The Purge

Thought this was an interesting sign someone had in their office. 

PURGE the things that no longer bring PURPOSE!

Yikes! I wonder who or what got purged from this person’s life recently. 

Yet, perhaps it is a good lesson against hoarding and just accumulating junk (things and certain people) along the way of life. 

When things have a deeply negative impact on your life (or they’re just dead weight), perhaps it is time to consider letting go.

I’m not talking about relationships of commitment (e.g. family), which have a stronger and timeless bond in my mind, but of those that earn their right into your life by virtue of being ongoing positive, productive forces. 

There is no blessing in gluttony or hoarding–stay trim and fit, travel light and with what is truly meaningful and necessary. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Grass Not Always Greener

Sometimes the grass isn’t (always) greener.

Instead the grass grows in beautiful multi-colors. 

The grass art in this garden looks a lot better than the grass itself. 

The only real green is money and envy!

When comparing your lot with others, make sure you’re comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges. 

Even then you’ll never know the person’s real “package” (or basket) in life. 

Be sure that everyone has their share of good and bad, so never be jealous of anyone. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Telework Lessons from Coronavirus

 

So we’re all stuck in the house teleworking because of Coronavirus.

After a number of hours, I hear from my daughter that her laptop stopped working.

Apparently the battery overheated. 

Like a good millennial, what does she do?

She puts it in the refrigerator to cool down.

And sure enough, when she takes it out, it’s working again. 

Next problem of the day is where the VPN circuits are overloaded (too many people trying to login from home).

And when you try to call the help desk, of course all you get is a busy signal. 

We sure are learning a lot during this Coronavirus outbreak. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Your Expiration Date

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)

Pacemaker No-No!

So I learned that this is called a Van de Graaff Generator.

It generates very high voltage electricity. 

The guy setting it up asks me:

Do you have a pacemaker?

I respond in the negative and ask what’s the danger zone on this thing.

He says: 

You probably wouldn’t want to get within 10 feet of this!

Good to know. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

(Please note that blog is not to be taken as medical advice.)

OPTIMISM vs pessimism

So I thought this really matched my philosophy to a T on optimism and pessimism. 

As Joel Rosenberg put it in his book The Ezekiel Option, “In the long run everything would turn out fine…but tomorrow could be a disaster.”

In short, this equates to:

I’m a strategic optimist, but a tactical pessimist. 

My mom used to say, “If I am pessimistic, I’ll never be disappointed.” LOL

I think though when we have faith then we know that truly, in the end everything is for the best and will be okay.

In the short term though, there are challenges to face and these can be tough indeed. 

– Strategically an optimist. 

– Tactically a pessimist. 

Plan for the worst, hope for the best. 😉

(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

You Ended Up In Hell City

So a friend told me something funny.

It was about being given what appears to be a wonderful opportunity, but in reality it’s not all roses. 

In short, it went something like this:

There was an exciting competition and a prize at the end. 
Everyone prepared and worked hard to win it. 
But when the competition was over, what was the prize?
The 2nd place was two weeks in Philadelphia. 
The 1st place was one week in Philadelphia. 

I had to think about that for a second, but that is really pretty funny and true. 

No not about Philadelphia, but about life–that what we often mistakenly want so badly and strive for with all our energies, and then only to find out that it really wasn’t as good or amazing for us and our families as we imagined. 

Yes, very often you set your sights on certain goals to win the competition, but then you find out that the BIG prize (“first place”) is really not something to get excited about, because it’s in Philadelphia!  😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Black Hole–What’s Really Important?

Amazing beautiful photos of a black hole from 55 million light years (311 million trillion miles) away. 

It measures about 25 billion miles across–about the size of 29,000 suns. 

If this doesn’t make you (with all the money, smarts, good looks, and ego to match) feel small, nothing will. 

We are but a speck of dust in this vast universe (maybe not even that). 

Perspective is in order for your life and what it means. 

Forget the money-grubbing and honor-seeking.

Realize what’s really important is what you do in terms of choosing right from wrong and good over evil in every small thing you do.  😉

(Photo Credit: Event Horizon Telescope)

Victory Or Defeat

I was reading Vladimir Jabotinsky’s “Story of My Life.”

And there is this quote that I really like attributed to Kipling in it:

Victory or defeat: learn to accept both with equanimity since both are deceptions.

I just thought this is profound.  

We never really fully win or lose. 

Everything is on a spectrum. 

And where we think we are on that spectrum is often not even nearly correct. 

You think you won that one, but guess what someone else has outsmarted you and you don’t even know it yet. 

Also, wins can be easily followed by loses and vice versa.

Things can turn on a dime and who’s up becomes who’s down–as the wheel of life turns and turns again. 

Recognize that you don’t control everything–actually, the only thing you do control is how you react and behave.

Everything else is a test to teach you and help you grow. 

And as I heard from a speaker yesterday, “you can’t make up in space, what you have lost in time.”

Victory or defeat, both are deceptions. 

Only how you choose to act is the real win or lose. 

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)

Dog Eyes and Knows

Something very cute about this dog and how he’s looking. 

Almost seems like there is a person inside there.

See the twinkle and knowing in his eye. 

Makes me wonder whether dogs (and other animals) were once people who have been reincarnated.

Is a dog and a person soul both the same (or how are they different)?

I am sure that there is divine justice (or Comedy) in coming back and in so many different ways and forms. 

This dog knows something for sure. 😉

(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)