Ray’s Daily
January 13, 2021
If you haven’t all the things you want, be grateful for the things you don’t have that you wouldn’t want.
Things are looking up in spite of the current threats, at least they are for me. I got my first dose of the Covid 19 vaccibe yesterday. Today they are reopening our residents dining room so I no longer be limited to meals brought to me in my apartment.
There are still things I look forward to in the future including having Covid restrictions lifted so I can visit my wife in her long term care facility. I also look forward to the days when I can dine with friends at our favorite restaurants. I especiallywill welcome the day when friends and neigbors are bo longer stricken with the Covid virus.
The following abridged article reminds us that we can’t have everything we can learn to appreciate what we do have.
10 Things to Remember When Everything You Want is Out of Reach
by ANGEL CHERNOFF
- You don’t need baggage from yesterday clouding your vision of today’s blessings. The only thing stopping you 98% of the time is your mind and the thoughts you entertain. So take a deep breath and recenter yourself. Focus your limited energy on what matters most in the present.
- It’s truly powerful and beautiful when a person’s intentions are genuine. So remember to do things for the right reasons, even when things don’t work out as planned. With a strong enough reason why, you’ll be able to do what’s required at any time and in any circumstance.
- Most people end up cheating on themselves and others, again and again, simply because they pay more attention to what they’re missing, rather than what they have. . Stay focused.
- You will end up heartbroken if you expect people will always do for you as you do for them. Not everyone has the same heart as you. Forgive them! Free yourself of the burden of being an eternal victim.
- If somebody is working on themselves and changing for the better, it’s unnecessary to keep bringing up their past. People can change and grow. Take this to heart, and show yourself the same courtesy too. Oftentimes you don’t even realize that you’re blocking your own present blessings by holding on to the past. Start letting go. Be here now.
- Calmness is a human superpower. The ability to not overreact or take things personally keeps your mind clear and your heart at peace. It’s never too late to change your attitude about something you can’t change. Just decide to make the best of it.
- Mental strength is incredibly important. Take care of your mind and the way you speak to yourself. Don’t let negative self-talk weaken you. Talk like you are blessed. Walk like you are blessed. Think like you are blessed. Work like you are blessed. And you will be, one way or another.
- Everything gets a bit uncomfortable when it’s time to change (or when it’s time to recalibrate your expectations). That’s just a part of the growth process. Things will get better. Just do your best, then adopt a “whatever happens, happens” mindset. Don’t try to force things—let go and allow the right blessings to flow.
- The wrong choices can bring us to the right places. The biggest failures often carry the best lessons. When you fail to get what you want, consider that it just might be a blessing in disguise. Celebrate your progress.
- It’s funny how we outgrow what we once thought we couldn’t live without, and then we fall in love with what we didn’t even know we wanted. Eventually you’ll end up where you need to be, doing the right things, alongside the right people. Patience and persistence are the key. But don’t forget to pause on occasion and appreciate how far you’ve come too. You’ve been through a lot, and you’ve grown a lot. Give yourself credit for the steps you’ve taken, so you can step forward again with grace.
~~~
Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.
Ernest Hemingway
~~~
Observations on Growing Older
~Your kids are becoming you…and you don’t like them…but your grandchildren are perfect!
~Going out is good. Coming home is better!
~When people say you look “Great”… they add “for your age!”
~When you needed the discount you paid full price. Now you get discounts on everything …movies, hotels, flights.
~You forget names … but it’s OK because other people forgot they even knew you!!!
~The 5 pounds you wanted to lose is now 15 and you have a better chance of losing your keys than the 15 pounds.
~You realize you’re never going to be really good at anything … especially golf.
~Your wife is counting on you to remember things you don’t remember.
~The things you cared to do, you don’t care to do, but you care that you don’t care to do them anymore.
~You sleep better on a lounge chair with the TV blaring then you do in bed. It’s called “pre-sleep”.
~Remember when your mother said “Wear clean underwear in case you GET in an accident”? Now you bring clean underwear in case you HAVE an accident!
~You used to say, “I hope my kids GET married … Now, “I hope they STAY married!”
~You miss the days when everything worked with just an “ON” and “OFF” switch.
~When GOOGLE, ipod, email, modem …were unheard of and a mouse was something that made you climb on a table.
~You use more 4 letter words … “what?” … “when?” ???
~Now that you can afford an expensive watch, it’s not safe to wear it anywhere.
~You have a night out with the guys but your home by 9:00 P.M … next week it will be 8:30 P.M.
~You read 100 pages into a book before you realize you’ve read it.
~What used to be freckles are now liver spots.
~Everybody whispers.
~Now that you have retired … your wife would give anything if you found a job!
~You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet ….2 of which you will never wear.
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But old is good in some things: old songs, old movies
And best of all OLD FRIENDS!!
~~~
After her 90th Birthday, Marie found that shopping for Christmas gifts had become too difficult, so she decided to send checks to everyone instead. On each card she wrote, “Buy your own present,” and she mailed them early. Marie enjoyed the usual flurry of family festivities. Only after Christmas did she get around to clearing off her cluttered desk. Under a stack of papers, she was horrified to find the gift checks which she had forgotten to enclose.
~~~
Save the world too often, it begins to expect it.
~~~
Some more things I have learned from long time Floridians:
** You don’t pull off the road to look at an alligator.
** You realize that the only reason for Georgia’s existence is to provide extra billboard space for advertising Florida.
** You wear a sweater when it gets below 70 degrees.
** You don’t even consider Miami a nice place to visit.
** You only eat Early Bird Specials.
** You know not to drive from Pensacola to the Keys in one day (or two).
** You can remember when there was no good reason to go to Orlando.
** Your definition of “waterfront property” doesn’t include condominium apartments on man-made canals 20 miles from the ocean.
** You can laugh when Northerners say that Florida doesn’t have a change of seasons, because you know the rates are much lower after Labor Day.
~~~
The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.
Joseph Campbell
~~~
Linda, a college freshman brought home some friends with new opinions to share with her grandmother Esther. Arguing with great intensity the coeds discussed Darwin and the revisionists’ attack on the theory of evolution.
Finally, Esther spoke up. “Heredity…environment. Young girls thinking about such things? Feh.”
“It’s very complicated issue, Grandma.”
“Complicated-shomplicated! Please. Even sixty years ago in Russia, we knew the answer, 1-2-3. If the baby looks like the father, that’s heredity. If he looks like the milkman, that’s environment.”
~~~
Marriage changes passion …You get married and suddenly you’re in bed with a relative.
~~~
A kind-hearted motorist saw a man struggling to change a tire alongside the highway, and pulled over to see whether he could help. The man had a very red face, and a dark smear across it where he’d wiped off sweat with dirty hands. His tie was undone and his shirt collar askew, and it was clear he had also wiped his hands on his once-white shirt. Close to him stood an immaculately neat woman who was speaking in quick, agitated tones.
“Hello, there,” said the motorist. “Say, I’ve changed a lot of tires. . . maybe I can help here.”
“You sure can,” the man with the flat tire replied wearily. “My wife is an expert, too. If you will just do all the arguing with her about how this tire ought to be changed, I can concentrate on the dirty work and get the job done.”
~~~
It isn’t what you have or who you are or where you are or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about it.
Dale Carnegie
~~~
Indianapolis, Indiana
Management is not responsible for duplicates from previous dailies. The editor is somewhat senile.
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