The Beauty of Fog and Mist

— Posted inFamily, Health & Fitness, Personal, Photography — 1 min read

There is something about fog that is both beautiful yet mysterious or challenging.

Have you ever heard someone say “I need to get through the fog on that” or “this problem has me in the fog”??

Fog is simply condensed water vapor in cloud like masses lying close to the ground and limiting visibility. There is much to that about life as well.

When we drive our car through the fog, for example, it is sometimes hard to find our way. We usually have to wait for the fog to lift to get to our destination.

Likewise, to get through the fog in our lives, we sometimes have to wait for the issue or problem to take its course, and the fog to lift, so we can then see the path we need to take.

Fog reminds us to see the beauty of the pathways in our life.

I Make a Case for Writing My Blog on Vivaldi

— Posted inDesign, Gadgets, Literature, Personal, Photography, Productivity, Technology — 3 min read

I just read a book by Glenn Reynolds, “The Social Media Upheaveal”. He says that we are deep reading less, and learning from headlines more. He also says that many of us share on social media articles that we have not read, more so share by the head line.

I think it’s important to write down our thoughts, so that we know where we stand on the issues of our time. My late father used to say that you have to know where you stand, so you don’t fall for anything. So it seems, today, the best way to be more educated than the masses is to read more than the headline. Then write down our own thoughts.

Writing also helps those who come after us to see the person we were. It doesn’t matter if it is a journal, a newsletter, a blog, or a spiral notebook. Sometimes it can speak to people here today, as well, to share in the discourse, because we are all at different levels in life, and sharing helps each other through it.

The thing about writing and reading blogs, is that you can connect the dots between thoughts and ideas. Although my newsletter is my favorite creative outlet for sharing, my blog is where I share thoughts that link it with the thoughts of others. A practice that is uncommon today. So, if a comment to a blog post might be too long, with blogs we can link to it with a post in response.

I like to follow people who are successful doing the uncommon thing. Like it is said to be successful you have to have your own website or blog, with a custom domain name, and I have found this to be untrue. I also have seen several bloggers over the years who have moved back and forthe from having their own platform, to blogging on a community provider, just like I’m doing here with Vivaldi. The big guy, Reynolds, known as “The Blogfather” is doing just that here for example.

Some people say that podcasts are the new blog. But I say that more people are moving away from social media and migrating (back) to the open web with some sort of blogging. Just like it has been said that email is dead, but I would bet more people read email than social media … becuase to have a social media account you usually need an email address.

All of this to say that my transition to Vivaldi is the place where I develop my thoughts and ideas with pictures and words. I hope you find what I have to say meaningful, as I’m proud to do it!

Thanks for reading.

Being Thankful

— Posted inFood, Health & Fitness, Productivity — 1 min read

When the paths that we take in life become overshadoweed with obstacles, the best route to take is to be optimistic and thankful. The people who become successful use their struggles to become stronger, and surround themselves with others who see opportunities from each failure.

Know too, that when we focus on God instead of self, and tell our obstacles about God, instead of telling God about our obstacles, we see tiny bits of progress each day as if there is light at the end of the tunnel.

So when given a choice, take the path of being thankful.

A Country of Immigrants

— Posted inFamily, Personal, Photography, Productivity — 1 min read
Photo: American Flag Through the Trees – Copyright 2020 Frank J Casella

The United States is a county made up of immigrants. Many immigrants I talk with say the USA is the greatest country in the world.

It’s a land of opportunity. A place where, through hard work, dreams do come true.

In my view, every person in this county is either an immigrant or an ancestor of one.

I find that, many of us like me who were born here in the US have trouble tasting and achieving success in a way that immigrants do.

We’re not on fire, or appreciate, as much the gift and opportunity this country offers. But I’m not saying we are lazy …

In talking with immigrants about this, I have concluded, when us who are ‘cradle Americans’ face a challenge or a goal to achieve, we should try and think how our ancestor who immigrated here would do it.

This puts a very different light and perspective on our own success. For we have much to thank our family ancestry for.

Think about it.

Thank you for reading. Enjoy your day!

What is Dignity?

— Posted inHealth & Fitness, Personal, Productivity — 2 min read

Dignity is said to be the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically with inherent nobility and worth.

Said another way, then, is dignity the quality or state of being worthy of esteem or respect?

I share this with you because, today, I think it is important to be mindful of dignity. We see lack if it all around us, both online and offline. And we lack dignity mainly when we are not treating each other as such.

We can blame this, if we want, on social media, politicians, other people in our personal lives or work environment. But the buck stops with us, I think. We have the sole power to hold and give dignity.

Confidence, success, respect, and integrity are some of the benefits of dignity. And when we treat others with dignity is the best way to see others treat us the same way.

Likewise, just as a good friend is found by first being a friend, and happiness is never found by the person shopping for it … rather, genuine happiness is the byproduct of making someone else happy.

So, no matter what your interpretation of dignity is, the best way to describe it to others is to live it.

The Key to Networking

— Posted inFamily, Health & Fitness, Personal, Productivity — 1 min read
Photo: ‘Networking’ – Copyright 2020 Frank J Casella

Networking is about relationships and the exchange of ideas, information, or services. And many people today have the thought about networking being the practice in business of finding other people to provide their services to, or personally finding relationships to better their lifestyle or position.

The true key to networking, though, if you study the biographies of the top successful people and leaders in the world, is all about giving to others. And the secret to this is to give without expecting anything in return.

Two quotes from the late Zig Ziglar spell this out better than I ever could find the words:

You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want

If you go looking for a friend, you’re going to find they’re very scarce. If you go out to be a friend, you’ll find them everywhere.

How Do You Get The Talent That You Pay for?

— Posted inDesign, Family, Personal, Photography, Productivity, Software, Technology — 2 min read

There is this argument among freelancers and contractors, that when you pay for their services that you’re not paying for the service time as much as you pay for the years of experience that brought them to providing their service.

I think you pay for the minutes and not the years. The ‘guy’ who provides the best performance gets the privilege to those minutes. It’s the byproduct of how, say, two different professionals spend those same years. So if two professionals charge the same for those minutes, I’m going with the one who knows their stuff and provides the best service.

I’ve had several service techs and freelancers tell me they’ve been in the business for several years who take for granted what that really means. And this is why it is hard to find a good service tech.

“Do more than you are being paid to do, and you’ll eventually be paid more for what you do.”

“Outstanding people have one thing in common: an absolute sense of mission.”

“A manager is not a person who can do the work better than his men; he is a person who can get his men to do the work better than he can.”

“The more you are grateful for what you have the more you will have to be grateful for”

― Zig Ziglar, Top Performance

True Inclusion and Diversity

— Posted inDesign, Family, Productivity, Technology — 1 min read

If you look around at websites and social media profiles, some businesses, and the social media platforms themselves, seem to be bowing to the culture wars, especially here in the United States. They design their logos to highlight the cause, and use the hashtags everywhere, etc.

I think when they do this, they are not thinking how much more polarizing they become. Because, true inclusion and diversity is to appeal to their general audience and not cater to a smaller (controversial) audience unless it is their long-term business model.

Instead they should speak to this by showing how they live out what they believe, by not ruling out the individuals they are trying to highlight.

The Simple Things Are Profound

— Posted inDesign, Literature, Personal, Productivity, Technology — 1 min read

I spend much time reading blog posts and, more often than not, many bloggers seem to try to be profound rather than just being themselves.

By profound I mean to be far reaching in your thinking, or having great insight or understanding on a subject or topic.

The reality is, for most of us, the best way to be profound is to just keep it simple. As one of my mentors has put it, simple things make big impact. And this is very true.

Of all the things I have shared on my blogs over the years, the ones that have made the most impact are those where I thought I was being too basic or simple.

So, keeping things simple is more profound, than trying to be profound.

Are We Being Too Busy?

— Posted inHealth & Fitness, Personal, Productivity — 1 min read

One of the things I have noticed, or learned, being isolated by this pandemic is that it’s okay to not be busy. I am often thinking ahead about what I need to do, and the slowing down of life recently has showed me how to be more intentional about how I use my time and the people I connect with.

One person I was talking with online said that a simple act that someone did when they were a child has still made an impact on their life several decades later. I think it is important, then, to remember that simple moments create big impact even if for a minute or too, and we should not be too busy to see this.

It is okay to not be busy to allow time to see what is happening around us now, in the moment, and not always looking ahead on what we need to do or be doing.

Have an enjoyable day,

Frank

First Thoughts

— Posted inPersonal — 2 min read

There are several blogs I host on the internet that require action or response from the reader. So with this blog, my intent is to share my personal thoughts that are not meant to be monetized.

Those other platforms didn’t feel like the right place to do this, but once I learned from DuckDuckGo about the business model of Vivaldi browser, and how they use the WordPress blog software, this feels like what I have been looking for.

I plan to make a blog entry at least once a week, and hopefully more, that is NOT about my interests with photography, the Catholic Faith, manhood, or art, but rather everything else I might be thinking about and just need to write it down.

Thinking is a rare commodity in our world today, especially with the distractions of our information age. It is important now to be mindful how we are intentional about blocking out time with our own thoughts.

For example, it is said how the late Abraham Lincoln, when he was President of the United States, would spend much time in pure solitude with the decisions that he had to make after he got feedback from his advisors.

So I hope that you enjoy this blog, and come back to it often if it speaks to you. I don’t expect you to comment, because this blog is more about my thought process and I hope you can benefit from it.

Frank

Vivaldi