Life's Lessons

Greetings y'all ;

 Lessons learned today :

1. Lift with your legs

2. Children want and need that which is free and ought to be freely given; time, love, compassion, respect , viability, and guidance. 

3. Maintain your dignity and you can overcome 

4. Follow your moral compass , you have more people on your side than you realize as well as God 

5. Act with non-malfeasance - it's the right thing to do and it just feels better. 

6. Conduct yourself with humility 

7. Wish and actively bring/ project peace to friends and enemies a like .

8 " it is impossible to love your enemies because once you love them they are no longer your enemies . " H.H. Dalai Lama .

9. Work hard being the the parent your child thinks you are , the dividends are priceless. 

10.  Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)

     Ok so I got off on a spiritual or religious bent.  I shan't apologize . We've navigated stormy seas of late and know it's our faith that has held us in the light and gotten us through. We have a few more squalls on the horizon but shall neither wither nor waver . iWe have faced  the tempest and are all the stronger for it. My insightful man cub recently compared our  journey to that of Odysseus, we had a siren attempt to crash us upon the rocks but we held fast and survived .

     Thanks for stoping by and taking time to peruse and ponder my thoughts. 

I'll take what's behind door number two

Greetings y'all ,

      Sorry for the hiatus ,life has been crazy , absolutely crazy. We've been worried about just surviving and avoiding threats ,attacks, and folks trying to terrorize and intimidate. Unreal what some people will do without consideration to the affects it has on a child. What this has done though is bring my son and I even closer together and help us discover the myriad of friends we have in this neighborhood and community . Granted we are looking to move soon though so my son can live in peace. In the meantime he's watched and learned how his pa handles bullies. With silent indifference, with sympathetic prayers, with caution , keeping a distance and surrounding ourselves with good , decent,  kind , loving and positive people.

    We've all heard the expression; as one door closes another door opens. I wonder how many of actually dissect and digest that .i know I never really contemplated the simplistic complexity of it. So here is my philosophical if not sophist opinion and viewpoint . We can choose to stand at the closed door ponder the what ifs and if onlys , remembering and misremembering the past , dwelling in the quagmire of would've , could've , and should've . But I ask , is that healthy ? What does it really solve ? Our other option is to notice our other choices and choose to walk through the nearly opened door into the future and new if not fresh wonderment. 

     You may have discerned I chose to use the word choose . This was not random . In life we have choices to make second by second. Choice to speak or remain silent . The choice of how to act, react, interact , etc...The choice of who we associate or socialize with. The choice to walk in the light or live in the shadows . The choice to live peaceably or to create drama . 

     We choose to walk in the light and to live peaceably . We choose to live, love and laugh. We choose to be grateful , thank God for our blessings, We choose to pray for those who are suffering to the point of hating themselves and thus everyone else.  We also choose to be safe. Sadly this has been difficult at times during the last few weeks. 

      Yet somehow, with the help of friends and a strong faith we've reinforced our resiliency. In think it helped that we studied about and watched film of the Freedom Riders and Martin Luther Ling this week . We've studied about Gandhi and Jesus already of course but my progeny saw what it's like to be tormented and have enough trust in God to not fight back.  So he can now pull from the archival footage ( ie his schema) of Gandhi ( great movie with Ben Kingsley) MLK ( we watched actually footage of his marches and speeches ) Freedom Riders ( again actual footage) 

Jackie Robinson and of course Jesus and the Bible. 

     Ok so we got sick this week but hey there's a few bugs being bantered around and  many folks are unwell. However our positive spirit has remained intact. Some have asked how that can be? My response goes back to my core- the love of God to guide us and watch over us , the comfort and love of good and decent neighbors ( several of whom delivered food and/or medicine and offered rides as needed)  and friends and the amazing unconditional love of my wonderful son. I am lucky to have him in my life and heart. 

     Speaking of the boy wonder, he was amazing at his little league evaluations last week , was a trooper this week as we walked to and from school waiting for the tires to be replaced ( they were slashed last weekend) and today he rocked my world , again. He had blood drawn ( big fear for him) we played ball for a long time ( I ran some drills for him and he loved it, very coachable and he got use his wood bat for the first time ) we stopped by the library and he noticed a bottle rocketry course/lab was being held there . Naturally he joined the class and showed what he already knows about physics and what that he's an eager learner. He had to design and build it then test his rocket . He remembered that Goddard took decades to get his off the ground and that engineering is trying and trying again. I'm so proud of him. 

   We ended up back in the library for fun and research then back to the fields  for more baseball . We wrapped up the evening snuggling , sniffling , and watching a documentary on The Exodus. I'm gonna file this under good day . I'm so proud of all the ways we is proving himself to himself and to others. He's really starting to believe in himself . I'm incredibly lucky to be his father and guide. 

     Ok folks I've rambled on enough . Y'all know we are resilient and as one door closes we will choose to walk through the next door as we continue our adventure . Thanks for reading again today folks. 

The Theory of the Dipper and the Bucket

Each of us has an invisible bucket. It is constantly emptied or filled, depending on what others say or do to us. When our bucket is full, we feel great. When it's empty, we feel awful.

Each of us also has an invisible dipper. When we use that dipper to fill other people's buckets -- by saying or doing things to increase their positive emotions -- we also fill our own bucket. But when we use that dipper to dip from others' buckets -- by saying or doing things that decrease their positive emotions -- we diminish ourselves.

Like the cup that runneth over, a full bucket gives us a positive outlook and renewed energy. Every drop in that bucket makes us stronger and more optimistic.

But an empty bucket poisons our outlook, saps our energy, and undermines our will. That's why every time someone dips from our bucket, it hurts us.

So we face a choice every moment of every day: We can fill one another's buckets, or we can dip from them. It's an important choice -- one that profoundly influences our relationships, productivity, health, and happiness.

by ; Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton, Ph.D.

Marching forward or "Hope springs eternal"

Greetings y'all ,

     Fare thee well February , I find I doth not detest ye for thy hath proffered both problems and positive potentiality . 

     February gave is freedom, hope, a greater sense of who is on our side with genuine love and honesty and who is creating sciamachies and offering verisimilitudes . In one way we became safer and less stressed in another we became more cognizant of the irrationality of ignorant ( yes those lacking knowledge ) individuals retarding their personal growth whilst attempting to anchor us and more aware of how dangerous unstable individuals can be thereby living in greater fear for personal safety, by that I mean we have been verbally assaulted and threatened repeatedly by people who aren't involved in our lives or situation. Poor Ace has been living with an amygdala that is constantly firing. Ace bore witness to individuals walking in the light and those hiding from the light, to those who love and support themselves and others with positive energy and those who create drama to hide behind and avoid looking within and facing and conquering internal demons. He was given two distinct and clear cut paths and futures. He has seen the results of feeding both wolves and has greater clarity to the causation of choices. 

   So in spite of the fabricated sciamachies others presented we rose above and are marching forward into that great unknown of the future . We do so with the knowledge of having several good and watchful neighbors. Neighbors will to defend and protect us in a responsible and respectful and safe manner with out anger or aggression but with grace and dignity. 

     In two short days the love of my life turns ten years old. I blinked and he got to the age of having numbers in the tens place. Ennui ? No not per se more a sense of pride of how much he's grown and how he is still my snuggle buddy . I have said it before and will reiterate we are beyond broke , but we are not broken. I have the pure and unconditional  love of a child who knows for 3,650 days I've been his defender, protector , guide and cheerleader. I am graced with a child that brings untold and plentiful blessings to my heart and home. We are Herbie the Dentist and Rudolph the red nosed reindeer ; we are misunderstood , and are unique while being " independent together" . If we could only get the rest of the universe to buy into the fact I know  my child inside and out, better than anyone else does.    We are the Robinson Boys !

     March is the month of our birthday and our rebirthday, that is the anniversary of my divorce. I must say Ace is fortunate to have a loving and caring mother active in his life, one he can call or text anytime and who enjoys his company and quirkiness. He has finally understood that his family loves him and divorce and nothing to do with him. He is wise beyond his years.  March offers us Spring  and the hope of fresh seasons and new beginnings.    

    Thanks for reading again today folks . Hope you have a magnificent March !