Ray’s Daily
July 24, 2020
If we are too busy, if we are carried away every day by our projects, our uncertainty, our craving, how can we have the time to stop and look deeply into the situation-our own situation, the situation of our beloved one, the situation of our family and of our community, and the situation of our nation and of the other nations?
Thich Nhat Hanh
Here is a Daily from years ago that I think still has value.
I wonder sometimes if any of us really spends the time we should getting to know ourselves. So many of the people I know don’t really understand just how good they are and what they have to offer others. They sometime seem to avoid finding out if they can do something because they are not sure enough about themselves to even try.
Sadly, the more we avoid understanding our own reality the easier it becomes to ignore our truths. Our rationale is to delay because I will do it after I complete this course, or after I finish that project, or after the kids are back in school, or after my vacation, or after Christmas often transforms tomorrow into someday and someday into never. How many of us never fulfill our dreams because we just go with the flow never looking at ourselves and into our hearts because it seems easier just to wait until never?
It wouldn’t be so bad if not knowing ourselves resulted in our avoiding pain but most often it means we will never be all we could be and never soar to the heights that we might of if we just opened up our wings once in awhile.
I currently think I am the luckiest person I know. I have probably climbed all the mountains that I will in my lifetime and have seen more than my share of the world. I have had the good fortune to have family and friends carry me through the bad times while sharing with me the good times. But what makes this time of my life so special is watching my friends who are willing to invest in themselves find so many rainbows. Many are in, or even past, their golden years and yet they have found joy in their new found jobs, relationships, and families. Why? Mostly because they took the time to examine themselves and learned what makes them happy and then implemented a strategy to look for the opportunity to enjoy their lives. Many have found a level of happiness they did not think was possible. For me there is nothing better than sitting with a friend who shares their excitement as they relate the details of a new job, the results of a volunteer effort or what they have seen now that they stop and look. I share their joy and basking in their glow. I honestly believe that the world is waiting for us but we’ll never find what it has to offer if we just sit and wait for it to come to us.
~~~
Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What’s a sundial in the shade?
Benjamin Franklin
~~~
“Moving Day”
He said:
In the last 30 or so years, my wife and I have moved at least 12 or 13 times. Sometimes it was across town and sometimes it was from one country to another. This is my advise for those who are getting the urge to splurge with a new house.
- Hire the cheapest mover in the Yellow Pages. Every mover will break or scratch the same quota of items, so it is better not to pay them so much to do it.
- Forget about marking boxes. Marking boxes to move is somewhat akin to assembling you kid’s bicycle, because there will be parts left over you don’t know where they go. There will be rooms in the new house that do not fit the rooms they came from.
- Forget any communications between you and the mover. One, they will forget where you are moving from and lose their directions to where you are moving to. Two, do not expect the mover to be on time. After waiting all day for him to arrive, just as you sit down for the evening meal a truck the size of a football field will pull up on your lawn expecting to get everything done before dark.
- Do not watch the movers pack. Watching the movers pack is somewhat akin to looking in the kitchen of your favorite restaurant. It will make you sick with an irrepressible urge to throw up.
- Two days before the movers promise to arrive, send your children off to camp for a month. Movers get along with children like mailmen get along with dogs. Before the day is over, it is inevitable that either a child will be accidentally boxed, or the mover will trip over a child and sue you for everything you own.
- As soon as you get into your new house and replace all the broken and missing items, nail everything to the floor. You and your wife cut your wrists, cross arms, and make a blood vow never to move again.
- The three most important things to remember about moving are . .
- Plan ahead
- Don’t do it
- Consider the cost of the move as three times the cost of your new house.
~~~
“There are souls in this world which have the gift of finding joy everywhere and of leaving it behind them when they go.”
Frederick Faber
~~~
She said:
For our 20th anniversary my husband and I vacationed in Hawaii, where we went snorkeling. After an hour in the water, everyone got back on the boat, except for me and one handsome young man. As I continued my underwater exploring, I noticed that everywhere I swam, he swam. I snorkeled for another 40 minutes. So did he.
I felt very flattered and, as I took off my fins, asked him coyly why he had stayed in the water for so long.
“I’m the lifeguard,” he replied matter-of-factly. “I couldn’t get out until you did.”
~~~
“One of the most difficult things is not to change society – but to change yourself.”
Nelson Mandela
~~~
“Well, Ted, you’re certainly coming up in the world. What’s the idea of playing golf with not one, but two caddies?”
“Oh, it was my wife’s idea.”
“Your wife?”
“Yeah,” answers Ted. “She thought I should spend more time with the kids.”
~~~
Argue if you must, just remember I’m right!
~~~
A little boy was walking down a dirt road one Sunday afternoon when he met a little girl going in the same direction.
“Hello,” said the little boy.
“Hi,” replied the little girl. “Where are you going?”
“I’ve been to church this morning and I’m on my way home,”
“Me too. I’m also on my way home from church. Which church do you go to?”
“I go to the Baptist church back down the road. “What about you?”
“I go to the Methodist church back at the top of the hill.”
After they’d walked a short distance together they came to a low spot in the road where rains had partially flooded the road. There was no way they could get across to the other side without getting wet.
“If I get my new Sunday dress wet my Mom’s going to skin me alive,” said the little girl.
“My Mom’ll tan my hide too, if I get my new Sunday suit wet,”
“I tell you what I think I’ll do. I’m gonna pull off all my clothes and hold them over my head and wade across.”
“That’s a good idea. I’m going to do the same thing with my suit.”
So they both undressed and waded across to the other side without getting their clothes wet. They were standing in the sun waiting to dry before putting their clothes back on when the little boy remarked … “You know, I never did realize before just how much difference there really is between Baptists and Methodists.”
~~~
To succeed, we must first believe that we can.
Michael Korda
~~~
Ray Mitchell
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
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