Tag: Positivity

Sour Grapes Don’t Make Sweet Jam

by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning!  I hope your day is off to a great start.

So, here we are a week into the new year, and already planning next year’s resolutions.  Just me?  It’s not that I’m suddenly so proactive – just that I’m not ready to completely give up on the ones I’ve already blown out the window this time.  That’s the way this works.  If you really, really want to lose weight, you don’t just give up on the idea.  You set a new date.  That way, you keep the dream alive.

Okay, we all have our weaknesses.  Mine, apparently, is buttered popcorn.  And candy.  I went six months without touching a piece of candy, and then found a recipe to make one of my favorites at home.  It’s made from marshmallows, white chocolate chips, butter, and gum drops.  And I only have two pieces each day.  Then I have two more, just to keep it from going to waste.  Can I get an amen?

We’ve been talking about things that hold us back in life, and I’ll be the first to admit my greatest limitation is between my ears.  I can do anything for a week.  Beyond that, all bets are off.  I thought intermittent fasting was the key.  And it works!  But it doesn’t do much good to put off your first meal until noon if you eat a water buffalo for lunch.  I’m sure I read that somewhere.

You ever feel like you just need an attitude adjustment?  You ever feel like somebody else does?  I know I’m failing in my goal of losing weight, but that doesn’t mean I have to be miserable about it.  You see, that’s the part about goals they never tell us.  It’s okay to feel discouraged, even upset, about our failings.  But we don’t have to share them with the entire world.

We’ve all met people who couldn’t be happy if you handed them a bag of cash.  “Thanks!  Sure, it’s a lot of money, but the government is going to take it all in taxes.  And, what are all these ten-dollar bills doing in here?  Did the bank run out of fifties?  This won’t even buy a pound of bacon!  And now the whole family will want some, too.  See what you started?”   Sound familiar? 

Nothing can get in the way of our happiness quicker than a sour attitude.  We all know that.  Yet, some people not only embrace negativity, they buy it in bulk.  And when that runs out, they make more.  Misfortune is the only thing that makes these people happy.  And if you weren’t aware of just how sad their life is, pull up a chair.  They’ll be happy to enlighten you.

Then there are the others – people facing insurmountable odds, yet somehow, they never got the memo.  I’m often reminded of a woman in our church who faced terminal illness with such grace and positivity, cancer didn’t stand a chance.  Della didn’t stop living until her eyes closed for the last time.  And knowing how she lived, I’m sure she left this world with a contented smile on her face.    

I’m not sure every cloud has a silver lining, but if you look high enough, they’re all puffy and white.    Our choices is to sit here in the darkness or reach for something better.  We can’t change the challenges we’ll face, but we can change our response to them.  And if an octogenarian can face terminal cancer with such grace, I can handle pretty much anything life throws my way.  So can you. That’s all for now.  Put on a smile and have an awesome day!

© 2024 Dave Glardon – All rights reserved

You Can’t Wear a Blindfold and See the Light

by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is starting off nicely.

Yesterday, somebody mentioned that Facebook has gotten extremely polite lately, with fewer argumentative posts and a lot more pictures of babies and kittens. Somebody asked the question, “Is it possible they finally put a stop to the monster they created?” Because that’s how it works. When you can’t stop writing nasty letters, you blame the people who make pens.

Well, let’s agree on one point. Social media is nothing more than a platform on which we can share thoughts. There’s no inherent requirement that we pick fights or debase those who disagree with us. We do that all on our own. Social media just allows it. Kind of like a mother watching her two kids punch one another. “As soon as this is over, you’re both grounded!”

When I first started writing motivational posts, I noticed within a few weeks that my daily feed had gotten a lot more positive. People weren’t arguing. They weren’t looking for reasons to be offended. And it was entirely possible to celebrate a birthday without the conversation devolving into a political debate over which party wants us to live longer.

I remember thinking, “I’m making a difference! People are reading my posts and becoming more positive!” Okay, every writer wants to think they’ve touched their readers in a way no other person ever has. That’s why we do it. Believe me, it’s not for the money. And the last time I checked, there’s no line of groupies waiting by the front door.

After a day or two of basking in my newfound greatness, it occurred to me that just maybe the reason I was seeing so many more positive posts is that all of the negative people on my feed had unfriended me. One even offered the theory that maybe I’d joined a cult. You know, you could hand some people a bag of gold and they’d complain about the weight. Oh well.

The truth is, when I began sharing inspirational messages, I also cleared my “friends” list of anybody who couldn’t share a recipe without a political dissertation, whether I agreed with them or not. I needed a break. In a week’s time, I unfollowed close to 200 people. So, I guess it’s no wonder I was only hearing from positive people. They were the only ones left.

Dave Barry once wrote, “I can win any argument on any topic, against any opponent. People know this and steer clear of me at parties. Often, as a sign of their great respect, they don’t even invite me.” I think there’s a little more wisdom than humor in those words. Come to think of it, I haven’t been invited to a party in years. Um, hello?

But the point is simple. If you want to reduce the negativity in your life, change the channel. Step away from negative input and look for something a little more worthy of your time. “But I need to know what’s going on in the world!” Okay, but there’s a difference between consuming news and drowning in it. Especially when the “news” is somebody else’s biased opinion.

Your mind is like a computer. Every bit of input it receives is stored away in permanent memory that, at this age, I can’t seem to access as easily as I once did. But it’s there. And as new ideas are received, they’re validated against all that data we’ve stored over the years. If it matches what’s already there, it’s stored as “fact.” Everything else goes into the “BS” file.

That’s great if you’ve been filling your brain with positive thoughts. That becomes your basis of truth, and your brain will subconsciously seek out proof of that mindset. If, on the other hand, you’ve been filling it with negativity, it’ll seek validation of that as well. Either way, everything we see and hear is run through the filter we’ve already established in our mind.

It’s why one person sees a storm on the horizon, and another sees the blue sky overhead. They’re both looking at the same sky. The difference is one expects storms while the other expects sunshine. And expectations are nothing more than regurgitations of what our mind has been programmed to believe.

Shut out negativity, and your daily “feed” automatically becomes more positive. Challenges become opportunities. Despair yields to hope. And you realize that, behind every cloud, the sun still shines. It’s not about denying facts and living in a world of delusion. It’s about equipping your mind to work through life’s tribulations to find the happiness that awaits those who do.

As a technical writer, I had a sign over my desk … “Garbage in, gospel out.” Sure, it’s funny until you realize I wrote aircraft maintenance manuals. But our brains work pretty much the same way. Garbage in, gospel out. Make sure you’re storing information worthy of remembering. Your happiness depends on it.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

© 2020 Dave Glardon – All rights reserved

News Is Like Horseradish – A Little Bit Goes A Long Way

by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is off to a great start.

For those who have been missing these posts, you’re right – it’s been at least a few weeks. I didn’t plan on taking a vacation from my morning musings. It just worked out that way. If you haven’t missed me at all … well, I don’t know how to respond to that. But even with the best of friends, you sometimes wish they’d go home for a while. I get it.

Several things have been going on, and I just didn’t feel that I would be able to give my best. So, I decided to ride it out. The danger in that is that it becomes a habit. Miss one day and it’s easy to jump back in. Do it a few times, and the excuses start to multiply. After a while, it’s like dieting and exercise. The best of intentions take a back seat to whatever excuses may arise.

Another problem is that I’ve been my own worst patient when it comes to positive thinking. I’ve allowed events of the day to consume my mind to the point that all I was seeing was negativity. It’s not hard to do with 24-hour news and social media to fuel the fire. And let’s be honest – we are seeing some of the worst in humanity right now in people’s responses to genuine issues.

Part of the problem is that people are so desperate to cling to their views, everything becomes a matter of choosing sides. There is no middle ground anymore. You’re either one of us or one of them. And I’ve been guilty of that myself. There is a point where you just can’t stretch your own values far enough to accept some of what you see in others.

It’s normal to feel that way. Not healthy, and not constructive. Just normal. It’s also normal to become intoxicated when you drink too much and it’s natural to do things you normally wouldn’t when you’re a little inebriated. That doesn’t make it a good thing – just a natural consequence of intentional behavior. And it’s no surprise when it happens. We expect it.

Well, the natural consequence of ingesting too much negative news is bitterness and depression. It shouldn’t have surprised me, but it did. It hit me right in the face when I started to lose my temper talking with a customer service rep about satellite radio service. I told my dad later, “I never get upset like that!” The look on my wife’s face said it all. Apparently, I do.

So, I had to do a little soul-searching and get back to the basics. Seems we do that a lot, whether it’s in our career, relationships, health, or just about anything. Because the “basics” are the foundation on which everything else is built. If you lose that, it all comes crumbling down. And the basics are pretty simple – surround yourself with positive input and limit the negative.

I’m on the road to recovery, but it’ll take time to get back where I need to be. Time and effort. It doesn’t happen by coincidence, or because God decided to bless you with happiness. You have to seek it out. You have to be more than just a willing recipient – you have to reach for it and embrace it. You have to make it more a part of your life than any amount of unhappiness.

Maybe today is a good day to do a self-assessment. Are you moving in the right direction, or could you use a little course correction? The sooner you make the necessary changes, the less time it’ll take to get back on track. Happiness is not a tangible thing – it’s a frame of mind. And it’s always out there, waiting to be enjoyed. Best of all, it’s free. All you have to do is decide how much you want.

That’s all for now. Feed on the positive and step over the negative. It’s that easy. Have an awesome day!

© 2020 Dave Glardon – All rights reserved

Fill Your Brain With Something Worth Remembering

by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is off to a nice start.

Have you ever awakened in the morning with a song stuck in your head, one you haven’t heard in ages and you’re wondering why, of all the songs in the world, you woke up to that one? And then, later in the day, as you’re driving to or from work, that same song comes on the radio. And you wonder, was it premonition or just a strange coincidence?

It happens to me all the time. I’ll be thinking about an old movie, one I haven’t seen in several years. I’ll recall a certain scene, or maybe just a memorable line from the movie, and then in just a day or two, it’s on TV. I get a chuckle out of it, and usually watch the movie just because it’s on my mind now and I have to.

Now, I don’t make any claim to supernatural abilities. More than likely, I’ve heard the song somewhere, maybe just on a commercial or in the background music of a movie, and that’s how it got stuck in my head. And television networks advertise movies a few days before they air, so it’s possible I saw a commercial for the movie and just didn’t remember it.

The same thing happens sometimes with my writing. Those of you who have been with me a while know I like to read motivational books. Go figure. To me, there’s nothing quite as intriguing as a book that tells me I can succeed at anything I want and enjoy the life of my dreams. Call me what you want, but that’s the kind of stuff I want to read.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve written a post in the morning, and then read a passage in one of my books that very evening that makes the same point. And I’m sure some of my friends who are reading the same book (we’re reading it together) wonder if I’m picking up ideas from another writer. To me, it’s just amusing. You know what they say – great minds think alike!

But it lends credence to a theory, which is that none of us has a truly original thought, and everything in our conscious mind is simply repetition of something that’s in the subconscious. We’ve seen or heard something in the past that’s buried deep in the brain, and a conscious thought comes along and goes digging for something in the subconscious to back it up and make the point.

Now, if all I read were murder mysteries or romance novels, I’d probably have a hard time coming up with words of inspiration each day. Nothing against those books – I think reading is good for the mind, and if it’s entertaining to you, go for it. But we should also balance that out with something a little more positive.

The mind is like a sponge. It picks up everything that comes along and keeps it forever. There’s a reason people with dementia can’t remember the names of their own children, but they can remember the name of their first-grade teacher. Anything that’s in our long-term memory is there for instant recall, and we can remember it like it was yesterday.

People always say things like, “I’m not good with names. I can’t remember what I ate for dinner last night! My memory just isn’t very good.” Yes, it is. You can remember names, and you can remember what you ate for dinner last night. You’ve just got too many other conscious thoughts racing around to let you dig into the subconscious.

But, like a sponge, those thoughts in your subconscious will make themselves known at some point down the road. Pick up a sponge that hasn’t been used in a few days, and the smell will turn your stomach. At that point, you have two choices. Throw it in the trash (and fill up a new sponge with the same kind of junk) or refill it with something a lot more pleasant.

We need to be careful what we allow our minds to consume. The words we hear, the songs we sing, the books we read, the places we go, the people we spend our time with – all of these things create memories that your brain stores forever. And when you least expect it, those thoughts will again rise to the surface. Stir up a bucket of mop water, and the whole thing turns muddy.

With each conscious thought, every new idea that comes into your brain, it automatically goes searching for something in long-term memory to validate or repudiate that thought. So, make sure your brain has a sufficient number of positive thoughts to choose from. Fill it with the good stuff and top it off regularly. Your brain will always have something to say to you. Make sure it’s something you want to hear.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

© 2019 Dave Glardon – All rights reserved

A Place Where Suggestions Become Reality

by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is off to a great start.

I’m getting a late start today, so this post may be a bit shorter than most of the others. And as I’m writing this, I’m hearing a loud chorus of “Woohoo!” in the background. I know I get a bit long-winded sometimes. It’s just part of my personality. I’ve never been known to be at a loss for words.

It means a lot to me that you folks take time to read these posts each day, and that some of you actually look forward to them. Not so much because you’re reading and commenting on something I wrote, but that you’re taking a few minutes each day to fill your mind with what I hope is a message of positivity and inspiration.

I’ve said this before, but our minds are like a sponge. When you put a sponge in any kind of liquid, it soaks it up. It may be the cleanest water, or the foulest-smelling spill, the sponge doesn’t care. Its job is simply to soak things up. And, regardless of what it is, the sponge will pretty much soak it up equally fast, and hold it a long, long time. Especially the nasty stuff.

There’s a part of your brain that creates conscious thought – it processes everything coming in to fully assess the situation, and then spits out its best-possible response. And that response is based on everything we’ve learned to that point in time, good, bad, or indifferent. Because everything we’ve learned over the years is there in your brain’s hard drive, just waiting to be used.

And much like a computer’s hard drive, there’s a part of the brain in which all input becomes a source of truth. If I were to misspell a word in this post (believe me, it’s happened), that word will be sent around the world exactly as I wrote it. If I’m lucky, the computer will put a red squiggly line under the word to let me know I made an error.

But the brain isn’t quite so gracious. The much larger part of your brain handles subconscious thought, and that’s the part where all those things we see and hear each day, the words we hear, the messages we read, and the things we experience, are stored away for instant recall. And every one of those bits of information, to that part of our brain, becomes a source of truth.

Have you ever watched a hypnotist onstage? It’s hilarious, the things they can make people say and do. And they’re not really “making” people do anything. All they’re doing is tapping into the subconscious mind, and then making suggestions. When you can bypass the conscious mind and go directly into the subconscious, every suggestion becomes real.

So, yes, it’s possible to filter out some of what goes into your subconscious if your conscious mind is actively on the job. The problem is, much like a magician’s sleight of hand, what you consciously see and hear is only part of the equation. They get you focused on one hand to keep your attention off the other. And that’s how negative thoughts slip unchecked into your subconscious.

So, be careful about the input you allow into your brain. You can’t control other people, or the things they say and do. But you can control the amount of time you spend around them, and the surroundings in which you choose to be. You control the things you read, the shows you watch, and dozens of other things that affect what feeds into your subconscious.

To the extent that you can control your surroundings, you can control what goes into your brain. Feed it with positive thoughts, and it’ll return positivity when you need it most. Control what goes into your brain. Garbage in, gospel out. You can’t filter out all forms of negativity, but you can certainly overpower it with the positive. And that, my friends, is the foundation of happiness.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

© 2019 Dave Glardon – All rights reserved

When Life Hands You Lemons, Squash ‘Em!

by Dave Glardon, posted in Uncategorized

Good morning! I hope your day is starting off well.

Yesterday was one of those days that could have gone either way, and it turned out to be another exercise in frustration. It happens, and especially when people with an ulterior motive decide to make sure it happens. But you know what? Today is a brand-new day.

We all have those times when things happen that shouldn’t. People get sick, people die, jobs are lost, homes are lost, friends are lost, or any of a hundred other things that leave you feeling completely hopeless. Sometimes there is no rhyme or reason, so all you can do is wake up the next day and move forward.

My mom always used to say that, once you hit rock bottom, the only way you can go is up. There’s some truth to that. And even at the worst point yesterday I was far from rock bottom. But after a few hours of sulking and just trying to make sense of the day’s events, we had dinner, exchanged some laughs, and found a renewed sense of purpose to set things right. It’s a good feeling.

And I guess a big part of the reason we were able to turn things around so quickly is because of the type of things I write about in these posts – dreams, visions of success, positivity, and the reality that our destiny is much more in our control than it sometimes appears. It may feel like we’re only along for the ride, but the steering wheel is very much up for grabs. You can take it any time you want.

Happiness and positivity are a frame of mind. We can choose to be happy (generally) or choose to be downtrodden. It’s all in how we view the little things around us each day. Walking outside to cold air and gray clouds isn’t what most of us would call a good start to the day. But we can either moan about it all the way to work or turn up the radio and sing along. It’s a choice we can make.

Much of life is about perspective. You can drive past a dilapidated home on a dirt road with rusted out cars in the yard, people sitting on the porch commiserating about their lot in life, and in the yard you’ll see young children running and playing without a care in the world. They all live in the same reality – they just see it differently.

And part of that is just age. When we’re young, our parents try to shield us from the negative factors in life, especially those we can’t control like money and bills. But there’s nothing sweeter than the smile on a child’s face as they invent new games to play, laughing and singing without a care in the world.

I have little doubt I’ll step outside to less than ideal weather. Somebody in traffic will try to put me in a bad mood, and something at work will go wrong. These things happen. And, to be fair, when enough of them happen all in the same day, it can pretty much wreak havoc on your general mood. But it’s our ability to handle those little things that makes us better able to handle the big ones.

If we allow the little things to get to us, there’s no way we can handle life’s real challenges. Our family suffered a blow yesterday, one that came as the result of somebody else’s misdeeds. It happens. But we were able to quickly shake it off and get back on mission. And I know it’s because we’re generally positive and hopeful.

Positivity, like many other things, is simply a habit. It’s a choice you make at some point that becomes a part of who you are. It kicks in automatically all through the day, and when you need it the most, it’s there to help you face challenges with a clear mind and the knowledge that you can rise above. It’s what makes the difference between happiness and despair.

So, as you go through the day, pay attention to the little things that bother you. Don’t dwell on them, just be aware of their existence. Then find something positive about the situation and focus on that. It only takes a few seconds to change your perspective. Then you can face the challenge with a renewed sense of spirit. Do that often enough, and it becomes a habit.

Buildings are raised a brick at a time, beginning with a strong foundation you can’t even see once it’s been covered. But it’s there, supporting the whole structure when the storm clouds blow in. Build that foundation within yourself – a foundation of positivity – and you’ll find there isn’t much in life you can’t handle. Each day is only as good as you choose to let it be. Make it count.

That’s all for now. Have an awesome day!

© 2019 Dave Glardon – All rights reserved