Today marks my Dad's 90th Birthday!
Happy Birthday, Dad!!
Even though he has been gone from this earth for 15 years, not a day passes when I do not think of him or miss him.
As I grow older and raise my own family, it is amazing how brilliant and on point he was about so much in life!
Thank you for all the lessons, Dad!
I hope you are enjoying your day with your mom and dad up there and enjoying a nice gigantic cake! :)
Love you!!
Thanks for being the Best and a Great man!
Stay Strong! !!
"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us;
what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal."
- Albert Pike
Eventually every single person on this earth comes to the realization that the pursuit of our own happiness and joy alone cannot bring us true happiness or joy!
Time and time again we witness and are reminded of exactly this fact by joyful and peaceful people who attribute their joy wholeheartedly to placing their focus and actions in helping others as opposed to accumulating material goods or wealth for themselves!
There is no excuse to not take their advice!
Caregivers for loved ones fall into a special category of kindness as they endure their own personal suffering as they completely dedicate 100% of their efforts and emotional wealth into making their loved one comfortable and peaceful.
Victor Frankl points out the following observation in his amazing book "Man's Search for Meaning" as he addressed his concentration camp comrades in the throes of hopelessness:
"I told my comrades that the human life, under any circumstances, never ceases to have a meaning, and that this infinite meaning of life includes suffering and dying, privation and death.
I told them that they must not lose hope but should keep their courage in the certainty that the hopelessness of our struggle did not distract from its dignity and its meaning. Someone looks down on each of us a in difficult hours - a friend, a wife, somebody alive or dead, or a God - and he would not expect us to disappoint him. He would hope to find us suffering proudly not miserably - knowing how to die."
Whatever our station in life, good or bad, easy or challenging, rich or poor, each of our lives have meaning and, even though we may not be aware of that meaning right now, we have to have Faith that our current suffering and challenges are part of that meaning and these too will pass.
Stay Strong!!
"Don't aim at success- the more you aim at it and make it a target the more you are going to miss it.
For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side affect of one's dedication to a cause greater than oneself, or as the byproduct of one's surrender to a person other than than oneself.
Happiness must happen, and the same holds true for success.
You have to let it happen by not caring about it."
- Viktor Frankl
Stay STRONG! !
I Did Not Die
Do not stand at my grave and weep;
I am not there.
I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow.
I am the diamond glints on snow.
I am the sunlight on ripened grain.
I am the gentle autumn's rain,
When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift uplifting rush
Of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.Do not stand at my grave and cry;
I am not there.
I did not die.
- Anonymous
We miss you, Bren!!! Happy Birthday!
Stay Strong!
"Count your blessings.
Once you realize how valuable you are and how much you have going for you,the smiles will return, the sun will break out, the music will play, and you will finally be able to move forward the life that God intended for you with grace, strength, courage, and confidence."
- Og Mandino
It is way too easy to count and list all of the challenges in our lives, all of the things we view as "problems" and all too often we focus ONLY on these negative items!
Well, we all possess the ability at our fingertips to immediately shred that negative list of issues that drag us down and RE-FOCUS and give thanks for the many many Blessings we have been granted!!!!
Take a moment to write down all the things we take for granted on a daily basis and we will quickly become humbled by our wealth and luck!!
Start simply with whether you can get out of bed in the morning, can you eat and drink without pain or sickness, can you read this at all, can you hear the birds awaken in the morning, do you have someone who loves you, someone you love, is there food on your table, a roof over your head, can you walk and breathe and go a day without pain?
Way too many people are unable to answer yes to many of these things that most of us - thank God - can answer affirmatively yet take for granted almost unconsciously!
We all have our crosses to bear and our struggles on a daily basis, However, if we remember that we are WAY AHEAD of the game in the Blessings category we can offset some of the anxiety and overwhelming feelings of fear and worry!
There is a plan! All will be ok! Trust and keep the Faith!!! Never quit and never despair!!
Write your list today!!!! You will be amazed!!!
And if you need a strong reminder of the fact that despite our ridiculously exaggerated daily "problems", we do not have the right to slink back into the shadows and sulk, click and check this out:
Stay Strong!!
"Let nothin disturb thee,
Nothing affright thee;
All things are passing;
God never changes;
Patient endurance
Attaineth all things.
Whom God possesses
In nothing is wanting:
Alone God suffices."
- St Teresa
