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I hate it when people at the grocery store make me cry.

Also, those who proclaim our modern day society is deeply divided by race and gender issues aren’t paying attention.

I saw an encounter this morning that crosses culture boundaries and sheds light on the Hope that awaits at the bottom of our social Pandora’s box.

In front of me at the checkout line was a very old man in a mobility scooter. He had the basket on it in front of him filled pretty high. The family in front of him had a fair number of items. I settled in and prepared to wait. I had ice cream and frozen pizza silently thawing out in my cart but sometimes getting worked up over small stuff isn’t worth the effort.

As I waited, I noticed the head of the family two spots ahead of me. She looked angry as did her daughter. Meh. Who knows why.

The gent in front of me looked around him a little shakily. I followed his gaze and saw a magazine with Betty White on it and the congratulations on her 100th birthday. I immediately thought of the meme showing her being sad because she could no longer play with Legos as they are rated ages 3 to 99. That was funny. I wondered what he thought of Betty White, if he thought of her at all.

The family had finished putting things on the belt and were getting ready to pay. The daughter noticed the old man’s basket hadn’t been unloaded on the belt, as he couldn’t reach the items in the cart. She asked him if she could unload his cart for him onto the belt. He said, “no, the cashier can do it”. She gently insisted and he said ok.

The momma saw this happening and waved her daughter over to start the payment process. “No, hun, you go on. I got this.”

It was at this point I started to tear up. Public crowds are my kryptonite. My social anxiety makeup is such that too much exposure to people in crowds overwhelms me. I was already saturated with others’ emotions and stories and this tipped the cup for me.

I kept as best a straight face as I could by mama looked over at me. I barely could make a smile as our eyes met and I wiped my eyes. This unexpected kindness there me for a loop. She nodded and smiled to the gent and made small talk as she went about her business of helping him. He had some packages of steak. I know this because the lady asked him how he like it prepared. She no longer looked angry as she helped him.

The cashier was ringing up his items as this went on, and then she was done.

The old man carefully started to extract himself out of the scooter to pull out his wallet with his shaky hands. Before he could finish, the cashier stopped him.

“Sir,” said the cashier, “your groceries are paid for.”

He was confused.

“The lady in front of you paid for your groceries.” She smiled at him.

“But,” he asked, “why did she do that?”

“I dunno,” replied the cashier, “maybe she wanted to to have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.”

He completed the event of standing up and said, “No, I gotta pay it. I have to pay her back somehow.”

The lady who’d helped the man saw his quiet stubbornness, as she and the family had stayed back to make sure all was well with the transaction. She stepped up to rescue the cashier.

“No, hun,” she said, just like before, “you go on. I got this. Where are you parked? We’ll get those groceries in your car.” And off they went.

These stories are everywhere. We just need eyes to see them and ears to hear them.

And sometimes, hearts to live them.

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Today’s Just Be Thought

If someone is changing his or her life choices for the better, and to align with your positive goals and vision, that person isn’t sacrificing anything.

Sacrifice done under the idea of coercion leads to resentment, which left unattended, turns to bitterness and eventually derision and scorn.

If someone is moving in a better direction by dropping bad habits or altering his or her lifestyle to prepare to head in a more fulfilling life, the change isn’t sacrifice.

The change may be painful and scary and inconvenient, but it is not a sacrifice

Learning to walk, learning to run, learning to ride a bike, learning to let go of the symbolic millstones that threaten to drown us as we learn to swim in the current of life are never sacrifices. They are part of a satisfying life.

PicsArt AI, “Planet shining in the sky above the stormy sea”

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If you can observe it, you can measure it.

If you can measure it, you can predict it.

If you can predict it, you can control it.

If you can control it, you can fix it.

Well, most of the time.

PicsArt AI, “Charts and graphs”

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Today’s Just Be Thought is about gratitude. Here are a couple of quotes from those more wise than me:

“I don’t have to chase extraordinary moments to find happiness – it’s right in front of me if I’m paying attention and practicing gratitude.” – Brene Brown

“If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, ‘thank you,’ that would suffice.” – Meister Eckhart

PicsArt AI, “Gratitude”

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Today I saw the most unusual behavior. Well, it seemed unusual until I saw the story all the way through to the end.

I was sitting in the parking lot of a local fast food place. I don’t like to drive and eat, as I prefer to concentrate on one or the other.

I’m old-fashioned that way.

From the doorway of the restaurant came three people: a woman carrying a toddler, and a man.

The man came out of the door after the other two as they walked past some vehicles to get to their auto. As the man passed a pickup truck, he casually placed his empty drink cup on the bed cover of the truck, and quickly scurried to catch up with his partner. She didn’t notice him leaving his trash on another person’s vehicle.

He did notice me noticing this as our eyes met. He didn’t react but quickly started seating the toddler into the car seat while his partner fiddled with things in the front of the car.

“Now,” I thought to myself, “what am I to do about this? Obviously the owner of the truck will wonder what happened here when he or she comes to see someone else’s trash poised prettily on the back of their vehicle. Or maybe the cup won’t be noticed and will fall off and litter the place.”

I don’t want to get involved in drama but also don’t want to just let something like this go.

Fortunately patience came to the rescue. As I waited and thought, the solution revealed itself.

After the man finished buckling up the toddler, he walked over to the driver’s side of the vehicle where his partner was waiting.

That’s when he kissed her goodbye, then walked over to his truck that he’d set his unfinished drink onto.

He took a sip from the cup I assumed was empty, got in his truck, and drove away.

Seeing is not always believing.

PicsArt AI, “Man with question mark over his head”

 

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Yesterday was my Dad’s birthday. He turned 77 years old.

When I phoned him to wish him well, one of the first observations he made about his age was this: He turned 77 years old. The average life expectancy for his demographic is 77.5 years. He hoped the next six months would go well for him.

We had a bit of a chuckle about that.

We spent a while just shooting the breeze, catching up on the latest news in our respective necks of the woods and talked about upcoming plans.

He said he found some old photos of me as a young adult and some of me as a kid. He’d like to hand these off to me the next time we meet in person. Also he found a stash of love letters I’d saved between me and my teen crushes. That’ll be fun reading, haha.

After closing the call I realized he and I had reached a stage a while back that was very comfortable.

I am no longer desperately grasping for his approval. This was a game-changer.

Don’t get me wrong; I still respect his insight and opinions and like it when we can joke about life, growing older, and the fact that uncertainty is still very much alive and real even with our combined 133 years of life experience.

But instead of a pair of guys who are seeking to convince and correct the other, we’re now just a couple of old pals who can comment on the state of existence and just appreciate each other’s company.

We’ve been thru a lot together in the last 50-odd years of life. We haven’t been in each other’s daily life for a few decades now but still, we’ve had our share of chats.

Here’s to six months of good health and choices for him. And six more after that. And many more after that.

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I remember as a kid reading a comic book whose series centered around ironic and gruesome tales of people who let bad influences take advantage of them. I think that was “Tales from the crypt” or “The twilight zone” or something along those lines.

There was one in particular that stuck out and influenced me from then on. It was about a guy who loved to read news stories about horrible events. He loved reading about the pain that was inflicted during the victims’ final moments. Most were mass accidents like airline crashes and car pileups and etc.

I can’t remember the fate that came to him as a result. But I remember being intrigued by the idea that people would find pleasure in knowing the details of others deaths. It saddened me and made me wonder about how normal people thought about things.

I think I was about 9 or 10 at the time and was realizing I wasn’t like normal people.

If a company spent time and energy printing a comic book about this, then I figured many people thought like this character did in the story. Why else make a tale warning them about the spiritual aspects of their interests?

From then on I always wondered what people were really thinking when they were presenting the news. Were they horrified, or excited? And what ironic fates were in store for them?

Pretty heavy stuff for someone who hadn’t yet lived a dozen years on this planet. Well, I was also witnessing stories the media painted about the horrors of the Vietnam war during that time as well. It made sense that I’d be thinking about how people would act and react in times of crisis.

Do pray for protection. Nor out of fear but out of wisdom and comfort. Stay under that huge umbrella of protection God provides. Whatever brand of Goodness you are drawn to, seek it and stay close to it.

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This one is on the love of money. “Money” is never the problem. It’s the love of money and the chase to get the best available thing that causes so much pain.

We need access to money, or we cannot do things we need to do. But the acquisition of wealth must be first focused on what is it we really need, and why we need it.

This author of the article I link to explains why he “needed” certain amounts of income and prestige. I pray each of you all take a moment to think about why you want what you want and chase those goals with eyes wide open!

PicsArt AI, “Paper money and coins”
https://www.entrepreneur.com/amphtml/371957

 

 

 

Today’s Just Be thought:

This one is on the love of money. “Money” is never the problem. It’s the love of money and the chase to get the best available thing that causes so much pain.

We need access to money, or we cannot do things we need to do. But the acquisition of wealth must be first focused on what is it we really need, and why we need it.

This author of the article I link to explains why he “needed” certain amounts of income and prestige. I pray each of you all take a moment to think about why you want what you want and chase those goals with eyes wide open!

PicsArt AI, “Paper money and coins”
https://www.entrepreneur.com/amphtml/371957

 

 

 

Today’s Just Be thought:

This one is on the love of money. “Money” is never the problem. It’s the love of money and the chase to get the best available thing that causes so much pain.

We need access to money, or we cannot do things we need to do. But the acquisition of wealth must be first focused on what is it we really need, and why we need it.

This author of the article I link to explains why he “needed” certain amounts of income and prestige. I pray each of you all take a moment to think about why you want what you want and chase those goals with eyes wide open!

PicsArt AI, “Paper money and coins”
https://www.entrepreneur.com/amphtml/371957

 

 

 

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Today’s Just Be thought

 

This thought is about taking action. Having a stoic and peace-seeking mindset does not mean waiting passively for things to happen to us.

 

It’s the exact opposite. We review our options, understand what we can control, and act on the things that we can do. Even if it’s a tiny thing.

 

PicsArt AI, “Fast action”

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeVWDPvY/

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Today’s Just Be thought

Today’s thought is about facing the unknown and how to do that. And why we unconsciously know that how we play is more than if we win the game.

This video is about 9 1/2 mins long – not very long but it covers a lot of info. I like how he describes how to use one’s power of stillness to gather valuable information. At the end he also explains how we unknowingly know why playing well is vital to successful people.

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Today’s Just Be thought

This one is from a quote from one of the most influential US presidents. He talked our way out of a potentially earth-shattering nuclear war with Cuba a few years before I was born. I’m thankful for all of us that this was his mindset:

“Peace is a daily, a weekly, a monthly process, gradually changing opinions, slowly eroding old barriers, quietly building new structures.” —John F. Kennedy

PicsArt AI, “Peaceful scene”

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Just am update of my post-CPAP experience for anyone who is interested. It’s been a few months now.

I’m a natural scientist and analyst. Makes sense that I’d focus on the impact of the experience. The machine I use provides a daily measurement of key components of my rest, so that’s always fun to analyse. I don’t feel any more rested than usual, but the machine says I’m resting better than before, and it provides facts and data, so I’ll hold off on arguing with it for a while.

But there’s one item that is markedly different.

The dreams are no longer lifelike. That’s the major change.

Used to be, I’d wake up and recall my dreams as a normal extension of waking life. No flying, no dramatic experiences, no weird scenarios. I’d hide a lot in my dreams but to be honest I’d likely hide in real life a lot if I could get away with that, haha. Usually I’d dream that I was driving or mowing the grass or having a chat with folks I normally chat with. Maybe pet a cat that magically appeared but it would be a normal cat and act like one. And I’d remember things from previous dreams all the time.. “O yes, this is where I left that potato. I wondered where it went.” And if often get frustrated when I was awake and I’d look for something that I put down while I was sleeping and dreaming, and it wasn’t there.

Now, it’s really bizarre when I drop off into that deep REM state. I don’t realise just how odd that place can be unless the alarm pulls me out of it on occasion as apparently I can no longer remember my dreams otherwise.

Last night’s – or rather this morning’s – waking dream at the alarm was so complex that my conscious mind still can’t wrap its head around all the imagery. This one involved trees that gushed water and raw steak as I was wrapping plastic wrap around them while an ex-wife was asking me what time it was in Bangalore.

Y’all normal people actually live like this every night for your entire existence? Wow. It’s like living in a music video produced by mad pygmies dining on acid.

PicsArt AI, “Meat trees crying water” and “a music video produced by mad pygmies dining on acid”

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Today’s Just Be thought

Be kind. This is the first attribute of stoicism noted on a web page I’ll share. Kindness is not weakness. One can be strong of character and still be kind. As a matter of fact, in some situations, kindness requires strength of character!

Here’s the link to the basics of Stoicism. Although I have been practicing this for years I still review the basics on a frequent basis.

Here’s the bit from the page that caught my eye: ““Kindness is invincible,” says Marcus Aurelius, as long as it’s sincere. “For what can even the most malicious person do if you keep showing kindness?””

How to Be Stoic – 10 Mindsets to Live By

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I am at my work desk. The grandboy has just walked in is admiring my desk toy.

Grandboy: Hey grandpa, can I play “Assassin’s Creed”?

I make a fake upset face.

Grandboy: I know grandpa (gestures to my flying pig squeeze toy), when pigs fly…

Me: Yep sure you can play. Thank you for asking.

Grandboy: But you know, flying pigs would be awesome. You can make a pig fly, too, in real life. Just get a rope or something.

Me: I’m not sure the pig would like it up there.

Grandboy: Yah he’d have all kinds of trouble. Birds pecking at him, airplanes…

Me: Godzilla.

Grandboy: Yah! And sky-beasts (his hand dive-bombs my toy). But technically, Godzilla IS a sky-beast ‘cuz he’s so tall. Good one, Grandpa.

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Last week’s events inspired a country song from yours truly.

(Think of Roy Clark plucking those strings, and you’ve got the general idea here)

All them dirty dishes in mah sink
They’s gettin’ pretty rank enuff ta stink
There ain’t no power here inside this room
And soon we are a preppin’ for the doom

Dirty dishes
Broken wishes
Dyin’ fishes
From the storm

Dirty dishes
Broken wishes
Dyin’ fishes
Ain’t the norm

We got no water here ta take a bath
There’s plenty snow out there to make a path
We scoops it up and puts it in the pan
Just boil it up a’top the butane can

Dirty dishes
Broken wishes
Dyin’ fishes
From the storm

Dirty dishes
Broken wishes
Dyin’ fishes
Ain’t the norm

Mah roommate said he would be back at noon
But that was yesterday, that rude buffoon
It was his turn to melt the snow today
I guess he done gone up and run away

Dirty dishes
Broken wishes
Dyin’ fishes
From the storm

Dirty dishes
Broken wishes
Dyin’ fishes
Ain’t the norm

PicsArt AI, “Record album cover of Dirty dishes, dying fishes, broken wishes, in a winter storm”

(Repeat)

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I don’t know why, but a memory from my early teen years popped into existence.

I had a very dear friend from junior high and we’d been separated due to our family moving out of state. Being an 11 to 13 yr old, our writing skills didn’t extend to postal mail and we lost contact with each other over time.

We’d moved back to the city where my friend and I lived, and I was now old enough to drive my dad’s car. I found my friend’s mom’s number in the White Pages and shakily dialed the number from my parent’s house phone attached to the dining room wall.

This was an era before pocket computers, when appliances hadn’t any intelligence, and the only way to know who phoned you was to dial *69 – if you were affluent enough to pay for the custom service to tell you who just called the house line.

So I dialled, and waited, and a weary female voice answered.

“Hello?”, she asked.

“Um, hi, ah this is John.”, I started shakily. I knew my friend’s mom had answered. She was a single mom of two children who were always getting into mischief. She wasn’t one to make cross. “May I speak with Pat please?” I continued nervously.

“Ah. No. And never call here again.” (Slam-click)

This was also the era when one could literally hear the receiver hit the holding bracket when the person slammed the phone down.

I was devastated. I knew I had gotten into a few scrapes with authority figures with her son in the past, but didn’t think she’d have held it against me so harshly.

Thankfully, as it turned out for me in the end, I wasn’t the person she thought I was. What happened was I had the unfortunate luck of sharing the same name as the ex-boyfriend of my friend’s older sister. Mama bear wasn’t angry with me but was protecting her cub.

Memories are funny things. Someday I’ll find out why this one popped up to say, “Hi”.

Not to worry. I didn’t tell it to never call again, haha

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Today’s Just Be thought

I was so happy to see you employing this technique this week. Also I am happy I didn’t let the frozen water pump put me in a funk. We saw the problem, came up with a solution, and did the best we could given what we had to hand.

Also, I didn’t stop and fuss and moan about the lack of running water. Instead I kept trying different things until finally the water started flowing again. I was fully prepared for a completely frozen tank and the possibility of costly repairs and still have no running water for possibly weeks.

As shown on the video, I foresaw the possible worst case scenario and planned for it.

When the reality came out much better, my level of happiness was much greater than if I’d have been grumbling about my bad luck.

I know what to do now to keep from having this issue again when it happens (and it will happen again) and am better for the experience.

Hugs to you!

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It’s 33 degrees fahrenheit outside. It’s raining. Ice has formed on my bird feeders.

I worry about my 11-yr old pup. He doesn’t like to be inside but I’m worried about his aging bones and the weather conditions.

O there he is. Casually strolling along the fence he patrols. His coat is wet from the freezing rain but he doesn’t seem to care.

This is the same pup who sunbathes outside when it’s over 110 degrees fahrenheit.

What is he made of? I want some of that, haha

PicsArt AI, “Black Labrador dog walking away in a snowstorm”

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Ten years ago if anyone would have told me I’d be sipping Scotch in a chair a few feet from my cow and baby german shepherd I’d have thought I’d have heard things.

PicsArt AI, “Scotch”