Daily Ramblings – Free Writing Friday – Happiness

Tags

family, Friends, Gratitude, Happiness, Helping Others, intrinsic, Love, Service

I read an article in Nice News (Here’s the link: https://nicenews.com/culture/what-happiest-people-have-in-common-survey/). The article was about a survey that sought out things that people who designated themselves as either pretty happy or very happy across the United States. They found that friendships and involvement in the community were key factors. Interestingly, happiness was not due to a person’s wealth.

I have found over the years that happiness is a state of mind. I am the person who decides to be happy or sad. It really is an intrinsic thing. At least for me. The folks who I know that are only happy when things external to them make them happy, are not happy at all. They are unhappy if the weather is bad, their job is not working out, or some other external thing. They chase happiness only to find out that what they thought would make them happy–didn’t.

I am very happy with my life. I have the privilege of helping out my folks and spending time with them in their senior years. I have a great wife. I have awesome siblings. I am also very happy when I get the opportunity to teach others, play games with others, and serve others when they need some help. When I do for others, my happiness increases dramatically. It’s a feeling that can’t be bought. It is like a wave of love comes back when you give of yourself to someone else. It’s hard to explain.

If you’re unhappy, cultivate happiness by just being happy. I know this may seem like an insurmountable task, but it really is just that simple. We decide to be happy or sad or angry or guilty. It is all a state of mind.

Well, that’s all I got for today, folks. I hope all of you have a terrific Friday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – The Soul Adventure Seminar

Tags

Covid, ECK, Eckankar, Freedom, God, Happiness, Love, Soul, Soul Adventure, Worldwide

All, ECKANKAR has a worldwide seminar that is available to everyone, whether you are an ECKist or not. When COVID hit, ECKANKAR began recording events for the public who could not attend. This year we finally had an in-person event (I did not attend), and in November they offer the public to watch key parts of the event online.

If you’d be interested in hearing Sri Harold’s talk, you can attend the event here:

https://www.eckankar.org/html/ECKSoulAdventure/index.php

Make sure you click on guest. The organization will need your address to send you the password to the event, and that’s it!

I hope all of you are having a terrific 2023. I am. It’s been a great year so far.

May the blessings be!

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Bonus Content – Thanksgiving Countdown

Tags

Christmas, family, Friends, Good Food, Good times, Gratitude, Happiness, Holidays, New Years, passion, recharge, Relaxation, Thanksgiving

Ooh! Pumpkin pie, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and all the rest await! It’s going to be a great Thanksgiving this year, like every year. I’ll be making the final grocery run tomorrow and I always end up getting more than we need.

I’m not much of a football fan, so I don’t watch the games, nor do I watch the parades. I used to when I was a kid, but now, I just enjoy hanging out and doing whatever. I’ll be doing a little gaming, reading, hanging out with the family, and eating a truckload of food, on and off all day long.

I decided today would be my last posting for the year, other than my holiday postings. I was going to continue all the way to the end of the month, but decided it was time to just shut things down for the rest of 2022. It’s been a great year, folks.

I’ve made some great friends here, that I would not have met anywhere else. So here’s a shameless plug for their blogs, in case you are interested:

https://kmallan.com/ – K.M. Allan is an Australian YA author. Her Blackbirch series is terrific. If you’re thinking of writing a book, she provides all kinds of tips, tricks, and real-world experience writing and publishing a book. She mailed me a copy of her first book, which was not cheap, and I so appreciate her.

https://tierneycreates.com/ – Enjoy crafting? Check out this blog for anything related to quilting, travel to cool places, and even some postings from one of her creations. Her husband is also quite the craftsman.

https://joannaoftheforest.wordpress.com/ – If you want some great pictures of the outdoors and enjoy reading articles that are happy and interesting, you’ll want to check out here postings.

I consider all three of these bloggers friends, because they always respond to my blog postings and we have had some interesting interactions.

Well, folks. I hope all of you have a terrific holiday season and get some time with friends, family, and your favorite hobbies. I’ll be doing what I love–gaming, reading, and writing. I’ll also be making some decisions about some daily postings that I’ve done this year, that I may change up, just to keep things fresh and help me explore new areas that I have not dove into before.

Happy Holidays, folks.

See you in 2023!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Sunday – Rediscovering Happiness

Tags

Contemplation, Contentment, Happiness, Joy, Love, Meditation, Prayer, spiritual discipline, Spiritual Exercises, Spiritual habits, Spiritual responsibilities

Regardless of your faith or religious path, each comes with certain disciplines that should be followed in order to attain the success the path offers. Meditation daily, prayer daily or multiple times, eating the right foods and avoiding those that are not allowed. All these should be practiced with love.

I mention quite a bit in my blog about my practice of a “do nothing day”. I wanted to correct that here. There are certain disciplines my religious path requires and even on my “do nothing day” these are done. I read from my bible, I study my discourses, I do my spiritual exercises, and I do my daily journaling. I perform these tasks with joy and detachment. Detachment means I do these things without expectation of a revelation, reward, or some other benefit. I do them out of love for God.

One of the quotes provided by the teachings I follow is that “All is in its rightful place in the worlds of God.” – Sri Harold Klemp. This statement if taken to heart provides a sense of contentment. I have all I need. I am happy. I am safe. I am content. How could I not be if “All is in its rightful place in the worlds of God”?

Many people are constantly looking for happiness. They look here and there, hoping they can find it. What is sad and funny is that happiness is within. It is sad for those who do not know this and are constantly looking for it somewhere else. Perhaps happiness can be found in making a lot of money. Perhaps I can get my happiness through another person. Perhaps I could get a better job, a better car, or a better set of clothes. It is funny because when we finally discover that happiness is within, we stop striving. We stop looking. We realize after all the time we spent suffering that we had happiness with us the whole time.

I wish everyone could experience the contentment I felt when I woke up this morning. I woke up, had my breakfast, did my journaling, my spiritual reading, and my religious studies. As I was doing these things a calmness came. Along with this calmness came contentment and happiness. Because I realized how great life is. The only way I can describe it is the feeling that arose with a scene in my mind about being a kid on Saturday morning with a box of cereal in his hand, watching cartoons with his brother. How we laughed.

We lose this simple happiness as we bear the mantle of life. Now there are bills. There are people to take care of. There are responsibilities. Those childhood memories fade away, as responsibility and worry take over. Then, one day, we reawaken those childhood memories. We realize that happiness has always been there, hidden under the clutter of our lives. A clutter, mind you, that we created because we wanted to recapture this happiness, but forgot where we put it.

Today, even if for a moment, think about a time in your life you were truly happy. Was it because someone else made you happy? Was it because of the things you had? Was it because of the way you looked? I think you’ll find that those moments of peak happiness were simple times. You were happy because you just were. I wish you every happiness in life. You already have it within you. Rediscover that.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Bonus Content – Jane Marczewski

Tags

America's Got Talent, Cancer, Happiness, Jane Marczewski, Joy, Living Life, Stephen Guise, YouTube

I am subscribed to Stephen Guise’ Blog. He is the author of “Mini Habits”, which had a huge impact on my life. His email today introduced Jane Marczewski. Here’s a link to Stephen’s article: https://stephenguise.com/blog/

She won the Golden Buzzer award on America’s Got Talent, and sadly passed away from Cancer three days ago. I had to share this story, particularly the quote, which she gives in the video.

The quote:

“You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore, before you decide to be happy.”

~ Jane Marczewski

Rest in peace, Jane “Nightbird” Marczewksi.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Thomas Merton

Tags

Ambition, Experience, Happiness, Love, scholars, Soul, Thomas Merton, Wisdom Wednesday

Love is our true destiny. We do not find the meaning of life by ourselves alone – we find it with another.

Thomas Merton

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.

Thomas Merton

When ambition ends, happiness begins.

Thomas Merton

We do not exist for ourselves alone, and it is only when we are fully convinced of this fact that we begin to love ourselves properly and thus also love others.

Thomas Merton

Every moment and every event of every man’s life on earth plants something in his soul.

Thomas Merton

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton

The above link will take you to Thomas Merton’s Wikipedia page. Wow, what a life! I encourage each of you to take a few minutes, and share a cup of coffee or tea with Thomas as you explore his life. It was truly an inspiring one. This is the first of my Wisdom Wednesday posts in 2022, and this was an awesome find. I continue to wish all of you health, prosperity, love, and high adventure in 2022.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – Black Friday

Tags

Black Friday, family, Happiness, Holidays, Love, Origin, Sales, Shopping, Ted Talk, TedEd, Tuesday

Here is one person’s take on Black Friday. A day that marks the beginning of Christmas shopping in America. I do not go out on Black Friday, because it is so insane, but many people, like my stepdaughters, live for this day. They get up before dawn and head to their favorite stores.

In this short 3-minute (+) video, Black Friday’s origin is explained. You’ll be interested who came up with the idea. I hope you are as excited about the holiday season as I am. It’s a great time of year. In fact it is my favorite time of year. I get in a lot of reading, writing, and of course, video game playing in, during the winter months, because in Michigan, there is nothing else to do, simply because it is snowing outside and cold, and all the rest. Yes, there are many who ski, hunt, and do a lot of outdoor things. For me, my 20 years of service gave me all the outdoor living I’ll ever need to experience. Now it’s a cup of hot coffee, a good book, and looking at the snow, thanking God I do not have to live in that anymore.

Well, that’s it for today. I hope all of you have a great Tuesday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Life

Tags

Adventure, Dark Night of Soul, enduring, Happiness, Humility, Life, Love, Overcoming, Tragedy

I’m sitting here in my living room, with laptop up, and our little dog Bella resting in her doggy bed. Mom and Dad are out running errands, and I am just relaxing while I knock out my daily tasks.

Today, I am grateful for this life. I have experienced so many things, and sometimes I reminisce and am blown away by all the things I have done, all the people I’ve come to know, and all the adventures that await. It has been one terrific ride.

Now that I am retired, the adventure continues. I have more time to read, write, learn, and pursue all kinds of things. It is terrific to have so many choices and so many opportunities.

Has life been easy. Far from it. But, every experience is a treasure. The hard times made me stronger, more grateful, and more humble. The good times created good memories I can revisit over and over again, when I think about life, like I am today.

Each one of you has experienced trauma, loved ones passing, sickness, and all kinds of tragedies, too many to mention here. You survived, and even though the troubled times may have lingered, things always got better, right?

When I am ever in the “dark night of Soul”, I remind myself that “this too shall pass”. And you know what? It does.

So here’s to the many shades and colors of life. May all of our lives be filled with adventure, love, laughs, tears, and all the rest. Life is truly worth living and one hell of a rollercoaster ride!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Brother

Tags

Companionship, Dad, family, Grateful, Hanging out, Happiness, Joy, Thankful

Today, I am grateful for my brother. He just visited recently, and it was a terrific time to reconnect and give him time to spend with Mom and Dad. When family visits, I tend to stay away a bit, so they can get the most out of their visit with the folks. That being said, we got in plenty of gaming.

We also ordered out for some food a few days and enjoyed it tremendously. There’s a local restaurant here called Cracker Barrel. They have the best fried chicken. Boy oh Boy!

He’ll be coming back again sometime this year. He and my sister are visiting more, because Dad is deteriorating. He does not eat that much, sleeps most of the day, and when he does get up from his rocking chair, he is really unsure of himself on his feet. It is hard for him to stand up on his own, and when he walks he takes small “baby” steps because he is afraid of falling down.

My brother noticed a huge difference from the last time he visited. Dad slept through most of my brother’s visit. I think they exchanged a few words, and that was it. Anyway, we had a great time with him while he was here. Here’s to his next visit!

Have a great Thursday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – William Feather

Tags

American, Author, cheerfulness, Happiness, Lies, Quotes, Success, William Feather, wisdom

Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go.

William Feather

Early morning cheerfulness can be extremely obnoxious.

William Feather

The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages is preserved into perpetuity by a nation’s proverbs, fables, folk sayings and quotations.

William Feather

Some of us might find happiness if we quit struggling so desperately for it.

William Feather

Women lie about their age; men lie about their income.

William Feather

I hope you enjoyed these quotes by American author William Feather. I tried to pick a few with some wit, and others that are more solemn.

Until next time…

Dave