The Daily: September 3, 2018

Today is day five of this writing challenge. It is also Labor Day in the United States. As usual, Labor Day falls on a Monday, the first Monday in September. Monday, which to many is the most hated day of the week, the day when they return to work, that horrible four-letter word.

But not this Monday. This Monday, in the United States, is about celebrating Labor by not laboring.

For many of us, it also means that Tuesday will be congested with all the things we needed to do on Monday but we did not do on Monday because we were off on Monday and now we need to do Monday and Tuesday work all on Tuesday.

How do you squeeze 16 hours worth of work into eight hours? You work 12 hours on Tuesday and 12 hours on Wednesday, of course! By the time Thursday comes, no wonder we are looking forward to Friday so that we can start the weekend!

I can just hear the squeaking of the wheel!

Happy Labor Day! (Learn more about it!)

ALSO TODAY

In addition to Labor Day, today we celebrate U.S. Bowling League Day. I have been an avid bowler for 44 years (still looking for my first 300 game). I am also the Secretary/Treasurer for a bowling league (currently dormant) and have served as President and Vice-President of several leagues over the years. I am a lifetime member of the United States Bowling Congress (USBC), perhaps the only one in Columbia and one of few in South Carolina. I love bowling!

HEALTH & FITNESS

Although I went to bed very late last night (it was actually very early this morning, 1:30 AM to be exact), I managed to get up, take care of chores (feed dog and cats, clean litter boxes, etc.) and went for a 2.2 mile jog. I recently discovered the NHS Couch-to-5K podcast series and have been using it over the last few weeks. I just finished Week 2 and started on Week 3. I am thoroughly enjoying the music and the personal trainer (Laura) that guides you through the walking and jogging lapses. I recommend it as an alternative to Steve Boyett's amazing C25K series on Podrunner.

I have never been a very fast runner; at the height of my fitness in 2009 I was able to approach a 9-minute mile during several 5K races. I am currently averaging an 18-minute mile using the C25K program. Considering I still have some pain on my right knee, I think I am doing quite well.

Today, I also started the Darebee "90 Day of Action" (PDF here).

GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS

My friend Warren Doyle has hiked the Appalachian Trail 18 times over the decades. More importantly, he has helped dozens of people achieve their dream of conquering the 2200 miles that run from Georgia to Maine and, in the process, conquering themselves physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I recently came across this documentary of one brave, admirable young lady that hiked the AT and documented it for all to see.

PERSONAL GROWTH

FINANCES

The "EveryDollar" app continues to impress me. It is extremely easy to use and, with that, easy to track expenses on the go.

PODCASTS / VIDEOS

I recently added a podcast to my collection of resources, and today was the first time I listened to "The Life Coach School." Full disclosure: as with many podcasts, this one is used as a soft-selling tool for the author's training classes and seminars. This one, however, seems to bring reasonable value to the listener. The latest podcast is titled "Who are you becoming?" and it makes some excellent points on how we can manage our paradigms to make progress and become who we want to become. We are all in transition and the trick to success is to manage the transition process. A key point of the episode is that we need to consider our capabilities not on what we have accomplished but on what we want to become. The author points that if we based on future solely on our accomplishments then we would never have learned to walk because, of course, we did not know how to walk (past accomplishment) and therefore we had no experience in such to help us become a walker. This is, obviously, an over-simplification of the matter, but worthwhile considering nonetheless.

TECHNOLOGY

One of the best computer-related websites available is Bleeping Computer; they have a vast knowledge base and are often the first to report on problems and dangers with our dear computers (including the smart phones we use all the time).

IOU

I mentioned I would share tips from Sunday's UU service today. Today is, however, quickly coming to an end. Tomorrow (Tuesday) will be a very busy day and the UU service content may have to wait until Wednesday.

The Daily: September 2, 2018

Today is day four of this writing challenge. And today's writing challenge was made even more challenging by a freaky thunderstorm that knocked the power out in my neighborhood. Of course, my cell phone battery was nearly depleted and I am on-call for work, so I made my way to Starbucks for a cup of café latte and a quick charge for my phone. I just love Starbucks!

 It is Sunday, a day many reserve for church and family activities.

I am not a religious person but I routinely attend services at the Unitarian Universalist church in Columbia. I love their philosophy and I actually became a member over a year ago, the second organized church I have ever joined.

I am definitely a spiritual person. I am an ordained Buddhist layperson and an ordained minister in two Humanist churches. I do not believe in God in the way many people do (that is, an omnipotent being that punishes and rewards, one who we must fear and obey blindly). To me, God is the Universal energy that connects everything; that is my understanding, and it is likely flawed and incomplete, but that is the best I can come up with. As my Buddhist Master once told me, much of the Universe is beyond human comprehension. Although we see that it works, we do not always understand how it works.

Humans have a tendency to demand an explanation for everything, and so we come up with ideas/concepts about how things work. The problem, of course, is when we grasp unto our beliefs so tightly that we name them "The Truth." When our truth becomes the only acceptable truth then we enter the "suffering zone." We either suffer ourselves when others disagree with us, or we cause others to suffer because they think differently from us.

Those in power love this because that causes us to be divided, fragmented, impeded from working for the collective good. The elite has created all manners of ways to divide us, religion being but one of them. Globally, we are separated by national borders. We are split by races, ignoring the fact hat we are just one race: the human race. From early childhood we are taught to be rivals with something: a different school, a different sport team, a different club. Our world is constantly being fragmented with the main purpose of keeping us apart.

I often recall John Lennon's "Imagine" — I wonder what it would be to not be so divided, to be more united, to work together for the common good. Can we imagine a world without borders, without religions, without competitive team sports, without political parties? Can we imagine a world in which we no longer need to stand against things, in which we stand for things, and then work collectively to achieve those things?

I will share more about Sunday's service tomorrow.

HEALTH & FITNESS

I missed jogging again this morning. Darn it! I went to bed late last night working on "EveryDollar" and did not get up until after 7 AM. I cannot wait for Fall weather so that I can begin running during the day and evening. Let's see what happens tomorrow.

Speaking of fitness, I highly recommend the Darebee website. They provide, free of charge, a huge collection of workout plans, challenges, and other fitness and health information. All their materials are downloadable and printable. All for free. I donate monthly to them. Please consider supporting them if you find value in their resources.

And speaking of Darebee, I plan to start their "90 Days of Action" program tomorrow. I will keep you posted.

MEDITATION

I am on Day 38 of daily morning meditations. That is a record number of days for my meditation practice. Today's session was on Equanimity, the mindful intent of finding common ground with anybody we dislike. It is a powerful meditation because, at the very least, every being wants to be happy and free of suffering; we all have that in common. If we think about anyone we have a conflict with and we remind ourselves that the other person is also seeking happiness then we begin to build bridges with them.

GOALS, DREAMS, HABITS, RITUALS

Tim Minchin is an amazing comedian, musician and philosopher. I love his commencement speech. I have listened to it many times and I always laugh and I am moved and inspired by his words.

One of the most powerful messages from his speech is his plea for people to be teachers. Tim says, in part: "Be a teacher, even if you are not a teacher, be a teacher." We all have something to offer to the rest of humanity. Let us share our knowledge, our experiences, our discoveries. Every story matters, every voice is important. Raise your voice, share yourself with the world. Be a teacher!

One of the most amazing, thought-provoking pieces by Tim is called "The Fence." Enjoy!

PERSONAL GROWTH

For some time now I have been working on becoming a minimalist. Someone recently asked for a definition of minimalism. It boils down to this: a minimalist questions the value of everything in their life. It is not just about material things, although that is a good point to start. It is not about having the least number of things, it is about only having things that bring value in our life. And beyond the realm of "things" we can have other areas such as activities and relationships. We can view the things we do and the people we interact with regularly and find if they bring value to our life (and when it comes to relationships, we could also question whether we bring value into the other person's life). Sometimes we are in a crappy relationship and we are the cause of it being crappy.

For more information on minimalism, I suggest reading the blog by "The Minimalists". I met Josh and Ryan when they were in Columbia some time ago and they are genuine believers in the power of minimalism. You may also enjoy reading Leo Babauta's "Zen Habits". Leo was one of the original minimalists.

FINANCES

I have been using the "EveryDollar" website and app very successfully today. One word of caution. Do not get too far ahead in your monthly budgeting. If you create several monthly budgets and then you decide to add categories to the current month, the new categories do not automatically appear in future months unless you use the "Reset" function (link located at the bottom of the page) which will copy the previous month budget and categories, but also causes you to lose any budget data entered for that month. It is not a big deal, but I wanted to share this tidbit with you.

POLITICS

You may have heard or read that Sen. McCain's daughter delivered a strong message about how America is already a great nation that does not need to be made great again. #45 could not take the high ground on this and went on the attack. How un-presidential these actions are. Childish and vengeful behavior that would be expected of a 10-year old, not the head of state of the most powerful nation on Earth. But then again … perhaps he is not the legitimate head of state of the most powerful nation on Earth.

TIPS & TRICKS

For months now I have been using the "Waze" app to plan my drives, even the simplest ones. It has helped me avoid traffic jams many times. I highly recommend it.