15 Thursday Oct 2020
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Tags
Birthday, born, Day Off, eat some good food, Happy, Life, play some games, Read, Relax
This is going to be short today, folks. It’s my 57th birthday and I’m going to be taking the day off. I’m grateful to be alive, grateful to have been born, and grateful for this life. It has been one hell of a journey so far.
Have a great day, folks!
Until next time…
Dave
22 Wednesday Jul 2020
Posted in Wisdom Wednesday
Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.
Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.
We can let circumstances rule us, or we can take charge and rule our lives from within.
The more intensely we feel about an idea or a goal, the more assuredly the idea, buried deep in our subconscious, will direct us along the path to its fulfillment.
The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career!
I hope you are having a great Wednesday! I took my nephew and his girlfriend back to the airport today, for their flight back to Arizona. We had a great time with them. Enjoy these quotes and have a great day!
Until next time…
Dave
18 Thursday Jun 2020
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Tags
Adventures, experiences, Grateful, Learning, Life, Thankful Thursday, Thanks
Today, I’m grateful for life. Oh, the adventures I’ve had. Some horrific, others wonderful. But the journey has been a great ride.
I’ve experienced love and heartbreak, achievement and failure, sickness and good health. Opposites are the nature of our universe. We have light and dark, good and evil, fun and boring, and the list goes on and on.
What makes the journey worthwhile? The ups and downs. When you’re up, you’re on top of the world. When you’re down, it sucks. But either side of this equation is necessary, so we know the difference.
How many people truly cherish life? It really depends on their outlook and belief system. For the nihilists out there, life is meaningless. For the optimist, everything is terrific. I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone that is totally this or that. Instead, you’ll find people that are in the middle somewhere.
I have always chosen optimism over nihilism. Perhaps I was lucky with my upbringing. Perhaps I was born at the right time period. Honestly, I choose to be happy.
My father taught me a terrific way to look at things. He said, “Son, you will always have things you have to do in life. You have to go to school, you have to work, you have to fulfill your responsibilities. You will not escape these responsibilities, unless of course, you want to have a hard life. If you fail to graduate your life will be hard. No one will want to hire you. If you don’t want to work, you will starve, or you will live a life of crime to support yourself. If you’re irresponsible, you will cause great pain for yourself and anyone that joins you on your life’s journey. So you have a choice. You can do the things you are required to do happily, or you can be pissed off your whole life. I choose to be happy. What will you choose?”
Obviously, I choose to be happy. Why be pissed off about the things you have to do anyway? The choice to me was obvious.
So today I’m grateful for the gift of life. I’m grateful for the things I’ve done and the things I have not done. I am grateful for the people who have come and gone in my life. I am grateful for the teachers and mentors who have helped me learn something new, grasp a new concept, or suggested I make an adjustment to the way I think or act. All of these things are a blessing.
Happy Thursday, folks!
Until next time…
Dave
21 Thursday May 2020
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Tags
Books, Colleagues, Friends, leaders, Life, mentors, Parents, Professors, Teachers
All of us have had teachers in one shape or form that contributed to who we are today. I’ve had some great ones. I had great teachers in grade school. I had terrific professors in my undergraduate and graduate studies. The best teachers I’ve had were my parents, my leaders in the military, and life itself.
My parents taught me how to treat family, how to be a man, and how to treat a woman. My teachers gave me insights into the topics I was studying that you could not get from a book. They demonstrated how the book knowledge could be applied to the “real world”.
My military leaders taught me what service was about. They taught me how to take care of my equipment, learn my job, and lead others. They also taught me things that couldn’t be measured—things like honor, discipline, keeping your word, and being honest, even when things get screwed up.
One group I didn’t mention are the group of teachers I have not met. These are the authors of all the books I’ve read to date. Teachers like Covey, Allen, Guise, Twain, Einstein, Hawking, Aristotle, Nietzsche, Tolstoy, Tolkien, and so many others.
All of us have had great teachers in our lives. Life is the final one. Life tends to blindside us. We learn from the cuts and bruises life dishes out. We learn things like being thrifty, planning, always striving for something better, but the most important lesson of all—we learn to treat other people with decency and respect.
I love learning. I love learning from the greats. Whether it is a book, a quote, a video, or in-person advice, our teachers have helped us achieve what we are achieving today. Today, I am grateful for every one of my teachers. I would not be where I am today without them.
Until next time…
Dave
24 Friday Jan 2020
Posted in Spiritual Saturday
All of us have dreams. Our dreams are unique to each of us. How do you figure what they are? Some of them are a given. We have to uncover the others.
Sometimes we put off our dreams because we don’t think we’re good enough. Perhaps we lack the training or knowledge we need. Whatever it is, I think many of us give up too quickly.
So how do we overcome something like that? Well, we need to use the same tools we use to create the blocks we put in front of ourselves to begin with. Ignore the blocks for now. Instead, imagine what you would do if you couldn’t fail. Think about that for a moment. What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?
If you conducted this little thought experiment you probably felt a huge rush of freedom and the same wonder, you had as a child. This happened when I did it. It exhilarated me.
So now you have the capability of pursuing something that has real meaning for you. This is living. This is what will wake you up in the morning. This is what will cause you to work in your spare time to achieve something you really want.
How do you think anyone else got started? J. K. Rowling, Stephen King, Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, anyone you recognize as someone who has achieved great things. If you look at everyone’s history, you see that they all started out the same way. They were all kids at one point. They all had their struggles. Yet, here they are decorating our history with an amazing collection of feats. Sure, in hindsight we could say they had gifts. But, imagine if they chickened out? We wouldn’t have Harry Potter, The Shining, The Theory of Relativity, or a greater knowledge of black holes.
I am a firm believer that each of us is here to learn something, do something. I don’t know what your “thing” is. Figuring this out is up to you. Do you want to live your life pushing the envelope, pursuing your life’s dream or do you want to sit on the sidelines, cowering in fear, afraid to fail at something you haven’t even attempted? I hope you pursue the former.
I don’t know if I’ll ever be a great writer or write a helpful computer program that people will pay for. I don’t know if any of my books will sell. I know that I want to try to, realizing a long time ago that none of us can fail if we keep trying. It may take us longer than we like. It may be harder than we thought, but we can’t fail if we keep pushing forward.
I believe we are all here for a purpose. We’re here to learn. We’re here to serve others. We’re here live our lives fully, experiencing all that life has to offer. Get out there. Make something happen. You have nothing to lose and who knows? You might just get what you want.
Have a great Saturday folks.
Until next time…
Dave
31 Thursday Oct 2019
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Tags
Blessings, God, Grateful, Happy Halloween, Harold Klemp, Life, Thankful
“So few know what a love for living means. They’ve put a web around themselves and called it spiritual. Life is a celebration. Some will read that as wanton living, but true celebration is loving God and Its own.” – Harold Klemp – The Language of Soul
This quote struck me today as appropriate for today, because we are celebrating another Halloween. If you do not celebrate today, cool. We celebrate by passing out goodies to the kids that come around to the house. I enjoy watching scary movies and we enjoy the many costumed kids that come to the door.
Halloween marks the beginning of the holiday season for me. When Halloween hits, there’s Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day and then we’re off to a new adventure. It’s also nice because my wife’s birthday and our wedding anniversary is in December too.
I love life. I really do. I enjoy what I do every day; I feel great physically and mentally, and it is a true gift to spend time with my folks in their senior years. Yeah, as a family we have our days, but for the most part, it’s great fun. My Dad likes telling stories about his childhood and my Mom does too. We eat most of our meals as a family and we are all readers, spending most of the “bad weather” days inside combing through our books.
My love of life is spurred by my gratitude. I try to find gratitude for all I do and receive. I am grateful for my family, friends, colleagues, siblings, and God. It is a wonderful feeling to wake up every day knowing that God loves me and every moment I am here is a blessing God has given me to gain experience and learn how to love and serve others. This is simplicity itself.
Happy Halloween! (for those that celebrate)
Have a great Thursday, the last day of October, and get ready to attack November.
Until next time…
Dave
17 Thursday Oct 2019
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Every day, I like to wake up and remind myself to be grateful of the simple things.
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
03 Thursday Oct 2019
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
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
05 Thursday Sep 2019
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
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
03 Saturday Aug 2019
Posted in Spiritual Saturday
Tags
God's gift, Gratitude, Happiness, Life, Needs, Unhappiness, Wants
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
“Learn to enjoy every minute of your life. Be happy now. Don’t wait for something outside of yourself to make you happy in the future. Think how really precious is the time you have to spend, whether it’s at work or with your family. Every minute should be enjoyed and savored.” – Earl Nightingale
I use quotes to spur my writing. They are terrific writing prompts because they require us to think about what they are saying. I like writing about happiness because so many people are unhappy. Why? Part of the reason is people associate happiness with something outside themselves.
Their whole life is based on things, people, and events outside of themselves. Why let anything outside of you drive your happiness, when all you have to do is decide to be happy. Yeah, life happens. We get sick. We lose our job. We lose a loved one. We lose a pet. Anyone would be bummed out if these things happen, but you can still maintain your happiness in and around these events. All of these events are normal and inevitable.
How do I maintain my happiness? I cultivate it within. I maintain a sincere gratitude for life. I no longer focus on what I want, but what I need. We all need food, water, air, a place to sleep and have shelter. We need something to wear, to keep our bodies covered. Besides these things what else do we really need?
Some of the happiest people live in absolute poverty. Some of the richest people in the world are unhappy. Think about that for a moment. How does this even make sense? It makes sense because a person’s happiness has nothing to do with wealth. It is internal. Happiness is a choice.
I thank God every day for this life. It is a blessing to be alive. I am grateful for a great many things, but my gratitude for life is my source of happiness. Think about the grand adventure you’ve been on since you were born. Think about the richness of your experiences.
Life is God’s greatest gift.
Until next time…
Dave
