by Dahni © 2014, all rights reserved
for: Susan
In Warmed
On: The Far Reach of Being Good At What You Do
The obvious thing here of being good at what you do, probably means that you are gainfully employed or you enjoy some degree of success if, you are working for yourself. I am sorry if you are able to work and choose not to, but rather suck off the breast of others. That is neither gainful employment nor any measure of success! And WE the People are NOT the UN-willing’s personal wet-nurse!
I am of course NOT, referring to those that for whatever reasons are unable to help themselves and need the help of others. But with very few exceptions, this should ONLY be temporary. I have a friend that is quadriplegic (cannot use her legs or her arms), but she has supported herself financially for many years and quite comfortably, I might add. You might wonder how this is possible? She is a systems analyst (is very smart) and she uses a stick gripped in her mouth to key in data to a computer. Believe it or not, not only is she good at what she does, but she is fast too!
For the rest of us so-called able-bodied folk, what are we good at? What are you good at? What am I good at? Are you employed doing these things or do you have your own business? If not, why not? Perhaps your very best skills are NOT, the ones that are presently producing paychecks or profits for you? The main difference between paychecks and profits is that a paycheck is primarily coming from the work that you did in the past and profits are from work that you and other people, perhaps your money and maybe other people’s money, have produced in the past. But there is one thing missing from both the paychecks and the profits. This is called residual income. Residual income is based on past actions, but it pays in the present and in the future. Paying into the future is, ‘The Far Reach of Being Good At What You do!’
Insurance agents receive residual income, even after they have retired. Every time someone renews the policy that the agent sold them, the agent gets paid again and again. This is, residual income. If you wrote a book, you most likely received a lump sum for your work. And some percentage in the form of a royalty pays you in the future, every time someone purchases your book. An artist may make prints from their original work. Every time someone purchases a print, this is another, example of residual income. It is my understanding that the popular song ‘Happy Birthday to You’ is, copyrighted (at least until 2030). Every time it is performed in public for profit, those performing it are, legally required to pay a royalty. This is yet another example of, residual income. Well, perhaps we are not good at or interested in insure-ing, writing, art-ing or music-ing, but we all should be interested in residual income! Like most of us, even doctors and lawyers (for the most part), do not receive residual income. Well then, the question that remains is, how then would you or I go about getting in on the receiving end of, residual income? I’ll leave this discussion for another time. But for right now, I just want us to consider the possibility of getting paid in the present and in the future, over and over again, for what we have done in the past. This too, is being good at, VERY GOOD AT what we do. And this is, The Far Reach of Being Good At What We Do!
I’ll close this with a simple illustration. We have a next door neighbor that works for the Parks and Recreation Department. He uses power tools and mowers and other landscaping equipment to perform his work. The fact that he goes to work day in and day out (except during the winter) and year after year, proves that he is good at what he does. Besides operating the equipment, he also has to maintain it; keep it running smoothly and efficiently. Years and years of experience have made him good at doing these things too. Well, what is the far reach of him being good at what he does?
Last summer, our neighbor came over while I was mowing our lawn. I turned off the mower to be polite and so I could hear whatever it was that he came over to say.
♦
“Your mower’s not running right. I can fix it if you like?”
♦
Just a couple of weeks ago, I was outside in the cold, running our gas powered snow blower. My neighbor came over. I turned off the snow blower to be polite and so that I could hear whatever he came to say.
♦
“Your snow blower’s not running right. I can fix it if you like?”
♦
You have got to be kidding me? In both of the above situations, our neighbor could tell by just the sound of the engines that they were not running correctly. Now that’s an example of being good at what you do! But more importantly, it also perfectly illustrates, ‘The Far Reach of Being Good At What You Do! His work in the past not only helped him in the past and helps him in the present, it helped us and perhaps my sharing it here will help you? Do you see how this can just keep going on and on? Our neighbor did not ask to be paid (but we paid him). He just loves what he does!
What are you good at? How can this become-
The Far Reach of Being Good At What You Do?
Will Just BE THERE, in the present, in the Future and it will benefit others as well!
Selah (Hebrew): “Consider these Words”
On Doing the Right Thing
by Donnie Hayden © 2014, all rights reserved
What exactly is the “thing” on doing the right thing? To be naked-honest and glass-clear truthful, we should NEVER need any other reason to do the right thing, other than it’s just the right thing to do! But alas and alak and yak, yak, yak, we all are, after all, emotional creatures. All of us are faced with having to do things we don’t want to do. And how do we handle it? What do we do? Do we ‘put if off’ until whenever/never (my apparently most favorite and most common practice?) and take a page out of the script from ‘Gone With the Wind?’ Do you remember Scarlet O’Hara? She was a character in ‘Gone with the Wind,’ a 1936 epic historical romance, set during the American Civil War. It was a Pulitzer-winning novel by Margaret Mitchell that was adapted to film in 1939. Scarlett O’Hara (played by Viven Leigh), was a manipulative Southern belle that carried on a turbulent affair with a blockade runner named Rhett Butler (played by Clark Gable). How did Scarlet handle doing things she did not want to do?
“I’ll think about it tomorrow…”
Well, experience has shown me that putting off until tomorrow hardly NEVER, if EVER, works out for me. Oh, there’s some stuff I loathe to do (like taxes) that I would put off forever if possible. But I will put off and put off until, usually the last moment. And then the ‘dreads’ overtake me, lack of sleep leaves me drained, caffeine turns me into a freaking fiend, I get cranky and quite frankly, like Rhett said to Scarlet, “…I don’t give a damn!” When I get this way, I don’t even want to be around myself! Why in the name of dumb-ass’ do I, DO this to myself, over and over again? Oh surely I expect some different result like Scarlet did for “tomorrow?” Well, isn’t doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting a different result, a definition of insanity? I’m not insane! I may be ‘nutty’ and do crazy things sometimes, but I’m pretty well-grounded in reality, I think? I am at least, acting like a child. And I am aware that some believe I never grew up anyway. 🙂
But maybe if I can remember being a child, MAYBE I can get a clue as to how a kid does the things that they don’t want to do? So, I went and played some mental videos made when I was a little kid that are now stored in my head. Our parents and care keepers knew that we would not long survive if all we ever ate was mac-N-cheese and ice cream (not necessarily in that order). They tried their best to give us a balanced diet. Most of us kids might think that the only thing in common between the words delicious and nutritious is, they just rhyme. But colors and textures are a BIG deal to children. Some, we like and some, not so much. Still, we were given food for colors and textures because, we need vitamins, minerals, etc., variety, fiber and good-wholesome-healthy food. So, I’m sitting there at the dinner table, after having been plucked up and away (rudely I might add), from my personal play. And what did I see? There was no mac-N-cheese and no ice cream. Are you kidding me? What is this stuff, I wondered? And what did I hear?
“Now you sit there and eat your dinner young man or you can’t get up until you do!”
Well, I have sat at the dinner table for a long time, many times. And sometimes, I did not eat my dinner. So, I went to bed hungry. It was my choice, but the worst part was that my stubbornness cost me my play time. It did not take my mom or I very long to figure out that this was not an effective way, to get me to eat what was good for me or to do what I didn’t want to do. It was all a waste of time and energy. Oh, and by the way, the ‘push-away’ and the, “That’s ucky,” look, didn’t work for me either.
Like this little guy, I tried to eat the stuff set before me. I didn’t like it. I watched mom watching me. OK, it’s in my mouth and crammed into my cheeks like a chipmunk’s cheeks full of nuts, now what? I’m not about to swallow it. But do I spit it out when mom’s not looking and where do I spit? Do I hide some in my other hand, put it into my pockets, throw it on the floor or kick it under the rug when she’s not looking? When if ever, will she ever stop looking at me? What else can be done? Strategy is required, especially when Brussels sprouts were on the menu. Let’s try ‘The Face,’ perhaps it will work?
Just saying “No,” didn’t work for me.
Neither of the following worked for me either: “I don’t wana,” or “But I don’t like it!”
The look of horror or this really creeps me out look, did not work for me. The sad, ‘Puppy Dog Face,’ didn’t work for me and maybe it was because, I never learned how to effectively make this face, since we didn’t have a dog?
“Pleeze don’t make me!”
My Mom was not too impressed with my, ‘If Looks Could Kill,’ look either.’
What else could be done?
Like I said before, this couldn’t work for me because, we didn’t have a dog. And it does not appear to have worked out for this kid either, IF he thought his dog was going to get rid of all the evidence! How about, “Geeze Mom, the dog won’t even eat it, why should I?” I never tried this technique, but maybe it could work?
And the empty plate is a happy plate did not work for me. I could have cared less if the stupid plate was happy or not because, I was NOT happy!
“Oh, alright, if I have to, I guess?” This MAY get me to eat my dinner, but I still wouldn’t like it. The little boy below looks all happy about eating his food, yes or no? At least he and I would be moving in the right direction, but still not there yet!
But our mom was brilliant when she came up with the following concept!
“As soon as you finish eating, you can go play!”
(or Eat to Play)!
Play Time Here Ize’ Comes!
“Well Mom, why didn’t you say that before?!!“ Now we’re on to something! So I tore into that food so fast and ate every bite. I was a blinding-blur as if I had somehow discovered a way to speed up time! I don’t recall the food even hitting my stomach, before I was out the door! It didn’t make the food taste any better then and it still doesn’t now! But it sure got me to eat it then and it still can today!
I could not recall, each and every bite I was focused upon my next delight This trip down memory lane is a public service announcement and has been brought to you by – Doing the Right Thing Do the right thing, even eating a Brussels sprout Don’t waste your energy and shout Don’t waste your time and pout Kid’s Have Got It figured Out-Do the things you have to do, so you can do the things you Love!!!
P.S. This post was written before the date it was first posted online. I am currently involved in, endeavoring to, to do the right thing and in trying to take my own advice here in doing the things I have to do, in order to do the things I love. 🙂
On Rainbows:
The R A I N B O W has long been a symbol of life, fertility, as a bridge from and to the spirit world, an archer’s bow and of promise and of hope. I like to think of the double rainbow (pictured to your left) as, ‘Promises Made & Promises Kept!”
A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that is caused by both reflection and refraction of light in water droplets in the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in a spectrum of light.
There are many other rare formations of color in the sky as the double rainbow. These other rainbow-like formations include: moonbows, seabows, icebows, sundogs and what I call snowbows.
Moonbows form at evening or night with water and if occurring, the bow will be seen away from the moon which passes through the droplets bending the moon’s reflected light from the sun and form the moonbow. What I have personally seen is where mist or spray rising off a waterfall at night, mixes with the light of the moon to form the moonbow.
Seabows or waterbows form from the salt water spray or mist which bends the light of the sun. It may be possible to see both a rainbow and a seabow at the same time, but the seabow’s arch will never line up with that of the rainbow. They are formed separately.
Icebows or halos (from Greek ἅλως; also known as a nimbus, or gloriole. They are an optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating colored or white arcs and spots in the sky. Many are near the sun or moon, but others are elsewhere and even in the opposite part of the sky. They can also form around artificial lights in very cold weather when ice crystals called diamond dust, are floating in the nearby air.
Sundogs are commonly made by the refraction of light from plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals in high and cold cirrus clouds. or during very cold weather. These ice crystals are called diamond dust, and drift in the air at low levels. These crystals act as prisms, bending the light rays passing through them with a minimum deflection of 22°. If the crystals are randomly oriented, a complete ring around the sun is seen — a halo. But often, as the crystals sink through the air, they become vertically aligned, so sunlight is refracted horizontally — in this case, sundogs are seen. They are so-called, as they sometimes appear on opposite sides of the sun or like smaller suns that appear to, ‘dog’ the sun.
Snowbows may appear when it seems as if snow is falling, but it is actually, more like ice dust or what is referred to as, ‘diamond dust.’ Snowflakes if they melt, turn into water droplets and if these freeze, they will not become flakes again, but small particles of ice (dust) which may appear like falling snow. Snow does not allow light to pass-thru like water and ice crystals. But this floating dust might look like falling snow, so if the colored arc appears, I like to call this a snowbow.
Another rare phenomenon and perhaps my personal favorite is what I call, ‘The Smile of God.’ The smile of God is an upside down rainbow. Technically this is called, the circumzenithal arc, CZA. It is the most beautiful of all the halos. The first sighting is always a surprise. It is like an ethereal rainbow fled from its watery origins and wrapped improbably about the zenith. It is often described as an “upside down rainbow” or as, “a grin in the sky” I like, ‘The Smile of God.”
Somewhere Over the Rainbow!
Israel “Iz” Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole (Hawaiian pronunciation: [kəˌmɐkəˌvivoˈʔole]) translation: “The Fearless Eyed”; May 20, 1959 – June 26, 1997), also called Bruddah Iz (Brother Iz), was a Hawaiian musician. His voice became famous outside Hawaii when his album Facing Future was released in 1993. His medley of “Somewhere over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World” was subsequently featured in several films, television programs, and television advertisement commercials. Through his skillful ukulele playing and incorporation of other genres (such as jazz and reggae), Kamakawiwoʻole’s music remains a very strong influence in Hawaiian music. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel_Kamakawiwo%CA%BBole http://www.izhawaii.com/
On Being God-like
I Needed and I Knew
by Dahni © 2014, all rights reserved
I needed to see God in the midst of so much fear, uncertainty and confusion and I saw you I needed God to call my name and give me peace to my restless soul and I heard you call my name I needed God to comfort me, to heal my body and my soul and I felt your hand upon my shoulder I needed God to give me just a taste of hope and I tasted the honey in your sweet words to me I needed God to tell me He loved me and I felt your warm embrace and your kiss upon my cheek I needed God and I know, He is with me, whenever you are near
Show me God! I can’t see Him! Look all around you!
God has no hands, but our hands of which to give any bread
He has no feet, but our feet, to move among the almost dead
We say that we are His and He is ours
Deeds are the proofs of that not words
and these are the proving hours
Note: There have been many that have claimed authorship of this poem or it has been attributed to others, believed to have written it. From my perspective, I don’t know who wrote it nor do I believe anyone else does either! There are several adaptations or versions if you will. Well, I changed a few words – “them” to “any” on the first line and “proof” to “proofs” in the third line. So, I will close with this of which I am quite sure is the truth, for me and that is, the author is –-unknown-
None will ever need to ask and we will never need to explain, argue, defend or ever tell a single soul. The world will know it is God in Christ in you, by the love you give to them –
without condition, reservation, judgment or hesitation.
-dahni-
“They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
A line from the Christian Hymn, “They’ll Know We Are Christians” (also known as “They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love” or “We Are One in the Spirit”). It was written in 1968 by then-Catholic priest, Peter R. Scholtes. It is inspired by The Bible, the gospel of John“By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”
The Bible, the gospel of John 13:35, King James Version
Announcement
Dear Family, Friends and Friends we have not met yet,
To those of you you that know Susan and I already, we wanted you to hear this from us first and not somehow find out about it, years later and maybe wonder WHY, we never told you or offered to help You!
Susan and I now have five grandchildren and four sons near and far and two are right now, in two other countries. At this time in our lives, we are thinking about building a legacy, particularly for the kids. We wanted not just to leave them a lump sum, but something that will continue to build for them and their future families and on, year after year.
Along the way, we want to continue to expand ‘The Gathering Place,’ our home, and make it better for all that may come here.
OK, so you now know our WHY, but what does this mean to you? That’s a great question! The answer follows.
Just this last Christmas, with very, very few exceptions, Susan shopped online for everything! This is becoming the norm’ everywhere today. Most of us are connected with multiple devices and on social networks. The weird weather we all seem to be having this winter makes it difficult or undesirable to shop at the brick and mortar stores. Besides that, most of us have little time to shop. Many of us are not particularly fond of shopping and especially when we get there and the store does not have what we are looking for. I do not know about you, but I don’t like waiting in long lines and dealing with stupid, rude, impatient and obnoxious people. What if there was a better way? THERE IS!
Just I-Magine not only SAVING money, but getting PAID to shop for the the things you are going to purchase anyway. Just I-Magine that not only would you be helping yourself, Susan and I, our children and grandchildren, but many others too! Well, this is exactly what it is and what it can do for you! What’s the catch? NONE!!
So this is all you need to do and all Susan and I are asking you for – just click on the following link or scan the colored design (the QR code Quick Response code) with your smartphone. Both of these actions will take you to our shopping mall – Dahni’s & Susan’s Mall. Once you are in the Mall, have fun! Look around, just browse or shop from the comfort of your favorite chair in your own home. Use our mall to order for pickup at many of your favorite stores. Just I-Magine walking into a crowded store where the lines are full. Your order has been paid for, pulled, ready and is waiting for you. On your way out, turn around and look at all the faces in those long lines, staring at you! Or, have your orders all shipped directly to your home or business with many things qualifying for FREE shipping. We even offer you many exclusive items that you cannot get anywhere else.
Think of Susan and I as your personal concierges, because we are your personal consultants. We are available to help you, any way that we can. If you cannot find what you are looking for or if you have ANY questions, when you get to your mall just look for my name, Dahni Hayden. Either Susan or I or both of us will help you. That’s it!
We will not bug you or beg you to do anything! You do not have to purchase anything! But do not say we did not tell you what we are doing, WHY we’re doing it and what it could mean to you! It’s up to you to click or scan below. It’s up to you if you ever save money or get paid to buy anything from us! If you have any questions, it’s up to you to get them answered to your satisfaction!
But if you are going to shop anyway, why not save time, get paid to shop, have a personal shopper (or two), help yourself, help us and help others while you shop? Oh, and when your friends and family sign up as customers and list you as the referral, we’ll pay you on their qualified purchases! This all seems like a ‘no-brain-er’ to us! It’s all too good, not to be true!
In the simplest terms this is, what it is:
“We are like a huge product brokerage company. We pool our buying power and buy online through a system that we own. We get discounts on products that we normally buy anyway and commissions on the backside and we all share those commissions with other people, just like you. Why not you?”
Let’s gather together at Your mall!
Happy Saving-Making-Money-Shopping,
Donnie & Susan Hayden
just scan the QR code 
or click the following link:
News from: The Gathering Place
From February 26th through May 1st, 2014, Your Gathering Place will be in Japan and Australia. Susan and I will be traveling to meet our two brand-new grandbabies’ in the lands of the ‘Setting Sun’ and ‘Down Under.’ You’re invited to come along with us! Yes, you are going with us, to Japan and Australia. 🙂
We will be posting pictures and other content as much as possible between the cooing of the babies and the warm-glows we’ll be having when we meet, greet, eat-em’ up and love em’ up! 🙂
Subscribe to this blog or join us at your Gathering Place on the Face book Page, The Gathering Place, and you’re in! Pack lightly and get ready for a trip of a lifetime! See you at the airport! 🙂
A Gathering We will Go,
Donnie & Susan
