Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – You Only Control You.

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Calm, Conspiracy Theories, Control, Coronavirus, Death, Doing what you can, pain, Paranoia, Sadness, Stay Informed, Stay Safe, Tragedy, Trust only credible resources

I think today is a good day to offer one of my favorite quotes. I like it so much; I have it in my Gmail signature for anyone to read when they get an email from me. Here’s the quote:

“Every time you think the problem is ‘out there,’ that very thought is the problem.” – Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

The reason I like this quote is that it addresses one problem many people suffer from—worrying about things they have ZERO control over. The coronavirus is a good example.

None of us controls who will get it and who will not. We can do what we are told to mitigate the chances, but we’re still not 100% safe from this thing. You can’t control your friends or your neighbors. You can’t control anything other than you. You can follow instructions. You can stay informed. You can help others. You can control how you react to this thing. You can control what you watch, what you read, and what you listen to. You can control how you react to these input streams. You can’t control the emails you receive, the negativity or fake news stories on your social media news feeds. You can only control you.

It it a time of uncertainty? Sure. Is it scary, uncomfortable, nerve-wracking? It can be, if you let it. A wise man once told me that when bad times hit, you can serve others. You can serve your loved ones. You can serve your immediate family. You can serve your pets. When you serve others, you stop thinking about yourself. Be selfless.

If you are one of the unfortunate people stuck in an area where the coronavirus is hitting really hard, like New York, Washington, or any number of places in the U.S. or abroad, I can only hope that you and your family are safe and sound. If not, I am sending good thoughts your way. I hope the effects are minimal at most.

It is times like these that remind me of some situations I found myself in the Army. When you’re in a tough situation, you do the best you can. You take care of one another. That’s all you can do.

I remember a friendly fire incident during a training exercise I took part in. One of the soldiers in my unit dropped a training round inside his personnel carrier and the round went off, sending a 40-mm projectile through his face. It was horrific, sudden, and unexpected. We jumped into action to get the soldier to a nearby hospital. He was dead on arrival. Just like that, a young man was with us, laughing and joking around. In a second, his life ended. Just because he dropped a training round.

This coronavirus acts the same way. It strikes people who did nothing wrong. They were just living their lives. Then, just like that, they get sick; they get rushed to the hospital, and they’re gone in a few hours or days. Could their loved ones do anything? No.

My heart goes out to anyone that has lost a loved one to this nasty bug. It goes out to the first-responders who have to deal with the families who have lost a loved one, through no fault of their own. It goes out to the hospital staff and the doctors at risk and putting their lives on the line every day. It goes out to the people who lost their jobs and don’t know how they will pay their rent, buy food, or take care of their families. It goes out to the many teachers getting creative to continue teaching their students. It goes out to literally anyone affected by this tragedy.

Take care of yourself. Only trust sources of information that are credible. Check everything you receive, including information sent by paranoid and conspiracy-theory driven family members and friends. I don’t blame anyone for what they do during times like these. People deal with things differently. Some believe they are doing good by passing along information, they believe is true.

You are the only one who can control you. You are the only one who can control how you react to these trying times. You can’t control the disease. You can’t control what will happen to your neighbors, friends, and colleagues. You only control you. I’ll end here.

Please be safe. Please stay informed using credible resources and news outlets. Please follow your local guidance. Please take care of yourself.

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Thanks For the Memories—The Good and the Bad…

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BeautyBeyondBones, Calm, Dark Night of Soul, Faith, God, memories, Peace, Pheonix, Transformation

When I think of “Thanks for the Memories”, I think Bob Hope. If you’re too young to remember him, he was an actor and a comedian and did a lot of work with the USO to support our men and women in uniform.

I’m thankful for my memories. There are good ones and bad ones. What I’ve found over time is that the bad ones fade a bit, some even funny, while the good ones just get stronger.

I’m thankful for the bad ones because they teach us so much. I always learn more during the hard times than I do during the easy times. I think this happens because when your survival instincts kick in; you are so alive. Every sense is tingling, your creativity is through the roof.

The most important learning I have gained from the bad memories I have had is that you survived. It was tough. It was hard, but you made your way through it. If you want to read some stories that will just knock you in the dirt, check out my friend’s blog Beauty Beyond Bones.

I have not read her book yet, but it’s on my list. Read through a few of her blog posts, particularly the early ones when she just started out. I don’t want to give anything away, but they are heartbreaking. I’m a sucker for people who have faced this kind of adversity and win. She’s a testament of faith, belief in God, and is just “hard as nails.”

My memories are not as stark as hers, but they are uniquely my own. Each of us when we face those “dark nights of soul” rely on our creativity, our faith, and anything else we can grab onto to pull ourselves out of that deep, dark hole we find ourselves in, when nothing is going right, nothing works, and there appears to be no way out. It takes an iron will to push through these periods in our lives. Slowly, we pull ourselves out.

We are stronger, learn what NOT to do, and we evolve, much like the legend of the Phoenix, who rises from the ashes—renewed. After we’ve endured and recovered from events like these, we are different. We look at life with a new set of eyes. We realize that we are stronger than we ever thought we were.

I’m a firm believer that God never gives us something we cannot handle. God knows us better than we ever will. God gives us these experiences to become stronger spiritually, so we can serve others.

My good memories are always better. You feel them more. The day I proposed to my wife. The day I graduated from college. The day I graduated from Ranger School. My wife and I’s first date. These memories, along with many more, fill my heart with love. All of us have these memories. Hold on to them. They will continue to fill your heart with warmth and a love that is indescribable.

I hope each of you is having a great week. It’s late where I am (around 11:30 pm). I can hear the customary trains coming through town. It’s 27 degrees outside, and all is quiet. My time alone at night is a precious time. During these times I reminisce through all of my experiences, listen to calming music, and thank God for this life. A life that has been worth living, filled with adventure, excitement, fear, pain, boredom, and all the rest. I hope each of you can find a moment or time during the day to reach the same place I find myself every evening. A place of calm, peace, and gratitude for the gift of living.

Thanks for your attention.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Learning from Silence

Tags

Awareness, Calm, Inner Peace, Quiet, silence, solitude, spirituality

Learn to get in touch with the silence within yourself and know that everything in this life has a purpose. There are no mistakes, no coincidences. All events are blessings given to us to learn from. Elizabeth Kübler-Ross, Courtesy: Wisdom Quotes

Silence. Most of us have a hard time with it. When I began my spiritual practices, the mind went crazy. Thoughts arose and off I went running down one of many rabbit holes.

When we think of noise, we think of loud voices, music, or traffic. The thoughts in your mind are also a noise. How do you turn this noise off? You rise above it. You can do this in several ways. One way I use is to create a metaphor. My thoughts become a stream of water running by me at my feet. When you can direct your mind to create these types of pictures, it becomes busy with that and the real you can leave it behind, much like a fussy child who is given a toy to play with in a doctor’s office. As soon as they have this source of entertainment, they pipe right down. The real you is Soul.

When I achieve this silent state, my body is calm. It relaxes to a point of almost going to sleep—almost. The serenity of this state is like floating in a perfectly calm pool with a temperature perfect for you. You could stay there for hours. Time stops. Everything is clearer. Each time you achieve this clarity, your awareness grows. This awareness is like the difference between looking down from a tree and looking down from a skyscraper. The more you can see the better decisions you’ll make. You will see the patterns in life and how everything that you experience was exactly what you needed when you needed it.

Experiences are painful and pleasurable. We learn more when things are painful. We learn what not to do. We see how we caused a situation through our lack of awareness. When we learn from these painful episodes, we avoid doing things that cause these painful experiences. This is wisdom.

Well, that’s it for today.

I wish each of you a terrific weekend.

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Creativity

Tags

Brainstorming, Calm, creativity, decisions, Emotions, Freakout, Mistakes, Planning

“Creative people who cherish the gift of life often slip into the secret chambers of the creative mind. Their solutions are well-rounded, more sensible than those of people who rely solely upon reason as their mainstay. Gratitude unseals fountains of creativity, because a grateful person is relaxed. This allows him to take stock of his circumstances with an objective mind. A creative person often gets three-dimensional answers to his problems.” – Harold Klemp – The Language of Soul

Have you ever tried to solve a problem when you were emotional?

The emotional states, lock up our ability to tap into our intellect and creativity. Anger, fear, sorrow, or any number of emotions will circumvent our creativity and ability to think through a problem to its successful conclusion.

How do you fix this? Patience. Emotions pass. Relax. Brainstorm possible solutions in a non-judging way. After you’ve calmed down a bit and your emotions have subsided, you can now evaluate these solutions and pick the one that makes the most sense. Then you’ll have to decide all the steps that get you from where you are to the final solution you decided upon. Then, you’ll put the steps in logical order and determine how long each step will take. Then it’s nothing more than working through the steps.

Trust me. I’ve been in situations when I’ve been emotional and made the mistake of jumping to a conclusion. This mistake leads to more decisions and the whole thing will spiral out of control. You literally create more problems than you started with–all because you didn’t take the time to calm down and plan with a clear head.

I hope all of you have a terrific Saturday! I’m stoked that it’s November. This is my favorite time of year.

 

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Bonus Content – Top 5 Soft Skills

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Calm, Interaction, self-improvement, self-management, soft skills, Work

Top 5 Soft Skills

If you don’t want to read this article, check out the video at the top. It’s about 3 minutes. What are the top 5? You’ll have to click on the link to find out! I promise it’s worth your time.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Simple Things

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Birds, Calm, Chipmunks, Free, Joy, Peaceful, Simple, simplicity, Squirrels

Sometimes I think about the simple things in life. I was just staring out my window and watching the leaves flutter in the wind. The simple things don’t cost any money. They are there for our enjoyment. My Dad placed dispensers of corn and nuts in our yard and the squirrels and chipmunks love them. In appreciation, they give Dad a show to enjoy all day.

Another benefit of having these dispensers are the frequent visits by a pair of Mallard ducks. They come every few days to pick up the nuts and corn the squirrels have left behind on the ground.

We have a squirrel my Mom nicknamed Pete. He enjoys chewing on a dog bone that our last dog stopped chewing on. We also have a chipmunk who comes to our deck from time to time to visit. Then there are a collection of birds that entertain my mom in the morning.

I have been helping my wife study for a teaching exam she has to get through by November. It is nice to spend time with her and help her. We go through questions, remember funny things about our past, talk about them, and then get back to the questions. It’s nice.

It’s nice to sit in my easy chair and type out these words. I’m enjoying the quiet, typing these words, and thinking. Simplicity. Quiet. Calm.

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 – Spiritual Saturday – The HU Chant

Tags

Calm, Focus, Good Habits, HU Chant, Meditation, Relaxation, simplicity

Have you ever thought about meditation? There are many benefits to this practice, particularly the benefits of calm and focus. Another benefit is the simplicity of the act. You can close your eyes and meditate anywhere, provided you are comfortable and the place you choose is remote or away from noise.

Here are the basics:

• Sit down or lay down on a bed or couch
• Close your eyes
• Focus on your breath (breathe in and breath out)

If you would like to use another technique to keep your focus you can chant silently to yourself or out loud, depending on where you are. If you chant, use the word HU. HU is an ancient name for God and pronounced like the word “hue”. Chant this word for whatever period you have available. I recommend 10 minutes for starters.

Chanting HU can help you in times of stress or trouble. Chanting HU is not religious. You can use the HU chant if you are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, or any other religion.

Try it. Many people, the world over, use the HU chant daily. I do this in the early morning, before I head to the gym. Other people I know do the HU chant during their lunch break or right before they go to bed. Start small. 10-20 minutes is all you need.

If you try this out or have questions, comment below.

Have a great Saturday folks!

Until next time…

Dave

 

 

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday

Tags

Accepting Reality, Adapting to Reality, Calm, change, Complaining, Peace of Mind, Reacting to Reality, Viktor Frankl

“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.” – Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

I see so many people rail against reality. I see it in my friends, my family members from time-to-time, and even strangers who I come across in the gym or when I’m at the market. We all have problems to deal with. Some of these problems are self-inflicted, but a great deal of these problems is totally out of our control.

So, what do you do? Change yourself. This change isn’t about going against your values or your belief systems. It is about changing the way you react to something outside of you.

Here are some things that are outside of you that you will not change.

• Weather
• Governmental policies (other than voting and activism)
• Traffic conditions
• Your Genetic Makeup
• What other people do

By no means is the above list all-inclusive. I provided this list to give you an idea of what I’m talking about in case you’ve never considered the premise of this article. Anything that is out of your control is exactly that—out of your control. Subsequently, any complaining you do about things that are out of your control create meaningless stress in your life and perpetuate the ridiculousness of attempting to change something you cannot.

Complaining or letting these outside, uncontrollable circumstances effect your mood is really a huge waste of time. How do you do this? It is really a decision about how you want to be on a daily basis. Do you want to be happy or do you want to be miserable? Do you want to feel betrayed all of the time or are you willing to give people the benefit of the doubt?

The more detached you are from outside circumstances and unrealistic expectations the calmer and more collected you will be. The next time you catch yourself complaining about the weather, seek out the benefits of that weather pattern. I, for example, love when it rains or snows. I think it is relaxing to watch the rain from my office window or wake up in the morning to a fresh blanket of snow on the trees in my front yard.

Just some food for thought.

Here’s my week:

• I’m continuing my daily workout routine in the gym (I love my gym therapy!)
• I’m continuing to work on the rough draft of my technical recruiting book
• I’m continuing to work on my spiritual duties
• I’m also re-reading Mini-habits, The 7 Habits, and Getting Things Done
• I’m continuing my blogging, of course
• I’m also in the process of setting new goals for the New Year (I’ll post my 2019 goals toward the end of this month)
• Finally, I’m interacting on numerous social media platforms, getting to know new people, cultivating the relationships I have, and having fun

I hope all of you are excited about the holidays. This is truly my favorite time of the year.

Until the next time…

Dave