I saw this painted on a storefront window.
Community, United We Stand.
With all the polarization these days, is this still true?
Unity is literally built into Comm-unity.
Divided, we tear each other apart.
Instead, we could accomplish so much together. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Just a self-reflection today…
Important to me.
It’s about who I thought I was and…
Who I became.
Truly, I went full circle from a child’s hate to an adult’s love relationship with:
– Reading
– Writing
– Swimming
– Hebrew
As a kid, I tried to avoid these like the plague, and as an adult I like to practice these every single day of my life.
I wonder to myself is it that I strove to become good (or decent) at what I have previously been bad at or was somehow afraid of.
Yet now, they are integral to my life, learning, and growth.
Like the hands of a clock that circle and tick the hours and minutes.
My life takes me full circle and brings me home to who I am and what I really love spending time at. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
After all the work is said and done…
And there is still so much more that I earnestly hope and pray to accomplish with my life.
Perhaps, then, when I am all grown up, I can have some time to be a sun bum too.
Everyone deserves a little fun. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So parenting is not always an easy job.
But it is one full of love and helping your kids.
Sometimes, I remember listening to my kids say that they feel this or that and seeing that it was holding them back from accomplishing their goals.
Often, I would tell them that the only people that really care about how they feel is your mother and father–but generally-speaking, it a tough world out there, and:
“No one [else] cares about how you feel.”
I tried to focus them–not on being cold and unfeeling–but rather on being strong inside and focusing on the tasks that need to get done.
Sure, feelings are important, but if you are getting held back from doing what you need to do–then there are times when you need to put the feelings in abeyance and go forward.
Overall, there is plenty of time to feel what you feel, but don’t let anger, fear, or anxiety get in the way of you accomplishing your dreams.
In a book that I am reading by Amos Oz, “A Tale of Love and Darkness,” he writes:
‘I want’ and ‘I don’t want’ aren’t reasons, they can only be defined as self-indulgence.
Yes, it’s a little tough love, but also it is out of true love to help the kids to be willing and determined to try their best and not get held back by anything in the pursuit of the destiny they choose to follow. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Please see my new article in Times of Israel, “Israel’s Ladder To Space.”
So proud of Israel’s planning to join the Big 3 countries (U.S., Russia, and China) to land on the moon.
Amazing what even a relatively small in size and new nation like Israel can set their sights on and please G-d accomplish with G-d’s help.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
I like this saying that I heard.
“The juice has to be worth the squeeze.”
It’s a little like the corollary to “If something is worth doing, then it’s worth doing right.”
Spending time and effort has to show commensurate results or why the heck are you doing it?
Probably always good to reevaluate where you’re getting the “most bang for the buck,” so you’re not “just spinning your wheels.”
With all the sayings about what we do and whether it’s really worth it, there is probably some good reason to be concerned about whether or not you spending your time productively or just acting insane, because:
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Results matter–so make sure your achieving them or go do something else you enjoy and that’s ultimately worth the squeeze! 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So I took this photo in the Museum of Natural History.
As you can see, this hippopotamus has quite a big mouth.
He is also not alive and is behind a glass-enclosed case for viewing.
To me this screams that those with big mouths often don’t end up well.
I remember a relative of mine used to bluntly call it, “being full of sh*t.”
Whether these people are in politics, your neighborhood, bullies at work and school, or even those in the fake news media…they have become all to somewhat frequent.
Sure there are other animals with small mouths in the same situation, but the hippo truly is a decreasing and vulnerable species.
And like it’s neighbor in the museum, the dinosaur–another one who has a big mouth–that ended up extinct, the prospects for talking big, but accomplishing little is sort of part of the character.
The hippopotamus is mostly a herbivore–it has a big mouth and some big sharp teeth, but it mainly eats humble plants and doesn’t pursue the hunt of the big game and eat lots of red meat.
Listen, big mouths can still be highly dangerous–words are powerful and can do a lot of damage.
But overall “talk is cheap,” especially when people focus on words and not good deeds and who don’t have the right intentions. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Like the all knowing eye…
Strategy is our way of trying to forge a coherent path ahead.
Of course, as humans, we are imperfect and don’t know what we don’t know.
But whether we call it strategy, strategery, or stratego, the goal is to have a method to our madness.
We can’t just rely on luck, gut, intuition, or subjective whim to get us wherever.
Having no strategy is brainless following or aimless wandering.
Strategy means your thinking ahead what you want to achieve and then at least trying your best to accomplish something.
Ample course corrections allowed and encouraged, as needed. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
This is one of the most beautiful thank you songs that I have ever heard.
This was played for a departing leader with beautiful photos of all the good and caring work that they did over many years.
The passion, commitment, and tenacity were evident through out, and even though I hadn’t known this person for long, it brought tears to my ears.
What certain people can accomplish with their lives–helping others, making a better world.
What we can accomplish through kindness, caring, selflessness, generosity, and tenderness.
It’s the definition of inspirational–that we can live a life where the “thank you” is really and totally besides the whole point.
Live life and live it well! 😉
Today, a disabled man asked the lifeguard at the pool, “How are you doing?”
The lifeguard couldn’t understand or fully hear the disabled man who had to repeat the question multiple times.
Then, the lifeguard responded, “I am doing well. How are you doing?”
The disabled man with a blank to sad look on his face says, “I am doing.”
His response of just “doing” (not well, good, or fine) was like just going on day-to-day amidst very challenging life circumstances of illness and disability–just in a state of being, but certainly not feeling like he was thriving in his current life.
It reminded me of my own parents, survivors of the Holocaust.
After the horror and loss of the Holocaust everything, including coming to this country without a dime or a job was just a cakewalk in comparison.
For 25-years, my dad would never even go to the doctor.
He would say, “G-d is my doctor!”
Only later in life, when all his friends were sick or failing, and my mom was so sick with Parkinson’s would my dad respond to people’s questions of how he was, by saying simply, “Surviving!”
And then often adding, “We are part of the survivors’ club.”
When we’re young, healthy, and vibrant, the world seems too small compared to what we think we can do and accomplish.
That’s good–it gives us the thrusters in life to go as far as we can with accomplishments and progress.
As we age though, the realities of life and health come into vision and we realize that we can’t lift cars with one hand (anymore) or fly lightening speed with just our cape around the globe–we’re mortal.
This doesn’t mean that we can’t do great things for ourselves and the world at any age and with any (dis)ability, just that it many not be as simple or as easy any longer–we have to fight harder and be part of the survivor’s club. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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