Idle thoughts on a Sunday in Sept

My friend asked do you still write your blog?

I  asked him do you still travel?

We talked of family friends and activities as we sat in the sun.

At my time of life, I am lucky I am surrounded by friends. laughter, health, abundance, peace and harmony so I am at peace, and I hope you are as well. 

However trite this may now sound, each of us is a miracle, unique to this world. The earth, sun, moon, and stars are wonders for us to behold, they provide us with mind-boggling and profound mysteries to ponder and to try to solve. They provide us with only a hint of the power of the universe. 

Yet, for the most part, we are concerned with the ordinary, not the mind-boggling,  a blog, travel, family, friends, our conversation continues and we are at peace. 

Dreams

Are you a dreamer, or a daydreamer? I am and have always been a dreamer,  and I have realized over time that:

Big dreams come true, as easily as little ones. 

Rich dreams come true as easily as poor ones. 

Friendly dreams come true as easily as lonely ones. 

Dreams come true, that's what they do. 

The only variable is when.

For the slow approach: Resist. Attach. Insist. Deny. Stop. Second guess. Whine. Argue. Defend. Protest. Cry. Struggle. And ask others, when you know the answer yourself. 

For the quick approach: Visualize. Pretend. Prepare. Dodge. Roll. Serpentine. Do not waver over intentions, but over methods. Show up, even when nothing happens. And give thanks in advance. 


You know that, So, what dreams should you dream and how should you approach your dreams to make them come true, slow or fast?

Shall we dance?

Ever felt bored, I know I have from time to time. I have realized that boredom is an internal feeling. It comes from, for me, not being curious enough about what is going on around me. Life is full of quirks and strange things, but from time to time, I lose track of the adventure and exciting aspects of life. For me, the real trick, for confronting boredom is to ask more questions. If I overhear part of a conversation, in my mind, I ask questions about why the person said what they said, in the conversation, what will be said next, who are they talking about, if there is an issue, when will it be resolved, who will resolve it and how will that impact the people in the conversation I overheard. I put all of this together in my head and I can create a story, usually with a happy ending, from the tidbit of a conversation I have heard. Asking questions can keep me from being bored. How do you tackle boredom?

Loneliness is dangerous for seniors or for anyone. We are social creatures and we need contact with others to keep us healthy. But some people don't know how to tackle loneliness. Tackling loneliness is not easy but for me tackling loneliness, means taking more action. What does taking more action look like? It may mean going to a senior center and having the courage to say hello to someone there, it may mean picking up the phone and calling a friend or a relative to ask how they are doing and listening to them. It may mean joining a group of people with similar interests. It means that I don't sit on my butt; it means getting out and about and taking action. However, each of us is different, how do you tackle loneliness?

I overcome periods of sadness, which can overwhelm by doing and thinking more about doing for others. How do you overcome periods of sadness?

Loneliness, boredom and sadness, difficult topics so when we have examined them all, I think the best thing to do is to dance. Shall we dance as a way to embrace the best of life?

Life is sometimes about making easy or hard choices.

There is an old saying, if a person is hungry, you can give him food or you can teach her to catch the food and cook it. If you give the person the food, you solve the immediate problem, which is to take care of the hunger. If you teach the person to catch the food, i.e. catch a fish, you have taken care of the long-term problem. So, let's say you live by a great, abundant, life-giving ocean, though at a very primitive time in history, and you are very, very hungry. And let's further say, that you're given a choice: a wading pond full of fish or fishing lessons; enough fish to last you for several weeks, or the skills to tap an unlimited supply. Which would you choose? 


The answer is not as easy as it may appear, if you are starving, you may choose the wading pond full of fish as it important to you that you and your loved ones survive. However, if you are just hungry and not starving and near death, you may choose the fishing lessons.


Ah-ha, so it is not an easy choice, but life is sometimes about making easy or hard choices.


What if learning to fish meant multiple solo attempts to test out your new skills, without any guidance and help that you could see? My thought would be that while you were learning this important and life-changing skill, you'd likely feel anxious, uncertain, and a little confused? While you were learning, you don’t realize that your instructor would never be far, watching over you like a mother does a young child, but giving you the freedom to make your own mistakes and make the skill truly yours. Would you sometimes feel all alone and given the chance to remake the choice would you still choose the lessons? 


I know what I would do, and have done in those circumstances. What have you done, and how can you help your children and grandchildren to make the same choices you made, or perhaps make different choices than you made?