Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – Gratitude

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Focus on the Good, Gratitude, Humility, life-changing, TedEd, Thankfulness, You are enough, You have all you need

One of my goals for running this blog is to help people feel a little better than they did before reading or viewing one of my posts. There is enough bad news out there. You do not have to look very hard to find it. So, Daily Ramblings is something you can open up to feel good. I try to keep my posts short, so I do not take up too much of your time.

I hope you enjoy this video. Gratefulness plays a huge part of my life, and this month, with Thanksgiving right around the corner, it is the one time each year where we can sit back, reflect, and relish all the things we are truly thankful for. I hope this video inspires you to seek out opportunities in your day that you are grateful for and perhaps make purposeful gratefulness a part of your everyday routine.

Have a great day, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Life

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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 – Motivation Monday – Affirmations

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15x Exercise, Affirmations, Contentment, Detachment, Discrimination, Forgiveness, Humility, tolerance

Hello, Monday!

I hope each of you has a terrific day, today!

I hope all of you are primed for the week and everything works out the way you want it.

One of the things I have used for years and years are positive affirmations. It’s something I write in my journal every day. Affirmations can be about any topic you wish. I chose five virtues.

Here is my short affirmation I write down each day: I am discriminating, tolerant, forgiving, content, detached, and humble.

Discriminating means making good choices. Tolerance and forgiveness are about letting people be who they are without judgment, and if they hurt your or cause you problems, forgiving them, regardless. Contentment is being happy regardless of my physical, mental, social, or spiritual situation. I keep this quote in the back of my mind: “All is in its rightful place in the worlds of God.” – Sri Harold Klemp. This means that whatever happens, it is exactly what is supposed to happen. Be happy and content, regardless. Detachment is doing the best you can with, with what you have, from where you are, without forcing any outcome. I do the best I can and whatever happens, is exactly what should have happened. This also relates to ideas, habits, everything. We must be willing to accept the changes that come and know they are for our benefit. Humility is the last one. Being humble is avoiding the grandstanding, bragging, and other things that have one purpose–elevating the ego. The ego is something we all need to survive in this reality, but the goal should be to minimize this as much as possible. The ego will get you into trouble, if you let it get out of hand.

Well, that’s all I got for today. You can create daily affirmations too. One great exercise, that I also do is a thing called the 15X exercise. Take any one thing you want to be, and write it down 15 times each day. Start the sentence with “I am…”. Overtime, the affirmations take hold, because the mind latches onto things that are repeated to it. When you believe something, things come together to help you achieve that thing.

Have a great Monday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Love Yourself

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Contentment, Detachment, Giving, Humility, Love, receiving, Self Love, Selflessness

“You have to give love to get love” – Paul Twitchell

This is a simple equation, isn’t it? It’s the simplicity of these wise words that makes it difficult, right? The mind likes to complicate things–make them difficult. Easy things are hard to imagine, because we are so ready for the hard things.

Our minds are always on the lookout. The mind seeks out danger because it is wired to do so. It is fearful of the unknown. It is fearful of something new. It is also very hard on us.

When you begin something new, what does your mind tell you? Why are you doing this? You don’t know what you’re doing. You will mess up. You aren’t good enough? The mind is a terrible taskmaster for some of us.

When people speak of love, they typically mean loving someone or something else. When was the last time you loved yourself? When was the last time you cheered yourself on, patted yourself on the back, imagined a younger version of yourself and told that version that you were good, you were enough, and that you are loved? I bet it might have been a while–am I right?

You have to love yourself, before others will love you. You also have to be satisfied with being alone. When you love yourself and are happy by yourself, you won’t have any expectations of someone else. You won’t attach strings to the love you give them, because you are already satisfied with the love you are receiving–from yourself.

Take the time to really love–YOU! You know yourself better than anyone. You are the only person that can do this for you. Why be dependent on another person? Why yearn for love when you have more than enough to give yourself?

This isn’t selfish. You aren’t going to neglect the loved ones in your life, just take some time to love yourself. When you do so, you’ll find that the love you give is more selfless. You give love to just give it. You won’t expect anything in return.

I hope all of you have a terrific Saturday. I also want to thank all of you who stopped by to wish me a happy birthday. It was nice to hear from you. It was the icing on the cake, so to speak. A great day, followed by happy birthdays here and on my social media accounts. It was really nice.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Forgiveness

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Courage, forgive, Forgiveness, Humility, Integrity, let go, Victim, victim mentality

Happy Saturday!

Today, I’m going to talk about forgiveness. 

Forgiveness takes courage and humility. Forgiving someone for past deeds can be difficult because it requires us to let go of past wrongs. If someone betrayed you, it is tough to forgive them because their betrayal is not just about their act of betrayal, but also involves your ignorance in choosing to trust them. This causes pain because you can’t trust them again, and because of that lack of trust, that person can no longer be a friend. You lose a friend, and you lose confidence in your ability to trust yourself or others.

Forgiveness does not equate to forgetting. It is merely acknowledging that you and the person who hurt you are human. We all make mistakes. Each of us is capable of betrayal. When we forgive, we humble ourselves and our personal hurt and subordinate ourselves to a greater truth—grudges are not healthy. We forgive because we would like others to forgive us for anything we may have done to them. We forgive because we want to let go of the past hurts and move on.

Many times we hurt ourselves. We choose an unhealthy option. We violate a core belief or value. We break a promise we make to ourselves. It takes courage to acknowledge these transgressions. Admitting we are weak or undisciplined is a hard pill to swallow—but swallow it we must if we want to transcend this and begin again.

It takes courage to look oneself in the mirror and admit that you are not living up to your own internal principles. The weak blame others. The weak play the victim. The weak cannot take responsibility. How can you improve anything in your life if it is always someone or something else’s fault?

It takes humility to admit you are wrong. It takes humility to apologize for your wrongdoing. It takes humility to bear your soul to another person and ask for their forgiveness. It also takes humility to learn from other people. None of us are saints. We hurt other people purposely or accidentally. Apologize and ask for forgiveness. Admit you were wrong. Learn from other people. Forgive yourself.

Have a great Saturday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave 

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Giving of Yourself

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Giving, Help, Humility, Love, Selflessness, Service, Smile, Wisdom Wednesday

Yesterday was one of those days when everything was just right. It was my Mom’s birthday. She opened her gifts and her cards. We took her out to dinner. My brother, sister, and niece called. I think she enjoyed the calls the most.

I spent time helping my wife study for a teaching credential she needs to pass by December. She works really hard and is putting everything she has into it. I love her.

“Before you can improve your life and find a measure of happiness, you must learn to do one thing every day out of pure love. That means, don’t expect anything in return—neither thanks nor happiness. Pick that occasion carefully. Then, whatever that one act of giving of yourself to someone else is, do it with all your heart.” — Harold Klemp — The Language of Soul.

Giving of yourself does not need to be a grand event. It could be as simple as cleaning up some trash in front of your neighbor’s home. It could be smiling at a young child in front of you at the grocery store line. It could be leaving a bigger tip when you eat out. It could be writing a letter to your folks or siblings. Giving of yourself brings a great warmth inside. It is hard to describe.

Serving someone else, without any expectation is a terrific thing. It is the selflessness of the act that is the most important. You just do something with no expectation. This selfless act will shrink your ego. It will humble you. It will calm you. It will improve your self esteem. It will open your heart.

If you’re down in the dumps, feeling lost, or depressed, try serving someone else. Strike up a conversation with a stranger, you may be the only person they talk with today. Smile at people. It may be the only smile they get today. Help someone. It may be the only time in their life that someone took the time to help them today. You may never know what a difference you made in someone’s life, but you will have made a difference.

I think I’ll end here. I hope all of you have a terrific Wednesday. As always…

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – We are Spiritual Beings Having a Human Experience

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Anger, Attachment, Contentment, Detachment, Discrimination, Forgiveness, Greed, Humility, Lust, Passions of the Mind, Soul, tolerance, Vanity, Virtues

“Remember, we are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.” – Stephen Covey

Read more at: Brainy Quote

Have you ever wondered how you can think about thinking? What part of you is watching you? My religion is ECKANKAR and we call this you—soul. Soul is a spiritual being. It is the real you. It is that part of you that can watch what you are thinking, saying, and doing. Soul is what thinks about what the mind thinks and what the body does. Soul uses your body to experience this life.

I believe in reincarnation. To believe in reincarnation, there must be a something that outlives the body and takes a body when it is time to live another life. This is soul. Soul experiences. Soul learns. Soul needs a body to experience things here. It needs a body to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel. It needs to experience the mind’s memory, it’s intuition, and its subconscious, automatic processes.

Soul is the real you. It is a spark of God. God creates soul and soul exists because God loves it. Soul is forever. It never dies, it merely moves to another realm of existence when the human body dies. In this realm it interacts with other souls to continue its learning on another plane of existence. It can return here, it can go to other dimensions or planes, it will go where it needs to go to continue its spiritual journey.

I know this may be a little mind-blowing to some of you. I like using Saturdays to move away from the self-improvement chats and all the rest to dedicate one day a week to discuss my religion and some principles and insights it offers. I am not here to evangelize or push my beliefs down your throat. I merely want to educate. In ECKANKAR, we believe that each soul chooses the religious path it needs during this lifetime. Some souls select Islam, some Christianity, some Buddhism, some Judaism, or Hinduism. Regardless of the religion soul chooses, it is the perfect religion for that soul at the time. As an ECKIST, I believe this to be true. Your religion is yours and yours alone. It is exactly what you need in this lifetime to move ahead spiritually.

The viewpoint of soul is the highest. When you come to realize that soul is the real you, life gets a lot easier. Life isn’t scary anymore, when you realize that you have an infinite amount of lives left. Soul never dies. Soul is infinite. This life will come and go, but soul is forever. Soul takes all its experiences with it when this body finally goes to sleep for the last time. Soul needs these experiences to learn the lessons it needs to gain wisdom and progress spiritually.

Think about all the things you learn during a lifetime. You learn about love. You learn about work. You learn about loss and suffering. You learn about joy and ecstasy. You learn about horror and evil. Soul learns why the passions of the mind like lust, anger, greed, attachment, and vanity are dead ends. Over time, it learns that the virtues are ever-lasting. These are discrimination, tolerance/forgiveness, contentment, detachment, and humility.

When you are lustful, angry, greedy, attached to material things or ideas, or vain, there is a coinciding feeling, a pit in your stomach, an ache in your heart, or some other discomfort. When you are discriminating, tolerant and forgiving, content, detached, and humble, the feelings are lighter. You have a feeling that is long lasting. Things are just right. Soul needs to learn these things through millions of lives and even more experiences. It is the only way.

You are soul, a spiritual being, learning and experiencing through a human body, not the other way around. I wish all of you a Happy Easter tomorrow (for those that celebrate).

Baraka Bashad (May the blessings be).

Until next time…

Dave