Long time readers know that while I’m not much on structured religion, I am big on spirituality, and as such I like to study a variety of different religious philosophies. One of the most valuable things I’ve ever read is the Serenity Prayer. For those not familiar with it:
Past experience has shown that all of us have times in our life where we feel like we’re “close to the edge.” That edge is usually visualized or shown in images as a cliff, most often with an ocean or other large body of water at the bottom. In a variety of conversations held with…
A very wise man once said, although I argued with him about it for quite some time, “Everything is a matter of perception.” I argued with him because I believed, at the time, that some things were not open to interpretation; that they weren’t open to perception; that they simply were. While I still believe…
I recently read an article about the new tattoo rage: a semi-colon. People are apparently getting them tattood anywhere and everywhere: behind their ear, on their wrist, ankle, foot, lower abdomen, butt, etc… yes, anywhere and everywhere. The “movement” was apparently started in 2013 and is meant to express that, at any given moment, life…
“It’s not how hard you can hit. It’s how hard you can get hit and still keep moving forward.” Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa in, well, Rocky Balboa.
I was involved recently in a conversation with a gentlemen who was trying to discover my motivations for being a police officer. He too is a police officer but we have different circumstances and situations in our lives: he is the (almost) stereotypical bachelor cop who is divorced, whose children are grown, and whose life…
When you’re a child, everything you have to remember is about how to get through the day. Parents get you up and tell you what to wear. You know you have to brush your teeth, go to school, when to be home and all the rest. If you forget something, it’s far from the end…
I just enjoyed spending a weekend at my in-laws with my wife this past weekend (as this is written). We enjoyed relaxing, shopping and helping them with a few things around the house. As usual, throughout my days, I was looking for inspiration; something that would make me think and anything that could be used…
For most people, if you say the words “home improvement,” their first thought is of improving where they live somehow. For the past two months my wife and I have been refinishing, refurbishing and upgrading our kitchen. New countertops, painted walls, new tile backsplash, new ceiling lights, over and under cabinet lights… it’s been quite…
As I sit to write this it’s the early part of May 2020. For the past few months the news has been dominated by the coronavirus and the resulting sickness, COVID-19. As part of one of my jobs, I have to update numbers on a website each morning and those numbers include the total number…
Not long ago I made a list of the new projects I was starting for 2020. As I reviewed, edited, shared, edited and continued to critique the list it occurred to me that a significant part of it are items of self-improvement. Several of the items are things that cause me some type of discomfort,…
A few months back my wife and I attended a social gathering of some friends and folks with common interests. One of the attendees was a lady who was celebrating her 45th birthday and the hosts were quite encouraging about everyone wishing the woman a happy birthday. They wanted us to help bring joy and…
Ah, it’s that time of year. For the past week people have been building up to and celebrating Christmas. For the next week some folks regret all that they’ve eaten, losing another year of not improving themselves the way they’d like to have, and generally making false promises to themselves (called resolutions) that they swear…
I came across this “comfort zone” diagram in my social media feeds and wish I could find out who to attribute it to. I had to stop and study it for a moment, considering what it displays and whether or not I agree with it. Thinking back across my own life, could I think of…
A great many people believe that motivation and discipline are the same things. In reality they are drastically different. Motivation is something you feel; discipline is a skill… it’s learned. Those folks who believe that discipline is an automatic follow-on to motivation as it wains need to learn the difference.
I have had several friends make fun of me for my outlook on sleeping. As much as I enjoy it when I’m exhausted, I also resent it. No matter how long I (you) live, if sleep consumes six to eight hours per night, 25%-33% of a life is spent sleeping. That’s time that can never…
In today’s society we all-too-often here members of various generations criticizing each other. Baby Boomers will call Millennials “pansycakes” or “snowflakes.” Millennials will say that Boomers and Generation Xers are too harsh, unempathetic or cold hearted. The reality is that from the different perspectives, it may all be true. The question then becomes, “What is…
As I type this entry it’s “Black Friday” 2019. One of the best memes I’ve seen recently is the one that points out how so many people rush out on Black Friday to buy stuff they don’t even need on the day after they’re supposed to be thankful for all their blessings. Now, admittedly, some…
As I sit to type out this year’s Thanksgiving entry it occurs to me that I would never have considered doing such in my younger years. I don’t know if this is a sign that I appreciate life more in my maturity or if my focus on what’s of value has changed. Back in my…
Somehow, somewhere along the way, we as a society seem to have come to the belief that every person perceives every experience in the same way. The fact of individual experience, individual knowledge, individual background, individual resilience… these things all seem to be dismissed in favor of the belief that if X happens to little…