Whoever first said ‘time goes by faster as you get older’ was severely understating the point! I cannot believe it’s been a year since my first posts on Life Grenades. It seems I’ve covered a lot of random topics, and hopefully I will uncover another year’s worth.
There are several take-aways from having a blog: connecting with people, expressing ideas, remembering times and places and people. However, the thing I appreciate most is actually having written the blogs; bringing all these memories once confined to my head out into the open. I decided a long time ago that I wasn’t going to write as if a single person was reading this (other than my mom of course). I would be blunt, open minded and have fun sharing the things I’ve experienced. Besides being a business owner, I am a husband, father, son, brother and neighbor too. I think we have ALL have had a variety of experiences that someone else could benefit from hearing. I wish I had taken more time to listen to my grandparents while they were here, along with so many others who have passed. I missed getting to pick their brains, garner wisdom, hear stories and hopefully learn some priceless lessons. It seems sad to me that all the stories and experiences my grandparents had are pretty much gone. I only remember a few, and my folks also remember several more. My grandmother had some of the coolest old-time Texas words and phrases like “I’ll swar” or “Law zee” (I’m not even sure how to spell those!) I try to occasionally work those in to my conversations so a little of her can live on. We can learn so much from previous generations if we just take the time to sit and talk with them before it’s too late. I always want to encourage others to do the same! I don’t know if anything I have to say is necessarily earth shaking, anything others desperately need to learn from, but like I said: I am just glad to be writing these all down.
Several people in my life have meant so much to me. Some touched my life and will never know it, while others taught me lessons I practice every day. Some give me joy just to be around. When I was in the Police Academy, a sergeant in a nearby police department treated me with respect and encouragement, despite my being at least 18 years older than anyone else in the class. He mainly taught me about remaining professional under many different stressful situations. He was also a husband and soon-to-be dad. With almost 17 years on the force, he maintained a level-headed and respectful attitude towards everyone. I also had an inventor friend in Nashville who not only taught me to weld, but also to think outside the box. He had invented and patented MANY different things still in use today. His dog, however, was not one of my fans…although I never knew why. It was always clear to me: let that sleeping dog lie! Several teachers in school were key people, the most influential being those who simply saw life from a “real’ perspective.
At the same time, I had people that taught me a lot about how I would NOT want to act. Taking advantage of other people, doing whatever it took to get ahead, abusing power, condescending, cheating, lying…yeah…I learned from them. They may get their glorious moment here on Earth, but I believe a longer timeline ahead of us matters a whole lot more. I also found out that the ONLY thing that REALLY brings me true joy is doing something for someone else. As a matter of fact, when I get depressed or down about something, I immediately try to think about how I can do something to help someone else.That gets my mind off of ME real quick! I am not looking for accolades or advantages; I just do it because I know it will bring them AND me joy.
I remember one day when I was standing in front of a guy who had started a MULTI million dollar business and had just about everything a person could want in terms of as material things. I handed him a fountain pen that I had made in my wood shop and told him I had prayed for him, the company and his future while I was making it. This man, who had seemingly everything, stared at the pen with amazement and slowly took it saying “You made this..for ME?” and then continued: “You prayed..for MY company?” It was at that very moment I realized what true joy was. It’s one thing to laugh at a joke, or ride a roller coaster, but true joy? I realized I had never felt it–until I felt it for the first time.
Since that day, it has been my mission to experience it as often as I could. Not just because I want to feel good, but because I know in order for that to happen, I’m doing something for someone else as well. I like the way they put it in the movie Pay It Forward: “Do something for someone else they cannot do for themselves.” That’s not always easy to do. Usually it requires getting to know a person or learning more about their circumstances. Either way, it usually takes some effort to find out what’s needed.
I have a new perspective I’ve been trying to adopt. It’s kind of basic and it could easily be overlooked and under appreciated…
“It could always be worse.”
I don’t mean it from the cheesy perspective of focusing on everything negative. Rather, I like to look at something and find the GOOD even in the bad situation. I try not to focus on how bad things are, but instead, think about how fortunate I am that things didn’t turn out worse. By trying to find good in the bad, I believe we’re actually improving our quality of life. Of course, this is confirmed by so many studies that show how emotions and thoughts affect our physical body!
I’m looking forward to a study of how virtual reality simulators affect our bodies. I mean I’ve gotten physically sick a few times by just putting on a pair of VR goggles: having my eyes fool my body into thinking I’m actually experiencing the situation. How is it that just my EYES can have such affect on my physical body? Point is: our mind has a huge effect over our circumstances. Keep it positive, and keep it in perspective. We are all far more blessed than we may at first realize. Find the good, and spread kindness and joy with everyone you can.