The story goes that psychologists doing a study picked two boys, one a pessimist and the other an optimist.
They put the pessimist in a room filled with toys all wrapped up. In no time at all he had opened the toys up and was complaining they were junk and he was bored, and everything in his life was unbearable.
The optimist was put in a room with a pail and a shovel but the room was piled with manure.
In no time at all the child was squealing with delight as the shovel flew in the child’s hands. The child explained his joy saying, with all this manure, there has to be a pony in here somewhere, I’ll dig it out!
Cute? Funny? Illustrative?
Which child am I? I hope I’m not the pessimist, every day I’m given the gift of a new day.
Every day is filled with opportunity, there may be a mix of manure some days but underneath that manure is my allegorical pony. I’ll dig that darn pony up, and celebrate the day, every day for as long as I can.
I hope you find a way to celebrate your day, every day.
I have to agree, if I climbed to the top of a cliff, and was standing on the edge, my mind would be on the moment. Regardless how you get into the moment is a good thing, and being in the moment when spending time with someone is vital, let’s honor the people we are talking to by not dividing our attention. any thoughts?
triv·i·al ˈtrivēəl/ adjective 1.of little value or importance.
That is the literal definition of trivial. Most people place so much additional importance on small things that at the end of the day, or in the big picture, don’t even matter. We are programed to put more emphasis on small insignificant things… I am guilty of this myself. Now, level of importance changes from person to person and what we truly value will never match that of someone else. So an understanding of the validity of the saying “one mans trash is another mans treasure” is key to not judge what others hold important. Over the years I have worked to let go of the trivial aspects of life that most of society places a huge level of importance on. One of the ways to work towards a freedom from the stress of the truly trivial is through meditation. A solid…
Sometimes we forget. Almost everything we can point to in our life, jobs, friendships, skills, we have them because we took big or small risks.
Some of those small risks paid out big time.
When you invite a person you hardly know to go for a walk or coffee, you took a risk. small risk. Big possible gain. I look at some friendships I have, and if either of us had never taken that risk, there would not have been that friendship.
I took a risk asking my wife out for a date 34 years ago, see how that turned out! But there was a risk she was not the one, a risk I took that she was going to shoot me down or see me as a waste of her time.
Look ahead to what you want in your life, it will take some risk to gain your vision.
I guess there is no cheese in life if you don’t take a risk.
You can stay in your little bubble, and never take a chance.
You can never try a new hobby, never try to make new friends.
You can never join a club, never try a new sport.
You can never apply for new position or new job.
You can live in the shade all your life, and wonder what it is like in the sun.
Every day look for a chance for a small risk, make a new friend.
You don’t need to jump from airplanes but you do need an attitude of rejecting fear of failure.
So what if I will never run a full marathon. I have run a few 10Ks and surprised myself. You don’t know what you can do, YOU don’t know what you CAN do, YOU WILL NEVER KNOW what you can do, if you never give yourself the chance.
Give yourself the chance by taking some risk.
Risk means opportunity, so don’t rob yourself of the opportunity that is yours if you try. Take a little or a big risk, that’s what life is all about. You will encourage others to do the same, it’s all good to take some risk, the payoffs are worth it.
As always, thanks for reading, and taking the time.
You probably know someone who is really good at N‘ing.
Maybe you have N“d a few times especially after someone N’d you and you appreciated it.
Most of us need a little N now and then because we get complacent or lack confidence.
Nudging is what I am talking about.
Nudging can be a gentle push, or a prod to get someone’s attention. Your beloved does it, you may tag it another “N” word but it really nudging you mean.
Sometimes we are lucky enough to know someone who mentors us, or watches over us, nudging us gently to do or not do something. Perhaps we hesitate because of fear, or lack of confidence, and that gentle nudge propels us to changes that improve our entire lives.
Perhaps you were nudged into a blind date and met your beloved.
Perhaps you were nudged to apply for a job that changed your entire life trajectory.
Perhaps you were the Nudger, and if you are, ……….Bravo!
I suggest that nearly everyday there is someone in our life that needs a nudge, maybe it’s to count their blessings, maybe it’s to go for a walk with a friend or to call a friend, to write a letter to someone for a surprise AND if you can’t find someone in your life that needs a nudge today, probably the person who needs a nudge is you.
Give a little N to someone you care about today.
What do you think? Nudge, Nudge
(wink) Thanks for reading, your thoughts, and comments are valuable to me.
I wonder what it is about wasting time that to me is scary. So valuable, yet so easily wasted, so easily slipping through my fingers. I did an inventory and realized that daily there are some things I want to include, and some things that I want to avoid.
Recently I complained to my uncle Ken that I didn’t feel as productive as I felt I should be. He replied that retirement meant I didn’t have to be as productive any more.
That made me feel better but I knew that when I had looked forward to retirement, I had looked forward to doing things. Some things are less visible certainly, like the time I spend memorizing a poem, or reading for relaxation.
Certainly time enjoyed is not always wasted time, it it? In my opinion, balancing active and inactive time usage is my goal, as both have value.
Maybe the real test is how you feel. After you complete an activity, are you glad to invested some of your life in that activity? If you do, then all is good and well, you have no problem.
At the end of the day, I have to have something to point to that I accomplished. I did this, I did that. Every day I do try to balance all types of uses of time. I wrote some letters a week ago, and got cards in the mail for Easter, I worked in the yard (alot) and also managed to grocery shop and make some meals. I also read another Hamish novel by M.C. Beaton which I thoroughly enjoyed “Death of a Policeman“.
Perhaps for me, it is what I try to add each day, and what I try to subtract. I want to subtract my personal black hole of time; television, or at least daytime tv. I have to subtract daytime tv, as I usually regret the waste of time.
Reading is something I add in every day. I have read a ton of library books in my life and certainly reading as a result is a comfortable and pleasurable activity for me, and even enlightening. Reading will always be a part of my lifestyle, and so are libraries.
I am adding into my life; Exercise of all shapes and persuasions (whether walking or riding or whatever, as long as I am moving my limbs it counts), cooking, cleaning, stretching, walking to the store, it’s all good and while I’m doing it my blood pumps and I am free to imagine, and think.
I am adding cooking into my life, and not only am I eating better but I also enjoy the creative side to it.
If you did an inventory of your day
what would you add? write more or read more, or ?
what would you subtract?
Are there any holes in the sidewalk that you are falling into, and would like to walk around in the future?
Thanks for reading! If you love dogs, you will love the video. 🙂
Every day I glide out of bed, smile on my face at 5:30 just before the alarm goes off and I feel refreshed, energized and exuberant to face challenges and daily chores.
You think I do? You neither eh? Everyone knows the best sleep of the whole night is what you were having before the alarm went off and your “beloved” skewers you with an elbow to wake up and turn that $#@% thing off. I swear she has been trained to kill with that elbow.
Then I hold my broken ribs together, and after several tries manage to flip myself semi vertical so I can shuffle to the bathroom, my definition of success if I can keep one eye open and only break one toe on the way there, like on a wall or some other surprise obstacle erected during the night. If I break more than one toe, “beloved” chuckles in her sleep – how does she know?
A few minutes later I would like to crawl back into bed, I would like to fall back asleep but survival kicks in, if I do that I risk waking beloved, and waking her again within a span of ten minutes could result in pain and punishment, ……to me. Sleep is over-rated, I’ll pass.
As I’m a devout coward I slink into the kitchen quietly, to quietly make myself useful as the dawn breaks or at least hide quietly.
A couple rebounds off the hallway and I open both eyes and the kitchen and the coffee is ahead. The machine is there, but no coffee. Hmm, maybe if I unplug and plug it in again. It works on the computer, hmmm, still no coffee. Must be broken, that always works on my computer to reboot it.
I better buy a quiet coffee, they open at 6, and I can justify it because I didn’t want to wake up anybody else, meaning no one in particular. As I tie my shoes, a shoelace breaks, , so now I’m taking the broken lace out and trying to re-lace the shoe but it’s frayed where its broken and doesn’t want to go in the holes. Hard to do with one eye open.
Timidly I peek outside, it’s raining, and I see that the wind has blown the garbage cans out in the street for me to chase and pick up various odds and sods. Lovely. I’ll wear sandals, the cold water will wake me up and I’ll save a $2.00 coffee. Oh joy.
Oh yeah and it’s Sunday, so I could have slept in. (forehead slap)
They put the pessimist in a room filled with toys all wrapped up. In no time at all he had opened the toys up and was complaining they were junk and he was bored, and everything in his life was unbearable.
Which child am I? I hope I’m not the pessimist, every day I’m given the gift of a new day.
Life and Random Thinking 