Marty Floyd’s Weblog

This particular post is being placed in all my categories (as of September 27, 2007) as it applies to you just as much as me.

I started working on this post on a sheet of paper (an envelope) from a birthday card I received last week. My birthday is September 23rd and presented a good time for reflection.

I thought about my earlier “experiences” with art (paintings, music, books, TV, radio, cartoons in the newspaper, movies). I especially loved Picasso, future stuff, Flash Gordon, the Disney cartoons and movies, “2001, A Space Odyssey”, the Bible, Carl Sagen, baseball, GI Joe, “The Flying Purple People Eater”, Mickey Mantle, Elizabeth Taylor, Billy Jean. And they were all site and sound!

I have been a truly fortunate person. I have experiences that I still hold in memory. They are better than watching the latest high definition digitally encoded movie on CD for the “unpteenth” time. Some memories actually come with smells, touches, tastes, perfect audio and video!

Think for a moment about something that became truly mapped into your brain, psyche, and soul. Something along the lines of the birth of a child or the thrill of “knowing” you created a positive, lasting experience. What about the “experience” of discovery, freedom, faith? Something as simple as swinging on a swing (at home, a park, or on a tree rope over a lake or pond) or hitting a home run bring in all the senses, known and unknown.

Our capacity to learn, know, be unique, yet the same, is truly amazing! I have learned that the strength of positive inner feelings and mental attitude are far more powerful than negative ones. The negative ones are like weeds. They just grow when we do not engage in intentionally planting and growing the good, positive ones.

I created a web page that is a collection of some of the articles and thoughts I have “experienced” in this my birth month. I hope you take the time to visit soon at my web page.

Even this commercial brings thoughts flooding in on a very personal level,

Sleepy Hollow? Soft, smooth, fragerant, tight, tanned skin? Richard Scary, Stephen King? Star Trek, Star Wars? Bats, Batman? Pumpkins, Jack-o-lanterns? It could go on and on the longer you look at the advertisement.      

Goals, values, clarity, success, self-trust, self-esteem, intent, action, harmony, integrity, and beliefs are some of the types of quotes that come to my mind.

World leaders, writers, and sales people (advertising even) come up with sayings that stick over time to become part of what we believe in leading our lives. Some examples that have been with me for most of my life are as follows:

• “Simply believe” - my mother
• “Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision.” - Muhammad Ali
• “In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.” — Anthony Robbins
• ‘Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance.’  — Bruce Barton
• “Faith and initiative rightly combined remove mountainous barriers and achieve the unheard and miraculous. An enthusiastic attitude is nothing more than faith in action.” - Henry Chester
• If you seek to understand the whole universe you will understand nothing at all but seek to understand yourself and you will understand the whole universe. - Druidic Axiom
• “In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.” - Albert Camus 
• “I believe we all have greatness in us and our “life task” is to dig deep (into ourselves) and find the greatness that is within. It is here we find peace and purity of purpose, our true self. This quiet place inside is where we find that all things are possible. Our journey begins when we take our very first step towards our dream to make it reality.’ - MD Floyd

The previous one (MD Floyd) is one I made up some time ago after several setbacks and disappointments in people I trusted, as well as, myself. Life is so much better when you imagine no limitations and you create your picture of living.

Having been one of those subject to the TJ MAXX records theft, probably the Trojan Infostealer.Monstres, and assorted attacks on my network, my PCs, and email there is an amazing variety of ways the Internet/web has become personally important to each of us.

I applied for a business credit card online without much concern because I have internet security on my pc and my LAN. Moreover, the web site I was using had a secure connection (https). I also use the preferred complex password format (8 positions minimal, upper case and lower case, numbers, special characters).

I saw a statistic the other day that 26% of Americans spend at least six hours a day online. All of a sudden it hit me with a chill how vulnerable many people would be to identity theft, especially on personal computers and many home-based business computers.

There are places to go online such as http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/idtheft/idt04.pdf to see security information that you may want to download regarding all the kinds of problems that we face. They also have important information about what you can do.

The worst you can do is not pay attention to paperwork you throw in the trash or not review credit card statements. Somebody else may be using the information!

“Man-o-man” I used to say when things piled up. It seems as though stress hit me from all angles. Problems with son and school, car broke down, business deals fell thru, money tight, wife on edge, health issues, etc.

I bit my tongue, I tried deep-breathing, meditation, took an imaginary journey, meditated, prayed. Then I said to myself “damn, life can be hard!”. Then I thought to myself “it’s true, life is hard. But that is life, not me. I didn’t cause these events to converge.” Now it is time to act not react.

Everything in our life that occurs can be set in motion by things we have done in our past that put us in the current state of being. However, learning from living does make a big difference in how we live, how we act towards others, our ability to find inner peace in spite of circumstance.

Our spiritual growth and our life experience learning can help us be at peace no matter what. I can say thank you (god) for my good experiences, thank you for my inner strength. Moreover, thank you for the comfort of my inner voice.