Life and Random Thinking

Four valuable life lessons reinforced by my running shoes

Posted on April 19, 2014 by dfolstad58

Four Lessons I ascribe to, plus well written! Running is even more fun when you don’t have saber toothed carnivores breathing right behind you.

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Swimming in the Rain, part of life

Posted on April 17, 2014 by dfolstad58

In my late teens I lived in North Burnaby, BC, and there was an outdoor pool where I went swimming. It rains year round in Vancouver, not constantly, just year round. The times I liked to go swimming the best were when it rained.

I’m sure the lifeguards hated me. When it rained the pool invariably emptied, except me. I loved the pool in the rain. I had it to myself, and I could float, dive, do whatever I felt like, and no lines at the diving board. The lifeguard had to stay in his chair because I was in the water, but usually there was two, but when I was the only one in the pool, one would go in and take a break.

The water invariably had steam rising from it, and it was warmer in the pool than it was out on the swim deck. Why leave? The sun would come out again in awhile, so I stayed, and loved it.

I have swam in lakes in the rain also, and there is something joyful about swimming in a lake in the rain. Liberating possibly. Lakes are so cold, but with the cold comes real refreshment.

I have run in the rain, biked in the rain, and walked in the rain. Never felt depressed by rain, it’s clean and it falls from the skies, wonderful. Maybe it was because growing up in Vancouver I often walked to and from school in the rain, took P.E. in the rain.

I also remember rain in elementary school, rainy days to me were the best because we would make the huge puddles on the soccer field into rivers running into each other, damming them up and then setting them free. I am sure there many days I had water running down my neck as I went into the school after lunch or recess but still had a smile on my face. I’m kinda nuts that way.

In retrospect I think into our lives that some rain will fall and it will either cause us to run from our beach, or from the swim deck or we can embrace it, enjoy it and see it as part of the whole package we call life.

So when you get cut off in traffic, or miss a bus, or whatever – let the rain run off your back and smile.

It’s just rain, the sun is coming. Thanks for reading, and visiting my blog, 🙂

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Posted in health, Thinking Out loud | Tagged attitude, joy, life, patience, rain, spiderman kissing, weather | 4 Comments

No such animal as the Ideal Husband

Posted on April 13, 2014 by dfolstad58

There is no such animal as the Ideal Husband but there is a play by the same name penned by Oscar Wilde (OW). Periodically I like to reread OW plays as they are so clever, insightful and humorous. I am certain everyone has heard of The Importance of Being Ernest, which undoubtedly was his Mona Lisa.

The story of The Ideal Husband rotates around blackmail, an idealistic spouse, and her guilty but reformed husband. Read it yourself HERE on PDF.

Perhaps I can tempt you to read this play with some quotes from it.

Ah! The strength of women comes from the fact that psychology cannot explain us. Men can be analysed, women ….merely adored.

You think science cannot grapple with the problem of women?

Science can never grapple with the irrational. That is why it has no future before it, in this world.

And women represent the irrational?

Well dressed women do.

All of OW’s plays have the clever one-liners and situations that are so enjoyed on a stage, especially when shared to the audience by a droll actor with the knack for timing.

Wonderful woman, isn’t she. Talks more and says less than anybody I ever met. She is made to be a public speaker.

Unless you read the play you cannot appreciate it, much as a trailer is only meant to tease the person to watch and not really evaluate the value of a movie.

The idealistic spouse is helped by her husband’s best friend Lord Goring, a wise man of the world, he tells her “Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not. I think that in practical life there is something about success, actual success, that is a little unscrupulous, something about ambition that is unscrupulous always.”

The wife put her husband put her husband on a pedestal, and perhaps the lesson of the play could be summed up ”

Why can’t you women love us, faults and all? We all have feet of clay, women as well as men; but when we men love women, we love them knowing their weaknesses, their follies, their imperfections, and love them all the more, it may be for that reason. It is the not the perfect but the imperfect, who have need of love.

Interesting how OW wrote about relationships so well, and with insight and humor.

Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the two sexes.

If you want to learn more about Oscar Wilde (OW) – Wikipedia is linked here.

Here is a wonderful adaption, and I trust you will enjoy it!

Posted in humor, reading / books | Tagged blackmail, Humor, ideal husband, insightful, oscar wilde, real humor, The Ideal Husband, witty | Leave a comment

My New Year’s Resolution – To Get A Divorce

Posted on April 13, 2014 by dfolstad58

A friend shared that she got together with her girlfriends and they were all playing with electronic devices, she had been looking forward to that time with them, NOT their devices.
The most precious gift we have to share is our time, choose whom you share it with wisely.

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The Secret to Achievement is ….

Posted on April 11, 2014 by dfolstad58

You could be different from me, and be a total achiever. You decide you want to do something, you figure out the steps, and then you do it. Every time.

Or..you might be a person who has visions of what they want to accomplish, places you want to travel to, a fitness level you want to achieve, a language you want to learn but it’s not happening.

I suppose there are ways to achieve that are as successful as there are people who make them work, but there are many people who stall and putter out at the vision stage, I suspect those people are the majority.

The accomplishment of big goals is described as “Eating an Elephant” which none of us can do in one sitting (have you seen the size of elephants !, I have a hard time with big plate of spaghetti . )

You achieve the eating of an elephant, and the accomplishment of big goals in small digestible chunks, this is just an illustration – no elephant recipes to follow, I promise !

The secret to Achievement is……..Starting where you are. Start. Start. Start. Think of anything you want to achieve, there must be a small step you do today. Take that first step, and work on the next small bite tomorrow and keep going. Write down your starting date, keep track every day you take another “bite” – set a goal of 5 days nonstop progress, and then keep setting those goals.

Start where you are, and keep a written record; huge how both these work together. Live your life with as few regrets as you can, and count your blessings, often.