Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – Problems and Loss

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creativity, Emotions, Experience, God, Loss, Planning, Problems, Spiritual Lessons, Thinking

When times are hard, some people complain. And as they complain about the hard times, they shut themselves off from the opportunities that lie within their troubles.

Other people have learned to be patient. They look for the lessons within their hardships or troubles.

Sri Harold Klemp – Love—The Keystone of Life

My wife lost her car keys and has had to depend on others to get her around until she finds them. It’s a pain, but what’s the lesson? Have a place to put your keys each time you come home? Stop driving around so much?

When things like this happen, the frustration can be utterly maddening. Each day there is the possibility of a problem. Maybe you wake up not feeling well, maybe you get blindsided by a bill you weren’t expecting. Maybe that one thing you always expect to be there, stops working. All of these problems crop up all the time. In some cases, problems crop up that are the same, despite being disguised in different costumes.

I learned over the last few years, that it is best to let our emotions subside before making any decisions. You see the emotions preclude us from thinking of a plan to solve the problem. Have you ever heard the quote: “I was so angry I couldn’t think straight”? This applies here. When we jump into action with a plan while the emotions are still high, we tend to make matters worse. So, be patient. Another quote comes to mind: “This too shall pass”.

This quote reminds us that love is the only way to get the solutions we need. When we complain, are angry, scared, upset, or berate ourselves for being “so stupid”, we cut off the source within us that has a solution. When we relax and the emotions have subsided, we are more clear to begin thinking of solutions to a particular problem. Maybe we do some research to see what others did to solve their problem that is like ours. Maybe we talk to family members who may have had a like problem they had to solve. Sometimes the only place we can go is within.

I came to the realization a while back that there really are no problems. We are the ones who define a problem for what it is. What if we decided that a problem wasn’t one. What if, instead, we decided it was a lesson to learn.

If you look at all the problems you’ve had in life, you’ll discover like I did, that problems come in categories. Health, finances, relationships, etc. You’ll also see that some problems, once solved, never return. This means you’ve learned the lesson.

Like my wife losing her keys, I lost my wallet a few years ago. I accidentally left it on the trunk of my car when I was gassing up. Then I drove off and it fell off alongside the road. I was freaked out when I got home. Luckily, a good Samaritan arrived at our door a few hours later bringing the wallet back with the money inside. I learned a big lesson. Never carry anything more than what you need in your wallet. So now, I only carry my driver’s license and my debit card. Nothing else. Should I have another situation where my wallet is lost, there’s nothing in it that cannot be replaced easily with a few phone calls or website visits.

The key lesson: Let the emotions subside before making any decisions. You’ll make better decisions and solve the problem. Another key lesson: You define what a problem is. In some case, you can live with whatever happens and get on with your life.

If you’d like more insights into solving problems here’s a link to a free e-book: https://www.eckankar.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Secrets-of-Divine-Creativity_ebooklet.pdf One of the messages on the cover is: All problems come with answers.

Here’s a final note. God never gives us a problem we are not capable of solving. So when you get hit upside the head with a problem, realize that there is a solution to it. Most of the time, it is within you.

Have a great Sunday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Done is Better Than Perfect

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creativity, Genius, Goals, ideas, Monday, motivation, Muse, Scott Allen, Writing

For anyone that writes a blog, you know that some days you just don’t have any idea what to write. For me, I just have a way of coming up with something to offer here that is meaningful to me and others.

Ideas for writing are the same as ideas for goals and projects. Some folks are overwhelmed because they have too many ideas. Others are on the other side of that spectrum–they have no idea. This can lead to being paralyzed, not knowing where to go, what to do, or what to write.

Scott Allen is known for the quote: “Done is better than perfect.” Perfectionism is paralyzing. It is one of the leading causes of procrastination. Keeping in alignment with Scott’s quote, it is better to do something, rather than nothing.

I like writing every day because it builds a habit. It also gives me the opportunity to get that great article now and then. Think about all the great work you missed out on because you either had too many choices or not enough. So, toss aside that perfectionist inside of you. You’ll give yourself the opportunity to do something great, even if you have days where you didn’t hit that mark. The key is to do something–anything, so you don’t miss out on those opportunities when the stars align, and you tap into your inner genius or muse.

Well, I’ll end here for now. I hope all of you have a great Monday. Remember: “Done is better than perfect.”

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Insomnia

Tags

Accepting, Adapting, change, creativity, health, Ingenuity, Insomnia

For those of you who follow my blog, you are probably wondering why my posts appear so late in the day. I am writing it at 6 PM my time in Michigan. It’s late in the day, because this is actually my morning. You see I’ve been experiencing insomnia for some time now. It started more than a year ago, where my sleep schedule literally flipped. So when you are sleeping in the wee hours of the morning, I am wide awake. I typically do not go to bed until 4 – 7 am. Then I sleep all day. Now, if I was still working this would not be a good solution, but since I am retired, I’ve made my peace with it and literally accept it for what it is.

Ailments like this can be debilitating, but if you have the ability to be flexible, the solution that presents itself can be quite liberating. For me, the peace and quiet in the house as everyone is sleeping, allows me to do some deep thinking, reading, and get a lot of writing done without too many interruptions. I’m pretty quiet, so I don’t keep anyone up. I am literally married to my laptop and iPad and get all my work done on these tools.

Since my sister works all day, she and I catch our shows in the evening.

For some insomnia would be a very demotivating issue. For me, it has had no impact. My gym is open 24 hours a day, so I can use it when everyone else is not there. COVID also forced me to develop a good home workout using exercise bands and other things like our stairs, so when the weather sucks, I can get in a good workout whenever I wish.

Change is always occurring. Every 7 to 10 years, your body replaces itself. Pay attention to these 7-year intervals. When your body changes, listen to it. Change your diet, accept the changes, and adapt to them. In many cases, there’s a silver lining out there waiting for you to discover.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Scribd

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Books, creativity, Fiction, habits, Learning, Reading, Scribd, Thankful Thursday

I enjoy reading. It is one of my hobbies. My favorite fiction genres are science fiction and fantasy. My non-fiction genres are history, military history, political history, and anything else that teaches me something. Books are a terrific getaway, particularly during the winter months and hot, muggy, summers of Michigan, when going outside is a no-go.

I am grateful to my parents who got me reading at an early age. That habit never left me and it came in real handy during college. Now, I read to keep my mind active and continue to learn new things.

Reading is creative, particularly when you are reading fiction, because you have to create the scenes in your mind. When I am reading a gifted author, the scenes are easy to create. For some self-published authors, it is a little more difficult, because they lack the craft of the greats. I read them anyway. I figured if someone takes the time to write a book, why not give them some of my time. I have come across some great books in the self-publishing space.

So today, I am grateful for Scribd. I am not an affiliate, but have been a Scribd subscriber for a few years. It has a great selection of books, magazines, audio books, and a whole lot more. You won’t find recently released works, as the authors need to make their money, but after a book has been in circulation for a bit, Scribd will get the title.

If you read voraciously like I do, you may want to check them out. Here is the link: https://www.scribd.com/home

It runs me 9.00 USD a month, but is really worth it, particularly if you find a great book that is still selling on Amazon. The savings are tremendous, particularly when you add the magazines you have access to, and the comics.

Well, that’s it for now. Have a terrific Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Update – Bonus Content

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Adapt, Arizona, Brother, Chaos, Close the Year, creativity, December, Disruption, Improvise, Set Goals, Thanksgiving, Unexpected, Wife

I’ve been offline for a few days. My brother came out to visit for Thanksgiving, and we had a terrific time. I took a few days off from everything, to maximize my time with him.

I’ve also been busy helping my wife, who is in Arizona with some things, that took a lot of time.

Well, folks. Here we are in December. This is the month I use to begin preparing my goals for the new year, assessing where I ended up with my goals this year, and continuing to make adjustments to life and my daily rituals, in light of the unpredictable actions of our government in Michigan.

Like most states, everyone is freaking out about the second outbreak of COVID-19. What is the solution to all of this? It’s simple. Do not react to things you have ZERO control over. Can we do all the things we used to do? No. Can we go to the library, our gym, our coffee house, a sit-down restaurant? No. What can we do. We can follow the guidance we are given, be good citizens, protect ourselves, and continue to push forward with our goals.

It looks like going to the gym is going to be a hit or miss in 2021, so I invested in a professional set of exercise bands to use in my home. Daily exercise–check! Social activities are going to be on hold for the distant future, so now it’s all about digital social activities, whether they are ZOOM calls, phone calls, or various websites that allow one to interact with other people. Be flexible, folks.

So this year, knowing what we now know, will involve some creativity and improvisation to achieve what we set our sights on. Don’t fight reality. Accept it. COVID is not going away, and the likelihood of getting a vaccine is even more remote, since they only have about 40 million vaccines, which will likely go to government officials and their families, and those with underlying conditions and other folks with more susceptibility to COVID than others. Personally, I think everyone in a retirement or senior living facility should be given priority, followed by anyone with underlying conditions that COVID tends to kill, before the rest of us are given anything. I would then move to first-responders and teachers. I don’t know how the U.S. government will respond to this, but if 2020 was any indication, they’ll muck the whole thing up.

Plan on lockdowns in 2021. Plan on more disruptions in 2021. Plan on more unpredictability in 2021. All these things are now our reality. If you plan accordingly, you’ll succeed at selecting goals to shoot for that cannot be disrupted. That’s going to be my focus for December.

Well, that’s all I got today. Tomorrow, we’ll be back on track with postings. Have a great Tuesday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Regret

Tags

Art, creativity, do it, failure, Get it done, Mistakes, Perfectionism, Procrastination, Regret

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.

Sydney J. Harris

All of us have regrets of some sort. Minimize them by doing what you want to do and get to doing them. Act as if you could not fail, and you will avoid much regret in your life.

I used to be a huge procrastinator until I read some books that stated that the bulk of procrastination is caused by a fear of failure. Eliminate failure, and you’ve won half the battle.

The next contributor to procrastination is perfectionism. You say to yourself, “I want to do this thing, but it has to be perfect.” Then you delay and delay and delay some more. Why? Because you will never attain perfection. You will only achieve your best, and you know what your best is.

Take any art, be it book writing, drawing, anything that involves creativity. You decide when you’ve hit your best. You’ve decided when it is done. It doesn’t matter what other people say. You accomplished what you set out to do. And you know, the people that will like it are out there. But you have to get your creation out there for other people to notice.

When I first began blogging, I was so worried about what other people would think. Did I put enough time into that post? Are there any grammatical errors? Did I talk about the right topic? The answer: YES. Your readership likes what you are writing. They like what you talk about. They enjoy seeing what you’ve done.

Do everything as if you cannot fail, and don’t worry about what others think. I know that’s hard to do, but trust me. You’ll be much more productive and you’ll start knocking things off of your to-do list more quickly if you do the best you can, with what you have, be it time, resources, or any number of possible constraints.

You’ll feel better. You’ll feel more confident. You’ll enjoy what you are doing when you grant yourself the freedom to screw up.

Happy Wednesday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – What is the Lesson?

Tags

Attachment, backup, creativity, Problems, redundancy, Resilience, Spiritual, spirituality

I missed yesterday’s posting because of a laptop that decided to die on me. I thought we lost power in the house, but actually it was my laptop battery. HP laptops need a working battery, despite being plugged in, before the operating system will kick in (My brother is a professional techie, and helped me figure it out).

Not a big deal since I have a desktop, but my desktop has been unused for about 6 months, and now I’m dealing with all of the updates that I didn’t do. Oh, well.

What does this have to do with spirituality? It is a lesson in undue attachment. I thought I was living a pretty detached life, but then this laptop thing happened and I went into a bit of a tizzy. The lesson was clear. I am not as detached as I thought I was.

Well, I’ve got a battery on order and things are back to normal, but wait….I don’t have a webcam anymore. Oh no!!!! Not a problem I’ll go to Amazon and place an order. Webcams are out of stock on Amazon, Best Buy, Staples, and Walmart. Logitech, a manufacturer of webcams is out too. I thought for a moment. It’s the remote work that has increased one thousand fold since the lockdown.

To overcome this, I’m using a Bluetooth keyboard and my iPhone app to make today’s posting. My PC is updating and is only at 24% so it was time to get creative. It was also a keen lesson on the importance of backup systems and redundancy. Lesson learned on a few different fronts.

I missed yesterday’s posting due to this debacle, but now I’m back on track.

The moral of the story. You always have room to improve and you are never safe from unexpected issues that pop up. It’s how you handle these problems and continue to strive forward that matters.

Well, folks. That’s all I got for today as I stare at a blue screen with 24% on it. I hope each of you has a terrific Saturday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Get Creative!

Tags

creativity, Family Time, New Habits, New Hobbies, New Movies, New Music, New Recipes, New Things

How are you handling your day? For those of you with kids, I imagine many adjustments are being made in and around the home-schooling schedule. That being said, how are you tackling your day?

Are you exercising? Pursuing your goals?

Why not take the time you have and learn that new skill you’ve been looking to work on? Why not read that book that’s collecting dust? Why not try out some new recipes at home?

If you’re a TV person, take some time to get caught up on the series you haven’t had time to watch, or heck, change genres and spread your wings? Recently I watched an old Cagney film on Amazon. It was terrific!

The primary point of today’s posting is to get creative. Try new things. Get to work on those projects that were impossible when you add in a 3-hour commute to work. Get in some exercise. Everything you did while you were “free” is still possible if you put a little effort in. Exercises at the gym can be replaced with body weight exercises at home. Eating out can be replaced by ordering in. Work at the office can be replaced by Telework.

For those of you who have been laid off or let go because your company is tightening its belt, I’m sorry. It has to be scary to be out of work and locked down in your home. Make sure you are checking local sources for help. There are food banks, and other services that have been made available to hold you over.

If you’re sitting pretty, find out if any elderly neighbors need help with groceries. Offer your services to your local school, who may need some tutors. Take a look around online and make some calls. There are lots of things to do if you put your mind to it. You’ll help other people, and you’ll take your mind off of the craziness.

I hope you are staying safe. I hope you are staying informed. If you’re in the US, the best resources I’ve found are the CDC.gov website and the President’s daily briefings on the news or YouTube. On the CDC website, you’ll see a picture of the United States. If you click on your state in the graphic of the US, it’ll pull up your state’s health department. Your local paper will have your local health department with all the latest information that will apply directly to you.

Well, that’s it for today, folks. I hope each of you are OK. Hang in there. This thing will end.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Learning a New Skill

Tags

Blackbirch, creativity, Developing Wisdom, Great Article, K.M. Allan, Lyle, wisdom, Wisdom Wednesday

I was rummaging around for new ideas for my post for Wisdom Wednesday and came across a work by Lyle (2015) which lists out 5 areas we can improve our wisdom and knowledge. One was in creativity. It reads: Take a pottery, photography, stained glass, sculpture or painting class. (Lyle, 2015). I’ve always wanted to improve my ability to draw new things and figured why not? I found a drawing course online that I’ve got some interest in and will pursue that. This idea fell under Lyle’s (2015) second heading labeled creativity [originality, ingenuity].

How does learning to draw fit in with what I am already pursuing? Well, here it is: Sometimes I have a hard time thinking about a scene in my fiction book and would like to create a drawing of it before I write it out. Make sense? I’ve also enjoyed drawing for several reasons. It is a nice way to use my creativity; it helps with internal visualizations, and it allows me to spend some time on something else during the day. It also presents a challenge. I don’t know how to draw too well now and it’ll be nice flexing the muscles on something I’ve put no time into.

Creativity is a great skill to have, particularly when you are writing fiction, depicting a scene graphically. It’s nice to build something from nothing, literally bringing what is in my mind to the page or canvas. Speaking of creativity, I’m reading a book by a fellow blogger and author, K.M. Allan. I’m about 75% through and it is a wonderful story. Here’s the link: Blackbirch: The Beginning. I highly recommend it.

Well, that’s all I have for today, folks! Have a great Wednesday!

Until next time…

Dave

Reference

Lyle, L. (2015). Developing wisdom & knowledge. Retrieved from https://www.thepositivepsychologypeople.com/developing-wisdom-knowledge/

 

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Practical Work

Tags

Achievement, creativity, Embrace Fear, Fail often, Fail Quickly, Failure = Learning, Fear, Goals, The Wilds, Your Comfort Zone

“The cycle of creative action begins with a concept we carry in our minds of what we wish to do. The next step is to outline on paper some plan of how to accomplish this. The final step is action in carrying out the plan.” – Harold Klemp – The Language of Soul

Stephen Covey discusses the first and second creation in his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. He discusses this while covering the second habit: Begin with the End in Mind. The first creation is what we visualize in our mind. It is the pictures, sounds, feelings, and smells of our end product. This end product could be a goal, a destination, or a situation. The second creation is when we breathe life into the first creation by taking all the actions necessary to make our vision a reality.

If you examine Harold Klemp’s process, it is simple. Visualize. Plan. Act. If this were so simple, why do so many people fail to accomplish their goals? My guess is that they can visualize a better life, but ignore the planning and acting parts of this equation.

What’s the reason? Why do people dream about things to do, achieve, or accomplish, yet fail to do anything about these dreams? FEAR.

We fear trying new things. We fear failing. We fear we aren’t good enough. We fear we lack the skills, time, or money. We fear what our social network will think. We are so fearful of these things we continue to dream and hunger for change, but just don’t get around to it. We are so comfortable with our current situations that we prefer this comfort zone, rather than those scary “wilds” outside that comfort zone. These wilds are so scary we just can’t step into them to pursue something that could transform our lives for the better.

How do we overcome this? First, your desire has to be stronger than the fear that is holding you back. When your desire is stronger than fear, you’ll act. Second, your current circumstances are no longer comfortable. Here, your discomfort outweighs the fear you have of the wilds.

You are the only person who can make a decision to act. You are the only person that can risk venturing into the wilds to find your personal pot of gold.

One thing you can do, if you are still hesitant is to take small steps into the wild. If you have a good visual of what you want, start with a brainstorming session. Don’t commit to anything, just begin exploring what you would have to do if you ever got around to doing something. This is the first step. Once you begin brainstorming and thinking about potential solutions, the wilds will be less intimidating. They will be less scary because your brainstorming session will begin to show you what actions you could take to get where you are going. In other words, the wilds become more familiar because you are starting to chart a map through the wilds to your vision or goal (plan).

Once you have brainstormed, you can begin to evaluate and organize these steps into an action plan. Then all you have to do is the act. This action is like sticking your toes in the cold water. Commit to taking one action on your list. Once you’ve done this, take another, and another. Before you know it, you’ll be closer to your goal and those scary wilds will be less intimidating. You are acting and getting closer to your destination.

Eliminate fear by taking small steps. Brainstorm, plan, take small actions. You will bring that dream into reality. The first time you explore the wilds, it will be uncomfortable, but the more you do it, even if they are small excursions, the more this discomfort will dissipate. The territory you thought was scary is not so bad. In fact, it is less dangerous than the predictable, boring, and complacent comfort zone you now occupy.

The people that attain their dreams are not better than you. They just took a leap of faith before you did. They have failed more than you have been comfortable with. They have failed so many times, failure no longer has a hold on them. They’ve figured out what everyone figures out. Failure is part of the growth process. You’ll never learn or do something new without screwing up. So enjoy failure. Enjoy the process. Every time you fail you learn something–you learn what doesn’t work.

I hope you have a terrific Wednesday!

Until next time…

Dave