The Love Between Fathers & Daughters

“I have my father wrapped around my finger, but he has me wrapped around his.”
from the book “The Love Between Fathers & Daughters” by Helen Exley

My daughter, Erin, is one of the most wonderful happenings in my life.
When she came into the world, while I don’t remember details, my life changed forever. My lifestyle and my life plan shifted to receive and surround this profound new expression of being a Father to a Daughter.

My daughter, Erin, graduating from University in May 2017


Based on the book, “The Love Between Fathers & Daughters” by Helen Exley, the following beautiful collection celebrates the magical bond between fathers and daughters.

____________________

The one-of-a-kind shock and awe that can beset a first-time father is almost sure to be Overwhelm of an unprecedented kind. A friend of ours — suddenly awakening to being a father now — recounted to me his first event in parenting: “The infant-care nurse handed my baby to me. She was stiff and howling. When I held her for the first time, I lightly kissed her forehead. She went still, as if by instinct. And, in that moment, I was utterly enslaved by her flattery of my “most evident powers”!

“Thirty minutes later, my new daughter was already sizing me up. She lay in my lap, startlingly alert — scanning me just like I was scanning her! Our gazes moved in sweeping fashion around each other’s bodies, limbs, faces, eyes — repeatedly returning to the eyes — returning yet again, then … My eyes locked on hers.

“Very soon, I had a sense that I was gazing into “Origins” — that this gaze of hers was welling up at me from deep beyond the past’s past. “Of course, that sense of things was all wrong. For, eye to eye, it was She who was gazing into the past. I myself was gazing into the future’s future”

____________________

A few months later, that same friend shared with me what must have been a paragraph from his “Fatherhood Journal”: “She climbed into my lap and curled into the crook of my left arm. I couldn’t move that arm, but I could cradle. her in it. I could kiss the top of her head. And I could have no doubt that this was one of the sweetest moments of my life”.

____________________

“With my father life became an adventure .The minute he walked in the door at night, even the house seemed to take on a new energy, like a surge of electricity. Everything became charged, brighter, more colorful, more exciting ….”All fathers are, at first, heroes to their daughters, even when they’re anything but heroic.” (Victoria Secunda)

____________________

“There have been many times when I thought other people might be better singers or better musicians or prettier than me, but then I would hear Daddy’s voice telling me to never say never, and I would find a way to squeeze an extra inch or two out of what Gad had given me.”  (Barbara Mandrell)

____________________

One evening, when my daughter, Erin, was confiding in her mother, my wife Melanie, about a rough patch she encountered with a friend of hers, I, from the next room, heard my daughter’s voice sound forlorn; hence, I too suddenly felt forlorn.

(To quote Honore de Balzac {1799-1850} from “Le Pere Goriot” )  “When you are a father, and you hear your child’s voice, you will feel so close to that little child in her and the one in You who is akin to every drop in your veins; that she and her mom are the very flowers of your life, and you cleave so closely to them that you feel every movement that they make.”

____________________

“The most important thing about our time together was this:Dad never made me think there was anything I could not do.”(Susan Kenney)

____________________

My daughter, Erin, recounts her experience of a serious challenge for her dad (me):

“Almost four years ago now (August 19, 2016), I was unaware that This day would be The day when my life would change forever.

“That morning, my dad dropped me off at the restaurant where I worked. I found myself on duty for 12 non-stop hours, and two extended hours that faced me with a “mad-house” on the main floor. Abruptly, my manager called me into the office to answer the phone for a “private, personal” message.

Doing so I was quickly and concisely informed that my father had been taken to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit; And my mother was now in the hospital’s Visitor’s Lobby, watching for me to meet her there. On my hurried drive, my unspoken inner message of heart to my dad went something like this:

“I Love You, Dad: You are an inspiration to everyone, and such a miracle for our family. I am so blessed and so grateful to have you here with me.

Here’s to many, Many more Years with You”.

____________________

“No man can possibly know what life means, what the world means, what anything means until he has a child and loves it. And then the whole universe changes and nothing will ever again seem exactly it as seems exactly as it seemed before.”  (Lafcadio Hearn, b.1850-1904)

____________________

“With all my heart, I wish all the loving fathers of this world — cut off from their families by want or work or war — could be safe home again. For I know how much it means to have a father — how much I need him in the small, everyday things — and just how much he needs me.(Pam Brown, b.1928)

____________________

“As I start the twilight years of my life, I try to look back and figure out what it was all about. I’m still not sure what is meant by having good fortune and success. I knew early on that  fame and power are for the birds.  “But then suddenly, Life comes into vivid focus for me. And Ah, there stands my daughter.”  (Lee Iacocca, b.1924, from “Talking Straight”)

____________________

We, Each and All — Deep Inside — Long to Love and to Be Loved. 
I Love My Daughter, and She Loves Me!

Thank You So Much for Sharing this Unique Celebration with me … — PenDell

The Miracle of Mornings

One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day

Good Day Morning People & All Others!

If this is your first visit to my blog, then special kudos to you! It’s My First Visit, too! Let’s Welcome Each Other! Here we go on Entry #001!

Are You an ‘Early Riser’? Whether you think of yourself in those terms or not, the insights that follow herein may well be of interest to you & yours.

Studies show that “morning people” are typically one of two varieties of us:

Those who are natural “Top o’ the Morning, Up-&-At’em Sunrisers”, and then many others who — by choice or out of necessity — have adopted various forms of disciplined mind over matter in order to get a jump on their daily doings.   

Yet, for each and everyone, living comes down to one’s willingness and ability  to first lead oneself, with whatever ways and means one finds at hand.

Personal development experts and success coaches worldwide agree on simple, yet central rationales and practices for success in living. A vital one is “Time Management”.

One expert, Ray Higdon — a veteran time manager — is also a millionaire, bestselling author, and founder of his own company that helps entrepreneurs achieve financial freedom and fulfillment. 

Mr. Higdon credits his success, in large part, to his daily morning routine, “The Miracle Morning”, based on another bestseller by Hal Elrod & Pat Petrini.

Ray Higdon states, “I see ‘The Miracle Morning’ as sacred (just ask my wife!)

“I don’t start any day without doing key practices that set the tone for my day, and therefore, my life. And I control my day by taking control of my morning.” 

By the time night comes around, your energy and attitude will have been affected by the day’s events. By taking control of your day, first thing in the morning, you then control your energy and attitude, and hence, your results.    

One quite effective approach to the morning is known as LIFESavers”. That name includes an acronym, “SAVERS”: 

S-A-V-E-R-S — Standing for SILENCEAFFIRMATIONSVISUALIZATIONEXERCISEREADING and — SCRIBING (writing, in other words.)

The first letter “S” stands for SILENCE — 

Silence sets you up perfectly — amidst any and all external distractions — To Stop, Be Still, and Breathe … Breathe … Breathe …

Silence instantly reduces your stress levels, and lets you begin your day with the calm clarity you need to focus on what’s most important.  

The Letter “A” is for AFFIRMATIONS

Affirmations set you up to take hold of your life as you repeatedly tell yourself who you want to be, what you want to do, as well as what desires you have.

When done correctly, Affirmations are a most effective way for you to quickly achieve anything that you desire in life.

The Letter “V” stands for VISUALIZATION

The greatest gift that you can give to another is to live up to your own full potential. Well, what would that potential look like for you? 

With Visualization, you engage all of your senses, to see, feel, hear, taste and touch into what you need and want to make reality. 

The Letter “E” denotes EXERCISE

Consistent morning exercise specifically increases your physical, mental, and emotional energies for the rest of your day. For example, my own Miracle Morning exercise regimen has catapulted me to new realms of fitness:

My 20 daily push-ups have increased to 420 (done in sets throughout the day). Power-walking 1.5 to 3 miles hones my energy levels, wakefulness, and endurance. And “brain games” stimulate my mental acuity and cognizance. 

The Letter “R” is for READING

Read regularly from solid sources. Great mentors will tell you this:

“The greatest minds throughout history have spent years (sometimes decades) condensing the best of what they know into a few pages that can be read and understood in a few hours.”

The Letter “S” stands for SCRIBING — (That’s another word for Writing)

By getting thoughts out of your head and written down on actual paper, you may indeed behold insights that you would otherwise have never seen.

That’s a quick run-down of what SAVERS is all about  …

Finally, here are a couple of final thoughts from me in passing:

I have found, along the way, that getting past what may sound like New Age labels opened doors for the MOST down-to-earth (now remarkably successful) people whom I ever had the pleasure and privilege of knowing. They did not let habits of concept distract them. Such is still a pivotal Note to Self  for me.

I deeply value and respect this ‘second opportunity’ to sustain my sojourn on Earth, and to express in ways such as this online medium at our service now. (More about the ‘second opportunity’ in an upcoming post.)

In that vein, I relish how my own Miracle Morning experiences keep on adding fundamental fuel to every one of my precious days granted! 

May This Day Be One Memorable Sojourn in the “Journaling” of YOUR Life!

— PenDell