Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Heroes

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Grateful, Gratitude, Heroes, Masters Tournament, Thankful, Tiger Woods, Video

“The joy I get from winning a major championship doesn’t even compare to the feeling I get when a kid writes a letter saying: ‘Thank you so much. You have changed my life.” – Tiger Woods

Read more at: Brainy Quote

Viral Video – Tiger Woods

If you’re a golf fan or just curious about Tiger Woods’ recent comeback at the Master’s golf tournament, this article (link above to a USA today article) is worth a read. The embedded video in this article is worth a watch too. It is a collection of videos trashing Tiger Woods as he watches. Sports heroes like Tiger Woods is what I am thankful for this week.

There are so many examples of wrongdoing in this world. Open the paper any day of the week and you are bombarded with mothers killing their children, crazed teens contemplating shooting up their school, corrupt politicians bashing each other for wrong doing, natural disasters and other horrors for our daily ingestion. Negativity sells. Our heroes take us away from the horrific, showing us time and time again that the impossible is possible.

When I was growing up, one of my heroes was Bjorn Borg. I played tennis as a young man and became captivated with the exploits of Bjorn Borg, watching him dazzle crowds across the globe as he won one grand slam after another. Our heroes beat the odds. Our heroes overcome diversity. Our heroes can do things that are difficult and make them look easy. I still remember watching Bjorn Borg in a Wimbledon final on a Sunday morning and being locked to the television screen.

I am thankful for the example our heroes set. They show us how hard work pays off. They show us how persistence wins the day. They show us that despite human weaknesses, they can overcome any obstacle and win. They also show us that the important things in life are still the little things. A letter from a fan, their family watching them win a tournament, the small human interactions that are meaningful in our lives.

Who are your heroes?

I would like to close out today’s posting with a “Thank you” to all my new followers this week. It is a real joy to check on my blog and see new followers. It is an acknowledgment that someone enjoys my writing and follows along with my postings. It is a joy to interact with people in this medium. Without followers my blog would be less enjoyable. Thank you for your patronage and time.

We are approaching the Easter Weekend. I hope all of you who celebrate have a terrific weekend and enjoy some time off from work. My sister is off for four days and coming up to visit for a couple of days. It’ll be great fun catching up on a television show and movies, going out to eat, and hanging out.

I hope each of you is having a terrific week so far.

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday

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Body, Exercise, Grateful, Gratitude, gym, health, New Followers, Thank you, Workouts

To all my new followers this week—Thank you! It is always a treat to get a new follower. I hope you continue to enjoy the content here. I’ve recently posted my workout routines. This is a great diary for me to look back to. It is also a great way to get ideas on how you can start your own workouts. My philosophy about working out in the gym—GO! I don’t care if your form is perfect, your effort is maximal, or what your goals are. Just GO! This is 90% of the battle with an exercise routine—going. If you can get yourself to the gym at least 3-4 times a week, mixing in some weight work, cardio, and some stretching exercises, you’ll be fine.

I’m 55 and not interested in competing or becoming a bodybuilder. I want to move around and remain mentally sharp for the rest of my life. My Dad is my motivation. He neglected his physical activity since he retired and now is paying for it. My Mom is 75 years old and works out with weights 3 or 4 times a week. It is terrific. I use her to “shame” my young friends when they say they are too tired or too busy to workout.

I enjoy variety in my workouts. I like to keep altering what I do each day to keep up my interest level and avoid being bored. I hit all the major muscle groups during the week and goal myself to do at least 140 minutes of cardio each week. Today, I did a chest and triceps routine. I am so grateful for my health and my ability to go to the gym and push myself. I have friends who are diabetic or have an injury that prevents them from doing a lot of work in the gym.

Today, I am heading to the Chiropractor. I don’t really need one, but it is nice to do preventative maintenance on the back. I had a back surgery back in 2003 and wish I had taken better care of my spine. If you are afraid of getting your back “cracked”, do what I did and find yourself a “no-force” chiropractor. They are terrific. Mine helps me stretch out, uses various pressure points to ease inflamed nerves, and gives me guidance on what I should do with myself to ensure I aggravate nothing. One was to get new shoes. I picked up a pair a few weeks ago, and boy, what a difference. Trust me. Take care of your back now. Back surgery is no fun. It knocked me down for about 5 years, before I felt normal again.

I am grateful for my health and my ability to maintain my health in the gym and with other activities I work on during the week. I hope each of you follow my advice if you have not already begun a workout routine. It is not too late. Just start out slow and progress gradually. Always check with your health care practitioner to make sure you are ok to start a program. If you get approval, take it slow. Most gyms today offer an introduction program where you can use one of their trainers for free. These trainers will walk you through the gym to show you how to use their equipment. They are always available if you have a quick question about how to use something. Once you know how to use the equipment, start slow. Start with 3 sets of 10 reps on each machine you choose. I would recommend a basic split for your first routine. A split is how you break up the body during a workout week. You can split your routine over the days you want to go. If you will only go 3 times a week, you’ll want a routine that handles all the major muscle groups. Day 1 you could do chest, shoulders, and triceps. Day 2 you could exercise back and biceps. Day 3 you would do your legs and abs. Simple, but effective.

What are you grateful for today?

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Gratitude Journaling and Changing Your Focus

Tags

Focus on the Good, Grateful, Gratitude, Gratitude Journaling, Napoleon Hill, Positive Thinking, Thankfulness

“If you attain fame and fortune, and do not attain gratitude along with it, the chances are that you will not enjoy that fame or that fortune.”―Napoleon Hill, Success Habits: Proven Principles for Greater Wealth, Health, and Happiness

Do you practice gratitude daily? It is hard some days. You wake up; you feel like crap; you don’t feel enjoy going to work. How do you find that place where you are thankful for what you have?

I like to journal first thing in the morning. When I get to my gratitude journal, I write in it until I feel that all is right with the world. When I first began my gratitude journal, I was going through the motions. It takes time to develop feelings of gratitude. Over time, however, I achieved a state of peace and calm. It snuck up on me. You find gratitude by writing what you are thankful for and acting grateful. These feelings of gratefulness will come. Give it time.

Gratefulness is a way to express your thanks for what you have. You can be grateful for your life, your job, your skills, your situation, the good times you had yesterday with a friend, the quiet time you had with your cat or dog, drinking tea, and enjoying a good book. You could be grateful for a good meal, a nice outing with colleagues, or just for having a job. Each of us are unique. What you are grateful for may differ from what other people are grateful for.

How do you start a gratitude journal? Start small. My gratitude journal started when I found The 5-minute journal. You can Buy the 5-minute journal here. I am not affiliated with this journal; I am merely suggesting it to you if you do not understand how to start. In this journal, it will require you to write 3 things you are grateful for in the morning and 3 things you are grateful for in the evening. At first, you might have difficulty finding 3 things. Once you do, you’ll feel something you may not have felt in a long time. The best time to do your gratitude journaling is in the morning as soon as you get up and around. The best time in the evening is right before you nod off for a good night’s sleep. This is how I got started.

Now I use Microsoft’s OneNote for my gratitude journal. You can use a diary app, you can use a handwritten journal, you can use the 5-minute journal. Whatever works. Gratitude journaling is all about training your mind to focus on the good things in your life and ignore the bad things. Whatever you give life to will overwrite what you stop feeding. This is the premise of gratitude journaling. Thinking about what you are grateful for will help you avoid thinking about what you are unhappy about. It’s a psychological bait and switch.

Try this out. You have nothing to lose. If you are a person unhappy with your life, this will help turn that around. Once you focus on what is good in your life, you’ll think about other positive aspects of your existence. This thinking will bring you better results and re-write that part of your mind that has dominated you with negative, unresourceful thinking. Your mind is a powerful creator. It will create whatever you focus most of your time on. Thinking negatively will cause your mind to only filter the negative things around you. Your mind will create what you think. Turn this around and think about positive things—things you are grateful for. Your life will take on new meaning and you will feel terrific!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Contentment

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Content, Contentment, Grateful, satisfaction, Satisfied, Thankful, Thanks

When was the last time you looked at your life and said, “I’m satisfied?”

It is so easy to complain about our lives or compare it with the lives of others. Complaining focuses us on the lack in our lives—some deficiency that needs filled—something we need or some place we need to go. If only we had this or that we would finally be happy.

We all need ambition and need to survive, but endless worry and concern about what is missing in our lives is unhealthy. Instead, we should look for the things we are thankful for—the things that satisfy. When you combine ambition with the thought “I have enough”, life takes on a whole new meaning.

 

Earlier in life I found myself in a predicament. Disappointment and discontent overtook my life. I wanted more. I didn’t like my job; I didn’t like my living conditions, and I didn’t enjoy being single. I contemplated my life for a few days. Then the answer came. The answer was gratitude.

Gratitude gave me the opportunity to appreciate my job, my home, my life. It gave me the opportunity to be thankful for the little things. Little things like a sunny day, a warm breeze, a cup of coffee with a good book. When you can appreciate what you have, life is more satisfying. You can still have goals. You can still have aspirations. You can still have a desire for things you want. Your desire, however, changes. It evolves to a desire disconnected from feelings of discontent, jealousy, or unfairness. Your desire to achieve is more about the challenge, not what you will receive at the end of the race. Do you see the difference?

We could always live in a better place, drive a better car, have a better job, or lose weight. Set goals and aspire to these things. Do not let your current lot in life prevent your happiness. Look for things in your life that make you happy. Happiness is not out there, it is inside of you. It is so much easier to accomplish goals from a place that is happy rather than sad and deprived. When you have enough, anything that comes into your life is a bonus.

As always, thank you for following Daily Ramblings. We’ve added 24 followers over the last month. I appreciate your patronage. Don’t be a stranger. If you like something I’ve written or disagree with a posting, I’m all ears. Comment below.

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Being Grateful for the Little Things

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Appreciative, family, Friends, Grateful, health, Life, Little Things, pets, Tecumseh, Thankful

“When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.” – Tecumseh

Read more at: BrainyQuote

I want to start today’s post with a “Thank You!” to my new followers this week. I appreciate you following my blog and hope my content helps or inspires you to do great things in your life. Today is Thankful Thursday and I want to talk about the things we take for granted in our lives.

Each morning I journal. The first thing I do is write in my dream journal, recording whatever I remember about the dreams I had the night before. The second thing I do is write in my gratitude and affirmations journal. The third thing I do is work through my morning pages to empty my mind and think about the day ahead. All these journals are important in different ways. The most important journal is my Gratitude and Affirmations Journal.

I am grateful for this life. I am grateful for God’s love. I am grateful for my family and friends. I am grateful for my pets. I am grateful for the little things. Little things, like a warm cup of coffee as I stare out my office window and look at the snow. A nice meal. A good book and a cup of tea. I am grateful for my health. I am grateful for the intellect I am blessed with. I am grateful for the insights that come into my mind.

The beauty of practicing gratefulness is the way it focuses my mind on the good rather than the bad. It is so easy to be unconscious. It is so easy to develop bad habits. It is so easy to blame everything outside of us for our problems. It is so easy to get upset and pissed off. I started my gratitude practice by writing three things I was grateful for. Initially, it was hard. It was hard because it takes a conscious effort. It requires you to act and recognize how great your life is.

Despite your current circumstances, you have lots to be grateful for. You are alive. This life is yours to live. Be grateful for what you have. Look at all the things that make your life great. Maybe it’s your warm bed. Maybe it is one of your friends. Maybe it is taking a hot bath or shower. Find things to be grateful for. You will notice a feeling enter you. This feeling will be one of comfort, joy, and contentment. It may take a while to recognize it because we are so focused on what’s wrong with our lives. Flip the switch. Look for what’s right. Focus on that.

Each of you who are reading this posting has things to be grateful for. What are they? When you think about them, how do you feel? Try this out for a month. Each morning take time to write three things you are grateful for. Constantly look for new things to express your thanks for. When you concentrate on what’s good, more things will rise to your attention. Before long you will have hundreds of things you are grateful for. This is one habit that can change your life. It will change your life because it will focus your attention on the good rather than the bad. It is a great way to live.

Well folks, that’s it for today. I hope each of you begins a daily gratitude practice. It will make a huge difference—promise.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Happy Valentine’s Day

Tags

Challenges, God, Grateful, Loved, Satisfied, Thankful, Valentine's Day

“True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.”―Seneca

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you that celebrate. Today is the day we celebrate our loved ones. It is a day of delivering cards, candies, and taking the time to express our gratitude to the one’s we love.

How opportune that Valentine’s Day aligns with my Thankful Thursday posts. I am grateful for my wife. I love her beyond words. She is the one who takes care of me when I’m sick. She laughs with me, cries with me, and shares the burden of life with me. I am grateful she chose me to live her life with. I am eternally grateful for my wife.

I am also thankful for the new followers this week. I hope my blog is meeting your expectations. If you’re new, today is the one day a week I express my gratitude publicly for the things I have. We all have something to be grateful for. I use Thursdays to express my gratitude publicly to remind you you have something to be grateful for.

I am grateful for life’s challenges. Challenges provide us with the opportunity to solve problems. Challenges keep things interesting. Challenges make us stronger and more resilient.

I am grateful for my family and friends. I am grateful for good health. I am grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my folks are in their late seventies and enjoy their senior years with them. I am grateful for the morning conversations over coffee, talking about the news of the day, family memories, or what we will do today.

I am grateful for health. I am grateful that I can go to the gym and push myself beyond my limits every day. I am grateful for the access I have to good food. I am grateful for the technology we have available to us that allows me to learn new things, read new books, listen to music, play the games I like, and to create.

I am grateful for my new followers and the conversations I have with them. I am grateful for the ability to create a blog that people enjoy.

I am grateful for this life. It is an adventure that keeps me going, provides a multitude of opportunities, and challenges me daily.

I am grateful for God’s love. A love that transcends all and provides me with a feeling I am never alone.

I am grateful.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Journals and Rituals

Tags

Grateful, Gratitude, habits, journaling, Journals, Learning, Reading, rituals, Thanks, Writing

A big thank you to all the new followers this week. I finally hit my 500-follower goal and now I am off to hit 1000. I appreciate all my readers and hope you find my daily inputs to your day fruitful and interesting. Today, I’ll be revisiting an important aspect of my day—gratitude journaling.

I work with three journals currently. One is my daily journal where I do a daily mind dump of all my thoughts first thing in the morning. Second is my dream journal, which I write in as soon as I awake. Finally, I add to my gratitude and affirmations journal.

My gratitude journal starts with my daily affirmations. As you all know, I am working monthly to build my character in the same way Benjamin Franklin did during his day. Each month I add one more character trait and these in turn are part of my daily affirmations. Following this I write about all the things I am grateful for.

My gratitude extends to my family and friends, my learning, my pets, and the many aspects of my life. I like taking the time to consider all the great things I have in my life, along with the wondrous experiences I am grateful for. This morning journaling sets a terrific tone for the rest of my day.

Over time you would think that this exercise would get boring, trivial, or lose its meaning. Surprisingly, it does not. It took me a while to build the habit but performing the act daily has made this a well-earned ritual I perform religiously.

Speaking of rituals, I tend to keep like habits with like habits. I do most of my writing in the morning in and around my journaling. Next, I move to reading. After my daily reading is completed, I move to my learning habits, running through the online courses I am enrolled in, my coding exercises, and the YouTube lectures I am working through. Then I do my religious studies, getting in a meditation session and reading my religious discourses for the month. Exercise comes later in the day after my first meal, which is around 4 PM. I eat late because I do intermittent fasting daily. My schedule is from 12 midnight to 4 PM daily. The only thing I consume is water, coffee, tea, or a pre-workout drink. Some say drinking the pre-workout during the fasting period breaks the fast, but I don’t care. It is healthy and is a great start to my day.

These daily rituals formed all by themselves. Over time it just made sense to move through my daily habits in an organized fashion so I could stay within certain contexts that would provide more efficiency to my day. Rituals are the best description for this behavior because they literally guide each action, within the confines of the context they fall under.

Well, folks that’s it for today. I hope all of you have a terrific Thursday.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Gratitude Journals

Tags

Attitude, Contentment, Grateful, Gratitude Journaling, Gratitutde, Joy, Music, Thanks

“Gratitude is riches. Complaint is poverty.” – Doris Day

Read more at: Brainy Quotes

Thanks for all the new followers this week! I really appreciate it. I hope all of you new comers enjoy my daily quips of this and that. I strive to motivate, teach, inspire, and engage my audience daily. Am I always successful? No, but I do try my best.

When I first began my blog a few years ago, I had no idea how important this practice is. A blog to me is nothing more than a way to communicate my unique experience of this life. Some use their blogs to offer recipes, document their travels, discuss the news of the day, or even discuss the painful ailments they are suffering from. All these blogs become part of the tapestry that we all enjoy for one reason or another.

It is cold here in Michigan. It is not as cold in other states, like North Dakota or Minnesota but it is cold. We were asked yesterday to reduce our thermostats down to 65 degrees to conserve energy. I am grateful for my warm home and the warm cup of coffee I am enjoying right now. I hope those folks who are homeless have found a warm place to stay.

I purposely use a gratitude journal every morning. In it I express my thanks for all I have, my family, my friends, and whatever else comes to mind. When I began my gratitude journal a few years ago I did not realize how life-changing these few minutes in the morning have become. I think the primary benefit is the practice of focusing on what we are thankful for. It is the focus that counts. The more we are focused on what is right in our lives, the better our lives become. If you catch yourself complaining about things in your life, try to change this around by purposely focusing on what you are grateful for. It could be as simple as being grateful for your warm bed, a family member, or even the benefits you accrue from a job you have. There are so many things to be grateful for. Give gratitude journaling a try. It doesn’t take that long. Start out with writing down 2 or 3 things you are grateful for every morning. Over time you will begin to realize how important this practice is.

I normally accompany my journaling with calming music. I pay for a streaming service called Spotify. I really enjoy this service because it gives me access to so many musicians. Music is a great thing to have in your life. I use different types of music throughout the day. When I journal, I tend to stick with nature sounds and other pleasant instrumentals. When I am programming, I tend to gravitate toward trance or techno. When I read or study, I enjoy classical. When I exercise, heavy metal is my genre of choice. Each type of music feeds the activities I pursue. I tend to shy away from any vocal’s music, especially when I am reading or writing. This type of music tends to disrupt my thinking more than other types. If you have not tried to augment your daily routines with music, I highly recommend it. This is one life hack that has proven beneficial.

I am blessed. I had the ability to retire early and pursue the things I wanted to pursue. I have also been given the privilege of spending time with my folks in their senior years. My Dad has Dementia and at times, it is a sad time, particularly when you truly grasp that the Dad you knew is no longer the Dad you have now. Regardless, my circumstances have granted me the opportunity to enjoy my folks as they wind down their lives on this Earth. It is a great opportunity that I am grateful for every day.

I am also grateful for my Brother and Sister. They are both very different. My brother loves to travel and is my best friend. He and I have a lot of fun together and enjoy pretty much the same things. My sister is also my best friend. She has different interests from mine but brings a lot of things into my life that I would never have experienced had I not returned home. I am also grateful for my wife and stepdaughters. My wife is in Arizona teaching and my stepdaughters are pursuing their lives on their own (finally). My wife knew I had to come home to help my folks and she has been a great team player. Is it tough being away from your loved ones? Sure, but our relationship is strong, and we love each other very much.

Well, this is it for today. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and hope you can find all of those things in your life that you are grateful for. Looking at the world through grateful eyes is so much better than seeking out all the things that aren’t going so well. I send good thoughts to all my readers today and hope your life is the adventure mine is.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursdays – Thank Your Teachers

Tags

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Critical Thinking, Dialogue, Grateful, Learning, Stretching, Teachers, Thank you

“Teaching is a very noble profession that shapes the character, caliber, and future of an individual. If the people remember me as a good teacher, that will be the biggest honour for me.” – A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/a_p_j_abdul_kalam_717997?src=t_teacher

I was thinking about all the teachers that have contributed to my life. One of my best teachers was my fifth-grade teacher. Her name was Mrs. Feick. She made learning fun and she challenged us daily. She knew we could do more than we thought we could. You know what? She was right.

Other memorable teachers came during my college studies. I pursued technical degrees and really enjoy programming, databases, and solving problems. One of my teachers taught databases and it was so interesting interacting with him. He showed us so much. I think the best thing he taught us was how to think. He would always have us think through what would happen when we wrote a query or tried to manipulate some data set. He would have us think through what would happen if we did this or that before we wrote any scripts. It was awesome!

A good teacher will always motivate you to look at things in a different way. A good teacher will show you how important it is to really get out there and investigate things, read things, come up with your own viewpoints. They challenge us to challenge them and their ideas. A good teacher is always looking for students who will argue with them (tactfully and professionally) to hone our own ideas while they will refute and try to convince us of there ideas. It is a terrific exercise. The dialogue is where the learning takes off.

Some of my best teachers have also been in the business climate. I used to be a technical recruiter. Technical recruiting is a challenging career. One of my managers passed on little tidbits of wisdom here and there. One of these things related to competition. He said, “You know, Dave. You don’t have to do too much to beat your competition. You just have to do a little more.” He was right. If you always do just a little more, you’ll beat most of the competition in your field that is unwilling to do a little more.

I am grateful for the many teachers I have come across that really cared about their students. I am grateful for the many mentors I had coming up in technical recruiting. I am also grateful for the many scholars and authors I continually learn from by reading their books. There is so much to learn and so many people you can learn from.

Take some time today to be grateful for all of the people who have taught you something that has served you well throughout your life. You’ll be amazed at all of the people who have had a dramatic effect on your life’s trajectory. I know the teachers I have had impacted my life in so many ways. I will be forever grateful for those teachers that spurred me to think, to continue learning, and to challenge the ideas of others.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thank you!

Tags

Blogging Schedule, followers, Get to 500, Getting Close, Grateful, Thank you

Happy Sunday, folks!

Daily Ramblings brought in some more followers. As of today, Daily Ramblings is at 490 followers! Thank you so much for your patronage. As always, if you like what you see and read on this site, please make sure your colleagues know! Ten more followers to go to hit my interim goal of 500 followers.

For those of you who are new, my blogging schedule is:

• Monday Motivation
• Ted Talk Tuesday
• Wisdom Wednesday
• Thankful Thursday
• Funny Friday
• Spiritual Saturday
• Series/Thank you Sundays

Well, enjoy your day folks! It’s 10 degrees here with clear blue skies. It is awesome! When you go outside the air is so clean and fresh. Wow!

Until next time…

Dave