6 Days Before Christmas and...

Six days before Christmas and all through the house...LOL. Fooled you -- no poem.  Maybe next time. But a couple of days ago I published a Vitamin K (Daily Dose of Positive )-- and wished everyone a relaxed, stress-free weekend. One of my friends (you know who you are) wrote me back and said, "Relaxed? Stress-free? It's 7 days before Christmas; are you daft?"  Hmmm.  Well, first I had to look that up (sometimes it's the little words that get you).  Definitions were: senseless, stupid, or foolish, insane; crazy, merry; playful; frolicsome." And my answer is YES! All of the above :-), but NOT stressed!  And perhaps not stressed for the first time in my life, at the this time of the year; but for whatever reason, I'm not.  

Perhaps it's the retired status, or perhaps it's just my awareness that I can only do what I can do.  Then again, perhaps it's because this year I'm not so concerned about other people's expectations and more focused on my piece of mine (<-- that was for my friend Mitch. He likes to catch my mistakes. Make that "peace of mind.")

But, we're smack dab in the middle of THE season of peace, tranquility, love, appreciation, gratitude and good will for all mankind. Somehow, "stress" just seems so out of place.  Perhaps I am just fortunate not to be living a stressful life right now, or perhaps... I've just chosen to be stress free. Don't get me wrong... I KNOW there are people in the world who are deluged in stressful, painful situations right now and they can't be totally stress-free life at present, but for most of us... most of the people I know... the stress is optional... but for the "things" we're focusing on, and the meaning we are voluntarily assigning to those things. LOTS of people are giving gifts this season that are attached to so much stress they can hardly see.  But, I'd like to suggest that... no matter what you BUY this Christmas... that the gifts you GIVE are love.. warmth... appreciation... gratitude... and acceptance.  Those will go further than the material thing(s) you attach to them, and I guarantee you'll feel better about you.

Incidentally, you also need to give yourself the gifts of love, gratitude and acceptance; because despite what most marketers and some of your acquaintances might tell you... you're okay. Even precious diamonds have imperfections. Then again, it is we who define imperfect...  And if you're having some challenges with that... perhaps you might enroll in my Daily Dose of Vitamin K. We cover those points often. It was planned  to be on sale now, but it's not yet... so take advantage of it for now and we'll just call it my Christmas gift to you (and anyone you pass that link onto between now and when I finally get the sale page online.) You can check out a few comments here. And who knows, maybe by the time you get there...there will be a few more.

So that's it, my friends. I wish for you a stress-free holiday season; focused on the things that really matter, as you give the gifts of  love, gratitude and acceptance... regardless of what "physical" gifts you attach to them.

Have a beautiful week.  And incidentally... there's an excellent video on Mitch's blog that it would be good for everyone to see, this time of year especially. So if you didn't click it, go ahead and click on his name / link and watch it. Take a stress-free 16 minutes and check it out.


Love and Light to you ;-)
Kelvin

I'm Thankful For It All

It's been a beautiful year so far, not to be confused with a year where everything went as I'd planned. I've been a party to making some people happy, helping some dreams come true, facilitating some folks and helping them see through and beyond life's fog, and have had others do the same for me.  I've experienced some wonderful highs, and some less than wonderful lows, and there's a good chance I've been part of a low for someone else.

You  might think it ludicrous that I am thankful for the lows as well as the highs, but they both are part of the duality of life, so explains my friend Dr. Wayne Dyer (no, we've not met or talked by I call him friend anyway, because I have learned from him.) Because without a low, there is no high; without a back, there is no front.  Each of my experiences this year -- happy and not so happy -- has contained a lesson which has benefited me, and as we know... it takes struggle and resistance to make muscles strong.

Now, don't get me wrong.  I am pleased to say that my life has experienced predominantly ups... for which I am extremely grateful; but even within the disappointments, I can still point to momentous smiles, so I'm thankful for it all.  Among all the things I'm thankful for, I'd like to list a few of the most significant:

1. I am blessed with excellent health and vitality, often in spite of my apparent efforts to the contrary ;-)
2. I am blessed with the gift of speaking and writing that touches people's souls, and further blessed that many have let me know how I've affected them. That knowledge itself... is a gift beyond measure, for me.
3. I'm blessed with having some of the best and most caring friends a person can have; most of them I've met -- but some of them, I have not.
4.  I have been blessed to love -- and be loved -- on many different levels, and though the highs of that have not always lasted, the memory of them has.
5.  I am  blessed to see blue skies and sunshine, even in a storm, and blessed to hear birds singing, even when there is no sound.
6.  I am blessed to wake up each morning with a smile in my heart, if not on my face (but it catches up soon)  and blessed that something happens nearly everyday that leaves me -- at night -- feeling glad that I was part of that day.

7. I am blessed with a beautiful family, the shining stars of which are three awesome children who are healthy, self-sufficient, self reliant and all contributing to society in a meaningful way... and oh yeah... I'm pretty sure they all love me, too ;-)  Plus, I laugh almost daily with my 82 year old mom, though less frequently with my brother and sisters.

That's just the tip of my list... which goes very deep.  And, occasionally, I break out the long yellow pad and fill it up, just to keep perspective.

So today, my friends, as you celebrate Thanksgiving (and maybe even if you don't), when you give thanks,  however and to whomever you give thanks, please... do it with some degree of intensity. Make your list, so that when you say "thank you" it has some weight and mental energy behind it.  Someone once said that "love makes the world go round, but it's money that greases the wheels."  Personally, I think it's GRATITUDE that greases the wheels.


Have an absolutely incredible day, and thank you for allowing me to be a part of your life.

Appreciatively yours,
Kelvin

In Your Heart You KNOW I'm Right

It's hard to believe how much time we -- as a people / country / world -- spend, neck deep in the lives of movie stars, celebrities, public figures, and how much MONEY and wasted time we spend reading, watching, commenting on their lives, and making our judgements -- paying homage to the institutionalized GoSSip industry.

If we spent this same time and effort in our own lives, buying and reading things to improve our own lot, enhance our own minds and better our own situations, I dare say we wouldn't have time to care what happened last week with  Brittany or Paris whoever...

Become ENGAGED in creating, managing, and enhancing your own life... then you won't need to feed on the gossip from someone else's.

Enjoy another awesome day...
Kelvin

This is Why I Write!

Every once in a while we get a vision, a glimpse of the effect -- or maybe affect -- that we have on people.  Goodness knows I enjoy writing my Ramblings and the other things I write and I usually get some warm kudos for them, but every once in a while something comes across -- out of the blue, it seems -- that tells me unequivocally that I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing. In this case it happened a couple of days ago, via someone who accidentally stumbled onto this blog, and left an incredible comment that made me grateful that I could be there for her to find.  

I'm going to share an excerpt from the last of her post, and this is not by way of bragging, but mostly to say that I take seriously what I write, and I take seriously the responsibility of sharing my perspectives with my readers, and when I get a comment like the following, I am incredibly humbled... and that much more careful because I realize my words can have an affect far greater than the concept of just sharing a few thoughts.  And you know we talked about "realizing" in my first Ramblings audio -- which I think we're going to dub "K-Talk". You can listen to that here: http://ramblings.ringold.net/audio/ramblings1.mp3

 

But this comment from an "accidental" visitor... This is why I write!  (and now speak) and I thank you for reading and finding value in my words, and coming back time after time:

"I want to thank you for using your natural gift of empowering and creating positivity to pass on to me. I feel better right now than I have in weeks, and you're right, I can get there. I have subscribed to your Once-a-day-vitamin-K and can't wait!

Thank you Kelvin, for making me see that today isn't an obstacle but another stepping stone to where I want to be. And that this is reachable..."

You can read the whole thing, if you like, here: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=11513333&postID=1327873966514647269

 

Have an awesome day, folks.  And remember...the best way to predict your future, is to create it.

 

Humbly yours..

 

Kelvin

http://www.kelvinringold.com