attitude of gratitude

AlaskanDave told me that he is very fortunate to be alive; he said he has an attitude of gratitude. Why? I have my own plane and fly all over Alaska, many miles over barren, uninhabited land, over no man's land. One day the motor blew up on my plane and it happened at a place that I could coast in and make a landing. The odds of that happening are very very small. I could have very easily died.

Good stuff --- Glad you made it to Arizona minus the bike ---- reminds me of an incident that happened to my brother Sid.  He had a son, and he planned a one on one weekend with him up in the mtgs of Colorado to explain to him the "facts of life" -just the two of them.  He had a large square Winnebago, and pulled a boat behind it.  They proceeded to head for the mts west of Colorado Springs to a favorite camping spot with a small lake.  Upon arrival at the camp site he found his slot only to find out that the boat was missing from behind the camper.  He immediately headed back down the curvy mountain road and waved the first car he saw to stop and ask them if he happened to see a boat.  The man replied ---- well, yes, about a mile down there is a boat standing right next to the road --- and right next to a 1000 ft drop-off.  All turned out fine, and the "facts of life" weekend with his son was wonderful.  --------

I read what Lisa wrote, anybody can be a Lisa that was transported to me by Patti, and anybody can be a Pati while eating my oatmeal with half a banana on it—"In a society that has you counting money, pounds, calories and steps, be a rebel and count your blessings instead.” JoeBlow says—C’mon erv, that’s not American, we gotta have more and I want it now. Maybe they will invent a pill to fix us!  Could be! My mentor would say to me—erv, the world measures success by how much money folks have. A friend suggested I read the novel The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom. It was a challenging, thought-provoking book that really stimulated me in many ways (i.e. I had many thoughts).  Maybe think about giving it a read.

RickyRick said—"Do you need a little refreshment in your life? Are you feeling a little dried up? Do you need some revival? Come back to God.” Many, maybe, could be, probably some of you might say—That ain’t goin’a work, it’s tooooo easy, it doesn’t cost much so it can’t be any good! Soooo the regulator of my shower was stuck pretty tight and didn’t operate right.  Soooo I went to Lowe’s and asked Pete, the plumber guy, what I should do.  He suggested that I first take the front off of it and put some vinegar on it to try to dissolve the slime and crap from the built up of the water that comes from behind Roosevelt Dam; it’s full of chemicals, minerals, etc. which builds up. Then spray it with Blaster which is an oil-based product to dissolve crap build up. I thought, ya right! That ain’t goin’a work; that’s too simple and it doesn’t cost much. But it worked! Man was I impressed. Most things I do aren’t that easy. Man, was I happy! 

CoachB says—"You can’t enjoy life to the fullest by living life routinely and grudgingly doing the Same 0 Same O.  I enjoy life. Hey, it’s up to each one of us.” Suck it up baby and let’s get going; we’re burning day light! If I think that way and you think that way, it must be right; we ain’t that smart to be the only two in world that know that!  CrazyMarvin says—I like my life that’s boring and routine and I like to be grumpy; it really works for me soooo leave me alone will ya. And don’t give me that crap!

An ID friend here in the Valley of the Sun was explaining some different products available which were over my head, of course, but that doesn’t take much!  ANYWAY, he said that some of them are like a shiny, waxed hood (i.e. look soooo good) but when you get under the hood, it's a way different thing (i.e. misconceiving).  Flip the pancake—I know folks who are just ordinary looking hoods but when you open the hood, holy smokes, are they something, dynamite! CadillacJack says—Soooo don’t judge someone by the looks of the outside of their hood!

Have you ever been in a gloomy mood? MissPerfect who is a big idea person a.k.a. a shaker and mover says--A mysterious sadness seems to hover around me sometimes? I ask myself, where did that come from? Why do I feel that way?  And then it dissipates! And why did it leave about as fast as it came? I was playing pickleball the other morning and a person said something to me that was a stinger to me (i.e. I don’t know if she did it intentionally or not, maybe she didn’t even know she said it or had any intent). I didn’t take it toooo seriously as she can do that, but it did affect me some. Then in a few minutes it was gone as another person interacted with me which completely dissipated that feeling because they said something very positive. Bingo! Sooooo tell my how I can understand those feelings I had.

Name three amazing folks in your life (i.e. amazing folks are usually folks who have affected our lives). Have you thanked them lately? If not, why not?  

Sooooo I have a battle going on in me, yes I do. I want to slow down but yet I want to get after it! Crazy huh! ItchieBitchie says--erv, wake up and do something, not just something but do the right something. Sooooo I decided I am going to slow down (i.e. if I can change my mind set that is but still I’m going to get after it in doing the right things) haha.  I can spend a lot of time doing the wrong things, but I need to do the right things!  Ok, but now I need to figure out what are the right things!  How in the world am I going to do that! Such is life.

Plato said—"Lovers are typically blind regarding the one they love. As we, in a sense, love ourselves most of all, we are also most blind with regard to our own faults. The majority of us therefore struggle to attain the self-awareness required to improve our lives.” TomSmart says--Writing down the virtues possessed by a hypothetical wise man or woman, or those we aspire to ourselves, is usually a very beneficial exercise. Marcus Aurelius says—“Encourage yourself to replace the feeling of desire by the feeling of gratitude. Instead of desiring what we don’t have, we should be grateful for what we do have by imagining the loss of what we hold dear.” Sooo I hear a lot of prayers in churches which are “I want, I want, and I want!”  Not near as many prayers I hear that say “thank you, thank you, and thank you.”  Just maybe we should change that. What do you think? That is what I thought! SlimySlime says—C’mon erv, I always want more and I want it now! erv, where do you live anyway!

MyNeighborToTheSouth says--Gratitude makes us happy (i.e. we have happiness growing under our feet and we just don’t talk about it). WorldClassLarry says—Folks who are grateful are always happy, always! We talked to Ben on the street in his electric scooter as he can’t walk very well anymore.  He has almost died several times he told us and is very grateful to be alive and said his little scooter does him well. He was going up to the workout center to workout.

Here is a story of attitude of gratitude! I became friends with a couple here in the park (i.e. great folks with good hearts, my kind of folks). ANYWAY she stopped and talked to me the other day.  I said to her--I hear you are going on a huge massive trip and part of it is going back to the area where you grew up—yes, we are—you will probably run into your old boyfriend—I could but he lives here in the Valley of the Sun, I have not seen him nor do I want tooooo—when were you friends—four years in high school and one year after high school, I am really appreciative that we broke our friendship, he was not a nice person and sorta kinda was abusive to me, I didn’t know any better, I was young, what was I thinking! ANYWAY, besides I really got a gem—You sure did—you were very fortunate, what a break you caught!

I was laying in bed early one morning recently and thinking about what is important to me. Saturday question—What is important to us?  Really! Are we sure what we think is important is really important to us or do we think what is important is important because others tell us it is?  That is what I was thinking to some degree; I maybe, could be, probably am listening toooo much to others.  Am I doing what I really want to do or am I doing stuff because others tell me what I need to do, and not what I like to do or what I should do. Who is making that decision, me or others I asked myself. And what is really important to me anyway? If some things are important to me then why don’t I do them instead of doing what others think is important and tell me what I should do.  Crazy, I thought. Sooooo, I want to go down my trail doing what is important to me and what I enjoy doing, not what the world tells me I should do (e.g. the advertising on TV).  I think I will appreciate life much more and have a much better attitude. That is my opinion. Your opinion might be different. We are all different, just look around folks; it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out! AverageJoe says--Remember we are all unique just like everybody else.

For years we get a Christmas letter from friends that is unique. Tom, the father, tells stories through quotes of his family which are just plain funny (i.e. very refreshing to me).  He says this is his last year he is doing this. Soooo here is one about having a attitude of gratitude--At the extended family thanksgiving, we were asked to name something we were thankful for. After 15+ thoughtful answers from family...Katelyn (i.e. daughter): "Well, I'm thankful that I'm the most athletic in the family."  Tom: (To be fair, we weren't asked to be HUMBLE and thankful - just thankful.) 

Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:

erv

MyFreindJean says—When you are good to others, you are best to yourself.