Ray's Thoughts

I hope you all have a good night and enjoy the coming Sunday...

HOURGLASS Time is time and we all want to beat the clock that ticks within! We are but minutes in the stream of time!... Sit on the curve and view life pass you by, like the sands of the hourglass empties into nothingness! Like the waves that wash in and out, time is a given! When a flower grows and a leaf falls in the seasons of life, do we think about time or do we let time slip through our fingers like that of sand from an hourglass? Time can be like the gentle breeze upon your face in the warmth of a summer’s day or the harshest from the coldest winter’s day! When the sands of the hourglass falls and time slips second by second do you ponder at what you have gained or lost? To conceive of time is like a coin it has two sides one is significant and the other is irrelevant! Time has no friends, enemies or emotions, time is just time! THOSE ARE MY THOUGHTS FOR TODAY! Written By: Raymond H. Thompkins

ENCOURAGEMENT EQUALS MOTIVATON Stimulation of the mind starts with encouragement from one’s own self. When it comes to ourselves, we can show more highly concen...trated intensity when it comes to our own actions. However we can be passive when it comes to expressing how we view others or situations in our life. Most people are good hearted and willing to help if they can, but when it comes to themselves some find it hard to ask others for help. We sometimes have to be our own cheerleader and encourage oneself to take that next step forward. When it comes to myself I have had depend mostly on myself to motivate myself. We all know someone that no matter what you do to encourage them they are unwilling to be self-motivating. These people have low-self-worth or low-self-esteem and in their mind they set the bar so high that their goals are unreachable and when they fail they justify and reinforce their feeling of failure. I know that in our life you have met someone that after spending time and effort trying to motivate and it comes to nothing and you have to step back. When this happens you feel both sad and frustrated at the same time, because your willingness to step in and help fell on deaf ears. Then there are the people that only become motivated if they have constant feedback, because they are not good enough to succeed on their own. There are people that become codependent in relationships and depend on their partner to make all decisions, even if they really don’t like the outcome. These types of relationship will more than likely fail if the person that is codependent is not willing to address his or hers issues. The definition of codependency in a relationship is that of a person that uses manipulation to control the other. However, on the other-side-of-the-coin there is the people that fail, but still moves forward and are highly motivated to try again. These people have good self-esteem and have no apprehension when it comes to asking for help when needed. These people are pro-social and don’t think less of themselves by asking others for help. When you put yourself out there to help others and they don’t take your advice for one reason or another, don’t be hard on yourself. There is a saying, You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make the horse drink. One good thought shared can make a good difference in another’s persons mind. THOSE ARE MY THOUGHTS FOR TODAY! Written By: Raymond H. Thompkins

IT’S YOUR CHOICE I was reading my responses to one of my articles and one of my friends left a comment with the word elegance used in her comment. It touched me... very deeply and that one word brought a smile to my face. I’m an optimist and I look for the beauty that is all around me in my life. However, I’m also a realist and I see the darkness that is out there in this world of ours. Elegance is dignified or restrained beauty of form, appearance, or style. I lived through situations in my life that should have made me a hateful and distrusting individual. Yes, in the past I was all of that and more, but all that hatefulness was destroying my spirit and darkening my very soul. I never preach about my beliefs to people, however I do share my thoughts. We are all individuals first, with our own values and how you view your life is your choice. I see the world 360 and I listen and watch people and how they react to situations that comes along. To me, the word elegance has so much meaning and for me elegance is not just about what you see, but what you don’t see. We live in a world that is forever changing, so one has to change with the times and learn to adapt or you will be left behind. Change can be scary, but only if you let it. Some people think if it comes to east it’s not worth having, well I disagree with that statement. To get your needs and wants in life doesn’t matter if the come easy or hard, as long as you achieve your goals in a good way. I have had people say, I wish I had your mind and I always say, No you don’t, and the reason I made that statement is because my thought process to solving my life’s problems almost drove to madness. We all have to truly be ourselves when it comes to solving problems, because only you know how you react to emotions that come along with change. But if you let others tell you how to change, it becomes just other people’s words and it diminishes the personal impact and lessens that your change will stand the test of time. Yes, it good to get help with problems, but you have to put in order, how you are going to adapt what you learned to change what needs to be changed. To sum up, You can’t make people change or deal with situations in their life, only they can. You have to step back and let them decide, but never walk away! THOSE ARE MY THOUGHTS FOR TODAY!! Written By: Raymond H. Thompkins

BE TRUE TO ONESELF I have had conversations with friends on Facebook and they have shared their stories with me because they trust me and they know I will put w...hat I heard into words that can help them and others. Do you think for yourself or are you the type that goes the way the wind happens to blow? Do you consciously judge others, because they are different from you or do you look at people as individuals and react only to that individual with minimal judgement? But why do people react in this way too start with, it's all about the past and people they have come in contact with. We live in a world with a population as of March 20th 2020 is 7.8 billion and how many of these people do you think you will we meet in your lifetime? For the average person you will meet in your lifetime is around 10.000 people and how many of these people will you know by name and how many of these people you know by name will be close to you? I’m no saint and I spent my first 30 some-odd-years running from myself and I disliked the world in which I lived and everyone in it. Then one day I stopped running and looked at just how screwed-up my life was and I spent the next 27 years rebuilding myself. I can’t erase what happened to me as a child, but I did change how my memories and emotions affected how I viewed the life I was living. I learnt to deal with the fears and how fear controlled my every waking moment. My life today is good and tomorrow it will be even be better and that’s because I made that choice to not let my past dictate who I should truly and really be. If you look at people on an individual bases it makes life more interesting. As long as you see people in group be it color, gender or religious beliefs or anything that is different from yourself, than negativity will always be a part of the way you view yourself and others. If you look at life as a constant work in progress and what ever happened in the past is the past and you want a better life for yourself, you will have to look into that place that is dark and take back that spirit and innocence that others had no right to take. THOSE ARE MY THOUGHTS FOR TODAY! Written By: Raymond H. Thompkins