A very cool Shabbat Shalom to you!
Congratulations on another week of hard work and accomplishment.
Now it’s time for a day of spirituality, mindfulness, thanksgiving, and much needed rest and relaxation.
Heal and rejuvenate your body, mind, and soul.
A time for Hashem, self, family, and community.
Shabbat is a true gift from G-d. 😉
(Credit Graphic: Andy Blumenthal)
So I was talking to someone about their challenges in life.
And they said something that really hit a chord:
You never know what your expiration date is!
What an interesting way to say you never know when your time is up.
They used the phrase “expiration date” like we so commonly see on food and medicine products.
You know when you read the label and it tells you to discard after a certain date.
So people are like all these other goods that have a date stamped on them.
We have a date stamped on us (maybe it’s on our forehead or some other less conspicuous place), and we just can’t see it.
Yet, we need to live every day as if that expiration date is coming due.
Because like that stale food in your fridge or the old medicine in your cabinets, everything and everybody has a shelf life.
So you better live every day good and meaningfully before your expiration date comes due. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Thought this was a funny title for a book:
“Sh*t Happens So Get Over It.”
There are no perfect lives out there.
I reminded again this week how everyone has something: Mark Herd, Co-CEO of Oracle, died at 62 and and Elijah Cummings, elected to 12 terms in the House of Representatives, died at 68.
All the success int he world on the surface doesn’t mean that there isn’t plenty of schlimazel (misfortune) under the surface.
Unfortunately, sh*t definitely happens in life and we can get all spun up over it or we can take everything in faith and stride.
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.
What does kill takes us to the next phase of existence.
All you can do is your best, the rest is in the hands of the Almighty above. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Thought this was an interesting perspective on retirement.
There are three phases:
1) Go-Go: You retire and are eager to enjoy your newfound freedom, and you spend the time and money to really do the pursuits and travel that you always wanted.
2) Slow-Go: After the initial adventurism and spending, you settle in some more and spend your time on quiet activities, socializing, and relaxing.
3) No-Go: This is the wind down phase, where you spend most of your time at home and at a certain point, may need some assistance to do everyday activities.
Obviously, the last phase is sort of depressing, but it too is a part of life.
Like a bell-shaped curve, we are born, grow, mature, and then decline.
This is the cycle of life for every living thing.
It takes maturity and courage to face it and to make the most out of every single moment that we are blessed with. 😉
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Took this photo yesterday in the courtyard during a thunderstorm.
It is the first time that I was actually able to see the rain almost in a slow motion.
They weren’t drops, but literally streaks of water zipping down from the sky.
The feeling was so pure and refreshing to clean the air and the ground.
To replenish our reservoirs, ponds, lakes, rivers, and oceans.
To nourish the fruit of the Earth and make it grow.
We use up and make dirty, but G-d replenishes and makes clean! 😉
(Source photo: Andy Blumenthal)
I thought this was a great saying in the Wall Street Journal book review today.
“Expect Less, Appreciate More.”
Many people in their late 30s and early 40s become disillusioned with life.
They have been on the treadmill chasing love, fame, and fortune for so long.
But reality sets in and they don’t get everything they think they have coming to them.
Hence some level of mid-life crisis sets in.
However by the time people reach their 50s, things seem to shift again, and a happiness or peacefulness sets in.
People start to expect less and instead appreciate more from the blessings they do have.
The treadmill becomes a long walk along the beautiful beach or park trail.
We don’t need to chase success, but rather just see the great lives in so many ways that G-d has already bestowed on us.
The U-shaped curve of life–where we start all bright-eyes and bushy tailed in our younger years and which descends into disappointment and disillusionment in mid-life, comes up once again to happiness and a fulfillment in our later years.
Over the course of our lives, we learn that life does not ask, but rather it tells us.
And if we just listen, we can find meaning and contentment amidst it all. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So the scariest people in the world are the sadistic ones.
They are the ones without empathy.
They get pleasure from hurting others.
Yes, we all hurt other people sometimes.
But it’s different when we do it by accident or when we feel bad about our wrongful actions.
Sadistic people don’t just not feel bad or regret…
Instead, they actually savor watching others suffer and squirm.
Other people’s pain and misfortune are what gives them their energy and happiness.
Rather than working on themselves, they rather put down others.
“I’m better, because your worse or because I kick your a*s!”
What types of people are these?
They are not really human.
They are lacking genes for empathy.
They are lacking a holy soul.
They are cold, calculated, and hateful.
While it wonderful to see some people seek love and peace.
It is disturbing to see those that run after hate and harm.
Your loss is their gain.
Your pain is their pleasure.
Your tears are their springs.
Your cries are their laughter.
Why did G-d put these sub-humans in this world?
Perhaps to test us humans.
Can we maintain dignity, integrity, and humanity among the beasts of hell?
We can, but like others that have gone before us, we bear the mark of fighting with the devil.
The devils live among us, but we must still strive to be angels before man and G-d. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
So aside from all the Washington, D.C. weighty monuments to our esteemed values of democracy, freedom, and human rights.
And aside from all the prestigious institutions and people of great power that formulate the policies and rules and keep us abiding by them.
This is what I see in D.C.
The plight of the poor, homeless, and downtrodden.
Those that have fallen by the wayside.
People who are down on their luck.
Human beings–that’s right human beings–that need and deserve help or even just a chance.
Why does anyone have to live–if you can even call this living–like this a couple of blocks from the White House.
I know there are people all over the world who are hungry, homeless, sick, and abused.
Yet, nowhere is this more stark an example than in the U.S.A where there is such an enormous divergence between “the haves” and “the have nots” and where our values are supposedly bound up with equality, human rights, charity, and kindness.
Yes, we are supposed to be equal in treatment and in opportunity, but we all know that is not really the case.
Sure, some work hard and others are perhaps lucky/blessed, but then are those that are born with a “silver spoon in their mouths” and excel through a tight weave of corruption, narcissism, nepotism, and abuse.
Yet a real chance for everyone, a living wage, and basic dignity and respect should be afforded to all.
Money and power is ephemeral.
Those with it, that abuse it, shall see it pass between their fingers ever trying to clutch unto it with dear life.
Only the way we treat others will last in this world and in the world after.
Everything goes around and comes around.
This is the cycle of life and the lot of those who abuse their good fortune as well as those that harness it.
G-d will judge with His mighty hand and bring to bear the deeds and intentions of those that mock His holy will.
Because His children lay in rags and heaps, while others dance their folly jig. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
There were 2 inspirational student speakers today at my daughter’s graduation from American University.
One spoke about how he got sick soon after starting college with a serious vascular disease, but despite numerous hopsitalizations, treatments, and falling behind his peers, he persevered and was graduating today and in very good spirits.
Another women spoke about her many failures leading up to the success today of her graduation. She described how her father used to ask her:
“What did you fail at this week?”
Why?
Because even though we don’t like to admit it, most people have many, many more failures in life than successes.
Even Thomas Edison, the inventor of the light bulb is said to have failed 1,000 times before getting it right.
This women explained how failure is actually something to celebrate–does that sound crazy?.
But it’s really not, and here’s why?
“To fail is to learn.
To learn is to grow.
To fail is to grow forward.”
Now, I had heard about failing up, but never failing forward.
Many who fail still manage to advance themselves in the process.
But failing forward is different.
It’s not taking advantage of the failure, but legitimately learning from the experience so that you can grow yourself, and advance yourself, by becoming a smarter, stronger, and more capable person from it.
Sure, it hurts to fail.
Who would normally want to celebrate failure?
But if we understand life as a journey and not a specific destination, then we enjoy every blessed moment that we have to become better today and tomorrow than we were yesterday.
In this case, failure is not the opposite of success, but rather is part and parcel of achieving it. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
It takes time to build in life.
Or as they say:
“Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
But it’s not always easy to have patience.
We all have to start somewhere and usually it’s at the bottom.
And then we have to claw our way up (like Rocky).
Unless of course, you’re one of those people born with a “silver spoon” in your mouth.
The funny thing about building and climbing is that it can all be destroyed in a split second.
One silly mistake, one stupid word, one indiscretion, one lackadaisical moment, a turn of bad luck…or a series thereof.
It takes so much time and effort to build as we lay one brick of success upon another.
And it takes just a split second to destroy it all.
So watch-watch-watch your steps, because they can so easily turn into a rapid, spiraling, and even most deadly a fall. 😉
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
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