HEAR, HEAR THE GANGS ALL HERE/A Tribute to the Blackberry

HEAR, HEAR THE GANGS ALL HERE/A Tribute to the Blackberry

(A New Addition is made each Monday and Thursday, Coming up on Thursday...some new ways to keep those resolutions)

Before the Blackberry, email and all the other wonderful newfangled ways we communicate these days… for centuries man communicated by sending smoke signals or yelling.

I still remember my first telephone. It consisted of two tin cans connected by a piece of string. High fidelity was not one of its outstanding qualities but a playmate and I could talk over a fairly long distance and it was intriguing. It was but a childish extension of the wondrous invention of Alexander Graham Bell. The year was 1876 and he was granted patent no. 174,465.
It was the natural outgrowth of a family that had long been involved in the transmission of coherent speech. His grandfather invented a device for overcoming stammering and his father perfected a system of visible speech for deaf mutes.

This man, born March 3, 1847 had tutored Helen Keller and worked extensively with the deaf. Now in his twenty ninth year he invented a way for the human voice to shrink the miles for vocal communication. “Mr. Watson, come here I want you,” and the words traveled no further than from one room to another. Within a year people in Boston were talking to people in New York. By the end of the 1880’s there were 47,900 telephones installed in America. These first subscribers were hardy breeds who were required to put up their own line to connect with another.

It took until 1915 for the telephone to go Intercontinental. What one inventor had described as a toy was taking over. I am old enough to remember having a party line. The coin operated telephone preceded my birth by five years, 1923. The mobile phone came into being one year later and was of great advantage to the police force. It was a distinct disadvantage to the criminal.

The first touch tone telephones were put to use in Baltimore, Maryland in 1941. The buttons were pushed by operators in a central switching office. It was too expensive for general use. By the early 1960’s low cost transistors made it possible for a private home to have this easier and faster means of dialing.

The first picture phones in 1956 were primitive at best. By the 1964 World’s Fair the picture had improved but not public acceptance. The cell phones we now take for granted actually began in 1983.

It is fascinating to follow the telephone from its humble beginnings to what we now take for granted in our twenty first century. I hate to shop but now shop with my wife by cell phone. She sees something in the grocery store and calls me to see if I am interested.

Do we talk too much while saying little? Are we better off with telephones than without? In answer to the question, consider this. Before the telephone if you wanted to go see someone you hopped on your horse and began perhaps a five or ten mile journey. If the person you were calling on had had the same idea and started in your direction by a different road the results were less than pleasing. At the end of each of your journeys you would still be the same distance apart.

With telephones, of course, we simply pick up the phone and say, “Joe/Jane, is it convenient to drop by?”

Thanks Alexander. We love you.

DECEMBER, THE WARMEST MONTH IN THE YEAR

(New thoughts are posted each Monday and Thursday)

“There has been only one Christmas…the rest are anniversaries,” wrote W. J. Cameron. And so it is that mankind once again renews his perpetual prayer for Peace on earth, Good will toward man.

Some little children will actually tell you they have heard in the distance the “Ho,Ho,Ho’s” of Santa’s helpers. It is the season for miracles, so why not?

For all the stress of Christmas shopping there are still more smiles on happy faces and the desire for giving is far greater across the land. Watch a candle slowly melting away and if you stop and think about it, as it gives out light without asking anything in return it becomes a symbol of what Christmas is all about.

There are the inevitable Christmas jokes. “I once brought my kids a set of batteries for Christmas with a note on it saying, “Toys not included.” Or “You know you’re getting older when Santa starts looking younger.” Someone has even suggested in a jocular manner that the worst Christmas gift is a fruitcake and that there really is only one fruitcake in the world that keeps being sent over and over again.

Would you be particularly creative this year? Then give a potted evergreen tree from your local nursery. This way, when Christmas is behind you it can be planted in your backyard rather than thrown into your local landfill. Just imagine down through the years looking at one particular tree in your parade of Christmas gift trees and saying, “Ah, Yes, I believe that one joined us ten years ago.

SOME INTERESTING WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DAYS

SOME INTERESTING WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR DAYS

(New thoughts are added each Monday and Thursday)

The good thing about promoting from within? You don’t have to ask for references!

Would your spouse or child be unhappy to be reminded on a fairly regular basis that they are something special? A little creativity can accomplish this and both of you will be the happier because of it.

How? Try from time to time putting a note in a lunch box, pocketbook or coat pocket that reads, “I love you…You looked so pretty (handsome) when you left this morning…I’ll be praying your brain works well when you take that test today…I just want you to have a good day and I wanted you to know it. THINK HOW YOU WOULD FEEL IF YOU GOT SUCH A NOTE.

And in closing, a few thoughts from my book POOR RICHARD’S ALMANACK FOR THE 20TH CENTURY.

If a parent shows the manners of an alley cat they shouldn’t expect their children to treat them as if they had a pedigree.

It is a dark day when a man has a ton of problems and only a pound of fortitude.

Brotherhood is love combating the loneliness of the world.

(Copies are available on amazon.com and other book outlets)

I AM CHRISTMAS

(New thoughts are posted each Monday and Thursday)

I AM CHRISTMAS

I am Christmas. I am the wide eyes of a child at break of Christmas Day. I am the somber look of an old man’s memory. I am the holy look of Christ’s worshipers in prayer. I am the glad, great cry of the carolers in the winter night.

I am Christmas. I have looked on the first star of Bethlehem. I saw, on the first Christmas Eve, three wise men. I felt the presence of shepherds in their awe. I perceived the Christ child in his crib.

I am Christmas. I have gathered many symbols around about me. I have my fir tree from Germany. I have my yuletide from Jol in Iceland. I have my jolly old Saint Nick from the Land of the dikes. I have mistletoe from Celtic Britain. I have America’s own particular gift of commercialization. I have the story of the Nativity from that book so close to men of all nations.

I am Christmas. I am the rustle of the wrappings from asunder on Christmas morn. I m the whistle of the toy train trembling on the tracks. I am the cry of the doll so real it almost talks. I am the family arm-in-arm, in transit from friend to friend.

I am Christmas. There is no other like me; though you search the world up every river, round every bend. I offer an abundance of love and good cheer. I break the back of hostilities for a spell. Even battlefields have become quiet for a time. And bullets have been traded briefly for the spirit of brotherhood. I am the hope of the world caught up in one special day. I am the promise of something good in men let loose in a 24 hour period.

I am Christmas. I am the miracle of a Scrooge. I am the memory of a snowy village twinkling in the night. I m mercy with a “Merry Christmas” on my lips and a gift in my hand.

I am Christmas. And to each of you who hold me close and shout out my merry greeting at this happiest of seasons, the VERY BEST TO YOU.

LOVE AS A WAY OF LIVING

(these postings are added to each Monday and Thursday)

Since it is Christmas consider GIVING the finest gift of all.

Gift wrap the art of love. Frame it with your attitude and actions. Do not just leave it under the tree or confined within the walls of family ties but give it wings so that it can fly from one grand opportunity to the next.

Be not careless with this emotional giant for it is what this Christmas season is all about or else it is not a Christmas season.

Plato called love, “divine madness; but call it what you will the eternal questions continue. How do you find it, feel it, and finally fax it from the center of your heart.?

Paul in the Bible says that love is PATIENT. And that really becomes a challenge when you realize the Greek translation underlines that it means patience toward people rather than toward things. Which isn’t easy... because some people can be actively ornery and continuously cantankerous.

Take Abraham Lincoln and his Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Stanton, appointed by Lincoln to his cabinet, called ole Abe “a low, cunning clown” and “the original gorilla.” And that was on days when he showed restraint. What did Lincoln do in return? He treated Stanton with the utmost courtesy. He knew he was the best man for the job and he would not fire him.

Then, one night in Ford’s theatre, at 10:15 PM, Lincoln was shot. He died the next morning at 7:22, and Stanton, with tears pouring down his cheeks, looked down at the now still form and said, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has even seen.”
The strength of patient love had, at the very last, finally prevailed.

Love is KIND. And how can you and I do this? It begins with our eyes. One has to be aware of other people’s needs to even begin to do something about it. In short, don’t wait for people to be kind...rather show them how.

Love is HUMBLE. Some of you may have heard of a man by the name of William Carey. He was a great man of God who as a missionary translated the Bible into no fewer than 34 Indian dialects. When he was young he had been a shoe cobbler, and one evening at a dinner party a man who disliked Carey sneered, “I believe, Mr. Carey, you once worked as a shoemaker.”

“No,” replied Carey, “I was only a cobbler. I only mended shoes. I did not make them.” Carey was known throughout the Christian world as a great linguist. But Carey had no designs on becoming an egotistical fool. He was quite content with being referred to as a cobbler OR a linguist, or both. He had no delusions of grandeur.

Love has GOOD MANNERS. I love the Phillips scripture translation which reads, “Love doesn’t allow itself to be rude, curt and ill-mannered.”

Love? If I love you and you love me as much as we should love each other, it isn’t that we will never have to say, “I’m sorry.” It is rather that each of us will accept the two word apology with a three word reply, “I forgive you,” said either by word or deed or both.

Love? It is a roof over our head that never leaks no matter how hard the rains of sorrow fall.

Are you readying your package of love for Christmas morn in particular, bringing to that exciting time… which can sometimes be a little hectic as well as happy… a special patience, a special kindness, special good manners and special humility. I hope so…for yes…it is the finest gift you will ever give.

HOW TO TURN PROCRASTINATION INTO A FRIEND RATHER THAN A FOE (2)

How to turn Procrastination into a Friend rather than a Foe (2)

(New ideas are posted each Monday and Thursday)

I didn’t procrastinate so here are the next ideas on how to defeat Procrastination. The total is one now one dozen and may following these ideas multiply your peace with yourself quotient by the number 12.

7. You can’t write yourself too many notes. Most procrastinators rely on what they see as their perfect memory and then conveniently forget.
8. Are you a perfectionist? They are often the worst procrastinator because they end up coming to the conclusion that if they can’t do something perfect they might as well not do it at all.
9. Fear of rejection. If you don’t try, you can’t be rejected. Is this you?
10. Ask yourself the questions, how long will it actually take to get done what needs to be done? Is it worth the time? What will happen if I continue to put it off? Write your answers down. The reason for naming the amount of time for a task is that a shorter task will look easier when viewed against one that takes a much larger amount of time…and this way you may well be motivated to, at least, go ahead and do the shorter time consuming task.
11. Create your own anti-procrastination day of the week or month. Let this be a day you celebrate like some other holidays, celebrate by getting things you’ve been putting off actually done.
12. Sometimes messiness is one of the greatest friends of procrastination. Need I say more.
And so for what they are worth, I am glad to have shared with you dozen ideas that have worked for me and hopefully you will consider putting into practice at least some of them. And by so doing, stop constantly reviewing problems but rather in a far shorter time start trying to solve them.

How to turn Procrastination into a Friend rather than a Foe

(New thoughts are posted each Monday and Thursday)

Procrastination is a thief. It steals the best of intentions and leaves them on a large pile of excuses.

One poet seeking to add humor if not solution to the problem wrote, “Procrastination is my sin, it brings me naught but sorrow. I know that I should stop it. In fact, I will….tomorrow.”

There is, of course, productive procrastination. Such as saving time by not raking the leaves and waiting until the wind blows them away or not changing the clock for Day Light Savings Time because, after all, in six months it will have to be done all over again.

Have you ever stopped to think how much is done in the last minute? You know, of course, I am talking about any of us who at least more than once in our lives have waited until the last minute to get something done.

I suppose one could argue that there is a certain exhilaration about procrastination as one thinks about all the wonderful things they are going to do some day, some how, somewhere. So, what can be done to slow it down if not bring the problem to a halt?

1. Well, if a project or need to do something seems too big, break it up into smaller parts. I remember the first time I hiked the Appalachian trail. When I reached a point where I was tired and wanted to quit but still wanted to keep going I said to myself, “I can walk to that rock up ahead. And then after that I can walk to that tree and so on…” The lawn is too big to mow. Think front yard and then tomorrow back yard. Or a teenager, I can clean off my be desktoday, if not the whole room. Etc., etc.

2. Make a contract with yourself and sign it, something like “I pledge to get the job (name it) I need to get it done today.” When you have signed it put it in a prominent place to remind yourself what you signed.

3. REWARD YOURSELF! Make it something you wouldn’t have gotten if you hadn’t followed through on your contract to yourself. Remember, if procrastination is truly your problem it has been around a long time and you need all the help you can give yourself to defeat it.

4. Deal with one thing to do at a time. Long lists of things to do only make it easier to procrastinate.

5. Tie something you don’t want to do into a daily chore that you have already developed a habit for doing.

6: This is stretching creativity a bit but imagine that you are the thing on the list you keep ignoring. Would you like being ignored for as long as you have been doing it?

(Six more ideas on how to defeat Procrastination in my next posting)

WHAT IS CHRISTMAS? JUST SOME THOUGHTS ON IT… AND SOME THINGS TO DO TO MAKE IT EVEN BETTER

(New thoughts are added each Monday and Thursday)

One of the first harbingers of the coming season is the arrival of Christmas cards. Depending upon how organized, or not, your friends and family are… some may actually arrive sometime after Christmas.

Why did Christmas cards become so popular? Well, give credit to England’s new railway system back in the year 1840. It helped the public postal service work faster and more efficiently. That coupled with the fact a card could be sent for half the price of a letter really got things moving. And as the price of printed cards dropped, more and more, Christmas greetings were sent. This tradition spread to America and at first almost all Christmas Cards were entirely religious. Today they run the gamut from baseball players dressed as Santa to the more traditional Santa still streaking across the sky. .

As to Santa, he really was real - a Christian leader in Myra (modern day Turkey) in 4 AD. Tradition tells us that St. Nicholas was a shy, good man who wanted to help the poor, but anonymously. To make sure no one knew where the gifts or money came from, he sometimes had to be very inventive. One time, or so goes the story; wanting to give a poor family money for the wedding of their third daughter, he found he could not throw the purse in through an open window, as he had done with the other two daughters. So he climbed up on roof and dropped the purse down the chimney. Fortunately, it landed in one of the stockings that had been hung to dry over the warm hot coals. And thus the Christmas stocking.

And how did we get to know him as Santa Claus? It came about as a mispronunciation of the Dutch SinterKlaas which was their way of saying St. Nicholas.

Keeping alive the International flavor of this article may I remind that in Hungary, children clean their shoes and then put them outside next to the door or window. For them it is the equivalent of hanging a stocking. If they have really been bad, they may find a golden birch placed next to the candies. This symbol for a spanking probably got the message across. Were you ever threatened with the promise of a piece of coal in your stocking if you didn’t behave? Well, yes, another strange custom from places far away.

In Finland, many families visit cemeteries to place candles on the grave stones of family members.

In Belgium, a special sweet bread called ‘cougnou” is served for Christmas breakfast. It has been made in a shape meant to represent the baby Jesus.

Hopefully your Christmas is more of holy and not of humbug. And the answer to which is true depends on what you emphasize. So here are some thoughts on how to make this Christmas even better than last year. Well, if not necessarily better, at least to some degree different.

How about having a cookie exchange with a neighbor? That way you each get to sample each others favorites.

If you live where it snows, don’t just look out the window at it, go for a walk in it. And if there is a park nearby, even better.

Have a game night as Christmas approaches. Checkers or monopoly if you still have an old board lying around. Or better still make up a game or two on your own. A kind of family project. It may not be the greatest ever played, but they will be all yours.

There are many kinds of gifts that can be given at Christmas. Obviously, the nicest one is a nicer you, so work at being a better person than you already are. Work on your smile power. Pack away some patience for use when things get hectic.

This idea isn’t for everyone, but think about it. Is there a widow or widower down the street with their family a thousand and more miles away? How would they feel if you asked them to be a part of your family at Christmas time?

Almost everyone makes New Year’s resolutions. This year make some at Christmas time. Such as a resolution to be polite to the over-worked sales clerk who isn’t moving as fast as you would like. To pray before you eat if you have gotten out of the habit. To say “Thank you” and “Please” more often. And, yes…OF COURSE… HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL.

JOT IT DOWN

(new additions are made each Monday and Thursday)

I have a little notebook in which I jot down ways to improve my life. The ideas and suggestions come from many sources and about many things, and I write them down because I want to remember them and refer back to them. It has nothing to do with my being 80 because just like when I was 30, I sometimes do forget things. It has everything to do with living better and enjoying life more.

Therefore, I was intrigued to recently read that if I reduce something to a word having less syllables or put it down three times such as Bob, Bob, Bob it will help me to remember that the my new friend’s name is Bob, Bob, Bob Claughton, Claughton, Claughton. Maybe it’s an echo effect. So I decided to apply it and see if it works. Smile, smile, smile as a way of reminding me I’ll like myself better if I increase my smile quotient. Or exercise, exercise, exercise. Or diet, diet, diet. Or listen, listen, listen. It works. Try it.

Some of my jottings are so simple I would wonder why I have to write them down. The answer is simple, I need to nudge myself in this busy world.

Be nice. One day, when I had simply done something nice for someone, I realized one more time that being nice gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling that lasted long after the deed. Being nice is a double edged gift; good for the recipient and good for the doer.

Be patient. My wife says I am a patient impatient man which, of course, means that I am prone to impatience so I just work harder at overcoming this tendency. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that impatience is a cloud and sends out more shadows than shining.

Don’t expect perfection. When I was young I collected rocks, but never found a perfect one. Have you ever seen a perfect flower? Have seen anything perfectly perfect? When I look in the mirror each morning I do not see perfection. This does not mean I should not try to improve. It does mean I must not drive myself crazy trying to be perfect.

Don’t do it to yourself or those around you? If you want to be happy you have to learn how to try to love and understand people, warts and all…including yourself. If there is a secret to having more shining moments, this is the place to begin and come back to again and again.

Be a volunteer. There are many good causes that would love your help. If getting out is difficult, offer to make phone calls. Serve on a committee if you are blessed with mobility.. In short, give some of your time to others and you will be rewarded a thousand.

I love the way the philosopher Epicetus put it, “God has entrusted me with myself.”

SOME NEW THINGS TO BE THANKFUL FOR YOU PROBABLY HADN’T THOUGHT OF

(New thoughts posted Monday and Thursday of each week)

When you have read my list add to it with some of your own.
1. I am grateful for anytime I create a shadow because it reminds me that I am out and about in the open air and sunshine.

2. A friend told me the other day that he was thankful for his gasoline cap because otherwise his gasoline would slosh all over the place. I got to thinking of a whole lot of things we take for granted such as the ability to toast a slice of bread, freeze ice cream and create so many different delicious chocolate concoctions, which is basically bitter until we make it so delightfully sweet by adding sugar.

3. Mark Twain once said, “I can live for two months on one good compliment.” So yes, I am thankful for people who take the time to say nice things to me or about me, and my ability to remember to do the same.

4. Have you stopped to think how long your shoe laces would last if there weren’t those little pieces of plastic at the ends to keep them from unraveling? Be thankful! And what about those arrows that give you the proper directions for inserting batteries? Be thankful.

5. Even though you are reading this electronically, I still am overwhelmingly grateful for paper because it is that wonderful stuff books are made of. There is still nothing like the feel of a good book in hand.

6. And yes, I’m thankful for people like you who read my blog.

And how could you have gotten through the day without this list? Be thankful.

DIAL HEAVEN

(new thoughts on different subjects are posted each Monday and Thursday)

Most everyone prays. Some more, some less but prayer is a need that nurtures our spiritual, emotional, mental and physical needs.. How often is enough? Well, consider this quote, “Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?” (Corrie Ten Boom)

Would you have more meaningful prayers? Then become a spiritual linguist. In short, prayer is “a language of the heart” and the more fluent you become in this language the better you will understand your own attempts.

Prayer is not a grammar session. God certainly doesn’t care if you have a dangling participle. A good prayer does not necessarily have a proper beginning, middle and end. It can be brief and pointed, or as long as you need it to be. But when you pray, humility should be in your heart and your thoughts should be thoroughly focused; for if your prayers are not intense, why are you praying in the first place?

One thing is for sure, never bow your head with a stop watch in your hand.

If you say to me, “I try to pray, I really I do, but I just can’t concentrate on anything for very long, even God,” I would reply, “Don’t try to conquer a mountain until you have learned how to climb a hill.” Work on a moment, just one moment, before you extend to a minute, and when you have mastered that then try two minutes – you get the picture. To enlarge your capacity for things of the spirit you must learn to decrease the time you spend thinking on things less worthy of your thoughts.

What is so important about this business called praying? Well, God does not die when and if we put prayer on the back burner, but we do.

THE ANGLE OF YOUR WRANGLE (2) Some Cures for Anger

(additional thoughts are added Monday and Thursday of each week)

Perhaps an oyster is one of the finest examples of patience in action. It takes an irritation and makes it a pearl.

People get mad about the strangest things. Not too long ago, one of the inevitable poll takers asked 100 college women and 35 college men to list the things that made them angry. The 100 women listed 274 items. The 35 men 251. A sampling of the list makes you wonder whether you should laugh or cry. They got mad at:
1. People at red light.
2. People at green lights.
3. People talking too much
4. People talking too little.
5. People out to get me
6. People who don’t pay any attention to me.

Anger? Anger is a wind that blows out the lamp of the mind. Do we live in an age of rage? U.S. News reports that a serious crime is committed in America every six seconds, most of them because of anger. The average man loses his temper 6 times a week, the average woman 3. Many psychologists argue that anger out of control is the cause of most depression.
Control your anger and you control your life.
The angle of your wrangle does make a difference. Not just your reason for anger but the angle of your attack. Whether it is conducted with compassion or its lack, from a point of view that has you trying to understand others or not trying to understand at all.

Like the mother who went berserk one afternoon when she was told by an older child that her little four years old had taken a magic marker and written all over her new wall paper. Without viewing the damage she charged up the stairs and entered his room screaming at the top of her lungs. "Do you realize what you have done, you little monster? I saved for months to be able to help make our house beautiful and now look what you have done!” She raved and ranted as the little boy cowered in the corner. Finally, exhausted from spanking him, yelling at him and belittling him, she charged out of the room, slammed the door and charged downstairs to view the disaster area. And there it was. In big capital red letters, “Mummy, I love you.”

Do you read Peanuts? Doesn’t everyone? At any rate, a number of years ago, Lucy in one of her monologues says, “I have examined my life and found it is without flaw. Therefore, I’m going to hold a ceremony and present myself with a medal. I will then give a moving acceptance speech. After that, I’ll greet myself in the receiving line.” She concludes somewhat sadly, “When you’re perfect, you have to do everything yourself.”

Come to think of it…this is one of the chief causes of so much of our ongoing angers…everyone else isn’t as perfect as we are.
We all get angry and it isn’t going to stop. The best we can do is control the situation rather than let it control us. Therefore, try this…

Get out a piece of paper and write down what made you angry. Sometimes, just seeing in writing what has you so upset may be enough to stop your anger before it gets out of hand.

Is the situation changeable? In short, are you wasting a lot of effort over something that is not going to change and you might well consider learning how to live with it?

One thing is for sure…saying there is nothing you can do about is forgetting that anger is a poison you take, and then without sometimes realizing it, waiting around for the other person to die. (rewrite of an old quote)

THE ANGLE OF YOUR WRANGLE, Some Cures For Anger (1)

(additional thoughts are added Monday and Thursday of each week)

In the spring of 1894, the Baltimore Orioles baseball team was playing in Boston. Halfway through the game, an Orioles player, John McGraw, got into a first class fight with Boston’s third baseman. Soon, all the players on both teams exploded onto the field and fists began to fly. Soon the fight spread to the stands. Then someone set the stands on fire. The fire spread – when it was over 107 buildings in Boston lay in ashes.

To find anger is to lose reason. It paves the way for many regrets. It is the father of foolishness. One can seldom be proud of what they say or do when angry. The book of Proverbs puts it this way: “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.”

“Daddy,” the little boy asked, “How does war start?” “Well,” answered his daddy, “In World War I the Germans marched into Belgium and…” His wife interrupted, “You’re wrong. The Archduke was assassinated. You’ve got the wrong war.”

“Who did our son ask? Just shut up and stay out of this.” Now his wife was beginning to steam, “If you weren’t so dumb I wouldn’t have had to say anything.” As their anger escalated the little boy broke in, “You don’t have to say any more. I have the answer.”

Will Rodgers once commented, “Anyone who flies off in a rage is going to have a very rocky landing.

Would you control your anger more often than it controls you? Act calm whether you feel calm or not. Stop shouting or better still don’t start. It is easier to control your outward actions than it is to control your inner feelings…so start with that which you can control.

Is too much sugar making you act anything but sweet? Sometimes, cutting back on too many cakes or candies can decrease the tendency toward irritation. Try it…you may like the results.

More in my next notes on anger.

Ben Franklin Speaks to 21st Century America from his 18th Century Point of View

(Excerpts from Neil's book Poor Richard’s Almanack for the 20th Century)
(this book was written as if Ben Franklin had come back to life in our time)

New thoughts are added each Monday and Thursday.

TO KEEP AMERICA ALIVE AND WELL. To God give fear and love, to your neighbor justice and charity, to yourself prudence and sobriety.

WHETHER YOU BUY BONDS, OR PLACE YOUR MONEY IN THE MONEY MARKET, OR DABBLE IN REAL ESTATE, IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER. All things are cheap to the saving, dear to the wasteful.

TO THOSE WHO CONTINUALLY SAY “I DO MY OWN THING,” I WOULD SAY: Would you live with ease? Then do what you ought and not what you please.

ON ROOTS. Everyone has at least some relatives in the family of fools.
Never mistake anarchy for freedom.

YOU DO NOT HAVE TO BE A HOLLYWOOD STAR TO FALL VICTIM TO TOO PRIDE: He that falls in love with himself will have no rivals.

Bureaucrats offer a feast as if there were no tomorrow and fools believe them.

The winning of any war is but the first chapter of a manuscript called winning the peace.

One reason so many marriages break down is because so many mouths are wound up.

Owning is better than owing.

It could be a wonderful world…and it is.

If you think your doctors today bleed you, you should have lived in my time.

AS DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS ARGUE OVER TAX CUTS IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER that we are all taxed twice as much by our pride, three times as much by our laziness and four times as much by our folly.

EXERCISE, THE MAGIC ELIXIR (3)

(New thoughts are posted each Monday and Thursday)

These thoughts are for those of us who a bit longer removed from our birthday than others.

I remember the day I no longer wanted to play in a sand pile. I would never have believed it would happen. And then, later on when I no longer enjoyed Abbott and Costello. It happens. Don’t fight it. Our tastes in books, music, movies, vacations and a host of other opportunities change.

Sometimes physical problems force modification on us. We can no longer ski or skate; a tennis ball can no longer be hit as hard. If nothing is introduced into the space our prior activities occupied, a vacuum arises. And vacuums need to be filled. Jog if you can, but if you can’t join an aerobics class. If this is too much, try power walking, which simply means walking as fast as you can. Try dancing slowly to an old record. Rather than aimlessly throwing your arms around, put on your favorite CD and conduct an imaginary orchestra.

Or, go back to school and learn landscape architecture, computers, history, painting, etc. Professors will love having you. “My older students act more interested than many of my younger students,” a professor at the University of Miami recently told me.

Diet? Often that must also change. I no longer drink as much coffee as once I did, but half a cup does quite fine and has become a real treat. I restrict my input of ice cream. Indeed, I’ve switched to fat free/sugar free (some of them now are quite good). I know extra pounds otherwise leave the sidelines and land on me.

To remain young we must be willing to change, otherwise, we grow old long before our time.

EXERCISE, THE MAGIC ELIXIR (2)

(New thoughts are posted each Monday and Thursday)


(New Thoughts posted each Monday and Thursday)

Dr. James White of the University of California at San Diego has reported that exercise means less wrinkles because the skin remains more elastic. More exercise is increasingly credited with cutting down on the incidence of strokes. It helps to control varicose veins. In fact, many doctors claim that the risk of not exercising is greater than the risk of exercising. You are never too old to start an exercise program, but common sense says check with your physician first to find out how much.

Footprints in the sands of time were not made sitting down. So get up and get moving. If you can’t find a path make one. If you can’t latch on to someone else’s dream restructure it and make it your own. You have changed recipes to make them better, sometimes a hobby can be rearranged, shaped to your liking, made to fit. But don’t worry about doing great things; just do small things greatly so that it puts a smile on your spirit. (TO BE CONTINUED on Nov. 17th)

EXERCISE, THE MAGIC ELIXIR (1)

(New thoughts are posted each Monday and Thursday)
A while back a doctor told me, “An ounce of exercise can promote a pound of better health, but I can’t prove it.” However, in recent studies they are proving it. In one such study some ninety-year-olds were given mild exercises with weights. Voila! They got stronger and some even got up out of their wheelchairs.

It would be impossible to prove that your health would have been better or worse without going back and reliving your life under different management. It is, however, worth the effort to pay attention to what thousands of people say is healthier living.

Exercise is said to be good for the heart, strengthen the lungs, improve the health of diabetics by increasing insulin production and making better bodily use of glucose,. Some mental institutions have active exercise programs because it has been shown to decrease depression and anxiety. Exercise is truly a magical elixir. There is an old saying, “Don’t just talk the talk but also walk the walk.” In this case, in case you missed it, it has a double meaning. (TO BE CONTINUED on Nov. 13th)

DEPRESSION, THE ALIEN WITHIN

(new addition to blog each Monday and Thursday)

The Bible in 11 Timothy 1:7 tells us that, “God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, love and a sound mind.” Jesus, the Master of love and light, this tender healer of the soul did not say “Go away ye who labor and are heavy laden. You make me depressed.” Rather read his homilies and over and over again, instead, he offers heavenly endorphins.

How to achieve some solutions for a troubled mind? Seek an emotional whiteout. Let the soft breeze of nothingness blow for awhile. To help yourself along this path of positive thinking rather than negative poundage read John 14:27 “Peace, I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

The mind is a strange mechanism. It can concentrate on only one thing at a time, so if you work at focusing on a blessing and everyone has at least one, it is almost impossible to think on something bad.

If you really are having trouble doing this, then think some silly thoughts such as:
Popping some popcorn without a lid on…or...
Read the dictionary upside down and look for hidden meanings …or…
Make up a new language and then use it to ask for directions.

Try this experiment. Walk up to a mirror and smile. Then while smiling say “I feel terrible.” Then frown and say “I feel wonderful.” The lesson is obvious.

One of the best antidotes for depression, or down days, or bad hair days, call them what you will, is activity. A dear friend of mine was slowly dying of congestive heart failure, but she was so busy talking to and helping another friend who was dying of cancer she had less time to worry about herself.

Allow yourself to be overwhelmed by divine otherness is one way of putting it.

HOW TO REMEMBER ALL THOSE NAMES AND FACES YOU KEEP FORGETTING (2)

(new addition to blog each Monday and Thursday) *This is second installement in thiis series.
This next suggestion is a little more complicated since it has two parts; it puts your powers of observation to work and requires you to remember to make notes later on. To whatever degree you are comfortable, notice the outstanding features of the new face in front of you. Are the eyes small and hidden behind heavy lids? Do they sparkle or seem half asleep? Are they big and blue, deep and brown, almost hazy? We all have something rather distinctive about our features: square jaws or high forwards or big or thin lips. We have wavy or straight hair, or thick hair or no hair. We have bushy eyebrows or eyebrows so pale they are almost non-existent. Large noses or small noses. Big ears or small ears. Don’t stare, obviously. But also don’t fail to focus.

I realize that during this moment in time you are trying to keep up your end of a conversation but that is what memory is all about. And the more you use it, the better you’ll get at it. Soon you’ll be good enough to be able to describe the burglar who just robbed you to your local constable.

Now for part two; as soon as you can, take out the pen and little notebook you have decided to always now carry with you, write down the name and the outstanding characteristics of this person. We’re back to repetition again and your obvious desire to remember rather than make excuses. And, yes, pull out that notebook for name refreshment. It isn’t cheating, it’s reinvigorating.

Start a file in your computer with a list of places you’ve been and under each place keep adding new names with all the above suggestions to clarify them in your head. Then before you go to church, or a meeting or at work to see again the new employee check the name or names out. It’s extra work but it’s worth it. You really will be appreciated and loved for this new found ability.

Will it work? To a greater or lesser degree. But then if you remember twice as many names as normal isn’t it worth the effort?

How to Remember All Those Names and Faces You Keep Forgetting

(new addition to blog each Monday and Thursday)
How often have you said, “I can remember faces but I can’t remember names?”
Well, as soon as you say that you are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. But it doesn’t have to be. There are ways to accomplish what at this moment may well seem to you a miracle with no place to happen. Never forget a name? Always be able to put a face and a moniker together? So let’s look at how to make your mind a better well-oiled machine.
First, when you are introduced to someone or they introduce themselves, repeat their name out loud. People love to hear their own name and the act of repetition is like paving a memory road so that it will be a road more easily traveled. If the name you repeat is wrong, most people will correct you, at which time their name just made its way through your memory bank for a second deposit.
Secondly, get in the habit of making a word picture out of their name. Your brain will now be getting the message that you really want to remember their name. By way of example; take the name Fairchild and picture a little child having fun at a fair. Or, you just met Mr. Parker. Picture him parking his car outside the building where you are meeting. Sometimes the more ridiculous the better. You’ve just been introduced to Miss Boyle. Now add to your memory a picture of the same individual with, unfortunately, a boil in the middle of her forehead. Again, repeat these images.
Thirdly, play word games with names. Such as the name, Kuhlman, cool man. Or Richardson, rich son. Or Oliphant, elephant. Are you thinking, this is silly. Well, it’s not if you are starting to remember a few more names, even if you still are not remembering every name. (To be continued Oct. 27th)

Laugh Your Way To Good Health

1. Would you have more happiness? Get a gratitude attitude. Minimize your complaints. Maximize your thanksgiving. “Earth’s crammed with heaven,” said Thoreau. Love, light, laughter. The smile of a child. The ripple of a stream. A sparkling star. A rainbow.
2. A sense of humor can over ride the worst of tragedies. Take Helen Keller, born deaf, dumb and blind. One day when someone asked her if she could feel colors she immediately responded, “Oh yes, I can feel blue.”
3. Would you have more happiness? Then daily train yourself to laugh at yourself, in particular if you have reached that point where the years are slowing you down and you are tired of being tired. Like telling the story on yourself that when you get up some mornings you feel like it’s the morning after…and you didn’t do anything the night before.
4. Would you have more happiness? Be a beacon of joy. . The next time you feel an overwhelming desire to find fault, sew your mouth shut until the feeling goes away. Or perhaps another way of putting it’ don’t needle – use one.
5. Happiness is being committed to a cause, to something that sets you on fire, that warms your very being because you are concerned with the happiness of someone else as much or more than you are for yourself. Happiness is having a principle you are willing to stand up for.
6. Did you ever see Stir Crazy? It starred Gene Wilder as a man named Harry. It was one crazy movie that exaggerated the art of accentuating the positive. First, Harry is thrown into prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Does this get Harry down? Not on your life.
7. He just keeps smiling and driving all the prison personnel crazy with his positive attitude. They hang him by his wrists for several days and he just breaks out with thanksgiving. “Thanks you. Thank you. Thank you. You just solved my back problem!”
8. The guards then lock Harry in a little hot box beneath a boiling sun. When they release him several days later he begs them to leave him there a little longer. “I was just starting to get to know myself,” he explains.
9. Finally, they throw happy Harry into a cell with a 300 pound murderer who gives a new meaning to the word crazy. Doesn’t faze Harry at all. When the guards return they find Harry and the crazy murderer laughing over a game of cards.
10. Harry may well be called a man who has pursued happiness to a crazy extreme…but why not? Isn’t it just as crazy to look only for the miserable? To fall in love with negative thinking? To argue that the glass is half empty and that what is left isn’t worth the space it’s taking up.
11. When was the last time you laughed at a tragedy? Maybe just the other day when you were relating something that happened many years ago. Now it is funny. Then it wasn’t. Time does that. It gives a new perspective.
12. What am I saying? I am saying make jokes such as “My insurance policy covered falling off the roof. It just didn’t cover hitting the ground.” A good attitude won’t make you able to laugh at every miserable moment of yesterday but it will help you to learn from it, and sometimes even enjoy the humor in it.
13. Have you smiled a few times while reading this? Are you smiling now? Good, go give your smile to someone you love before it fades away.

How To Deal Successfully with Difficult People

I wish there weren’t difficult people. I wish I weren’t allergic to the emotional toxins they spread. Maybe if I had the patience of Job and the Wisdom of Solomon, I wouldn’t be irritated. But since I live in the river of life I must learn to make friends with the crocodiles. I must seek to make rainbows in the midst of other people’s thunder.
“It isn’t always what you must do but it is always what you must become,” a wise old minister once said to me, “Compassion is an empathetic brief exchange of souls.”
When I am confronted by a difficult person I ask myself, “When was the last time, Neil, you were difficult to deal with?” When did I last get that tone in my voice or that look on my face? Then I remind myself that when people irritate me I too can show it. Or as a l friend cautioned me one day, “We all can be patiently judgmental and that can be as bad or worse than a vocal eruption.”
DF’s (Difficult People) come in all kinds of emotional shapes and sizes. Most are sprinters, not marathon runners so wait them out until they run out of fuel. “Build on resolve and not regret,” cautioned the late Adlai Stevenson. Some DF’s blame and bluster at the top of their lungs. Some sneer softly and drop sarcasm. Others seem innocuous in their complaints but beneath lies a seething anger. Don’t throw them under the bus even when you feel like doing it. It will hurt the two of you in different ways but it will hurt the two of you.
The beginning of a solution? I long ago learned that questions rather than direct statements can smooth the edges of any debate or argument. “Would you please explain?” got the same answer as an argumentative reaction; it just wasn’t as heated.
I have also noted down through the years initiating dialogue can show concern and gain insight. “John, it seems we have been at odds recently.” The implication is that things have been better in the past. Sometimes, this is a stretch but a worthy one. “Is it something I did? Something I said?” Then speak of “stumbling blocks” a phrase that has a better connotation than “problem” “trouble” “difficulty” “disagreement.”
If verbal dialogue doesn’t seem appropriate or one is uncomfortable with this approach, a written note helps. “Dear John/Jane, I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said and you have a number of good points (praise). However, I wonder if you’ve considered my idea. As your friend (positive affirmation) I need your friendship and our ability to be able to agree to sometimes disagree.”
It is impossible to receive a positive response from everyone. Some people really are permanent DF’s Still, when friendship is hopeless, friendliness is not.
A sense of humor helps. “Keep a green tree in your heart and perhaps a singing bird will come,” counsels the ancient Chinese proverb. Overcome negative feelings toward the DF’s of the world with the wisdom of wit. Even if you do not always find spring, it will help you to withstand the winter of their discontent.
The next time someone is giving you a hard time, wherever for whatever reason, try the following experiment. “Visualize a large bucket of love. In your mind’s eye, pick up that bucket, walk over and slowly pour its entire contents over his head. Then imagine the liquid love dripping down and forming puddles at his or her feet. The ludicrousness of it will diffuse the moment at least for you…and what better place to begin.

Loneliness, The Weeping Place

Loneliness! We can all remember its harrowing pain. We have ideas and can find no one who will agree. We make friends, and they pass away. We have a dream and find no one near to say, “I understand.”
There is no end to the causes of loneliness but there are solutions. One of these is to just practice common decency, one to the other. It is a vibrant antidote. Years of counseling have had me hear more often than I would like to count both husband and wives lamenting, “I start to tell my story and am interrupted before I’m even half way through.” It’s very lonely to be ignored.
We all need each other, but we need each other at our best. We need to be neighbors in truth and brothers and sisters in honesty. I need to know I have some place in your thoughts that is something more than casual
When you were young did you ever cry out, “Leave me alone.” What did you mean? You wanted privacy? Yes. You wanted to be alone permanently? Hardly. What we are talking about is the difference between loneliness and solitude.
Reading a book in quietness beneath a summer tree is solitude. Knowing no one in a crowd in a far away city is loneliness. We choose solitude. Loneliness chooses us.
Part of handling loneliness is becoming the kind of person you are happy with and from time to time want to be alone with
Sometimes it is not how many friends we have, nor how many names we can drop but rather our relationship with the great family of humanity. Joining a church, a club a group with a like hobby or sports interest really does make good sense and a better life.
Would you be less lonely and make it less for others? Then care about the loneliness of someone else. Allow someone of a different political persuasion to exist without animosity from you. Bury your prejudices. Allow someone to be bright or stupid without your meeting them with derision.
Be kind not cruel for loneliness is fed or flees by how you daily act.

Life Is Not What It is But What You Make It

Someone has described worry as a kind of mental hysteria in which the mind goes around in circles wearing holes in itself. The literal meaning of the word is “To Strangle.”
Here are a few ideas on how to handle this problem no one escapes..
1. Lean how to love. The day you capture unselfish others-centered love will be the finest moment of your life. It will cool the heat of anger, calm the jitters of fear and warm the chill of sorrow.
2. Learn a good definition of courage, Indeed, try this one, “Courage is not the absence of fear but the mastery of it.” When my friend and co-owner of our plane crashed it and killed himself I immediately took a rented plane skyward and put it through all the acrobatic maneuvers I could. I knew if I didn’t I might easily carry fear around in my back pocket for the rest of my life
3. Have a good physical every year. Don’t fight imaginary diseases. Do fight them if they are real.
4. Learn to cooperate with the inevitable and then having adjusted to a problem let it be a teacher.

Whats So Great About Reading At Any Age?

The internet is full of knowledge about various health conditions, but it’s of no use to people who cannot interpret what they have just read. Practice may not truly make perfect but it sure does improve imperfection.
Directions. Driving down an expressway at 70 miles an hour while trying to interpret signs at a one-mile-an-hour retention rate is a poor combination. In short, don’t dash toward a crash because you can’t heed what you can’t read.
The more a child or adult reads the better they understand what they read and in many cases the very act of reading makes it easier and therefore more fun.
Read out loud from time to time. Not because you are in love with the sound of your own voice but because such reading is a remarkably good teacher of improved pronunciation and grammar.
Reading improves vocabulary and saves both you and your listeners from speaking skills that rate just slightly above “Duh.”
You gave your child a carpet for their bedroom. Give them a magic carpet for their minds and in case your own bedroom is bare, go for two new carpets immediately.
With movies you watch a screen. With reading you are in and on the screen of imagination.
E-books have an added advantage. They enhance anyone’s motor skills and eye hand coordination. As you pick, type, click scroll and otherwise respond to the screen all kind of little neurons start to get a smile on their faces.

No Title

I have decided not to give these particular miscellaneous thoughts a title because titles can sometimes slow down the process of assimilation. With that in mind, wrap your mind around the following suggestions and give them a life if you feel like they can help yours.
Pull this story out when you are down, down and downer. He had lost an eye in a terrible automobile accident and as they wheeled him into the operating room, he looked up at the doctor and said, “Hey, doc, when you put in my new eye be sure and put one in with a twinkle in it.”
It’s okay to saw wood but be careful that you don’t keep going until you are sawing sawdust. People do it all the time, sawing over and over again the same pain and problems of the past. When you have done all you can in all the ways you can, stop sawing sawdust.

Innovative Parenting Skills

Raise your child not to rush toward ignorance. Teach them to fall in love with knowledge and not to court stupidity. And, yes, he or she who does not constantly learn something new is both bored and boring. Talk with someone who is overwhelmed with a lack of knowledge and they will prove the fact. Ask your child if they want everyone, after they spoken with them for awhile, to think they are bored and boring.
Teach your child to have a little of the shooting star in them rather than be satisfied with being just a flashlight. An enthusiastic child is much more apt to do and be their best. How can it be taught?
First, by not killing it. Parents do that with words such as “Stop asking such stupid questions.” "Shut up and go play outside.” “Act your age.” You are the laziest kid (child) on the face of the earth.”
Second, by showing enthusiasm for your child’s enthusiasms.
And….what’s it like to be a child? We’ve forgotten.
What’s it like to be a parent? A child has no experience.
So try role playing. It may produce laughter, but it may well also produce understanding.
To your child say, “Let’s play a game. For a little while I’m going to be you and you’re going to be me. We’re going to act out scenarios (teach them a new word) about manners, responsibilities and the whole art of living better.”
To get started, perhaps act and sound as he or she does when you remind them to do a chore. Then encourage them to act and sound as you do during the same discussion. And no fair getting your feelings hurt when your child really gets into it and proves a facile mimic.
You may both have a little trouble getting into the spirit of the game. Your imagination may require some mental massaging, but don’t give up on the idea. Most problems arise because we really don’t get in the other person’s frame of mind. It really may come as a revelation to both parties how each sounds from the other person’s point of view.
An anonymous wisdom person suggests that if we want our children to keep their feet on the ground we must be sure we have put sufficient responsibility on their shoulders.

With The Election Coming Up...just some things to think about

People expect Presidents to be magicians and with the wave of a hand make everything well. Therefore, when things go wrong, the President is blamed when he deserves it and when he does not.
Legal factors that restrain a President’s power are: The Constitution - separation of powers, Congress, Federal Courts. And then there is public opinion; influenced by the press and media, the opposing party, the economy, special interest groups and always lurking in the background the ever present fear of losing the next election. It’s more than a tightrope the president walks; it’s a field of land mines.
What makes a good President? One who is both forceful, flexible and filled with forbearance!
What makes a good voter? One who checks reasons for voting and for whom twice, thrice and maybe once more for good measure.

Write It Down...Read It Aloud

When you have a decision to make, be it mental, physical, spiritual or emotional write it down and read it aloud. Write down what will happen; good, bad or indifferent. There is an echo to every decision that never stops repeating itself. There is clarity to hearing your own voice that will allow you to see whether what you have written has wisdom in it or a touch of the ridiculous.
And, yes, now that you have taken the time and effort to fine tune your thoughts and give flight to your decision, pray about it. God is my co-pilot is an old and well used phrase well worthy of its repetition... so have a good journey.

Would You Be Emotionally Healthy?

Mark Twain put it well when he wrote, “Let us so live that when we die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
Would you be emotionally healthy? Then learn to take a stand without stamping your feet. Learn to stick by your guns without shooting off your mouth. Learn to have convictions without hurting, hating or haranguing those of different mind.
Would you like for people to want to cheer when you walk into a room? Well, you don’t have to be a person who is always telling jokes or dancing a jig. You just need to find the gift of patience, the warmth of understanding and at least the beginnings of a sense of humor.
Ben Franklin commented, “Well done is better than well said.”

An Ounce of Improvement is Equal to An Ounce of Improvement

And, yes, eventually, it adds up to a pound.
Husbands and wives PLEASE study the following questions and hopefully come up with the right answers.
1. Is your sense of humor in the Lost and Not Found Department? One does not have to be a comedian or always be telling jokes to be a good partner, but the ability to laugh at oneself should not be a lost art.
2. Do you too often make your mate a target for your temper?
3. Have you lived with a stranger lately? Well, what I’m really saying is that some mates should treat their partners like strangers because they treat strangers better than their partners.
4. Do you really expect sweetness to rise out of acid complaints?
5. Do you get mad and stay that way long after you really should have calmed down?
6. Do you talk too much and listen too little?
An ounce of improvement is the first step on the way to a pound of cure!

What To KnowWhen Dealing with Someone Who is Depressed

If they have spoken about committing suicide don’t lecture them about the immorality of it. They have already thought about that themselves. Love them, support them, the last thing they need is argument. Know that you can rightly assure them that most people get over their depression within six months or less. This way they can hang in there knowing that most likely it will go away. Certainly don’t act shocked, even if you are. That can break whatever bond you have in a matter of minutes. And, yes, ask them if they are thinking of killing themselves. You won’t be planting a seed. You will quite likely be defusing a bomb.

The Importance of Knowing All About Your Bananas

It’s an old story but really quite timeless. A young grocery clerk was bagging some bananas that were well past their prime. An older clerk shouted out, “Don’t do that! Don’t even think about sending those bananas to Mrs. Abbott! She is very particular about what she gets, and if her order isn’t right, she’ll send it back.”
“Now bananas like that are all right for Mrs. Brown. She doesn’t know the difference and she doesn’t care.”
And so it is in the United States; when all the votes are soon counted America will get the bananas they asked for. If enough have done their homework and know a good banana when they see it, at the very least their vote will make sense. If they know nothing but just that they find the candidate pleasing and vote from that perspective, they may have voted for the wrong banana. And it will be too late.
So, read all you can and think all you can about as much information as you can…then and then only vote.
Yes, your vote is important because a million times one is a million while a million times zero is zero.

How to be an Optimist Rather than a Pessimist

Someone once said that a pessimist is someone who can look at the land of milk and honey and see only calories and cholesterol. Who, when he sees the light at the end of the tunnel, rushes ahead to blow it out.
Never forget that the good life is not an automatic any more than a bad life is an automatic. It depends not only on which birds fly over your head, but which ones you allow to make a nest in your hair.
Life is a farm where we harvest what we plant. Cultivate cowardice, doubt, discontent and pessimism and these will haunt your days. Cultivate courage, faith and positive thinking and these will happily be yours for a lifetime.
Life truly is not what it is but what you make it. It may not be all you want, but it is all you have, so stick a daisy in your hat and be happy. Heck, don’t stop with a daisy. Plant a rose bush,. Cultivate an orchid.
Actually, be a mobile nursery!

An Idea for Better Parenting

Q. How can I be a better parent or grandparent? In this busy world I am afraid I am not doing a very good job.
A. Don’t pass on your own fears; they will come up with enough of their own.
Do not bribe for good behavior; you will be teaching them that everything has
a price. If you continue to get mad over little things you will create big
problems. Do not lie to them, or for them. Do not try to protect them from the consequences of their actions. Be consistent; to be anything less is to confuse the best of children. If you promise it…do it. Don’t threaten a child with consequences unless you mean it. Always warm them with your love, but don’t smother them

The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln

YOU HAVE READ THE RAVE REVIEWS…NOW ENJOY THIS ENTIRE FIRST CHAPTER OF THE BOOK… Many seed ideas FOR TALKS …His 200th birthday is coming up in 2009 and will be celebrated all across the nation.

THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Chapter 1

IN THE BEGINNING

One day the second child of Thomas and Nancy Hank Lincoln would become the president of what many have called and continue to call, the Promised Land. However, anyone voicing such a thought on the day of his birth, the twelfth of February 1809, would have been laughed at and told by any backwoods listener that he didn’t have a possums chance. Picture this future president growing up dirt poor with a shirt made of bear skins, a coonskin hat and dreams of something better than what was offered. The one room notched log cabin in Hardin County Kentucky certainly wasn’t much of a springboard for success.
He was named after his paternal granddaddy and Abraham in the Bible. Though the Biblical Abraham was certainly a leader, our Abe achieved leadership not because he was born to it, but because somewhere along the line he decided he would rather lead than be led.
His mother often rested the family Bible in her lap as she recited its stories to little Abe and his sister Sarah. A younger brother Thomas died at birth. With love and affection Lincoln said of her, “God bless my mother. All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to her.” He never stopped reading his Bible, which is why so many of his speeches were peppered with Scripture.

Through much of his youth was certainly an isolated existence, there was a period when their home was on the main road from Louisville to Nashville. Running right by their cabin door, it gave Lincoln the advantage of countless meetings with multi-thinking travelers. By the time the family moved again, when he was seven, he had to have listened scads of times to discussions about how government could, and needed to, improve on the shakiness of land ownership because of uncertain boundaries, high interest rates and slavery.
It was during this same time that America nearly lost its future president before they lost him to an assassination. He almost drowned in a creek. But it didn’t happen. He was needed down the road for greater things.
Unfortunately, when Abe was only nine his mother died of milk fever, as did many in that time. His widowed father soon married again and if one had to have a stepmother, Lincoln could have done no better than Sally Bush. This woman, who for the rest of his life he referred to as his angel mother, did all she could to encourage his father to look more kindly on his love of learning. It was an exercise in futility for Tom Lincoln considered such bookish behavior a waste of time. This was how Abe came to regard his father’s occupational choices.
Having two such remarkable mothers who so greatly influenced this gangling youth could almost be called providential.

The Opportunity of a formal education for young Abe was close to nil. One time they lived eighteen miles from a school. That was a lot of walking between the family farm and the one room schoolhouse he called his learning home. It is one of the reasons that over his childhood he had a little less than a year’s worth of actual schooling.
Because there were no books, everything was learned by rote, hence the nickname Blab Schools. Abe liked to repeat things over and over so he would never forget them, saying such as:

“Live in your youth so you will not have to be ashamed in your old age.”
“Coward never start, the weak never finish.”
“You can get more with an ounce of honey than a gallon of gall.”

He tried always to live by these and other early learned school house maxims.
Nor was paper readily available. During these brief winter sessions, he would practice his lessons the dirt or snow.
Chasing after a good book like a dog after a rabbit, he would sometimes walk as far as twenty miles to borrow one. It was said that from the ave of twelve he never went anywhere without a beloved book tucked beneath his arm. Lincoln began to develop a list of favorites: Aesop’s Fables, thought provoking Pilgrim’s Progress, the works of William Shakespeare, The life of George Washington, and the biographies of Ben Franklin.
One section in particular in Pilgrim’s Progress heaving influenced his thinking. Ignorance is walking with two pilgrims and says, “My heart is as good as any man’s heart…as to my thoughts, I take no notice of them.”
Many of his friends chose ignorance and could neither read nor write. He was known to comment that they were not too dumb to learn, but rather too lazy. “Some,” he said, “were so lazy they couldn’t have raised a good stink even if they were a skunk,.” I can easily imagine Lincoln, with sadness for their lack of discipline, quoting Proverbs, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
It is one thing to know what should be done. It is always something else to do it. Surmise then that his Bible knowledge offered motivation thoughts such as “Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom and with all thy getting get understanding.”
Part of his education would today be called survival school As in all pioneer families, the possibility of disaster was never far away. There were no guarantees when a farmer walked out his door come morning time that he would come back though that same door when dusk arrived. Abe once killed a hundred snakes no more than a hoot and a holler from the family doorstep.
The thick, dark woods held bears ready to attack and Indians to scalp. Homesteaders early learned to sometimes walk backwards rather than forwards. That way, an Indian up to no good, coming upon footprints on the forest floor, would be confused as to which was his intended victim might be going. Even in church every man had a rifle by his side while others outside stood guard.
With little knowledge of sanitation, no corner drugstore with remedies for infection, pre-natal care non-existent and even ill-prepared doctors scant, it is little wonder his boyhood was filled with superstitious saying. Indeed, at any gathering, folk would more often than not share what they considered medical tidbits: steal a dishrag – kill a wart. Skip a row when you plant and there’ll be a death in the family. Or, if a horse breathes on your child it’s get whooping cough. As late as 1859, if a doctor-to-be attended medical school at all, he had covered the entire store of existing medical lore in one year.
However, there was never a shortage of courageous dreamers who might die young, but, as more than one would proclaim, “I’ll die wilderness free.” It wasn’t that any self-reliant pioneer wanted complete loneliness. It was that he expressed a desire for more moving-around-in space by saying, “Don’t mind a neighbor as long as he’s not too close. But if I can stand in my front door and see smoke rising from his cabin, he’s too close.”
The question of slavery traveled with these new pioneers who were not men and women shy with their opinions nor reticent in their responses. One Lincoln historian has suggested that his lifetime dislike of slavery stemmed from having been, to a large degree, a slave to his father. Whenever there was any time not needed to work on their own property, his father would hire him out to a neighbor and keep the money for himself. Every muscle in Abe’s boy got a daily working over that might have killed some lesser men. He had no idea what lay beyond time’s horizon, but he definitely knew he did not want it to be farming.
Because Abe was always more than persistent toward rightness, just before he finally left home he helped build one more family log cabin. It was finished four days after his twenty-first birthday, and then he left. God had work for him to do.


Chapter 2

THE MAKING OF THE MAN

Who was Lincoln, the man? We have had well over a century to try to answer that question and are still overwhelmed by the task for he fits into no convenient mold. When Lincoln was born, what did God have in mind? What did his Lord want him to be? All the hours he spent in church listening to sermons certainly had their influence. In all his decisions when he was president, he must have been guided by a Jesus who did not just look at the Via Dolorosa, but walked it. Who did not just partake of the Last Supper, but served it. Abe’s Biblical learning must have underlined the thought that prayers must be more than just the turning of a prayer wheel. There is no record of his first heavenly appeal, but it is well established that he believed prayers is a conduit that can read the the heart of God……………………………………..
Neil’s 10th book Letters to 21st Century America From Charles Wesley, Hymn Writer Supreme is being published by CSS publisher in the near future.
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The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln

by Neil WyrickClick To Order

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