I'm deeply honored to have you visit my blog and I sincerely hope that your visit will result in nothing less than immense inspiration and devotion. It is my wish that you will take every available opportunity to return and become an active extension of building lasting relationships by sharing these nuggets of love with everyone you know. Please feel free, to leave comments and browse through the archives to further enrich your reads, during this or your next visit.

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Sharing The Holidays With You

In keeping with all of the upcoming Holiday festivities and occasional madness surrounding them, I stopped for a moment to ponder on how and what it must have taken for people to commute back and forth to their personal and favorite Holiday destinations over and during past years. I'm not exactly sure when the human race began to establish and recognize Holidays, but I'm sure there were special events that were for whatever reason, significant enough to lead them and us into what we celebrate today from one year to the next. This part of the equation is sometimes puzzling. How and what were their modes of travel? Perhaps, we should go back, I mean way back, far back, perhaps to a time forgotten......


The date is unknown and all the exact places no longer exist. An era where men and women lived mostly in caves. They were grouped together as clans or tribes, yet some remained to live apart and alone. As they learned more and more about their surroundings and became more familiar with the changing of each season, when food was abundant and sometimes scarce. Still yet, I'm sure they must have visited each other during those special times.



If distant travel became a necessity, I envision this may have been how they got it done. Fortunately for the others, the only delay in reaching their destination on time had not been discovered or invented yet. Things like locating the nearest and cheapest gas stations.




As we move farther into the more present future, these guys had less of the hardships as the previously mentioned holiday travelers. The terrain was definetly rough and tough, but at least if it rained they could still keep their appointment, stay dry and not run the risk of being eaten by what the previously mentioned guys chose to ride upon. I just think they had to really have a good idea about exactly where in the heck was their favorite uncle Billy Bob's house was located and could they actually make it there by Xmas, without having to stop and deal with altering their route due to unscheduled visits by unfriendly indians, who probably were traveling and shopping for the Holiday's too .

Today, as you know things are quite different. We have calendars, Macys department stores, television, online shopping and each other to remind us of the Holiday Seasons. Although, we could walk, run, drive, float, and of course fly to destinations today, the real problem we face is that with all these modern luxuries, traveling during the holidays can still become quite difficult, costly and extremely stressful.

For example, after deciding and preparing to make the trip, what day would be the best day of the week to tackle the dreaded airport......ummm? It has been said that the Wednesday before a Holiday is by far the worst day to travel. Yet, travel appears to ease, especially on the actual Holiday. In kind, the worst day to choose for return travel is Saturday, because you run into all the commuters who left from where ever they were a few days earlier.


But, there is a possible solution, for soon and very soon, none of the above forementioned Holiday headache issues will matter. There will be no more issues of stressful traveling, gift selections, excuses or worrying whether or not we can observe this or that Holiday and will it conflict with our personal lives or different religious beliefs. There and only there, at that place and time, it is said that...




"Everyday will be a Holiday"





Until then, where ever you are in the world, from me and mine, to you and yours.....

Have a Safe and Happy Holiday Season.



* Portions reposted from an archieve post titled, "I'll Be There".  

Monday, March 5, 2012

Treasures Of The Heart

Today, started with sorting through the volumes of incoming emails. Usually the task involves choosing between the good and bad stuff and enjoying the rewarding sounds of hitting the delete button as fast as I can. But, suddenly I was distracted by a title that caught my eye and I paused to investigate it closely.  Since I recognized the name of the sender, I felt very safe in opening the visually capturing mail. As I read each line to its final period, I knew then that I was obligated to share it with all of you, my valued readers.  My only regret is that I could not determine its author, as its my desire to give all the credit for this piece to it's proper owner. 

May your heart also be enlighten by its meaning and blessing: 

The WOODEN BOWL  

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old grandson.  
The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered  

The family ate together at the table, but the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor.  
When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.  

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess.   “We must do something about father, said the son.  I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor.”   
So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner.  

There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.  
When the family glanced in Grandfather‘s direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone.  

Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.   The four-year-old watched it all in silence.  
One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor.  

He asked the child sweetly, ' What are you making? Just as sweetly, the boy responded,  
“Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up”.  

The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.  
The words so struck the parents so that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.  

That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.  
For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.  

On a positive note, I've learned that, no matter what happens, how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.  
I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles four things:  

A rainy day, the elderly, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.  

I've learned that, regardless of your relationship with your parents, you'll miss them when they're gone from your life.  

I've learned that making a living is not the same thing as making a life..   
I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance.  

I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands. You need to be able to throw something back sometimes.  
I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you.. but, if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the very best you can, happiness will find you.  

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision.  
I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.  

I've learned that every day, you should reach out and touch someone.  
People love that human touch -- holding hands, a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back...., I've learned that I still have a lot to learn. 

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Discovering a New You


Ever wonder why sometimes, you beat yourself up in disgust and frustration, after trying to figure out what went wrong with your fitness goals in the gym?

Well don't feel like the "Lone Ranger", its happen to me too. It took me a whole lot of countless hours of hard work through trial and error, before I stumbled on an article written by fitness guru, Phil Kaplan. The article was titled "The 3 Body Types". As I read the information, I began to have an inner sensation, that reminded of what it must feel like to grow a set of donkey ears and the pain of kicking yourself right square in the... well I'm sure you know what I mean. I continued to read and learn more. Of course, this revelation is not to be classified as the cure all for why I was not progressing in the gym, but it surely helped put some vital training issues in perspective.

I discovered that, although I was training with dedication and consistency, I had failed to realize or take into consideration, that every one's body and physical genetic makeups are different.

Here's a brief synopsis of the article:

The Ectomorph is long and lean. They fall into a category widely known by weightlifters as "hard gainers" or the 98 pound weaklings. In other words, they have a difficult time beefing up. As with most things, there is a good side to this body type in that, although they usually are not gifted with a lot of natural huge muscles, their bodies carry very little fat. This gives their body type an advantage. They actually with proper training and diet they can put on muscle without worrying about gaining FAT. They must train intensely, but relatively infrequently, to avoid over training. This group should stay with basic compound movements like, squats, bench presses etc. Everyone can benefit from aerobic exercise, but this group must keep that part of their training in moderation. Caloric in take should be high with adequate protein, carbs, and essential fat intake. (hopefully the good fats).

The Mesomorph is the athletic prototype. They show off the V-shape back, wide shoulders, little narrow hips and great muscular legs (hate those guys!). They're often natural athletes and are the ones usually with "healthy" body fat levels. They add muscle easily, even if they make a few errors in their training regime, they still gain muscle. Their metabolisms are usually sufficient enough to handle "less than ideal" nutrition provided they get adequate calories to meet their energy needs.

The Endomorph is usually a bit rounder in appearance. They appear to have a softer look, which is probably due to the higher proportion of overall body fat, mostly carried around the hips and stomach areas. Some people have called or stereotyped them as having a "pear shape". Technically, they have to really focus on their diet, especially those high in sugar and fat. Their aerobic training should be at least 4-5 days per week.

OK, now that you know what I know, DO NOT PANIC, there is after all some good news!!

Very few of us rarely fall cleanly into just ONE category. There are people who are actually a combination of the above body types. For example, some can be deemed, endo-mesomorph and ecto-mesomorphs. Sounds complex, doesn't it? For most people, a simple glance in the mirror, may be of some service to them in determining where you fit.

Remember this information is merely a tip to help you make a few adjustments in your training regimen.

It was an incredible and rewarding tip for me, because that year after reading and learning more about this information, I made some adjustments to my mental and physical training regime and then I decided to compete in a local all natural body building contest and as a result, I won 1st place in the masters division.

Hey, its a New Year, its out with the old and in with the new...., so let's get started!

Stay safe, be patient and never give up on yourself or your training!
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