Feed Your Good Dog

Positive Thoughts | Positive Actions | Positive Results

Jewels in the Delta – Food for Thought

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Sage advice from one of the Jewels in the Delta

Mrs. Florida B. Smith - Jewels in the Delta“And if you get something good, know how to treat it after you get it, because a lot of people get something good, they don’t know how to treat it until they then lost it.” ~ Mrs. Florida B. Smith

Source: Teresa Kamins – Thank you, Teresa, for sharing Jewels in the Delta!

We learn and grow in so many ways. One way is through our elders’ life experiences. We find so many useful life lessons reading their stories and listening to them. Some people credit elder wisdom as basis on which they lead their lives. Lucky those at any age who have the insight to be aware that these gifts exist and seek them.

For those of us who continue to look, it appears that Alysia Burton Steele will provide plenty of elder advice and stories in her yet to be released photobook – Jewels in the Delta. Over the last year, Ms. Steele has traveled 6,700 miles to photograph and interview the 50 women who will appear in her new book. Can’t wait to get a hold of it, and soak up the words of wisdom from those 50 jewels. Ms. Steele describes them in her May 2014 Southern Living article as “ordinary women who have lived extraordinary lives” in the Mississippi Delta. If Ms. Steele’s May 2014 Southern Living article is any indication of the depth of wisdom we will take away from Jewels in the Delta, then we are in for a real education on how to live a meaningful life.

We’d like to know:

What have you learned during time spent with a grandparent, great aunt or uncle, or elderly friend that has caused you to rethink how you approach life? What elderly wisdom have you read that has caused the light bulb to go off in your head and clarified your thought process?

And, remember … Feed Your Good Dog so your good dog always wins!

TGIFYGDF – Thank Goodness It’s Feed Your Good Dog Friday!

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White German Shepherd Mix
Heidi – White German Shepherd • Adult • Female • Large
Petfinder.com
It’s what we put out there that determines success in whatever we do. I see evidence of this all over the place, all the time. There is a story at the back of the May 2014 issue of Southern Living written by Rick Bragg, titled “Pretty Girl”. It illustrates the power of words and how choosing positive uplifting words to create intention can heal. Bragg invites us to find this message from the beginning when he says:  “To most, she looked like she didn’t stand a chance. But they looked at her and saw different.”

Bragg sets the stage with his opening sentence: “Her name was perfect.”

A “broke-down dog” found its way onto Bragg’s mother’s yard. She was “more than half-dead, starved down to the bones, her hair completely eaten away by mange”.

When Bragg’s mother and brother found the almost unrecognizable dog, they did not call the vet because they knew what the vet would say; and, they are of the mind that “there is always a little use, a little good, a little life left in anything, and who are they to decide when something is done for good.”

Her perfect name is revealed as Bragg tells us that his brother, Mark, looked onto her “tragic face” and named her “Pretty Girl” as if “he could see beyond the ruin, or maybe into it.”

Bragg’s mother and brother gave Pretty Girl water and food, and cured the mange to a point when they felt it was safe to take her to the vet without worry of a suggestion that she be put down. The vet found heartworms, but Mark and his mother took her home and within a month, they had Pretty Girl standing on her own feet looking like the beautiful white German shepherd she was intended to be. She lived three years after she was found, but eventually Pretty Girl began to fail and died.

Bragg brings us to the point at the end of his story “There are things we cannot explain, things beyond science, like how a man could name a ravaged and dying dog, and have her rise inside that, somehow to make it true.”

Pretty Girl’s recovery started the minute Bragg’s brother, Mark, named her. Her name became the intention that healed the “broke-down dog” who otherwise may not have made it past her walk onto the yard.

And, remember … Feed Your Good Dog so your good dog always wins!

Rick Braggis a Pulitzer Prize winning writer and author of several best-selling books, including All Over But the Shoutin’ and Ava’s Man.

Life Lessons – Former Navy SEAL Commander Commencement Speech 2014

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Navy Adm. William H. McRavenWe all know that social media can wreak havoc on, and forever negatively change, a person’s life with a single post or comment, but it can also be, and has been, used to spread good news and stories to become a source of inspiration for positive life changes. For instance, I may never have known about the brilliant commencement speech delivered by Naval Adm. William H. McRaven to the University of Texas graduating class of 2014, if it weren’t for Facebook. Thankfully, my dear friend, Teresa, shared the New York Times article “10 life lessons from the SEAL who led mission for bin Laden” written about the speech and there it was on my wall to read and share. Adm. McRaven, former commander of the Navy’s SEAL Team 3 and current commander of the US Special Operations Command — the man who led the mission to get Osama bin Laden – shares the lessons he learned during his Navy SEAL training. Although we know the process of learning these lessons would be anything but, his advice on how to live a better life is simply put.

Admiral McRaven opens his speech humbly as he offers “suggestions” to his young audience “that may help you on your way to a better world.” With each lesson, he relates an experience during SEAL training, and then states the lesson. If you want a peek inside this world, here’s your chance. The ten lessons to adopt if, as he puts it, you want a better world are:

  • Start off by making your bed.
  • Find someone to help you paddle.
  • Measure a person by the size of their heart, not the size of their flippers.
  • Get over being a sugar cookie and keep moving forward.
  • Don’t be afraid of the circuses.
  • Sometimes you have to slide down the obstacle head-first.
  • Don’t back down from the sharks.
  • You must be your very best in the darkest moment.
  • Start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud.
  • Don’t ever, ever ring the bell.

My favorites right now and those that I know will make a positive change in my world: Don’t be afraid of the circuses; start singing when you’re up to your neck in mud; and, don’t ever, ever ring the bell. What are yours?

Monday Motivational Quote – Memorial Day 2014

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Gary Sinise Foundation LogoOn this Memorial Day 2014, we salute America’s fallen heroes and their families who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country for freedom and opportunity. We are humbled by your sacrifice.

“While we can never do enough to show gratitude to our nation’s defenders, we can always do a little more.” ~ Gary Sinise Gary Sinise Foundation

And, remember . . . Feed Your Good Dog so your good dog always wins!

TGIFYGDF . . . Thank Goodness It’s Feed Your Good Dog Friday!

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Put the “memorial back in Memorial Day”

National Moment of Remembrance

Memorialize America’s fallen heroes and their families . . .

At 3 p.m. local time this Memorial Day pause wherever you are for a minute of silence to remember and honor America’s fallen heroes and their families who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to the United States so we can continue to live in freedom, and with so much opportunity. Simply, pause in silence, or place your hand over your heart, or even bow your head to offer a prayer to live a meaningful life in honor of those who gave their lives for our freedom.

In 1996, Carmella LaSpada, founder and director of No Greater Love, asked a group of school children on tour of the Nation’s Capital what Memorial Day meant to them. They responded with “That’s the day the pool opens.” That response moved LaSpada to set the wheels in motion for the first Proud to Remember campaign, which had events that started the Tuesday before, and wrapped up the day of, Memorial Day, May 26, 1997.

Three years later, Senator Chuck Hagel at LaSpada’s request asked Congress to officially establish the National Moment of Remembrance to ensure that the sacrifices of those who died in service to our nation and their families are remembered. In December 2000, the National Moment of Remembrance Act was passed by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by the president. It encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation.

Major League Baseball has been a supporter of this initiative beginning with the Proud to Remember campaign, and will join the National Moment of Remembrance this Memorial Day, where all 15 games will be paused for a moment of silence around 3 p.m. local time.

Carmella LaSpada’s sentiment still rings true when she said, “It’s a way we can all help put the memorial back in Memorial Day.

No Complaints for a Happier Life

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Complaint Free World Book CoverWhat would life be like if we didn’t complain? According to Will Bowen in his book A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying the Life You Always Wanted, we would feel happier, and the transformation to the experience of a happier life takes place when a person completes the Complaint Free challenge and becomes complaint free.

He says that even during the process of becoming Complaint Free, people often report that they feel happier long before they reach twenty-one consecutive days of being complaint free.

Once you start feeling happier, Bowen explains, “happiness compounds on itself because happy people tend to attract more positive people, joyful experiences, and opportunities than do unhappy people. As a result, they feel even happier, which draws more good things, and this wonderful cycle continues and expands.”
The Complaint Free challenge is simple in theory however not so easy when practiced. The process: commit to 21 days of being complaint free. Hold yourself accountable by wearing a Complaint Free bracelet, or a rubber band, on your wrist and change it from one wrist to the other every time you complain. As simple as it sounds, it can take many months to complete 21 days of being complaint free.

Bowen does a good job explaining the challenge process, how we are changed by it, and how to get through it. Inspirational quotes, and testimonials from those who completed the challenge, appear throughout the book to provide motivation to keep the challenge going.

Me? I’m wearing the bracelet and still on day one but remain inspired by the good feeling I get each time I change the bracelet from one wrist to the other knowing that I am growing in the direction of a happy and more fulfilling life. How about you?