80% Store Closure, Using Pain to help Others, Those Damn Banking Establishments, Being Kind, “Threemorrow”

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

— Thomas Jefferson

Joe Camel nudged me awake; good morning, welcome to hump day. I’m in my purple writing chair; my dog is sniffing around for treasure; my Queen is asleep; this is my time. The coffee to my right is strong, the fireplace to my left is toasty, this is my life, and I’m a delighted man.

Yesterday was an excellent first day back in Indiana. We got up at 5:00 a.m. MT or 7:00 ET, we slowly acclimate back to our new time, 6:30 ET today, etc. I no longer awake at 5:00 a.m.; with my reclamation of time, I’ve found 6:00 to 6:30 to get my work complete and allow for a little extra sleep.

I worked at home until 10:00, headed to my doctor’s office to get a shot of love juice in my rear,  stopped for a Grande coffee in a Venti cup with coconut milk, and a couple of those egg bites extra done. I made a few calls and then met my good friend Dr. Ciano for lunch.

We dined at Kona Grill, we both had sushi, we caught up on the last two months, he’s in a good place, as am I. We’re both blessed and type A guys, driving for something, helping each other with a strategy for life and business.  We both commented that such a bad year for the world had given us so many precious lessons about living better lives.

He did share he was a little confused; we were in an outdoor mall setting, his office is located nearby. He communicated when he walked from his office, 80% of the stores were now closed.  He tried to calibrate that data with the stock market’s continued performance; I shared what I learned in the Great Devaluation, how the Fed is now placating Wall Street, leaving the rest of the world to fend for itself. There is a correction coming, be ready. Thomas Jefferson warned us.   

I left there and headed to my friend’s medical office. We met with Bryndon and Destiny and got our antibody tests. We are now negative for the virus; we had the antibodies in July; they are no longer present in our bodies. We are asymptomatic, we feel great, but that shield of protection has waned. The good news is that our bodies fought it for this strain of COVID, and we had no symptoms.

I headed back to our home, met Bailey for some review of a quote, outlined our game plan for my new company then played some Gin; she beat me; the kid is getting good. I ran a call with a friend from Boulder, CO. She was intrigued about my book publishing, we had a friendly chat, thank you Sherisse, for the time.

Bailey drove us to our daughter and her beau’s new home about 20 minutes south of our home. It’s charming, pool in the back, decorated beautifully, our kid has her mother’s knack for detail. They cooked, we ate, and we sipped some wine before heading back home to catch an EP of the Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. We hit the bed by 9:00 and got a great night of sleep. It was a great day!

This morning I have some prep work for an afternoon appointment; we have our all-staff meetings and an afternoon of appointments; I’ll be working from home, Zooming, and setting up appointments for the rest of the month. We are closing on a building we sold last month, an excellent investment return; thank you, Shu. Cheers to Tom D. Flesher.

I am spending some time walking the dog. I was sharing this with my Dr. friend; he, too, walks his dog.  There is accountability to having a pup, it takes energy, but the love they return is priceless. We have a dog park in our neighborhood; I never paid much attention to it, now it’s one of my favorite places. We have a park at the other end of our street, another place we can walk, being forced outside is not a bad thing.

My friend Barrett shared the below with me yesterday.

Friends,

We often talk about serving others… but I’ve heard from many of you that you don’t know where to start,  that you don’t know what you would add to serving others. Below is a great quick read on a different perspective of serving others:

When you’re going through pain, you can choose to focus on yourself or on other people. When you decide to focus on serving other hurting people, that’s called redemptive suffering. It is the highest and best use of your pain.

No matter what pain you’ve gone through, you can redeem your suffering. Don’t waste it! Use it to help other people when they are in pain.

Who’s better qualified to help a struggling veteran than somebody who’s been a struggling veteran? Who’s better qualified to help someone recovering from prescription drug addiction than somebody who has recovered from prescription drug addiction? Who could better help someone suffering from a chronic illness than someone who has also suffered in the same way?

Your most remarkable service to others will come out of your deepest pain. If you are honest with God, others, and yourself about whatever struggle you’ve faced, then that struggle will become your way to serve.

Sharing your strengths doesn’t make you feel any closer to someone. But when you share the experiences that have led you to surrender, then you’ll be connected to others more deeply than you can imagine. Why? Because when you—like a broken person—share with other broken people how you have been restored, you’re not just sharing something you have in common. You’re sharing the hope that other people can also experience redemption.

Sharing your pain helps you and the people around you to grow. Using your pain to serve others is a form of service

Don’t waste your pain.

·      Think about the most significant pain you’ve suffered. Do you believe God can use it for good in your life and the lives of others? Why or why not?

·      Why does sharing your struggles rather than your strengths often tie you more deeply to someone?

I think I’ll leave it there; I cannot give credit to the author above, I’m sorry, but I felt too good not to share. I hope you are in a position to serve others today, use your pain to help others, remember we are all in this together, and soon the world will relaunch like a rocket ship headed to Mars. Be good, be kind, and thank something bigger than yourself for the remarkable life you experience not just today, but yesterday, tomorrow, and threemorrow.

“I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale.”

— Thomas Jefferson