Persist and You Will Win

Persistence is that asset that best defines me. I am unique that way. But how do I practice persistence in each area of my life? 

Follow me:

The core of my life starts with the spirit. I start each day with a prayer. Before I am awake, I am with God. 

I write a small gratitude list. Every day.

I visit my master mind book and gaze at my vision boards. Every day.

I started this practice in 2014 and have never skipped a day since.

About a half hour shapes my day and forms a platform of calm that I may return to throughout the day. A platform of gratitude. A place to start, and a vision of the world I intend to attract over time.

Next blog let's visit the power of emotional calm. Persistent, determined, calmness.

Stone

What makes me who I am?  I am very good at making new friends no matter where I'm at in the world.  I really enjoy learning new things. I'm not afraid to get hurt or take chances on my bike.  I knew at a very young age what i wanted to do as a career for the rest of my life.  Riding my bike is my favorite thing to do, and I will make a career out of it.  I like buying other peoples clothes that they do not want. I like clothes from thrift stores.  I enjoy trying to find vintage clothes that have been donated.  One of the reasons i like shopping at thrift stores is that you will always find something new. I love to catch animals, and then letting them go.  I love to snorkle in the ocean to look at fish. One fun fact about me, there has never been a day where I haven't  found a penny on the ground.  I like to write my gratitude list every day. I would write my goals down at a very young age. I love to laugh it makes me feel good. I like to try new foods. My favorite food is jalapeno poppers. i love watching movies. since I live really close to my cousins i get to hang out with them all the time. I love dogs and when i get older I'm going to get a pitbull a bassethound and a chiwini.   El Fin.  

Savannah

INTRO

- Savannah Kepler/ 15 / Born and raised in Austin,Texas

- Topic 1 Food 

- Topic 2 Music (how it makes me feel)

- Topic 3 My thoughts on clothes

- Conclusion  

Food

As I’ve gotten older I have noticed that I am more eager and open to trying out more foods especially healthy foods. And growing up with parents that live a healthy lifestyle, they have always told me that “Food is fuel” and “It all goes to the same place”

Music

Probably one of my favorite things to do is listen to music. 

When I am Sad/ Happy/ Mad/ Relaxed/ Sleeping/ Working-out/

Running/ Sitting/ Working/ Studying, basically anywhere, anytime. And I love when I find a new song to obsess over. (Great feeling BTW)  It really helps to Zone-out. 

And helps me control or release emotions.

Clothes

My style but with every single style I always feel Comfortable And Confident.

In what I have on. I have also come to the conclusion that close have no gender. (Same with colors) And I recently bought some swim trunks, (I found at Goodwill) 

I was brought to my attention that if you are a woman and you wear men’s clothes people will assume or label you as lesbian or dike. but when I looked at the clothes I bought all I said was pieces of fabric. And when I put them on I felt Comfortable and Confident and that’s all that mattered to me. 

Conclusion

So far life has been Good/ Crazy/ Relaxing/ Chaotic/ Frustrating, Over all a lot.  But am so grateful to be alive.

And that is a little bit about me.

-Savannah Kepler 

Unique

A couple of decades ago I sat in a Rabbi's office to choose my Hebrew name. The name for my naming ceremony. I remember it this way. 

Rather cluttered office, kind of dusty, kind of dim, Rabbi Steve Folberg thumbing through a massive black book. We were looking for a name. We got through the "D's" without a winner, but  early in  the E's my name popped up. no really, it seemed to appear darker on the page. EITAN.

I asked the rabbi "What's that mean? What is that one there?" and he responded "Oh that's a good name, a real Hebrew name, it means persistent like water is persistent. Like Hanukkah oil burning for eight days is persistent."

That's me! All my strength, all my best qualities come from the fact that I have  above all things  persistence. All else follows. And the bundle makes me unique.

10 Canards and 2 Great Truths

ca-nard: an unfound story or belief

1.”It is what it is.” No, it is what we make it. As a wise man once said: "So our troubles, we believe, are basically of our own making. They arise out of ourselves."

2. “Oh you know how I am.” A fine way to guarantee that you never improve.

3. ”It is good to think outside of the box.” Yes, but it is best to find the box first, then think outside of it.

4. “l am more creative when...” I am most creative when I work. Creativity is awarded to the busy.

5. “To the speedy go the spoils.” I never really started gaining wealth until I had enough courage to finally quit trying to achieve it. I then began to receive it in abundance.

6. “I'm not hurting anyone but me.” Oh yeah? Just ask your family how that works.

7. “The millionaire’s Bentley.” Many who must drive a fancy car, live in a fancy house, wear fancy jewelry, never really gain true liquid wealth. Read The Millionaire Next Door.

8. “I can quit anytime I want.”  Oh really?

9. “Lotteries make one rich.” Lottery, a hot stock, bitcoin, casinos… the list goes on. If you want to take risk, open a business. "Nothing that's easy is worth a shit. Nothing that's worth a shit is easy." Vic Thompson 1976.

10. “Smooth talkers talk smoothly.” Trust your gut or ask your spouse. If it sounds too good to be true, it almost always is.

Two Great Truths.

1.You can't out give a giver.

2. You can never give a taker quite enough.

The Gift

It was while talking with my psychiatrist about a recent near fatal mishap that he laid this on me: "You have a death wish." Well great!

Now there are two actions that I know of that may lead to some solution; one calls for several years with my shrink, the other calls for using invisible tools and taking maybe several weeks. I like choice number two.

Choice number two calls for power. Power to see clearly, to make connections that lead to discovery. Power to find the root. One's got to call on the power of prayer. A paper, a pencil, a quiet room, and a prayer that goes something like this: "God help me with your light."amen.  

A moment of silence, a bit of meditation, then placing pen or pencil to paper. Maybe nothing comes. Oh well, try again later. Or… Maybe something comes to mind and the light begins to shine. Connections begin to be made. The gift of clarity. The Gift.

Now I have no idea what your gift will look like. Mine looked like this:

A four year old boy falling on a driveway era 1952 or so. Lots of black eyes, lots of bruises, lots of attention from a family that seldom cared. "Oh my God, there's the link!" Trauma brings attention, and attention means love. No love? Self-pity. Self driven fear of losing love or never getting love at all. That holds the root. 

The root is fear. Fear can be conquered. Anxiety can be thwarted by the calm that comes from the power of prayer and meditation. Or anxiety may be reduced by confessional sharing with trusted spiritual advisors, or trusted professional counselors of one sort or another.

Fear lifted, behavior changed. No more wrecks for me.

But Wait… I'm The Come Back Kid.

I read a story of a pilot, who had come near death several times in accidents connected to flying. In counseling he revealed that he "always landed on his feet". His psychiatrist observed that in order to land on your feet, you've got to fall off of something. Or in his case… out of something – the air.

Well I am that kind of guy. I've always considered myself a "come back kid." Many of us do. It's a fairly common title.

But in my life, as I came back from various types of accidents and several near fatal encounters, I had to face this fact: I set myself up for these mishaps to prove that I was worthy of your attention. Everybody adores a come back kid.

My last accident, at age 71, nearly took my life. In counseling,  my psychiatrist tagged me with a new reality. 

Jokingly I stated "hell I've broken nearly every damn bone in my body!" Then I chortled about putting myself in danger during a rocket attack in Vietnam.  My doctor turned to me and rather sternly remarked "you've got a death wish."

What does one do with that?

Next month.

What's love got to do with it?

At a dear friend's 50th anniversary dinner, Edward (Not his real name) told a story about a couple, who after 25 years of matrimony, had decided to part "because they weren't happy." Ed asked this question: "What does happiness have to do with marriage?" As if marriage makes you happy. As if marriage makes you malcontented.

Happiness is an inside job. The inside job includes prayer, meditation, study, exercise and frugality. All habits that have made me the kind of person that attracted my wife of 23 years. Has marriage made her happy? No. She was happy when we met, and as we've each sculpted our visions of happiness, this union has continued to be a power. The bond itself creates a power that transcends all understanding.

As Irving Singer has put it, "we are living during a period in which large numbers of people have renounced their faith in love."

"Though many people are afraid of not being loved, it may well be that even more they are afraid of loving. For this reason, love, like many of the other virtues, relies upon the virtue of courage. Since love requires commitment without guarantees, giving without the assurance of receiving, intimacy with the exposure of vulnerability, love demands courage -- the ability to take a risk even though it may lead to disappointment and pain." - Rabbi Byron L. Sherwin, Ph.D. "Crafting the Soul". p.160