Life and Random Thinking

Sun does not shine every day..

Posted on February 19, 2016 by dfolstad58

Perhaps (if you are Trooper fan) you recognize this snippet ” Sun does not shine every day” from Here for a Good Time.

But in actuality the sun does shine every day, really it does. Anytime you go up in a plane and get up above the clouds, you find blue skies.

It’s us down below that can’t get above the clouds, or forget about the blue sky that we crave.

A couple days ago here the blue skies were easy to enjoy, and I spent mid day with my son as we drove to the north end of town to enjoy the Okanagan lake and lunch in the fresh air.

But the following days were wet, wet, wet and cloudy.

Isn’t that the way? Blue skies day and then a day when you are looking for your waterproof jacket.

I suspect most of our days are the blue skies kind, but some are going to be the kind where you want to curl up with a cup of Bengal spice tea (or hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream), in front of warm crackling fire and not lift a finger.

nm5 It’s important on those days to remember the blue sky is still up there and the clouds will move and usually do so within a few days.

Sometimes the waiting is tough.

Oh give us patience, and please be quick!

Our emotions sometimes get impatient for the sunny days and why not, it’s just human.

Hang in there fellow travellers on this spinning top – when my sky is blue and your clouds are dark and scary – I’ll send my blue skies your way soon, I promise.

Your days of needing sunscreen are coming, I promise and when they arrive, and they will….

Then Soak up that sunshine and blue skies my friends, soak it up.

Thanks for reading, comments and suggestions always appreciated. 🙂

Posted in Thinking Out loud, Uncategorized | Tagged blue skies, change, clouds, Okanagan lake, rainy, sunny, trooper, youtube | 11 Comments

Don’t nearly die first

Posted on February 11, 2016 by dfolstad58

This post actually came from a speech I gave recently at a Toastmasters meeting; the speech was called”Be Like A Child“.

I had failed an attempt to color in an adult coloring book.

Can I look now?

Instead of being able to relax; I was tense. Instead of taking my time; I was rushing. Instead of being in the moment; I was thinking about what I wanted to accomplish next.

From this epiphany I wondered about my daily journey, Am I enjoying each day?

I enjoyed each day when I was young.

When I was young I didn’t think too far ahead. My parents were “in the driver seat” and they took care of planning and doing all the things that I was oblivious to. I metaphorically enjoyed the ride and looked out the window and it was relaxing and fun.

I remember enjoying each day after nearly losing the ability to.

After a period of five months in the hospital, and nearly dying – I remember finally leaving the hospital. I paused at the exit, finally able to enjoy a breeze, and feel the sun on my face. I stood there and lived that moment in the doorway of the hospital.

So what was I learning? Do I need a second childhood to live in the moment and enjoy what is going on around me? Do I have to darken death’s door to savor the treat of wind on my face?

Photo by Roxanne Earley

I hope not.

I decided that I wanted to recover, and that we all should recover certain child like behaviors.

Confidence – a child does not make decisions based on success or failure, just seeks fun, and new experiences. Yes, I want child like confidence and child like positive attitude.

The ability to love and appreciate life – meaning myself, other people, and the world. The mindset that stops and appreciates the small beautiful things. The mindset that is generous and without hesitation tells people in my life that I love them, I appreciate them, my life is better because of them.

okanagan lake statues

I compared our lives to a bowl of soup. We are all given a bowl and each day is spoonful of life from our bowl. But some bowls will be empty before others, and none of us know when that spoonful is our last.

Taste your spoonful each day. Be like a child. Be like a child, taste it and don’t rush. It’s the only bowl you get.

Don’t nearly die first, Today remember your bowl is limited. Be like a child in confidence. Be like a child in generosity, and appreciating life. Take a deep breath, feel the breeze, get down on your knees and admire the green of moss.

Bless you and thank you for reading.

In between everything else this year I am trying to walk 7 kms each day. The youtube video below is one I made early February 9 about a kilometre from my home just after sunrise, instead of a wintery breeze it was calm so I savoured it.

Posted in FAVORITE POSTS - A Few of them ♥, health, Thinking Out loud, Toastmasters, Uncategorized | Tagged be like a child, child, confidence, content, enjoying life, life, mindfulness, soup, speech, spontaneity, Toastmasters | 19 Comments

On Writing: productivity and inactivity

Posted on February 6, 2016 by dfolstad58

Funny and accurate! Where does the time go?

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

Spending a Night “Homeless” on the streets of Hungary

Posted on February 6, 2016 by dfolstad58

The best stories and lessons are unplanned.

getsetandgo

Any trip or a holiday creates numerous memories, memorable anecdotes and photographs. But travel stories are created when your best laid plans go haywire. All good stories start with an element of the “unexpected” – getting lost in a city, taking a wrong train and arriving somewhere else altogether, missed connections, getting deported are a few of such unexpected elements and I am sure you get my drift. My travels are self-planned budget trips and despite a lot of research there have been many occasions wherein all that could go wrong has gone wrong and in return many memorable stories created. But my favorite so far is being “Homeless in Hungary”.

At the start of our journey in Budapest

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I’m a Stranger here to place called Earth

Posted on January 12, 2016 by dfolstad58

I imagine no one will believe me when I say I met an alien from another planet sitting in Starbucks. It could have been a dream or was it?

A tennis goddess, asked to sit at my table and wanted to talk to me. I looked around for a news crew or hidden camera.

Who me? (me)

Yes you, you have been chosen because of your superior intelligence and good looks to answer our questions. (goddess)

Cough, sputter, pffft. Please no jokes when I’m drinking coffee, I choked on my latte! I had to extend my line of credit for that! (me)

Yeah, right, Okay – it was a random draw and it seems like you just sit around drinking coffee all day anyway. Besides no one will believe you anyway if you say you met an alien that looks like Maria Sharapova.

Hey! a little respect eh? Why do you look like a gorgeous tennis star and not some tentacled thing from Schwarzenegger jungle epic?

We clean up for field trips. Never mind anyway. We want to understand this Donald Trump presidential candidate, it confuses the cosmos. Is it some kind of homo sapiens humor?

No, well maybe.

Alright, what are his qualifications? military service? Political experience? Corporate leadership? Pure motives?

Cough, sputter, pffft. Please no jokes when I’m drinking coffee, I asked you. Donny boy has no experience in military like Theodore Roosevelt, or any political experience neither. He is a humble boy and is willing to start at the top, all humility that DT. No corporate whiz really, he came from his daddy’s riches and bought and sold real estate in New York City and made money like anyone and everyone did in real estate in New York City. He did try the casino business and became the only one ever to lose money at that and go bankrupt, letting the smaller businesses take his overspending fall. Motives? Only The Shadow knows, but this is a big first job for The Apprentice.

But such a nation like the USA would only let the best and brightest lead and especially take the top post right?

Cough, sputter, pffft. I asked you before no jokes when I’m drinking coffee. I imagine Lincolns, and Roosevelts are in short supply now and now it takes billions of dollars to buy, I mean seek election. No worries, Donald won’t be spending his own exaggerated assets, he would only take gifts of aircraft carrier sized rooms of cash from arms length persons who expect nothing in return.

Cough, sputter, pffft – now who is joking! you did that on purpose! I passed dark roast up my nostrils!

Go back to your saucer ET, I have no answers for you. All I can say is that watching Donald Trump pretend to be a worthy candidate for the USA presidency is like the biggest daytime show of The Price is Right I’ve ever seen.

My daytime daze ended and there I sat, cold latte and all – was it a dream?

Thanks for reading my little attempt at humor, I hope you liked it. Comments and feedback always welcome.

Posted in humor, Uncategorized | Tagged aliens from space, Coffee, Donald Trump, Humor, Joke, president, USA | 10 Comments

The biggest waste of all

Posted on January 9, 2016 by dfolstad58

You think you know a big waste right? how about gift cards, A billion dollars (yes the B word with illion on the end) every year go unused. That information is available if you open this LINK .

That is a waste, but is it the biggest waste of all?

The other day I was reading another blog and he mentioned a Peanuts cartoon, so I lo die oked for it.

Charlie Brown is thinking about death, and is inert.

Snoopy however is thinking about all the ways to enjoy life.

One of my favorites posts in the favorites category on my blog has to do with the 5 regrets in life. You can see it here.

I think I need to spend more of my life being active, not wishing I was on a trip, planning that trip; not remembering some good stories of my life – creating some new ones.

A few years at this time of year I was standing in a snowstorm starting a 3 month long running clinic. Every Saturday for three months I ran, jogged and met with others planning to do the Sun Run in Vancouver, BC. Twice a week I ran solo and had to make sure I did or I would lag behind on the gr sunrun_art_299x392 oup run. Looking back I’m pretty happy about the whole experience and that I had the discipline to run in a snow storm and do all those solo runs.

If I want to look back and be glad about more challenges, and feel good about doing my best – then it is up to me.

I suppose the biggest waste of all would be to not enjoy the one life we are each given. To not hug the ones we love, our parents, our spouses, our sons and daughters, our best friends EVERY time we see them, and to hug them long distance regularly so they know know know you love them. The biggest waste of all is to wait too long to live.

I need a mantra every morning along the lines of