Thursday, November 28, 2019

The battle for Black Friday conclusion of the mantra

Finish Off the Verse—Nerxt Year Break the Curse of Black Friday

Today is THANKSGIVING!  Imagine if Thanksgiving lasted as long as “Black Friday” activities.  My goodness  could we all tolerate weeks worth of  finding things to be grateful for?  Would we  start looking in the paper and on the web, not for sales, but for  the material to highlight in a three or four week period of giving thanks.  Would  we start to realize how many things we could do to increase the. Gratitude  available  to everyone available on the planet.  What if retailers had to  publish one good deed along with every  item they. Wanted to sell?  Wouldn’t that be cool.  I challenge any retailer to satart doing that next year and may.start contacting a few just to see what their response would be.  Feel free to do that  yourself if you want.  

Okay tomorrow is actually “BLACK FRIDAY”  so let’s finish off the  mantra/ poem today.  Since it’s Thanksgiving  let’s try starting out by closing. Your eyes and thinking of five people (no more)  that you are incredibly thankful for.   Now think of two ways...without speaking you will let them know during the  next year how thankful you are....Then pick one of those people and under your breath say...”this one’s for you.  Read and Recite the  following

(Again..I’m typing this from memory and if you have been reading along..you know how it goes lol.

B is Beginning  and that’s where we all are
Breathe deeply. At home in stores. And your car

L is for learning to like  my current status
Heed not  what the sales tags keep screaming at us

A’s for  Alllow you best gifts to shine through
Give freely of yourself it’s the best you can do

C of course is for caring for yourself and each other

Each Father, Each Mother, Each Sister, Each Brother

K is for Kindness we all need for survival 
And to build up  our strength for Black Friday’s arrival

F if for family and friends old and new
Be gentle with them—they’ll be gentle with you

R is for reflection please check your attitude
If you find any holes, please  fill them with gratitude

I stands for intention buildsome by day dreaming
Dreams come from  your soul, not other folks’ scheming 

D is for Devour events large and small
They are all precious  cherish them all
A is for  actions that speak louder than  wordsAnd they’ll make spirits  soar with the angels and  birds

And... Y is. For Yes it’s a great word to share
More often than not peace and joy is found there.

Reading and repeating  this will help me  get through tomorrow.  However, that’s not enough...Tomorrow I think I’ll reflect  upon how I can change the Black Friday experience heading into next year and invite you to do the same.

For now....take a walk let the pie settle and know I am thankful for each of you and each gift I have been granted.  


Peace —Out

Tuesday, November 26, 2019

OKAY Tomorrow l will be “waiting for the onslaught Wednesday...so It seems prudent to expand our little mantra/rhyme.  If you haven’t been reading along and growing  your mantra to assist you in grabbing some peace and joy surrounding “Black Friday,”  I’ll summarize and then go on.

You see the battle for Black Friday.peace and joy becomes. More important each year as the  money changers creep their materialism further and further up the.calendar and sing songs as if. It’s the most wonderful sale of the year.  In short, feelings of inadequacy and anxiety regarding not being  good enough complared to others has a solution and that is buying stuff <sarcasm> and our kind businesses are more than happy to make us feel better—except  they wrap it up in anxiety, guilt, and debt.  
They sell things not experiences.  I noticed the other day that if I bought an expensive bedroom combo the company would give me a ‘free TB,’ so I guess I’m sup[p[osed to lie around in bed watching  TV throughout the holidays/. Why couldn’t they giveaway  on free round trip plane ticket so you might. Go visit family?  

Okay enough. Of this for now...we have to put ourselves es in a calmer state of mind and this poem/mantra is what I offer.  

So here is expansion  two.  Take a few  deep breaths and read it thourough a couple times.  Then. Think of a vacation or a trip you have taken and had fun.  Then  Recite the expanded version.  More on “work together Wednesday.

(Again I ‘m writing this from myth memory to yours so if the words don’t match well pick the ones you like best.

B is beginning—it’s where we all are

Breathe deeply at home in stores  and your car
L is for learning to like  my current status
Heed not what the sales tags keep screaming at us

A’s for allow your best gifts to show through
Give freely of yourself it’s the best you can do
C of course is for Caring for. Yourself and each other
Each Father , Each Mother, Each Sister Each Brother

K is for kindness we need that for survival
It gives us strenth for Black Friday’s arrival

F’s for Family and Friends bothold and new
Be gentle with them, they’ll be gentle with you

R’s for reflection please  examine your attitude
If you find any holes, then fill them with gratitude.

Okay..that’s all for today...your homework, in addition  to  remembering the mantra is to think back to the first Sears Wish bBook you ever  remember  working your way through.  What was the exotic  gift you. Wanted and yet you knew  you wouldn’t get... Did Sears create hope or the feeling that someone would have something. You wouldn’t ever have?   Now look at  10% of the things you own and  imagine. What your wound self would have thought if she or he knew  you  woulda have those things in the future.  


Okay read the mantra focus on what you have and we’ll be back tomorrow!

Monday, November 25, 2019

The battle for Black Friday peace and joy part two

THE BATTLE FOR BLACK FRIDAY—PART TWO

Well yesterday was  “start up Sunday” in  the campaign to  provide. Coping tools for “Black Friday” and the holiday season if needed.  
Today the Mantra/poem is expanded and some additional thoughts are offeredIt should be noted that I’m  writing the poem every day from memory so a word or two may be different, but relax and  recite what is offered today. As the version that was intended all along because that is the way of the universe.  We can miss so much of what is while we focus on how things could have been.  If we continue to  cling to and regret things in the past we can’t change it anyway.  There is only one possible past and you lived it.  There may be  many possible  presents depending on your beliefs and actions which means the future(s) are still to be written.  Speaking of Writing...here’s the next expansion

B is the beginning it’s where we all are
Breathe deeply at home, in stores, and your car

L is for learning to like  our current status
Heed not what the sales tags keep screaming at us
A’s for allow your best gifts to  shine through
Give freely of yours self, it’s the best you can do

C of course is for Caring Do that. More for each other
Each  Father —Each Mother—Each Sister—Each Brother

K is for Kindness we all need for. Survival
And it  builds up o
 That get’s  us pretty much through the first half of the mantra.  In addition to this little rhyme... toady.it would be great if you could think of your favorite Thanksgiving.tradition (we heather or not you use it now) and when you recite the poem today close your eyes think of that tradition, count back from. 10 to one and  read/recite the Poem again.  

See you tomorrow THE BATTLE FOR BLACK FRIDAY—PART TWO

Well yesterday was  “start up Sunday” in  the campaign to  provide. Coping tools for “Black Friday” and the holiday season if needed.  
Today the Mantra/poem is expanded and some additional thoughts are offeredIt should be noted that I’m  writing the poem every day from memory so a word or two may be different, but relax and  recite what is offered today. As the version that was intended all along because that is the way of the universe.  We can miss so much of what is while we focus on how things could have been.  If we continue to  cling to and regret things in the past we can’t change it anyway.  There is only one possible past and you lived it.  There may be  many possible  presents depending on your beliefs and actions which means the future(s) are still to be written.  Speaking of Writing...here’s the next expansion

B is the beginning it’s where we all are
Breathe deeply at home, in stores, and your car

L is for learning to like  our current status
Heed not what the sales tags keep screaming at us
A’s for allow your best gifts to  shine through
Give freely of yours self, it’s the best you can do

C of course is for Caring Do that. More for each other
Each  Father —Each Mother—Each Sister—Each Brother

K is for Kindness we all need for survival
And it builds up our strength for Black Friday’s arrival 


 That get’s  us pretty much through the first half of the mantra.  In addition to this little rhyme... today  it   would be great if you could think of your favorite Thanksgiving.tradition (whether  or not you use it now) and when you recite the poem today close your eyes think of that tradition, count back from. 10 to one and  read/recite the Poem again.  
See you tomorrow

Sunday, November 24, 2019

The battle for Black Friday peace and joy – part one

THE BLACK FRIDAY BATTLE FOR PEACE & JOY—PART ONE

Repeating something rhythmic as you let your mind drift or more correctly focusing on that mantra is a powerful step in being in the moment when you meditate.  During this. Final assault  which is  “Black Friday” this blog will provide a mantra that comes in the form of an expanding poem.  

If you  want to wait till actual Black Friday  to read the whole thing I’d say that’s okay, however consider each day part of the fuel needed to find a little peace and joy throughout the week.  My little  rhyme  may not be a door buster.  On the other hand, you won’t be  paying high interest rates all year and you can enjoy it now!

So here’s how this works....
Starting on Sunday before  Black Friday close your eyes for 30 seconds—ready  now—-quit reading...close your eyes and count from thirty  to 1 backwards....

Now read the following  Sets of lines to yourself mouthing the  words.  You do not have to say them out loud if you are in a room with folks, but you can Read each line till you have committed. It to memory so that tomorrow’s addition will be easy to add in.  
Am I really expecting. You to memorize this—yes—why?  Because retailers are  ramming their messages of. Inadequacy and status down your throat  all season and this is a defense designed to  let your  mind  and soul chill out and resists.  So here we go my friends

B is beginning, the place we all are
Breathe deeply at home, in stores and your car

L is for learning to like our current status
Heed not what the sale tags keep screaming at us
A’s for Allow—your. Best gifts to show through
Give of yourself freely it’s the best you can do

.... Okay when  you feel a little. Irritated or  nervous or  worried. That you can’t find the right gift or won’t get the right gift or if you aren’t ready to see this person or that. In a holiday gathering simply close your eyes, breathe deeply and repeat these. First three sets of lines—peace and joy even in the chaos of this ever evolving retail nightmare is within you.


Have a great Sunday and we’ll be back with more on mellow-out Monday.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Checking out peace and joy and holiday season and thank you for that

IT’S A “THANKLESS JOB” —BUT ITDOESN’T HAVE TO BE

One of the keys to any effort to seek peace and joy almost requires gratitude.  As we go racing toward “black friday it is important to know that.  A group of people are being undervalued and underpaid a lot and that’s the front line retail staff, cashiers, cooks, etc.  I’m writing this. post to encourage  each of us to  say a genuine thank you to these individuals who will be overworked.and underpaid this coming week.  The cashiers didn’t design the  sales or the stores so that long lines are unavoidable.  The “greeter” really does want the shopper to have a great in-store experience.  Cooks and wait staff have far less control over supplies and scheduling over the holidays so remember you are eating out for the experience of enjoying a meal with others, not and an “efficient” use of time.
each year the “Black Friday mayhem, which is designed to interrupt your peace and joy seems to be expanding and we are  driven to get it while it lasts because it’s a “door buster”. Of a sale.  That reminds me, I might get some  training in door repair next spring with all the door busting that happens, I could pick up some extra holiday cash.   
I’m going to keep this brief because I write often about  the use of my/your time, but I do want to ask this question.  When you are sitting in your “present circle” or at the dinner table during the Thanksgiving or Christmas season does anyone ever ask: “Hey Bill—I bought your gift in 9 minutes, how long did it take you to get mine?”  Does anyone ever say, no. No. No. I don’t want any more of that turkey because you spent 49 cents a pound for it, I only want the 33 cents a pound white meat?  Do you think that every  retailer and service provider ghas a big closed-door (before they get busted)  meeting to identify exactly  whose customer  treatment they are going fall down on and therefore this is happening  to you with some sort of intent? What makes you feel like you are being singled out or picked on?  

So to sum up, I’m saying  thank you to the sales clerks, the cashiers, the cooks, the wait staff, and all who find themselves getting  no more pay, but a lot more stress and are expected to  make all my Christmases be bright!  So when they say “thanks” to you ax’s you leave their line...put your hand up and say—-No! Let me thank you.  Instead of  tapping on the table or the counter impatiently, hum the holiday song on the in-store music system—unless it’s  “a New Kids on the Block Holiday Albumn—or Boxcar Willie and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir hum the Nutcracker—even Ihavesome limits.   Let Peace (and Joy) On Earth begin with how we treat those  who serve.

It doesn’t take secret Santa to know that if you  give some peace and joy you will get some back in a very meaningful way
Teach your children or grandchildren  to put a coin or two in the  bucket when you hear the bell ring...maybe  the sound will become Pavlovian and every time  this youth hears that sound they will think of the. Goodness you  give them and expect them to share?  Wouldn’t that be.a great gift and a lasting memory even if you can’t afford $15.99 for  this year’s Hallmark Ornament?  


Thanks  for reading... I’m helping someone move tomorrow  so pray that I get a sore back and break something and you will learn that your prayers will be answered...thinking about. That makes me smile so tomorrow take a moment to figure out how you will smile at a clerk, a cook, or a mail carrier in the coming weeks....Peace

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Turn turn turning toward Peace And Joy

THIS COVER TUNE IS  EPIC...IT’S INSPIRED (even Biblical)  AND IT CAN LEAD TO  PEACE AND JOY

Every now and then you may  think...”didn’t I see that on another. Blog?”  Well yesterday I launched the “living the.... Rock n’ Roll philosophyBlog and this post appears there and here... why? Because I’m lazy?  No—efficient lol... and this fits in both places.  

So over the past. Few years, life has taught me the lesson and the wisdom in  the notion that every dream has its time.  Sometimes that is hard to accept or believe, however, it seems to play itself out that way and there is a song that  nails this sentiment so well.  

Now it would be  “correct” to note that  the version of the song that pops into my head is the  Byrds singing Turn, Turn, Turn.  The Byrds didn’t  write this song or falsely take credit.  Pete  Seeger “wrote it—well sort of... You can find it in the King James Bible, but King James didn’t write it either.  so we are left  with paying  Pete the royalties, however  the primary text is modified  pretty slightly. From  the Old Testiment Book of Ecclesiastes (more specifically Chapter 3 verses 1-8.  I was going to put a link to  the song below and most times I will, however there are so many versions done by so many artists  on YouTube that I’d just encourage you to  look it up and choose a performer you might be familiar with. 

While your are at it go ahead and look up “medicine for the People and listen to tune titled “manifesto”. It also has  some biblical overtones and a great final verse.  I’ll quote that. Here (or as I hear it).

“Don’t  Wastes your Hate
Rather. Gather and Create
Be of Service
Be a sensible person
Use your  voice and don’t be nervous
You can do this you’ve  got purpose
Find your medicine and use it.  

Okay... the big peace and joy take way. Is that events in life go up and down and drag you with them.  When you feel the movement, breathe and understand that  there is. Likely to be a balance point coming soon in life, if you are open to it.  Have faith in your spirit for it. Sill seek the balance you. Need and learn to accept it will show up in the  strangest ways and it too will have its season.  

Now it’s time for me to. Turn, Turn, Turn, the  page on. My writing.calendar.  May it be your time  to gather stones together and dance soon Peace!

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

From Gallup to Gettysburg

FROM  GALLUP TO GETTYBURG —IT’S A MATTER OF OPINION

This week marks the  birth of the Gallup Poll.  I’m wondering if  57% of the readers of the Daily Iowan (The University of Iowa’s  Newspaper) had any idea that George Gallup’s  poll to gather opinion on the prettiest girl on campus and his future wife, would become the world’s most respected polling organization?  That’s one of the historic conversations I would love to have.  Was George gathering this info because he truly wanted to hear the. Opinion of students or was he trying to  prove to this young lady she was  popular?  What does that  matter?  Well... there’s a 100%  chance I’ll provide my opinion of the significance.  

Day after day we hear polling data on  everything from  toothpaste to the presidency.  TTwitter is flooded with surveys, All kinds of marketing. Concerns are constantly  seeking. Info.  You can. Almost never  visit a hotel or make a service call on your phone without being asked for your participation in a “brief” survey.  In short we are bing polled everywhere all the time so the purpose of polls really does matter.,  
If you are approaching life  with a hope of demonstrating empathy and understanding in a diverse and changing world it is critical to listen to. Your fellow human being.  Polls can be designed to gain access to. Vital information if or when they are used as a listening tool.  On the other hand if these polls are used as a way for someone to gain information about themselves for assurance and to be used as a comparative tool, then the question change from What  do you think or how do you feel to YOU SHOULD BE THINKING OF ME AND I WANT TO KNOW EXACTLY WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT ME.  The difference is  the same as going into a room and saying “hey everyone let’s talk” and  going into a room and saying “let’s talk about me”. 

If you  are seeking peace and joy listening to others is important so that you can determine  how to use the values you  have to do  things to advance everyone.  Otherwise you are.simnplytrying to find out  how others  would define you and your behaviors become  a function of  the stated opinions others have of you.  It is nearly impossible to constantly monitor what others think and form clear ideas about how to use your gifts to their fullest.  When you start knowing you are doing the right thing because. 70% of the people say so, your chances of  being satisfied. With your actions at any given time are  tiny.  In short, polls make it very easy to make our decisions based upon the  opinions, plans, and dreams of others rather than building the skills to create our best selves and capitalize on the unique talents we  have. Been given or have grown.  

The moment. Your opinion changes based upon the notions of others is the moment you  slide toward  abandoning your strengths and your responsibility to become. An extraordinary original human and spiritual being.  Seeking peace and joy becomes. So much easier when you are constantly creating yourself looking forward, not when you are looking over your shoulder to  see what. Others are  saying about you.  Tomorrow I’m going to  continue this topic, but we are not only  in the week of the first Gallup Poll—we are  on this very day celebrating the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.  There are no comments I can make that would  do this classic Lincoln speech justice or respect.  I do ask that you  click on the link below and read the address.  I can say no more at. This point.  More tomorrow.  



FROM  GALLUP TO GETTYBURG —IT’S A MATTER OF OPINION

This week marks the  birth of the Gallup Poll.  I’m wondering if  57% of the readers of the Daily Iowan (The University of Iowa’s  Newspaper) had any idea that George Gallup’s  poll to gather opinion on the prettiest girl on campus and his future wife, would become the world’s most respected polling organization?  That’s one of the historic conversations I would love to have.  Was George gathering this info because he truly wanted to hear the. Opinion of students or was he trying to  prove to this young lady she was  popular?  What does that  matter?  Well... there’s a 100%  chance I’ll provide my opinion of the significance.  

Day after day we hear polling data on  everything from  toothpaste to the presidency.  TTwitter is flooded with surveys, All kinds of marketing. Concerns are constantly  seeking. Info.  You can. Almost never  visit a hotel or make a service call on your phone without being asked for your participation in a “brief” survey.  In short we are bing polled everywhere all the time so the purpose of polls really does matter.,  
If you are approaching life  with a hope of demonstrating empathy and understanding in a diverse and changing world it is critical to listen to. Your fellow human being.  Polls can be designed to gain access to. Vital information if or when they are used as a listening tool.  On the other hand if these polls are used as a way for someone to gain information about themselves for assurance and to be used as a comparative tool, then the question change from What  do you think or how do you feel to YOU SHOULD BE THINKING OF ME AND I WANT TO KNOW EXACTLY WHO YOU ARE AND WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT ME.  The difference is  the same as going into a room and saying “hey everyone let’s talk” and  going into a room and saying “let’s talk about me”. 

If you  are seeking peace and joy listening to others is important so that you can determine  how to use the values you  have to do  things to advance everyone.  Otherwise you are.simnplytrying to find out  how others  would define you and your behaviors become  a function of  the stated opinions others have of you.  It is nearly impossible to constantly monitor what others think and form clear ideas about how to use your gifts to their fullest.  When you start knowing you are doing the right thing because. 70% of the people say so, your chances of  being satisfied. With your actions at any given time are  tiny.  In short, polls make it very easy to make our decisions based upon the  opinions, plans, and dreams of others rather than building the skills to create our best selves and capitalize on the unique talents we  have. Been given or have grown.  

The moment. Your opinion changes based upon the notions of others is the moment you  slide toward  abandoning your strengths and your responsibility to become. An extraordinary original human and spiritual being.  Seeking peace and joy becomes. So much easier when you are constantly creating yourself looking forward, not when you are looking over your shoulder to  see what. Others are  saying about you.  Tomorrow I’m going to  continue this topic, but we are not only  in the week of the first Gallup Poll—we are  on this very day celebrating the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address.  There are no comments I can make that would  do this classic Lincoln speech justice or respect.  I do ask that you  click on the link below and read the address.  I can say no more at. This point.  More tomorrow.  




Please click the above and read with respect

Monday, November 18, 2019

Patients the finale?

PATIENCE THE FINALE

So I told my little story about. How I didn’t become the next whiz kid programmer.  Some of you  might interpret  this tale as a woeful “migh have been” mourner’s tale, but  I invite you to think and feel again.  Well..my “work” life has turned out to have some  major  highlights and some lowlights.  I have made some. Really great choices and some beautiful mistakes.  What I’ve learned is that impatience is  not a motivator it is an indicator of  fear.  Fear of missing out, fear of not having enough time, fear of being seen as slow or weak, and internally as fear of believing in my calling or my glow.  I know those things  in my mind and am starting to weave them into my  everyday soul.  Impatience is your future. Stealing from your. Present.  It is placing your expectations on parts of the world you cannot control and thus it is giving up control without approaching acceptance.  
Becoming aware of my impatience  gives me a fighting  chance to break from a past that can never. Be again and to avoid sacrificing and compromising  today by trying. To make the  future a bright shining promise—unfortunately  a promise that can never be true because there  will only be “now” in the future you can’t  trade  your current soul for a bundle of happiness to be named later—that’s not how the human experience works.  
Anyway these are the things  I am learning and I  am going to. Summarize in a rhyme/song... I might not get this recorded  right now.,.. If I am patient the song will be better tomorrow that will of course. Be today.  
 Enjoy it NOW

Don’t scream  I can’t wait
Or feel cursed you’re too late
Don’t  crash into walls 
When you might find a gate

We get  hoodwinked by greed
And blinded by speed
We seek what  we want
While we forget what we  need. 

With impatience as master
Wishing time would  flow faster
You let go of now
as you reach for disaster

Ever faster We roll
On the edge of control 
Does this really matter?
It does to  my soul
Now my spirit  screams Wait!
Taste what’s here on  your plate
Your future will get hhere
On it’s assigned date

With  Power of Patience you can calm so much stressing
Put fears away and reduce the confessing
Know  Friends and Angels Walk with you always
And as they are for you —you are their blessing



Final words...Patience is hard, but if we want the product of hope to be peace and joy we must grab it in the stream as it passes...You. Are enough right now...you likely have enough right now or know  someone who will consider it a gift to provide it.  Never go so fast that you fly past your values or don’t have time to share them.....


I’m sorry if at times I have not been patient with you I will work on it in the future and the future is always now

Saturday, November 16, 2019

e

Peace and joy waits for no one and everyone

So it’s been a few days—my intent was not to make you wait patiently—I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry.  I’ll get to why I haven’t written in a couple days in a  few paragraphs...but for now let’s go back to  as Paul Harvey. Would have said “the rest of the story.”  
It was a dark and snowy night and I had walked  wearily out of the computer  lab carrying a box of key punched cards complete with a black. Felt tip pen that had been used to put identification on  the nearly 300  cards in the stack.  I had looked up to see another student and  didn’t. See the ice and didn’t miss it either.  As I fell the box satisfied the laws of Newtonian physics and travelled with equal and opposite force into the cold dark sky.  Then following  another popular law of. Physics the  cards which were heavier than the box. Flipped the box and started to  obey gravity and. Move toward earth  Some cards were over Cheever’s and led the way to the ground managing to break the rubber band that  had loosely bound the deck and then onc cue  right  before  the cards hit ice the wind gave an extra  30 mph gust and what. Had been theoretically  cards containing  code magically transformed themselves into paper airplanes.  All in all 43 cards were. Not stapled but the were  bent, folded, wet, and otherwise mutilated.  A few cards were  missing in action and those would need to be replaced completely.  All told the next morning I dragged my box across campus in the morning and due to impatience started typing and punching out some new cards.  I made a mistake or two and all of the sudden I realized that I didn’t have enough blank cards left to finish.  I sat. There for a few minutes in defeat wondering if this was really  my dream or was it a nightmare career choice?  Well..I finished what I could and went to the bookstore (the home of special pricing_ and bought a blank stack of 50 cards and finished the assignment.  I turned in the cards and  looked up  the “running order list” to see when I could come back to pick up the print out—the results and it was  only a mere 22 hours and 38 minutes  later when the  help desk window worker put my “job” in the “outbox cubical.  There it was—my calendar program had worked!  I had my calendar for the year 2000 with the months arranged in alphabetical order...didn’t everyone need one of those?  Everything was perfect except.... well the first line of the  printout that proudly displayed my name—my name misspelled that is.  I  guess if I still needed a sign that this computer major wasn’t for me my own name being a mistake was. The spiritual equivalent. Of having the lamb of God skywriting “it’s not for you kind” in the frigid January sky.   enough said... I decided to shift my academic focus that day but to what I didn’t know.  Do I regret that choice?  No not really excepts  here’s a the rest of the rest of the story.  No more than 18 months later  was attending another college and taking  a computer programming class because  on that campus they had just installed 6 CRT terminals and students could use 1 of those.  No more cards no more boxes that could fall over...no more waiting to see if your job would run.  If only I had been just a little. More patient, maybe  I would have invented google or maybe even  been in on the ground floor of internet porn.  But alas, I had would up moving toward communications and that hooked me up with the college radio station and perhaps the finest collection of music lovers to grace the northern hemisphere..

so traveling. Back... I started telling this story  to show how not being patient could change one’s life in a most anticipated way and that  a reason for impatience can turn into folly.  
In the end I learned a valuable  lesson from this impatience.  The road to peace and joy is probably  a journey that  feels a little like waltzing a tight rope between persistence. And acceptance being ever so gently nudged by a  constant breeze of change.  
To sum up (Okay tomorrow I’m going to  give you a summary rhyme for this whole thing) we(and in I) get impatient —longing to experience my future self now—but this assumes way too much control over my universe.  In seeking  peace and joy it may be better to slow down and really experience what is.going on right now and breathing a little deeper now and then.  Take a minute to. Think of the times when not getting  what you wanted led to getting  what you needed (everyone can use a little. Rolling Stone Philosophy).  
Patience—the finale... tomorrow

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Patience peace and joy part two

PATIENCE IN PERSPECTIVE —SALVAGING  PEACE AND. JOY

So today I wanted to sort of conclude  my thoughts on patience, however, I realized that it’s going to take another day and my wanting to be “done” will have to wait.  
Of course (and I’ve said this before or Tom Petty said it—the waiting is the hardest  part—oh well too bad).  So a lack of patience is in fact an abundance of. Wanting what you think should happen to happen a little sooner.  I started to think about this a bit. Yesterday and will  expand on this. In just a bit.  For now, I want to repeat two things from yesterday.  I truly believe every dream has its time and that things happen exactly when they are meant to happen and I repeat that to myself frequently.   Do I ever get the feeling “this shouldn’t be happening to me or to them or to you right now?”  Yes...I told you I’m impatient and am working on it.  Would I change some of the choices I have made—no I’m perfect, modest, and  your check is in the mail.  Insofar (wow how do like that  50 cent. Word? Things go I usually work on the things I can and only temporarily obsess  over the things  I think I should be able to do, but haven’t yet.  sometimes, I decided. That yet has to turn to ever..like I will never. Do this or that and ironically  patience or the lack there of is a big. Help in making that determination.  If I am making progress toward something, even if it is little steps, I tend. Not to get impatient and if I’m working hard but making no progress I usually. Determine that no amount of. Patience or impatience is going to fuel my progress and I turn to other priorities.  So “patience” becomes an indicator.   anyway, understanding your level of patience can be valuable no matter how frustrating game it is to focus on from time to time.  

Okay moving forward... I hear a lot of people talking about  how social media and the internet have.  Trained us to be impatient and seek immediate gratification.  Well, maybe, but  I would say social media also gathers our attention. To a diverse  set of  happenings and slows us down long enough to consider  that the world has an incredibly wide  range of possibilities.  We sometimes say “young people today....” Well young people don’t own places like Target who already is  releasing it’s e54 page Black Friday /Christmas sale add.  Other stores  are already having. Pre-black Friday sales and they are not just for. Or because of  our youth.  So let’s so a little  patience in  pointing a finger at the root causes of impatience shall we.  
Don’t get me wrong... I have no beef with businesses trying to  gain customers by lowering prices, but don’t be covering up  Thanksgiving, after all my family had some of its most joyous and dysfunctional moments before the Black Friday  phenomenon.  I’d sure like my current family to have the same change to do the silly stuff that  my grand nephews and such have a chance to  tell stories about.  Should we  ever push hard for things to happen faster than they seem to be going on their own.  Well I suppose if you lived in New York City in the 1880’s around the holidays you might have an argument.  
You see in the 1880s it is estimated that. There were traffic jams made up of  some or most of the 150,000 horses  in the city and these horses  produced. An average of 22 pounds of  droppings daily.  Talk about  a traffic jam that stinks...now there’s something you might lose some patience over (thanks GK and today’s Writer’s Almanac  for that visual).  

Now I want to  wrap up things for. Today so I’ll  offer this. Challenge and  provide the start of my answer to it... and continue it tomorrow....
Here’s the challenge.. if you are reading this try to identify  three things  that you  had happen in your life after being impatient—One that worked out like you thought it might—One that didn’t—and one that is in progress.  
I’ll start with one that didn’t  work out the way I thought...but turned out okay.  

I started  college as a computer. Science/math major and this was in the punch card era...if you don’t know what that is look it up because you’ll just shake your head and maybe appreciate what your elders. We’re crazy and patient enough to  plow through.  In working on my second programming  assignment I wrote out the 271 lines of  code needed to. Complete the task at hand and  went to the  lab to complete the task of building the card stack by  punching out the cards needed for each line.  In a few hows—like five or six—I finished the task and put the cards in order in  my card box and carried them into the  next room  in order to have the cards run through the compiler and then the computer would  carry out the required task.  Well as it happened, I missed the nine PM. Closing time so  I had to take the cards back to my. Residence hall for the night.  About eight steps outside the  computer building I looked up to see  a fellow student walking past and slipped on some ice.  Well of course cards went flying and it was a windy  late January night so cards flew pretty much everywhere in a 40 foot  range.  I may have been a good computer  programmer and  maybe a creative person who used that type of knowledge. All my life, but  my patience ran out that night in the middle of a dark campus and the decision was made.  


Well more. About that tomorrow... for now believe that every dream  has its time and  everything happens exactly when it is supposed to... and now is when I’m supposed to stop writing. For now.  Peace...