Daily Thoughts, Random Thoughts, Venting Area

[Popster]

Geeze......all these deep thoughts have me drowning in wisdom......nice way to go....thanks

[Spanky]

10 Little Habits that Steal Your Happiness
[img=500x0]http://i0.wp.com/www.marcandangel.com/images/10-steal-your-happiness.jpg?resize=500%2C332[/img]
You ultimately become what you repeatedly do.  If your habits aren’t helping you, they’re hurting you.  Here are a few examples of the latter that will steal your happiness if you let them:

1.  Focusing on everyone’s story except your own.
Don’t be so satisfied with the success stories of others and how things have gone for them that you forget to write your own.  Unfold your own tale and bring it to life.  You have everything you need to become what you are capable of becoming.  Incredible change happens when you decide to take control.  This means consuming less and creating more.  It means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and deciding for you.  It means learning to respect and use your own ideas and instincts to write your passage.
If you want your life story to soar to new heights, you’ve got to clear a path, reduce the time-sinks and burdens weighing you down, and pick up the things that give you wings.  Keep your best wishes and your biggest goals close to your heart and dedicate time to them every day.  If you truly care about what you do and you work diligently at it, there’s almost nothing you can’t accomplish.

2.  Waiting for the perfect moment.
Don’t buy into the myth of the perfect moment.  Moments aren’t perfect; they’re what you make them.  So many people wait around for the stars to align to do what they’re here to do.  The perfect moment, the perfect opportunity, the perfect state of being, etc.  Wake up!  These states of perfection are myths.  They do not exist.
Your ability to grow to your highest potential is directly related to your willingness to act in the face of imperfection.  You will come to succeed not by finding a perfect moment, but by learning to see and use life’s imperfections perfectly.  Read The Power of Now.

3.  Working for nothing more than a paycheck.
Work without interest is imprisonment.  Even if you aren’t super-passionate about your work, you’ve got to at least be interested in it.  When you design a lifestyle in which your work is something you suffer through daily strictly to pay your bills, you end up spending your entire life wishing you had someone else’s.
Think about it.  This is your life; your work will fill a large percentage of it.  It’s not all about the money; it’s about you.  Ignore the propaganda, especially from people who say, “Don’t let your work define you.”  Reverse this message and mediate on it:  “I will do work that defines me.”  When the essence of who you are defines at least some slice of the work you do for a living, that work generates fulfillment.
Bottom line:  Interest in your work puts quality in your output and happiness in your mind.  Don’t settle for a paycheck.  Shuffle around until you find work that interests you.

4.  Harboring feelings of hate.
As Martin Luther King Jr. so profoundly said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”  Truth be told, when we harbor feelings of hate, it eventually gets the best of us.  It takes control of us.  We forget why we hate, what we hate, and whom we hate – we simply hate for the sake of hating.  And then, naturally, we begin to hate ourselves too.
Everything and everyone you hate rents permanent space in both your head and heart.  So if you want to eliminate something or someone from your mind, don’t hate.  Instead, disconnect yourself, move on, and don’t look back.  Read The Mastery of Love.

5.  Holding tight to worries and fears.
Someday when you look back over your life you’ll realize that nearly all of your worries and anxious fears never came to fruition – they were completely unfounded.  So why not wake up and realize this right now.  When you look back over the last few years, how many opportunities for joy did you destroy with needless worry and negativity?  Although there’s nothing you can do about these lost joys, there’s plenty you can do about the ones that are still to come.
You will find that it’s necessary to let some things go simply for the reason that they’re heavy on your heart and soul.  Let go of them.  Don’t clamp shackles to your own ankles.  It’s incredibly easy to enjoy more of your life right now, no matter what the situation.  It’s just a matter of letting go of the layers of nonsense that are weighing you down.
Let go of your worries and fears, of your rage and jealousy, of your need to always be right and control others.  Let go of your pretentiousness and your need to have everything your way.  Underneath all these layers of nonsense there is a happy, productive person.  When you start peeling them off and simply appreciating everything for what it is, life can be wonderfully fulfilling.

6.  Dwelling on difficulties.
A bad day is just a bad day.  Choose not to make it anything more.  Times of adversity will inevitably affect the conditions in which you live and work; yet you don’t have to let it affect who you are and where you’re headed.  Take note of the setbacks and adjust to them, but don’t expand on them by making them a bigger part of your life.
Every day brings new lessons and new possibilities.  There is always a way to take the next step forward on the path you’ve chosen.  Events may be terrible and inescapable at times, but you always have choice – if not when, then how, you may endure and proceed onward.

7.  Constantly seeking fleeting contentment.
There are two variations of contentment in life – fleeting and enduring.  The fleeting type is derived from instants of material comfort, while the enduring type is attained through the gradual growth of your mind.  At a glimpse it might be difficult to decipher one from the other, but as time rolls on it becomes vividly obvious that the latter is far superior.
Enduring contentment sustains itself through life’s ups and downs, because through them your mind remains confident and at peace.  On the other hand, when life’s fleeting changes have the ability to ruffle your mind into a frenzy, even the most elaborate physical comforts won’t make you any happier for very long.  Read Stumbling on Happiness.

8. Trying to make a big difference all at once.
If you want to make a difference in the world, start with the world around you.  Making a big difference all at once is usually impossible, and the process of trying is extremely stressful.  However, instantly making a difference in a few lives is entirely possible and usually fairly easy.  You just have to focus on one person at a time and start with the one closest to you.
Work to make a bunch of small splashes, and let the ripples spread naturally.  If you want to change a person’s mind or mood, sometimes you have to change the minds or moods of the people around them first.  For instance, if you make one person smile, their smile just might make others smile too.  In this subtle way, you can touch the masses with your thoughtfulness without stressing yourself out.

9.  Holding on to someone who hurts you.
Sometimes you have to walk away from people, not because you don’t care, but because they don’t.  When someone hurts you time and time again, accept the fact that they don’t care about you.  It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s necessary medicine.  Do NOT strive to impress them any further.  Waste not another second of your time trying to prove something to them.  Nothing needs to be proven.  Do not act with any thought of them ever again.  Read 1,000 Little Things.

10.  Over-amplifying the importance of physical attractiveness.
Infatuating yourself with someone simply for what they look like on the outside is like choosing your favorite food based on color instead of taste.  It makes no sense.  It’s innate, invisible, unquantifiable characteristics that create lasting attraction.

Just as some people enjoy the smell of mint, while others prefer the scent of cinnamon, there is an undeniable, magnetic draw that attracts you to the qualities of certain people, places, and things.  Sometimes it’s even the scars your soul shares with them that reels you in and creates the very hinges that hold you together in the long run.
Photo by: Georges Petrequin

I'm a "9" though I've not seen the person in years, and they never "hurt me" on purpose.  Problem I have is with my dreams.  Too many of them bring it back up.  I wake up depressed from the dreams.  Anyone know how to control your dreams?  Big money in that if you could mange it.

"And if anybody asks you, if it's easy to forget.  It's easily done, you just pick anyone, and pretend that you never have met."  Bob D

Spanky

[Revolution]

Dreaming is the mind's way of trying to work out problems sometimes. Just not always very coherently.  
I can't imagine anyone hurting your kind soul.   Let me at em! 

---

For you, Spank.

[Spanky]

Dreaming is the mind's way of trying to work out problems sometimes. Just not always very coherently.  
I can't imagine anyone hurting your kind soul.   Let me at em! 

---

For you, Spank.

Rev, that was my best laugh of the day.  Thanks.

Spanky

[Back2Good]

Just got off the phone with my wife, who is back home in Texas visiting her Mom this week.  She went to the mall this afternoon to get some tennis shoes, as all she packed were sandals, and as she was perusing the selection in on of the stores, a deep male voice asked from behind her, "Excuse me Ma'am, but aren't you ______?

She turned to see a giant of a man wearing the uniform of a Killeen police officer, and a bit worried she replied "Yes, that was my maiden name, is there some sort of problem?"

The giant grinned and replied "You don't recognize me, do you?  I'm _________, I played ball with your boyfriend in college, me and him were pretty tight."

After a second look she recognized him, grinned back, and said "Want to guess what my last name is now?"

He laughed, and said no, he had heard we were married shortly after graduation, and congratulated her for putting up with me for so long, then apparently proceeded to ask her what I'm doing for a living now...When she told him, he shook his head in disbelief and said something to the effect of "That gorilla?  Used to hit guys so hard they had to be carried off the field?  Busted that old boy from Baylor's helmet clean in half on a tackle?  He's a Program Manager at ________?"

"Don't worry," says the bride, "He's still the same old a****** I married, he just went on to grad school after he embarrassed himself at the combine, picked up a better vocabulary, and lost the accent.  He'll be out here in a couple of weeks to meet up with me for the drive home, here's his cell #, give him a call and you two can drink beer at the Texas Land and Cattle Company bar, I guarantee you he'll transform back into the gorilla after two beers.  This I've got to see."

Note the not-so-subtle inference that my old friend shouldn't put me up on a high horse, I'm still the "same old a*******".  That's the sort of woman who makes you want to achieve more when you become complacent in your accomplishments...On the rare occasions I sit in my recliner at home and wonder aloud "Wow, babe, did you ever think we'd make it this far?", her response is inevitably "This far?  You haven't made Vice President at work yet, have you?"

And the next morning finds me plotting a path to do just that.

We should all have significant others who push us to continue to achieve, while providing love, comfort, and an immaculately maintained household to support our efforts - I treasure mine.

[Revolution]

Nice story, B2G. Sounds like you know a lot of people. I am more of a shut in myself. But I have a few top notch wonderful friends, and that's OK with me. 
My random thought for today...

[Back2Good]

My Rev, always so good to see you.  I knew (and know) a great many people in my little hometown of Killeen, TX, where I went from K-12 (I wasn't the homecoming king, but my wife was the homecoming queen, and I held the state record at that time for sacks, so that was good enough for me), and in Austin, TX, where I did my undergraduate work and was a gridiron warrior...But knowing people doesn't imply that I like them :-)

I'm not an accomplished enough liar to go into politics, and I'm the lone former athlete in the room when we have Longhorns Alumni Association BOD meetings, so the other board members were visibly shocked when I gave them my resume for their promotional materials - I suppose they thought they had elected a token athlete who never made it to the NFL and would back the majority coalition when votes came up, but when they saw that I've come a long way since college, collecting another bachelor's degree (Computer Science) through the army's excellent University of Maryland University College, which provides night and weekend courses for soldiers, then a Masters in Information Technology from Georgia Tech (paid for by my employer), and hold a position in one of the nation's biggest firms where the next (and last, considering my age) step up will be to Executive VP, the looks on their faces told me everything I needed to know...I don't like them, and they don't like me.  I don't have the deep pockets they do, but as a member in good standing of the Alumni Association and the BOD, I'm allotted my share of speaking time, and what I have to say most often infuriates them.

The few friends I have here in the Southeast live too far away to visit frequently, so since moving here in 2001, my wife and I have decided we prefer each others company to just about everyone else's, so that's become how we live our life.  A great band wrote a great song about this type of living awhile back:

[Linville]

[Back2Good]

As my grandmother used to say: "Jaysus laddie, have ye got any sense at all?"

I do, Granny, I do.  And never having seen a post disappear that quickly after pressing "Post Reply", I'll use the sense God give me to call it a night.

Good night friend and neighbors.

[Linville]

Fire this made me think of what you sometimes say..... which is very positive thought.