Marty Floyd’s Weblog

Wow!

I took a break this past winter. I worked on some personal projects. Painting inside and outside, ripping out my master bath and pulling a “Bob Villa” style do-over. I patched my roof, tore down my pool.

This past March I went down to Charleston S.C. to attend a funeral. My aunt, the one who basically taught me to water ski and had the most infectious laugh, was gone physically.

I was a reality shock for me. She was only 16 years older than me. I felt as though my life was slipping away. I know it becomes natural to “feel mortality” but I was not ready yet. I muddled along until spring was warm and breezy.

I started working in the yard pulling weeds, cutting off pieces of trees that were damaged by a particularly wet and snowy winter.

I tore out flower beds, re-mulched and replanted the beds. I had carpet torn out and new carpet installed.

I did a big shake up of personal items. I took one room at a time (it did not matter to me….I am the project manager for this segment. I am the person responsible. THEN I MADE A BARGAIN. I said that if I could find currency with the object I would sent it over for review/reconditioning. If the item better served an older requirement or was of no particular use/advantage it got dumped.

I made the comment that if anything was special to somebody they should take a picture of it and then say goodbye to it.

That is kind of where I am today. Do I really need this and if so why?

This process takes away from the hoarding mentality. It provides mobility, saves time, resource and money.

With the pictures you may still conjure up the memories and feelings that are good or important.

Think about what is collected, why is it collected, what advantage it provides other than satisfaction of impulse. This is one reason retail grocery stores in particular place cute or tasty items next to the checkout stations. They count on the old queue concept that they analyze to their benefit. If they know the checkout line will consistently have 4-6 patrons waiting it becomes easier to move (sell) small items. Do the thought process fairly often on what, why, what and it becomes natural. You end up with a good system of inventory, storage facilities and usable materials. You also don’t have to spend days getting STUFF ready so you can spend all day on Saturday having a yard sale and/or donating the stuff that has kept you from finding many things you knew were out in the garage somewhere.

Time on the other hand is different. It is given freely, for a price, or is taken and becomes lost. Time is a lot of things but patience is not one of it’s better qualities. Time decides “how long” and gives no more. It is gone. Take close heed of your time. Once spent it can not be spent again.

Stop, find your quiet place, relax, decompress and allow any stress to leave your space.   Clear current thoughts. Breath. Repeat your key word like “OHM” over and over while watching your breathing pattern slow down. Now choose what you want to focus your mind and energy on. Solve some problem or create an easier solution or a safer solution or a more productive solution. You can even waste some time looking at those animals that seem to pop up every time you take some time to just be, to look at the clouds and say what better way to spend my time right now.

Take some time.

The Giants won the Super Bowl last night by upsetting the previously undefeated Patriots!

Reportedly 1.5 million people were expected to call in sick today. If the average income of these people was $20.oo per hour, the cost of this practice would cost $30,000,000 per hour or $240,000,000 for the day in lost productivity!

Now everyone knows we don’t work eight hours a day. But practically speaking if the same math were used with my experience factor of .67%, then we still lost about $160,000,000 in productivity. The general population will have to bear the burden of this expense by paying a higher price for consumer goods and services.

Many companies do not pay for single day sick leave usage without a doctor’s note. After all it really is a medical benefit, not a right of extra time off from work.

The average 30 second commercial ad cost for the Super Bowl was $2,700,000. “Not a lot of money” is what I have heard regarding the expense as a percentage of “advertising budget” for the companies that did advertise. But, then again, we the consumer pay for those costs too.

So on this day, 2-4-2008, I am a little in awe that we don’t seem to have a big problem with some spiralling costs. I’ll bet a lot of people do not know that the company that has recently become the largest profit taker of any company in U.S. history for a quarterly and annual profit ( $11.7 billion, $40.6 billion respectively) is Exxon Mobil. Exxon Mobil produces about 3 percent of the world’s oil and had sales of $404.5 billion for 2007!

I think that I have written enough this morning after Super Bowl. I am going back to bed and dream of sawbucks or gold dust or the next Super Something.

I have experienced stress that I could not seem to shake or “self talk” my way out of that seemed to have no end.

Every turn seemed to be more burden. I finally reached a point where I just felt that there was nothing left in me to fight with anymore. The mental and physical exhaustion reached what is called a “break point”.

I sat in the dark and started to pray. The prayer went something like this. “Why has this terrible situation come to pass? What could I possibly have done to deserve to be here? God, if this is a test, hear me now that I can not go any further. If this is a test I have reached my end. I now turn to you and say please intercede on my behalf.”

Sounds like a pretty low point to experience, right? Well it was. When you feel there is nothing left, that you have no more to endure, that is when you have to turn the situation over to a higher authority.

It was a fairly lengthy process for me. I lost my wife and son, my home, my job and myself all within a short time frame. At that point I cried out “dear God if this is a test I have had all I can bear.” I had done no wrong, had not hurt anyone, had not broken any laws either to man nor God.

I am sure countless numbers of people have had this “experience” and it would test the mind and spirit of the strongest person. Climbing out of the funk is almost unbearable.

At this juncture there is nothing that even makes a “moment of peace” possible. The only way thru the process is in a fog. One day becomes many and somewhere in the fog you accept the circumstances. You come to a place where you realize it really is not about you as an ego. It is about the spirit, the right purpose. It is about the rationalization that everything is either caused by natural selection or accidental occurrence.

The pain and potential growth from it are only possible by the higher spirit. At this juncture you realize that any “plan” you devise for the future must include a few basic concepts. You have to fix the primary purpose for living, you have to devise tasks that can become the goals that you strive for every day on your journey. You have to become a “present minded” person.

So you make your plans, you write them down, you work your plan! You also build a new life. You can write the “book of life” that you want. You recognize, relate, assimilate and apply what you know and what you want at this point in life.

You can not take everything that happens personally. Now you know that you can only control what you think about, what you focus on, and how you live your life. The natural disasters will continue, accidents will happen, and the world will evolve, change and be replaced at some point. 

Make the best of where you are. Think positive thoughts. Be kind to yourself. Rest when you are tired. Be active, exercise, live each day. Watch what you eat and how much you eat. Most of all, realize that you control the world of your inner mind and can make it a paradise! Give of yourself when you can and be happy.