SIXTY PLUS AND NOT HOLDING

(These thoughts were placed also on my Wyhrick's Writings blog.  This is the first time I have done this but I just wanted to make sure these thoughts had a doubled chance to enter your memory bank). A senior citizen was driving down the freeway  and his cell phone rang.  As he put it to his ear he heard the frantic voice of his wife on the other end.

"Charles, where are you?  What highway are you driving on?"

"I'm on Interstate 195."

"Be careful Charles," it's all over the news.  Some car is driving in the wrong direction."

"I know that dear.  In fact, it is worse than that.  There are hundreds of them."

We all have been absent minded but hopefully it will never come to this.

How do you feel about old?  You certainly have an opinion because you've already achieved it or have parents who are already their.

Thiking about it and planning to make it better certainly makes sense...a lot more sense than ignoring it.

So let's hop aboard the train of PROPER ATTITUDE and see what landscapes we can come upon. 

Hold tight to the following scripture.  It's a good companion for the trip...that's for sure.

Psalm 92 and verse 12.  “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree, they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon planted in the house of the Lord.  They will flourish in the courts of our God.  They will still bear fruit in old age and they will stay fresh and green.”

Stay fresh.  Grow green.  Sunshine thoughts and bright fresh prayers to greet each new day.   Fower beds instead of ash heaps.

Are  old are you?    As old as the dreams you still pursue or the dreams you have let shrivel and die.

I just broke my hip and I'm already planning my next trip to Disney World in January.

I look at the scoreboard and not a calenedar when I get all excited about a football game or a golf match.  I plan on reading number of good books I haven't read amd my age of 82 won't keep me from enjoying them just as much as did enjoy reading 30 years ago.

You've got extra time. Then put in some extra prayers; for friends and family and church and pastor and church leaders.  There really is a special electricity to prayer when you overdo rather than underdo.

There is a condition I call premature OLDNESS.  The social security card register 55 but the individual has already been ancient for a number of years.  Instead of looking for a groove to revel in they settle for a rut to shrivel in.  They have no hobbies but growing tired, tired and tireder.  The idea of taking a walk after dinner is an anathema to them.  They haven't read a good book or listened to some music or found something to get excited about for years.  And so they are like the tombstone that says the person who lies there died at eighty wherein the truth is they died spiritually and emotionally 30 years before that... even theough they continued horozontal and vertical movement.

And then there are those whose skin may wrinkle more each day...but not their souls...those glorious folk of which I know many who lift my spirit by their attitudes...by their relating what they just got through accomplishing and what they are going to do more of.

When it comes to attitude I think one of my favorite stories is of the little old lady in the nursing home celebraing her 90th birthday and a reporter asking, "Do you have any children?'

And she with a great big smile on her face answering "Not yet!"

Isaiah 46, verse 4 it says,  “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you.”

To Watch Neil in one of his famous One Man Dramas, NBC Television speakers, Award Winning Films....click on the URL below

http://www.speakerneil.com/

To visit his other blog Wyrick's Writings (Serializations of his books, posted best of his sermons and thought pieces...

Click on the following URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

PAIN AND PROBLEMS...SOME THINGS TO DO ABOUT THEM

He was a world class pianist. His fingers turned a piano into a mystical instrument that seemed as if it had descended from heaven itself. 


Then one day he felt a stiffness that would
not go away.

He went to a doctor hoping that an injection or two might solve the problem and he would no longer have to watch his skills daily diminish.

"There is nothing I can do.  It is only going to get worse and worse." said his doctor.  "Your fingers will become wooden and crippled and your fingers will become fused."

It happened and now he must decide whether to give in to dispair or to set a goal that might well be no more than a deluded dream.

For him their was only one decision to be made.                                

 He kept his ailment a secret from all but his wife and two close friends. He worked long hours to change his technique. He learned how to use what strengths he had instead of concentrating on his weaknesses.

He also used a regimen of medications, acupuncture, ultrasound, and even hypnosis to deal with the pain.

His wife learned how to give him therapeutic massages to loosen his stiff joints.

He persisted and through hard work and sheer determination, Janis was able to continue his career.

He maintained a full concert schedule for 12 years without anyone suspecting.

Finally, he told the world at a White House concert in 1985.

These days, he is active in fund-raising for the Arthritis Foundation and still plays the piano.

He credits faith, and hope, and will for his success and says, “I have arthritis, but it doesn’t have me.” 

So pause on these wandering thoughts below.  Add to them your own insights.  Spread the truths...

Pain and problems seldom whisper.  They usually shout.  So what to do...don't exaggerate a problem or a pain.  Play it down. Pray it up.  Start listing your blessings so often they tag along after you wherever ou go or however you feel.

Pain drives us to our knees so we will not make the monumental mistake of trying to live out our lives on a pedestal.

Pain sharpers our empathy curve.  When we have hurt long enough and hard enough, we have a completely different outlook on the pains and problems of others.

To Watch Neil in one of his famous One Man Dramas, NBC Television speakers, Award Winning Films....click on the URL below

http://www.speakerneil.com/

To visit his other blog Wyrick's Writings (Serializations of his books, posted best of his sermons and thought pieces...

Click on the following URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

HOW TO SURVIVE AN OPERATION WITH SOME EXTRA PLUSSES

There is a high degree of relevance to this article because on May 20th at 7 43 PM I failed to negotiate stairs at my daughter's house in a proper manner and broke my hip.

 

Since then I have been collecting and collating postive thoughts and actions to hasten my recovery.  I've sat by enough hospital beds with friends nd family and members of my congregations to have a goodly number of ideas that you may find useful.  (For eventually most of us end up in a hospital and the challenge of handling it in an intelligent manner whatever sickness has descended is paramont.)

 

So...first off I noticed... that if I was not careful I would spend too much time looking far ahead when I would be well...and thereby failing to milk the present moments of what good was happening.

 

Surviving an operation with positive results by following at least some of the following is worth the time and effort...so here's to positive follow though.

 

Do what you're told.  Take the medicines.   Do the exercises if you're in rehab.  Don't collect exuses for not doing any of the above.

 

(Surgery is not a happy time but it can be turned into a greater plus if you know you have graded out at the top of the line in cooperating with your instructions)

 

NOW SOME PRACTICAL DOWN TO EARTH SUGGESTIONS

 

Find some games that cn be played individually.  That way you will always have a playing partner no matter how busy everyone is. 

 

Find someone who willing to scratch your head.  You may be one of those who don't like it...but most do...and the satsifaction level is extremely high.

 

If you can't walk but are mobile by means of a wheelchair don't stay housebound.  Mother nature stands ready to nurse you with a gentle wind, a pale sunset, a twinkling star...

 

If your injury or illness has been serious and you're having trouble wrapping your thoughts around it...talk to someone else who has the same problem or better still find a group...group therapy is exactly what they all it...actually, I think it shold be called fellowship therapy.

 

Buy a book on meditation.  It'll help you to get more out of your Bible, put muscles on your prayers...for ultimately this is what is all about..."your soul finding the peace that passeth undetrstanding.:

 

Pull out those boxes filled with pictures that you have always planned on putting in order.  It'll be fun and you can then look back on your time of pain as constructive as well as destructive.

 

Besides random reading...pick out a subject you've always wanted to know more about and become a mini expert.  With Google there is no limit to how smart you can become on anything in a relative short time.

 

If you're right handed, teach yourself to write with your left hand.  It's a talent that may come in handy some day. 

Well, now we have you becoming quite an interesting person aren't we?

 

Have a yard sale.  Great way to meet new people and get you out of the house and perk up your income.

 

Hand write some thank you notes to those who did something nice for you years ago.

Think about it.

How would you like to receive a note from someone who thanked you for something you did years ago?

 

 

Look up Bible verses on the Internet.  Some have beautiful pictures and music to go along with them.

AND...

 

To Watch Neil in one of his famous One Man Dramas, NBC Television speakers, Award Winning Films....click on the URL below

http://www.speakerneil.com/

To visit his other blog Wyrick's Writings (Serializations of his books, posted best of his sermons and thought pieces...

Click on the following URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

 

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

 

There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO MOTIVATE A SLOTH

Have you ever tried to motivate a sloth?

It certainly isn't easy.

For the sloth change is an abomination.  He revels in nothingness.  He moves at the speed of backwards.  At his best during the completion of a day he will have at the maximum have gone the length of two football fields. 

That is on a good day.  On a normal unmotivated day he may well move no more 4 or 5 yards.

 It certainly isn't easy.

After all he is a sloth and he has a reputation to withhold.

An old mountaineer was sitting in front of the fireplace.  It needed repairing.  So did the fence outside their mountain cabin window.  It wandered brokenly across a half plowed field.

With a great sigh his wife said, “Jed, I think it’s raining.  Get up and go outside and see.”

“I got a better idea,” replied her half asleep husband.  Why don’t we call the dog to see if he’s wet.

Those who constantly repeat the phrase “not now” are really enslaved by “never.”

Laziness moves so slowly poverty soon catches up; the poverty of mind, body and spirit as well as personal economy.

So here's to the death of slothdom in your life and enough spiriitual emotional muscular to keep it that way.

To Watch Neil in one of his famous One Man Dramas, NBC Television speakers, Award Winning Films....click on the URL below

http://www.speakerneil.com/

To visit his other blog Wyrick's Writings (Serializations of his books, posted best of his sermons and thought pieces...

Click on the following URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

ANGER YOUR WAY TO POOR HEALTH

Doctors from Coral Gables, Fla., compared the efficiency of the heart's pumping action in 18 men with coronary artery disease to nine healthy controls.

Each of the study participants underwent one physical stress test (riding an exercise bicycle) and three mental stress tests (doing math problems in their heads, recalling a recent incident that had made them very angry, and giving a short speech to defend themselves against a hypothetical charge of shoplifting). Using sophisticated X-ray techniques, the doctors took pictures of the subjects' hearts in action during these tests.

For all the subjects, anger reduced the amount of blood that the heart pumped to body tissues more than the other tests, but this was especially true for those who had heart disease.

We all have experienced our anger getting out of control while taking control and so it does it well to always have ready a few ideas to handle these miserable moments.

Are you angry at a person?  Then when possible avoid them for awhile.  Do do so in a manner that is not obvious. 

Be polite in the practice of avoidance but also remember that if you get a sunburn you take time away from the sun so you can heal...same is true with some folk. 

And, of course, pray toward moments in the shade when the two of you or the one of you are not longer angry.
Yes, try that old pattern of counting one to ten and then count backwards ten to one and then count forwards and backwards while skipping numbers. 

 The idea is to so overwhelm your anger at the initial bust you have no mental energy left to remember what you are mad about.

Exercise...get your heart beat up ...it really will help you cool down.

To Watch Neil in one of his famous One Man Dramas, NBC Television speakers, Award Winning Films....click on the URL below

 

http://www.speakerneil.com/

 

To visit his other blog Wyrick's Writings (Serializations of his books, posted best of his sermons and thought pieces...

Click on the following URL

 

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

 

 

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

 

There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD AN AMISH ADULT YELL?

An author for Reader's Digest writes how he studied the Amish people in preparation for an article on them.

In his observation at the school yard, he noted that the children never screamed or yelled. This amazed him.

He spoke to the schoolmaster. He remarked how he had not once heard an Amish child yell, and asked why the schoolmaster thought that was so. The schoolmaster replied, "Well, have you ever heard an Amish adult yell?"

The next time you loose your temper (I don’t see why they call it loose you temper…it’s your patience you’re losing)  think the word LOGIC.  Shout it to yourself.  Write it across the roof of your mind.  And then apply it. 

Because as long as it remains no more than apphilosophical eercise inside your head it will continue to be mostlyworthless...ful of sound and fury and signifying noithng.

Logic says...
 you don’t want people to dislike you and not want to have you around.  Logic says that the more you gain a reputation as an angry person the less gain you will have of friends. 

And yes...ask yourself whose fault it was the last time you had an all out blowout with someone or a full blown pout? 

I’ll bet it wasn’t all their fault. 

What do you think? 

We can be our own worst enemies can’t we.

Do you want to fill your days with weariness?  Anger does that.  It wears one out.  Think about that.

Memory.  I remember the people in my lives who have provided miserable examples of how to live.  Whose anger made them say and do things that filled my memory bank with such inopportune moments. 

 And I pray for forgiveness when I have been guilty of the same. 

So remember you are a Farmer Brown planting memories of how yu have acted and if there has been no self control ...and if it angry members inside the heads of family adn friends...yur harvest will be a crop no one will wamt to harvest.

Practice makes perfect.  Well, when it comes to patience…no one manages that.  But persistent consistent practice certainly helps…staying patient a minute longer and praying to get over any anger a minute sooner…

And oh yes back to that
Amish adult...are you even close...and how is the yelling factor in your family recently.

To Watch Neil in one of his famous One Man Dramas, NBC Television speakers, Award Winning Films....click on the URL below

http://www.speakerneil.com/

 

To visit his other blog Wyrick's Writings (Serializations of his books, posted best of his sermons and thought pieces...

Click on the following URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

FEAR AND LOVE DON’T MIX (or how to be more patient)

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

 

There are over 600 stories and commentaries on this blog. It is added to daily.

 

"He that can have Patience, can have what he will” – Benjamin Franklin

The child is afraid to go home from school.  He does not like discipline.  No child does.  But the unreasonable anger that propels his parent(s) kills the effectiveness of what they are trying to teach and plants the seeds for future memory trees he will never want to sit beneath.

They loved each other but now they fear each other.  Fear the words that are so filled with hate.  And neither will say “I am sorry”  And oh how those words can heal a wound and open up the beginnings of love again.

Some control their anger easier than others.  It is a fact.  Anyone who says they have never let ill conceived thoughts come tumbling out with no restraint are hardly making a truth.

But when a parent or a child or a mate sees the other person constantly trying to improve and saying “I am sorry” a hundred times and maybe more…it does make it easier to live with.

The WORDS “I am sorry” have little replacement value as against action.  There is no doubt about that.  But one has to begin somewhere…and not accepting blame is no place to begin.

Go for counseling.  Read a self-help book. (DON’T STOP WITH ONLY ONE)  Read the best self-help book of them all; THE BIBLE.

 When someone is giving you a hard time.   Go for the big picture.  Look beyond the moment.  Try to imagine what it was that shaped this angry person in front of you.  Were they one of those children who was raised with fear?  Are they filled with insecurity?  As you walk away from them, for staying near someone who has a mouthful of invectitude isn’t very helpful.

Thank them (silently in your mind) for being such a great teacher.  Study them, study them well, study not to be like them.  It can be a great learning experience.

To Watch Neil in one of his famous One Man Dramas, NBC Television speakers, Award Winning Films....

 

click on the URL below

http://www.speakerneil.com/

 

To visit his other blog Wyrick's Writings (Serializations of his books, posted best of his sermons and thought pieces...

 

Click on the following URL

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com