Methodical Monday

Here I am again at the beginning of a new week, well for a third shift worker this is my Tuesday morning.Firmly settled into third shift functioning, my morning is your night. My work day your sleep time, my breakfast time, your dinner time. Kind of like being on the opposite side of the world in some respects.On my days off my time reverts to that of what most individuals follow. This way I get to see and interact with my three adult children, spend meaningful time with my partner Rick and see friends for lunch, commiseration and just plain catching up on life in general that has elapsed.

I have become accustomed to my routine, and I keep to a schedule to keep my psyche as well balanced as possible. It also keeps my home organized and running smoothly.Some folks I am acquainted with see little or no value in keeping to a schedule. More than one time I have been called predictable and accused of not having any "fun". I challenge those individuals to relate that they feel as composed and even-keeled as I do. This is not to say that this works for everyone, but some routine is needed to keep feet firmly planted in the ground and moving forward. True some folks can fly by the seat of their pants, but for the lions-share of us, we thrive and are nurtured on order and regimentation.

Its all along the line of KISS...Keep It Simple Stupid. Figure out what will work in your situation, make a plan and adapt it in your life. It will take some time to get all the details ironed out, and some more time to institute the plan, but once it is repeated several times, it makes life and the pursuit of happiness flow in the direction you want it to. Sure one needs to change things up and go off the grid from time to time, but keeping to the PLAN can keep you grounded, content and ready to do those spontaneous things we remember more easily than the daily grind.

The Pursuit of Unhappiness

In watching people and listening to them, a common theme follows through for so many people. Seems they focus on things that stress them, things that are negative, they find the bad and the ugly in their life and of those around them. In focusing on what is wrong, what is bad, what "evil" befalls them, they perhaps unintentionally end up pursuing the much less elusive bluebird of UNhappiness. It is a large issue to be around people that seem to find almost everything wrong within their life and the lives of others. I try to avoid the pitfall of spending a great deal of time around such individuals. Their drama and doom and gloom punctuate things in the wrong manner. Certainly bad karma occurs within all of our lives, but mourn whatever the situation is in a timely manner and move forward as best as you can to get out of the drama ditch.


After a while of reading my missives here on blog-land, you will see I painstakingly move towards finding the positive. In even some of the most difficult situations, we can find the lesson contained within. We use the lesson to avoid repeating the mistakes when we can, and use the armor we obtain to protect us in sieges that may occur down the road for us and others in our lives. Some folks never seem to get this lesson at all. They cling steadfastly to the errors in their lives and keep repeating what went wrong. This I akin to "shampoo" and that lather, rinse, repeat cycle. Maybe you need to condition that "hair", or maybe change brands, to make the end result one that is pleasing to experience, as well as share with others. I think I make my point pretty crystal clear here for certain.

I am no PollyAnna with rose-colored glasses, just someone who has learned some of life's lessons, and utilized the material within them to move forward and make my life and others a bit better in one way or another. What works for me may not work for you, and vice verse, but when you do not like what is on your plate, then you need to look at the total picture instead of consuming the same old same old each and every day. Change is difficult, but once you dip your toes in the water and test it, you will be surprised at the difference even a small change can make, and go on to try bigger and more life-changing ones!

~balance in everything~

Monday Monday

As the Mamas and the Papas sang, can't trust that day. Actually it has little or nothing to do with the day, but more with the attributes people tag to the beginning of a new week.It goes along with so many that gripe and whine about their job, their partner in life, their life in general, they just seem to like to be malcontent and despise this and that. Truth is, find what you really do not like and work on changing it. Of course that takes time and so many of us do not want to wait for anything. We want to have instant gratification, good karma that comes without any time passage, or work towards anything that can assist them in changing the course of their life. That is not to state that I am a complete cynic, I know many that persevere and work slowly to make things better. Those same folks are the ones that can find the good in the midst of the eye of the storm. A common thread these people share is that they are concerned for others, and not just concentrated on me, myself and I. It saddens me to see the length people go to for themselves, but they neglect their fellow humans and step around them and their issues , turning a blind eye to the plight of others. But I regress to the griping so many others do that I find self-serving and egocentric.

Finding the balance in life is a ponderous task in these tough times we have currently. Caring and concern is difficult to have for others when many feel so downtrodden and suffering. But folks, in getting outside of one's own issues, and helping someone find a glimmer of light at the end of their tunnel, can mean everything to that person at any given moment in time, to say nothing of the feel good boost the helper can feel from just a little time and support to someone else, given without strings, free-floating. When you do find some balance in the day to day balancing act that life so often is, celebrate your victory and share the positive stories with others. I l believe that in creating positive moments, we can nurture many more acts that lead to a paying forward that is priceless in nature.

The Daily Rattle

It has been a long time since I have been in the habit of daily blogging. In the past, I blogged on Yahoo 360 and had a group of bloggers that I followed and some that followed me. At this juncture in time, I have no one, but that too could change. Sometimes I blogged to put lessons out there for folks, sometimes it was done just to gripe and get it out of my system, other times it was to share something good or just plain interesting. I do know that when I blogged on a regular basis, I felt that I was mostly doing something beneficial for myself. This is not a selfish act in my opinion, but one that kept my psyche healthy and my cerebrum unclogged from thoughts that would get stuck there. Some two plus years after the demise of my old blog platform, I find myself at the entrance to a new and hopefully more permanent blog platform I can utilize in much the same way I once used Yahoo 360. I met many online friends on 360, some I keep in regular contact with electronically, others I only contact occasionally.

As I go through thoughts and sift out what is in need of this format, I will share them on here. Life is changing for so many of us in many different ways, and often times a place to capture them and share them can assist us in getting where we need to be.

~balance in all things~

Friendship

Once again today I am reminded what REAL friendship is. It is someone listening to you and you in turn doing the same back. Sure, it is never truly 50/50, nothing in life is truly that way except in Math and even then there may be some difference mathematically. I lunched with one of my dearest friends, someone I met back when I was yet to become a mother, who befriended me and I them. Whenever we get together, it is though the place marker opens the book and we go right back on the page we left off on.

We remarked on how each of us have had some friendships recently that we have had to re-examine, mostly due to the one-sidedness of them. When one gives without even a miniscule return, one has to look at what is going on. Sometimes one has to cut their losses and sever the ties, though perhaps not completely, it is an act of self-preservation and common sense. We both marveled at the similarity of the situations, how the person we thought of as a friend truly did not know us at all, and that they were so self centered, there was no way they could know what friendship was at all.

Today reminded me that true friendship flows like melting ice in the Spring, and no more appropriate time of year to become aware of the value of people we have in our life that are truly irreplaceable.