Daily Ramblings – Spread Your Wings Sunday – Week of April 5, 2020.

Tags

Concern, Connecting, family, Friends, Friendship, Love, Reaching out, Staying in Touch

I’m only offering one challenge this week. This is it:

Challenge: Reach out to all of your family members to make sure they are OK.

I know most of you are already doing this, so it may not be too much of a challenge, but for those who have estranged family members, who live far away, would appreciate a call. Promise.

My stepmom is in Mexico. I used Google Translator, reached out on Facebook messenger, and she was so glad to hear from me.

Here’s the thing. I would hate to lose any of my family members without having a chance to touch base with them. There are so many stories in the papers, blogs, and books that highlight how horrible it is to lose someone and miss the opportunity to say you care for them. I hope this doesn’t happen to you. Take a minute and reach out. It doesn’t take long, it’ll prevent you from worrying, and the other person will feel great.

Well, that’s all I got today. Have a great Sunday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Kind Words and Friendship

Tags

Blogging, Comments, Connecting, Connection, Friends, Friendship, Grateful, Thankful

Today I’d like to thank the thoughtful bloggers that wished me well this week as I fight through a cold. What a wonderful gift.

What I find most fascinating is that small interactions over time can truly turn into a friendship. I know the terms friend and friendship have changed meaning in our new virtual world, but the sentiment is still the same. Friends are people who care about one another. They may not talk every day, but the feeling is there.

It’s interesting. I have been blogging for a little over 3 years and it took me this long to figure it out. You have to engage with other people to open the door to friendship. If you write your blog postings and never interact with other people in the blogosphere, you will likely remain alone, other than the random like here or there. We all love comments and feedback. To get this feedback and receive comments you have to take the first step. At least that is what I have discovered.

So, THANK YOU! Lillie, CrazyKat1963, and K.M. Allan for your kind words of encouragement. I am grateful for our friendship. It truly means a lot to me. And this is where I will end my posting today.

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday!

Tags

Books, Communicating, Connecting, Entertained, History, Language, Learning, Lisa Bu, Reading, Time period

I have always been an avid reader. I tend to read many books at once because I like to learn new things but also like a good story. Reading can do a lot of things for you. It can improve your vocabulary. It can open your mind to new ideas. It can also help you connect with an author from a time period long gone. When I read a book from an author who has passed away I try to envision what it was like to be alive when they wrote the book. I look at the differences in language. I look at what was going on in the world when they wrote the book.

If you have never performed this exercise, try it out. It can be very informative and provides a greater backdrop to why an author wrote the book, what the language was like, and so many other aspects. Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a book I’m reading now. It was written at a time when slavery was commonplace in the United States.

This book was written around 1851. The civil war would not begin for another 10 years. Many believe that her work, along with the many works provided by other abolitionists helped provide the moral framework and impetus to end slavery in the United States.

The next time you read a book, look at the publication date. Go to your library or do an online search of things that happened in that year. You’ll be amazed at what you find and this exercise will make reading your book so much more meaningful.

I hope you enjoy this short Ted Talk on reading books. It is inspiring, funny, and provides numerous reasons for sitting down and reading a good book.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk – The Way to Help is Often Just to Listen

Tags

Being there, Connecting, Listening, Serving Others, Ted Talk

What an absolutely inspiring Talk about the importance of just listening to another person without judgement or giving advice. This is one of the biggest challenges I have. I have friends and family that have challenges they want to speak about and I always have to jump in and give advice.

People don’t want advice in most cases. They just want to be heard.

I hope your week is going well.

Until next time…

Dave