...8.24.14...

 You’ve got to just love ralph! He is THE true optimist, I believe.
 I am not sure how you get from annoyed to inspired?
 Frustrated to motivated?
 And I do realize it is ALL about attitude.
 Often mine stays more on the annoyed side, when challenged .
 That smiling thru gritted teeth type attitude.
 Inside seething type.
 But I had an instance yesterday that could have easily stayed annoyed,
 but changed into something different.

 Like trying to determine which line to get into at the grocery store,
 when none of them seems like a good choice.
 OR when you get into a seemingly GOOD aisle, only to find out there is
 a problem and all the other lines are moving steadily
 while you are stuck and not moving, and your ice cream is melting or
 your knees hurt or you have to pee really bad. Or the kid behind has
 been screaming for 20 minutes and you aren’t even sure WHY you are
 in the store let alone THIS aisle.
 Remember my occasional thoughts on small children !
 Such was the thoughts yesterday on which lane to get into at the gas
 station, when clearly everyone was trying to get into the best moving
 lane before the gas price changed. Which it looked like it would do
 any second.
 8 lanes full of cars, some 3-4 cars deep. We choice one with only one
 car and felt so fortunate to get it. You always have to choose the one
 that pumps on the same side of your gas tank. That often limits you.
 And my personal preference? People who use credit cards so they
 don’t have to go inside and you wait for them to come out because
 THEY are stuck in the line inside to pay, and behind the person buying
 cigarettes, or getting lottery tickets.
 But we chose.
 It became abundantly clear immediately we had made the wrong choice.
 Ahead of us, was a new model red shiny expensive Cadillac. Outside his
 car was an elderly man. Dressed impeccably in pants and shirt, nice
 shoes. Obviously well taken care of. Nice haircut on a shock of thick
 white hair.
 He stood at the pump with his credit card and was experiencing
 trouble. As I watched him fiddle with his card for several seconds,
 feeling annoyance rising in me, because surely the gas was going to
 jump that $.31 before we could get ours pumped, I realized what he was
 doing.
 He was trying in vain, to put his credit card INTO the place where
 your receipt comes out. He tried over and over. He turned it around,
 upside down, backwards and forwards. He tapped it. He looked at it.
 All done is slow, confused motion. It would not work. Obviously.
 I got out of the riders side of our truck and went up and said quietly
 to him, “You are putting it in the wrong place”. And took the card
 from him and put it in where it belonged. It would not work, even in
 the right place. It kept showing some comment I can’t remember, but
 the upswing was…. It would not work. I had seen this when I used to
 use my credit card terminal at my shop. People whose cards were
 slightly bent, from being in their pocket, or a man’s who was in his
 wallet in his back pocket will not read. Slight bend will make it not
 read right and will not take it.
 So we had to get the computer to release what we had tried to do. The
 man was oblivious to what I was doing. But grateful I was doing it.
 I felt my anxiety and frustration ease to calm.
 I told him he would have to pay inside with his card because of the
 bend to it and showed him what I meant.
 I don’t believe he understood what I said, but accepted it.
 I asked him again quietly if he could pump the gas OK. He nodded.
 He got the nozzle into his tank. I pushed the grade button he wanted
 and went back to my truck.
 We watched as he got his gas and went into the station. Knowing any
 minute the gas probably was going to raise before we could pump ours.
 We rather quietly mentioned it to ourselves. And why when all the
 other lanes were moving, we had to get behind the old man.
 Still not mad, but thinking of the chosen lane.
 A heavy sadness fell over me and my eyes began to tear up, as my
 farmer simply said…” we are behind him, because he needed help and
 maybe you were the only one who would stop to help him.”

 Don’t be annoyed, be inspired.
 Don’t be frustrated, be motivated.
 Be motivated to HELP someone who needs help. Even if your gas will
 jump $.31 a gallon.
 IT IS ALL IN THE ATTITUDE.
 I can’t even begin to feel his frustration. He was JUST SIMPLY
 …….LOST in trying to pump gas.
 My sadness at the simple things we all take for granted, and this old
 man could not do.
 THE WAY YOU RESPOND IS DECIDED BY YOU.
 In my fondest, Trisha

 THE DAILY MOTIVATOR
 Friday, August 22, 2014

 Let it push you forward
 +++++++++++++++++++

 You don't have to be annoyed.
 You can be inspired.

 You don't have to be frustrated.
 You can be motivated and determined.

 The way you respond is not dictated solely by the situation.
 The way you respond is decided by you.

 No matter what has happened, your attitude is a choice that's made by
 you.
 Instead of letting the interruptions, distractions and frustrations
 get you down,
 you can just as realistically choose to let them push you forward.

 It's natural to assume that negativity must make you negative,
 and that you must have some kind of positive reinforcement in order to
 be positive.
 But that's not the case at all, because you can choose to move
 positively forward no matter what.

 Decide that you'll let both the good things
 and the bad things push you ahead.
 And be amazed at how far you can go.

 Ralph Marston

trisha is my mom.

when i read this.

i knew it would be my coffee hour today.

welcome to coffee hour.

welcome to this Sunday morning.

just BE.

robin.