The prompt today is a good exercise for anyone. So, I will see if I can list five things that I am good at.
1. I am a good writer. I have written one very skinny fiction book that I put on Amazon. My favorite compliment concerning my writing was when a fellow church member said that my devotional booklet got het to open her Bible more. She really started asking our pastor more questions.
2. I am a hard worker. I have a mental battle with myself when I see co-workers chatting for over 15 minutes or just not managing to get anything done. But, I manage to stay busy most of the time.
3. I love to paint rocks. I had a dream about me collecting rocks for painting at my childhood home. I suspect that I am not good at it. But, I have read that what we love can give us a clue on what we are good at.
4. I love to read and research things. I am still reading the US history book. I am on the Great Depression. I know that I won’t remember it all but some of it will stick for the next time the news media references it.
5. I am or at least hope that I am a good listener like the title of this website. I keep working to improve my listening abilities but my own desire to express my feelings or thoughts too soon impairs it at times.
What are five things that you are good at? If you can’t think of five, then ask a friend or family member to help you.
The first group of my favorite animals are my past pets.
Puffers
Puffers lived with me for over 12 years. She was given to me when a friend could no longer care for her. She would come and meet at the door when I came home from work. She also loved to lay on me when I went to sleep. On my back. On my leg. Fortunately, she knew not to lay on my head but everywhere else was fair game.
Taffy
I got Taffy from the Humane Society. My favorite thing that I remember about her was when she spooned herself beside me under the covers at night.
The second group that is my favorite animals are horses. I grew up around race horses. My parents raised, trained and raced them.
I also love to photograph animals that I see in nature.
I woke up to snow falling this morning. So, I took pictures while walking home from church
Snow covered park
This is Cutler Park near the Waukesha library.
Pine Trees at Cutler Park
I take pictures of these trees a lot. They always look beautiful with snow on them.
A local organization decorated the city’s planter boxes. This is a picture of one of them with snow on it.
Bush with snow on it
What have you seen this week that is beautiful? Sometimes what we focus on is the only thing that we notice. Try to notice something that you haven’t seen before. While I focused on beautiful things, your experience can be whatever you choose. I’d love to read your thoughts and experiences.
Since I have always liked his quote about “looking for the helpers,” I bought this book from a friends of the library sale.
“Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime’s work, but it’s worth the effort.”(Page 3)
Even though I am 50 years old, I still wonder what I will do when I grow up. I dream of becoming a write/blogger as a side income. Other times, I think about making YouTube videos. But, data analysis, robotics and AI sounds like an interesting field to study and work in. Oh, did I mention human genetics especially gene editing. Too many ideas.
“Some days, doing ‘the best we can’t may still fall short of what we would like to be able to do, but life isn’t perfect-on any front- and doing what we can with what we have is the most we should expect of ourselves or anyone else.”(Page 4)
When my depression was bad, I begged God for the energy to get through the day every day. I had no energy to do anything outside of work. This quote is a reminder to me and anyone else who needs it that there will be days like that. Let’s remember to forgive ourselves and others when we can’t seem to get much done.
“There’s no ‘should’ or ‘should not’ when it comes to having feelings. They’re part of who we are and their origins are beyond our control. When we can believe that, we may find it easier to make constructive choices about what to do with those feelings.”(Page 20)
I used to call myself a “crybaby” in my own thinking. When I started therapy, my therapist encouraged me to accept my emotions. I can only manage my emotions if I have accepted my emotions and behaviors. Please understand that I am not saying that all behaviors and emotions are okay. If the behavior or thought doesn’t hurt someone else or violate God’s law, then it is best for me to accept it. This helped me to focus on talking myself into stopping crying rather than obsessing on whether everyone will think that I am a crybaby.
“Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.” (Page 53)
This quote reminds me that love is working on maintaining and building a relationship even when I feel angry with him/her. I am working on my relationships with my family members and friends.
“In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.” (Page 79)
The name of this site is Listeninghearts because I have been learning the value of being a listener. I learned about active listening in my studying of addiction counseling. I used to think that I had nothing to offer because I had very little money or material things to donate/use to help others. But, I have been learning that a word of encouragement or a sympathetic ear may be even better than money at times.
“When we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong along with the fearful, the true mixed in with the facade, and of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way.” (Page 95)
When at technical college, I read an example therapy session in the back of our textbook. The therapist told the client that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. It was so logical that even my brain couldn’t argue with it. It reminded me of a book that I read in my university days.It was a book on self-esteem. It focused on helping readers to have a more balanced view of themselves. It had me list my positive and negative traits. It is important that you learn your good and bad traits, your passions and learn to accept yourself.
“All of us, at some time or other, need help. Whether we’re giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That’s one of the things that connects us as neighbors- in our own way, each one of us is a giver and a receiver.” (Page 136)
“As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else- or ever will have-something inside that is unique to all time. It’s our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.” (Page 137)
I painted some rocks in honor of our two year anniversary.
Waukesha Strong rocks
I bought a cookie cutter shaped like the state just for these rocks. I placed them around downtown Waukesha yesterday afternoon.
Today was the day of the dedication ceremony of our five points memorial. Here is a picture from the day before.
I was pleased to see how many people came and that Governor Evers came and spoke.
After the ceremony, I went over to the hotel across the street and made a tile for the Grede Park Memorial.
The six tears are for the six people who died. It bothers me that I can remember who killed them but can’t remember their names.
Afterwards, I attempted to take a picture of the new memorial at five points.
The person in white was a lady reporter while the man in black was another reporter. I was trying to get the picture without interrupting them. This image reminds me of when there was more press on the street than residents.
On Thanksgiving, I took some more pictures of the memorial. I found a bouquet and put it a little higher on it for the picture.
I am reading two books right now. One is Daily Laws by Robert Greene. As you know, I am collecting quotes from it. I ended up giving up on this book. While some of it is about learning new skills, other parts focuses on manipulating others in order to get power, promotions and pay raises.
The second is Amsco Advanced Placement United States History,Third Edition. I have always believed tha my public education missed some important parts of history. I knew that France helped in the US revolutionary war. But, I was surprised to read that they were “giving both money and supplies” secretly since 1775. Then, it openly allied with us in 1778. A year later, Spain and Holland joined the war on our side. I had never read anything like that. The book stated that Britain was disliked as a powerful empire nation. So, other nations joined us in our revolution.
The next surprise was the idea that the north occupied the south after the civil war. I knew of the reconstruction but not an occupation. Then, I read about segregation of blacks. Women got the right to vote in 1920 but blacks remained segregated. They could vote if they could pass the state “literacy test.” I saw a video of a lady taking one and was shocked by the confusing questions. They were made to be failed.
As I walked home from church today, a familiar urge filled my heart. The words of one of the hymns sparked my desire to pray for the world again.
It is titled O God of Every Nation (713 in the ELCA hymnal).
“O God of every nation, of every race and land, redeem your creation with your almighty hand; where hate and fear divide us and bitter threats are hurled, in love and mercy guide us and heal our strife torn world.
From search for wealth and power and scorn of truth and right, from trust in bombs that shower destruction through the night, from pride of race and station and blindness to your way, deliver every nation, eternal God, we pray.”
I think these two verses describes us and our world so well. When the pandemic began and the Ukraine war began, I felt this need to pray for our world. Yet, I struggle to even know what to ask for. Peace from war and hatred? Healing from illness? A reprieve for those who are suffering due to illness, wars, poverty and natural disasters? Guidance for the leaders of each and every nation?
I cry out for easy answers and easy fixes. Yet, God seems to listen intently with no response.
Here is a short quote from another song titled God of Grace and God of Glory (705)
“Grant us wisdom, grant us courage for the facing of this hour…Grant us wisdom, grant us courage for the living of these days.”
We, as a world, need Your guidance and courage to live in these chaotic times. Please grant this to us.
I have now finished reading Outlive: the Science and Art of Longevity by Peter Attia, MD and Bill Gifford.
The quote that best summarizes his book is as follows. “Our tactics in Medicine 3.0 fall into five broad domains: exercise, nutrition, sleep, emotional health, and exogenous molecules, meaning drugs, hormones or supplements.” (Page 47) He covered each of the domains except for the “exogenous molecules.”
I found the exercise section to be overwhelming in information. Yet, it is encouraging me to get in more steps. The other section that caught my attention and interest was the section on emotional health. Dr. Attia shared his own experience with seeking and receiving treatment for emotional/anger issues.
One concept that he mentioned is the idea of “resume values” vs “eulogy values.” Our society tends to value our work accomplishments more than our relationships with family, friends and one’s self, I will listen to the book that he referenced at a later date.
I was looking for a new image for my rocks. I decided to see if I can find a YouTube video on drawing a rose. I found an easy one that starts with a heart.
I added the words, “enjoy the Small things in life” to the rose painting. I hope it will remind someone that there are small good moments even in the worst of times. Taking the time to search for the good moments may help someone to keep trying and trying.
I am reading a book titled Outlive: the Science & Art of Longevity by Peter Attia, MD. I had never thought that I would grow old. I just figured that I would die young. Since my parents are in their seventies and I am fifty, I can now imagine myself growing old.
Dr. Attia used the phrase “centenarian decathlon” as a way for his patients to work out goals for when they get old. The idea is that you list ten things that you want to still be able to do when you hit 80, 90 or 100. Here is my list.
1. I want to be able to walk around my city and parks for at least a mile. I love to walk by the Fox River and take pictures of the ducks, water and trees. I also enjoy walking around our historic downtown area especially during Friday Night Live and art crawls.
Ducks at Frame Park in Waukesha
2. I hope to continue to write blogs here and paint rocks. So, I want to be able to stoop down and pick up a rock. I find most of my rocks around the down town area. Shaking hands will probably make typing and painting harder as time goes on. The hiding of my rocks makes me feel like I am encouraging someone.
3. I want to delay diabetes as much as I can. I am prediabetic and can’t imagine avoiding diabetes. But, I might be able delay it. Since I love chocolate, I am unsure if I can even delay it. So, this one is a battle with the two sides of my desire for yummy sweets and staying healthy.
4. I hope to retire from paid work when I turn seventy. Social security offers full benefits for my age group at sixty-seven years of age. But, the benefits will be better if I can stretch it to seventy. I am saving money but it is not a large nest egg.
5. I want to keep reading lots of books, magazines and online articles. I want to always be curious about the world. I have always loved learning new things. I want to be allowed to learn new things even in heaven. I don’t want to know all things in an instant which would take the aha moments away from me.
6. I want to go on more mission trips with my church. We stopped doing them due to the pandemic. I asked my pastor if we are going to resume doing yearly trips. We used to go to places in the US that have been devastated by terrible weather and help re-build homes (most of the time). Some of our members are skilled in home repair and can lead us in the work.
I have been to New Orleans (Katrina), Texas and Kentucky on mission trips.
7. I want to continue working as a poll worker. The work is kind of boring but I can’t volunteer much in my community. I hope to increase my volunteering in my community and church after I retire.
8. I want to have a plant, cat, dog or some pet to live with me and keep me company. My cat died in February of this year. Then, I got a rash while cat sitting for my neighbor. So, I now wonder if I am allergic to cats. So, I will keep my mind open on how to do this one. I am starting to focus on my petunia. My friend has offered me some other plants too.
9. I want to attend Bible studies at my church more. I get a lot of my socializing needs from work. When I retire, I want to get my socializing needs mets through volunteering, walks, groups and Bible studies.
10. I have been thinking about traveling more. I have no sense of direction and little face recognition abilities. So, I am too nervous to travel alone. I have been thinking that group travel is probably better for me even if I can’t get away from the touristy spots. I am curious how people in other countries live.
What is you ten? I will share some of his suggestions in a later post.
