As you probably already know, there was a solar eclipse today. It’s not every day that something like this happens, so I took my lunch a little later than usual so I could attend the watch party this afternoon. I think it’s important to experience all you can in life after all. I wasn’t disappointed by what I witnessed. The sun was just a circle of light, and world was turned to dusk in the middle of the day. It was honestly way cooler than I had imagined. I will share are few highlights of the event here, but it was much more interesting and surreal to see in person. Nothing crazy happened, the world didn’t come to an end, but maybe something did change. As the shadow passed, and the solar rays once again emerged, perhaps I became a new person on the inside. I’d like to think so.
Pictures of the total eclipse of 2024
Video of the total eclipse of 2024
Did you get to see the eclipse today? Were you concerned something bad would happen? Let me know your thoughts, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!
Today’s question is which aspects do you think makes a person unique? This is odd timing on this prompt, since I just finished telling someone they are unique. I’m sure she will read that when she wakes up later. Also, since last Friday was Good Friday, I feel like it’s a perfect time to tell you this odd story about uniqueness.
A few years ago, I was in my tea phase. I drank coffee in the morning, but tea most of the day. Today, I think I drink coffee most of the day, and feel a whole lot better about that. Anyway, during my tea phase, I made hot tea of course, lots of white tea, green tea, and quite a variety of others, but I also drank lots of black tea, like the kind you get in restaurants and drive thru fast-food places.
One such fast-food place was my favorite for tea. I used to go through multiple times a day and get one of those really large teas, unsweetened of course, with lite ice. After the purchase, I would take long drives though the scenic countryside just sipping my tea. It was very relaxing. During this time, I became very familiar with many of the drive thru attendants of the restaurant of course.
There was this girl who worked there. She had long dark hair and had brought my tea out on multiple occasions. I never really talked to her very much, but I recognized her on sight. Then something very peculiar happened. I was in the line as usual, and she walked by the car, causing me to look up at her, only I didn’t recognize her at all. On my first take, I thought they must have hired a new girl.
As she went by, she also looked at me and suddenly had this startled look on her face, and then she just started giggling loudly. She then said, oh, it’s you! I smiled and said, of course it’s me, but I have to ask, why are you laughing? She said, I just noticed it was you, but I didn’t recognize you for some reason. She was clearly having the same experience that I was having. It didn’t creep her out though. She seemed sort of happy about it.
I then said, I know this is weird, but I had the same exact experience when I saw you. I know you are the same girl, but you don’t look at all like the same girl. You are similar, but it’s like I’m looking at a completely different person. She then said, yea, it’s just like that when I look at you, so weird. We both laughed about it, and it’s like we instantly bonded in that moment.
As I was driving through the country that day, sipping my tea, I just couldn’t get this girl out of my head. How could something like that happen? It made me feel like I had entered the twilight zone or something. Did both of us slip out of a parallel universe or something? Then something even more odd occurred to me. I realized what day it was. It happened on Good Friday. Was this some sort of sign or miracle?
Back to today’s question, what does make someone unique? She seemed like a very unique person before, but then she transformed into an entirely new person who was unique in a different way. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was like a different soul was inhabiting her body. It made me think, what truly makes us unique? Is it our body or something else? Are we truly the same person we were yesterday? What actually makes us who we are?
You will never find the same person twice, not even in the same person.
After that fateful day, I started talking to her more, found out all about her life, even became friends with her on social media. It’s all in the past now, but I still like her a lot. She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. After that day, I will always think of her as my Good Friday girl.
Have you ever experienced a time when someone seemed to become a totally different person? What actually makes us unique? Have you ever experienced odd happenings on holy days? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!
When I was growing up, the kids I knew always had this saying they said when they found something valuable enough to keep. The prompt for today brings that childhood saying back to mind. The saying was “finders keepers, losers weepers.” It basically meant that if you lost it, that’s too bad for you, because it’s now fair game for the finder to claim as their own. The lost property was usually just a coin or dollar that fell out of someone’s pocket by accident. The saying wasn’t applicable in cases where the owner could easily be identified obviously, but a finder’s reward was always appreciated.
The only thing I picked up recently that comes to mind was when the broken lock fell out of the sky at my feet, which I posted about earlier. I didn’t keep it though. Before I put everything together, I wasn’t sure if it was something I should actually keep. I try to distance myself from anything supernatural, unless I feel confident that has a good origin.
Have you found anything lately? Has anyone ever returned a lost item to you? Have you ever heard this saying? Do you remember how exciting it was to find things as a kid? Let us know your experience in the comments, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
I’m going to deviate from my normal coffee praising posts for a moment and venture into a slightly philosophical topic. This is something I wrote a while back but didn’t post it here. I’m going to add it now with some minor editing. It’s kind of a musing of mine, but I wasn’t sure how it would fit into the rest of the content. Perhaps I will find a way to blend it into other subjects I stumble upon.
I spend a lot of time in deep introspection. Maybe it’s just because I am often bored and alone, or maybe I’m just a pondering sort of guy. One idea that has often popped up in my mind is that we do not appear to be a single person. We appear to be a combination of at least two persons or entities. I believe that understanding can shed quite a bit of light on the situation in which we find ourselves.
The first person (entity) is the inner self. The inner self is your observing mind. This is the self that observes the universe around you. I think this self is mostly what philosophy and religion is talking about when they discuss the concept of a soul. It might also figure into quantum physics because it is basically of the observer of the universe. It is the part of you that actually explores existence and reality. I like to think of it as the reality explorer. I my opinion, this is the real you, but it’s hard to put your finger on it. It’s kind of ethereal.
The second person is the outer self. This is the self that everyone around you sees. It’s not really you but is a kind of vehicle for your inner self. You most easily see the world around you by viewing it through the eyes of this physical vehicle. You also have access to all the other forms of feeling this vehicle is capable of sensing. It is often referred to as the physical body, or the animal body. It also has a brain that is geared toward taking care of this body. It is an animal, just like all the other animals you see around you. Your inner self, or reality explorer self, is very tied to this particular animal and through it senses space and time.
This is where it gets tricky. It is very easy to confuse these two selves. You not only feel this other self’s physical sensations but can also feel its emotions. This other self is trying to survive in a physical world, and it will pull you toward goals that improve its quality of life. Very often, it wins. In most cases, both selves are working toward similar goals, but not always. Life problems begin to occur when these two selves have conflicting goals. The communication between you and the animal is very good but not perfect. Sometimes when you tell it to do something it revolts because it has other plans. It also often responds better to training and habits than direct commands.
For instance, you want to lose weight, but your physical self wants to eat a sugar glazed doughnut. Who is going to win this battle? It would be better if you controlled other factors, like not going around places that have doughnuts, as it will have to use a lot of its energy resisting temptation. Another way to lose weight might be getting more exercise. Your physical self has to use energy to accomplish this and may become tired. It may therefore resist this action. A better way might be to train it by creating a daily habit. The animal self is prone to follow patterns and habits, so it may respond favorably to this new lifestyle change.
Most of your life has actually been spent training and interacting with this outer self, and sometimes being frustrated by your inability to perfectly control it. Every person is different. Some people have a very docile and easy-going outer self, while others are in for the ride of their lives.
Do you sense this duality? Have you ever felt like there was a struggle within? Do you sometimes talk to yourself? How do you deal with temptations? How do you train your outer animal? Who’s really in control? Let me know your thoughts on this deep subject, and please like, share, and subscribe!
There’s a lot of traits I have that might be considered valuable, but I don’t know that I notice them too much. They are things that other people would notice more than me, because they are external traits, not internal traits. I live on the inside, not the outside. Here are few external traits that people might notice about me.
I am calm under fire. Several of the people working under me noticed this about me. They sometimes worry about the outcome, and I just stay the course unwaveringly. It is impressive to them that I am fearless and calm. When something does go astray, I gently bring it back on course. It’s an odd trait I picked up over the years. I think it also comes from shifting to a growth mindset.
I have some degree of charisma. It’s not overwhelming, but if people are around me for a while, we begin to unite. I think it’s because they figure out that I’m an empathic person who listens to them, and I can also be pretty fearless under normal conditions. I once read that this is what charisma is all about. It’s a combination of presence, power, and warmth.
I have extensive knowledge in a wide range of fields. I spent half of my life reading textbooks, encyclopedias, and other books. I know quite a bit about computer science, electronics, engineering, psychology, biology, philosophy, etc. I’ve even studied subjects that would be considered esoteric. This is on top of degrees in business and information technology.
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The trait I value the most.
After thinking about it, the trait I value most about myself isn’t any of these. The trait I value most about myself is an odd trait that is at the core of my being. I believe it might drag me down, but I still value it. If I lose it, I will lose some aspect of what makes me into the person that I am.
As I went through life, I met a couple of people along the way that I really came to love on a very deep level. When that occurred, I become very scared that something would happen to them. It caused me to try and keep them in my life and take care of them. I think a lot of people hate this type of behavior, calling it clingy, but to me this feeling is the equivalent of deep love.
I believe this is something that was accidentally taught to me growing up. My grandmother was the closest person to me in my childhood and she was very overprotective. She wouldn’t let me out of her sight for fear that I would get hit by a car, or drown in the pool, or burn myself alive, or catch some awful disease, or you name it. I heard that what was modeled to you growing up is what you think is normal, and what I experienced most was the watchful eye of caring grandparent.
This trait probably causes trouble for me because if you are one of these special people it might feel very clingy. I honestly didn’t always appreciate it growing up either, but it still translates to love in my mind. It is definitely something I like about myself, but other people may not. Basically, I want to take care of a special person and help them survive and thrive because that is how I was raised.
What trait do you value most about yourself? Are you calm under fire? Would you consider yourself charismatic? Do you have a trait that’s misunderstood? Are you a clingy person? Do you avoid clingy people? What subjects do you know the most about? Let us know in the comments, and please like, share, and subscribe! Also, thanks for reading!
I admit I don’t remember my dreams as often as I did when I was growing up. Maybe if I thought about it before I went to sleep, or wrote my dreams down when I woke up, then I would begin to remember them better. I do like them in general, the good ones anyway. It just seems like there’s so much going on that my dreams seem unimportant, but maybe there’s something to learn from them.
I remember having all kinds of dreams growing up, good dreams I didn’t want to wake up from, and nightmares where I was happy to have a place to wake up to, because I wouldn’t want to be stuck in one of those forever. I must admit that did scare me some as a kid. What if I couldn’t make myself wake up? I think that would be a kind of hell.
I also remember interacting with lots of characters in my dreams. Occasionally it would be someone I know from the waking world, though they were often not exactly like I knew them in person, but I knew it was them somehow. I often wondered about this. Was I also in their dream that night? Did we dream the same dream?
I think the most interesting characters in my dreams though, were the ones I didn’t know at all. Where did they come from? Maybe they were just a product of my imagination, but they seemed to say and do things that made sense, and I didn’t tell them how to behave. Do they think like people? I also used to imagine that they were real people too, just living somewhere else, in a place I’ve never been.
One of the oddest things though, is that sometimes these people in my dreams came back on other nights, but in different dreams. They seemed to have permanence of some kind from night to night. Maybe not the next night, but sooner or later they would reappear. They were like dream companions or something. I remember I even liked a few of them, and thought it was too bad they were not in the real world.
What does my recollection of the old dreams I had as a kid matter now? I was just thinking about how real-world relationships differ from those in the dream world. These friends in my dreams would come and go, but I never feared they would disappear forever. I knew they were always around somewhere, and when the right time came around, we would again have a dream adventure together.
In the real world, relationships don’t quite behave this way. They are kind of sticky. You may try to keep some person in your life longer than they should be, or longer than they want to be. They might also try to hold on to you for longer than they should. Because of this stickiness, some disconnects can cause anger and hurt feelings, leading to permanent separation. A relationship with one person can also get in the way of a relationships with another. You might even find yourself wanting to be alone just to avoid these relationship problems.
From this comparison, I was pondering the idea that maybe there is something to learn from dream relationships. What if we were able to move freely through life letting connections with people come and go, and come again, as circumstances unfold, without trying to control everything and everyone. Maybe dream relationships are how we are supposed to be in real life, but the circumstances of this reality blind us to the perfection that is within our soul and demonstrated in the dream reality.
Just a thought to ponder. Enjoy!
Possible discussion ideas.
Do you think dreams are important? If so, why?
Do people in your real life appear often in your dreams?
Have you met people in your dreams that you don’t know?
Do you have recurring dreams, or recurring people in your dreams?
Do places you have seen only in your dreams recur?
What are your thoughts on relationship stickiness?
Do you think dream relationships are pleasant?
Who would you most like to meet in your dreams?
Thanks for reading! I can’t wait to hear from you! Please remember to like, comment, share, and subscribe!
One might describe me as a reluctant introvert. Outwardly, I usually seem very quiet, but this appearance belies my true nature. Over the years, I have learned to spend a lot of time alone, but I am not a true introvert. Under most social conditions, I can’t completely assume the characteristics of an extrovert, but I’m sure it would be very enjoyable if I could.
One of the main reasons I can’t be extroverted in every social situation is because I am unable or unwilling to overcome the extreme extroverts. A person who is overtly extroverted is highly competitive about getting and sustaining everyone’s attention. They won’t let anyone outdo them for long. It makes them uneasy. They might start looking for a different group if everyone tunes them out, one that listens to them and strokes their ego.
Have you ever been to a gathering and some guy says, why are you so quiet? Cat got your tongue? Don’t trust the quiet ones! If you have, you’ve met one of these competitive extroverts. They have to make the potential competition look weird or unworthy of hearing so they can keep the floor the whole time. They mostly do it subconsciously of course. They just can’t allow anyone to be heard above them. They’ve got to be the life of the party. Some people love this type of person, but many others, including myself, find them annoying and arrogant. Let someone else talk for a change!
I’m not pushy with my extroversion, but I know it’s still there. I want to be a person that people listen to sometimes, but I’ll take turns listening, and I mean really listening, not just thinking of my next funny reply. That’s another characteristic of the competitive extrovert. They never really hear anything you say because they only care about what they have to say. Their own ideas trump everyone else in the room.
I was then left all alone. I didn’t want to be alone again! I remember just sitting there by the porch, trying to play by myself, with tears rolling down my cheeks.
I experienced the need to be around people at an early age. One time when I was very young, several of my cousins came over to my house to play. We spent many hours playing, as kids often do. I don’t remember exactly what we did, probably involved lots of running around, or maybe playing a game, or we could have just played with cars or action figures under the big shade trees. The thing I do remember is when they all went home that evening. I was then left all alone. I didn’t want to be alone again! I remember just sitting there by the porch, trying to play by myself, with tears rolling down my cheeks. The emotional pain was overwhelming! I had found the thing that brings tears to my eyes, it’s simply the act of saying goodbye.
If I’m not an extrovert, and I’m not an introvert, then what am I? I believe the best way to describe my personality type would be to say that I’m an omnivert. I can sit quietly for long hours in contemplation and also do things that require incredible levels of concentration, like writing and programming computers for instance, but if I’m around people I like, I will become something totally different indeed.
I remember there was a girl I used to know, and once she started hanging out with me, she said something kind of funny. She said, wow, you’re a talker! She was very surprised to learn that I could keep a conversation going for as long as she wanted, maybe even longer. I think my extroverted side comes as quite a shock to someone after I know them enough to let it loose.
You may recall from another post, that I have difficulty concentrating around certain kinds of noise, so much so that I often opt for hearing protectors to block out sounds. It so happens that the main sounds that distract me are human voices. My extroverted side wants to know what they are talking about and join into the conversation. This is yet another example of my affinity toward the people I find interesting.
The city I live in has a homeless problem. I spent most of my life living in the country or in towns pretty far away from large cities, so I had never really seen anything like it before. Being an empathic person, it was hard for me watch people living under such conditions. I know it’s a common problem for large cities, and there doesn’t seem to be permanent fix for the situation, but it is still troubling when you see it.
One afternoon, I found myself driving on the other side of town, looking for a place to eat, when I noticed some guy was lying on the side of the road by an intersection. He was just lying there, completely prostrate on the ground under the scorching hot sunlight of midday.
This was not something I was accustomed to seeing! Under normal circumstances, if I saw someone doing that, I would assume they fainted or were injured, but then I recognized he was a homeless person, probably because there was stuff sitting around where he was lying, including a bicycle, which I thought was odd. Most of the homeless people I saw didn’t have bicycles.
At the very moment I saw him, I remember saying to myself, I need to count my blessings right now! My life can’t possibly be as bad as this guy’s! He has nothing to his name but that stuff around him and his bicycle. The sun was so blistering hot that day too! I had to wear shades inside my jeep, and it has tinted windows. It must have burned his eyes looking up at the sky, even with his eyelids closed. I don’t think I would have lasted fifteen minutes out there on the cement without melting.
A few days after this incident, I went downtown to have a few drinks. It wasn’t a very good night and I felt very alone. After it was all over, I started to make the walk back to my apartment. I remember a lot if things were going through my mind at that time. These thoughts made me very depressed, and it seemed like things were not going to work themselves out the way I wanted. It was like a feeling of pure helplessness and sadness.
As I walked along, I was looking down at the sidewalk, not wanting to look anyone in the eyes, and then I heard someone say something to me. I looked up and it was a homeless man. This one didn’t ask me for change though. He kind of smiled at me and said, man, you need to cheer up brother! It’s not that bad! Are you okay?
I guess he read my body language enough to know I was pretty down in the dumps, and he was making his best effort to cheer me up. I kind of appreciated that. I think he got a little smile out of me, just so he would know I’m okay, and I probably said something like, yea, yea, it’s fine, and walked on past him.
Something then occurred to me. I was in a state of mind so low that a homeless man was concerned about my mental wellbeing! He was smiling and happy at that moment and trying to lift me up to his level. He was literally at a higher state of happiness than me, and he had nothing to his name, not even proper shelter. Something then hit me that made me smile a little. I turned around to look back at him, and then I noticed… He was walking beside his bicycle.
It’s hard to say if today was a typical day, but it sure seems like one to me. I did my normal routine, went to work, and then came back home. I did wait until much later to write this post. I was thinking, or maybe hoping, that something unusual would happen, but no such luck. I mean, I kind of don’t like typical everyday things and happenings. I’d prefer something interesting happen, something noteworthy, something worth talking about, or something worth writing about. It just didn’t happen today, but maybe tomorrow will be atypical, or maybe even later tonight. I guess we’ll have to see.
Anything out of the ordinary happen to you today? Let me know in the comments, and don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe!
Ken's Life 
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