Chuck’s World

For my Dad who thinks I am a geek and is probably right. I thought this might make you laugh!

I wonder if Deb would fall for this…

Did you have a bad day yesterday? If you’d like to start anew and have a better day today, then read on for some tips on how to have a great day today.

1. Decide that Today Will Be a Great Day. Make it real by writing it down and saying it out loud to yourself. It may seem kooky but it works. When I set my wakeup alarm on my cell phone, I have this message displayed “Wake up and smile! Today is going to be a Great Day!” Don’t be embarrassed. No one needs to know you do this.

2. Take it Slow. If yesterday was bad or if you are tired today, take it slow to “warm up” before you kick your day into high gear. If you need to, stay in “slow & steady” pace for the whole day.

3. Cultivate Compassion, Don’t Judge. For a whole day make a pact with yourself not to judge yourself or others. Give everyone, including yourself, the benefit of the doubt for one whole day. Even if you don’t believe what you’re telling yourself at first, stick with it. It will help change the mental pathways that you tread every day. What do you have to lose except maybe a little misery?

4. Observe, Don’t React. When you encounter things that would normally make you angry, (traffic, certain people, slow computer, etc), plan to observe these things in a detached way as opposed to reacting with anger. If you are angry a lot, be kind to yourself and figure out what is making you angry. Often reacting in anger is a habit, and the good news is habits can be broken! Start slow. Are you chronically tired? Are you frustrated with something in your life? Write it down or talk it out with a friend and then make a plan to remedy your triggers.

• If it’s rest you need, take some time, say before bed or first thing in the morning, to mentally review which commitments you could cut back on or delete altogether. By freeing up some time, you could get some more rest, exercise, or time to work on something you want to change
• If you’re trying to change something in your life to rid yourself of frustration and anger, make a plan, and enlist someone to help you even if it is to just help keep you on track with your plan.
• If you are angry about things in your life that you can’t control, try to make a small dent in your frustration a little bit each day. A helpful question might be to ask yourself, “How can I be at peace with this situation today?”

5. Smile at People. Smile at everyone you meet. Fake it ’til you feel it. Laugh at the ridiculous things that happen in life! Humor is the ultimate for producing a sense of well-being. If humor is not your forte, seek out or call the funniest person you know and tell them you need some jokes to get the ball rolling today.

6 Pay it Forward. Do something nice for someone else. Try doing this all day. Compliment people, thank people, let people go ahead of you in traffic or in line. Watch how quickly that goodness comes back to you!

7. Treat Yourself! Make it a point to indulge in a favorite treat or activity, or break one of your own rules today. You know that thing you always want to do, but you never allow yourself. Maybe it’s a piece of chocolate cake or maybe knock off from work early for once. You could go to the bookstore, see a movie, go to the beach. Or you could include a friend or loved one in on the fun. Maybe you and some friends could go play paintball or go to F1 Go-Carts. Or perhaps you could pick up some food for dinner, grab a blanket, and treat your spouse/friend/kids to an impromptu evening picnic!

8. Count your Blessings. Even when things are bad, there are always things to be thankful for. List them out in your head or write them down.

9. Get some Great Rest Tonight! You deserve it!

Have a great day!

Written for Dumb Little Man by K. Stone

“For we are made for happiness, and any one who is completely happy has a right to say to himself, ‘I am doing God’s will on earth.’ All the righteous, all the saints, all the holy martyrs were happy.”

— Dostoevsky

As you know from some of my previous posts, I have a yearning to rid the clutter in my life. Today I tackled the yard. I still have a ways to go (The grass itself could be much better and the backyard has some more cleanup waiting), but after four hours and 6 giant garbage bags our yard looks so much better. In short, it looks neat, kept up and less cluttered. Now I can hold my head high when someone comes to visit or just drives by. It gives the same sense of peace as walking into one of the rooms where all the clutter has been removed.

Next weekend I plan on continuing this project. For now this is definitely a project that has to be done in the early morning hours. It’s just too hot to continue in the afternoon.

I haven’t been able to focus for so long. I think by continuing to “prune” the clutter in all areas of my life, that focus will return.

Best, Chuck

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,
“Oh excuse me please” was my reply.

He said, “Please excuse me too;
I wasn’t watching for you.”

We were very polite, this stranger and I.
We went on our way and we said goodbye.

But at home a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal,
My son stood beside me very still.

When I turned, I nearly knocked him down.
“Move out of the way,” I said with a frown.

He walked away, his little heart broken.
I didn’t realize how harshly I’d spoken.

While I lay awake in bed,
God’s still small voice came to me and said,

“While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use,
but the family you love, you seem to abuse.

Go and look on the kitchen floor,
You’ll find some flowers there by the door.

Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself: pink, yellow and blue.

He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise,
you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes.”

By this time, I felt very small,
And now my tears began to fall.

I quietly went and knelt by his bed;
“Wake up, little one, wake up,” I said.

“Are these the flowers you picked for me?”
He smiled, “I found ‘em, out by the tree.

I picked ‘em because they’re pretty like you.
I knew you’d like ‘em, especially the blue.”

I said, “Son, I’m very sorry for the way I acted today;
I shouldn’t have yelled at you that way.”
He said, “Oh, Mom, that’s okay.
I love you anyway.”

I said, “Son, I love you too,
and I do like the flowers, especially the blue.”

FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER, (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU

For the last few months I have felt a strong urge to get rid of the clutter in my life. I don’t know if this is just a stage of life that I have moved into or if God has put this on my heart for a change or move I am not yet aware of. Either way, clutter and hanging on to “stuff” I never use has really become something that I want to get rid of.

In the simplest form, I am looking through our “things” and deciding if we need it. If we don’t need it, then is it something that brings us true enjoyment? If it does neither, then it doesn’t belong in my life.

The other part of this project is keeping the “things” we do keep neat and organized. It seems so hard to stay focused theses days. We don’t need to add to the daily confusion by allowing “things” to take control of our lives.

For the most part, the focus has been on our home though I am sure that it will expand to the other parts of my life as I progress.

So far, it hasn’t always been easy, but it has been fulfilling. When you walk into a room that is free from clutter, there is just a since of peace that just makes you feel a calmnes and at ease with being.

Essayist Paul Graham says having too many possessions drags you down:

A house full of stuff can be very depressing. A cluttered room saps one’s spirits. One reason, obviously, is that there’s less room for people in a room full of stuff. But there’s more going on than that. I think humans constantly scan their environment to build a mental model of what’s around them. And the harder a scene is to parse, the less energy you have left for conscious thoughts. A cluttered room is literally exhausting.

Graham says he only buys things he absolutely needs and says that getting rid of his stuff was like taking off ankle weights.