Thanks to all Authors

I'd like to thank those people that write things down. Those that author books. I'm an avid reader. I love to learn. This love is supported by those people that also love to learn and want to share their learnings with others through the transmitted word. I love reading non-fiction and fiction.

It is important to learn the mistakes of the past else we are doomed to repeat them. I'm interested in people that have had outsized effects on our world; leaders, influencers, nurturers.

It is also important to be able to fantasize about the possible. While this is escapist it can also help us think of what we might want to aspire to or move away from.

I'm always reading many books at once. Right now I'm reading the following books

• Mindfulness by Joseph Goldstein
• A biography of George Washington
• Non-Zero Sum by Robert Wright
• The Art of Flourishing
• Articles from the New York Times
• Articles from the Washington Post
• Chernobyl 01:23:40
• The Clearing 
• Practicing Meditative PsychoTherapy

Thanks to all authors!

Pithy Saying: Exercise enlivens my whole being. Every day I plan on spending some time exercising my body.

Father's Day Thanks

9:49

Thanks to all Fathers! Thanks to my father! Thanks to my mother's father. Thanks to their fathers!

My father died at 50. I'm now approaching my 60th birthday. He struggled with what he wanted to "be", all his life. For the last part of his life, he made some choices that were difficult for me to understand and remain so. As for the rest of his life, he was an inspiration and a role model; a father, a doctor, a US Navy Officer, an above average piano player (he said he had aspirations to be a concert pianist), always thin, kind to others. Thanks Dad!

A lot of fathers struggle with what their role should be; macho, kind, strong, emotional, loving, disciplined. I know because I struggled as a father. But all should know, that each of us is trying to the best of our abilities.

Thanks to all Fathers!

Pithy Saying: By expressing my feelings and experiences in writing, I can cope more effectively with the challenges in my life. Start a journal .... heh I'm kinda doing this one!

Thank you Sandee - My Root Guru Master Yoga Teacher

Today I'd like to thank my yoga teacher, Sandee Versace (here on Facebook).

I take her yoga classes four times a week. She is an inspiration. I know she is not perfect, but she keeps herself in fantastic shape. She always changes up her classes so they never get boring. After class, we talk about our children, our partners (a little), and our lives. She pushes me to stay physically fit. She loves my ujjai breath. She tells me that she misses me when I miss her class. I am one of her only male regulars, there are one or two others, though. I tease her by saying she is my Root Guru Master Yoga Teacher ... each time the title gets longer.

thanks Sandee! (especially for the nice hugs, when we know we won't see each other for awhile!)

Pithy comment: Watch a sunrise at least once a year. (From Life's Little Instructions)

Thanks to all workers

This thought of gratitude came into my mind as I was reflecting on my dive yesterday with a dive master that I paid to be my guide. The guide was a young lady who had got her degree in Ocean Science. She wants to get a Master's Degree in Environmental Policy, which re-affirmed my faith in our youth doing the right thing despite our current presidential dementia. While I did pay her for her guiding job, she performed the job with professionalism, joy, and vigor. So I'd like to thank all the guides and dive masters who have helped me on dives where they have been around.

Even though people are paid to do their jobs, most people do the jobs with a positive attitude, with an idea of "no harm to others" shall come from my work. A meditation I've been pondering is to reflect on all those people who held me for the first 48 hours of my life here on Earth. From my mother's womb, nurses, midwives, doctors, and my mother held me gently, swaddled me, fed me, cleaned me and soothed and cuddled me. From then until now countless people have assisted me in my daily living without me even being conscious of it.

Thanks to all the workers and others who make my life possible.

Pithy statement: By expressing my feeling and experiences in writing I can cope more effectively with the challenges in my life. Begin writing in a journal. (Well I am trying to do this gratitude blog daily <grin>)

Thanks to all teachers

Thanks to all of my teachers.

I've learned to like teaching others. I enjoy studying, preparing and delivering knowledge to people. I really do believe in the saying that says ... "The best way to learn is to teach".

I've had many teachers that have taught me throughout my life, some of whom I don't remember their names

Thanks to the teacher who taught me

• how to swim in Taiwan
• speed reading in elementary school
• home economics in elementary school
• ballet dancing - Maria Fusco?
• piano playing - Mara Fusco
• Italian when we lived in Italy
• World history in high school Mr. Moore
• US History in high school Dean Nagy - he recognized me my freshman year and asked if I was George Pohle's son!
• Russian in high school - Dr. Hughes (he was almost blind)
• my piano teacher in high school (he had a lot of patience)
• Chemistry 101 at Texas A&M
• a teacher who taught Differential equations at Texas A&M

Pithy saying: Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated. - from Life's Little Instructions

Thanks to Sam Harris

I'd like to express my thanks and gratitude to Sam Harris. You can find him at samharris.org.  He has written a few books, one of which I've read, Waking Up. I plan on reading a few others. I listen to his podcast, Making Sense, as well. He also has a new meditation application called Waking Up which I also use. On this app, he has a number of "lessons" that are short thoughts on topics like gratitude and free will. Behind his paywall, on samharris.org he has, as of June 2019, sixteen episodes of his AMA's (Ask me anything), which are always very entertaining, thoughtful and helpful.

Wikipedia has this description of him as "an American neuroscientist, philosopher,^[3] author, critic of religion,^[4] blogger, public intellectual, and podcast host."

I find his thoughts to be very insightful and he sounds very genuine, authentic and empathetic. On occasion, he can be quite blunt, especially around his thoughts around radical Islam.

On the who I find listening to him and reading his work to be helpful, reassuring and foundational for my well being.

Thanks, Sam Harris!

Pithy comment (taken from a poster in a doctors office on "Life's Little Instructions")

"Sing in the shower"

Thanks to my heart

Today I want to thank my own heart. It has been beating my whole life. Sometimes it beats fast when I'm exercising, feeling anxious and anticipatory. Sometimes it beats slowly when I'm sleeping, meditating or feeling calm. I want to take care of my heart, so I think I've made a commitment to myself to lose some dramatic weight. I won't set a weight goal, but I will try to eat much much less, drink way less alcohol and skip deserts more often than not. There are many organs we have only one of so I don't want to leave them out of this thank you note. So thanks to my brain, my liver, my stomach, my tongue, my esophagus, and intestine. Thank you heart!

Pithy saying: I am able to transform my ideas into reality. Today develop a plan to turn your ideas into a reality.

Not sure what idea I want to turn into reality?

Thanks body!

Pithy saying - I will learn to listen to my body. When you are experiencing pain or dis-ease seek to understand what messages your body is trying to convey to you.

Wow! Today's saying was right along the path of my gratitude today. I wanted to pay gratitude to my body.

I am amazed at the resiliency of my body. I am sixty years old and have thrown all sorts of indignities at my body; bad food, alcohol, drugs, overtraining, not enough sleep, too much ice cream, being sick, being overweight, being overstressed, knocking into things, bruising it, cutting it ... generally taking it for granted.

Thanks to my body. I love my body. I love my heart. I love my brain. I love my kidneys. I love my liver. I love my stomach.

Its the body that I have and I love it.

Thanks Steve Scott for your gratitude blog

Today I'd like to express my gratitude to Steve Scott for the blog entry on gratitude that I stumbled across the other day as I prepared for a meditation workshop that I'm creating and will do this coming Sunday.

The blog entry is at https://www.happierhuman.com/benefits-of-gratitude/.

It is titled "31 Benefits of gratitude you didn't know about: How gratitude can change your life."

I'm going to use some of the entries in my workshop and will refer to this over the coming days as I try to continue this gratitude blog.

BTW, Steve is the author of "The 90-Day Gratitude Journal" which you can find on Amazon here.

The first entry is "Gratitude makes us happier".
---------------

Pithy saying

Forgive and let go of the anger you hold towards one person today.

Mental Health Care

Pithy saying - I have the power to make the world more beautiful - Plant a tree or some flowers today or do or say something that makes this a better place.

In this post, I'd like to thank all of the people who work in the mental health field. This includes counselors, social workers, mental health counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists. It can also include preachers and priests to that extent that they provide counseling besides just 'pray to god'.

We need more of these professionals. There are far too many examples of people acting out that might have been helped by receiving assistance or help from counseling, psychotherapy, medication and/or even meditation.

We need to work on the stigma that exists that prevents people from seeking help. There are two facets to this idea. One is preventative and the other is reactive.

On the preventative side, just like physical exercise and diet are recognized as good interventions to prevent poor physical health, we must start advocating and doing mental health exercise to prevent or ameliorate poor mental health. For me, this starts with meditation.

The second part of this equation is reactive, once a person realizes they are in a funk they should give the same amount of thought to this mental health situation as they do to the pain of a kidney stone, stomach ailment or persistent cough. Go see someone to help with your condition. Unfortunately today, we have Urgent Care facilities and Emergency Rooms to deal with the physical, but we don't have the equivalent for mental health care. How do you think we should deal with this?

My son is a mental health counselor and I wish him the best of luck in his endeavor and thank him for working in this profession.

Thanks to all pets and my pets!

Pithy saying

I am able to make others feel good about themselves.

Commit to taking the time to give a genuine compliment to everyone you meet!

- - - - - - -

Today I'd like to express my gratitude to the pets I've had. They have all been dogs. I love dogs for all of the reasons you hear so often about.

• They are faithful. 
• They are always happy to see you when you come home. 
• They love to be loved. 
• They are good emotional barometers. 
• I love the way the wag their tails. 
• I love the way they hold their mouths open and their tongue hangs out when the pant. To me, this is their way of smiling. 
• Dog's like to press their bodies against you sometimes to either seek attention or just to acknowledge you.
• Our current dog sleeps with us and on occasion she'll sleep right against me, seeking either the warmth of my body or the physical contact. 
• I like the way that dogs will make eye contact with you.
• It is cute the way that dogs smell you to check you out. 

This article, on the Mother Nature Network, listens 11 positive things that pets provide and the studies that back it up. 

1. Pets help you live longer, healthier lives
2. Pets alleviate allergies and boost immmune funciton 
3. Pets up your fitness quotient
4. Pets dial down stress 
5. Pets boost heart health
6. Pets make you a social and date magnet
7. Pets prove a social salve for Alzheimer patients
8. Pet enhance social skills in kids with Autism
9. Pets dampen depression and boost mood
10. Pets can defeat PTSD
11. Pets can fight cancer
12. Pets can put the kibosh on pain

Thank you to all pets and my pets!

My glass is at least half full

George Washington channeling the Buddha ...

In a letter to Robert Steward on April 27, 1763, George Washington wrote: "Human affairs are always checkered and vicissitudes in this life are rather to be expected than wondered at".

I like to think I see a half-filled glass as half full not half empty ... supposedly a positive outlook. Another quote that I saw the other day is something like this.

"Let us try to see things from their better side:
You complain about seeing thorny rose bushes;
Me, I rejoice and give thanks to the gods
That thorns have roses."

This quote is attributed to Alphonse Karr, a French journalist, and author from his book "Letters written from my garden."

The above is from the https://quoteinvestigator.com/ website here.

Thanks for what I have

Quote from Epicurus:

"Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for."

There are two parts of this that I like ... "what I hoped for" ... and "do not spoil".

I worked all my life to retire early, studying the forums on earlyretirement.org. So I what I have now is what I hoped for, for at least the second part of my adult life ... with the first part being innocent bliss of youth and the third part living the dream, retirement!

So this IS what I hoped for and GOT!

There is no reason to spoil what I currently have as many people would be desperate to achieve what I have.

I am so fortunate and grateful for what I have.

Thanks to my dharma teachers

In this gratitude post, I'd like to think and thank all my dharma teachers. There have been a few. Some, I've met in person, most of them I have experienced online.

The list of online teachers that I've never met but have listened to hours of their teachings include (in random order of stream of consciousness)

• Joseph Goldstein 
• https://dharmaseed.org
• Slyvia Boorstein
• https://dharmaseed.org
• Gil Fronsdale
• https://www.audiodharma.org/
• http://www.insightmeditationcenter.org/
• http://www.sati.org/
• Andrea Fella (see Gil's links)
• Jack Kornfield 
• https://dharmaseed.org
• Matthew Brensilver
• https://dharmaseed.org
• https://www.audiodharma.org/
• Bikkhu Bodhi
• https://bodhimonastery.org/religion/audios
• https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bhikkhu+bodhi
• Thubten Chodron
• https://sravastiabbey.org
• Lama Marut
• https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=lama+marut
• Thanissaro Bikkhu 
• https://www.dhammatalks.org/index.html
• Piya Tan 
• http://www.themindingcentre.org/dharmafarer
• Dan Harris (not really a teacher <grin>)
• Sam Harris 

In another post I'll mention those I've met in person.

Thanks for my gifts

Today I worked out at the gym and spoke with the manager there. I have spoken to him a couple of times. We had spoken about how yoga is a good stress relief for me. He showed me how he shines brass to release his stress. He has a bell on his desk that he is shining. He told me that he suffers from partial PTSD from his service in one of the Iraq wars. I'll have to look again at a plaque hanging there to see which one. So thanks John for sharing with me that you have a stress and a way to relieve it. Thanks to all veterans for the sacrifices that made and make every day as a result of injuries physical and mental received while serving our country and maintaining our freedoms.

Pithy saying and response

My presence upon this earth can make a difference in the world. Make this world a better place by sharing one of your unique gifts.

One of my (many) unique gifts is to be joyful and happy. I smile at people and they smile back. It makes us both feel good. I try to remain humble but that is not one of my gifts. My other gifts are my intellect, my ability to make people feel comfortable and open up, my athleticism, my discipline.

On this post, I would like to express my gratitude to teachers. As Lama Marut says in this video, "everything of value that we have learned has been taught to us by someone else". Yes, our parents, friends and even enemies have taught us things, but I'm speaking now of those people who taught us in school or on the playing field.

For me this is a long list and in no particular order;

• History teachers - my favorite course in high school
• Science teachers - this includes physics, chemistry, and the electrical engineering course that were required for my Electrical Engineering degree 
• Math teachers - I enjoyed differential equations when essentially the professor said that differential equations are essentially unsolvable, so you just try things until something works. 
• English teachers - Going line-by-line through King Lear in High School was my first taste of getting down to the details.
• Russian language teachers - I had two that I remember very fondly, including an almost blind Mr. Hughes in high school
• I remember taking a home economics course in elementary school where I had fun learning how to measure ingredients and other things - that was fun.
• I learned how to speed read in elementary school from a special teacher
• My piano teacher in Italy Mrs. Fusco
• I had ballet teachers, soccer coaches, baseball coaches, wrestling coaches - thanks!
• I learned how to scuba dive from a young teacher ... less then half my age.
• I've learned how to take underwater photography from a number of teachers. 
• I've listened to many podcasts done by teachers, especially recently one on a course on astronomy, another one on genetics, another on philosophy
• I'm learning yoga now from a wonderful teacher. 

To all my teachers, I express my gratitude. THANKS!

- - - - - -

Quote of the day - The storms of my life are essential to my growth. Take Time to reflect upon how you have grown from the challenges you have overcome. 

Thank you to all wives and husbands.

On the last post, I thanked my wife of 32 years. On this post, I'd like to reflect and thank all of the husbands and wives that take care of each other (and themselves).

Married life can be rough, boring, and downright exasperating after the passion of new love and youth passes by. Creating a loving environment in which a relationship can continue is tough work. In taking care of each other couples set an example for others on how they should take care of each other as well. Some couples have children. The example they set towards each other is passed on to their children and others.

Keep calm, try not to fly off the handle with each other. Hug each other at least once per day.

Thanks to all wives and husbands!

Pithy comment of the day & reflection

The storms of my life are essential to my growth - Take time to reflect upon how you have grown from the challenges you have overcome.

The gratitude meditation I listened to today from The Mindful Movement Youtube channel.

Day 5 of Gratitude

Thanks to all Mothers and Fathers!

Today I'd like to thank my wife Lisa. She has been a godsend. Probably the best decision I ever made. We have been married for 32 years. We dated for a year before we got married, so I count 33 years.

Lisa carried both my sons, Andrew, and Austin through 18 months of pregnancy. The second one became a little risky as she was considered to be of advanced maternal age, 38. She has been a trooper. She had hip surgery 2 months after giving birth to my first son so that she could keep up with him. She breastfed both sons for at least nine months, pumping milk at work after she returned to work after 6 weeks or so off. Since then she has had 3 additional hip surgeries. She is always thinking of ways to make me and my sons happier.

She loves me unconditionally. She is my #1 advocate. She does not have any patience with anyone that might slight me or be unfriendly towards me. I love her very much!

Thanks, Lisa. You are the best thing that ever happened to me!

Thanks Mom and Dad!

So in thinking of my parents, I suggest that as we ponder gratitude we should all give gratitude to all parents. Parents right now are changing diapers, feeding children, working to support their children. Not all parents are perfect by any stretch of the imagination but I have to imagine that the vast majority are doing the best that the can. I suppose this is why we have a Mother's Day and a Father's Day.

So, thanks to all Mothers and Fathers!

As a side note, in Tibetan Buddhism, we have all lived countless lives. Because of rebirth, karma (action and intention) and our inability to achieve liberation, we have been all sorts of animals (dogs, cats), in the hell realms, gods, people and mothers and fathers etc. So from this point of view, every sentient being around you has been your mother in one of your past lives. So we should love and respect everyone like we might a mother: I'd say an idealized mother.

1. Checkout this lecture by Thubten Chodron, entitled "All beings have been our mother". 
2. Another wonderful article and video on this topic can be found here. 

Day 3 of Gratitude

Thanks Mom!

After my Mom, of course, I need to thank my Dad. For the first 13 years of my life, this can be an easy task. During high school, my Dad became more distant. After I started college many issues arose between my dad and mom which further strained our relationship, until a breach occurred when I was in my early twenties. My father died of colon cancer at the age of 50 in 1983. How I wish things had been different.

My father of course help raise me, provided for me, read me books, carried me around on his shoulders, help instill a love of cars in me, a love of learning. He loved to play the piano and I learned to love music of all sorts through him. He actively dissuaded me from becoming a doctor, not that I would have been capable. (maybe?) He came to some of my Little League baseball games and loved to watch my ballet performances. He got me excited about going to Culver Military Academy at a really young age. My attendance there gave me the discipline which has carried me through my entire life.

My father was very intelligent. Later in his life, he was troubled. But early on, he was my role model. Thanks, Dad for all that you did! I love you! (and loved you).

Day Two of my gratitude log.

Before getting too far down the path on this log, I need to express my gratitude to my mother. She is the one who carried me for nine months. She is the one that gave birth to me. She breastfed me, nurtured me, carried me, changed my diaper, and took care of me for the first year of my life. After that, she did the lions share of my care after my father re-entered my life having spent most of the first year on a ship, on duty with the US Navy as a doctor. I have tried to tell her of my gratitude for her many times and I feel like it can never be enough. Thanks, Mom! I love you! (I'll tell her again real soon)

Doing a gratitude practice has benefits for you as this article suggests. In brief, it says that

1. "Gratitude unshackles us from toxic emotions." When we are expressing gratitude we are thinking positive thoughts. So keep the gratitude positive. 
2. "Gratitude helps even if you don't share it" - hence this blog, even though as often as possible I will try to tell people - Thank you!
3. "Gratitude's benefits take time" - Which is why I'll try to keep writing this blog. One needs to exercise patience. Patience, another attribute that can help with mindfulness, which helps with happiness.
4. "Gratitude has lasting effects on the brain." - I hope so.

As with many attempts in the past, I'll try to maintain a daily log.

This time, I'm going to try to spend five minutes a day, giving gratitude. I'll prioritize my gratitude thinking by the following ranking that I may update.

1.  I will try to think of someone that impacted me today. 
2. I'll thank people who helped me recently. 
3. People that helped me further into the past.
4. Public figure that impacted my thinking and who I'd like to acknowledge. 
5. Thanking classes of people who I don't know, yet have impacted me by the work they do; nurses, farmers, etc. 

I have heard of the idea of maintain a gratitude log more than once. This time, my energy is coming from a five-day silent retreat that I just completed. For this reason, today I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Sharon Theroux, who co-facilitated the retreat. She has a page on Psychology Today here. She is the founder of the South Florida Center for Mindfulness.