Sleep Report

I did manage to sleep last night as I took a day off. My pulled muscle is much better but now I can't sleep again. I need to stop having days off.

Sleeping is something that just isn't happening now. For some reason I can't sleep much on the second off day.

Rating football and contemplating the creation and its Creator are my "space."

Just received an email to conduct an interview by mail. Another sports rater. Football is my relaxing time.

Don't Just Stand There!

Life is about doing things. Doing things is progress whether you are washing clothes or going to night school. It strikes me that people who are depressed want to do the opposite - nothing. They see despair in doing something and choose to lie there depressed. I know people who suffer from depression and I believe a lot of it is self-inflicted. People churn things over in their minds and build a different view of reality over time. If you tell a lie often enough, they say, you'll believe it. That's absolutely true. There are lots of things you can do with your life to make it much more fulfilling. You can have a hobby - remember those? You can spend a lot of time visiting. You can clean your house and see your progress and say: I did that and I'm proud. The greatest thing in life that you can do is to take yourself out of the spotlight and help others. You can teach them, clean their houses, take them to see a movie, take them to the grocery, play catch ... the list is endless. People need interaction with other people. That is how our Creator designed us. Build a front porch, sit on it, and talk to people that pass by. Visit a neighbor. Home theater systems, Internet, video games ... these are the enemy if you are substituting them for life. Chat rooms are destroying lives. There are people - real ones, not virtual - outside your door. Take two depressed people and make them talk about something besides how depressed they are and you will be amazed at the results. Get out there and do the things you hate the most - talk, play, visit, see the outside world. That's your first step.

Something that Makes Me Happy

I love to rank football teams and I have a site devoted to it as you may know. If you read my bio on Google, though, you will see that my life has priorities. It says: God, family, job, football - in that order. As you might question my placement of each item, let me explain. God is at the top for a reason, not because I am a religious fanatic but because all good things come from God. That includes my family and my job. I do not place the job before my family just because it supplies our physical needs. It is not as important as my family. I can get another job. I can't get another family without going through all the emotions and time. On the other hand, God could give me another family with its history all set up as if it had happened and I would never know the difference. As for football, there I really am a fanatic, but I will never allow it to interfere with the three things above it. Hobbies have their place. We will discuss hobbies' role in happiness later.

God - the Most Important Component

It baffles me how many people spend most of their time fighting the concept of a higher Power. I cannot grasp the idea that suddenly, out of nowhere, with no provocation, the universe exploded out of nothing and began to form stars, planets, and even life. Without chemicals, life would be impossible, said an old advertisement. I disagree. Just because the universe requires chemicals doesn't mean it applies outside the universe. What is God made of? Is it something we could recognize with our limitations? Scientists like to think big but not when it applies to a potential Creator. That is anathema. I don't have that mental block. I can think freely, thank you, and I can think outside the box. Scientists don't like that kind of an attitude. That's fair, though, because I don't like theirs. Let them stay here in the universe, trapped by their rules. If Thomas Edison had that attitude, where would we be? There are so many things science can't figure out that it is amusing to watch. They want you to think they are all of one mind but they aren't. That's interesting considering how they boot out those they consider to be too radical, such as those who have the nerve to think Intelligence might have been involved in the creation of the universe. But, then, they certainly do go on about possible life on other planets. And they think religionists are the oddballs. To be frank, it does not hurt to believe that some Being we cannot understand created the universe and set everything in motion. It does not hurt to believe that this Creator set up the rules of the universe and does not have to follow them Himself. And it does not hurt to believe that He sometimes gets involved when it is necessary. There are those that say that if He created the universe and Himself is so perfect, why is there such chaos? Well, the stuff out there I call entertainment. It certainly entertains me every time they find something that doesn't fit into their current philosophy and they then have to do their research to figure it out so they can say: Oh, here's how it works. Nothing unusual at all. What's that they say about hindsight? Science has a long, long way to go to understand only the universe. To truly understand the Creator would be infinitely more difficult. Those scientists like to talk about the infinite but they don't want to confront it. God, however you might see Him, created all there is. He laid out the foundations of the universe and gave us brains to try to understand it, or, more likely, to see how awesome He is and who knows if the universe is his greatest creation? Our job in building our happiness is simply to recognize his great contribution to us who do not deserve it, to be thankful to Him for the free gift, and to make the most out of that gift. Fighting or denying what is does not lead to happiness. If you truly want to be happy, this is your first step.

My New Web Site

The articles you see in this blog are my thoughts about happiness. I have started a site in my sports site (that site makes me happy) in which I will break down the thoughts I've posted here. The site is in the column of the blog and is called The Way to Happiness.

Today is another wonderful day. I'm sitting here staring at my meal, thinking of my time off, and contemplating how I want to attack my to do list. Total relaxation before the war.

Sent from my Palm Pre on AT&T

What is your Life Based Upon?

True happiness needs a mold to take a shape. To me, religion is that mold. What is religion? It is the belief and gratitude that Someone cares about you and gave a life free of charge just as your parents probably did. I'm not saying religion is the answer but that the Giver of your life is. Many people waste their lives fighting this realization. It seems their lives revolve around the preoccupation to disprove a higher Being or a scripture. Why don't they go play a video game or something that will take away some of their misery? I guess this blog is my mission. I want to know what makes people happy and how to love others. The first step to having a happy and wonderful life is to have a true foundation. You may not see God the same way I do but there is one key factor upon which happiness is based - that what you have is a free gift. I see people all the time who are utterly miserable. They act like animals. They do not realize that they were designed to rise above the animal kingdom and be God's greatest creation. To deal with them is like trying to tell a dog to go slow and enjoy the nice steak. Chew it slowly, savor it, and think of where it came from as a free gift. People do not appreciate life. Two gulps and that steak is gone. I appreciate the free gift God gave me. I think about a lot of things. When confronted with a new situation I stop and ask: What should I do to act like a human? How would an animal react? I'm going to thank God for that steak. I'm going to be grateful. I'm going to cook it up nice and tasty and I'm going to take small bites and chew it well. And if it has a gristle or two, I'll get to enjoy the flavor longer.