At various stages of life, you sometimes just need a new vison. During those times you may question what you are doing and how you are doing it. A smart person once said, “just because you are questioning everything you are doing doesn’t mean you have to throw out all the things that have worked in the past.” That is a good word because the human tendency is to want to start completely over and many times that is not the answer.

I remember many years ago I thought I wanted an old XJ6 jaguar. After owning one it broke me of ever wanting another one. Ha. Well mine had overheated and needed major work. I went to my dad who was an airline mechanic and asked him to help me. We pulled the car in his garage and took the engine apart and replaced a bunch of things and put it back together. After we did this, it just would not run correctly. It skipped, sputtered and my dad who knew what he was doing, just couldn’t figure it out. After about two days of this, I was ready to just junk the car I was so frustrated. My dad said, let me try something and he started changing around the vacuum lines and suddenly, the engine started purring and idling like a new car. Apparently, the vacuum lines had become switched during the work and it just needed a little adjusting.

The point is, I was ready to dump the car and just go get another one when all it needed was a little tweaking. Therefore, if you find yourself needing a new perspective and a new vison for your life, very likely you don’t need to move to another state and start over. All you probably need is a little adjustment to your thinking and your vison for the future will become more clear. KT

Have you ever had trouble going to sleep at night because your mind is running fast on all the mistakes you have made in your life? I cannot find this anywhere in the bible, but I personally believe that the devil’s playground is your thoughts late at night. Last night I experienced this around 1am. My thoughts started at high school and worked their way all the way up till yesterday. Ha. Satan was trying his best to get me to believe what a failure I was, and he played the videos (mental images) of all the mistakes I have made in life.

I finally fell asleep after 2 and when I woke up this morning, all the negative thoughts were gone, and it was a new day. I learned a long time ago to never make big decisions at night. I find that the best decisions are made in the morning when you are rested, and your mind is clear. There was a study completed in 2017 that said that most suicides happen at night and the larger percentage of those happen after midnight. The reason is simple, late at night is when you are most vulnerable to negative thoughts.

So, what should you do to combat this? The first step is understanding yourself and that you make poor decisions at night. The second step is to decide ahead of time how you will handle negative thoughts if they occur at night. The third and final step is to whisper a prayer of thanksgiving for your life and those around you and try and fix your mind on an image that gives you peace. In the movie White Christmas Bing Crosby sang this song written by Irvin Berlin about counting your blessings instead of sheep (lyrics below)

Lyrics

When I’m worried and I can’t sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep
And I fall asleep counting my blessings

When my bankroll is getting small
I think of when I had none at all
And I fall asleep counting my blessings

I think about a nursery and I picture curly heads
And one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds
So if you’re worried and you can’t sleep
Count your blessings instead of sheep
And you’ll fall asleep counting your blessings

 It also noteworthy to tell you that the song White Christmas is the world best-selling song of all time.

There you have it. Take control of your thoughts and don’t let worry at night keep you awake. Just tell yourself that you will think about it in the morning. The morning is when the peace comes, and God has blessed you with a new day to be alive. KT

Have you ever had a stressful day? Was it because someone did something or didn’t do something to you? Was it because of traffic or waiting in line at Starbucks or you had to reboot your phone?

Having a stressful day is subjective and should always be kept in context. In memory of Veterans day yesterday, I pulled out an American flag that was given to me a couple years ago. It was carried into battle and signed by Special Forces ODA 3236. The battle was in Baraki Barak Afghanistan during June 18-26^th 2015. It is personally signed by SSG Joshua Goldsmith, SSG William Chandler, SSG Carl Hurt, SSG Cory Latsha, SSAI Beccna, SGT John Presley, CPT Jason Kasper, SSG Steven Witezak and SFC Anthony Koch.

These brave men went into battle to protect our way of life that allows someone like me to sit in a heated office and post a personal blog post in the safety of the United States of America.

Veterans day was originally called Armistice day that commemorated the end of World War 1 on November 11, 1918. The name for the federal holiday was changed to Veterans Day in 1954 to honor all the men and women who served in the armed forces of the United States. Each year there is a special ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC. Some years ago, I had the privilege of attending a formal military funeral at Arlington for my good friend Sander Mednick’s father. As I was at the graveside, I looked over the thousands of white grave markers and I was literally speechless. It was the most humbling sight I have ever witnessed.

Next time you feel stressed, take a minute and whisper a prayer of thanksgiving for the blessing of living safe in America. KT

Sometimes there are physical things in our lives that we need to get rid of. I call these stress triggers. It could be something you keep putting up with as simple as an old outfit hanging in your closet or a lawn mower that doesn’t run, old car, boat, piece of furniture, trailer etc. Sometimes there are physical things we pass every day that cause us a little hitch in our gitty-up. I know this sounds strange, hence the title of the blog.

Very recently I have come to realize that I have one of these things in my life. It is something I see every day and every day that I look at it, I dislike it more than I did the day before.  Over the past week I was thinking about this item and realized that I need to get rid of it and need it out of my view and out of my life. Even if I must give it away. I simply need it to leave the premises.

I say, if it bothers you, clean it out and get rid of it. Home is supposed to be a place you enjoy coming to and relax. Not a place that constantly reminds you of things you need to do or of a poor decision you made when you bought that used set of tires you don’t need.  KT