Robert C Slayton - Grief to Joy and Inspiration

Thanks for reading Robert’s Substack! This post is public so feel free to share it. You need to be thankful, in my opinion. You can be thankful that you have food to eat, that you have a roof over your head, that you have people you can talk to. You can be thankful that you have cats. You can be thankful you have dogs. But enjoy each day. For me, when it’s really stressful, I sit back and I ease m...

“An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.” - Gaius Planus. Born 61 to 112 AD. How many times have you gone after something and finally achieved it only to see that it’s just kind of normal. Let me know in the comments. Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This...

Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. There is the hustle and bustle of every day. Fourth quarter is my busiest time of year. I work late in the evening. That’s the way it is, but I need that quiet time. I have a room in my house with no clocks or TV. It does have a fireplace, which is amazing. I...

“That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something. You’ve understood your whole life, but in a new way.” - Doris Lessing. How many times have you really understood something and then suddenly gotten a deeper insight? If you think about it, if you are religious and let’s say read the Bible or the Koran, there are a lot of times when you actually learn new things when you’ve read it again...

Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. O of November is to Offer kindness. I had an experience of this on Friday. I went out dancing. I learned country two-step. And then there’s an open dance afterwards where they do a bunch of different styles. Some I know. Most I don’t. And there was this person...

“A man is hardly blind if his eyes have no sight. Blind is he who does not want to see. To such an ignorant troglodyte, life itself is a grave, if you ask me.” Vahaspzade Bhatiyar, who’s an Azerbaijan poet. And the poem is Two Blind Men. What are your thoughts on that? I kind of agree with him. Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider...

Originally aired November 2024 Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Let’s talk about N of November, and that’s Notice small things. What that means is if you’re stressed, if you’re going out, notice the little things. Notice the sunlight hitting on me, right? Hitting the right side of my head, ma...

“If we did all the things we are capable of doing we would literally astound ourselves.” - Thomas A. Edison I take issue with this. I think we try to do too much and we need to do less but higher quality things. Instead of focusing on 20 different things, we should focus on one or two or three, no more than three priorities, and really focus on accomplishing those. And if you have three things tha...

Overview of the next set of videos. Each of the following videos will focus on a letter from November and it’s meaning. N - Notice small things O - Offer kindness V - Value quiet time E - Enjoy each day M - Make time to rest B - Breathe deeply E - Embrace change R - Relax and let go. From IG @jasonmensmentalhealth This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or ge...

“A man has made at least a start on discovering the meaning of human life when he plants shade trees under which he knows full well he will never sit.” - D. Elton Trueblood As I get older and older, my reputation is more important than my financial state. my reputation, because that’s passed down to my children. What are the seeds that you plant today that you know you probably never see the fruit...

“Be humble, for the worst thing in the world is of the same stuff as you; be confident, for the stars are of the same stuff as you.” A quote by Nikolai Velimirovic This is an interesting one. The way I think about it is, there are evil people and there are good people. They’re arrogant people. They’re humble people. We’re all made of the same stuff. The question is, how do you transform the same s...

“The way you spend your time is the result of the way you see your time and the way you see your priorities.” -Stephen Covey. Priorities are really important. That’s why Stephen Covey always said at the beginning of the week, you put in your calendar your agenda, the pieces that really get you to where you want to be spiritually, physically, financially, and business related. Those are your priori...

“There is no man living who cannot do more than he or she thinks they can.” -Henry Ford. We usually overestimate what we can do in the short term and underestimate what we can do in the long term. What have you done that are the small, consistent actions every day that have yielded amazing results? Let me know in the comments. Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new pos...

“Not the cry, but the flight of the wild duck leads the flock to fly and follow.” It’s not just the words; it’s the actions that really help people to move forward. Do you agree or do you think the words are first and people start following second? What are your thoughts? Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid...

“Be slow to judge and quick to understand.” -Stephen Covey. We don’t know what reality is when we talk to another person. We really don’t know their thoughts because we’re not inside their head. I 100% agree. How about you? What do you do to be slow at a judgment and quick to understand? Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becomin...

Written 10/28/2025. As we say in the dancing world, I was totally “swung over” from this past weekend. I attended the annual Swing City Chicago event at the Hyatt Regency Schaumburg. Dance events are unlike any other events I’ve been to as they actually SCHEDULE things to start at MIDNIGHT. Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider beco...

“Dream as if you’ll live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” -James Dean How appropriate. I’ve been saying this a lot lately. It’s not the years of your life, but the life in your years. Eat healthy, exercise, live as fully as you can in the moment because you don’t know when your number is up. I firmly believe when your number’s up, it’s up and you’re gone. Whether you’re 20, 30, 50, 80, or 90...

“While the right to talk may be the beginning of freedom, the necessity of listening is what makes the right important.” - Walter Lippmann If you just talk and you don’t listen, you don’t learn anything. You don’t expand your consciousness. You don’t really form a cohesive gel with somebody else. So, what do you do to make sure that you listen at least as much, if not twice as much, as you talk so...

Politeness and consideration for others is like investing pennies and getting dollars back. - Thomas Sowell. Politeness and consideration. Boy, wouldn’t that be a wonderful world if we actually got that? Think about it. Do we do that on social media? Do the trolls get you down? Let me know your thoughts. Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work,...

With clothes, the new are best. With friends, the old are best. Not sure where this came from, but I love the sentiment. Old friends are like that comfortable little piece where they know you, you know them, and they really love and support you. What are your thoughts? Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid su...

I am careful not to confuse excellence with perfection. Excellence I can reach for; Perfection is God’s business. - Lorne A Adrain I know more people who have never published books, who’ve never written articles, who’ve never gone for the business of their dreams because they feel they need to be perfect at it. It’s the worst thing in the world. It doesn’t work. What are your thoughts on perfectio...

“The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else.” -Martina Navratilova, a famous tennis player. We strive for this one piece that we achieve. Once we achieve it, if that’s all we were striving for, we feel empty and unfulfilled. It’s everything else that helps give us meaning and focus. Have you ever had that feeling where you’ve achieved the ultimate only to say, “well,...

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. If not, then make me a saxophone.” Politically incorrect daily calendar from 1998. As I play the saxophone, I played in the Michigan marching band, marched in the Rose Bowl and Fiesta Bowl. I absolutely agree with that quote. How about you? Robert’s Substack is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a...

“If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live.” - Lin Yutang I just had a conversation with a friend about this. She’s taking care of her mom and she’s taking care of her brother. She has no time for herself. Because she’s always wrapped up in everything else. She finally took a day to herself and went invisible. Every single one of us...

“Hating people is like burning down your house to get rid of a rat.” Henry Emerson Fosdick Do you foster hatred for somebody else? Hatred burns you up inside and does nothing to them. Think about it. That’s why forgiveness is so important. Forgiveness is not for anybody else. It’s only for you. It doesn’t matter whether they even agree with you or think they should be forgiven for anything. You fo...