On Being The Friendliest

On Being The Friendliest

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, February 16, 2017

Disclaimer:  There was a time in my life when I took Jeffrey Gitomer’s words from his book, The Little Gold Book of YES!Attitude to heart.  I have read the book at least 6 times and have listened to it on CD even more times in my car.  There was a time when a friend of mine called just to tell me that he called on that day just to hear the positive attitude in my voice because I always had one and he needed a lift.  That was then, this is now.  On February 16, 2017 I realized I had slipped away a great distance from that type of attitude and while I can offer you many reasons why, it is safe to say that the primary reason has been the world of politics.  I had a belief that something I had to say or something that I had given a lot of thought to regarding world politics would make a difference in our world.  On this day I realized just how fruitless that belief actually was.  So on February 16, 2017, I officially resigned from being the Chief Executive Officer of the World.  I would strongly recommend others give serious consideration of doing the same. If there is one thing I am certain, there cannot be two or more or as I have discovered Millions who feel they too can be the CEO of the World.

Definition:  Friendliest:  characteristic of or befitting a friend, showing friendship; like a friend; kind; helpful; favorably disposed; inclined to approve, help, or support; not hostile or at variance; amicable; able to coexist with something without harm or trouble.

Initial Thoughts on Friendliest:  When I first read this quote from Gitomer, my initial thought was that becoming the “friendliest” person would mean becoming a person that other people would want to be around; being someone people would seek out to be uplifted by just by “being around.”

From Orison Swett Marden’s book, Cheerfulness as a Life Power,  “He alone is the happy man who has learned to extract happiness, not from ideal conditions, but from the actual ones about him. The man who has mastered the secret will not wait for ideal surroundings; he will not wait until next year, next decade, until he gets rich, until he can travel abroad, until he can afford to surround himself with works of the great masters; but he will make the most out of life today, where he is.”

“Where he is!”  That is the key.  Not where you wish you were or how you wish things were, but where you are right now!  If you take the time to look around “where you are”, you will discover that there are many things that you should be grateful for but so often take for granted or simply overlook.  Again, there was a time, way back when, when I carried a “gratitude stone” with me.  It was a great habit, past tense.  It was nothing more than a glass rock purchased from a local Hobby Lobby store.  The premise was simple.  You carry the gratitude stone with you EVERYWHERE you go.  You kept it in your pocket or your purse and EVERYTIME you saw, felt or touched it, you paused and gave thanks for something in your life at that moment in time.  It could be something as simple as just being able to breathe or it might be the car you are driving, your spouse, your children, your home or a cold glass of water.  The point is that there are always things, hundreds of things that you can be immediately grateful for.  Pause and think about those things when you can and then give thanks they are in your life. 

Why?  Because it is impossible to hold two opposing thoughts at the same time or at least that is my belief.   If you are constantly giving gratitude for what you have in your life, you have no time for thoughts of any other kind.  I found myself listening and watching the news and the news is horrible; always has been, always will be;  if it bleeds, it leads!  With the advent of cable news, we now have access to the news 24 hours a day.  As an example, for the past two hours I have not watched or listened to the news for even one second.  I have no idea what the President Trump haters or lovers are doing; they are going to do it whether I agree with them or not.  I don’t know what the Russians are doing or the North Koreans or the Iranians.  I only know what I have been doing – listening to good music and thinking about writing this Nugget.  Pretty simple and a better expenditure of my time than watching the misery on TV or listening to it on the Radio or scanning and responding to the numerous Facebook posts.

What do I hope to accomplish:  It is important for me to always be aware that what someone else thinks of me is none of my business; regardless!  Is also critical to be aware not to give people a reason to think unkindly of me.  If I can convince just one person that there is a better way to achieve happiness and success by being grateful thus friendly; I will have succeeded.  Maybe that one person will be you.

Gratitude Stone Learn More:  If you want to learn more about the Gratitude Stone, I encourage you to go to http://freespirituality.com/what-is-a-gratitude-stone/ where you can read what Tara Walker has written.

Conclusion:  I believe that to be the “friendliness” person you must first be a person of gratitude for all that is good in your life and in the world.  Moving from where I had TEMPORARILY landed to where I NEED to PERMANENTLY be will not be easy and will require a constant reminder – a gratitude stone.  This time I have given up my ruby red gratitude glass stone and replaced it with a U. S. Coast Guard Commemorative Coin.  Why?  First it is heavy so I will always know that it is in my pocket.  Secondly because it represents some of the happiest and most content days of my life while serving in the U. S. Coast Guard and starting my family.  I’ll see it every morning as I remove it from my dresser and put it in my pocket.  I will feel it in my pocket all day long and every time I put my hand in my pocket.  I will see it the last thing every evening as I replace it on top of my dresser until the next morning.  And every time I see, feel or touch it I WILL pause to give thanks and be grateful for what I have.  I WILL return to my roots of working on a positive attitude by once again becoming grateful for what I have.

Action Plan:  I will… 

• Carry my Coast Guard Coin with me at all times
• Pause and give thanks for that which I have in my life
• Greet everyone, no exceptions, with a smile and a good morning, afternoon or evening
• Pause BEFORE I answer the phone to clear my mind, smile and then answer the phone
• LISTEN to people before I think about what I will say next; wait for my turn to talk
• Imagine everyone with a forehead tattoo that reads: WCILFTP, (What can I learn from this person?)
• Get back to the habit of asking people questions about their lives
• Spend more time listening to good music
• Return to the habit of reading at least two books a month; less time watching television, except for Elementary, Elementary is fascinating as are most shows on the History Channel
• Return to the habit of writing “thinking of you” note cards and sending them out daily
• Add to this list as situations arise

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Washington Kindergarten Class

A Dangerous Kindergarten Class in Washington

By Jim “Gymbeaux” Brown, February 2, 2017

It was September 20, 1965, I raised my right hand and took a solemn oath to defend the Constitution of the United States.  There was no expiration date on that oath nor is there an expiration date on the very similar oaths our elected politicians have taken like we just witnessed as President Donald Trump was sworn in.

What does that mean?  It means, in my opinion, exactly what it suggests – that anyone taking the oath WILL DEFEND the Constitution of the United States.  That means every second of every day.  What it does NOT mean - ONLY WHEN IT IS CONVENIENT.  Therein you have my grave concern about the current atmosphere within America.

President Obama made no mistake about WHAT he said when he said he had “a pen and a phone” and would do whatever was necessary to get what HE wanted done even if that meant circumventing Congress.  I don’t think that is what he was elected to do.  In fact I know it was not what he was elected to do.  Still…when he issued his many Executive Orders, many declared to be illegal, his Democratic and some Independent followers/supporters all cheered and encouraged him to do even more while at the same time his detractors found fault with those Executive Orders.

Now it is President Trump who has the pen and the phone and he has started his first two weeks mostly signing Executive Orders.  To be fair to President Trump, most of his Executive Orders if not all thus far have been more administrative in nature even the one on immigration.  He has NOT AS YET written any new laws taking the form of an Executive Order that I am aware of. Instead he has said he intends to enforce the laws on the books and instructed his Cabinet Officers to do the same.  And all while he has been doing this, his Republican and some Independent followers/supporters all cheered and encouraged him to do even more while at the same time still finding fault with the Executive Orders President Obama had put into effect.  Isn’t that hypocritical?

Lost in all this activity is a question.  Are Executive Orders or Memorandums even legal as per our U. S. Constitution?  It is my belief that they are legal as long as they remain administrative in nature and they DO NOT create a new law.  Writing law is the job of Congress.  In fact, if you read the U. S. Constitution, you will discover that the President’s main job is to sign the laws Congress approves.  It is then the job of the U. S. Supreme Court to determine if the laws written and signed by the President are in fact Constitutional.  But even then, the Supreme Court does NOT get involved by making an arbitrary decision on a law signed into effect until such time as someone feels they have been harmed by the enforcement of the new law takes legal action.  That action may or may not eventually work its way to the U. S. Supreme Court; most do not.  If and when it does, THAT is the time the Supreme Courts decides the constitutionality of the law; NOT BEFORE.

Yet while discussing the Supreme Court, nowhere in the Constitution does it grant power to the Supreme Court to write and enact laws.  Its job is to determine if an enacted laws is deemed Constitutional.  This is NOT what happened when it reviewed portions of the Obamacare.  The Supreme Court took exception to a very important part of the law.  Instead of returning the law to Congress for clarification and/or revision, the Supreme Court CHANGED the law, thus enacting a law BY the Supreme Court and Obamacare became law. 

The three branches of our government are suppose to be EQUAL BRANCHES.  Of late any semblance of being equal has vanished.  Congress writes laws, the President has written laws and now the Supreme Court has written laws.  Meanwhile we the people sit back and let them.  Folks therein lies the problem we are now facing within the United States.  WE LET THEM!

I think anyone reading this can agree that there are lot of Americans who do not like President Trump, I being one of them.  To those people I say there are an equal number of Americans who did not like President Obama; again I being one of them.  I liked neither of these men when they were candidates but once they became President, it is unconscionable to disrupt government because you do not like someone.  That is exactly what the Democrats in the Senate Committees are presently doing to President Trumps’ nominees for various positions.  Granted it is not their job to just roll over but it is their job to either approve or deny the candidate his or her opportunity to VOLUNTARILY serve his or her country.  To arbitrarily denounce a candidate because of a dislike of a new President regardless of political party is just wrong.  To use “tactics” such as not appearing at scheduled hearings as a means of delaying a vote is also very wrong and even childish.  Then to witness the systematic destruction of individuals solely because they have been nominated to serve the country is even more wrong if that is even possible.

Is it no wonder that Presidents, Obama and Trump may have decided that cooperation in the House and the Senate is so bad and so non-existent that they have taken matters into their own hands through the use of their pens and their phones?

I would like to see revolving doors installed on Congress and create Term Limits for both the House and the Senate.  Folks in Congress know they have a great thing going and they refuse to leave.  As such the struggles of politics continue with no relief in sight.  The result?  We get people like Senators Schumer and McConnell and Representatives Pelosi and Ryan.  They are in their positions FOREVER!  The result is that nothing of significance ever gets done – EVER!  History has shown this to be true.  Imagine the contrast.  Presidents Obama and Trump both had 4 years ahead of them and they each had agendas.  If they wanted to accomplish the items on their agendas they had to get to work.  Each one then ran up against a Congress that because they were so entrenched in their collective positions, there was no hurry to get anything done and they just sat and argued and called each other vicious names.  I have felt as thou I have been watching a kindergarten class of 5 year olds.

What is the solution you might be asking, if not you should be asking that question.  It is not making one political party stronger than the other.  On the contrary, the answer is making them more equal and less powerful and give them only a specified amount of time to do the work they felt was necessary for them to decide to run for office in the first place.  The change needed in our government IS NOT going to happen by expecting the President, the Congress and/or the Supreme Court to do anything so constructive.  Nope, just not going to happen.

THE ONLY WAY real change in our government is EVER going to happen is through the convening of a Convention of States.  No one in Washington, DC will EVER reduce their power voluntarily.  NO ONE!  For those who might not be familiar, Article 5 of the Constitution follows:

Article V

The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.

This is, in my opinion, the ONLY WAY our government will ever be reformed and become a working government OF the people, FOR the people, and BY the people!  A Convention of States can circumvent the U. S. Congress and change the U. S. Constitution like requiring a balanced budget, like installing term limits for the House and Senate members, like making Executive Orders illegal, etc., etc.  Maybe then, we may get some adults in Washington DC.  Maybe you will be one of them.