MWAH

Thank you Lord for another Year. …And thanks to all you guys who rode The “LiFeTrain” with me this past year!!

ALL ABOARD!

THE LiFeTrain!!!

1Th 5:17 “Pray without ceasing.” (The World English Bible) The most important thing that you can do this year is pray, as the Bible says, without ceasing!

Please pray for for the needs of all today at noon. If nothing else just pray the lord’s prayer, his will be done…on Earth as it is in heaven. In Jesus name…Amen!

Lastly, if you have a prayer need, send it my way…

Hey fellow passengers as we hop the train today, let’s talk about the sin of anger, where all sin is due to self-forgetfulness. To never get angry for me is a VERY tall order as it is for almost any human being. So when we see anger as failure, and we try not to be angry and fail, it is so easy to turn the gun on ourselves when our anger comes. We blame ourselves and put ourselves down for not being able to control ourselves. The key is to not turn the gun in ourselves. Don’t give yourself a guilt trip. We spend our lives learning anger, so we are not going to unlearn all the beliefs and habits which create our irritations, frustrations and angers in a few days, or even a few weeks. (though some who really do ‘get it’ can change that fast). So be easy on yourself. Healing the inner scars, forgiving ourselves, transforming those habits, are all aspects of this inner work, and they take a little time. Be patient, be gentle and merciful with yourself. And if you do decide you want to forgive and heal yourself, if you do decide you don’t want to be a slave to others words and actions, if you do decide you want to be free of your negative feelings, one of the secrets is not to fight or struggle with those old habits. Accept them when they come, for whatever reason, and you’ll be amazed how quickly the habit of those feelings is dissolved. All healing begins with acceptance, including the healing of our feelings.

Sometimes I have to literally sit back and laugh at myself. If I could master half of the stuff that I think about and write about I would have the biggest “S” on my chest! Oh well, each day we have another chance as long as we have breath in our bodies. As the Japanese say it “Kaizen”…Translated, 1/10 of 1% continuous improvement!

All Aboard…The LiFeTrain!

I know each Monday we espouse about the virtues of making Monday’s Merry. I know that the below is for someone today (and perhaps tomorrow). So, please check out the story below, consider passing it on or letting someone you know who might need this, have them come here, to the Train.

And oh yeah, as per LiFeTrain protocol, Monday’s are never blue…they are Merry…so “Merry Monday”.

Three trees were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, ‘Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would seethe beauty.’ Then the second tree said, ‘Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.’

Finally the third tree said, ‘I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.’

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees.

When one came to the first tree he said, ‘This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter,’ and he began cutting it down.

The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest. At the second tree the woodsman said, ‘This looks like a strong tree, I should be ble to sell it to the shipyard.’ The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, ‘I don’t need anything special from my tree, so I’ll take this one’, and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.

The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in thefeed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn’t think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and He stood and said ‘Peace’ and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don’t seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts.

Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don’t always know what God’s plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

A friend and former classmate of mine, Trent Stinnett, was found unconscious in his home by one of his Children. He is now in the hospital on life support. Due to circumstances beyond the doctor’s control his children must decide on Monday if they should continue the present course of treatment. At this time, there does not seem to be an alternative. However, we know here on the Train, The LiFeTrain, that with man nothing is possible, but with God all things are possible. Please join me in prayer for the Trent, his children, Carol Stinnett, and the entire Stinnett family. Let us pray in Jesus name that no matter what, God’s perfect and unquestionable will be done.

In Jesus name…Amen

The 40s are not the new 30s! To prepare for this CLICK I started a new PT (physical training) program. Like I am actually going to wipe away 30 years of Pizza and Hagen Dazs. Anyway, I managed to get through Spin cycle, rep-fushion, and step. BUT!! Yesterday was day one of Bootcamp! I found my inner child yall and it WERENT-NOT PURTY! Thanks to Tamika, a guardian angel who saw that I was not going to make it without her foot in my butt, and her assuring that I would be no less a man (even though I was the ONLY man in the camp) if I went ahead and…..THREW-UP! I managed to make it, lunch still intact. She stuck with me from station to station reminding me of the impending reunion. She even took a picture of me running, asking me…”IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT YOUR CLASSMATES TO SEE!!!”

I know one thing for sure. If I make it through this, I won’t have a six pack….But I will have a

Keg with a dent!

CLICK IT!

I was aware that female heart attacks are different, but this is the
best description I’ve ever read.

Women and heart attacks (Myocardial infarction). Did you know that
women rarely have the same dramatic symptoms that men have when
experiencing heart attack …
you know, the sudden stabbing pain in the chest, the cold sweat,
grabbing the chest & dropping to the floor that we see in the movies.
Here is the story of one woman’s experience with a heart attack.

‘I had a heart attack at about 10 :30 PM with NO prior exertion, NO
prior emotional trauma that one would suspect might’ve brought it on.
I was sitting all snugly & warm on a cold evening, with my purring
cat in my lap, reading an interesting story my friend had sent me,
and actually thinking, ‘A-A-h, this is the life, all cozy and warm
in my soft, cushy Lazy Boy with my feet propped up.

A moment later, I felt that awful sensation of indigestion, when
you’ve been in a hurry and grabbed a bite of sandwich and washed it
down with a dash of water, and that hurried bite seems to feel like
you’ve swallowed a golf ball going down the esophagus in slow motion
and it is most uncomfortable. You realize you shouldn’t have gulped
it down so fast and needed to chew it more thoroughly and this time
drink a glass of water to hasten its progress down to the stomach.
This was my initial sensation—the only trou ble was that I hadn’t t
aken a bite of anything since about 5:00 p.m.

After it seemed to subside, the next sensation was like little
squeezing motions that seemed to be racing up my SPINE (hind-sight,
it was probably my aorta spasming), gaining speed as they continued
racing up and under my sternum (breast bone, where one presses
rhythmically when administering CPR).

This fascinating process continued on into my throat and branched out
into both jaws. ‘AHA!! NOW I stopped puzzling about what was
happening — we all have read and/or heard about pain in the jaws
being one of the signals of an MI happening, haven’t we? I said
aloud to myself and the cat, Dear God, I think I’m having a heart
attack!

I lowered the footrest dumping the cat from my lap, started to take a
step and fell on the floor instead. I thought to myself, If this is a
heart attack, I shouldn’t be walking into the next room where the
phone is or anywhere else … but, on the other hand, if I don’t,
nobody will know that I need help, and if I wait any longer I may not
be able to get up in moment.

I pulled myself up with the arms of the chair, walked slowly into the
next room and dialed the Paramedics … I told her I thought I was
having a heart attack due to the pressure building under the sternum
and radiating into my jaws. I didn’t feel hysterical or afraid, just
stating the facts. She said she was sending the Paramedics over
immediately, asked if the front door was near to me, and if so, to
unbolt the door and then lie down on the floor where they could see
me when they came in.

I unlocked the door and then laid down on the floor as instructed and
lost consciousness, as I don’t remember the medics coming in, their
examination, lifting me onto a gurney or getting me into their
ambulance, or hearing the call they made to St. Jude ER on the way,
but I did briefly awaken when we arrived and saw that the
Cardiologist was already there in his surgical blues and cap, helping
the medics pull my stretcher out of the ambulance. He was bending
over me asking questions (probably something like ‘Have you taken any
medications?’) but I couldn’t make my mind interpret what he was
saying, or form an answer, and nodded off again, not waking up until
the Cardiologist and partner had already threaded the teeny angiogram
balloon up my femoral artery into the aorta and into my heart where
they installed 2 side by side stents to hold open my right coronary
artery.

‘I know it sounds like all my thinking an d actions a t home must
have taken at least 20-30 minutes before calling the Paramedics, but
actually it took perhaps 4-5 minutes before the call, and both the
fire station and St. Jude are only minutes away from my home, and my
Cardiologist was already to go to the OR in his scrubs and get going
on restarting my heart (which had stopped somewhere between my
arrival and the procedure) and installing the stents.

‘Why have I written all of this to you with so much detail? Because
I want all of you who are so important in my life to know what I
learned first hand.’

1. Be aware that something very different is happening
in your body not the usual men’s symptoms but
inexplicable things happening (until my sternum and
jaws got into the act). It is said that many more
women than men die of their first (and la s t) MI
because they didn’t know they were having one and
commonly mistake it as indigestion, take some Maalox
or other anti-heartburn preparation and go to bed,
hoping they’ll feel better in the morning when they
wake up … which doesn’t happen. My female friends,
your symptoms might not be exactly like mine, so I
advise you to call the Paramedics if ANYTHING is
unpleasantly happening that you’ve not felt before.
It is better to have a ‘false alarm’ visitation than to
risk your life guessing what it might be!

2. Note that I said ‘Call the Paramedics.’ And if you can
take an asprin. Ladies, TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!
Do NOT try to drive yourself to the ER - you are a hazard
to others on the road.
Do NOT have your panicked husband who will be speeding
and looking anxiously at what’s happening with you instead
of the road.
Do NOT call your doctor — he doesn’t know where you
live and if it’s at night you won’t reach him anyway, and
if it’s daytime, his assistants (or answering
service) will
tell you to call the Paramedics. He doesn’t carry the equipment
in his car that you need to be saved! The Paramedics do,
principally OXYGEN that you need ASAP. Your Dr.
will be notified later.

3. Don’t assume it couldn’t be a heart attack
because you have
a normal cholesterol count. Research has discovered that a
cholesterol elevated reading is rarely the cause of an MI
(unless it’s unbelievably high and/or accompanied
by high blood pressure). MIs are usually caused
by long-term stress and inflammation in the
body, which dumps all sorts of deadly hormones
into your system to sludge things up in there.
Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep.
Let’s be careful and be aware. The more we know,
the better chance we could survive.

**Please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends
(male & female) you care about!**

Passengers, have you ever noticed that some people are like a raw egg. They have a hard outer exterior, but once their shell is cracked or broken by a stranger, a workmate, a friend, a family member, or by a romantic partner, they start to fall apart.

Other people are like a jelly. They are soft, squishy and easily devoured. They have no emotional barriers and they are easily manipulated and used by others.

Well, I guess we all have fallen into that category(s) at one point in time. Anyway, I am putting out a call for us to become onions. Yep, thats right, you read it right…”ONIONS!”. I feel that oinios thrive emotionally because they have emotional layers and they know who can be allowed access to each layer … when, and under what circumstances.

Onions understand their layers and how much of their emotional selves they can reveal and share with others, without the risk of deep emotional hurt. This protects them, while allowing them to reveal and share their emotional layers in safety as they choose.

Here’s my thoughts on Onions:

Layer 1 is the outer layer with smooth protective skin. Outside this layer is the world at large including the people we meet, do business with, work with, and with whom we have social contact.

Layer 2 is the first inner layer. This is for friends, pals and others we know and like.

Layer 3 is the next inner layer. This is for close family members, and close friends we know and trust.

Layer 4 is for romantic, trusting friendship (boyfriend/girlfriend)

Layer 5 is for embarking on a loving long-term relationship

Layer 6 is for the children if the onion is a parent

Layer 7 is for a total partnership of love and commitment

Layer 8 is the innermost layer (the place where your “inner child” lives). It is your most personal, private inner emotional space.

It is important to understand that an onion does not practice mistrust of others. That’s unhealthy. An onion is simply a discerning person who knows that emotional layers are precious, and should only be revealed and shared when empathy, trust and understanding have reached a point where it’s safe to go to the next layer with another person.

Opening up a deep emotional layer to another person prematurely, especially to a person who will not, or cannot respond in kind, is a sure step towards a failed relationship. A problem for some people is that they naively confuse romantic infatuation with real love. This makes them think they can safely share their emotional layer 5 or even their layer 7 when, in reality, they should be only at emotional layer 3 or 4. If they discover that the other person has abused a deep inner emotional layer they have revealed and shared with that other person, the result can be devastating.  I’d ask that you read this one again, I hope it helps in your quest to find that soul mate (with love, Chuckie).

The happiest people I have met are the onions who understand themselves and the people around them. They manage their layers well, knowing which emotional layers are for acquaintances, friends, loved ones and their life partner.

Happy onions also know that taking responsibility for looking after their own inner emotional needs at layer 8 is the greatest gift they can give to themselves. Our inner layer needs our continuing care and attention if each of us is to thrive as an emotionally secure person.

I vow to become a happy onion. Won’t you join ,e? If you are not curently an oinon, explore your inner self, identify your emotional layers and start learning how to manage your relationships with others. A good life coach can assist you if you need help.

I am studying to become a LiFe Coach.  …More on that later.

All Aboard!  The LiFeTrain!

A sacred thing, a vow…(note the left hand of the man) caused me to go for years without a date, without romance, without the fulfillment that God intended when he looked at Adam and said it is not good that he is alone. After years of neglect I clearly understood that. The need for love, for intimacy, for ROMANCE. The need not to be left alone…

The ’secret’…to romance, however, according to the scientists, is a chemical called Oxytocin, which is produced naturally by the body from close, intimate contact and quality time between loving couples.

So, what does that mean? Well, to me, in layman terms, the more time a couple spends together, the closer they will become and feel. It’s the same message that’s been around for years. But somehow, or another, couples have gotten away from this fundamental paradigm.

It is said necessity is the mother of creation. Well, to that end, I needed to learn and develop my ability to be more romantic. The old adage of, “If I knew then what I know now,” is very real to me. So, after spending the time doing the research and identifying my favorites, I needed to create this date night. If for no other reason, “Date Night” is built so I’ll have a place I can reference and refresh my ideas. A place that has no boundaries, no constraints other then that which only my mind would dare to limit “us”. In addition and in the mean time, if you can also gain some comfort and value from our dates, all the better.

Thanks again for visiting. Know that I love and appreciate the comments. If you have some additional suggestions and/or insight to share with the readers, I’d love to hear from you.