I Need Positivity….

Posted on by April 4, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bnwF-qeXsE

Some folks hate affirmations.

They think they’re goofy.

I need some positivity this morning.

Whether affirmations actually do anything might be open to debate….but, this morning especially, I need some positive input to get me through the day.

I brought my car back from the garage last night and the power steering line that I paid them to fix for the second time was leaking again by the time I pulled into the driveway.

That is upsetting.

That’s the most controlled way I have of saying that.

I was (to put it lightly) quite disappointed.

Waiting on parts to come in and finding that they don’t work after they’re installed….just like the last time you replaced them….is confusing.

They say that one mark of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Maybe it’s time to cut my losses at $150.00 and pursue a different path?

These guys at the mechanic’s shop aren’t doing anything to help me.

Maybe it’s time to do something different?

I believe that what we think about sets the tone for everything in our lives.

I’m know that my Jeep is repairable.

Not understanding why it keeps leaking is as much of a bother as the actual leak is.

But, you know? Being tormented over a thing is crazy.

Even a thing as necessary to your work as a right hand drive Jeep Cherokee that you’ve been nursing along and that has 280,000 hard miles on it.

It is crazy to let a thing set the tone for how you feel about the world.

I need to lighten up and figure this all out.

I need to lighten up.

Period.

 

 

Is My Jeep “Unfixable”?

Posted on by April 3, 2018

If someone can bring a car back from the dead….then why can’t they fix my Jeep?

Even more important….why can’t I fix my Jeep?

Stupid Right Hand Drive….with all it’s quirks and special needs.

I pay to have it towed.

I pay to have it fixed….twice.

And…it’s still not fixed.

I’m getting kind of ….pissed.

That’s a harsh word…but….I really am.

Give me a world where parts store parts actually work on a weird and specialized postal vehicle.

Give me that world.

Now.

And….that’s not a request.

That’s an order.

I need satisfaction.

I need to get what I pay for.

I NEEDS MAH JEEEEEEEEEEP!

Not the Easter Song

Posted on by April 1, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdJhx8xNATQ

I love this band.

That’s pretty straightforward, I suppose.

The 2nd Chapter of Acts’ first album, With Footnotes, featured a song called “The Easter Song”.

What a classic!

This isn’t that song….but….how much more classic can lyrics get than something from Psalms?

….”I shall seek thee….earnestly.”

Happy Easter!

Here’s what “Easter Song” sounds like….just in case you haven’t heard it before….

Awwwwww…..what the heck?

One more….it’s Easter….

 

Billy Edd Wheeler

Posted on by March 31, 2018

I heard an interview with this guy on WNCW the other day.

What a great songwriter.

He wrote a bunch of songs that Johnny Cash did….”The Reverend Mr. Black”…. “Jackson”….a whole bunch of other songs.

And….he had a great sense of humor, too.

The DJ, Martin Anderson, lives on my mail route…so it was fun to hear a familiar voice talking to Mr. Wheeler.

Billy Edd Wheeler lives up in Swannanoa, NC….so he’s a local, I guess.

Swannanoa isn’t too far from us.

He’s written an autobiography that’s coming out soon….“Hotter than a Pepper Sprout: A Hillbilly Poet’s Journey from Appalachia to Yale to Writing Hits for Elvis, Johnny Cash, & More”.

What a life in music!

 

desperate to “arrive”

Posted on by March 30, 2018

Here’s Seth Alexander talking about self-help materials.

I like self-help materials.

There’s worse ways to spend your time than listening to or reading things that might empower you….that might motivate you.

I know that there are things in the world that make you feel like there’s no way you can make it through.

Why not engage with the things that sponsor optimism?

That being said….how did we ever…or…how did I ever….think that at some point I would “arrive”….that I would get to a point where I was closer to being accomplished or….something close to accomplished?

That’s nuts to suppose that a journey has an end like that….a strong destination that, once reached, means that you don’t have to struggle or worry about things like you did when you were striving to “get there”.

If I stumble for a hundred miles….and arrive at my destination….I still arrive.

If I worry about the consequences of falling down and never start my journey, a hundred miles is a long bridge that I’ll never cross to get to where I want to be.

I want to move forward….and if I fall, I want to get up and keep moving.

I want to move.

Awwwwwww….what the heck?

I just need to fix the power steering on my Mail Jeep.

No self-help book is going to do that for me.

I just need to fix the leak.

I’ll feel better when I can drive my Jeep.

Simple as pie.

 

what nature teaches….

Posted on by March 29, 2018

I wonder if the really important things I know were learned on an early morning run or sitting around a campfire with family and friends?

I suspect that most of the really good things I know I learned outside of “school”.

This is a Ted talk about nature kindergartens.

That’s a pretty fascinating thing….giving children the opportunity to play and learn outdoors….outside of a traditional classroom.

Listen to the laughter the speaker’s comment gets when she mentions that “it was pretty common for children to play outside. (back in the ’70’s)”

It was pretty common.

We were outside all the time.

What would you do if you stayed inside, anyway?

We didn’t have “Pong” at my house.

I couldn’t play “Pong” even if I wanted to.

“Pong” was pretty pointless and boring.

These tablets….smartphones….satellite dishes….giant televisions…change the game.

And, when I think about it, their presence in our house is my doing.

I brought these things into our lives.

I filled our house with distraction.

But….there is something to be said for spending time out in the natural world.

We need “connection”….so that we are able to recognize the need for and benefits of “protection”.

I want to be optimistic about what Nature will hold for my children as the future unfolds.

I want to be optimistic.

Sometimes, what I hear gives me reason to think that my optimism isn’t warranted.

Maybe these children will fix things as they grow up?