What has come and passed is no longer of the greatest concern, as long as we have survived for today.
Tomorrow has not yet arrived so it makes no sense to worry about things that may become but rather focus on the moments you have and celebrate them.
Take a deep breath and put all the have not’s, did not’s away.
Feel the sun, or coolness depending where you are and listen to the sounds beyond those that seem near and sometimes fill our bodies with tension and dull our minds with a smorgasbord of noise.
Reach beyond and see the world around you and enjoy the gifts you have, and not those that were, or those that may be. It is in this minute that you live.
Take control and live this moment because it is the only true promise that you have.
It seems so far away, and only a memory. Tomorrow has not yet arrived but drawing closer by the hour, minute, and second. Time paying by so quickly.
Today—this moment is the only thing that is certain, and at times it does not feel all that certain. However, it is only how we live in the moments we have that prepare us for the outcomes we desire.
Do your best, and live each moment the best that you can.
Confucius said, “Man cannot see their reflection in running water but only in still water. Only that which I still in itself can still the seekers of stillness.”
Confucius did not know about mirrors in his time, and many and before mirrors and still cannot find stillness because they seek the wrong things in the reflection before them. The stillness they need is within them, as is the real reflection of stillness they should seek.
I sit here in one of my rare quiet moments, not in demand, or anxious to be somewhere or need to do something that needs to be done.
I am holding my cup of coffee or rather I am looking at it because I just put it down. I see it is half empty and thinking that the right thing to do when something is only half full, is to refill it.
My life is that way, as I seek that path in my life. One needs to only seek those things that bring us love, joy, laughter, and love to replenish the things that truly fulfill us each day without doing harm to others.
Go in peace I say, but if you have a moment come sit for a spell, and grab a cup and share the things that fill your day.
We all follow a path meant for us to each individually follow, but without instructions or rather the instructions are given only if you bother to listen to the quiet voice that speaks to us.
Many have forgotten how to listen to this voice on the outside because there are so many clamoring around us, trying to tell us only to listen to them.
These instructions are not often clear because they give us choices, because we must choose the direction we may follow because each choice teaches us valuable lessons.
Sometimes these lessons are hard, and like the photo above are not smooth and easy. The danger is in whether we are selecting the easy path or not, because the easy path does not always teach the best lessons.
It is often with challenges we grow mentally and physically, and we carry our physical and internal wounds proudly, even when the journey has been hard.
Choose wisely in your journeys and maybe our paths will intersect but each of us have our own lessons to learn in this life, before our next life. Choose well, listen closely because you do not really want to repeat the same lessons because you have failed to learn what you were here to learn.
What snack would you eat right now?
Snacks! I love snacks because they are fast and easy. Right this monument I would grab a banana, mandarin orange, and a handful of mixed nuts, and think I was doing pretty good, because all are heart healthy and easy to prepare, although peeling the orange is harder, not really hard, but harder than the banana.
Come up with a crazy business idea.
I have given this a great deal thought, and as I have aged I came to realize that it is not your mind, hair or hearing as you age which has been reported in the media. The first thing you lose, as a male, is your rear end. There is a point where you become a part of the saggy bottom boys group, and you begin to not only need a belt to hold your pants, but a suspenders to hold up the rear of your pants. Being older I have found it is not just your pants but included your under underwear. I am forever having to pull my underwear up although I am wearing a belt and suspenders. Anyway, I am seriously designing special underwear suspenders for my underwear so they will quit falling down while wandering around the house in my briefs, so I am not flashing plumbers cleavage to people hanging around my house.
What are your thoughts on the concept of living a very long life?
I come from family, on both sides, who live long lives. I am in favor of this and thank them for their hardiness, which gives me hope. I do want to live a long life.
My mother was 97 when she passed on. It wasn’t easy because with the loss of anyone you love it is never easy.
My father’s only brother lived into his nineties and I believe my father would have too, but a train versus van caused his and a five year old brother’s premature deaths.
There are no guarantees we have these long lives because it runs in the family, because another brother three years older than me passed on from colon cancer, but was also struggling with lung problems caused from smoking, and other things in his environment.
I am 67, sixth born of eight children, and recently had a massive heart attack although all my blood pressure checks, etc., showed my doctor and I that I was in pretty good shape, although a little over weight.
The doctors all declared after the event which nearly claimed my life, all but for the attention my daughter paid to my sudden symptoms the day after this past Thanksgiving. I had an abnormal heart attack, and the thing that caused my heart attack was abnormal, and it was really challenging to find and correct.
Truly, my right arm was black and blue from wrist to shoulder from their first attempts to do an angioplasty on me, and finally had to go in from the groin. Thankfully, I was not alert because they said I resisted them on just my arm because the pain was too intense.
Silly thing being allergic to hydrocodone does create some unique challenges for surgeons, so other decisions had to be made to save my life.
They found the problem on the back of my heart and it has been there for a while. I had an abnormal artery with an odd shape which created a slump or place for blood to pool. My heart was pristine, as they said many times, and there was no plaque, but something caused this little pool to break loose and block my heart. Well enough of that. They brought in a scoop shovel on the third attempt and removed that little obstruction. I lived.
Three days later I was released to travel back home in ten days, so stayed at my daughter’s until I could safely drive for eight hours home.
I was not then nor now ready to toss it all aside and give in on the game of life. There is far too much I have not seen, or learned. Far too many projects, goals, or even books read.
I am absolutely in favor of long lives, so I can watch my children, grandchildren, and my future great grandchildren grow.
I love the laughter, beauty, and good things and thank God for the hard lessons I have learned to make even to my current age. It is from these things I write, photograph or paint. And, pray I have at least the long life my mother and others in my family have had.
If you have a cup or glass nearby and it doesn’t matter the contents, take a sip and celebrate with me one more day of life.
Do you spend more time thinking about the future or the past? Why?
Why of course I do. I write to tell stories which propels me both backward and forward through time so I can capture ideas, thoughts, images, and sound playing my mind. I also write in the moment which quickly fades to the past, because we only live in the present for a moment, then it is gone. We look to the future to see the possibilities and stimulate hope, happiness, and many other things we want to see in our future.
We do not begin life in a university or college unless you simply call that living. I began getting my fill of working by following my mother in the fields while she was helping her father picking potatoes in his field with the family, and again later my parents flower shop.
Sometimes we forget the lessons we learn, or at least set them aside to tell our children and grand children when they come along, just as my parents and grandparents did for me. Usually, it was about a lesson they learned.
I have done many-many things in my life, long before I went to the university, mostly to work. I did take a lot of classes but my focus was work. Still I learn about management, laws, time management, personnel, art, creative writing, and especially on how to be physically tired most of the time. I won’t bore you with all the details, but it was for thirty-eight years.
I moved up from being a custodial foreman to an assistant director of operations over many facilities. This was achieved by remembering all of the lessons from the field and the many jobs I had growing up, and the lessons my parents and grandparents told.
My fathers words stayed with me and kept me going when things were hard. He told me once, “Can’t is a sluggard, too lazy to try.” I have always tried.
Success is measured by the attempt, and you will know if you succeeded even when others don’t.
Life In General 