Thursday, September 06, 2018

The Daily, September 6, 2018

This is day eight of the writing challenge.

TODAY

On September 6 we celebrate "National Read A Book Day" and "National Coffee Ice Cream Day." Coffee ice cream is one of my favorites, and reading a book one of my favorite pastimes. Maybe it is a sign that tonight we should eat some coffee ice cream (my favorite) while reading a book, although we must be careful not to drip all over the pages (especially if it is a borrowed item).  J

Lots of things happened on this date, among them:

1620  The Mayflower departs Plymouth, England with 102 Pilgrims and about 30 crew for the New World
1901  US President William McKinley is shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist, while visiting the Pan-American Exposition in New York
1916  1st true supermarket, the "Piggly Wiggly" is opened by Clarence Saunders in Memphis, Tennessee

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Meditation is a way for nourishing and blossoming the divine within you." ~ Amit Ray

HEALTH & FITNESS

I am been good about logging in to SparkPeople everyday for the last six days. I just caught up with entering the food I have eaten. Sadly, this effort brings to mind that I have not been exercising daily as I know I should. Time to get back on it — today! :-)

PERSONAL GROWTH

As I rose this morning I realized I missed one of my streaks yesterday. I was rushed in the morning and forgot to meditate; then got busy all day and did not meditate during the day. And so my streak of meditation days ended at 40 days. Today, I start that streak again. There is an important lesson there: just because we miss one day of whatever activity we are trying to do regularly, it does not mean we need not start all over. The event (in my case, missing the meditation period) gives us pause to evaluate the importance of relevance of that event. If it is still important and relevant, then we must start again. And, as my Buddhist Master often says, when we forget the activity (and we will), then start again, and then again, and be kind to yourself when you find yourself starting over and over. Whether this applies to meditation, exercise, diet, work assignments, cleaning, or anything else, it is a daily process that we commit to everyday. 

How appropriate that today's quote is about meditation.

The other lesson from this finding is that rituals and routines are critical in developing better habits and achieving our goals and making our dreams come true.

FINANCES

As I venture into using "EveryDollar" everyday, I learn more and more about my finances. One of the things we must be alert to, regardless of what budgeting/tracking system you use, is the impact of automatic transactions. I have many transactions carefully scheduled, and tracking each manually will be a nice challenge.

POLITICS

I published my "Manifesto for a Better United States of America" as a separate post. It is not meant to be a call for revolution, but for reform. Some of the reform is drastic and could be confused with revolution. In my mind, the time for this type of drastic change is now, perhaps overdue by decades. We cannot continue doing things in the same way and expecting different results. When we waste billions of dollars on war instead of spending those resources on peaceful efforts that would result in less suffering then we miss the opportunity to make a real positive impact in our world.

AND THE LIES CONTINUE

Did you read about the inauguration photos? Go read all about it!

TIPS & TRICKS

50 Ways to Make $50+: we could usually use some extra cash, right? Here are 50 ways to do just that. If you want more ways, how about 107 Ways to Make Extra Money?

How about part-time jobs to supplement your income. Here is a list for you!

PODCASTS / VIDEOS

One of the podcasts I listen to regularly and that applies to anyone is called "Hacking Humans." I think we can all learn from the hacks hackers are using to hack into our lives. Power is knowledge, and knowledge brings safety.

TECHNOLOGY

Have you been the victim of an internet based crime? Not sure who to talk to about it? Try the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center or IC3

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