Protected: Genealogy 1
Sunday Service White Memorial Presbyterian Church
A wonderful friend of my sister, Margaret, mentioned that she would be singing in a Vivaldi choral arrangement at her church on Sunday. White Memorial is a beautiful church in old Raleigh. Having sung in an all boys choir at Church of Our Savior as a child, I jumped at the chance to experience the Advent celebration. Here are two phone recordings I made.
Enjoy!
Staying in Shape
It has always been my mission to cherish my body and mind in many ways. I try to protect my mind from being exposed to negative input and keep a focus on what I want rather than what I don’t have. I use personal affirmations on a daily basis to stay focused and review my goals and action plan every day.\r\n\r\nI also have an addiction to working out. I think the endorphins keep me calmer throughout the day. I like to exercise in the morning when possible, followed by a high protein breakfast and vitamin supplements. Kinda gets it all out of the way at the start of the day. Then I can focus more on the wonderful things that are going to happen in my life that day.
I like to do cardio for 30 minutes, followed by 30-45 minutes of machine and free weights.
Jazz in Raleigh
I discovered this great Jazz bar in downtown Raleigh on my own and went to check it out. They do not serve any food and have a 6-page specialty drink menu. It started hopping at 8:30 when the Dixieland band started. Every night is a different style of Jazz. This could end up being one of my favorite hangouts. Introduced myself to friends I had not met yet. It was a blast.
Goals and Action Plans
I have a couple of thoughts about what I have done over the years to make tomorrow better than today and to know my family will be looked after. I always had plans for my future, however, when I was young, they were carried around in my head, as my great-niece described today, as some kind of sticky note, stuck on the bulletin board of my brain. Incredibly that got me through until I was in my early thirties. I had finished high school, completed my term in the military, extended my education to being certified as a Respiratory Technologist and Cardiopulmonary Pump Technologist, completed an undergraduate degree in Bachelor of Science, married and had a daughter.
I remember being at my brother, Mike’s house and seeing a set of personal development tapes on his bookshelf by Brain Tracy. I asked to borrow them. I listened to them and they changed my entire life forever. What incredible changes can come as a result of small millisecond decisions? The lesson here is that I arrived at a crossroad of existence, and recognized it. The key here is that I recognized it. I am never sure how that works, except to the fact that when the universe offers you a morsel of insight, grab it quickly, and act upon it. The more of these you grasp in your clutches, the more the universe will offer you. If you pass them off as weird, or doesn’t make sense, or “that’s not me”, the universe will not offer as many in the future. You must be open to receiving them, and acting upon them, in which case you will see more, sooner.
I took those tapes home to Elora, ON and listened to them in my basement office. They were called the Psychology of Achievement. One of the tapes talked about goal setting and required that I sit down and write out what I wanted my future to look like and what would be my major definite purpose in life. I was instructed to write out the answers to about six questions, of which here are three.
- If I could do anything I wanted, what would I do, if I knew I could not fail?
- If I won a million dollars (make that 100 million today), what would I do?
- If I only had six months to live, what would I do
Questions are the answers in life, I have learned. It helped my design the following areas of my life that I use as daily areas of focus to help me create the life and lifestyle I have always wanted.
On Goals and Actions
- Fun
- Personal Growth
- Play It Forward
- Finance
- Family – Extended
- Health & Fitness
- Spiritual
Once I designed the areas of importance to myself, I then attached daily action plans to manifest those into reality. They all start with an idea. However, an idea, not written down, with an action plan is simply a dream, destined to be discarded to the pile of regrets. My rule is: “If it is not written, it is not so.”
Crystallize your Dreams into goals and action plans and you will be amazed at how your reticular activating system will bring those into reality.
Discovering Out of the Way Restaurants in Raleigh
I was introduced to this really quaint restaurant for the artsy folk, young and old. They had live music on a Sunday and it was packed. Tucked away in an industrial area. I had to go back a couple of days later just to enjoy the ambiance without the crowd. Well worth the find. It reminded me of Elora, ON in the eighties. Baklava to live for…everything fresh and very vegan as well.
Carolina Blue
Nothing could be finer than Carolina blue skies.
And to open the door for a lady that understands that real trucks don’t have spark plugs.
What I Expect in a Woman and Partner
I was asked recently what I expected in a woman and partner. It sent me on a thought provoking mission to gain clarity, which is always good. This is what I came up with so far. And these are what a woman and partner can expect from me.
A person;
- Who understands that we are not human beings on a spiritual journey, instead, spiritual beings on a human journey,
- Who knows that commitment means trust and loyalty to protect another person’s back and feelings,
- Who does not accept me as I am but encourages me to become everything I can and want to be, because they know me that well.
- Who has experienced enough personal growth to know that change is the only evidence of life,
- Who has enough positive self-esteem and confidence to be content in themselves.
- Who wants sensitivity in a man,
- Who knows that fear is false expectations appearing real,
- Who wants to be 18 until they die, try anything twice, stay foolish and look for the positive in everything, because their glass is more than half-full and they are looking to fill it to overflow.
- Who understands that all we have is now, this moment in time, to enjoy and make a difference in this lifetime.
- Who wants to leave the woodpile a little higher than the way they found it,
- Who knows that their job is not to change another person, but to hold up a mirror for another to see themselves,
- Who wants good communication,
- Who agrees that partners uplift each other in private and in public
- Who cherishes their mind and body to keep both as healthy as possible,
- Who understands that self reflection takes times of solitude and contemplation,
- Who can spend time with themselves without fears of being alone,
- Who understands that soul mates are truly souls that connect at a deeper level of unspoken consciousness such that when they have not seen each other in years, they can still finish each other’s sentences and start up where they left off as if no time had passed,
- Who understands that true love, mature love, comes from the soul and cannot be overridden by circumstances of daily existence,
- Who loves an eternal romantic,
- Who cherishes that love is a safe place and all we really have to provide is hope.
December 31, 2013
Great year 2013. Thanks. 2014 is going to be even better.