Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Love is Given; Love is Received.

Tags

Flowers, Gratitude, Joy, Karma, Love, Mother's Day

Begin with the love you have. Love gratefully. This love expands your heart into a greater vessel which can hold yet more love.

—Harold Klemp
The Language of Soul

Today’s posting will be a little short, because there’s not much I can add to this quote to improve its message. The only thing I can say is that you get love when you give it. Sometimes the timing is a little off, but if you are aware enough, you’ll recognize this when it happens.

Here’s a brief story to illustrate my point. My wife and her daughters aren’t communicating right now and it is just killing my wife. She misses them. I don’t blame her. They are my stepdaughters, and they are going through that phase that all young people go through. You know that phase when your parents know nothing, are behind the times, etc.

Anyway, my wife went to the market on Mother’s Day and realized people were buying flowers for their Mother’s that day. She picked up a bouquet and went to the checkout line. As she waited a young man came up behind her and struck up a conversation. During the conversation, the young man offered to buy my wife the flowers she had picked out, stating that his Mother died a few years ago, and he wanted to buy someone a Mother’s Day bouquet because he didn’t have a Mother to buy them for anymore. This act of love reduced my wife to tears, right there in the shopping line.

Some would say this is coincidence, but I say that there is no such thing. That man needed to show his love by buying a bouquet of flowers for my wife, and she needed those flowers, because her daughters didn’t get her anything. Love was given; love was received.

I hope you enjoyed my little story and this quote today.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Enjoy What you Have While You’ve Got it

Tags

Gratitude, Grief, Loss, Love, pain, Suffering, Unexpected, wisdom

Life can be tough.

One day you’re hanging out with some friends. One of them dies in a car accident.

One day, you hug your husband, kiss him, and say, “I love you.” He dies on a military deployment.

One day your playing with your dog. Then a vet is called to put them down for seizures.

One day you’re celebrating in your home. The next day, it’s burned to the ground.

All of our loved ones, pets, toys are on loan to us.

The only thing you take with you when it’s your time, is the love in your heart.

Enjoy the people in your life. Serve them. Give them everything you have.

Enjoy your pets. Love them like today is their last day.

Enjoy your toys. They will wear out.

Be grateful for even the smallest thing you possess. You’ll leave it behind when you’re gone.

The love you have for them never leaves.

It is love that you take with you.

The love you felt at your birthday.

The love you felt when your dog woke you up to go outside for a pee.

The love you felt when you kissed your wife, your husband, your Mom, your Dad, your son, your daughter, your brother or sister, your boyfriend or girlfriend.

The love you feel when you’re hanging out and just looking at how great that person makes you feel.

Love is the only thing that will never leave.

Love is forever.

Love endures.

Love stays.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Bonus Content – A Soldier’s Christmas

Tags

Christmas, Gratitude, Holidays, Sacrifice, Separation, Service, Serving Abroad, Soldiers, Thanks

Too all my brothers and sisters serving during the holidays:

A Soldier’s Christmas

Submitted By: Happytoscrapitall

The Night Before Christmas

T’was the night before Christmas, he lived all alone in a one bedroom house, made of plaster and stone.

I had come down the chimney with presents to give, and to see just who in this home did live.

I looked all about, a strange sight I did see: no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.

No stocking by the mantle, just boots filled with sand; on the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.

With medals and badges, awards of all kinds, a sober thought came through my mind.

For this house was different, it was dark and dreary. I found the home of a soldier, at once I could see clearly.

The soldier lay sleeping; silent, alone, curled up on the floor, in this one bedroom home. Not how I pictured a US soldier.

Was this the hero of whom I’d just read, curled up on a poncho, the floor for a bed?

I realized the families that I saw this night, owed their lives to these soldiers who were willing to fight.

Soon ’round the world, the children would play and grownups would celebrate a bright Christmas Day.

They all enjoyed freedom, each month of the year, because of the soldiers like the one lying here.

I couldn’t help wonder how many lay alone on a cold Christmas Eve in a land far from home.

The very thought brought a tear to my eye; I dropped to my knees and started to cry.

The soldier awakened and I heard a rough voice, “Santa, don’t cry. This life is my choice.

I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more; my life is my God, my country, my corps.”

The soldier rolled over and drifted to sleep; I couldn’t control it, I continued to weep.

I kept watch for hours, so silent and still, and we both shivered from the cold night’s chill.

I didn’t want to leave on that cold, dark night, this guardian of honor, so willing to fight.

Then the soldier rolled over, with a voice soft and pure, whispered, “Carry on Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all is secure.”

One look at my watch and I knew he was right, “Merry Christmas my friend, and to all a good night.”

Author: A peace keeping soldier stationed overseas

Scrapbook.com I do not know who the original author of this is, but wanted to cite the website I found it on. If you, or someone knows who the original author is, please reply in the comments, I will edit this and replace it with the original copyright owner. I had to share this. It warms my heart every time I read it.

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Grateful for Retirement

Tags

Blogging, Exercising, Grateful, Gratitude, Joy, Learning, Loving, Reading, Retirement, Service, Writing

When I was in the Army, particularly when I surpassed 10 years of service, I knew I was going to retire. It just didn’t make sense to leave the service and walk away from retirement. Boy, I’m glad I did.

I am grateful for the time I served, and if young enough, and faced with the same choices when I was younger, I’d do it all again. It was an adventure of a lifetime and it offered me the opportunity to do things I would have never had an opportunity to experience any other way.

I served in Europe for 6 years. I was in Berlin, Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. I was at the retirement ceremony for Checkpoint Charlie. I got to see Reagan give his famous “Tear down this wall” speech. So many memories.

Because of my service, my medical care is literally free for life. I had the opportunity to retire early and come home to help my folks. This has been a great thing. How many people get to celebrate their parent’s senior years? Not many. In fact, most people will never retire.

Honestly, I am not retired either. The key difference between my working life and my “retired” life is that I can do what I want. So, I am.

What do I love? I love reading. I love writing. I love exercise. I love serving. I love meeting new people and having impromptu conversations with people. I also love learning. So this is what I do every day.

What is something I discovered pretty quickly? I learned that I couldn’t just hang out and do nothing. Netflix is entertaining, but watching it all day every day—No thanks!

My military experience has bled into this retired life. I need structure. I don’t need a minute-by-minute schedule, but I need to do the same things daily. I do all the things I enjoy each day. I love blogging. I love working on my book projects. I love learning new things. All the things I do every day are an absolute joy. I hope all of you are in a position some day to do the same if you wish to.

So this is what I’m grateful for. My retirement and the new adventure I’ve embarked upon.

Have a great Thursday everybody!

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Grateful = Happy

Tags

Content, Fulfilled, Grateful, Gratitude, Happy, Joyful, Thankful

Gratitude is the topic each Thursday on this blog, because I believe it is important to express thanks for what we have. According to HealthBeat (2019), a product of the Harvard Medical School, Gratitude will make you happier.

If you look at most folks, they are always pursuing more. We can lay credit for this at the feet of the advertisers and marketers who blast our email boxes, fill up our social media, and bombard us with advertisement after advertisement while we watch our favorite sports team. Subsequently, we work harder, to make more money, to buy more stuff, which cause us to go into debt, and work harder, and so on. They tell us we don’t have a big enough home, a newer car, nicer clothes, expensive trips, and a cooler phone. They don’t do this directly. They show us a family enjoying themselves in front of a large-screen TV or walk out of their home to see two brand new cars sitting in the driveway with big ribbons on them. You see how this works?

Gratitude counters this social pressure, but acknowledging we have all we need. We have a roof over our head, food to eat, and a reliable piece of transportation to get us where we need to go. This allows us to preserve our capital because we aren’t spending ourselves into oblivion.

As we approach the holiday season, cultivate your gratitude for all you have, not what you do not have. It is a great way to live life. Here are a few ways you can grow your sense of gratitude in the upcoming months. To start out, just pick one

• Write a thank-you note to one person each month
• Thank someone mentally if you lack the time to write
• Keep a gratitude journal expressing your thanks and appreciation for other people in your life or something you enjoy
• Count your blessings
• Pray (if you are religious)
• Meditate

I dedicate a day each week to discuss gratitude. How to build it, how I do things to build my gratitude state, or express my gratitude for the things in my life.

If you’d like to read more, the article I used for this posting is below.

Thanks for your attention. If you use another technique or if there’s something you are particularly grateful for, feel free to drop me a note in the comments.

Until next time…

Dave

Reference

Healthbeat. (2019). Giving thanks can make you happier. Retrieved from: https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/giving-thanks-can-make-you-happier

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Life

Tags

Adventure, Blessing, Grateful, Gratitude, Life, Thankful, Thanks, wonderful

Every day, I like to wake up and remind myself to be grateful of the simple things.

Miranda Kerr

The life you live is a blessing. I am grateful for every moment I am here, to live, to love, to laugh, to learn. Each experience we have builds on the next and the next and the next.

Looking back there are plenty of examples when life was tough. I wouldn’t trade any of them away. All these experiences got me to where I am today. I am grateful for every hurt, every betrayal, every lapse in health, every disappointment, and every failure. They all contribute to my life.

As time passes by,  the bad things fade and the good things remain. Things always get better. That’s the nature of life.

Enjoy the beauty of simple things and simple moments. A warm cup of coffee while you look at the snow outside your window. A shared moment with a loved one knowing exactly what each other is thinking. A good meal with family and friends. Laughing so hard you can’t breathe. Enjoying a book with a cup of tea and spending your day in pajamas. I could go on and on.

 

You have your own memories and moments that bless your life. Be grateful for every moment you have been alive. Life’s adventure continues for all of us.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Thank-You Letters

Tags

Appreciation, Feel Good, Good service, Grateful, Gratitude, Letters, Thank-You Notes

Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay

“If you have someone in your life that you are grateful for – someone to whom you want to write another heartfelt, slanted, misspelled thank you note – do it. Tell them they made you feel loved and supported. That they made you feel like you belonged somewhere and that you were not a freak. Tell them all of that. Tell them today.”

Lisa Jakub

All of us owe a great deal to our teachers, mentors, parents, siblings, friends, and any number of other people who have helped us in one way or another. Today’s posting is about thanking people with a short thank-you note or letter. It is a great way to build relationships, express your gratitude to a fellow human being, and it makes you feel good too!

One of the practices I tried to keep during my years in recruiting was writing a thank-you note. I have taken this practice to my everyday life as well. Have you ever been served well at a restaurant or place of business? Obviously, you’ll say Thank you when you are served and you’ll leave a tip, but why not write a special thank-you note for a server that took extra care to make sure your meal was extra special?

What about a job interview? As a recruiter with more than 20 years of experience, I’ll tell you that a thank-you note can sway a hiring manager in your direction, particularly when you and another candidate are equally qualified for a position. I sent thank-you notes to anyone who visited me in my office for an interview with me.

I have received thank-you notes throughout my recruiting career. I cannot tell you how nice it is to get a heart-felt note from a consultant, thanking me for helping him or her get a job. I also appreciated a kind note from my manager who felt I was doing a good job.

Thank-you notes can be used for any occasion. They tell a person you are grateful for their time and you appreciate what they have done for you.

Should you hand-write a thank-you note or type it? There are some that posit hand-written notes because they are more personal. Unfortunately for me, my handwriting is so bad, I can barely understand it myself, let alone someone I am sending my note to. In my case, a printed letter, signed at the bottom worked better.

What about emailing a thank-you note? I think they are appreciated but fail to achieve what an actual hard-copy letter does. We get emails all the time, but rarely get snail mail, unless it is a bill or a sales pitch. It is the rarity of receiving a letter from someone that makes a mailed thank-you note so impactful, compared to an email. Who knows? I enjoy living a paperless lifestyle, but hand-written or printed out letters are a real treasure.

It is important we express gratitude for the things we have, the blessings that come to us every day, and the things we possess. It is also important to express your gratitude to the people that help you, love you, and service you. I can’t explain it, but the feeling you get from doing kind things for other people is irreplaceable.

Take time to thank people for what they do for you. If you receive outstanding service from your dry cleaner, your dentist, doctor, or the maintenance shop you frequent, take time to send a nice letter to them. It is also nice to send a letter to that person’s manager. This really goes a long way.

Well, that’s it for today, folks. I hope each of you takes time today to thank someone who has served you in some way. It is a great practice. Have a great Thursday, readers.

Until next time…

Dave.

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Thank You New Followers

Tags

Comments, family, followers, Friends, God, Gratitude, Life, Thank you

This week I thank all of my followers. I am grateful for the new followers this week and I am grateful for the comments left by a few of you (These make my day!).

I am grateful for all the great writing on WordPress. Some stories are heart-breaking, but show how strong you are and how you are dealing with the adversities that life hands us from time-to-time. Thank you for the stories you tell.

I am grateful for my health. I am grateful for God. I am grateful for my friends. I am grateful for my family. I am grateful for my life. It has been and continues to be rich.

I hope each of you can see how wonderful this life is and the blessings you receive every moment.

Have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Gratitude Journaling Changes Your Brain

Tags

Gratitude, Gratitude Journal, Gratitude Journaling Study, journal, Thankful, Thanks, Writing Prompts

Did you know you can stimulate a part of your brain when you write about the things you are grateful for? Read the article below, if you’d like to read about a study that explains how we can become more altruistic by being grateful for what we have.

How can you start a gratitude journaling practice? It’s simple. Start today with writing down three things you are grateful for in the morning when you first wake up and a few minutes before you go to bed at night. If you don’t know what to write about, here are some gratitude journaling prompts:

Your significant other

• Your pet
• Your family
• Your friends
• Your talents
• Your experiences
• A book you just read
• A song you just heard
• A technology device you enjoy
• God
• A religious tome
• Your dreams and inner experiences
• Your friends

When I do my journaling, I tend to hit on many areas that I am grateful for because the more I write about in my gratitude journal the stronger the feeling of gratitude grows. When you achieve a state of mind that knows you have all you need, you are more giving, more motivated to contribute, more willing to give of your time. Imagine waking up one day and realizing how great your life is, right now. It is a great place to be, which is why I start my day with my gratitude journal without fail. I like tackling my day feeling good myself and my life. It is a great place to be.

What can I use for my gratitude journal?

That’s the easy part. You can use anything. If you are digitally minded, you can use Evernote, Microsoft One Note, Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or any number of paper journals or digital journaling apps. I try to stay in the digital realm because my penmanship is so bad I cannot read my own writing. I also like having my journal available anywhere I go.

Do you journal? If not, why not? My gratitude journaling takes about 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening. If all of these benefits are available, why not take a chance and start your own gratitude journaling practice?

If you do journal, share what you use for your journal. I’m curious about how many people in my readership actually have a gratitude journal and gain the same benefits I do.

As a reminder, the article is linked below. It’s a short read, but will show you how the people in this study benefited neurologically from this simple, but powerful addition to their day.

Have a great Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave

 

Reference

Barlow, J. (2019). Writing a daily diary can literally change your brain. Retrieved from: https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2018/01/writing-a-daily-diary-can-literally-change-your-brain/

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Gifts

Tags

Blessings, Gifts, God, Grateful, Gratitude, Life, Reverence, Unique

Your talent is God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift back to God. – Leo Buscaglia

We all have talents. We are all good at something. Today, I am grateful for the natural gifts I have been blessed with.

One of my greatest gifts is my affinity for learning. I have always enjoyed school and learning new things. Now that I am done with formal schooling, the freedom to learn new things is important. I enjoy learning about everything. Obviously, I am focused on learning more about computer programming, writing, and continuous self-improvement, but I am always interested in finding courses on topics ranging from history to philosophy. I consider this ability to learn and my curiosity to be great gifts.

What gifts do you have? What God-given gifts do you have that you are grateful for?

If you are unaware of them, take a moment and do a personal inventory. What do you do for a living? What hobbies do you have? What do you enjoy doing? Your gift is in there somewhere. Maybe you have an affinity for exploring and adventure? Maybe you enjoy the gift of great motor skills and video games are your forte? Maybe you like a good story and you love to read and watch movies and television shows. Maybe you are a great organizer and a master at raising your kids. Or maybe your gift is an endless well of patience and love that you give to everyone around you.

You see, the gifts you receive are going to be unique to you and your life circumstances. They may not be as concrete as mine, but you will have them. You just have to look at what you do, where you are, and what you naturally gravitated towards. These gifts are priceless. They are what make us unique. They allow us to participate in life, adding to the quilt of our reality, where each of us plays a part.

Take some time to think about this today. You may have never thought about it before. I think you’ll be amazed at the gifts you have been given and how you use them in your everyday life. Still having difficulty? Check out this article: Self-Worth: 5 Ways to Identify Your Unique Gifts, provided by Tris Thorp from the Chopra Center. I think you’ll be surprised and you will get a huge A-ha when you begin thinking about this.

Once you know what your strengths are, take some time to see if there is anything you could do with this gift that you are not currently doing. This may provide you some direction that is lacking in your life, or you may just get a confirmation that you are doing exactly what you should be doing.

There are so many things to be grateful for in this life. Life is precious and a gift. Take full advantage of what you have. I wish all of you a terrific Thursday!

Until next time…

Dave