12 Monday Oct 2020
Posted in Motivation Monday
Tags
Action, Ambition, Dedication, Discipline, Drive, Exercising, Learning, motivation, Reading, Writing
After a relaxing week off, I’m back at it.
Here’s my schedule for the week:
Writing/Blogging Daily
Exercise Daily
Spiritual Exercise/Reading Daily
Learning/Coding Daily
Reading Daily
I hope each of you has a great week!
Until next time…
Dave
07 Monday Sep 2020
Posted in Motivation Monday
Tags
Consistency, Determination, Discipline, Exercise, Labor Day, motivation, Reading, Social, Spiritual, Writing
Today, I’m relaxing and enjoying Labor Day! So today’s posts will be shorter than normal. Here’s my week!
Have a great week, folks!
Until next time…
Dave
03 Thursday Sep 2020
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Reading is one of my blessings. My reading began as a young boy who wanted to emulate his folks. My Mom and Dad are both avid readers and introduced my brother, sister, and I to a wide range of topics, ranging from herbology, physics, history, politics, spiritual readings, and a whole other bunch of stuff.
I remember reading the Lord of the Rings and visiting this huge place with a history, dragons, wars, dwarves, elves, and orcs. A story filled with high adventure. Reading took me to places created by an author in their mind. This still blows me away.
Reading books also teaches us. Reading books by philosophers, scientists, politicians, generals, playwrights, authors, and many others are the greatest teachers. Each book changes us. They introduce us to new ideas, ones we may have never considered. These new ideas expand our awareness and shape the way we think.
Reading fiction is also a terrific way to learn. We experience the story through the eyes of the hero or heroine. We feel their pain. We weep when they are hurt; we applaud when they succeed. We see ourselves in each person we read about and experience what those heros and heroines experience. We learn through them as they change; they rise, they fall, and they resolve the problems they face in sometimes very dramatic ways.
So today, I am thankful for reading a great book. They have made my life richer, taught me a great deal, and most importantly, help me orient my thinking in ways that serve me in unpredictable ways.
To every author I have read. Thank you.
Until next time…
Dave
30 Sunday Aug 2020
Posted in Spread Your Wings
Tags
Challenges, family, Lockdown, Reading, Relaxation, Spread Your Wings, Sunday, Writing
Challenge: This week’s challenge involves some exploration. I’m going to offer another challenge below in case some of your lockdown conditions are just too hard to pull this off. The challenge is to take a walk in the woods, a beach, or a park. The challenge doesn’t require a certain distance, just that you go to one of these locations and take a stroll.
Challenge (alternate): Some of you live in areas where the lockdown is tough to overcome. One of my friends in Melbourne, Australia appears to be in an area that is suffering from a resurgence of the virus and is back under lockdown condition. This challenge is for you. This week, read about, look at pictures, or attend a virtual tour of one of your country’s or state’s national parks.
If you participate, tell me how you feel when you return from your little excursion.
Until next time…
Dave
27 Thursday Aug 2020
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Tags
Gratitude, heavy metal, Meditation, memories, Movies, Music, Reading, Soundscapes, Thanks, Writing
I have always enjoyed music. It seems that we are all wired to music, in light of how popular it has been throughout history. Music entertains. Music reminds. Music inspires.
I like to listen to music when I read. I can’t listen to music with words, because it is too hard to concentrate, but instrumental music is a common partner when I read. I also enjoy listening to music when I write.
Again, I have to refrain from listening to music with words while I write because it is too hard to concentrate on what I’m doing when I listen to the words. Interestingly, I have found that listening to certain types of music invoke emotions that are helpful when I am writing an action scene or an emotional scene. I can’t listen while I write, but I do listen before I write.
Another type of music I like listening to is trance while I do cardio or heavy metal while I lift weights. Trance helps me deal with the monotony of cardio, while heavy metal helps me achieve the aggression I need when I’m trying to push myself to my limits.
I like listening to Asian music, sound scapes, and other cerebral music when I meditate. It helps my mind calm down, while I concentrate on the breath.
I even enjoy listening to movie soundtracks. When I listen to the music of Pirates of the Caribbean, Gladiator, Star Wars, or even the Godfather, I can see the various scenes play out in my mind. It is amazing how much the music impacts a scene in a movie.
Think about the dark music in the original Halloween movie or The Exorcist. When you hear these songs, you automatically think about these movies. It is fascinating.
So today, I am grateful for music that helps me write, workout, relax, and visualize my favorite movies.
Happy Thursday!
Until next time…
Dave
26 Wednesday Aug 2020
Posted in Uncategorized, Wisdom Wednesday
A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman’s birthday but never remembers her age.
In three words I can sum up everything I’ve learned about life: it goes on.
Hell is a half-filled auditorium.
Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.
By working faithfully eight hours a day you may eventually get to be boss and work twelve hours a day.
I hope you enjoy Frost’s humor. Have a great Wednesday!
Until next time…
Dave
24 Monday Aug 2020
Posted in Motivation Monday
Tags
Coding, Exercising, journaling, K.M. Allan, Learning, motivation, Reading, Spiritual, Writing
I hope everyone’s weekend was outstanding! I got my work done and took some time to watch a few Marvel movies. I re-watched Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Iron Man 3. These are all great stories, and the special effects are over the top. I also got in some entertainment reading. I’m reading K.M. Allan’s second book in her Blackbirch series, which is really entertaining. I don’t read a lot of fiction, because non-fiction is more up my alley, but the Blackbirch series is awesome. I highly recommend you buy it, if you enjoy a good story. Here’s the link: https://amzn.to/2QlKrmR
Anyway, I hope all of you have a great week! Here’s my daily schedule:
Journaling daily (Personal, Dream, and Spiritual)
Coding daily (Data Science Path Codecademy)
Writing daily (Book, Blog, Classwork)
Exercise daily (See Workout Routine)
Reading daily (multiple books, articles)
Learning daily (Codecademy, Masterclass, Study.com)
Spiritual daily (Contemplation, Spiritual Reading)
That’s it folks! Have a great week!
Until next time…
Dave
03 Monday Aug 2020
Posted in Motivation Monday
Tags
Consistency, Dedication, Drive, Exercise, K.M. Allan, motivation, Reading, rituals, social media, spiritual efforts, Writing
Here’s my schedule for the week:
I’ll be conducting some research on Afghanistan for my book. I’ll be taking three courses (Sociology on Study.com, Sociology course at Grand Canyon University, and Malcolm Gladwell’s writing course on Masterclass). I’ll also continue pushing through my Computer Science course. I’m currently working on a Python project that reinforces the algorithms surrounding various search strategies.
I’ll also continue reading my books. One of them is on politics by Ben Shapiro, the other is a book on Afghanistan for my book research, and the third is a book by one of my favorite new authors (K.M. Allan) who just released book two of her Blackbirch series.
I’ll be jounaling daily, blogging daily, doing my spiritual exercises, spiritual reading, physical exercises (see my workout routine posting), and posting meaningful quotes and other uplifting content to my social media feeds.
Well, that’s it folks. Keep pushing on whatever goals you set for the year. I realize that some of them have probably gotten nixed due to COVID, but do the best you can. I’m rootin’ for ya!
Have a great Monday!
Until next time…
Dave
23 Thursday Jul 2020
Posted in Thankful Thursdays
Dad’s got Dementia. I returned home in January 2017 to come home to help out the folks. Since coming back home, I have seen first-hand how devastating this disease is. Dad loved TV for most of his life. He was born in 1939, so he was part of the first TV generation, growing up on radio initially. Within a year of my return, he forgot how to turn on the TV.
His short-term memory and attention span have also taken a hit. He can no longer follow long and complicated plots on TV or on streaming sources like Netflix. He is also not a huge fan of public TV because he hates all of the commercials. So, I got him on YouTube and he loves it. There is a lot of variety, most of the videos he watches are 5-10 minutes in length and they are entertaining to him.
Dad provided for the family for over 40 years. He made a good home for Mom, provided for three kids, and before he retired, was working 16-hour shifts to put together a big enough nest egg for he and Mom to retire on. Well done, Dad.
Dad is still an avid reader. He probably puts down 3-4 books a month. I don’t think he understands much of the stories, but it keeps him busy. Today, I’m grateful to my Dad, who now needs my help. It feels good to pay back the life my parents gave me and my siblings, by retiring early and refocusing my life on new things and them.
Today, I’m grateful for my Dad.
Until next time…
Dave
22 Wednesday Apr 2020
Posted in Wisdom Wednesday
This week I’m taking it easy. I’m still working through my tasks, but not as hard as I normally do. At the end of last year, I committed to taking a week off every quarter. I’m a little off, but this is my week. I have to say it’s pretty nice.
I just felt a little off last week and figured, why not? I can catch up on some shows on Netflix I’ve been blowing off, I can sleep in a few days, and I can get in some fiction reading. It’ll be a nice week.
Sometimes I have doubts about this or that. When I do, I follow my gut. I pay attention to what I’m doing and determine if I really want to do that. If I struggle to do something, I just stop it. There’s no sense in forcing myself to do something when I’m retired and don’t need to. I try to stick with what I’m excited about. I try to do things that even on my vacation; I have no problem doing them.
The things I really enjoy are programming, gaming, reading, writing, and learning most of all. But the topic has to be something I’m interested in. I love history, science, mathematics, writing courses, and topics that are related to these.
Obviously, there are things you can’t blow off, but anything you consider discretionary time, do what you want! Life’s too short to do something because you think you have to. You don’t. Do what you want with your time. When you do that, pay attention to how you feel about approaching that class, that writing, or anything you’ve done. If you have to drag yourself into doing it—stop. That makes no sense.
Do things during your time that inspire you, interest you, and make you happy. There’s no sense pursuing something that just isn’t your bag.
Well, that’s all I got today, folks! Have a great Wednesday!
Until next time…
Dave
