Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday

Tags

Consistency, Persistence, self-criticism, self-improvement, self-judgment, Self-love, self-support

“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.” – H. G. Wells

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/h_g_wells_163592

One of my largest challenges is learning how to be non-judgmental and self-criticizing. I want to do so many things, get moving toward them, and then…You know the rest. I wanted to take a little time today to discuss the importance of “giving yourself a break.”

I am currently working through a meditation series on my Calm app called the “Relationship with Self” series. It is a series of 10-minute meditations that address things like self-criticism, impatience with self, judgment of self. Think about how many times in the last week you said, “I should…”. For me, it is beyond counting.

I have discovered over the last month working with the discrimination character trait that when you rise above the mind and realize your true nature (awareness), the negative and positive of things fades away. There is no good or bad, up or down, here or there. It all just is. It is just experience. When the mind gets involved it must label, compare, or judge. This is what the mind does—it must examine and measure to make any sense of what it takes in.

Does beating yourself up really make any difference? Not really. It just adds to your guilt, your angst, and lowers your self-esteem each time you start ranting to yourself about how you should have done this or failed to do this. This doesn’t make any sense, does it?

Instead, look at each day as an experiment. What works? What doesn’t work? Just like the quote for today, we all fall, we all screw up, we all fail. Today, we can get up, and try again.

It’s the start of another week. Be patient with yourself, be kind to yourself, love yourself. You should be your best cheerleader, not your best critic.

This week I’ll continue to work through my coding classes, my mindfulness course, writing my book, blogging, and of course, working out. I’ll also squeeze in some reading here and there and journal.

I hope each of you has a terrific week!

Until next time…

Dave

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Daily Ramblings – Series Sunday

Tags

Benjamin Franklin, Character Traits, Discrimination, Judgment, self-improvement, Series Sunday

1. Discriminating
2. Tolerant
3. Forgiving
4. Content
5. Detached
6. Humble
7. Patient
8. Compassionate
9. Disciplined
10. Grateful
11. Minimalist
12. Contemplative

These are the 12 personal character traits I will be working on over the next year. Like Benjamin Franklin, I will work on one each month. As I progress, I will continue to work on the previous trait and add the next trait. This will result in working on all 12 at year’s end.

The trait I will be working on this month is Discrimination. I am not looking to improve my prejudice. That part of the discriminating definition is not part of my character development. My goal is to be able to sift through all the information I receive from the Internet, my personal relationships, and any other source, and make better decisions.

I want to improve my ability to choose between right and wrong, true and false, and illusion and reality. It will be a great exercise and I look forward to it. Today, we are deluged with information—much of this “information” is not true or heavily biased one way or another.

I’ll see you again next month when I add another trait out of this list to November.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Thinking Thursday

Tags

Books, Coursera, Learning, Movies, Netflix, Reading, self-improvement, Writing

Photo and Quote: www.brainyquote.com

We are either growing or shrinking. Our brain is a muscle, just like those we use to move about. Learning new things, reading, writing, and building your skill set all contribute to your ability to think, reason, and analyze. Learning is an entertaining, challenging, and rewarding activity.

I cannot stress how important learning is to each of us.

What should you learn? That’s up to you. What interests you? What skills could benefit you in your job, your overall career, your life? Pick something. Explore it. Learn something.

I make it a daily practice to learn something new each day. Whether it’s a piece of trivia or a deep topic like terrorism, philosophy, politics, or mathematics, they are all topics to learn about. Maybe you want to learn a new language, learn how to take better photos with your phone, or even learn how to program with HTML. Regardless of the topic or skill you pursue, all will benefit you. They will exercise your brain, they will keep you engaged, they will push your limits of capability.

Read daily. Write daily. Learn something new daily. Here’s what I’m up to this week:

Books:

Armor, Steakley – Recommended by an Army Buddy. A terrific book so far.

Ethics, Aristotle – Almost done with this one.

The Shariyat Ki Sugmad, Paul Twitchell – This is my bible. I finished it and will re-read again. This book is a permanent fixture on my reading list.

Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe – Still plugging away on this one. I’ve put it on hold, not because it is a bad book but due to the nonfiction reading, I’m taking on (I love nonfiction books more than fiction).

The Science of Success: What Researchers Know That You Should Know, Paula Caproni. I just started this book in conjunction with the author’s course on Coursera.

Classes:

The Science of Success: What Researchers Know That You Should Know, Paula Caproni, University of Michigan, Coursera. – I started week 1 yesterday. A buddy of mine recommended this one and I’m glad he did. This is a good course so far.

Documentaries:

Movies:

Venom (Another Marvel Movie) is scheduled to come out on the 5^th. I cannot wait. This one looks terrific!

Fun:

Ozark – Netflix (in the cue) – Re-watching Season 1 to remind me what’s going on. I’ll kick into Season 2 when I’m back on track with this one.

Jack Ryan – Amazon Prime – This was ok but not as good as the hype that was advertising since earlier this year. Watch at your own risk. The story is entertaining but nothing to call home about.

The Newsroom – Wow! This was a terrific show. I highly recommend it. The writer for this show also was the writer for the West Wing. Great show.

Interesting Apps:

Calm – This is a meditation app and is awesome. It is a little pricey. It’s 59.99/year. I really enjoy the app. I began using it again to bolster my meditation practice. I dropped meditating for a bit and found my stress levels increased and focus waned. I use this app twice a day and love it.

Until next time…

Dave

Reference

Anthony J. D’Angelo Quotes. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved October 4, 2018, from BrainyQuote.com Website: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/anthony_j_dangelo_153989

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday

Tags

Attitude, Responsibility, Self-control, Self-discipline, self-improvement

“There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.” – Aldous Huxley

Read more at https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/aldous_huxley_386738?src=t_motivational

Happy Monday!!

I hope everyone had a terrific weekend. It’s that time again—Motivation Monday!!! What do you control? What can you affect? You’ll find that the only thing you can control is you.

You can’t control your cube mate, you can’t control the other people on the road, you can’t control the attitude of the barista making your coffee. You can control your attitude. You can control what goes in your mouth and body. You can control your reaction to outside events and people. You can control what you read, what you listen to, and who you associate with.

Concentrate on the things you can control and your “circle of influence will increase”. Concentrate on the things you cannot control and your “circle of influence will decrease.” (Covey, 1989). Your circle of influence is composed of all the things you are in control of. Focus on your circle of influence and your life will turn around.

Some of you are working right now. Some of you are at home. Some of you are having a terrific day, while others dreaded going to work this morning. I’ve been there. I’ve also experienced the phenomenon that Covey (1999) addresses. I was more concerned about the things outside of me, rather than the ones inside.

It is so easy to play the victim. Why take personal responsibility when you can blame your parents, your siblings, your luck, or some other “outside” thing. Easy right? If there are all these outside things affecting my ability to perform it isn’t my fault. I am not responsible. Get it? This is why it is easy. This is why so many people fall into this trap. Taking responsibility is hard, but it is a necessary step to personal growth and effectiveness. The moment you own your life with all of its successes and failures will be the moment you begin to realize that you are in charge.

When you begin to realize that you have the power to change, the power to work on your weaknesses, the power to control your attitude and response to outside circumstances you will awaken to a new reality. A reality that you have complete control over. If there is something you do not like about yourself, read, study, learn how to make the change. There are articles, books, and YouTube videos that will show you how. You have all the power in the world to make the personal changes you want to make.

It’s up to you.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Workout Diary – Back and Biceps

Tags

Back, Biceps, Bodybuilding, healthy living, Self-discipline, self-improvement

Hey there!

I wanted to give everyone an update. I just started a Kris Gethin workout and it is terrific! I won’t give any details, but if you are interested in getting in some very intense metal work, hit him up at: www.kagedmuscle.com.

Today’s workout was back and biceps. Here’s the breakdown:

Bent over Barbell Rows

Lat Pull Downs

Reverse grip Lat Pull downs

Deadlifts

Shrugs

Alternating Dumbbell Bicep Curls

Preacher Curls

That’s it for today folks!

See you next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Today’s Quote – Harold Klemp – The Plus Factor

Tags

God, Harold Klemp, Path to God, self-improvement

Today’s Quote:

“No matter how much insight we gain about God, there will always be something that lies beyond the horizon of our understanding. That is simply the nature of truth.” Harold Klemp – The Language of Soul

As an Eckist, this is quote refers to the plus factor. It relates that regardless of what we do, we will never be able to understand God in its entirety. There will always be one more step to take, one more level to achieve.

I think this is a tremendous thing! It means that our journey towards being our best self will never be over. Imagine how boring life would be if there were a final place where we finally make it? I think that would be a terrible place to be.

I enjoy stretching myself. I enjoy the ups and downs of self-improvement. We never stay in the same place. We are either progressing or slipping backward a bit. That’s ok. This is how it works. I see this in the gym, my writing, my reading, and even my spirituality.

What I find most interesting is that each time we hit a new high, we begin to realize we are more capable now and our view of what’s next becomes clearer. Then we reset our sights on something higher and continue.

The path to God is the same. Imagine yourself at the bottom of a mountain. You begin walking upwards. You take a rest after a while and look back. You are now much higher in the worlds of God and can see more. This new awareness changes us. It allows us to see better and make better decisions. We can see the mistakes we made in the past, we can see the various routes we took and can visualize where we made mistakes. It doesn’t make sense to dwell on these mistakes, mind you, but it does point out that we will always fumble about as we move forward, regardless of the task. This is the nature of things.

Each time we take a rest, we are higher still. We can see more, are aware of more, and are literally changed beings. Continuing on with my metaphor of a mountain, imagine how hard it will be when the air begins to thin, the path becomes more treacherous and steep. This requires, even more, transformation as we progress. Our path to God and perfection never ends. It continues forever.

I hope everyone had a great Wednesday!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Daily Quote

Tags

Confucius, mini-habits, self-improvement

Today’s Quote

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” – Confucius

The wisdom of Confucius continues to bless us to this day. This quote means so many things to me when I read it. It means that we are not in a race but in a marathon. It means we can continuously improve or degrade, the choice is ours. This quote also suggests that we can make small, little steps and achieve anything.

I read a book a year or so ago called Mini Habits by Steven Guise. The book discusses the challenges related to creating good, productive, habits. The book suggests that it is much easier if we create ridiculously small changes to our daily lives instead of trying to invoke a big change. These small changes are the “mini habits” that allow us to create bigger habits later by building upon the small ones.

Example Mini Habits

Exercise: 1 pushup a day

Diet: -1 sodas per day

Meditation: 1 minute per day

Writing: 1 sentence per day

Executing Your Mini Habit

Let’s say we want to pick up a reading habit. Something truly intentional, not just reading random stuff on the web, but an actual book. We look at our day, and figure out we can start our new reading habit before we go to bed. So, in and around the rest of our evening ritual we decide to read 1 page of a book 30 minutes before we turn out the lights.

Is there any doubt you could read 1 page of a book per night? The key to setting up a mini habit and making it work for you is to pick something that is so small that even if you were sick you could still do it. In other words, there is no excuse for failing to do the mini habit you’ve set for yourself.

Steven Guise also suggests only dealing with one habit at a time. This is purposeful so that you will truly remain focused on the one habit you want to create. I’ve run across several “life-changing” books like this. I highly recommend this book. The $6.00 cost for the Kindle version allows you instant access and it is a really easy read. It will be worth your while—promise.

Well, that’s it for today folks!

See you tomorrow…

Daily Ramblings – Striving

Tags

Exercise, Improving, Learning, Meditation, Reading, self-improvement, Striving, Studying, Writing

“It is never too late to be what you might have been.” George Eliot

Wow, what a great quote right? How many stories have been told through the ages of a life wasted? Wow, he or she could have been this, if only….?

When you wake up in the morning, do you realize that you are the best you’ve ever been, ever? It only gets better moving forward. I realize this may sound to be a little over the top from a positivity perspective, but why can’t it be like that? It can be.

One of the things I’ve discovered since beginning this blog and following others is that there are a lot of folks who are striving. Striving to improve. Striving to be better. Striving to heal. Striving to be heard. I really enjoy reading the thoughts of others and try to put myself in their position, really feeling where they are in life. But, living a life well-lived is about the striving, right? I think it is.

I am striving for many things. I want to become a writer. I want to tweak my prose so people will be drawn to my books, my blog, or whatever I create for a reader to consume. I want to be in the best shape of my life so my brain and body will serve me as long as humanly possible. I strive toward this goal with daily exercise, eating right, a daily dose of reading, learning, writing, and meditation. I want to be loved, so I strive to interact with people, cultivate new relationships by putting myself out there, and maintaining the relationships I have with my family and my friends by staying in touch and doing those little things that make my loved ones know they are my world and they can depend on me.

I strive for a great many things that pertain to my physical well-being, my financial well-being, my mental and intellectual well-being, my spiritual well-being, and my social well-being. This striving is what keeps me alive. I continuously look for ways to improve and get better, all while taking care of the most important person in my life—me. If I am not striving for that next goal, that next hilltop, that next landmark, then I am moving backward.

Don’t get me wrong. We all get sick. We all get old. We all get blind-sided by those things that we didn’t see coming, which put us into a temporary tailspin. What I’m talking about here is purposeful striving, continuing forward, regardless of what we get hit with or encounter.

This is where the quote above really hit me. I don’t want to be that person that looks back over their life regretting that I didn’t do something I could have done. I don’t want to be that person that cowered in fear and avoided something because it might be too hard or too scary to even try. I want to look back on my life and say, I did the very best I could with what I had and from where I started. Man, what a great ride this life has been.

We all come to this world with our own baggage and circumstances. Some are outright advantageous, while others are the exact opposite. If you are ever discouraged, look around the web for a bit or go to your local library. You’ll find a story about a person who had it rougher than you and excelled. You’ll also find a person who had everything and wasted their opportunity. A well-lived life is not all about the accolades and accomplishments. It is about the striving.

By the way, I chose the Ballerina picture, as a way of demonstrating striving in action (they work really hard to get good at this particular kind of dance).

Until next time…

 

 

Daily Rituals…

Tags

daily, flow, habit, habits, Productivity, rituals, self-improvement, system, workflow

I’ve recently read a book called Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. This book lists out all of the Artists and thinkers over the years and how they ran their days. Some didn’t have any plan at all, but these were rare. Most had a very specific list of things they did each day. They got up the same time, retired the same time, and followed a system. I’ve always believed in rituals because they build consistency in my day and reinforce the things I want to focus on.

Let’s look at some things that are good for us. Sleeping 7-8 hours a night, exercising, meditation, reading, writing, hygiene, social networking, etc. By focusing on these simple things, you build a habit of doing these things and building a solid foundation that has been proven to be healthy and efficient. Who wouldn’t want that?

Here’s what my morning ritual looks like:

• Rise
• Record my dreams if I recall anything
• Make my bed
• Hygiene
• Meditate
• Visualize the completion of my most important goal
• Breakfast
• Check Email
• Check Facebook, Twitter, Blog, and LinkedIn, and email iteration 1
• Post quotes to social media sites and write down my recorded dream in my dream journal
• Writing in my Gratitude Journal
• Verifying my plan for the day (top 2-3 things I set to accomplish)

Daily rituals are cool because they provide a stability to my day. Now that I’m retired it gives me a structure, a system to follow, addressing what I consider important. I also have an evening ritual.

Here’s what my evening ritual looks like:

• Dinner
• Exercise
• Planning for tomorrow
• Gratitude Journal
• Check Facebook, Twitter, Blog, and LinkedIn, and email iteration 3
• Write in my Gratitude Journal
• Write in my diary
• Hygiene
• Evening Reading
• Retire

These are things I do every day. Not necessarily in the order, I’ve put them in. Things happen. If I’m sick or have an appointment that disrupts my ability to accomplish some of those ritualistic things, I’ll blow them off that day. The key to rituals is they build habits that are strong enough to deal with the chaos of our lives and survive as templates for our activities.

The key to building a great ritual is to select those things you deem important to your life or are very passionate about. Some of the things on my list may be a given for you, like hygiene. Some folks may decide hygiene isn’t one of those things they want to deal with in a ritual because they are going to do it. The ritual can be composed of anything you want. The key is to build your ritual on those things that you believe will provide value to your life if they are done consistently.

After using rituals for the last 6 months I am a firm believer in their efficacy. I am on automatic each morning and launch into my evening rituals with the same tenacity. My morning ritual is triggered by my waking in the morning and the bulk of my evening ritual is triggered by my dinner. After dinner is complete, I exercise, plan for the next day, check social media and this blog, hit my gratitude journal and my diary, and get ready for a relaxing evening.

I hope some of these ideas are helpful and wish you well on creating rituals that provide value to your day.

Until next time…