Author: S R Janssen

KICKING THE TIRES OF SEPTEMBER 24, 2019

S R Janssen
The Less I Think, The Happier my Day

The Less I Think, the Happier my Day

Cream cheese replaced my brain yesterday, and the early part of this morning as well; which means my day was filled with a mix of the sticky, the bland, and the vague.  Only two useful things were accomplished: an appointment for a Low Vision 60 test, and first contact with Suzi from the County Home Modification program.

The thing is, those calls were not for my benefit, but for that of another person. Doing things for others is not all altruism, but a “respectable” excuse for sidestepping my personal goals.

It’s a habit pattern that I have run for decades. All I am going to do about it is make a note on my habit tracker and move on without further thoughts.  More and more, I find the less I think, the better my day goes

KICKING THE TIRES OF AUGUST 21, 2019

S R Janssen
My brother and cousin approximately 1942

Disturbance of Old Photos

The two children in the photo have been gone from this earth for more than nine years. The boy is my half brother, and the girl is my cousin. They were half a generation ahead of me; half-growed so to speak by the time I was born. My half-brother completed high school at New Mexico Military Institute. Right after graduation, he enlisted in the Air Force, attended OCS after his first hitch, and spent most of his life overseas. My cousin grew up and married in Iowa. After divorcing her first husband she spent the remainder of her life in Colorado.

Looking at the photo of those bright children, I would never have imagined the outcome of their lives to be as they were. Although both were very successful in many ways, I feel the final years of their lives were unnecessarily unhappy. My opinion, based only on subjective feeling and no facts whatsoever, their unhappiness was generated by a pessimistic and negative mindset that carried them far from the people they may have been as children.