Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life | Tracks In The Dust

Archive for the category “Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life”

16 May 2014

Reconnecting with Old Friends

There is something great about reconnecting with old friends. It helps to remind you of where you were. Even though you can’t go back in time and relive those days, it is nice to ground yourself once in a while. Good for the soul.

Wishing you can go back will be pretty hollow, but looking at that notch in time is a good way to evaluate your place in time- in the “now”.

There is certainly some remembrances of things you desire to forget. Those awkward times when life deals the blows that land bruises, loss of loved ones and painful experiences.

There are also things you wish you could put in a highlight reel, those things you were proud of – the accomplishments of goals and desires you have had over the years.

Then there are those very special remembrances with those genuine friends and family that if you could “bottle” the feelings of comfort and joy, you would open that bottle frequently and drink that in.

But change is going to happen. And some of your closest friends now may be just part of the future memories you may embrace.

Have you had those times when you’ d hope it would never end, but looking back later, it may have been the best thing? Disconnecting from people who ultimately create a negative influence can be hard to do. We may not even recognize that we are deep in the influence of friends who mean the best, but end up keeping things from happening in our lives.

So it is good to reconnect with old friends isn’t it?

Great for remembering who you were, the fabric of what you are now, and where things came to get you to today…. because still in the end there is “no day but today”.

Friends ( by Elton John and Bernie Taupin)

I hope the day will be a lighter highway
For friends are found on every road
Can you ever think of any better way
For the lost and weary travelers to go

Making friends for the world to see
Let the people know you got what you need
With a friend at hand you will see the light
If your friends are there then everything’s all right

It seems to me a crime that we should age
These fragile times should never slip us by
A time you never can or shall erase
As friends together watch their childhood fly

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life, Life's Sound Track (Music) and tagged Change, Changes, cherish, choices, Friends, life is precious, Memories, Reality Check, reconnecting, Remembering the past, Self-Awareness, Slow Down, Today, tracks in the dust, Who Are You, Yesterday

15 May 2014

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Driving Under The Influence of Stupidity

Okay I am not really complaining, but maybe sort of. When I was a kid in order to get my drivers license it was required that I take a “defensive driving” course. It taught me how to be sure to anticipate the people and things that could come up as possible threats or obstacles as you drive.

I can’t help noticing that these days people seem to be driving “offensively” more than on the defense. I see people making last minute decisions to cut into lanes, people who make turns from lanes that are supposed to be for thru traffic. They seem to be doing it intentionally. Maybe they are unaware ( that would actually be scarier).

Any way you look at it, the idea that people can just make those decisions without care for those around them makes me wonder how many times a day they are being avoided. Maybe its the generation that grew up on video games. All the way back to “rad racer” and ever since, it seems like simulated road maneuvers and even road rage are centered around those kind of games. I’ve played them myself. They are fun, but not reality.

My dad taught me that if you miss an exit on the highway or a turn on the street, you find the next exit or turn and make a correction. Just the other day I saw someone move from a lane 4 lanes away to get to their exit at the very last minute. I was glad I was far enough behind to miss any possible swerving as we were going 70 mph at the time. Did that person have any idea that they could have caused an accident, or even the loss of human life? Not entirely sure.

Okay- so easy to complain I guess. Just want to be sure that my kids learn the “defense” because the offense seems to be the majority these days. It probably has always been that way, but it seems more obvious to me than I can recall in my decades of driving.

Do you see it that way where you live?

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Advice, Bad Driving, Car Safety, choices, Defensive Driving, Observations, Road Rage, Slow Down, tracks in the dust

07 May 2014

Someone is Watching

I opened my email the other day and some Internet company was offering close out electronics: One of them was a “spy watch” on sale for under $60. I mean it records video and audio ( and tells time) and of course it can be used with no one else knowing. Then easily download your recording to your computer.

Aside from sounding like James Bond espionage gadgets- it made me shudder.

It also made me think about how easy it is today for ANY ONE to capture ANY THING on video or audio.

It’s in today’s headlines – private recordings that have lambasted a very sad man due to his prejudice. But it’s in our every day lives also. We cannot be candid any more. Our comments in a desperate situation, our misaligned humor at a time when we are vulnerable. the things we can say that can be pulled from context and made to be something 180 degrees the opposite. It is and will forever be the world we live in going forward.

Like George Orwell’s 1984, big brother may be watching, but so is everyone else.

These days nearly everyone has a video and sound recorder in their pocket. Always be aware that someone could have sound or pics of you at your worse. Now there is no room for error. And once it is captured, it can be posted on the Internet and become a permanent record of the moment, good or bad or otherwise. Leveling permanent damage intentional or not-those are images that will be hard to forget (not like those photos in the shoe box). They can come up again someday randomly.

Candid unguarded commentary? Its a new generation in so many ways. You have to think and ask yourself “just what are you saying?”

Can you be your own social editor for all you say and do to be sure it will be okay?

Well, not me – I am not perfect. I am going to make stupid remarks, going to do something that may look silly, offhanded or careless. Not intentional. perhaps in a fit of anger or frustration. But today there is someone watching- and they may see it as unacceptable. “He who is without sin cast the first stone.” Stones are still flying. And I guess we are all helping in some way.

Posted in Learning Lessons Along the Journey Of Life and tagged Acceptance, choices, Doubt, George Orwell, life is precious, Losing Your Identity, Postive Thinking, Privacy, Self-Awareness, Someone is watching, Truth

21 Apr 2014

Decisions Made, Lessons Learned

It has been a time for reflection for me this past week. Taking a moment and looking back I realize that time is unchangeable. What has happened before is there behind us, behind me. There isn’t anyway to erase it.

Wishing that we could go back and have a “redo” – make some major corrections to the past aren’t going to happen, Love those time travel movies that always seem to find a way to go back and make changes or correct things.

Fiction I know but still fun to watch I guess.

Question: So what would you go back and change. If there were one decision, one thing you said you could take back- what would it be?

I know that what happens in the future is a continuation of what happened in the past, and as long as we are alive we can do everything we can to learn from what we’ve done. We can take those lessons and apply them. Make them work to change the future (since in all reality the past is unchangeable).

Question: So what is one thing you have learned from the past that you would pass on to your loved ones in hope that they can also benefit from your wisdom?

All decisions lead to today, all lessons learned can be used for tomorrow.

I am looking for answers…. I wonder what you think?