The Driving With Rob Podcast

A kind word or gesture can make my day.  A compliment goes a long way!  Make a conscious effort today to make someone else's day.  A compliment or a word of encouragement that makes someone say "that made my day!" not only helps them, it reduces your stress and anxiety too!  When you're focused on someone else, you're less worried about your own problems.  Go out and try to make someone's day!   ...

We all want one more day to finish a project or to get a report done for school.  We wish we had one more day with loved ones who have passed on.  What would you do differently if you knew you only had one more day?

Sometimes things don't go according to plan and result in unintended consequences.  The thing you never anticipated produced a result you never expected.  Unintended consequences can be tragic, but not always.  Sometimes the thing you never expected turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to you!  

I'm usually running a few minutes later than I intended.  Being late is a habit with me.  Is habitually lateness passive aggressive?  It can be.  In my case it's a combination of procrastination and the fact that I don't have to punch a clock.  

Anxiety is why you don't have peace and serenity.  The fear of failure is where the anxiety is coming from.  Ask yourself if there's anything you can do to change the situation.  If there's nothing you can do to change it, why worry about it? #Serenity #Peace #Anxiety     

Irreconcilable differences is legal grounds for divorce.  The recent announcement by Kelly Clarkson that she was getting divorced caused me to think about the term "irreconcilable differences" itself.  I don't believe any differences can't be reconciled if you're willing to try.      

When it came to cowboys, John Wayne was always the good guy.  With Clint Eastwood cowboys you weren't always sure.  It's getting harder to tell the good guys from the bad guys.  Is the enemy of my enemy my friend? 

The origin of the phrase "stay in touch" probably used to mean "within arm's reach" of each other, face to face communication.  Now a text message serves the same purpose.  Are we actually staying "in touch" when we're far away from each other?  With the covid19 lockdown, that may be as good as it gets for a while.  Stay in touch!   

Mulberry trees are fascinating to me.  I had this odd plant growing in my backyard that had differently shaped leaves on the same branch.  I decided to let it live just to see what it would become and eventually it started producing berries.  Who knew!  

This episode is more about political beliefs.  Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen - Hebrews 11:1, but when it comes to political beliefs, you should be able to give reasons WHY you believe what you believe. #election2020  #blocked

Has it been hot this summer, or is it just me?  Is the heat and humidity part of global warming?  Is this hurricane season worse than normal?  In the midst of an already weird year, with the presidential election and covid19, I'm ready for the temperature to become at least tolerable! #Summer2020 #GlobalWarming 

Do you love what you do?  You probably don't!  The quote, usually attributed to Confucius, says "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life!"  In this episode I share a story about a woman who learned to love what she did by serving others. #dowhatyoulove  

Some people thrive on chaos and disorder.  Some people with chaotic personalities are used and manipulated by those who want to create chaos.  Here are just a few thoughts on chaos.  Thanks for listening! #CHAOS

Sometimes you feel like you're going nowhere.  Remember the Sunday drive?  Gasoline was cheap and Dad would load us all up in the station wagon and we would all go for a drive.  I miss those days when going nowhere was the best place to go. #nowhere

Actually, i'm past the fiftieth episode already, but I wanted to do a special episode to commemorate.  I mention some of the topics I have covered over the last fifty episodes like The Golden Rule, love and hate, and why I do the podcast in the first place!   

A little encouragement goes a long way.  Someone with an encouraging nature can build you up and make you feel better just by being around them! It comes naturally to some people, but we can all become better at encouraging others if we try.  #encourager #encouragement #encourage   

Wearing a mask is mandatory in most states to protect against covid19.  There is a cultural cost to masking up the whole society.  It's dehumanizing.  This episode has my thoughts of the cost of everyone wearing masks. #covid19 #mask    #identity 

We all have physical scars.  They remind us of when we were hurt in the past.  What we call "emotional scars" may actually be wounds that never healed.  How do you heal an emotional wound so it can become a scar? #emotional #scars   

If you could go back in time and make changes, would you do it?  In Star Trek they called it "altering the timeline." What if you never met some of the people who are important to you know?  What if you had to learn the hard lessons over again?

My friend Tony Stroud was a Christian and a hard core StarTrek fan.  We have been known to talk on the phone for hours at a time.  The two topics we discussed most often were Jesus and Star Trek, not necessarily separately!  Learn how Jesus and Star Trek are related.  My friend passed away recently and I will miss those talks.  This is my tribute to him.   #StarTrek #Christian #Jesus

We tend to trust licensed professionals.  Why do we trust them?  Can we trust them?  In this episode I tell the story of a doctor we "thought" we could trust.

Check out part one of this two part episode on trust.  Are you a trusting person or do people have to earn your trust? Do you trust inanimate objects, like your car, more than you trust most people?  

Covid19 lock down is causing sensory deprivation by keeping us separated from our friends and family.  We need that sensory connection!  Just to know we're part of a group, our own group, other people who make us feel like we're not alone.  In prison, solitary confinement is used as punishment! 

Grover Cleveland Barfield is the Snake Man of Gaston County and Director of the Carolina Reptile Rescue and Education Center.  He is an expert on poisonous snakes and raises copperheads in his basement.  In this episode I talk about meeting him and the snakes for the first time. 

Cops don't want to hurt you.  How you react to cops has a lot to do with how they treat you.  I used to get pulled over by the cops a lot when I was a teenager!  I was scared every time, but never once was in fear for my life, and you shouldn't be either!