Putting a finger on Dignity

What exactly is dignity? It’s hard to put a finger on exactly what it is. Some people attach it to position or authority; some to rank or leadership. Others tie it to a civility in a situation gone chaotic. Still others will automatically attribute it to old age and longevity. One’s physical stature may come into play as the respect shown a tall man or statuesque woman. Some beauty projects dignity as well; but not all beauty.

If you would aspire to be one considered to have dignity, allow me to proffer 10 considerations.

Be honest with yourself about yourself. Facades taint dignity.
Be forthright with others, with respectful graciousness. Crass openness is offensive.
Always be considerate of the rights and needs of others. You do not need to win to be right.
Steep yourself in humility before the God who created you. We may be at the top of the food-chain on this planet, but the universe has many surprises in store for us.
Take on the deportment of a servant, especially if you are a great leader of industry. This must be genuine, flowing from deep within your being.
Take on a heart of compassion. Express it tangibly. [James 1:27]
Hold others in higher esteem than yourself.
Do not take yourself so seriously; or your position, or those who laud your accomplishments.
“If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” [Romans 12:18]
Do not sit in judgment over another unless you are paid by the state to do so.

Genuine dignity is the blending of inner character and external action, without façade, without pretense, seeking only personality integrity and the betterment of others. BE who you have been designed to be without affectation. As we say around here—

Honor God, honor people…, make a difference.

THAT is indisputable dignity.

‘Nough said,

Gary

Dimmer Switch

Why are we ON so much of the time? Too many of us just never STOP. We fill our lives with important things to do; then we keep filling them to overflowing. Something has to give, or break, or wear down. Usually, it’s us. We can run at 110% for a long time, but not forever.

Johnny Carson (1925-2005) former host of the TONIGHT SHOW once said, “Death is Mother Nature’s way of telling us it’s time to slow down.” He had a point. We simply never stop, or come to rest until we die. Hard work builds character, stamina, and commitment; and it is good for the soul. But does it have to take hold of us so unrelentingly that we cannot NOT work? Seriously, when do you stop, just sit, or read a book on Kindle? When was the last time you chucked a football into the hands of a friend; or beat the pants off of someone in HORSE (1on1 basketball)? There are beaches to walk, mountains to climb, and paths to be trodden all around us. Leave the office, your Lazyboy, your FB, iPhone, & SKYPE behind.

If you have decided to install an ON/OFF Switch in your life, where you come to a conscious point when you voluntarily shut down, keep in mind that your ability to truly shut OFF will be nigh to impossible. If you are like me, you will find it too tempting to do just one more thing. It is the way we are wired.

The solution is obvious— install a Dimmer Switch alongside. It might be one which is set on automatic, where specified triggers shut you down whether you want to or not. [Kids come to mind.] It could be one that is self-monitored; but too many things can go wrong with a Self-Monitored-Dimmer-Switch. It is best to give the control of the switch to someone else. (Ask me how I know.) You may not like it when they dim you down; but eventually, you’ll thank them for doing it.

There are times in my life when I need to heed that old adage “Be still, and know that I AM God.” (Psalm 46:10, Bible) I need to reconsider its corollary as well— “Be still…, and remember who I am.”

I need a Dimmer Switch. How about you? Actually, I’m stopping now. Click!

‘Nough said,

Gary

I like my closet

Some days you just don’t feel like getting out of bed. We’ve all been there. The pressures of life weigh in on us so heavily that we lose the strength to face another day. This is especially true around the holidays— gifts to be bought and wrapped, meals to be prepared for the imminent arrival of guests & family. Added demands upon our already frantic lives.

Some of us, yea verily even extroverts, oft seek sanctuary in our closet, whether figuratively or literally. We retreat to a place of momentary safety, a hiding place, where no one can find us. We seek silence, solitude, serenity— commodities sorely lacking in our present pace of life. [Buddhism has a lot to teach us on this subject.] Large companies are scheduling team-building retreats for their managers and department heads; Christians have been going on spiritual retreats for years; Muslims fulfill one of their Five Pillars by making at least one journey to Mecca during their life-time.

There are at least two kinds of closets. The first kind is within us, holding things private, things which are best kept to ourselves. The other one holds us. It is a place for us to gain perspective and strength, to find solace for our soul. It may be a literal closet, or a place of safety—a friend’s home, a favorite bar, a winter hike through snow, a time of reflection, a rich conversation with a confidant over a wee dram of Glenmorangie. [Note: a roaring fire often aids in melting our resistance to search within.]

So as our lives continue to accelerate, make sure you go into your closet often, to your place of escape, to remind yourself who you really are. To be properly equipped to grapple with the daily barrage of activity and information that assaults us, we all need those times of retreat, wherein our focus must be on refurbishing our spirit, building our character, and finding rest for our soul. And may God bless and honor those who have created a closet for me. I’m ready to go in…, how about you?

Closing the door now,

Gary

Serenity

Even the word feels good as it rolls off your tongue— s e r e n i t y. Like a magic word that calls forth a Genie from a bottle, the word beckons us to come apart to a peaceful place, to find solace, to rest, to be waited upon by a flood of servants! Or merely to be able to close our eyes on a warmed beach under a palm tree, or in a chaise lounge at a mountain retreat.
The serenity I need I find in front of a warm fireplace at the conficated Lakehouse of Alan & Diane Galbraith, deep within the Fall/Winter woods of northern New Hampshire. It is there that I contemplate the deeper questions of life— like…, why my navel is an inny, or how did I ever wind up with such a wonderful wife as Starr, or why couldn’t we have our own children (Josh & Beth are adopted; from this planet, we think), or why God has honored us with His blessings and the privilege of serving others? This emPulse comes to you from my laptop, in front of that roaring fireplace, as I write in deep contemplation and peace.
It seems that every now and again I push myself so hard that I border on collapse. Such was October, and September, and the prior Summer en toto. I didn’t notice it so much as did Starr. Saturday eve, as we climbed into bed, she put her foot down, “That’s it. You’re about to give way to the pressures of caring for people. You’e LEAVING! Go to the Lakehouse and get some rest!” Thus, I are here! Granted, it’s only three days…, but that’s enough for me, I think.
If you haven’t gotten the point of this emPulse yet, let me make it perfectly clear. Any of us can get caught up in the business of life, and work, and family, and other people, so unsuspectingly, that we forget to take care of ourselves— our bodies, our emotions, our spirits, our souls. We start to come apart because we have forgotten to come apart to take care of ourselves. Fortunately, I have a wife who knows when I’ve had enough…, even though I am clueless to the actuality. Don’t lose yourself to the importance of life. Remember to view yourself as expendable. Don’t lose yourself to the importance of life. You will be missed when you get away; but you will come back a renewed man, a refreshed woman.
A little serenity goes a long way to clear the mind and restore the soul.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.
I do not give to you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
– John 14:27 Christian Bible

Dr. Gary Davis

Courage

Socrates, Chin, Hammurabi, Abram, Moses, David, Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Eric the Great, Charlemagne, Odo the Great, Elizabeth I, Peter the Great, Susan B Anthony, Clara Barton, Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Annie Sullivan, Mother Teresa, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Martin Luther King, Jr., Aung San Suu Kyi, Sgt. Dakota Meyer. Every one of these individuals possesses a quality every person on earth must acquire— courage. In our present era we talk more about our rights than about our responsibilities; we are more concerned about bottom-lines than life-lines for others. We have become more a people of self-preservation than of self-sacrifice.

Self-protection and self-gratification are not, mind you, the definers of all of us; certainly not of those in the opening inventory. There are still some who put others before themselves. Why do they do this? They possess qualities that others deem weaknesses, or foolish. Qualities like, graciousness, forgiveness, humility, and courage. These qualities are not often rewarded in the civic arena. In fact, they go mostly unnoticed. Acts of kindness & courage are most often done in secret; actions which come to light only at a later date (if at all).

Amidst the stresses swirling about in our postModern/postChristian society it takes courage for many of us just to get out of bed to face another day. Things are not as simple as they once were. The smorgasbord of choices and decisions we must make every day— what to do with our time & priorities, our commitments, our financial restrictions, our emotional highs & lows, our energies & exhaustion, notwithstanding the ethical & moral dilemmas we encounter, are overwhelming.

Unless we each hold some guiding principles, some basic beliefs about life, faith, and trust in something (Someone) beyond ourselves, we will be quite confounded as to how to grapple with it all. You see, courage rests on a foundation of belief, which rests on a certain realties beyond individual mere self-preservation. Call it faith in God, belief in a “higher-power,” or even a “…if it is God’s will.” Courage rarely issues forth from a basis of superiority; rather, it arises from a sense of one’s own humility in the grand scheme of things, in believing that there are powerful forces at work in our world, that there is a greater plan in place, than my own puny little existence.

In the ancient Greek Temple of Apollo at Delphi, inscribed above the forecourt was the Socratic maxim— γνῶθισεαυτόν. “Know thyself.” We would all do well to take a measure of ourselves within, before our fellow man (and women), and before the God who made us. For it is only from a true knowledge of who we truly are that true courage can take root and be called upon when the time is at hand.

Have a nice week,

Gary

sunday morning pancakes

It’s no wonder so few people go to church. With our weekday jam-packed schedules, Saturdays running kids around to sports practices, home repair, grocery shopping, lawn (or snow) maintenance, finishing up some office work (shame on you), and, if we’re lucky, a college ball game thrown in; then maybe a dinner out with friends?!? Yeah, Sunday morning pancakes sound really good— leisurely, with blueberries, recently tapped AA grade New England Maple syrup, with fresh squeezed orange juice, Columbian Supremo coffee, Canadian bacon…, on the deck, or around the fire place. Either way it carries us to a time of refreshment and rest; whether with friends or family, Sunday mornings draws us into a place of peace & restoration. Now if churches would only serve pancakes… . O, never mind.

We live a pace of life that allows for few periods of rest, few times for revival for our bodies, of refreshment for our souls. Weekends often leave us exhausted for another week of work or family responsibilities. Vacations find us so tired from work that we need a minimum of 2 weeks off just to detach from the speed of our daily lives. The probability of sequential mini-breakdowns increases with each passing year. And high blood-pressure…, you probably already have it.

Ergo, we return to Sunday morning pancakes. Sunday morning is probably the only time in your week that you have to STOP and feed your spirit. What I’m talking about is pancakes! Heaps of ‘em! With friends. Sharing the joys and woes of the previous week. (Pass the Maple Syrup again, please. O, and some more coffee!) And if you find yourself in Jackson Hole, WY, drop into Jedediah’s. You’ll feel right at home as you’re served a breakfast like you’ve never imagined!

The point is simple. Each of us needs to set aside some time during our week when we put off the busyness of life to renew our spirits and restore our souls. Pancakes drenched in whipped cream & smothered with blueberries will go a long way towards renewing our spirits. But to refresh our soul, well, only the God who made us can do that properly. And there is no substitute, just like “genuine maple Syrup.” You need to find a church with a community of fellow (exhausted) travelers, just like you, who need a reminder from God about who you are. Jesus Christ came to redeem sinners. Like you: like me.

Let the God who made you minister to your body & soul Sunday mornings. Then hit the blueberries & whipped cream.

Have a nice week,

Gary

coffee

I don’t need coffee. Really, I don’t. I like coffee—good coffee, that is; but I don’t need it. I merely enjoy a mug of good coffee every day. Usually two. JUST WHAT DON’T YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT WHAT I AM SAYING!?! Ok, so I fear to talk with God (or anyone else) without at least two mugs in me, that doesn’t mean that I’m dependent on it! Does it?

The caffeine in coffee is a stimulant. Surprisingly, there are 115-175 mg of caffeine in every cup of drip coffee, versus 100 mg in a cup of espresso. Hum. There are also antioxidants that aid in preventing liver cancer and other diseases. The coffee bean (or seed) is grown in over 175 countries around the world, making coffee one of the most traded commodities in the world. Most people drink coffee for the quick energy boost it provides. Others, drink it as a cultural practice, or as a moral responsibility. However you see it, coffee seems here to stay as both a stimulant and as a means for social networking.

In recent years there have been a number of spin-offs from coffee to further enhance our stimulation. Ice coffee, lattes, espressos, caramel macchiatos, and even coffee lozenges; stimulation without the social dynamic, as it were. But our need for external stimulation doesn’t end there. We also have Gatorade, Red Bull, and Power drinks, all loaded with enough salt and/or sugars to fuel your adrenalin-rush to reach earth orbit. Exercise (running especially) does the trick for others. But most of us just chug down yet another mug o’ joe to keep going for yet another hour.

It’s almost as if we have all become addicted to adrenalin-rush. Do our lives feel so flat that we need that little extra “umph” to lift our spirits and improve our performance? So, other than coffee (the elixir of the gods), what kinds of things stimulate you to that enhanced life you crave? Sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll? Extreme sports? Speed (automotive)? Compassion for our world’s dismissed peoples? The will to win, to be the best you can be? To please God? To serve your country, your family, your faith? Or just to be independent and depend on no one else… ever.

After a time, many of us slowly seep into a kind of unconscious humdrum of life’s responsibilities. We are blind to the vibrant colors of the sunset over the deep green of a forest. All we see are all the trees that need to be cleared. It becomes simpler to look down at what we’re doing than to lift our eyes to the road ahead; and so we lose our way in the everyday. Stimulation, therefore, plays an important role in our lives…, but maybe from a different class. JOY lifts our hearts. LOVE makes us fly. TRAGEDY teaches us the importance of the little things— of caring, of spending time, of reexamining our priorities and interpersonal relationships. PRAISE kindles our resolve…, & pats us on the back a little. GOING FOR IT teaches us endurance and perseverance. PAIN reminds us or our frailty. FAILURE reminds us we need others. FEAR reminds us we need God.

So after you’ve had your third cup of java today, try one of the other kinds of stimulant in your life. I use PRAYER to realign focus. And MUSIC. But right now I could really use another Latte.

Have a nice week.

Gary

weapons of self-destruction

We’ve all met someone who seems to have a built-in self-destruct button. They make consistently bad decisions; some of them life threatening. We worry about these people; we try to help them; and, sometimes, we stay as far away from them as possible. Their personal annihilation often drains the life out of those around them.

Much more delicately, however, each of us fabricate our own weapons of self-destruction. Not intentionally, of course, but we do it nonetheless. Here are a few WSDs I’ve observed in people.

· Over-commitment	· Short-changing on sleep	· Peopled-out
· No time alone, down-time	· Work is life: life is work	· No time for even one friend
· Afraid to adapt, change, grow	· Constant headaches	· Loss of life’s excitement

There are more WSDs, to be sure. But these are the most obvious to others; if we’re honest, we’ve all sensed some of these signs in ourselves at one time or another. The question is what we DO about them. Here’s my next list for defusing some of these devices and lessening the extent of damage they can do in our lives.

1. Take stock of your life. Not just a cursory band-aid review, but a full-fledged assessment of who you are and what you are doing. You may want a sounding-board person to help you establish an honest perspective on yourself.

2. GO TO BED! Sorry, you DO need 8 hours. Talk with your doctor about a sleep-aid if necessary.

3. For a time, limit the people in your life to a balance of feeders and drainers. i.e.- you need to be fed as you give out.

4. Get away. Go for a walk (daily, alone), go to a hotel (no TV), get out in the woods…, something.

5. Create a life that is separate from work. Anything. Take up knitting! Snow-football. Watch-making. Anything.

6. You have to have at least one friend with whom you are completely safe. Find ‘em, feed ‘em, laugh with them.

7. Start by brushing your teeth differently, then shift from boxers to briefs & vice-versa. Try doing something completely unusual for you. Hug people you’ve never hugged before. Smile at your enemies; send them gifts. Anything!

8. Headaches are our body’s cues that we are pushing too much. [Some people can push more than others.] Go to a medical doctor and get some perspective…, and some proper medication.

9. If nothing in life excites you any longer you are in the grasp of some form of depression. You need to talk to a professional counselor, psychologist, etc. more than anything the loss of a zest for life will destroy you. DO NOT let this WSD run its course.

Remember, it is never too late to regain your equilibrium in life. Our Creator did not make us to fall apart; that’s our doing. Let Him help rebuild your life into something remarkable, full of life, and maybe a little outrageous!

Have a nice week.

Gary

insightinfusionimplications

It’s in those frantic, life-is-too-full periods of life that flashes of insight come to us more frequently. Granted, having an incredible insight while sitting on a beach as tropical breezes blow over you is the preferred way of receiving an insight, it is more likely that they will hit you when you are too involved to take note of them. So much has been lost to human innovation due to a loss of a momentary insight that might have cured the common cold, rid the world of political positioning, or developed a galactic hyper drive. Carrying pen & paper (PDA, SmartPhone, voice-recorder, etc.) with you just might save the world.

Insights are wonderful things; they spark the imagination, solve problems, create new realities, gadgets & industries. They move the human race one step further away from the cave. Some people seem to have more insights than others: they are people who are always imagining— imagining different ways of doing the same things. The wheel comes to mind, as does language, the alphabet, the printing press, the assembly-line, the computer, the internet, and deciphering the dynamics of cross cultural communications.

There are serious implications for people who receive an infusion of insights. [Not for those who came up with the Slinky, the Barbie Doll, or the trashcan for chewing gum.] For theirs is the responsibility to invent and utilize their day-dreamed devices in ways that benefit society, & the world’s peoples. But how does one go about the responsibility of bringing their insights to invention and usefulness? Here are some ideas—

Surround yourself with other insightful people. You probably do this anyway, but if you don’t , well… . Working alone will never carry your idea to fruition.
Find practical people who know how to make things work! For example— clever assistants (like mine…, and no, you can’t have her), lawyers, financiers to back the development of your idea, marketers , and patent officers that will protect your idea.
Get used to rejection and failure. What was it Thomas Edison said about the light bulb? He hadn’t failed 10,000 times; he just learned 10,000 ways how not to make a light bulb. You know Post-it Notes, Velcro, the Hamburger—they all took decades to catch on. So be willing to admit it when you don’t quite get it right. Now try it again.
Learn patience.
Believe in what you are doing. Find people who believe in you and in your idea.
Don’t let it consume you. Remember to breathe, spend time with family & friends. (I find that creating 2-3 new ideas at the same time provides me with more balance & reality checks than working on one all consuming idea.)

Remember what Jesus said, “For to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” (Luke 12:48) Create wisely, with gusto; enjoy yourself while you’re at it.

Have a nice week.

Gary

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