Vision

“Rest Day Routine” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sif’s Day!

Rest is part of the program. I learned this from weightlifting and that is the exercise breaks you down. It’s nutrition and rest that allows your body to rebuild itself more in ot the image you are looking for. Rest is a necessary element.

That said, it should be noted that some things like the Morning Routine don’t change regardless of Work or Rest Days. Also some things can only be done on rest days because of schedule. Some vision points require an open day to get progress done.

Vision Points:

Vision Point : Maintain my YouTube Channel with at least two videos uploaded a week and reach the goal of 100 subscribers.

Vision Point:  Start a New Career by January 2021

Vision Point: Write a Book for Publication by December 31, 2021.

Vision Point: Be Debt Free by December 31, 2022.

Vision Point:: To write 1000 words per day during 2021.

Vision Point: Start regular significant donations to The Clergy Project and FFRF.

Vision Point: To develop and follow a results-focused nutritional plan that results in fat loss, muscle gain or maintenance, and a lower A1c with the result of a body fat percentage of 8% or lower and a normal A1c by December 31, 2021.

Vision Point: Impliment a Progam of Exercice that involves regular Weight Training and Walking.

Vision Point: Find a way to get the whole family together for a few days in. Christmas or some other time in 2021.

Some of these vision points require time in larger blocks so a rest day is a good time to do them. But I do want to rest and take some time to enjoy life on rest days

Rest Day Routine: 

  1. Morning Routine
  2. Walking – 1 hour
  3. Cleaning – 1 hour
  4. Writing – 1000 words
  5. Personal Business
  6. Make to Do list for next day.

There area few vision points to tackle because their nature is such they don’t fall easily into routine but are either lifestyle issues or setting up a long term plan and executing it on a daily basis when the opportunity arises. I will be going over these over the next two days.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Morning Routine” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day!

OK. With the Vision Points created I need to address my Morning and Daily Routines. These are the tools by which progress is made. If it can been done right away that is what the morning routine is all about. So time to look through the list and see if things can be done first thing in the morning to reach these points.

It should be noted that some things i nthe morning routine are habits already that need to be done just to live life. So not everything will be about reaching my vision points. As it turns out most of the morning routine is about exercise, diet and hygene. It also has a lot to do with getting off to a good start intentionally.

Vision Points:

Vision Point : Maintain my YouTube Channel with at least two videos uploaded a week and reach the goal of 100 subscribers.

Vision Point:  Start a New Career by January 2021

Vision Point: Write a Book for Publication by December 31, 2021.

Vision Point: Be Debt Free by December 31, 2022.

Vision Point:: To write 1000 words per day during 2021.

Vision Point: Start regular significant donations to The Clergy Project and FFRF.

Vision Point: To develop and follow a results-focused nutritional plan that results in fat loss, muscle gain or maintenance, and a lower A1c with the result of a body fat percentage of 8% or lower and a normal A1c by December 31, 2021.

Vision Point: Impliment a Progam of Exercice that involves regular Weight Training and Walking.

Vision Point: Find a way to get the whole family together for a few days in. Christmas or some other time in 2021.

Morning Routine:

  1. Stretching / Yoga
  2. Breakfast, Shower, Personal Hygene, Morning Meds
  3. Reveiw Nine NobleVirtues and Vision Points
  4. Meditation – 3 min.
  5. Check Communications and Email.
  6. Paper Journal: Update To-Do List.
  7. Get Dressed for the Day.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Virtues to Vision” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Woden’s (Odin’s) Day!

Ok, time to get to work on my changes. The first thing is to reconsider my vision for myself in light of the virtues I hold dear. In the end their should be twelve redefined goals. Some new and some restructures. The basic method here is to look a each virtue again and consider what Vision Point I should have with each one.

Each of these vision points will at first represent a concrete goal. Something for development. Once achieved this vision point will be replaced with something more along the lines of a bucket list item – a reward that fits the virtue. Once that’s achieved, back to the development goal. The reduces things down to twelve items at a time. If include my Higher Virtues but I am not sure about that as of yet as it may simply be simpler to just have nine.

Foundational Virtues:

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Vision Point : Maintain my YouTube Channel with at least two videos uploaded a week and reach the goal of 100 subscribers.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Vision Point:  Start a New Career by January 2021

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness, to be honest, and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Vision Point: Write a Book for Publication by December 31, 2021.

Business Virtues:

Self-Reliance:

“Self-Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved when each person is their own master and no one else’s’ .”

Vision Point: Be Debt Free by December 31, 2022.

Industriousness:

“Industriousness is the willingness to work hard, always striving for efficiency, as a joyous activity in itself”

Vision Point:: To write 1000 words per day during 2021.

Hospitality:

“Hospitality is the willingness to share what one has with one’s fellows, especially when they are far from home.”

Vision Point: Start regular significant donations to The Clergy Project and FFRF.

Self Virtues:

Discipline:

“Discipline is the willingness to be hard on oneself first and then if needed help with the development with others, so that greater purposes may be achieved.”

Vision Point: To develop and follow a results-focused nutritional plan that results in fat loss, muscle gain or maintenance, and a lower A1c with the result of a body fat percentage of 8% or lower and a normal A1c by December 31, 2021.

Perseverance:

“Perseverance is the ability to stand up and return from defeat and failure”

Vision Point: Impliment a Progam of Exercice that involves regular Weight Training and Walking.

Fidelity:

“Fidelity is the will to be loyal to one’s moral philosophy, to one’s family, one’s friends, and most important to one’s self, and loyalty to one’s friends is valued as highly as loyalty to one’s family.”

Vision Point: Find a way to get the whole family together for a few days in. Christmas or some other time in 2021.

Yeah, Nine is enough. Now that this is done. I can look at my routines and make some alterations.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“A Week of Rethinking” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sif’s Day!

I have been spending the week thinking about a lot of issues.  Mostly I have been trying to navigate things and get back to center and focus.  So much is going on in the world and my life that it seems that I need to get back to basics. which are easy to forget.

The writing schedule should return back to normal starting tomorrow.

Peace,

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Plan B?” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Frigg and Freya’s Day!

This has been a week of thinking on goals and inevitably the thought strikes my brain – what about plan B? I mean if the main focus of my next year of life doesn’t pan out what then?

Honestly, this is a hard question from a personal point of view, because plan B is not something I want.  I want plan A and that means Plan b is there but I ignore it. Perhaps though plan B is more of doing plan A with a lot more force and effort. Yes, That’s probably what it will be because I simply cannot accept any other alternative.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Looking Forward” – A Skald’s Life – Foundational Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Tyr’s Day

Journal Entry:

Before I get back into the cycle of Virtues, Principles. Goals, Bucket List and Routines that I do, I must address a few sundry issues.  the most notable of these is that the purpose of all this is to keep myself grounded in the now, learning from the past and looking to the horizon. Mostly I am now aware that my 51st year of life is drawing to a close and the goals need to be set for 52. This process starts now with a lot of meditation and thinking about what is best for me.

Like an ancient sailor, one can set a goal for a certain place, but the wind and sea require one to be flexible about the execution of how exactly that is achieved.  Life does not always cooperate with ones’ goals. Mostly the next year will be about the following:

  1. Developing the habits of a writer
  2. Launching a better supporting career
  3. To start crossing off more and more bucket list items.

Honor:

“Honor is the feeling of inner value and worth from which one knows that one is noble of being, and the desire to show respect for this quality when it is found in the world”

Principle – To possess a feeling of inner value about myself and my future with a desire to find the same in others.

Goal: Maintain a daily blog streak of one post per day for an entire year (365 days).  (achieved)

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

As I look at what is crossed off here this was about taking stock of myself to maintain a progress toward honor. I am thinking that next year’s goals will involve blogging as well – maintain the habit.  but also coming to terms with my new YouTube channel being a new pulpit for myself.  Being an honorable social media personality might be the issue here.

Courage:

“Courage is the bravery to do what is right always.”

Principle – Act with Courage at the right time.

Goal: Cross one thing off bucket list every year. Deadline March 31st.

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.

My goal here will be much the same I think.  But might raise the stakes and require two things to be crossed off my bucket list instead of just one.

Truth:

“Truth is the willingness, to be honest, and to say what one knows to be true and right. It is often better to not say anything at all if one cannot be honest.”

Principle – To Honestly Pursue, Accept and Speak Truth to All who will Listen.

Goal: To Write a Non-Fiction Book by March 31st, 2020

Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.

This is the most likely goal to fail this year so I might simply renew it with some changes.  Like, make it more basic – Write a full book this year instead. I want to learn from my struggles as a writer this year in order not to struggle next year as much.

Higher Virtue: Love:

I think I am about to make a decision that will be a major victory for me learning to love myself. The downside is there is no way to not to probably get some pushback from others who love me but won’t like what I have decided.

Morning Routine:

  1. Stretching / Yoga
  2. Review Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), Principles, Goals and Bucket List
  3. Meditation – 5 min.
  4. Check Communications and Email.
  5. Paper Journal: Update To-Do List.
  6. Work Days: Dress in Gym Clothes: Go to Gym – Weightlifting / Exercise
  7. Shower, Personal Hygiene, Get Dressed for the Day
  8. Breakfast, Morning Meds.
  9. Rest Days – Morning Walk (weather permitting)

The changes here reflect what will happen when I am at the 6-3 schedule.  This week and next I am going back and forth from 4-1 and 6-3 so this becomes more negotiable between the old routines and the new.   Good thing, as I am working on a lot of changes.

I remain.

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Bucket List Prioritized” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Frigg and Freya’s Day!

Today I am simply putting all my bucket list items in one place and prioritizing them. The first thing is the time table so things that are due before others are simple to put in order. the second thing is what value I place on all of them.  This is only really an issue in 2024 and 2029.

Bucket List Prioritized:

Bucket List: To get at least one tattoo by March 18th, 2020.

Bucket List: Do a rebellious act on April 30th, 2020 – Beltane.

Bucket List: Read 52 books (one per week) in the year 2020.

Bucket List: Write A Novel and Get it Published by March 2022.

Bucket List: To own my own home by March 2024.

Bucket List: Hike the Northern Lakeshore Trail along the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan by March 2024.

Bucket List: To be a published author of at least five books by March 2029

Bucket List: Go Back to Budapest, Hungary for a vacation by March 2029.

Bucket List: Discover all the countries of origin from my genetics and visit them all by March 18th, 2029.

Thoughts: 

I suppose the endgame of all this is to be standing on a river cruise ship pulling into Budapest having memories of a successful writing career. Having done many successful hikes by that time and remembering that first tattoo day.  That last stop in Budapest being of a European tour where I visited every country of my ancestors and then ended with a city I wanted to see and experience again. There is a vision here that is progressive and I like it very much.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Some Special Announcements” – The Rabyd Skald

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sol’s Day!

I have to apologize for no The Pagan Pulpit this week,  but I have been wrestling with a question all day and it involves identity. The specifically is: What have I always been?  Today has been a day of thinking on this question and watching the Marvel Superhero Movies. Sometimes with my wife and sometimes alone. I was still wrestling with this question when my Facebook feed had this memory from a year ago today.  I don’t believe in fate or destiny or anything but this a remarkable coincidence and I think I have found my central answer to the question of what I have always been and always will continue to be. It is summed up in the threefold point of this quote above.

  1. To be a person who pays homage to the facts no matter where they lead him.
  2. To be a person of free and clear thinking – no gods, no masters – just reason and free thought.
  3. To be intellectually decent at all times which to me is being comfortable with “I don’t know” while at the same time saying “I am going to try to find out though”.

I have been all these things regardless of form, belief or persuasion all my life.  I strived to be these things and a believer in Christ and now as an atheist. In large part is was these things that lead me to atheism when answers could not be found in my faith.  Or when I painfully concluded that my faith was a glorious fiction or worse completely false.

These three principles have been my core since I first picked up a comic book and saw representations of heroes who despite all the powers they were granted tried above all to be true to the ethics and morals that made them into heroes. Get past the special effects and you get a very human core.

Today I have decided to continue to follow them and remind myself of them more often.  The Virtues remain because they are reflections fo these central tenents of life. But I also have always been a preacher and teacher and this is something I wish to be again.  The pulpit, lectern, and message may change; but to proclaim what I feel is factual, true and right remains a passion.

With this reminder of this continuing commitment I have a few announcements:

  1. The Grey Wayfarer will continue much as it is except I am pretty much breaking it down to be a journal of my progress.  The Pagan Pulpit, Of Wolves and Ravens, Odin’s Eye, Freya’s Chambers, and my three Journal Posts will remain with the occasional The Rabyd Skald thrown in. But this is going to be it here because I want to turn my attention to my writing for publication and another project I will announce shortly.
  2. The rest of this week will however not have journal posts or the normal slate of posts, rather I want to finish out all my ficitonal series on this blog. I am doing this to clear my slate and give myself a little philosophical downtime.
  3. I want my family to know that up till now I have been very passive with my anti-theism and my conviction that belief in God or gods or whatever as a means to base your life is nonsense.  That changes today where my anti-theism, while it will remain compassionate, is going to turn active. Very active. All of you are free to believe as you see fit but understand I will be working hard to show that Christianity is false, that the Bible is just a book and a bad one at that, and that we would be better off without religion in our lives.  I am sure some of you will not like what I am about to do as you are believers, but I feel compelled by reason and intellectual honesty to do this.
  4. By active I mean I will be writing books to this effect, I will be blogging here with the desire at times to show how any person can live without god very well; thank you, and I will be joining organizations that oppose religion in politics and government.  I also am about to start at least one new project devoted to this task.
  5. That project will be to start a YouTube channel as a new more vocal pulpit for my viewpoint.  I don’t any specifics yet, or if it will even work, but I feel compelled to convince anyone who will listen to give up the make-believe and start living in the real world.   I am particularly focused on young people who are considering the ministry as a career and being apologists for the Christian faith.  All religion is poison to me and I want to tell people why using this platform.

If I can convince one young person to not follow my mistake, give up the ministry and embrace doing something truly useful for humanity, then I will consider my mission a success.  Of course, the more I can convince the better.  I also hope to make some money with this to at least justify my time doing it.

My main goal is to get back to being a preacher and proclaimer of what I feel is reasonable, factual, truly free in thought in a spirit of intellectual decency.  That “I don’t know” is a good thing to say when it is true and yet maintain that insatiable curiosity I had since I was old enough to read and look at the word with inquiring eyes. I am simply a pilgrim on this journey we call life, and I don’t think I can enjoy it as much if I don’t take the opportunities presented to warn people of my mistakes and false understandings of the world.  To tell people what are dangerous paths to take and the dead ends seem like a decent thing to do from this traveler of life to others.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Lonely Milestones” – The Rabyd Skald – The Grey and The Wayfarer – Part 24

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Sif’s Day!

Introduction:

I know some of you are probably expecting Space Tramp and I do apologize for not having it this week.  I am really struggling with inspiration for writing and the issue of my muse is going to come up soon in my writing.  Its why I am trying to finish both Rogue Wizard and Space Tramp in the next couple of months because I am trying to get a completely new fantasy series going that creates a muse of sorts.  Or more concretely explores the topic of inspiration so I can find a source for it that is more consistent.

I have a few things to talk about in this edition of The Grey and The Wayfarer.   1) Some Milestones for the Blog, 2) My Loneliness and 3) A Personal Reflection on Therapy.

Blog Milestones:

Some good news upfront.  1) This blog actually past 500 posts a couple of weeks ago.  Now I can say I do have a bit of content.  2) Yesterday I hit the 100 WordPress follower mark.  I want to thank everyone for reading and following.

My Loneliness:

The Grey for the last few weeks has brought about loneliness I can’t describe other than to say that no matter what I do I can’t shake the feeling.  I don’t know if it is the realization of mortality or perhaps simply a broken heart still bleeding on the inside. I miss some people being in my life more consistently but there is the need in my heart for someone who truly gets me.

I either did have that for a few months in 2018 or thought I did and I miss it terribly. There is still a hole in my life from a relationship that is now gone and I am still dealing with it.  It’s the same observation that I have had that I long for a relationship that is intimate on a more instinctual emotional level.  But my heart is guarded by attack dogs, a wall of Trust No One and staying distant for fear of being hurt again.

I hate being INFJ where you can read other emotions on people like a book and even have my own emotions mimic theirs.  The only time I know what I am truly feeling is when I am alone and then when I try to express it verbally to others, it comes garbled or not at all because I don’t want to trouble others with my feelings. Only writing them seems to work.

The lonely wanderer is who I am and I both love and hate it. There is a wisdom to it.  There is loneliness I can’t describe to it as well.  I am glad I have a support group, a job coach and a therapist to talk me through things. But at the same time, they can’t fix my problems, I have to do that.

Therapy Reflections:

Of course, some of you are wondering at this point – ‘what about his wife?”  My wife is a wonderful person and I know she loves me and I love her.  It is just with all the changes to me and my outlook on life I am starting to feel trapped again by this marriage.  There is no common core goal for this marriage anymore and that is largely my fault because I am the one that has changed so much.  I like change – life is a journey of constant change and I embrace that and it is hard to live with someone who would rather have stability and security.  Nothin wrong with those things, they just are not me anymore.  They also are not real to me anymore.

This is why even though our relationship is much better as far as friendship and intimacy, it still leaves something to be desired from my perspective.  Once again because of my changed worldview.  My wife and I got married because we were Christians and called into the ministry and everyone told us we would be good ministry partners. We were also secretly personally guilt driven into marriage because we were having sex for months before we were married. In the mindset we were brought up in; once you fuck you better get married or you’re sinning against a holy god. There was no consideration of compatibility or common interest.  It is why some look at us and don’t get it. I at times feel that way too.

That is why in therapy the majority of focuses on what my new identity is now to deal with the loneliness question and a lot of questions on how to make this marriage work despite widely diverging values.  My wife seems content but I know I am restless.  Very restless. I don’t want to get to the point where I hate my life and marriage and all that goes with them again.  But if something doesn’t change soon, that is where I will be.  I know myself much better now and the danger is very real.

Thanks for reading all that if you did.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!

“Learning to Dream Again” – A Skald’s Life -Business Virtues

/ Ed Raby Sr / Leave a comment

Happy Thor’s Day! 

Journal Entry:

I spoke with my job counselor yesterday and said something along the lines that I never thought I would be asking the question of what I wanted to be when I grew up at 50 years old.  She told me I was doing fine and that it was far more normal than most people think.  We are living longer and the notion of doing only one thing for all one’s life is fading fast. People have a chance to dream multiple times not just once.

I only have one goal left under business and it is the big one. – finding a new, better paying job by March 2020.  It is essential to some of my other goals. Thankfully through The Clergy Project, I finally have some help and I have decided to approach the goal more organically and figure out what it is my dream for me again.

Self-Reliance:

“Self-Reliance is the spirit of independence, which is achieved when each person is their own master and no one else’s’ .”

Principle: To walk in the spirit of independence by being my own master and no one else’s

Goal:  Find a new, better paying job by March 2020.

Bucket List: To be a published author of at least five books by March 2029

So what is my dream for me?  That is the question but now I have more than the question but an actual plan of how to answer it. This is generating a little bit more hope than usual and that is a good thing.

Industriousness:

“Industriousness is the willingness to work hard, always striving for efficiency, as a joyous activity in itself”

Principle: Work with the enjoyment of work itself.

Goal: Finalize last requirements for my degree – Internship by May 2019 – May 2019 (achieved)

Bucket List: Write A Novel and Get it Published by March 2022.

Goal Achieved

Hospitality:

“Hospitality is the willingness to share what one has with one’s fellows, especially when they are far from home.”

Principle: To share out of my abundance to help people where I can with their life’s journey.

Goal: By March 31st of 2020, to be the leader/participant in a group of some kind.  (Goal Achieved

Bucket List: To own my own home by March 2024.

Goal Achieved

Higher Virtue – Justice:

If I get a job where I am doing better than I ever was in the ministry would be the first step to finding justice for myself.  I may never see the people who wronged me face consequences for their actions, but if I find some prosperity after all wasted sacrifices for others, then I will feel some sense of justice has come to me.

Work Day Routine:

  1. Morning Routine
  2. Wife: Communication / Cuddle Time
  3. Blogging – Organize, revise, write a new post for the next day, templates
  4. Weightlifting: Gym time – 1 hour after work.
  5. Writing: 1000 words/day.
  6. Reading – 1/7 of a book a day
  7. Personal Business: record financial transactions, savings plan actions, budgeting, appointments, job search, other actions, etc.
  8. Check Communications and Email after 2 pm but before 4 pm.
  9. Nutrition: Daily Carb Count – 2

I need to focus on these routines better so probably I will be moving fro ma four-week rotation on these journal posts to a five-week with the added week focusing on the routines to modify them.

I remain,

The Rabyd Skald – Wandering Soul, Bard, and Philosopher. The Grey Wayfarer.

Skaal!!!