Ray's Daily

Do you know how good you are?

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.

Ambrose Redmoon

Lately I have thought a lot about people I know who don’t seem to realize how good they are. Often I have sat with someone for hours just talking about their lives, their likes, dislikes, skills, accomplishments and more when suddenly they see themselves in a different light. I suspect that the inability to understand one’s self is so prevalent because we often combine an unwillingness to compare ourselves to our own criteria rather than someone else’s and the fear of what we will find if we look deeper into ourselves. How sad it is to see really good people miss much in their lives because they have relegated themselves to mediocrity out of fear that they don’t have the ability to do anything else.

Yep, we are often our own worst enemies when we find it easier to just give in rather than risk change. Fortunately I know of hundreds of examples of people who decided that they were not going to stay locked into an unsatisfactory job or an uninteresting personal life. Sure risk taking takes courage, but we should not let our misguided lack of confidence keep us from finding a happier life.

Here is a poem that makes a lot of sense to me, does it to you as well?

It takes Courage

It takes strength to be firm,

It takes courage to be gentle.

It takes strength to conquer,

It takes courage to surrender.

It takes strength to be certain,

It takes courage to have doubt.

It takes strength to fit in,

It takes courage to stand out.

It takes strength to feel a friend’s pain,

It takes courage to feel your own pain.

It takes strength to endure abuse,

It takes courage to stop it.

It takes strength to stand alone,

It takes courage to lean on another.

It takes strength to love,

It takes courage to be loved.

It takes strength to survive,

It takes courage to live.

~~~

Courage doesn’t always roar.  Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I’ll try again tomorrow.

Mary Anne Radmacher

~~~

At their garage sale, my daughters put all of the “junk” they just wanted to get rid of in a carton marked “Free Box.”  Moments after they set it at the end of the driveway, a man drove up, looked at the box, dumped its contents on the lawn, and drove off with the box.

~~~

“Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.”

Golda Meir

~~~~~~

Hints From Helga

Dirt: Layers of dirty film on windows and screens provide a helpful filter against harmful and aging rays from the sun. Call it an SPF factor of 5 and leave it alone.

Cobwebs: Cobwebs artfully draped over lampshades reduce the glare from the bulb, thereby creating a romantic atmosphere. If your husband points out that the light fixtures need dusting, simply look confused and exclaim, “What? And spoil the mood?”

Guests: If unexpected company is coming, pile everything unsightly into one room and close the door. As you show your guests through your tidy home, rattle the door knob vigorously, fake a growl, and say, “I’d love you to see our den, but Fluffy hates to be disturbed and the shots are SO expensive.”

Dusting: If dusting is REALLY out of control, simply place a showy urn on the coffee table and insist “This is where Grandma wanted us to scatter her ashes…”

General Cleaning: Mix one-quart cup pine-scented household cleaner with four cup soft water in a spray bottle. Mist the air lightly. Leave dampened rags in conspicuous locations. Develop an exhausted look, throw yourself onto the couch, and sigh: “I clean and I clean and I still don’t get anywhere…”

~~~

Lord, grant that I might not so much seek to be loved as to love.

St. Francis of Assisi

~~~

Teacher: Johnny, give me a sentence starting with “I”.

Little Johnny: I is…

Teacher: No, Little Johnny. Always say “I am.”

Little Johnny: All right. “I am the ninth letter of the alphabet.”

~~~

“Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you to recognize a mistake when you make it again.”

Franklin P. Jones

~~~

A millionaire had fallen ill. All the doctors that were consulted did not seem to understand what ailed him. The millionaire let it be known that any doctor who could heal him could have whatever he desired.

A country doctor was able to cure him, and as the doctor was leaving after a week’s stay, the rich man said,

“Doc! I am a man of my word. You name it, and if it is humanly possible, I’ll get it for you.”

“Well,” said the doctor, “I love to play golf, so if I could have a matching set of golf clubs, that would be fine.”

With that, the doctor left. The doctor didn’t hear from the millionaire for some months. Then one day, he got a phone call from him.

“Doc, I bet you thought that I had gone back on my word. I have your matching set of golf clubs. The reason it took so long is that two of them didn’t have swimming pools, and I didn’t think they were good enough for you. So I had pools installed, and they’re all ready for you now!”

~~~

Courage can’t see around corners, but goes around them anyway.

Mignon McLaughlin

~~~

Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

This daily is sent only to special people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@yahoo.com. Back issues are posted at http://raykiwsp.multiply.com/journal and https://raykiwsp.wordpress.com/ currently there are about 2000 readers from around the world.

Let’s stamp out stress!

I’ve have had many troubles in my life but the worst of them never came.

James A. Garfield

There sure seems to be a whole lot of stress going around these days. We live in a society that seems to becoming more polarized each day. Far too many of the folks I know are struggling to make ends meet and more and more young people have taken on staggering student loans only to find upon graduating that the jobs that jobs they would need to live on while paying off their debt just are not that easy to find.

Many of the worst cases find that there are huge holes in the safety net because there are too many problems for cash stressed not-for-profits to alleviate. The rest of us may be doing OK but most of us don’t have the wherewithal to do more than provide minimal help to others as our disposable income shrinks because of inflation along with record high food and energy prices. Fortunately almost all of us and I hope all of you can adjust and survive. Some of us have even made positive lifestyle changes that have turned out to be a godsend. However it is not always easy as stress often builds and sometimes even turns into chronic depression.

Fortunately we don’t have to let things take us down. If you have been reading the Daily for any length of time you know I am a big believe in appreciating what we do have while not placing too much importance on what we don’t have. I know that is not always easy so today I would like to offer the following for your consideration.

Eight Tips for Stress-Free Living

By Jim Estill

The following are eight ways I deal with stress:

1. I figure out what I can control. Stress for me is caused by situations that are out of my control. Even if this is the case, there is always something that I can do that is within my control. For example, I cannot control currency fluctuations but I can take actions that cause them to have less financial impact on me.

2. Stress is related to problem solving skills. I work on my problem solving by writing the problem down. Just the simple act of writing it down tends to help with the solution and also helps reduce the stress.

3. Look at what is really happening. Much stress is created in our imagination. We tend to think the problem is worse than what it is.

4. Exercise. Exercise keeps me centered. The times stress bothers me the most is when I have not balanced myself. Plain and simple – exercise reduces stress and the negative reactions to stress. Even a five minute walk can make me feel calmer.

5. Take a few slow, deep breaths. It is amazing how this reduces my stress reaction.

6. Help someone less fortunate. Nothing puts things into perspective better.

7. Acceptance. If there is truly nothing I can do, then worrying only creates stress. This is easy to say but I work hard at trying to accept what I cannot control; however, not until I have done a lot of brainstorming to make sure I cannot do anything about the problem.

8. Stress tends to be closely tied to time management and most of you know I am a student of this. If I am well organized and using my time effectively, I can handle stress better.

Managing stress is a bit like white water canoeing. The water will win if you try to control it – instead, work with it. Simply help guide a bit, but let the river do the work.

I told a friend today who has had to deal with overwhelming challenges in her life that I often have to stop and tell myself that as bad as it might seem to be today the world did not end, life goes on and I have another day to play tomorrow.

~~~

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”

-Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

~~~

I was self-conscious about going to the gym, because I thought the pounds I had put on would make me stand out among the spandex-clad regulars. I chose a treadmill in the corner so I’d be inconspicuous.

However, as I exercised, my worst fears came true. At least a dozen people turned to stare at me periodically. I thought it might be my imagination, but then one woman even squinted to get a better look. Mortified, I stepped off the machine to leave. When I turned around, I realized that the gym’s only wall clock had been hanging just inches above my head.

~~~

We do not see things as they are; we see things as we are.”

Talmud

~~~

He said: Tiring of the same old buzz cut from the base barber at Fort Dix, New Jersey, I went into town to get my haircut. The hairdresser noticed my accent and asked where I was from.   “Trinidad,” I said.

“Is that in Arabia?”

“The Caribbean.”

She laughed, “Sorry, I never was very good at geometry.”

~~~

“One of the things I learned the hard way was that it doesn’t pay to get discouraged.

Keeping busy and making optimism a way of life can restore your faith in yourself.”

Lucille Ball

~~~

A story concerns itself with a wholesaler in New York who sent a letter to the postmaster of a small mid-western town. He asked for the name of a honest lawyer who would take a collection case against a local debtor who had refused to pay for a shipment of the wholesaler’s goods. He got this reply:

“Dear Sir:

I am the postmaster of this village and received your letter. I am also an honest lawyer and ordinarily would be pleased to accept a case against a local debtor. In this case, however, I also happen to be the person you sold those crummy goods to. I received your demand to pay and refused to honor it. I am also the banker you sent the draft to draw on the merchant, and I sent that back with a note stating that the merchant had refused to pay. And if I were not, for the time being, substituting for the pastor of our local church, I would tell you just what I thought of your claim.”

~~~

Ever notice that people who spend money on beer, cigarettes, and lottery tickets are always complaining about being broke and not feeling well?

~~~

He said: When I worked for the security department of a large retail store, my duties included responding to fire and burglar alarms. A side door of the building was wired with a security alarm, because it was not supposed to be used by customers. Nevertheless they found the convenience of the exit tempting. Even a sign with large red letters, warning “Alarm will sound if opened,” failed to deter people from using it.

One day, after attending to a number of shrieking alarms, I placed a small handmade sign on the door that totally eliminated the problem: “Wet paint.”

~~~

What happens is not as important as how you react to what happens.

Thaddeus Golas

~~~

Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

This daily is sent only to special people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@yahoo.com. Back issues are posted at http://raykiwsp.multiply.com/journal and https://raykiwsp.wordpress.com/ currently there are about 2000 readers from around the world.

Mine was great, how was yours?

It’s the game of life. Do I win or do I lose? One day they’re gonna shut the game down. I gotta have as much fun and go around the board as many times as I can before it’s my turn to leave.

Tupac Shakur

I hope your weekend was as good as mine. As most of you know my hobby is building a friend collection and in the last few days I have acquired some high quality new ones. I spent time Friday with a guy who walked away from a lucrative position so he could work with kids who are so often stuck in a world they did not choose, sometimes even lacking a caring adult in their lives. One of the greatest compliments we can share with others about someone like my new friend is, “He cares!” I am fortunate that he has offered me friendship.

The next day I went to the farmers market to get some of the sweetest corn ever grown, corn fresh from the field after which I spent some time with a chef who I had not met previously. What made her special besides her dazzling personality was the food she brought to the market. You see my new friend comes from a famous family who marketed fantastic food specialties years ago and now she is using the same recipes and making them available to those of us who longed for the taste of old. She loaded me up with samples which I took home and sat reminiscing about the past as I savored old familiar tastes. I have to wait for five more days before I get to see her again and this time I’ll load up on some of her wares.

The capstone of the weekend took place Saturday evening when I attended a super performance of a small professional repertory company that created a magical evening of song, dance and humor. But that was not the best part for I ran into someone who had been a casual acquaintance in the past. I had often read her columns in the paper and had attended some of the same meetings and forums as she did. As we talked we found that we had a lot in common − friends, interests, enjoyable retirement and more. We are now connected and are subscribing to each other’s internet offerings. This is truly an interesting person and I look forward to the budding friendship maturing into the time when we might solve all the world’s problems.

Yep, it has been a special weekend. It has been one where I again learned that always being ready to make a new friend and being open to everyone provides some of life’s real treasure. I think I said again last week, “To make a friend be a friend.” Being friendly pays, waiting for someone else to take the first step seldom does.

Here is one of Wickihow’s suggestions for finding happiness:

Find a hobby. You might take up collecting stamps or coins, or you might learn more about photography or art. You don’t have to spend your entire life doing it; the whole purpose of the hobby is to vary your routine and do something worthwhile.

I am so glad that my choice was collecting you and others like you. My collection lives, ebbs and flows, generating warmth, understanding and adventure and for that I am grateful.

Ray

~~~

Adapt yourself to the life you have been given; and truly love the people with whom destiny has surrounded you.

Marcus Aurelius

~~~

She said that now that they are retired, my mother and father are discussing all aspects of their future.

“What will you do if I die before you do?” Dad asked Mom.

After some thought, she said that she’d probably look for a house-sharing situation with three other single or widowed women who might be a little younger than herself, since she is so active for her age.

Then Mom asked Dad, “What will you do if I die first?”

He replied, “Probably the same thing.”

~~~

Vital papers will demonstrate their vitality by moving from where you left them to where you can’t find them.

~~~

A young couple decided they needed an au pair, and arranged for a girl to come over from Northern Finland.  When she arrived, the wife asked, “Can you cook?”

“No,” said the girl, “My mother always did that.”

“Can you do housework?” asked the wife.

“No, my oldest sister always did that.”

“Well,” said the wife, “You’d better just look after the children.”

“I don’t know how,” said the girl. “My youngest sister always did that.”

“What can you do, then?” asked the wife, in desperation.

“Well,” said the Finnish girl brightly, “I can milk reindeer.”

~~~

On a scale of 1 to 10, 4 is about 7.

~~~

Up at the head table in the cafeteria, one of the nuns had placed a big bowl of bright red, fresh, juicy apples.  Beside the bowl, she placed a note which read, “Take only one.  Remember, God is watching.”

At the other end of the table was a bowl full of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, still warm from the oven.

Beside the bowl, a little note scrawled in a child’s handwriting which read, “Take all you want.  God’s watching the apples.”

~~~

BATHROOM: a room used by the entire family, believed by all (except Mom) to be self-cleaning.

~~~

“Thanks for the harmonica you gave me for Christmas,” little Joshua said to his uncle the first time he saw him after the holidays. “It’s the best Christmas present I ever got.”

“That’s great,” said his uncle. “Do you know how to play it?”

“Oh, I don’t play it,” the little fellow said. “My mom gives me a dollar a day not to play it during the day and my dad gives me five dollars a week not to play it at night.”

~~~

“Hope for the best, expect the worst.

Life is a play. We’re unrehearsed.”

Mel Brooks

~~~

He said:

My tennis partner, Peter, is responsible for alumni relations at his high-school alma mater. Last fall, a member of the Class of 1986 returned the standard alumni questionnaire with this response:

Marital Status – Not good

Wife’s Name – Plaintiff

~~~

Artificial Intelligence usually beats real stupidity.

~~~

A preacher was making his rounds to his parishoners on a bicycle, when he came upon a little boy trying to sell a lawnmower. “How much do you want for the mower?” asked the preacher.

“I’m just trying to make enough money to buy a bicycle,” said the little boy.

After a moment of consideration, the preacher asked, “Will you take my bike in trade for it?”

The boy said, “You got a deal.”

The preacher took the mower and tried to crank it. He pulled on the string a few times with no response from the mower. The preacher called the little boy over an d said, “I can’t get this mower to start.”

The little boy said, “That’s ’cause you have to cuss at it to get it started.”

The preacher said, “I’m a minister, and I can’t cuss. It’s been so long since I’ve been saved that I don’t know if I even remember how to cuss.”

The little boy looked at him happily and said, “Just keep pulling on that string. It’ll come back to ya!”

~~~~~~

Life’s truest happiness is found in friendships we make along the way.

~~~

Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

This daily is sent only to special people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@yahoo.com. Back issues are posted at http://raykiwsp.multiply.com/journal and https://raykiwsp.wordpress.com/ currently there are about 2000 readers from around the world.

Will there be a new you?

Most people are other people.  Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

Oscar Wilde

As you know I have focused on finding yourself over the last few days. I should not have been surprised by the responses I have had, especially from those who have learned that they have spent most of their lives trying to be someone they are not.

It is not surprising that so many of us are molded by conforming to the dreams, objectives, and views of others. We are brought up by parents and teachers who impose on us their beliefs, prejudices and sometimes their personal ambitions. I don’t mean they do it out of malice, but rather out of either their commitment to convention or as the result of how they have been molded by society. I think it may even be becoming more prevalent as more educational institutions focus on rigid models without releasing our inherent curiosity and creative ability. We are taught rules and concepts that help assure that we will get along by being as much like everyone else as everyone else is. Once we get into the work place and to society we are told exactly what we need to do to get ahead and how we must behave in order to please the most people. That is not to say that we all end up being the same but we are often lured into the tribal thinking that polarizes society into the self-perceived righteous who believe they can do and everyone else who they believe can do no right.

I don’t know about you but my trying to be like everyone else does not interest me at all. How awful it would be if we all became the same. I don’t mean that I advocate anarchy, what I mean is that I don’t feel comfortable always marching in the parade to the same tune as everyone else. So what can we do, we can declare our independence. We may chose the same job or life style but we do it by choice and not by default. But what I think we must do is be ourselves and not live lives prescribed by others.

Here is something that Ralph Ellison wrote in “Battle Royal” that is true for far too many of us.

All my life I had been looking for something, and everywhere I turned someone tried to tell me what it was.  I accepted their answers too, though they were often in contradiction and even self-contradictory.  I was naïve.  I was looking for myself and asking everyone except myself questions which I, and only I, could answer.  It took me a long time and much painful boomeranging of my expectations to achieve a realization everyone else appears to have been born with:  that I am nobody but myself.

The good news is that it is never too late to reward yourself by being who you really want to be. It just requires a willingness to adventure out knowing that you have paid your dues, done what others have told you or rewarded you to do and now it is time to do what you want to do. But if you have read the Daily the past few days you know that I believe that you first need figure out what it is you really want to do. If you’re willing to do so you may find that the rest of your life will be truly wonderful.

~~~

Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.

Judy Garland

~~~

A Mother’s Dictionary

AMNESIA: Condition that enables a woman who has gone through labor to make love again.

DUMBWAITER: One who asks if the kids would care to order dessert.

FAMILY PLANNING: The art of spacing your children the proper distance apart to keep you on the edge of financial disaster.

FEEDBACK: The inevitable result when your baby doesn’t appreciate the strained carrots.

FULL NAME: What you call your child when you’re mad at him.

GRANDPARENTS: The people who think your children are wonderful even though they’re sure you’re not raising them right.

HEARSAY: What toddlers do when anyone mutters a dirty word.

IMPREGNABLE: A woman whose memory of labor is still vivid.

INDEPENDENT: How we want our children to be as long as they do everything we say.

POW: The first word spoken by children with older siblings.

PUDDLE: A small body of water that draws other small bodies wearing dry clothes into it.

SHOW OFF: A child who is more talented than yours.

STERILIZE: What you do to your first baby’s pacifier by boiling it and to your last baby’s pacifier by blowing on it.

TOP BUNK: Where you should never put a child wearing Superman pajamas.

TWO MINUTE WARNING: When the baby’s face turns red and she begins to make those familiar grunting noises.

VERBAL: Able to whine in words.

WHODUNIT: None of the kids that live in your house..

WEEKEND: When Dad gets to play golf while Mom catches up on the laundry, cleans the house, runs errands, etc.

~~~

Did you know that the biggest sellers in the bookstores are cookbooks.

The second biggest seller is diet books about how not to eat what you’ve just learned how to cook.

~~~

I don’t think I’ll ever have a mother’s intuition.  My married sister, Anne, her twelve month old son, Timmy, and I were having lunch together in a restaurant one day. All of a sudden my sister gets up and announces she needs to excuse herself from the table to make a telephone call and would I please keep an eye on Timmy.

I said, “What do I do if he cries?”

She said, “Give him some vegetables.”

It turns out that jalapenos are not his favorite.

~~~

She said: I have the most marvelous recipe for meat loaf! All I have to do is mention it to my husband and he says, “Let’s eat out!”

~~~

The Pope is visiting town and all the residents are dressed up in their best Sunday clothes. Everyone lines up on main street hoping for a personal blessing from the Pope. One local man has put on his best suit and he’s sure the Pope will stop and talk to him. He is standing next to an exceptionally down-trodden looking bum who doesn’t smell very good.

As the Pope comes walking by he leans over and says something to the bum and then walks right by the local man. He can’t believe it, then it hits him. The Pope won’t talk to him, he’s concerned for the unfortunate people: the poor and and feeble ones.

Thinking fast, he gives the bum $20 to trade clothes with him. He puts on the bum’s clothing and runs down the street to line up for another chance for the Pope to stop and talk to him. Sure enough, the Pope walks right up to him this time, leans over close and says “I thought I told you to get the hell out of here!”

~~~~~~

It’s not who you are that holds you back, it’s who you think you’re not.

Author Unknown

~~~

Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

This daily is sent only to special people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@yahoo.com. Back issues are posted at http://raykiwsp.multiply.com/journal and https://raykiwsp.wordpress.com/ currently there are about 2000 readers from around the world.

Who are you really?

We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.

François Duc de La Rochefoucauld

Yesterday I mentioned my friend who seemed to be trapped in a job that left her little time for herself. In my experience just walking away from un-pleasantries is risky if you don’t know where you want to go. Often we don’t spend enough time learning about ourselves in order to lay a solid foundation for making a positive move. I have found in hundreds of sessions with others that we tend to overlook the little things that when added up provide us the best chance of happiness. It is not the big things that make us special it is the everyday things that we like and do that are so often overlooked.

Not long ago I stumbled across an article by Tina Su that I strongly recommend. I have heavily edited it in order to fit the Daily but her message is clear, if you invest in learning about yourself you will often be rewarded with life enriching results.

She said, “I believe that we were all sent here for a reason and that we all have significance in the world. I genuinely feel that we are all blessed with unique gifts. The expression of our gifts contributes to a cause greater than ourselves.” She also said that these questions were running through her mind: What am I chasing after? Why am I chasing it? What is my purpose? Why was I put here?

She began by listing all the things that are most important to her. She decided that whatever venture she commit to must align with her personal mission, her values and her goals. For every new opportunity that comes along, she would ask herself how it aligns with her goals. Regardless of how much money she could acquire, if the venture did not align with where she wanted to be, then she would not pursue it.

Here are a few of her values and goals:

• What matters most is my connection with myself, being present and feeling blissful.
• What I value most is having meaningful relationships with people. Being able to connect with people on deep levels.
• To live everyday fully as if it was my last.

She then proceeded to offer us the following list of questions that can assist us in discovering our purpose. They are meant as a guide to help us get into a frame of mind that will be conducive to defining our personal mission.

Simple Instructions:

Take out a few sheets of loose paper and a pen.

Find a place where you will not be interrupted. Turn off your cell phone.

Write the answers to each question down. Write the first thing that pops into your head. Write without editing. Use point form. It’s important to write out your answers rather than just thinking about them.

Write quickly. Give yourself less than 60 seconds a question. Preferably less than 30 seconds.

Be honest. Nobody will read it. It’s important to write without editing.

Enjoy the moment and smile as you write.

15 Questions:

1. What makes you smile? (Activities, people, events, hobbies, projects, etc.)

2. What are your favorite things to do in the past? What about now?

3. What activities make you lose track of time?

4. What makes you feel great about yourself?

5. Who inspires you most? (Anyone you know or do not know. Family, friends, authors, artists, leaders, etc.) Which qualities inspire you, in each person?

6. What are you naturally good at? (Skills, abilities, gifts etc.)

7. What do people typically ask you for help in?

8. If you had to teach something, what would you teach?

9. What would you regret not fully doing, being or having in your life?

10. You are now 90 years old. Looking back at your life and all that you’ve achieved and acquired, all the relationships you’ve developed; what matters to you most? List them out.

11. What are your deepest values? Select 3 to 6  and prioritize the words in order of importance to you.

12. What were some challenges, difficulties and hardships you’ve overcome or are in the process of overcoming? How did you do it?

13. What causes do you strongly believe in? Connect with?

14. If you could get a message across to a large group of people. Who would those people be? What would your message be?

15. Given your talents, passions and values. How could you use these resources to serve, to help, to contribute? ( to people, beings, causes, organization, environment, planet, etc.)

I know this is longer than usual but it also may be the most important exercise you ever do. The author has a lot more to offer and you can read her whole article at http://thinksimplenow.com/happiness/life-on-purpose-15-questions-to-discover-your-personal-mission/

~~~

“Being happy doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. It means that you’ve decided to look beyond the imperfections.”

~~~

There are two polite people having dinner together. On the table there is a dish with one big piece of fish and one small piece of fish. They politely say to each other: “You may choose first.”

“No, you may choose first.”

And this goes on for a while. Then the first person says: “OK, I’ll take first.” And he takes the BIG piece of fish.

The second person: “Why did you take the big piece? That’s not polite!”

The first person says: “Which piece would *you* have taken?”

The second person replies: “Why, I would have taken the SMALL piece, of course.”

The first person says: “Well, that’s what you have now!”

~~~

The beaten path is the safest, but the traffic’s terrible.

Jeff Taylor

~~~

The class was studying state capitals. The teacher asked one of her pupils, “What’s the nation’s capital?”

Little Johnny replied, “Washington DC”

She then asked, “What does the ‘DC’ stand for?”

Little Johnny added, “Oh, I know that!  Dot com.”

~~~

Why does mineral water that ‘has trickled through mountains for centuries have a ‘use by’ date?

~~~

How To Tell If You’re In New York……..

Your doorman is Russian, your grocer is Korean, your deli man is Israeli, your building super is Italian, your laundry guy is Chinese, your favorite bartender is Irish, your favorite diner owner is Greek, the watch seller on your corner is Senegalese, your last cabbie was Pakistani, your newsstand guy is Indian, and your favorite falafel guy is Egyptian.

~~~

For as long as I can remember I’ve had amnesia.

~~~

Myron Cohen said his mother was very resourceful.  For instance, he recalled that when their table cloth became frayed she would cut it up into smaller pieces and make napkins.  When they became frayed she cut them up into handkerchiefs.  And when they became frayed, she sewed them all together and made another tablecloth.

~~~

“There comes a time when you have to stand up and shout:

This is me damn it! I look the way I look, think the way I think, feel the way I feel, love the way I love! I am a whole complex package. Take me… or leave me. Accept me – or walk away! Do not try to make me feel like less of a person, just because I don’t fit your idea of who I should be and don’t try to change me to fit your mold. If I need to change, I alone will make that decision.

Stacey Charter

~~~

Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

This daily is sent only to special people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@yahoo.com. Back issues are posted at http://raykiwsp.multiply.com/journal and https://raykiwsp.wordpress.com/ currently there are about 2000 readers from around the world.

The best decision I ever made!

“Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.”

Maria Robinson

I recently had a conversation with a highly regarded old friend. This friend is internationally respected for contributions made that have resulted in better lives for thousands, if not millions of people all over the world. My friend is highly regarded by scientists, public officials and peers. My friend has a high position on one of the world’s most respected international organization, a position that includes title, prestige and a large salary.

There a few that I know who have done so much and deserve so much, and yet….the job has provided little time for personal happiness. Global deadlines, relentless pressure, long hours, and constant travel to all parts of the world have left little time for family or friends.

In some ways what I heard reminded me of the dilemma I faced more than twenty years ago. While my job at the time was nowhere as significant as my friends, it was both lucrative and substantial. I managed an organization filled with people I regarded. I loved being part of the burgeoning computer industry even though it was in turmoil in the early nineties as the restructuring of the American workforce. Unfortunately my job soon lost its luster; I like my friend had little time for friends or family while my days were filled with the job of laying off both friends and loyal employees.

I found myself trapped, I needed the income to sustain my life style, I needed the benefits to provide health care and more, and I was dependent on my rapidly growing retirement accounts. There was just no way I could leave   and then a friend asked me if it was all worth it, he asked why I thought it would get better and did I really want to trade happiness for title and income. I thought about it, talked to my wife and then did the unthinkable, I took very early retirement. And you know what, it was the best thing I ever did. While the income has not been there and the retirement benefits substantially less, my life experiences have exceeded my wildest dreams. Freeing myself from the bounds of apparent security allowed me to go where I never would have ventured in my previous life.

So the other day when my friend said she needed to make the big bucks in order to sustain her lifestyle, my question was, why maintain it if it just allowed the unhappiness to continue unchecked? I wonder why we put so much value on what we can buy and so little value on what holds the key to our happiness. Do you know the answer?

~~~

“The key to change… is to let go of fear.”

Rosanne Cash

~~~

“How’s your mother,” a friend asked.

“Not good,” I answered. “She’s got chronic frontal sinusitis.”

“My goodness,” the friend said.  “Where did she get that?”

“Reader’s Digest.  Last month’s issue.”

~~~

Practice makes perfect, but if nobody’s perfect, why practice?

~~~

She said: The bank where I work had just installed its first 24- hour cash machine. I encouraged an elderly gentleman to take an application for the new plastic identification cards, explaining that he would be able to get cash any time of day or night.

He declined, saying, “Lady, anything I’d need money for that late at night I shouldn’t be doing.”

~~~

“Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal.”

Albert Camus

I wonder if he means we work hard to be just like everyone else instead of being ourselves.

Ray

~~~

When the employees of a restaurant attended a fire safety seminar, they watched a fire official demonstrate the proper way to operate an extinguisher.

“Pull the pin like a hand grenade,” he explained, “then depress the trigger to release the foam.”

Later an employee was selected to extinguish a controlled fire in the parking lot. In her nervousness, she forgot to pull the pin.

The instructor hinted, “Like a hand grenade, remember?”

In a burst of confidence she pulled the pin …. and hurled the extinguisher at the blaze.

~~~

Judge:  Was the child born out of wedlock?

Mother:  No, Sir, just outside of Louisville.

~~~

My mom had decided to trim her household budget wherever possible, so instead of having a dress dry-cleaned by Stein’s Laundry she washed it by hand. Proud of her savings, she boasted to my father, “Just think, Sam, we are five dollars richer because I washed this dress by hand.”

“Good,” my dad quickly replied. “Wash it again!”

~~~

Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.

~~~

The day I started my construction  job, I was in the office filling out an employee form when I came to the section that wanted to know:

Single__, Married__, Divorced__.

I marked single.  Glancing at the man next to me, who was filling out the same form, I noticed he hadn’t marked any of the blanks.  Instead he’d written, “Yes, in that order.”

~~~

All my life, I always wanted to be somebody.  Now I see that I should have been more specific.

Jane Wagner

~~~

Two girls were discussing pranks they had played on people in the past while waiting for a bus. After they boarded a crowded bus and one of them whispered to the other, “Watch me embarrass a man into giving me his seat.” Pushing her way through the crowd, she turned all her charms upon a gentleman who looked like he might embarrass easily.

“My dear Mr. Wilson,” she gushed, “fancy meeting you on the bus. Am I glad to see you. Why, you’re almost a stranger. My, but I’m tired.”

The sedate gentleman looked up at the girl. He had never seen her before, but he rose and said pleasantly, “Sit down, Mary, my girl. It isn’t often I see you on washday. No wonder you’re tired. Being pregnant isn’t easy. By the way, don’t deliver the wash until Thursday. My wife is going to the District Attorney’s office to see whether she can get your husband out of jail.”

~~~

“Change is the essence of life.

Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”

~~~

Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

This daily is sent only to special people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@yahoo.com. Back issues are posted at http://raykiwsp.multiply.com/journal and https://raykiwsp.wordpress.com/ currently there are about 2000 readers from around the world.

It’s been a great trip so far.

“Our battered suitcases were piled on the sidewalk again; we had longer ways to go. But no matter, the road is life.”

Jack Kerouac

The other day I started to think about time travel or more accurately my travel through time. I guess it was triggered by the fact that we have just passed through the midpoint of 2011 and my realization of how fast time seems to go by these days. I suspect it speeds by in part because my days are so full. In the past my life sometimes slowed down as I did my normal stuff awaiting the next significant event while now there is seldom a day that goes by that does not include at least one event that makes that day special.

As I reflected on my life over time I realized that I was there for much of what people these days see only as historical events to be revisited via flashbacks or in historical documents. I was there at the tail end of the great depression. I heard about the bombing of Pearl Harbor on the radio at a cousin’s house. I remember when our food and fuel were rationed. I listened to the news of FDR’s death at home in the early afternoon. I remember VE day, the atomic bombing and VJ day. I was there when movie theatres and beaches were closed because of the polio epidemic. I worked with others as we built a new country after the war. I went to school with hundreds of returning veterans studying under the GI Bill. I went to Korea with the US navy on a major aircraft carrier after visiting Europe and Japan which were still recovering from WWII. I was in Hong Kong when the mountains and caves where filled with refugees from mainland China surviving only on scraps of leftover food. I worked on the world’s first large scale computers, and spent decades in the computer industry, an industry that never stopped changing the world. I have gone around the world, visited many countries and met an amazing array of people. I have met stars, statesmen, scientists and humanitarians. And there is so much more that I have had the good fortune to experience firsthand.

My life has been enriched for over three quarters of a century. The enrichment has not come from what I have seen or done, it has come from the good people I meet and see every day. I have come to really appreciate you, and the others like you who make my world interesting, fun, and full of adventure. Yep, I have traveled in time and I am still doing so, treasuring all the moments that enrich my days.

~~~

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”

Henry Miller

~~~

A grandmother overheard her 5-year-old granddaughter playing “wedding.” The wedding vows went like this:

“You have the right to remain silent, anything you say may be held against you, you have the right to have an attorney present. You may kiss the bride.”

~~~

If you let a smile be your umbrella, then most likely your rear end will get soaking wet.

~~~

A lady lost her handbag in the bustle of shopping at the mall. It was found by an honest little boy and returned to her.

Looking in her purse, she commented, “Hmmm…. That’s funny. When I lost my bag there was a $20 bill in it. Now there are twenty $1 bills.”

The boy quickly replied, “That’s right, lady. The last time I found a lady’s purse, she didn’t have any change for a reward.”

~~~

Parents are like shuttles on a loom. They join the threads of the past with threads of the future and leave their own bright patterns as they go.

Fred Rogers

~~~

Someone once noted that a Southerner can get away with the most awful kind of insult just as long as it’s prefaced with the words, “Bless her heart” or “Bless his heart.” As in, “Bless his heart, if they put his brain on the head of a pin, it’d roll around like a BB on a six lane highway” Or, “Bless her heart, she’s so buck-toothed, she could eat an apple through a picket fence.” There are also the sneakier ones: “You know, it’s amazing that even though she had that baby 7 months after they were married, bless her heart, it weighed 10 pounds.”

~~~

“My husband said he needed more space. So I locked him outside.”

Roseanne Barr

~~~

Moshe, the owner of a small Kosher New York deli, was being questioned by an IRS agent about his tax return. He had reported a net profit of $80,000 for the year.

‘Why don’t you people leave me alone?’ the deli owner said. ‘I work like a dog, everyone in my family helps out, the place is only closed three days a year. And you want to know how I made $80,000?’

‘It’s not your income that bothers us,’ the agent said. ‘It’s these travel deductions. You listed ten trips to Israel for you and your wife.’

‘Oh, that?’ the owner said smiling. ‘Well… We also deliver.’

~~~

“A man’s friendships are one of the best measures of his worth.”

Charles Darwin

~~~

We’ll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes; but the plural of ox became oxen not oxes. One fowl is a goose, but two are called geese, yet the plural of moose should never be meese.

You may find a lone mouse or a nest full of mice; yet the plural of house is houses, not hice. If the plural of man is always called men, why shouldn’t the plural of pan be called pen?

If I spoke of my foot and show you my feet, and I give you a boot, would a pair be called beet? If one is a tooth and a whole set are teeth, why shouldn’t the plural of booth be called beeth?

Then one may be that, and three would be those, yet hat in the plural would never be hose, and the plural of cat is cats, not cose.

We speak of a brother and also of brethren, but though we say mother, we never say methren. Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him, but imagine the feminine, she, shis and shim.

~~~

I walked into a bar the other day and ordered a double. The bartender brought out a guy who looked just like me.

~~~

The Smith’s were proud of their family tradition. Their ancestors had come to America on the Mayflower. They had included Senators and Wall Street wizards.

They decided to compile a family history, a legacy for their children and grandchildren. They hired a fine author. Only one problem arose – how to handle that great-uncle George, who was executed in the electric chair. The author assured the family he could handle the story as tactfully as possible and was given the go-ahead to write the book.

The book appeared. It said “Great-uncle George occupied a chair of applied electronics at an important government institution and was attached to his position by the strongest of ties. His death came as a great shock.”

~~~

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure.

There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.”

Jawaharial Nehru

~~~

Stay well, do good work, and have fun.

Ray Mitchell

Indianapolis, Indiana

Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.

This daily is sent only to special people who want to start their day on an upbeat. If you have system overload because of our daily clutter, let me know and I will send you the information via mental telepathy. If you have not been getting our daily you can request to be added by e-mailing me at raykiwsp@yahoo.com. Back issues are posted at http://raykiwsp.multiply.com/journal and https://raykiwsp.wordpress.com/ currently there are about 2000 readers from around the world.