Prayer

Post-Surgery Physical And Emotional Healing Choices

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one of my favorites

Hey, Y’all!

A little more than a week ago, my hospital admission occurred. Admission to the hospital is hardly ever a pleasant experience but necessary. In my case, it was very necessary. I am very blessed to still have all my limbs and lower extremities.

What the doctors and I did not know is that I had an active case of Osteomyelitis. It was causing wounds not to heal and was in two small bones in my foot. Last Saturday, I had surgery to have those two small bones removed and I could begin to heal.

I have about made it through the first week of healing at home. It has been multiple appointments and having Home Health come back to my home to resume care of wounds. Though the one doctor and the wound clinic are taking care of the foot that had surgery.

I have like six weeks before the sutures come out and I am to take it easy and allow others to do for me, which I admit I resent.

I am trying to find time to take that deep breath throughout the day without answering questions that seem constantly coming at me.

I need everyone to leave before the end of the day sometimes. I need time for myself besides just having to lie down and rest and elevate my feet. I need time for writing, meditation, and conversations besides with friends who do have time.

While I was in the hospital, I was very emotional much of the time. During my first few days, I was still reeling from one of my favorite country music stars death Loretta Lynn. I found myself singing God Bless America Again very loudly something hardly do except to cope with stressful situations.

The nurses easily poked on and dug into twelve times for an I-V and some attempts left lasting marks. Nurses that put in I-Vs, you must do better. Please do not dig, that is not the way to do it because you are afraid of running out of time for a break or because you have other patients. Do it right or do not do it. Admit you need better training. Supervisors, help your Nurses. Do not sit on your butt watching Facebook or other social media. If you do it correctly the patient will have minimal discomfort!

Saturday, I had my surgery and while I did have pain, it was tolerable. I needed four tablets of tramadol to get through recovery time until I went home Sunday afternoon when I was discharged from the hospital.

I was happy to attend my Men’s Group on Tuesday online where the topic of anger came up.

Many things push us into anger and feeling overwhelmed by everyday life-type things.

The importance is in identifying what anger looks like and catching our thoughts early on. Being able to control our thoughts and remember to remind ourselves of true statements instead of believing a lie.

The first part of everything begins with how we start our day and the self-care in beginning our day.

This comes from prayer and meditation.

We encourage ourselves and affirm ourselves by using “I am statements.”

The attitude of gratitude by remembering and writing down the things for which we are thankful.

Reading for me which would be in God’s word and remembering God loves me and wants the best for me.

It is a lifelong process.

Thanks for reading!

This has been another blog post entry by Boxcar Mike, over and out!

God Bless Y’all, Everybody!

Thankfulness For The Tools In My Toolbox

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Farmington, Missouri

Hey, Y’all!

I know it has been a few days. It has been hard to keep on top of my game. However, I have managed to make it through each day regardless.

  1. I am thankful for having gratitude as one of my tools
  2. I am thankful for the ability to take inventory of my behavior and motives.
  3. I am thankful for being able to follow directions and take suggestions.
  4. I am thankful for knowing how to pause when necessary.
  5. I am thankful for the truth and to know when I am lying to myself.
  6. I am thankful there are muscles to stretch. Taking the time to stretch those muscles before just using them is advisable.
  7. I am thankful for outside resources and for being able to express my needs.
  8. I am thankful for the people in my life who hear me practice before I find myself in a situation.
  9. I am thankful I can call myself out and admit I am wrong.

Today, it is about finding the answers and keeping my side of the street clear. There is always room for improvement. I do not always make the right choices. I am not perfect. I just hope to do better than the day before.

I watch things happen and sometimes they seem to happen in slow motion. However, as I am ready to scream no, it is often too late.

I do not have to participate in the insanity. I can make better choices. Yet here I am.

To not make a choice is leaving myself open to the insanity of this life.

I have more self-respect than that. I want more for myself than just allowing things to happen to me. I want to enjoy life and be free.

There is something about minding my own business and doing my best to lead a quiet life.

This is not to say I do not get excited about life and want to live life out loud.

It is those quiet moments of a pause with coffee, prayer, and thought given to the day ahead, where I will find the most peace.

It is an important part of my day to strengthen me, for the tasks ahead.

My actions for the day:

I will choose joy.

I will choose happiness.

I will be in pursuit of peace as far as it depends on me, that together we can make it through this day.

I am responsible for my choices. I am responsible when anyone reaches for help so that I can at least point them in the direction of help.

Most times, most people just need their thoughts and fears heard. It is in listening that I can provide the most comfort. What most people need is someone to listen. We all need someone to listen.

It is the encouragement found in pausing, reflecting, sharing, and engaging with one another, that brings about the courage to keep pressing on. We keep putting one foot in front of the other.

We just do the best we can, and in doing the next right thing, we can sleep at night.

Thanks for reading!

This has been another blog post entry by Boxcar Mike, over and out!

God Bless Y’all, Everybody!

I am Starting With Thankfulness With Another Self-Talk

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The Bluffs 2016

Hey, Y’all!

I am here and ready to share my thankfulness and another conversation in my head.

  1. I am thankful for early morning calls.
  2. I am thankful for the moments of silence and prayer with my coffee.
  3. I am thankful for the challenges to help me see when things can go right. Going right does not mean it always goes my way. Going right means it is good and often it is way better than my plans.
  4. I am thankful when I feel like crap, I can choose to make it better by choosing to be more positive. It takes just doing one thing at a time and remembering to encourage others!
  5. I am thankful my alone time is more solitude and a chance to claim sanity.
  6. I am thankful I am not the same person as six months ago.
  7. I am thankful for not having to wrestle with my honesty and sanity like I once did.

Today, I can see more choices set before me. I am thankful I get to participate in my own life instead of waiting for things to happen. There are things and people that are important to me. I am important to me today.

I can care for those close to me and listen to others. I pass on to others what I have. I get up when I fall. I know when to ask for help more so than I used to. I can follow directions. Sometimes in life, we must back and reread the directions.

I am thankful for the people in my life not giving up on me.

I am thankful for my recovery and spirituality. When a day comes along and not always feeling it, I can take a longer pause, say a prayer, and change my view.

You are going to do better because you want better. You are better.

You finally dropped the rock to grab the life preserver. You are well into the continuous journey of making wrongs right. You are having regular conscious contact with God seeking through meditation. You are going through and admitting when you are wrong more quickly and seeking to make things right where wrong has taken place.

You pass on your experience, strength, and hope and do your best to not claim anything you do not have. You have more clarity as the journey contuses.

You have hope today that you have never had before. It is never just enough because we learn until our last breath. We learn as we change. We change as we take necessary action.

The strength and bonds you have with people are much stronger. You hold life closer and try to not take for granted the time we have left on this earth.

Failure is never final if we get up. Our past does not have to dictate the future.

Hold on to thankfulness, hope, peace, and love. One more day of packing into the stream of life and not just taking from it.

This is how we live.

Thanks for reading!

This has been another blog post entry by Boxcar Mike, over and out!

God Bless Y’all, Everybody!

As Far As It Depends Upon Me

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Banana Bread Loaf August 8th, 2022.

Hey, Y’all!

Today I just got a banana bread loaf put in the oven. I am also going to do an egg salad with bacon and a sandwich with a slice of tomato. I am going to do some chili much later today some for this week and some to freeze.

I finally tried the donut shop coffee pods. I fell in love with a medium roast coffee because I am usually for Darker Roast Columbian-style Coffee or French Dark Roast Coffee.

In other news, I am still rearranging only a bit of my office/living room area. I have a picture to move and supplies to move to the bedroom out of the way. I am happier thinking of only myself in this arranging business.

Sometimes you must make a bigger mess of things to get it right.

When the banana bread loaf comes out of the oven, we should have a slice with butter and a cup of hot coffee. I want to enjoy a piece and bask in the time I have alone. In enough time before my helper comes in to clean and do errands.

I am hoping for most chores and myself to be in order.

So now back to hopefully in a bit of having that banana bread and coffee, I want to think about all the things that are dependent on me. I want to think about what is dependent upon me for more peace in my life. What is dependent upon me to be able to pack into the stream of life?

I think the only way to be emotionally in tune is to tune our spirituality. I manage people and circumstances a lot better when I take the time to be with myself and God. I need that time even if it is only a minute or two before a tough situation or confrontation. If it is a confrontation I know today, if possible, I need to ask for time to table the conversation so that I can get alone and be mindful and seek out help to be able to come back to the table. I realize many times that is an impossible request, and it is an immediate situation. This is where the pause and deep breaths come in when I think to follow that direction.

I am finding when I hear myself saying good things, I say aloud, “Michael, I hope you are listening to yourself.” Because often these things are unexpected from nowhere. It is shocking to hear myself sometimes because of being emotionally and spiritually screwed up for years.

My life has calmed down a whole lot over the years and I have mellowed out some. It has taken over 56 years to get to this point in life. It is a case of sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, and often slowly.

The banana bread just finished. It is just in time for a break after this entry gets published. Piping hot from the oven cooling down just enough so it separates the sides from the loaf pan. Then a slice with a gob of butter melting on it with my cup of hot coffee.

Let me close by sharing the prayer of St Francis of Assisi:

Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (Prayer for Peace)

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

As far as it depends upon me let there be peace.

Thanks for reading!

This has been another blog post entry by Boxcar Mike, over and out!

God Bless Y’all Everybody!

Preparing Myself By Taking Responsibility For Upcoming Events

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Bismarck, Missouri 2018

Hey, Y’all!

I am back writing again today. Yesterday, I wrote about current affairs in the world and being prepared for a world crisis. Every part of life has to do with being prepared and can help lower the anxiety that arises. It is taking the responsibility for our lives.

I explained yesterday I am on disability. This means I am on a limited income. This means my budget only allows for so much in supplies and to cover my needs. The warning I gave out to watch and be prepared is about learning to live without some luxuries.

Life is hard and there is much we can do to make it a little bit easier by being prepared.

I listen to people on various platforms. I listen to farmers, preppers, homesteaders, pastors, cooks, truckers, few but also some people in politics. I try to tune out of the news as much as possible. However, like most curiosity gets to me. I refuse to watch any daily news on television.

My writing takes different tangents depending upon where I am daily.

I do write a lot on recovery, and spirituality. Since Covid19 there has been a lot of turmoil. I write a lot about where I am with routine and how important it is to me to not go backward in my basic physical, emotional, and spiritual healing. It all boils down to my journey.

Taking the responsibility for my journey which is my life. I do not wait for people to call me out on the things I may fail in. It is more important for me to recognize and take the responsibility for correcting my actions as much as I can.

Swallowing the hard chunks of truth about myself and using the people in my circle to bounce stuff on, and hear their experience, strength, and hope.

I want to keep moving in my journey and not stay stuck. To surround me in more healthy ways and try new and diverse ways. To learn to be more open-minded and not think my ways are the only ways. If no one can tell you anything, chances are you are going to get stuck and stay stuck. This drives me nuts and keeps me depressed and is no longer an option for me.

In my journey, I have learned how to make things easier by organizing and stopping hoarding. Stocking up a pantry of food and supplies is not the same thing as hoarding. When you learn to throw away things and get rid of things that are supposed sentimental.

Learning to clean up after every mess is important. Cleaning as you go stops a lot of catastrophes and messes.

Planning stops a lot of headaches. Planning for me is starting each day with a prayer and meditation. Make my phone calls and have both my physical calendar and my digital calendar. Making my gratitude list and list of things to do each day.

Staying on top of medications is just as important as breathing.

Meal planning takes effort if you have it packaged correctly and taking up less space it makes it a lot easier.

Making and keeping my boundaries has proven to be challenging for me. But it is an important part of not having a short fuse in dealing with others. I find myself more taking breaths and stating my needs at moments. Sometimes it is learning to laugh so you have an extra breath before you sound too serious or demanding.

That is not to say you might not have to keep repeating the same statement in a direct serious tone. These are serious times with plenty of stress.

For others to respect your time, space, boundaries, and things you must respect them first. This I have learned on a summary of all these things I have mentioned. Still, I must keep practicing as well. No one has it all down.

It is continuous learning and practicing. This is me staying busy. It is time for lunch!

Thanks for reading!

This has been another blog post entry by Boxcar Mike, over and out!

God Bless Y’all Everybody!

Learning To Be Gentler Towards Myself And Others

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Irondale 2019

Hey, Y’all!

I am doing well on this second day of my reset again. I am in the middle of changing things up and trying to be easy with myself but consistent. I have a determined mind to not allow myself to go backward one day at a time and find the willingness to keep writing.

Monday was Independence Day. I stayed in bed sick all day and all evening.

I do not want to wake up every day ready to scream because things are not going my way or place judgments on people when I have no idea what the full story is for them. In some respects, my writing is to try and deter some people from judging me when it is my judgment against me.

I love what happened to me this morning as I was cooking breakfast and making my coffee. I was praying as well. I usually do a fast prayer and say amen, before I get my sip of coffee and make my daily morning call to a trusted and sweet friend.

My prayer went into thanking God for the things I was grateful for and asking for help throughout the day. I do not want to be that angry person or feel the need for vile language. I do not want to feel like I am refraining all the time either. That is not how I am supposed to be.

When I am out of control of my emotions and words, it is not just slipping. It is an all-out war and here is the thing, in the end, it is a war with self. It is not about people just being stupid. Although, I often say it is and that you cannot cure stupidity.

It is taking those moments that can be stressful remembering to practice patience. People are often patient with me even when I am not showing any sign of grace towards anything or any situation. Again, I am looking at the war with myself.

I have zero tolerance and grace when I consider my actions stupid or thoughtless. I scream and curse at myself. Therefore, in the past, that has been my cop-out if people understood how hard I was on myself they would I was going light on them in comparison. That is still not good for others or me. It is not okay to treat others or myself like garbage.

In Boxcar Mike’s Motivational Board -The very first card says, my friends and I do not hurt each other or ourselves. I try to live by that motivational board but, I fail too. What I learned today in being quieter within and listening to the small voice is that I do not have to rage.

I did a bit of initiative-taking things that require patience, like getting medications set up, making an eye doctor appointment, updating the pharmacy with my insurance, and calling my doctor for refills on the medications I take.

I got through it all without being impatient or raising my voice. It has been a good day. We just need to manage things at a slower pace and steady. Taking the time to realize we can be patient and handle others with genuine care when we do the same for ourselves.

Thanks for reading!

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This has been another blog post entry by Boxcar Mike, over and out!

God Bless Y’all Everybody!

The Ultimate Price Men Paid For Freedom

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https://www.thedarksecrets.com/quotes/self-motivation-quotes

Hey All!

Today is Memorial Day, a time to remember the fallen. Those who paid the ultimate price. They didn’t get a choice to go backward. They powered through doing as trained. I give thanks to God for those men.

The past few weeks have been a difficult time for me in relearning some things and getting the timing down. I am back working on a project that is challenging for me. I must make peace with the fact it may just be the slow but steady progress. I cannot allow it to control me or my emotions.

As of Friday, I would have boarded up my windows if I could have. That is how much I wanted to get away from people, places, and things.

The thing of it is, I have had to take stock of going backward closing myself off.

The con is I stay wrapped up inside my head and the growth stops when I close myself off. The reality is some days will suck, while flying high on other days. The key is again the pauses they are important in stopping negativity from entering situations and communication.

You may be asking, how I can compare any of this to those men who fought for freedom? The answer simply is they went through challenges knowing their very life could be taken. Yet, they powered through and gave all until they had nothing left.

To give thanks to those men and show gratitude for what they have given, I must not allow myself to stop just because something is difficult. I have wanted to make changes and I have made changes.

My belief system comes into this journey as well. I mean, after all, I must have a conscience. I cannot leave that part out. In my beliefs is where I do find grace and courage. Now it may not be the courage of the men took, who have fallen. That is more reason to keep going and get through to the other side.

I must not give up on myself. No one else is coming. I have to pick myself up. Did I not get the memo?

Do the next right thing. It begins when I pick myself up off the ground and get back in the saddle. Have my coffee with my morning prayer and meditation. After my shower remember to acknowledge, high-five, and affirm myself. It is all part of self-care, loving myself, and knowing I love what I do as well.

This is all in nurturing the seeds planted in myself and others. I share what I have and what I struggle with. It is all communicating there are no shortcuts. It is in doing and following through is the only way to any kind of success no matter what it is you or I do.

Together we can! We all got dues to pay. It is a fact.

Psalm 31:24 ESV Be strong, and let your heart take courage,

all you who wait for the LORD!

Thanks for reading!

This has been another blog post entry by Boxcar Mike, over and out!

God Bless Y’all Everybody!

My Gratitude Is A Plan Of Action

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Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Hey, Y’all!

It’s good to be back writing once more. I have been big on gratitude for some time. Perhaps even before I knew just how useful this tool can be and can save me from a day being ruined.

Monday was such a day I had the opportunity to use this valuable tool to turn my day around.

I was feeling, just not with it, and thought maybe I would coast through the day feeling armed with a new form of knowing more about myself during this process of resetting my life.

Somewhere between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm, I was feeling that Monday day coming on feeling and being a little bit hangry. Hungry, angry, and a man of little patience. The self-pity even started to slip in.

The next thing I started contemplating was the fact of me doing this reset. While it may have started as a reset with Mel Robbins, I realized this was my reset. I could start my day over and I started making a gratitude list.

I next realized, “Hey this is the first time I ever thought on my own to do a gratitude list in response to my feelings. Something is working here!”

I have decided to do a daily gratitude list of 10 things each day. In this entry, I am using yesterday’s list as the guide in which I share the changes in why I am grateful for each item.

To me, it is just amazing how you may know useful tools and how one day the light bulb goes on where those tools become more effective.

My list starts in the following way:

  • I am grateful for the fact that I am alive.

This means I have a chance to grow and break the cycles I have remained in and that no longer serve me.

  • I am grateful I can change my attitude.

I do not have to be miserable and make others miserable. I get the opportunity to change my responses to negative things and the thoughts running through my brain.

  • I am grateful I can change my actions.

For a long time, I did not know I have a choice to choose not to respond. I always have that option. In a lot of cases, it is the best choice I can make.

  • I am grateful for a program that helps me get it together,

I do not have to stay stuck. I can make up my mind to follow suggestions that have worked for others. There is strength in numbers and a lot of times just listening to others’ experiences helps me way more than trying some little trick. Though doing something I have never done before works as well, in most cases.

  • I am grateful for my spirituality.

Today I believe God is real and has my best interest in mind. I believe God has fought hard for me in the insane life I have led. He loves me unconditionally. I believe God has a plan for me and gave His Son for me. I am not here to shove it down your throat. It is a fact in my life and what I believe.  

I believe God has used and continues to place people, places, and circumstances in my life for different reasons. All of it is shaping who I am today.

  • I am grateful I do not have to ask family and friends to bail me out of every jam today.

There have been so many times in my life of being irresponsible and keeping on making the same poor choices that left me in the jams of insanity. The many times of having to lose everything start over. I hope to never have to repeat those lessons and pray I stay on the journey I am traveling.

  • I am grateful my life has turned around.

Almost a year ago now I realized I had turned a corner in my life where I reached the physical age of poor decisions and living just plain wrong had a cause and effect upon my life. My body’s check engine light came on and it was no fun. I have made changes and hope to make even more.

  • I am grateful that the simple small actions can make my day a success.

The simple small steps are making a gratitude list. It is getting up as soon as possible and choosing to move forward with my day. Taking the time for self-care. Filling my medicine box, being my advocate, Praying first thing, and getting that cup of coffee before I talk to anyone. Taking a pause, I do not always remember this and usually regret it later.  

  •  I am grateful for the choice to stop the insanity.

Whether it comes through the phone or trying to come in through my front door. I have the choice to refuse it today. To be honest, mostly insanity tries to come into my thoughts and that is where the rubber meets the road. Stopping the first thought can be winning the battle.

  • I am grateful for a place to call home.

I have food in the cabinets and fridge, I have a place to sleep and it is safe to be here. I get to be here today.

I hope this has been uplifting and has helped you on your journey.

Thanks for reading!

This has been another blog post entry by Boxcarmike, over and out!

God Bless Y’all, Everybody!

This World Is Too Much With Us

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A photo I took out by Bismarck Lake Bismarck, MO

Hey Y’all,

I am back. I am recovering from being sick and it has been challenging to say the least. I did enjoy my birthday, as it was one of the best!

The topic at hand grabbed my heart in the past week or so. I was watching a cooking show and saw someone had a devotion book with the title on the page that read: “This World Is Too Much With Us.”

When I saw the title, I instantly imagined God saying that out in the open as a statement.

I see God as the Ultimate Parent in my world. I see God as The Creator. I see God as love and the Spiritual Being or Divine One.

God in my eyes had rules and expectations, but most of all God had a plan. That plan included us. My views keep changing but the constant is that God loves me accepts me, created me, sees me as enough, and provides for me. He always provides a way out if I look for it. I find myself when going through a difficult time, that Life was never meant to be this hard! There has to be an easier way!

I know when I begin a new adventure I will spend my energy foolishly, thinking if I just start full force with all I have I will plow through with no problem. But it does become a problem because I get worn out realizing I must start at the beginning once more.

It seems when we are the most worn is when we are needed most or that we need to be needed. We want to fulfill some impossible tasks. Because we want to help in some way, be a part of, and build a bridge to make it easier for others as well as ourselves.

We keep hoping for an easier softer way. The reality is if we just do what is in front of us to do is the easier way. The other way just becomes a way of using and being used up. It is like using some unearned credit to make it for what we think might be an easy ride up the mountain. What I fail to realize is that unearned credit is going to be time to be paid back plus interest. This is what living life on credit or a bartering system is like. Because in the very beginning we start using scales that are not balanced, It is just like gambling. Only we do it with our very lives, The house always what? The house always wins! We lose more than what we were supposed to gain.

The ways of this world just do not work. In the faint distance, I can hear my mom and dad calling after me. “We never meant that for you!” In the same way, I hear God today saying: “It was supposed to be easier, did you not hear my instructions? Did you not listen? I never meant that harm to you. That was not my plan for you!”

This world will use you up, chew you up, and spit you out. We get used up trying to find an easier, softer way.

Being on this journey means doing what is in front of me. Letting go of my expectations of what I think the instructions mean and following the instructions makes it easier. I see more beauty in life when I find my gratitude.

Safety comes when I just do my part and it becomes an easier mountain climb just one foot in front of the other. God has been here the whole time. This World is too much with us.

In the end, this is how we walk each other home. My Mama is calling for supper time … I just heard her…”Michael, Michael, Its’ time to come home!” Be there in a minute Ma!

Thanks for reading!

This has been another blog post entry by Boxcar Mike, over and out!

God Bless Y’all!

Integrity Happens Because I Decide My Behavior

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Walthers Park DeSoto, Missouri 2016

Hi Everyone!

I hope once again to dive deeper into the subject of integrity.

Choosing my behavior begins as soon as I stumble from my bed and get my coffee ready so I can say a prayer.  While it has only been as of late to be consistent with this, so far I am finding it works.

My prayer starts simply: God, please help me today I cannot do this without you. God, please direct my thoughts today to help me to be divorced from self-pity and that I may be of help to others where I can. Help me to pause when angered or agitated. Help me to stay in the right behavior and help me to be mindful of you. Thank you God for another day and help me to live life to the fullest amen.

I look at past behaviors and realize without doing my prayer I would stay stuck the whole day because I did not take that needed moment. I do this before I talk to anyone. Unless of course, I am awakened abruptly.

I try to be as open and honest as I can. I try to be motivated by the right things realizing I am not perfect. None of us are perfect.

I have key people in my circle who I run things by to make sure I am on the right track. Sometimes, it means a talk just to see what is going on inside my head. A lot of times, it means listening to others and not just so I can think of the next thing to say. Sometimes it means being a sounding board to stay out of my head.

Integrity for me means being true to myself and admitting when I am wrong revealing my motives. It also means slowing down a minute and looking at myself through the eyes of others. We cannot always see what others see in us. It also means doing the right thing when no one is watching.

I do my best to avoid behaviors that are going to threaten my freedom. I do my best to avoid behaviors that can lead me back in my addictions. I avoid situations that will threaten my sanity. Peace of mind and minding my own business are priceless today.

I do my best to stop myself from gossiping or entertaining gossip. It has no value in a productive life. However, yes do we all not enjoy a good story every once in a while? I will say it is a trap and can start a trend. It messes with my peace today. I want better for myself.

I write gratitude lists from time to time because otherwise, I can slip into not being grateful. I do not want to be selfish today. Being ungrateful certainly does lead to being selfish.

One of the hardest parts I believe is looking at the exact wrongs and harms I have done to others. But perhaps the hardest of all is making those harms and wrongs right.

Some people and situations will never be the same. My hope is never to do the same wrongs and harms ever again.

For me, it has come down to doing the right thing or not doing it at all. There is no middle ground anymore.

There is more to be continued with this subject of integrity and behavior.

Thanks for reading!

This has been another blog post entry by Boxcar Mike, over and out!

God Bless Y’all Everybody!