I have missed writing a blog entry. I did it every day while at sea on Bella Donna crossing the South Pacific. It was easy to stay focused on thoughts and then setting aside the few hours required to write something each day. Bella Donna is a very small island in a very large sea. While standing watch or watching a fishing line you have time to think. I have not been on any recent long passages and I do find it very challenging to think and write at the same time dealing with daily life.
So, I want to commit some time to reflect on my thoughts that are stimulated by what is in the news each morning. I want to do this every day. We will see how this works for me.
I find that things happen in the world that touch me and remind me of lessons that life has taught me. I want to write some of this down so it may be used by others. I especially want my grandchildren, when they enter early adulthood to know what their grandfather thought in hopes it helps them to make good life decisions.
Life has been very good to me. People have asked me to write about how to live successful life. There is this huge pile of experiences, lessons, thoughts, values and facts; it could take forever to write it all down. So we will try to do a little every day as the morning news stimulates my memory.
What struck me this week is how people make decisions. As a young boy I totally got 2 things, faith (values) and scientific method. My mother would take me every Sunday to the Methodist Church at the end of the block we lived on where she sang in the choir and I got instructed on how to live a Christian Life; i.e. values and using a moral compass. My father would stay home to mow the lawn, drink a beer and start the traditional Sunday Texas Family BarBQ. I thought my dad did not share the church values. It wasn't until years later that I learned the strength and level of commitment my dad had to values. You see he was a thirty-second degree Mason, a man of great spiritual values which he practiced by giving time to handling the finances for the Shrine Circus every year to raise money for the Shriner's Children's Hospital. He also ran the finances for the Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo to raise money for charity. It wasn't until I grew up, got married and moved to California that I learned how hurt my father was that I did not ask about how to become a Mason. You see a Mason can not talk about his Masonry until a son or daughter asks.
As a young boy I was introduced to the Scientific Method of making decisions. This means that I would not accept any fact that would be important to my life decisions until I was convinced by proof over an acceptable time period. To this day I do a ridiculous amount of research before purchasing almost anything. For example, I spent 6 months analyzing the Apple Watch before buying one. I did not buy an Apple Watch for a show of style; I bought it for its functionality. Have I made mistakes and resented purchasing something I researched ? Yes, but it happens rarely and when it does I learn from my mistake.
We live is a world flooded with marketing messages, social media, political correctness, propaganda and lots of exercise of freedom of speech. The vast majority of this flood of information does not pass through the Scientific Process. this information would all be interesting, if true. The truth is today, more so than when I grew up, people start with a fact they want to be true and go about collecting only the information that supports their “fact”. Then they flood the news and electronic social media making a marketing/propaganda case to convince as many people as possible.
My experience is if you allow yourself to make important life decisions based on this marketing/propaganda which definitely forms opinions held by many, you will be unhappy and certainly NOT SUCCESSFUL.
You are an individual, be a leader of one making your life decisions based on facts you know scientifically to be true. This is why we have our Freedom. Do not become a human robot in the forwarding of marketing/propaganda to others. Take your time to research and verify before giving into social pressure. Feel that what you pass on has value.
A little short for today, i will do better as I get into this.
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