Ray’s Daily
March 18, 2020
“We don’t develop courage by being happy every day. We develop it by surviving difficult times and challenging adversity.”
Barbara De Angelis
If you are like I am the current crisis created by the Coronavirus epidemic has created unprecedented challenges. In my case we have had to develop a plan to deal with our basic needs without help from our family. It is not easy keeping separated from those who mean so much to us.
It is a time where we all need to cope as well as we can. Here is an abridged article that can help.
Six Ways to Thrive in Tough Times
by Aila Accad, RN, MSN
Tough times can bring you to your knees. They can also raise you to new heights. Here are six tips that can help you thrive in tough times.
Nourish Yourself – Let go of the bootstraps for a few moments, acknowledge your stress and be kind to yourself. What nourishes you — inspirational reading, music, a cup of tea …? Are there people or places, a favorite chair or spot in nature that provide sustenance? Make nurturing yourself every day a priority.
Stay Present – Don’t project ahead. Take life one day, one moment at a time. Tough times are more manageable when you pay attention to making decisions and taking action on only the next step. Fearful preoccupation or worries about dire imagined future possibilities can leave you open to illness, accidents and errors in judgment that compound your problems. Scale down, simplify your activities and concentrate your precious energy supply on only what is critically important right now.
Accept Support – This can be difficult for people who prize self-sufficiency. Remember it is as virtuous to receive, as it is to give. Without the receiver, the giver has no way to share their abundant gifts. Don’t deprive your friends and family of the pleasure to help you when you need it. Shared burdens provide opportunities for enhanced closeness and appreciation for one another.
Trust Your Resilience – Chances are you have been through tough times before. What natural strengths did you rely upon in those situations? How did you make it through adolescence, childbirth, marriage, divorce, school, first job? What are your natural inner resources? Trust that you have what you need to see this tough time through.
Visualize Success – See yourself moving into a new chapter of life. How do you want to write that chapter? Creation begins in the imagination. If you can think it, you can create it. In order to be free to dream and hope for something new, you must let go of old visions, descriptions and limitations of the person you think you are or can become.
In times of crisis and radical change, remember that living means growing. I have never seen anything in nature grow backward. So, as bad as you feel, and as much as you doubt it, if you are alive you are growing.
~~~
“Life keeps throwing me stones. And I keep finding the diamonds.
Ana Claudia Antunes
~~~
“Say Ralph, you want to hit the golf course this afternoon?”
“Sorry, I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“The doctor told me I can’t play.”
“Oh, he’s been out with you too?”
~~~
After all is said and done, usually more is said than done.
~~~
A nice girl brings home her fiancé to meet her parents. After dinner, her mother tells her father to find out about the young man. He invites the fiancé to his study for a chat. “So, what are your plans?” the father asks the fiancé. “I am a Biblical scholar,” he replies. “A Biblical scholar. Admirable, but what will you do to provide a nice house for my daughter to live in, as she’s accustomed to?” “I will study,” the young man replies, “…and God will provide for us.” “And how will you buy her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she deserves?” “I will concentrate on my studies, God will provide for us.” “And children? How will you support children?” “Don’t worry, sir, God will provide.” The conversation proceeds like this, and each time the father questions, the fiance insists that God will provide.
Later, the mother asks, “So? How did it go?”
“He has no job and no plans, but the good news is he thinks I’m God.”
~~~
Snowmen fall from Heaven unassembled.
~~~
A Sunday school teacher was teaching her class about the difference between right and wrong.
“All right children, let’s take another example,” she said. “If I were to get into a man’s pocket and take his billfold with all his money, what would I be?”
Little Johnny raises his hand, and with a confident smile, he blurts out, “You’d be his wife!”
~~~
The happiest people don’t necessarily have the best of everything. They just make the best of everything.
~~~
The flight home from a recent business trip was pretty empty, so the pilot made a simple request of the passengers.
“We have a little extra room tonight, folks,” he said over the PA system. “So, if you wouldn’t mind, please take a window seat so that the competition thinks the plane is full.”
~~~
When you dig another out of their troubles, you find a place to bury your own.
Anonymous
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A man was in a Hallmark store, trying to pick out an anniversary card for his wife. The clerk was concerned that the customer had already spent a half-hour searching for the right anniversary greeting.
After watching the man lingering over one card after another, the clerk went to see if she could help. – “Is there a problem?” she asked.
“Yes, there is,” he replied ruefully. – “I can’t find one card my wife will believe.”
~~~
It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.
Author unknown
~~~
One Sunday afternoon, the pastor’s wife returned home with an expensive dress in hand. When her husband asked her about it, she explained. “Well, I was on my way to put the church’s offering money in the bank, but I saw this amazing dress in the shop window. I was just trying it on when the Devil appeared and started tempting me to buy it.”
At this point, the pastor was beginning to become angry. “Why didn’t you just use scripture and say, ‘Get thee behind me, Satan’?”
The wife sheepishly answered, “I did, but the Devil said, ‘It looks even better from back here!'”
~~~
“The most beautiful people I’ve known are those who have known trials, have known struggles, have known loss, and have found their way out of the depths.”
Elizabeth Kübler-Ross
~~~
Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
Ray’s Daily has been sent for more than fifteen years to 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@gmail.com. Back issues are posted at http://rays-daily,com/ currently there are more than 2000 readers from around the world.
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Comments on: "We Shall Overcome" (1)
yes, ray. wonderful post