Day 824 This is what its like when someone understands you

Howdy yall! I just wanted to sound like a Texan for a minute. The sun is shining and almost every lake around us is full of water which hasn’t been that way for 5 years. They are lifting water restrictions so most people are ready for the heat. I am, except the top of my head which is ready to burn and smell liked cooked bacon. Stayed tuned for further burning head debates.

I have some of the best friends,. They’re real and everyone is different but everyone  is needed to make my life where it is today. This person has been my friend for 25 years now. We took  a different path to become friends but have been able to talk about any and everything even with a 10 years of not talking much.

I don’t know anybody that wouldn’t want someone who at least trys to understand them. Sometimes they get you and sometimes even if they don’t they try really hard well this person below is that person for me. I’ve been searching for 7 weeks for the words to explain to the people who love me and you my blog reader where I am at. I saw this person Saturday spent about two hours talking and I received this last night. All I could say is wow and I teared up because they hit it on the head and said everything I couldn’t. If you want to know what its like to have someone understand you here it is for me.

New Living Translation Ecclesiastes 1:18
The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increase knowledge only increases sorrow.

You are such a great speaker and dynamic and winsome that it is so easy to see you and see your facade.  Not that it is all a facade, but a facade in that you KNOW life.  You are not swayed by life’s antics and you are not faked out by what the world has to offer or what the world is promoting at the moment.  But in that, you are (in my opinion) striving to reach something different.  And in that you find discontentment in the gap between your knowledge and your desires.  Being unwilling to settle leaves you as a constant sojourner.  I think your soul is weary.  Very weary.  How else could a soul so full of vitality not be able to come up with any dreams except that it is burdened beyond capacity by the dreams themselves.  You do have dreams.  You have many, but you can’t name them.  I think you can’t name them because they are buried under the rubble of your tiredness of trying to live life to the fullest.

For days I have wanted to have a thought they made sense to me about your current “state”.  I was focusing on the fact that you can’t name a dream, but this morning I heard a sermon on Psalm 23 and it hit me!  It is not that you can’t dream, it is that you are so weary.  The man who wants to bridge the gap between this dreadful world and the world that Jesus promises.  The man who stands strong for his family, gives his heart to others, speaks to share his story, donates of his time and resources, reads, studies, prays, works, searches for love, searches for a career, carries a financial burden, carries the wreckage of his divorce,  wants a better life for his kids, wants to be there for his sister, nephew, and mom, the man who would give of his last breath is completely breathless.

So what do weary people need?  They need rest and reprieve.  I looked up Psalm 23 in several translations until I found this…

The Living Bible

2-3 He lets me rest in the meadow grass and leads me beside the quiet streams. He gives me new strength.

The Message Bible   True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.

The Amplified Bible

2 He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters.

3 He refreshes and restores my life (my self);

What if you forgot all the other promises of God and just meditated on this?  What if you let go of striving and just focused on breathing?  Maybe for a week?  It is hard to not feel the burden of your knowledge. I am not suggesting it is easy, but I feel you are drowning in such a way that you don’t even realize the depth of your breathlessness.

I don’t know the answer for you, but I want you to take in a deep breathe and just let go.  Stop reading and thinking and contemplating and striving and trying to reach others.  Just breathe…

This is my prayer for you until I get something new.  I love you too much to let you wither.  =)

That my friends is what a friend is. This took time and concern. You know who you are and for that I can’t thank you enough….. For those that care now you know where my mind is, now time to find that restful spot.

Day 149 Smile when you talk

I need your help. I’m trying to become a speaker and I need some help to narrow down my topics on dealing with Fatherhood. I need 100 responses please help me out. Feel free to ask any questions. This survey is for men and women.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LV5DGFL

When you get divorced you miss a lot. I miss my exes dad side of her family. They are amazing and accepted me warts and all. I got to see two of my cousins today . It was really cool and weird at the same time. Mostly I got to hug them and tell them I love them and as they told me I was stuck with them and that was great to hear.

Andy Andrews is amazing if you have never heard him. Last October I saw him in persona and now I follow him. He mentioned that you need to learn to smile when you talk. Andy is older so I thought well since you have a lot of time on your hands so I guess he has time to do that. I didn’t even try it until this past April. I thought I’m going to look so phony and fake. That is my number 1 pet peeve.

So here is what he said to do.

Smiling while you talk can do more for you than you would ever imagine.

• People will gravitate toward you.
• They will remember you.
• You will attract more opportunities.

Smiling while you talk is a skill, not a talent.

• Anyone can master a skill.
• You don’t have to be born with a skill in order to master it.

Take 90 seconds a day and talk to yourself in the mirror.

• Observe how you look when you smile and talk at the same time.
• You don’t have to look like Bozo the Clown, and you’ll see that when you practice.

So I tried it and last night someone said to me. I really like being around you. Do you know that you smile when you talk. I gave myself a high 5. It works and I promise I don’t always want to smile. When your 6-2 260 you already have a problem scaring people. So don’t smile and see if that makes it worse. So I’m working on it. Just try it. People are used to frowns and if you bring a smile to their face then you have them engage with you and that’s the hardest part.