Special multi-post projects with a specific theme
Ambitions Turned Inward (ATI) has turned out to be something much more significant that I thought it would at the beginning of this series. The first post was about wrapping my head around the idea of turning my ever present ambitions inward was all about. The second in the series was about discovering what I might want to do with the rest of my life. … Continue reading Ambitions Turned Inward – Part 4 – On Becoming Social
If it works for frozen waffles, the title above oughta work for Lego too. 🥸 I have been toying with Lego blocks for a while now. I think maybe I am going to include it in my Ambitions Turned Inward project. I got started with them some years ago and found the time building projects to be enjoyable, but then other (external things) took over … Continue reading Lego Of My Lego
This series is turning out to be deeper than I imagined, so I think it deserves its place among my “Special Projects” and has its own logo. For this, Ambition Turned Inward post, I want to concentrate on the past. Well, sort of. So much of my life’s ambitions were outward. It was all about being successful at helping others. I just didn’t think much … Continue reading ATI Part 3 – Forget the Past…
This is the second installment about turning inward with my life’s ambitions as suggested by a comment from a recent post. The first post in this series was about wrapping my mind around the concept of inward ambition. This post is about just how to personally do that. Since this series is more than a short-term thing, future posts, however many there are, will be … Continue reading Ambitions Turned Inward – Part 2
My recent post about ambition got numerous views and several helpful comments. Thanks for that. Perhaps the most valuable was from my friend Bob Lowry about turning my ambition inward. Bob and I have been friends for more than a decade now, and he has given my invaluable advice over the years. Thanks to my Arizona visit last year, we are no longer just “virtual” … Continue reading Ambitions Turned Inward – Part 1
In the last year, I have spent a lot of time trying to discover the source of happiness, or maybe it is the source of unhappiness. Solve one and the other solves itself. I have even put out a ten-post series on the subject. Many of my other current focuses are indirectly related to this search. I know that China is not so much in … Continue reading The Real Secret To Happiness
How about a “Words of Wisdom” post today at RJsCorner. No two people have the same life story. Yeah, some people’s stories rhyme, but the details are often quite different. Since deaf Aspies are one in three million or so, I suspect my story is more unique than most. I tell my story here as a way of clearing my mind. Dozens of things pop … Continue reading Everybody’s Got A Story…
The very foundations of my religious beliefs revolve around the teachings of Jesus. I no longer call myself a Christian as that word has become so tainted by those who think they need to add their input to what Jesus said. Jesus made it clear that THE root thing in following him is for us to love each other as God loves us. To me, … Continue reading Loving Jesus…
Even though I have decided to take RJsCorner in a different direction, I don’t want to leave the “Understanding Stupidity” series without a personal wrap up. The major point I have learned from this series is that mankind has been plagued with stupidity from its very start. Aristotle had things to say about stupidity in his time, and of course, with the way the world … Continue reading Understanding Stupidity #9 – A Personal Wrap Up.
I am now starting to plan for my farewell tour, but let me explain. I am taking my µRV on a “John Steinbeck – Travels with Charlie” type trip. I read that book for the first time as a teenager, and it thoroughly hooked me on Steinbeck novels. Before I left my teenage years I had read all his books. As I mentioned in a … Continue reading My Farewell Tour?
For this post, I am going to step back a little and look as someone besides Bonhoeffer for wisdom. This comes from an Italian economist Carlo Cipolla who was a leading expert in the field of human stupidity. He wrote his thoughts in a “tongue in cheek” Will Rogers style. To conserve space, I will only cover three of his laws here. 1. Distraction This … Continue reading Understanding Stupidity #8 – The Three Primary Causes
The process at work here is not that particular human capacities, for instance, the intellect, suddenly atrophy or fail. Instead, it seems that under the overwhelming impact of rising power, humans are deprived of their inner independence, and, more or less consciously, give up establishing an autonomous position toward the emerging circumstances. The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us … Continue reading Understanding Stupidity #7. -Dealing With Slogans, Not A Person
I have been in my retirement community now for over seven months, but much of me still remains at my homestead. RetComLife is much different from where I had been for a decade. It is more difficult than I imaged to throw off the homestead mindset. Where I was once surrounded by peaceful forests, I am now surrounded by my fellow retirement community citizens. Where … Continue reading RetComLife #28 – Homestead vs Community Mindset
This is a continuation of my series following Dietrich Bonhoeffer words about his belief that stupidity caused the Nazi era in Germany. I am trying to learn if his experiences mirror what is happening today in the U.S. Up to now, we have learned that you can’t defeat stupidity by reasoning with the person. The only way to make him realize his misguided faith is … Continue reading Understanding Stupidity #6 – Stupidity Of Following The Herd
Yet at this very point it becomes quite clear that only an act of liberation, not instruction, can overcome stupidity. Here we must come to terms with the fact that in most cases a genuine internal liberation becomes possible only when external liberation has preceded it. Until then we must abandon all attempts to convince the stupid person. This state of affairs explains why in … Continue reading Understanding Stupidity #5 – Overcoming Stupidity
“ People become stupid when they do not want to understand, where understanding would cause anxiety or guilt feeling, or would endanger an existing neurotic equilibrium. Deitrich Bonhoeffer This is a short quote from Bonhoeffer, but it speaks volumes about stupidity. I like the term Neurotic Equilibrium, it is a shortened way of saying they resist change, any change. I am just one to welcome and even seek … Continue reading Understanding Stupidity #4 -Neurotic Equilibrium
I am finding that one of the hardest things about living in my retirement community is learning who is who. I’m not certain, but I think there are about 400 of us living here, and after six months I can maybe put six names to faces. The staff always wear their name tags, so knowing them by name is easy-peasy. I am getting off-topic here … Continue reading RetComLive #26 – Who’s Who??
Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of … Continue reading Understanding Stupidity #3 – How To Get The Better Of It.
We are in almost total lockdown at my retirement community now. The dining room is shut down, and they have even stopped chauffeuring people to the local college basketball games. That was the one exemption that was left after last week’s notification. Don’t ask me the logic of that, but I am glad to see that it is now included with all the rest of … Continue reading RetComLife #25 – LOCKDOWN!!
As mentioned in the previous post in this series, I have discovered the hard way that happiness can never happen when you become fixated on your unhappiness. I think this post will be the end of this series, as I am becoming happier each day now. So, what have I learned. Happiness is a state of mind, not a destination Until you lose your focus … Continue reading Happiness #9 – Conquering Unhappiness
Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice. One may protest against evil; it can be exposed and, if need be, prevented by use of force. Evil always carries within itself the germ of its own subversion in that it leaves behind in human beings at least a sense of unease. Against stupidity we are defenseless. Neither protests nor the use of … Continue reading Understanding Stupidity #2 – Stupidity Is A More Dangerous Enemy…
Today’s post of my view of my retirement community is about the latest lockdown and how my community is communicating with the residents. The Omicron version of COVID-19 has much of the country running scared right now, and my retirement community is no exception. The dining room is all but inaccessible again, at least to me. Social things have been cancelled. Everyone must wear masks … Continue reading RetComLife #24 – Lockdown & Communications
Ok, with this post, I am going to give you a personal secret on how I have finally became a happier person. No, I don’t think I have achieved total happiness, but I am on my way to it. I bring back the quote I ended the last happiness post with. “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive … Continue reading Happiness #8 – Doing What Makes You Come Alive…
As promised on my December 23rd post, this is the first in a series about Stupidity. It might seem strange to make this topic for a weekly series, but stupidity has serious connotations for our times, as it did during Bonhoeffer’s time in Hitler’s Germany. I came across Bonhoeffer about twenty years ago when I was doing an objective study of the Bible. At the … Continue reading Understanding Stupidity #1 – The Origins Of This Study
If we could just find the reason for why we are not happy maybe we can finally find happiness. That is the core thought for this post. Most people, including me for much of my life, feel unhappy. Good things happen to us, but we just have no idea why happiness eludes us. From what my research has discovered, here are a few causes : … Continue reading Happiness #7 – Why Are We Unhappy?
A recent study from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College found that 38 percent of 65-year-olds will develop moderate needs, almost one-quarter will have severe needs, 22 percent will have minimal needs and 17 percent will have no care needs. I don’t know the new math, but that says that about two-thirds of us Baby Boomers will soon require care that most families … Continue reading RetComLife#22- How Many Will Need To Join Retirement Communities?
These last few years have been a struggle for all of us. There was the lying idiot narcissist who occupied the Oval Office. That made those four years almost intolerable, and then came the virus which we were totally unprepared for. Then for me 2021 was consumed with the death and dying of my wife. The trauma of that nearly consumed me. Now that this … Continue reading We All Need Something To Laugh About
Some people seem to just be happier than others. I envy them in that regard. But there are things that we can all do to be happier people. There are some things that each of us are intrinsically drawn to that are focused on personal growth and community. That can help boost our happiness. Another is to just enjoy the moment, and at least temporarily … Continue reading Happiness #6 – Cultivating Happiness
In the new RJsCorner, I want to get back to my roots, and Will Rogers is one of those roots I have avoided for too long. Years ago, when I started creating my personal style of writing, Will Rogers was a primary inspiration. I loved the way he could use humor to inform us on just about any topic. Some say that Mark Twain was … Continue reading Understanding Stupidity – Will Roger’s Style…
One of my first “big boy” books was a biography of Einstein. I think I was about twelve years old when I read the first one. It was about 300 pages long, and I didn’t image I would ever finish it, but it only took me a couple of weeks to do just that. For some reason, the book just clicked with me. I have … Continue reading Happiness #5 – According to Einstein
I have been casually studying of Aristotle for many years, and have recently started another book about him. He was definitely a dreamer/thinker that I could never even imagine being. It is amazing to me how so many of his thoughts still apply today. Since he is one of my heroes, it just seemed natural that I look to him as to what he said … Continue reading The Pursuit of Happiness #4: According to Aristotle
Let’s continue on with the look at the article What is Happiness by Kendra Cherry as mentioned last Wednesday. She says that happiness is a very subjective thing that varies greatly from one person to another. Here is a list from the above article that show key signs of happiness Feeling like you are living the life you wanted Feeling that the conditions of your … Continue reading The Pursuit of Happiness #3 – How To Know If You’re Happy
I have spent the last couple of weeks studying the idea of happiness. I’ve looked at a couple of dozen different sources for a place to start. One article I came across that impressed me with its brevity, yet completeness on this topic was What is Happiness by Kendra Cherry. Click HERE if you want to see the entire article. This article from October 2020 … Continue reading The Pursuit of Happiness #2 – Where To Start…
Welcome to the new Wednesday series entitled The Pursuit of Happiness. This series, we will be studying what happiness has meant throughout the ages, and trying to discover within ourselves what it means to each of us. As usual, I don’t have a step-by-step agenda for this new series yet. It will depend on what we discover on our path to happiness. A primary reason … Continue reading The Pursuit of Happiness #1 – Changing My View
One thing that annoys me is that the sit-down dining option which is basically the only option aside from after the meal carry-outs in my retirement community wastes too much of my time. Having a full-service sit down dining is nice once in a while in that special restaurant, but you wouldn’t appreciate it for every meal you eat. I know many think we retirement … Continue reading RetComLife #17 – Other Choices In Food Services
The strongest emotion that I think I have is empathy for those, like me, who have faced some pretty serious struggles through life. That, and my lack of a sense of accomplishment in this emotions series, is what this post is all about. Happily it ends with a possible step forward in this general arena. Adversity Builds Character So, I ought to have a lot … Continue reading About Emotions #8 – Summing It Up
RJ's Corner 