God, Grateful, Gratitude, Little Things, Peace, Serene, Thankful, Warmth

Image by Miesha Moriniere from Pixabay 

“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” — Willie Nelson

Expressing thanks for our blessings in life is a life-changing habit. It focuses our attention on what is good, rather than bad. When I first kept a gratitude journal, I started with the 5-minute journal. The 5-minute journal has you write 3 things you are grateful for when you wake up and again in the evening before you retire. At first I had to work at it, because I was so engrained with seeking what wasn’t working in my life.

Over the years it became easier to think about all the things I am grateful for and that has made all the difference. Now my gratitude spans multiple areas of my life. Imagine the difference this practice will have on you. Instead of waking up in the morning and saying to yourself, “Oh, God. I have this to do today and that to do today and I don’t like this and I don’t like that.” That was how my day began for years. Now, I start my day out with good music and journaling. I start with my dream journal, then I move to my gratitude journal, and then my morning pages. After my journaling is complete, I move right into writing for Daily Ramblings in a fantastic mood and ready to take on the world.

The key for me is to write and write and write until I get in that mood where I am grateful and not just going through the motions, which is easy to do. Here are some suggestions to help you out:

• I am grateful for God
• I am grateful for my Bible
• I am grateful for my life
• I am grateful for my Mom and Dad
• I am grateful for our pet (insert the name for a pet)
• I am grateful for my job and work mates
• I am grateful for my home
• I am grateful for my bed
• I am grateful for my Brothers and Sisters
• I am grateful for my friends
• I am grateful for my talents (list out each one or one helpful in your life)
• I am grateful for my ability to (read, write, learn, whatever)
• I am grateful for my health
• I am grateful for my experiences
• I am grateful for my wife
• I am grateful for my son
• I am grateful for my daughter

These are just a few prompts. Your gratitude journal will be unique to you. I literally keep writing what I am thankful for until I get a familiar feeling of satisfaction and peace, both of which come when you have found that state of gratefulness that always come when the mind focuses on what’s right, rather than what’s wrong. Gratitude feels like peace, calm, and warmth. It feels like a warm blanket.

If you are tired of being pissed off, stressed out, and all the rest, try starting your own gratitude journal. It will make a huge difference in your life.

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday

Tags

Bible, Blog Schedule, family, Friends, God, New Followers, technology, Thank you

Thank you! It was nice to see some new followers this week. I really appreciate folks who take a chance on spending some time with my blog. I try to mix things up from time-to-time, but tend to stick with a pretty static schedule. Here it is for those of you who are new:

• Motivation Monday
• Ted Talk Tuesday
• Wisdom Wednesday
• Thankful Thursday/Thinking Thursday
• Funny Friday
• Spiritual Saturday
• Series/Story/Sunday (Once in a while)

Bonus content can be any day of the week, when I am inspired to write about something other than the above-scheduled topics

I also post my Workout Routines, when I do one. These are pretty boring, but if anyone needs good ideas for working out, a diet they can try, or any other information I believe will help someone start or continue an exercise program, it will be on these posts.

Today, I am grateful for technology. It is so nice to be able to get 100% of my work done on a laptop, anywhere I want. Sometimes I’ll be posting from my favorite coffee shop, a restaurant, or even the beach. Today, I’m working in my living room. The weather in Michigan is quite rainy and cold, so going outside is not realistic at this point.

I also enjoy technology because I can listen to music wherever I am and take online courses with the same flexibility. It truly is a blessing to be able to find a course to learn about something I want to know about and have access to universities across the globe to get at that information.

I am grateful for the ability to communicate with the world through this blog and other mediums. It is awesome. Some folks make good money running their blog. I run mine as a way to express myself and use this as a means of communicating my thoughts on a whole host of topics. It is a lot of fun!

I am also grateful for social media. I don’t spend a lot of time in these areas because they tend to eat up a lot of time if you let them, but it is really nice to interact with people all over the world–instantly. I think the more we can interact in these areas, the more closely we will come together as a planet. At least that’s my hope. There are some websites, like Twitter, which are an absolute war zone politically.

Finally, I am grateful for WordPress. WordPress makes things so easy and being able to run a blog for free is really nice. At some point, I’ll move to a paid sight, but that’s a bit off in the future, once I’ve achieved a higher follower count. I’m still tweaking my message and learning about blogging so I can build up a following that will provide me a larger platform. I have a great deal to say and enjoy the infrequent interactions with my followers.

Well, that’s what I’m grateful for this week. As always, I am grateful for my family, my friends, God, my Bible, my health, and our pets. It is a real privilege to be alive and have the opportunity to experience everything life has to offer. I wish all of you a terrific Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thinking Thursday

Tags

Bible, Goals, God, Gratitude, Life, Love, Thanks, Travis Barker

“Thank you for life, and all the little ups and downs that make it worth living.” – Travis Barker

Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/travis_barker_468582?src=t_thankful

Life is a grand adventure! We learn, love, and laugh. We travel, we try new things, and we meet new people. When our cycle ends, others take up the mantle. Life continues.

I enjoy thinking about my life. The ups and downs, loves and heartbreaks. The scary and the serene. All these experiences weave themselves into a quilt with little facsimiles scattered about.

I look at all the technological changes that provide us access to so much information, music, and other forms of entertainment. I look at the technologies that provides us the ability to create a document, create a movie, create music, or even create a program of our own making.

Here’s what I’m up to:

Physical

I came down with a flu or cold a few days ago so the workout routine is out until I beat this bug.

Mental

I’m reading 4 books. I’m reading The One Thing, 2136, Shariyat-Ki-Sugmad, and Beyond Good and Evil. All these books are engaging. I’m goaled to read 12 books by the end of March.

I’m running through a JavaScript Project currently, employing the use of Objects, which is exciting. I had no idea that JavaScript was an Object-Oriented Language, but sure enough, it is.

I am still working on a section a day for my book and it is coming along nicely. By the end of next week, I’ll have my initial rough draft. I’m a little over schedule because I wanted to be finished by the end of 2018, but with my vacation visit to Phoenix, I over estimated how much I would get done while I was there (I had too much fun!).

Spiritual

I’m working through my bible and am on the 12^th discourse of my spiritual study for the year. I’ll be starting a new course in the next month or so.

I’m looking for ways to interact with more people. Last year I got a lot done but was a hermit for most of the year focusing on the important work of book writing and the rest. I am going to look at some different venues this year to work on my book writing, so I can continue to get my work done but interact socially with other people.

My book discussion is set for the 14^th of this month. I look forward to that.

Social

I’m still scanning my area for something fun to do this quarter.

Well, that’s it for today folks!

Until next time…

Dave