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Tag Archives: Flexibility

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday/Sunday –

31 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by Dave Gardner in Spiritual Saturday

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Adapt, change, Covid, Flexibility, habits, Improvise, Overcome, Resistance, viewpoint

I write articles for a newsletter for my religious group that is published every month and was prompted to write about change for the upcoming edition. Today’s post is about change. I hope you enjoy it.

We are still dealing with COVID; we are dealing with a new government, and we are dealing with all the changes these two events will have on our lives. Why do we fight change when it comes?

Change is difficult because we are all “wired” against it. Our brains are very sophisticated and seek efficiency at every turn. When a big change occurs, our brains fight it. Why? Because our brains exhaust a lot of energy when change comes. So the brain minimizes or even resists change because of the energy it requires to literally rewire ourselves to adapt a change.

My sister and wife both made job changes recently. It is interesting to watch both of them go through the changes of learning a new job, the training they are going through, and how each reacts to the changes brought on by these job changes. Think about the changes COVID has brought into your life. Are they easy for you or difficult? For most, the changes are hard.

Changes related to going out to dinner, changes related to staying home, changes related to wearing a mask, and changes related to the normal, mundane things we are all accustomed to. When change comes, we tend to think about what has been taken away, rather than what has been given.

Think about how much reading you’ve gotten done in light of these changes to our lives. Think about the new hobbies or activities you are now doing because of the virus. Think about how much more you interact with your family over the phone or via ZOOM, Skype, or Google Chat.

A wise man once said to me, “Things are not done to us; they are done for us.” Simple, right? Imagine if we looked at life this way. Everything in our life is done for us, not to us. A play on words, perhaps, but still a powerful message and a terrific way to look at life.

I am a person who always looks for the positive things in life. Despite the lockdowns, and all the other changes the virus has brought into our lives, there are many good things that resulted from the changes wrought by this nasty little bug. I read more than I have at any other time in my life. I have learned more in the last year than I did in previous years. I have had to alter my exercise regimen, but the new exercise plan I follow is just as good or better than when I went to the gym all the time. During the winter months I work out at home because our roads aren’t so great during the winter and I don’t like to take unnecessary risks when the snow comes. Not a huge change when you think about it.

COVID has touched my family. My wife, my brother, and my nephew and his girlfriend all got it. Luckily, no one was hospitalized. My parents have been COVID free, mainly because we are all hermits and I only go out to get groceries or run errands. Since retirement, I stay at home most of the time anyway. All of my work is done right on this laptop. I read, write, learn, and entertain myself on this laptop or my Xbox console.

This year will be a great learning year, because there are so many things I need to learn for the new position I hold in ECKANKAR. My role as the State of Michigan’s lead missionary, require knowledge in data science, digital marketing, MS Excel charts, graphic design, and yes, even some programming. Does the role require that I learn these things? Not really. But I’ve always been the person who likes to take a position to a new level. By learning these things, I’ll be better prepared to understand the data we are receiving from our website, Facebook page, and our numerous Meetups that we use to put out the ECKANKAR message in Michigan.

Change is only hard when we fight it. Change is only painful when we only look at what we have lost. Change can be good, if you look at the change in a positive light. Look at what you have gained over the last year. Look at the changes you took to protect yourself and comply with your government guidance. What changes did you make? Were they beneficial? Mine were.

There’s a story I read a long time ago about trees. There was a passage about willow trees and how they “bend” with the wind, instead of trying to fight it. The wind in this case is a metaphor for the changes that come into our lives. Those that are most flexible survive; those that are not tend to “snap”. Be the willow during these changing times. Your flexibility will allow you to survive the changes in these tumultuous times. The weight of these changes will not break you, because you will be flexible enough to let the weight of these changes fall from your limbs.

Life goes on. Regardless of the changes brought on by external events like COVID, governmental elections, or anything else, we also change over time. Change is inevitable. Change will happen. Accept the changes that come and do your best. Be grateful for all the things that change brings into your life. You’ll find a new gratitude for these changes and life will be much easier. Change is only hard when we resist it.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – Yoga

12 Tuesday Jan 2021

Posted by Dave Gardner in Ted Talk

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

anxiety, cardiovascular health, depression, Flexibility, health, Meditation, Stress Relief, Yoga

Yoga has many benefits, including improved flexibility, relief from stress, and improved cardiovascular performance. If you’ve never tried this, you may want to give it a shot. Yoga, in its simplest form, is a great way to get some much-needed exercise, particularly now with the many intermittent lockdowns that will continue into the future, particularly now that we have begun to see mutations of the COVID virus appear in the States and elsewhere. You can find a truckload of Yoga tutorials on YouTube and other video streaming sites (Rumble, Vimeo, etc.). Give it a shot. It’s a great way to add some variety to your home workouts.

Namaste!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Staying Busy

02 Monday Mar 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Code, Consistency, Flexibility, Learn, Meditate, Monitor, motivation, Read, Staying Busy, Write

I’m a dabbler. I enjoy doing lots of things during the day and love the variety of tasks I set for myself. My motivation is provided by the variety. A variety of books to read (I read multiple books simultaneously), a variety of classes to take, going to the gym, running errands, working on my book, and all the rest.

If you are bored or overwhelmed, adjust your schedule. Either add more things to your day or take some away. Be flexible and monitor yourself at the end of the day. If I consistently finish all of my stuff too quickly and find myself getting antsy, I add some stuff to my calendar for the next day. If I can’t finish all the things I have scheduled or feeling resistance to my daily rituals, I back some things off.

Ok, folks. Here’s my schedule for the week:

  • Work on Book Daily
  • Read Daily
  • Blog Daily
  • Journal Daily
  • Code Daily (Computer Science Course Codecademy)
  • Meditate Daily
  • Exercise Daily (See my Workout Routine post for the week)
  • Learn daily (classes in Algebra, American History, Autism Spectrum Disorder)
  • Budget Daily

I hope all of you have a terrific week! Remember, take time to monitor how you feel about your daily routines. Be flexible and be prepared to adjust, keeping in mind your core priorities.

Until next time…

Dave

43.103027
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Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – It’s Sunday Night, and All is Quiet

27 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by Dave Gardner in Motivation Monday

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

Blogging, Comments, Flexibility, habits, Meditation, motivation, rituals, Variety

Hey there!

I was reading through a few blog posts and saw the time. It’s Monday Motivation time. I’ll time this post if I finish early or just post it at midnight. I love the variety in the blogs I follow. One had a family visit to a great tropical resort, another is in Japan, and yet another got to the gym and knocked out some treadmill work. We are all so unique, yet the same. We like to write (obviously), we like to tell our stories, and we like the occasional response to our work. I try to respond to all the blogs I read, hoping folks will do the same on mine. I really enjoy getting comments. It makes my day!

OK. Off we go!

This week I’ll be following my daily regimen. Writing, reading, learning, meditating, coding, exercising, and all the rest. I enjoy my rituals. I schedule enough work to keep me busy and the rest of the day is mine. Rituals are nice because they slowly become a habit. I do not follow a daily schedule, because I would rarely follow it. I get all of my stuff done. It’s nice to have some flexibility in the day and attack what I want to when I feel it.

One thing I do is cluster like tasks together. When I’m done with this blog post, I’ll hit my journaling, posting quotes, sharing articles, and letter writing. Tomorrow during the day when I’m fresh, I’ll do some work on my classwork and coding exercises. I’ll get my exercise in, and I try to meditate every afternoon between 2:30 and 4:30 pm. I like this time of day because there is little chance I’ll fall asleep. I tried morning meditations and before-bed meditations, but I always fall asleep. The afternoon sessions are perfect.

I hope all of you have a great week!

Until next time…

Dave

 

42.997746
-82.517493

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