Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Watch What You Let In

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Books, Movies, Negativity, News, Positivity, social media, Spiritual Saturday, spirituality, Video Games

I read an article a little while back and the article was about a spiritual leader who realized that the negativity in our lives is due to what we let in. He went on further to explain that negative books, movies, video games, music–anything that brought in any type of negativity would result in projecting that negativity in the world. 

Have you ever analyzed how you feel after you’ve watched an hour of the news? How about reading the news? How about watching news on YouTube? How about discussing a posted news article on Facebook? I’ll tell you how I felt. I felt like throwing my laptop through a window. 

Who wants to be bombarded by COVID, lives being ruined by riots, cities on fire, etc. Who wants to watch news reports of “non-violent” riots with buildings burning in the background?

I gave up the news months ago and already notice a huge difference in my stress levels. I’m just calmer. I still scan the news, but don’t watch it, don’t listen to it, and do not obsess over it. Yep, COVID is still around. Yep, the riots are still going on across the country. Yep, Biden and Trump are still at one another’s throats for the election. Not much has changed.

If you are stressed out or negative, take a look at what you are letting in.You may be impacted by what you read, watch, or listen to. Pay attention to how you treat other people. If you notice a change or realize people are being more negative toward you, this is the indicator. You see, the world reflects what is inside you. The more negativity you let in, the more negativity you broadcast. Conversely, the more positive you bring in, the more you broadcast positivity. 

Take a look at what you are bringing in. My simple act of reducing my news consumption has made a huge difference in my life. 

Have a great Saturday, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Week of August 3, 2020.

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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

Daily Ramblings – Wisdom Wednesday – Helping Others.

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Follow Guidance, Helping Others, Little tasks, social media, Stay busy, Stay Informed, Stay Safe

Well, the President extended the guidelines provided by the government out to April 30, 2020. The governor of Michigan has ended the school year. The virus is hitting New York hard, and has cropped up in Louisiana, Michigan (my home state), and a few other places. Idaho experienced an earthquake late this afternoon. This virus is hitting every country and territory on the planet.

How does one maintain their sanity? First, keep yourself busy. Develop a routine and stick with it. Second, if you are working remotely, continue to do a great job for your company, despite the new difficulties presented by remote work. Third, help other people.

How can you help? You can pay it forward at restaurants you’re picking up your food from. You can stay in touch with family, particularly those family members that are elderly and isolated. You can reach out to elderly neighbors to see if they need anything from the market when you go to resupply. You can be courteous to other people and keep your distance when in public. You can abide by the hours stores set for the elderly and other populations at the grocery store, Walmart, and other outlets that are still open. You can post positive, funny, educational, and helpful information to your social media feeds. You can be a good family member by helping to cook, clean, and help with chores you might not otherwise do because you’re at work.

The key to feeling better when you feel helpless, frightened, and overwhelmed is to help other people. This will help you focus on someone else and take your mind off of things. Not to mention how great it feels to help other people out. While I was out today, I took a few extra minutes to bring a few shopping carts back to the entryway of the store, besides mine. It’s a small task, but who knows how that contributed to an employee’s day, who would normally have to go out and get them. Little things build up. Take a few moments to help. It’s worth it.

Well, that’s all I got, folks. I hope you and your family are safe. I hope you are enjoying your time at home with your loved ones.

Stay safe, stay informed, and follow guidelines provided by your local, state, and government authorities.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Motivation Monday – Week of March 16, 2020 – Updated

Tags

Blogging, Coronavirus, Exercise, Learning, motivation, Reading, social media, spirituality, Writing

***Both of my gyms have closed. I’ll be moving all of my workouts into the home with my exercise bands.*** 

Well, it’s another week, folks!

What are you working on? As always, I packed my week with reading, writing, educating myself, spiritual work, and exercise. It’s going to be great fun!

My schedule:

• Scene construction for my fiction book – daily.
• Blogging – daily.
• Spiritual reading – daily.
• Spiritual exercises (meditation) – daily.
• Exercise – daily (see my workout routine) – daily.
• Algebra, Spanish, Python, NLP classes – daily.
• Post articles and quotes to social media – daily.
• Read writing book, fiction book, and Bible – daily.
• Journal – daily.

With all the news about the coronavirus (COVID-19), I would be remiss if I didn’t discuss it briefly. My advice: take all measures specified by your government. If you get sick, stay home, watch your symptoms, and get yourself to a hospital if your symptoms get worse.

Take care of yourself. Eat right, drink plenty of fluids, keep social distance, and help out your friends and family if they need it. My folks are in their late 70s and early 80s, so I’ll be on hand to step in and help if they get sick. We’re in a pretty small town and have not had any cases arise yet. We’re monitoring it.

What to do? Read, catch up on your movie watching, pay attention to your new outlets, exercise at home if your gym is closed or too far away, and follow any protocols your employer has put in place. My brother, sister, wife, niece, and nephew have all been moved to remote work/school, so life will be different for a few weeks.

Most important: Do Not Panic. I know it’s hard with the 24-hour news cycle, but use your common sense and don’t go overboard. Everything will be alright.

Have a great week, folks!

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Ted Talk Tuesday – Memes

Tags

Communication, Funny, Lexicon, Memes, social media, Ted Talk, TedEd

Don’t you just love memes? I know I do. When someone on my Facebook feed puts a good meme, it’s hard not to laugh myself to tears. Check out this short video on why these have become part of the 21st century lexicon.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Watch What you Let In

Tags

consciousness, facebook, Negativity, News, social media, spirituality, Stress

“Negativity sells.” – Stephen A. Smith

I follow Stephen King on Facebook and he mentioned today that he was leaving Facebook because there was so much false and misleading information on the platform. I agree, but Facebook has one primary purpose for me–to stay connected with friends and family.

When I first started using Facebook, I’d accept friendship requests from anyone. Then I began to learn my lesson rather quickly. Fake profiles, crazy crap showing up on my newsfeed, and people pestering me for money on Facebook messenger. Lesson learned. In early 2017 I went through my entire list of “friends” on Facebook and developed my own simple rule: If I haven’t worked with someone, met them in person, went to school with them, served in the military with them, or met them through a trusted source, like WordPress, friendship is rejected. You know what? My newsfeed is now filled with wholesome, funny, and relevant content that I enjoy.

The false and misleading information doesn’t stop at Facebook. It is all over the news. Another lesson: Stop reading the news. I scan the news, because I like to stay up on world events and know what’s going on, but I do not open up any news articles unless it’s from my hometown newspaper or it covers something I am interested in, like STEM topics, productivity, psychology, writing, or movie/music/book reviews. If I read something outside of my interest areas, it is purely for entertainment. You know what? My stress levels decreased immeasurably. Just because I refuse to get sucked into articles that are designed to piss me off, stress me out, or make me worry about something.

I guess what I’m trying to get across is the importance of maintaining your sanity by paying attention to what you let in to your consciousness. If you enjoy reading articles filled with lies, exaggerations, and are so slanted one way or another to fire you up, go for it. I choose not to. I’d rather fill my mind with the next scientific discovery on the horizon, look at terrific photos of landscapes, animals, or outer space. I’d rather learn something than read about all the infighting that has reduced our political dialogue to two monkeys throwing shit at each other at the zoo.

Read fulfilling literature, poetry, a well-written non-fiction or fiction book. Watch a good movie. Listen to healing music (classical, sound scapes, and instrumentals are my favorite). These are the things I use to build myself up.

The next time you feel yourself getting stressed out, check what you are letting into your life. I think you’ll be surprised at the stress you have that is self-inflicted.

I hope all of you have a great weekend!

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Announcement

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About Section, Connect, facebook, Instagram, Join Me, social media, TikTok, twitter

Hey all,

I wanted to tell you that I updated my About section with all of my social media account links. Feel free to reach out if you’d like to connect. I got the idea from another blog I’ve been interacting with and thought it was a great idea. I’ve got some things I’m planning for 2021 that are pretty exciting. I want to start a YouTube channel. I’m also delving into Tik Tok. I’m a huge fan of Gary V and he suggested Tik Tok, so I said, “Why not?” It’s quite entertaining.

Well, that’s all I wanted to say folks. Have a great Sunday!

Until next time…

Dave

 

Daily Ramblings – Thankful Thursday – Friends

Tags

Comments, Conversations, Friends, Great Content, Interaction, social media, WordPress

Today, I’m thankful for my friends.

One of my goals this year is to be more social on platforms like this and get out and talk with people. I’ve been stuck in the house with Dad lately, because Mom is out of town with a friend attending a religious event in Texas. So, while she’s gone, my social activities will be here on WordPress, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, and TikTok. TikTok is a little new for me, but I’m a big fan of Gary V and he is all over this platform. So I’m moving to this new venue to see what’s up.

As for WordPress, I have found so many great people. I enjoy engaging with folks about their postings. I love to read their posts. I enjoy book reviews, travel blogs, the poetry thats out there, and more importantly, the stories.

Some of you have had a real time of it. I try to pass on a little hope and comfort to anyone that is having trouble in their life and use this platform to vent and get it out. It may be painful, but this is a healthy practice. Even if I am only a little part of it, it’s nice to help a fellow human being out when life just sucks.

Anyway, I’m grateful to have found WordPress and very grateful I decided to start a blog back in 2016. I, like most, had no idea what I was doing, and even a little shy about putting some of the things I’ve put on this site over the years. Most of my articles share what I’m doing, what I  have learned, or a great book I’ve read. Other times, I get right down into it, and let it loose.

For those of you, who have left comments, or have interacted with me, even for a brief time during your day–Thanks. It means a great deal to hear from you. Well, readers, keep posting your great content. It’s hard to read all of it, but I do monitor this site frequently throughout the day, and if I see something that catches my interest, I’ll be in touch.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – TED Talk Tuesday – Jaron Lanier

Tags

Behavior Modification, Changing the Model, Early Mistakes, Internet, Jaron Lanier, social media, Ted Talk

Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay 

This was an interesting Ted Talk and one that resonated with me. With all the talk about how social media has been exploited to influence elections and modify our behavior, this  Ted Talk by Jaron Lanier offers suggestions on how we could change the Internet for the better.

Until next time…

Dave

Daily Ramblings – Spiritual Saturday – Happiness Comes From Within

Tags

24-hour news, Choice, External, Grateful, Gratitude, Happiness, Internal, Needs, social media, Wants

“Happiness comes from within. It is not dependent on external things or on other people. You become vulnerable and can be easily hurt when your feelings of security and happiness depend on the behavior and actions of other people. Never give your power to anyone else.” ― Brian Weiss

 

Have you ever heard a friend or relative cry out, ‘I just want to be happy!’? People seek happiness in money, travel, relationships, a good job, security, or some other place. The problem with this idea is simply this: Happiness is a choice.

You choose to be happy. If you constantly depend on material things, people, places, or your job to make you happy, you will find out very quickly that this is an untenable position. Why you ask? Because nothing is permanent in this world. Money changes, places change, people change, jobs change, and your health changes. If you depend on outside things to make you happy, you’ll be chasing happiness for the rest of your life.

Happiness is a mindset. It literally is a way of living. You either choose to be happy or you choose to be unhappy. Frankly, I choose to be happy. Being happy is so much easier than being pissed off and afraid. Happiness is calming, peaceful, comfortable. Why would anyone want to be anything but happy?

I find the people that are chasing after happiness are never happy. There’s always one more thing to get, one more friend to have, one more experience to try, one more place to travel to. A common phrase unhappy people use is “if only”. If only I had a wife that loved me. If only I had a nicer home. If only I had a better job, a faster car, a puppy, ad infinitum.

Unfortunately, in the United States, we have a society driven by marketing, sales, and advertising. We’re shown unrealistic pictures of happy people driving around in Ferraris, eating whatever they want, drinking whatever they want, and living the supposed “good life”. We have a 24-hour news cycle constantly berating us with disasters, crime, and tales of doom and gloom. It is never ending and inescapable.

Be informed but remain happy. Buy the things you want and need but be happy. Be grateful for what you have. It is so interesting to hear people talk about what they need and confusing need with want. Most of us have what we need to survive. We have a place to sleep, we have enough food to eat, we have a place protected from the elements. Yet, so many of us are unhappy. We take for granted what we have already and that what we have is enough. I think part of our unhappiness as a society is spurred by social media, advertisers, and the 24-hour new cycle, which focuses on negative, rather than positive stories.

How can you turn all of this around? Avoid it. Stop watching the news. Stop spending hours on social media. You can still be informed by scanning the news for a few minutes in the morning. You can stay in touch with friends by making some postings in the morning and reacting to your feed. Once you’ve done these things–GET OFF OF IT!! Then, focus on the things you want to do for yourself. Work on your goals, work on yourself, do your chores. Read, write, experience. Most importantly, take stock each day of what you are grateful for. Really focus on the things that you have right now. The more you focus on what you have, the less you’ll want something externally.

I hope all of you have a terrific Saturday!

Until next time…

Dave