What Happens

People believe themselves to be dependent on what happens for their happiness. They don't realize that what happens is the most unstable thing in the universe.
(Eckhart Tolle -spiritual thinker on page 79 of Words That Matter by the editors of The Oprah Magazine)

Dick Henthorn
20 Oct 2019

This and That

When I "react" I put the control of my peace of mind in the hands of others.  (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 15 September)

Broaden your perspective.  (Helen Steiner Rice, From The Heart, 8 September)

Today, let your actions speak louder than your words.  (Helen Steiner Rice, From The Heart, 5  September)

Today, concentrate on being optimistic, not pessimistic. (Helen Steiner Rice, From The Heart, 2 July)

Is "this" the cause of "that?" (after Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p.281)
24 September 2011

Serious Times

Whatever you do takes time, and yet it is always now. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 266)

In any realm of life success depends on obedience to the word of the expert.  (William Barclay, The Letter to the Hebrews, p. 34)

No Man Need Stay The Way He Is, (Title of a Fosdick sermon in The Letters To Timothy by William Barclay, p. 251)

Each of us must make our way through these serious times, carefully ordering our priorities and doing what we need to do to safeguard our spiritual growth.  (Casey and Vanceburg, The Promise Of A New Day, 6 August)

******

Yesterday I spent the afternoon in Bowie, MD.  I attended the computer club meeting at the Senior Center.  I assisted with setting up and breaking down the room.  Florence brought her desktop computer running Windows XP. We connected the computer to the projector.  She needed some help with with the use of her floppy and CD drives.  The computer was quite slow even when it was hard wired to the Internet.  After the meeting Bob B. made several changes in an attempt to eliminate the problems.  

After the club meeting I went to the libraries in Bowie and Crofton to return books and CDs.  I checked out ten more CDs from Crofton.  I selected several CDs by country artists who are new to me.

This is my second day using the new Blogger editor.  I like it so far.  The Label entry works better and the formatting commands are better.  The Preview displays how the page will actually look.  Overall I give them a "thumbs up."

Mr. Dickie

2 September 2011

Hard Drive Conversion to USB

No person in the world ever attempted to wrong another without being injured in return - some way, somehow, sometime. (William George Jordan in The Promise Of A New Day by Casey and Vanceburg, 4 January)

When we do not learn from the past or hear God and obey Him in the present, we destroy our future. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-by-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 513)

Many people feel caught up in the routines of daily living that seem to deprive their life of significance. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 257)

... bad decisions always result in bad consequences. (Billy Graham, Hope For Each Day, 25 June)

******

Yesterday I installed the hard drive from my old Dell laptop in an external drive case that I bought at a computer store. The USB cable allowed me to connect the drive to my new laptop and thus read the drive again. I'm having fun looking at all the genealogy PDFs I found on this drive. I don't remember how many of these reports I made available in the past. If you have access to my Box.net account watch to see what I make available.

Mr. Dickie

23 August 2011

The Ego

A public statement is nothing without the private effort to back it up. (Eric V. Copage, Black Pearls, 31 July)

Stress always diminishes both the quality and effectiveness of what you do under its influence. There is also a strong link between stress and negative emotions, such as anxiety and anger. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 302)

The attitude expressed on any occasion will profoundly affect the dynamics of the situation. (Casey and Vanceburg, The Promise Of A New Day, 8 June)

The ego is a self-justifying historian which seeks only that information that agrees with it, rewrites history when it needs to, and does not even see the evidence that threatens it. (Anthony G. Greenwald in The Promise Of A New Day by Casey and Vanceburg, 22 May)

20 August 2011

Quiet Time

If you are not in the state of either acceptance, enjoyment, or enthusiasm, look closely and you will find that you are creating suffering for yourself and others. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 295)

Most of my "bad luck" is directly attributable to conditions I allowed to develop. (Larsen and Hegarty, Believing In Myself)

I will ... include ... quiet time in each day, remembering this especially in times of family upheavals and dissension. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 29 July)

******

I installed a button on my copy of Picasa 3 which will allow me to upload photos from Picasa to my Facebook albums. I tested one time and it worked. I'm not certain how often I will use it.

I'm working on a project to create a Facebook Page for the Monroe County Ohio Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society. As always with Facebook there is a lot to learn. There are some features that I like and some things that are confusing to "say the least."

Yesterday I attended the computer club meeting and afterward stopped at the Crofton library to check out some CDs. This time I found ten that looked brand new.

Mr. Dickie

19 August 2011

Peace

...we must make sure that we surround ourselves with people who support and affirm us. We must let our friends and mates know that for our own health we will not tolerate their negative tunes. (Eric V. Copage, Black Pearls)

Problems that are buried inside us rather than brought out into the light work to drain us of spiritual energy. (Selwyn Hughes, Every Day Light, Day 189)

The ego is constantly asking, "Why can't I be at peace now?" The ego doesn't know that your only opportunity for being at peace "is now." (After Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 115)

11 August 2011

Power of Now

Anxiety, stress and negativity cut you off from .. [the] power [of "now."] (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth)

Surely a man is very short-sighted if he sets all his heart and expends all his labor on things which he must leave behind him when he quits this world. If a man has spent all his life amassing nothing but material things, then he has nothing at all to take with him when this world ends. (William Barclay, The Letter To Titus, p. 294)

Today emphasize being a good listener. Really listen, hear, and comprehend what the other person is saying. (Helen Steiner Rice, From The Heart, 13 June)

There's a period of life when we swallow a knowledge of ourselves and it becomes either good or sour inside. (Pearl Bailey in The Promise Of A New Day by Casey and Vanceburg, 14 June)

Present Moment

When you make the present moment, instead of the past and future, the focal point of your life, your ability to enjoy what you do - and with it the quality of your life - increases dramatically. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 297) 3 August 2011

Intelligent Stupidity

Stupidity is relatively harmless, but intelligent stupidity is highly dangerous. This intelligent stupidity for which one could find countless obvious examples, is threatening our survival as a species. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 289)

Diminished Ego

[Beware that aging may bring a] ... diminished ego [that] then spends the rest of its days whining or complaining, trapped in fear or anger, self-pity, guilt, blame or other negative mental-emotional states or avoidance strategies such as attachment to memories and thinking and talking about the past. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 287) 12 July 2011

Who Profits?

When laws and leaders are unjust, usually the poor suffer and the rich profit. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 432)

... pride does not easily give in to truth. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 276)

Today pay tribute to your mother. Her love touched your life and will continue to influence you forever. (Helen Steiner Rice, From The Heart, 3 May)

There's a difference between making a mistake and making a choice. (after Andy Andrews, The Noticer, p. 117)

[Don't get] ... caught up in mental movie-making. (after Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 141)

******

We are trying to deal with the extremely hot weather. The plants in the yard are taking a beating. Right not the hydrangeas are blooming. They should probably be watered twice a day. Sometimes I ask myself, "Why am I doing this?" The blooms are beautiful to look at, but it is a lot of work to pull it off.

Getting the new computer set up to work "for me" rather than "against me" is very challenging. Memory issues make it difficult to retain what I read or what I think I have learned. I have a Windows 7 DVD checked out from the library. I think I'll try watching that next.

I'm finding it difficult to stay current with my daily reading program, my journaling, social networking, blogging, Email, and volunteer webmaster duties. I skipped posting to my two Google blogs for three days. Yesterday and the day before I posted directly to the blogs. Usually I type the postings with EditPadLite in order to save them on my computer. Then I upload them to the blogs using the Firefox browser on the old desktop computer.

There was an eviction from a rental house near ours this week. I can't remember when this happened before in our neighborhood, if ever. We lost track of the number of rental properties in our development. Sometimes it's easy to spot them because it is rather evident that more than one family is living in a single family dwelling. Apparently the county authorities have no intention of trying to restrict the number of people living in any house. I try to remind myself that having a house occupied is better than having it vacant or boarded up.

Mr. Dickie
9/Jun/2011 7:50

Passing Your Passwords

Watching television is the favorite leisure activity or rather inactivity for millions of people around the world. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 230)

Lazy people can think up many excuses not to work and nothing anybody says will do them any good. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 425)

******

Riddle me this.

Why would a politician let his staff members have access to his social networking accounts?

Maybe he is just dumb or too lazy to actually post his own comments. Give someone else your passwords at your own risk.

Mr. Dickie
2/Jun/2011 8:39

Learning Curve

Character building begins in our infancy and continues until death. (Eleanor Roosevelt in The Book Of Choices by Mike Magee, M.D., p. 216)

... life involves direction, decision, and determination, just like walking a path. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 413)

Before we set out hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy they are, who already possess it. (La Rochefoucauld, The Book Of Choices by Mike Magee, M.D., p. 161)

Most people's lives are cluttered up with things: material things, things to do, things to think about. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 227)

******

Last night Cyndi installed the printer driver on the new computer. I changed the mouse pointer to the color black. Today I'm learning how to control the toolbars on Internet Explorer 9. The new laptop has a 64-bit operating system. We are trying to understand the significance of this, especially on whether it will have an impact on whether I can install older programs.

I discovered yesterday that Gmail was placing Email from Cyndi into the Spam folder. She was using a new address. I had trouble remembering how to access the Spam folder. Eventually I found the spot to click. Once I told Gmail that her Email address was Spam the missing messages moved to the inbox.

Cyndi wants to watch some DVD movies this weekend. She asked me to go to the library to see if I could find four titles. I located and checked out two. I also checked out two books about Windows 7 that I put on "hold" the other day.

I'm considering granting access to my genealogy information on Google Sites to more people. In the past access was by invitation only and very few people ever took the trouble to gain access.

I used both computer screens. On the large screen I opened Internet Explorer 9 and on the smaller screen I opened the copy of MS WordPad that came with the computer. I was able to copy and past from the web page to the word processor. This is a good example of how I plan to use the two monitors together.

Mr. Dickie
27/May/2011 11:04

Trip To Aberdeen, MD

Only if you resist what happens are you at the mercy of what happens, and the world will determine your happiness and unhappiness. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 200)

******

I didn't do any blog posting yesterday. I was too busy. I took the MARC train to Aberdeen, MD. the train left the station at 6:25 a.m. and arrived at Aberdeen at 7:45. I sat in the station for a while, making a new friend while I waited for high school friend, Thad Greb, to arrive from Pennsylvania. We located the Senior Center on Franklin Street. There was free parking on the street. We sat at a table in the dining room visiting until it was time to go to lunch. I was disappointed when we discovered that the New Ideal Diner was closed for repairs. We went back to the Senior Center where my new friend from the train station was working. He recommended to Thad that we go to eat lunch at the "all you can eat" buffet place across from the WalMart on Route U.S. 40. We enjoyed a nice meal and all of the visiting. I caught the 2:37 p.m. train back to New Carrollton. As I arrived at the train/subway station the T-18 bus arrived. I was getting off the bus at our at our corner about five minutes later. Before the trip I charged the battery in my Oasis player. I listened to music during the entire trip. I brought along a book but never opened it.

The Secret Service speaker at the computer club meeting this afternoon will talk about identity theft. We have had similar talks in the past. They have all been interesting.

Mr. Dickie
19/May/2011 8:41

Mind Over Matter

There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. (William Shakespeare in A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, p. 111)

Isn't it odd that no one ever taught us about mental hygiene? But good mental and emotional health habits were never mentioned, let alone explained. (Larsen and Hegarty, Believing In Myself, 13 March)

How much simpler it makes living through even our most feared experiences when we have acquired the wisdom to know that the mind we carry into the moment, any moment, will be reflected in the outcome. (The Promise Of A New Day, 10 March)

It's not at all unusual for grown men and women still to be operating on the same emotional level as they did when they were twelve. (Larsen and Hegarty, Believing In Myself, 25 March)

Being angry, being neurotic, having a less-than-perfect childhood do not excuse you from the obligations of the mentally competent. (Harold Kushner, To Life!, p. 187)

"This is my secret, I don't mind what happens." (J. Krishnamurti, the great Indian philosopher and spiritual leader in A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, p. 198)

"It's a question of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter." (Mr. Dickie)
13/May/2011 7:42

Unnecessary Baggage

... most people carry a large amount of unnecessary baggage, both mental and emotional throughout their lives. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 140)

******

Melva and I went for a four-lap walk at Schrom Park yesterday afternoon. The temperature got up to 87 degrees, the hottest day of the year so far. Melva spotted a four-foot long black snake on the side of a tree about twenty feet from the trail.

I continued to work on my Cascading Style Sheet project. I finished installing the Table of Contents code and examples of all of the available graphics in my test page. Next I'll attempt to install font controls with some preformatted text.

Mr. Dickie
27/Apr/2011 8:39

Good Old Days

[On the voyage of life] ... one must have fixed points from which to take a bearing. (Selwyn Hughes, Every Day Light, Day 83)

The past can be a heavy burden we carry around in our minds. (after Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 139)

Yesterdays have no value except as experience, to be used in making today and the future more fruitful. (One Day At A Time In Al-Anon, 13 April)

The good old days are often a combination of a bad memory and a good imagination. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 293)

We are not only possessors of the present, we are also the trustees of the future. (after William Barclay, The Letters to Timothy, Titus and Philemon, p. 161)

******

Nothing to write home about today.

Mr. Dickie
26/Apr/2011 8:22

Awareness

There is a proper balance between not asking enough of oneself and asking or expecting too much. (May Sarton in The Book Of Choices by Mike Magee, M.D., p. 187)

And true humility comes when we face ourselves and see our weakness, our selfishness, our failures in work and in personal relationships and in achievement. (William Barclay, The Letters to the Ephesians, p. 136)

Awareness is the greatest agent for change. (Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 99)
25/Apr/2011 7:49

Silence

"I have learned silence from the talkative; tolerance from the intolerant and kindness from the unkind. I should not be ungrateful to those teachers." (Kahlil Gibran in Sand and Foam found in One Day At A Time in Al-Anon, 27 March)

Silence sometimes is louder than speech. Know when to speak and when to be silent. (Warren W. Wiersbe, Chapter-By-Chapter Bible Commentary, p. 333)

Occasionally refrain from expressing your opinion when someone else is expressing his, and see what that feels like. (after Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p. 217)

What makes you think, if I ask for your opinion, that I'll listen to it? (Richard E. Henthorn, 16 March 2011)

We need a reason to speak, but none to keep silent. (Pierre Nicole in The Book Of Choices by Mike Magee, M.D., p. 101)
23/Apr/2011 17:37