Where The Rubber Meets The Road

By Jim "Gymbeaux" Brown

Are we in a depression? If you look at the news you will see and hear how awful everything is. Cars are not selling. Homes are not selling. People are out of work (but not you if you have looked lately). Prices are falling. This is what you are led to believe if you watch the national news or read the newspapers.

Look at my newspaper:

Mortgage interest rates are still at record lows

Home prices HAVE fallen and there has never been a better time to buy real estate

Sellers are giving all kinds of concessions to get THEIR homes sold

No interest loans for new and even used cars

America, who just over 200 years ago (a drop in the ocean in regards to time) and where slavery was prevalent, has just elected its first black president; that’s progress

Louisiana elected the first Governor from India

Louisiana elected the first Congressman from Viet Nam

We’ve gone three years without a hurricane

If you are reading this, you are looking at the grass from the top and not from the roots

We may be at war overseas but we are peace at home; lot to be said for that
I work for a company who cares for me; you probably do as well but maybe never thought of it in that way before

Today I crossed a bridge that only a few short years ago was destroyed by Katrina

Today I gave a deposition in a legal case. Some would say that is bad. I look upon it as a learning experience and believe me when I say I learned

As I write this I am listening to some wonderful music. I am grateful for the music and my ability to hear it

As I write this I am looking at a partially blue sky as storm clouds clear; I am grateful for the view and my ability to see it

When I arrive home this evening I will be greeted by Sophie my Miniature Schnauzer (or I should say I am Sophie’s human) and my wife who both love me conditionally and I them

My four year old truck starts up every morning like clockwork as does my eight year old car; imagine that as we hear American cars/trucks are trash

If you can’t think of anything to be grateful for, be grateful for this, I love you even if you don’t.

Some say I am in denial. To those folks, I would like to suggest that they are in denial for they fail to see and hear the blessings and opportunities that surround them every day. Every morning I have two choices to select from. I can join the pity party and feel and think horrible thoughts about the upcoming day and future days; or, I can choose to be happy and then create my own future by planning the seeds of positivity. I can look in the mirror and see only today and its problems or I can see my 62 years of being alive. I can look back on my problems or I can look back on the good things in my life like four children and nine grandchildren. I am grateful for the values instilled in my by my mother (who had a hole-in-one at the age of 89, so I brag) and father. I can either look forward and anticipate the next problem or I can look forward and relish my next success, that will be one of many to come.

If just one person reads this Nugget and looks differently upon their life than they otherwise would have, the Nugget would be in the words of today’s culture – PRICELESS! If just one person, and that would be you, encourages just one more person to do likewise – it would be… well let’s just say “priceless” has been taken.

When it comes to “gloom and doom” I choose not to participate. If you happen to pass me in the hall or in a store and I choose to ignore you - it may be for good reason; think about that for a moment. I choose to associate with like-minded people. I choose to read invigorating books. By the way, try The Christmas Box or The Christmas Sweater if you want to read a good book this Christmas season. I choose to say Merry Christmas in spite of the popular ridiculous politically correct nonsense. Over 20 years ago Belle’s Palsy took away my ability to smile on the outside but that does not mean I am not smiling on the inside. My inability to smile makes me appreciate a smile even more.

This is what I know. There will always be someone who has it worse than I do and someone who has it better but no one has it just like I do. Because that is true, I know that what I have has been my choice and my future will continue to be my choice. I know that I do not have to be satisfied with what I have but I can appreciate it nonetheless. I also know that what Earl Nightingale said over 70 years ago is just as true to day as it was then, “To change your life, change the way you think! (about your life)” Wallace Wattles said in 1910, to be healthy or rich, “Think in a certain way!” Joe Tye said, “Be today; see tomorrow!” Joe Tye also said, “Never Fear, Never Quit, Expect a Miracle!”

The “rubber meets the road” in your mind, not beneath your feet! If you-know-who is reading this, that means if you want to face reality, it starts with “thinking in a certain way.”

REALITY IS WHAT YOU MAKE IT!

Taking a queue from Henry Ford, if you think the world is falling apart or if you think the world is great; either way you are going to be right! Why on earth would you want to think the world is falling apart? I’ll wait for your answer………