Simplify Your Life

From John McPherson, a talented and funny artist. The life each of us lives can be summed up this way. I do imagine you can go back in time a few years or even hundreds of years to see the same type of busy schedule people lead.

There are ways to simplify your life and it comes down to determining what is important to you. Each of us make choices everyday to commit to various things which fill our day. Not all commitments are bad and circumstance can yield the same harried and complicated life.

So enjoy life the best way you can. Look for ways to set priorities in your life and take time to (as the saying goes) "stop and smell the roses" once in a while.

Have a great day everyone.

Thankful For Apologies

Life doesn't go by without there being at least one moment in which you are wronged. The act of something happening to you, perceived or real is something that occurs. How you deal and react to this is very important. Do you allow yourself to be brought down, to ruin your day and effect all that you do, hopefully not.

Yet it is how we react the apology another gives us that can have a great impact. Many times, when someone tells you they are 'sorry' for what they have done, how do you respond? A great many people will respond with, 'not a problem, its okay.' And why we say that when many times it did effect us is an odd thing.

That person whom is wishing to extend an apology is attempting to 'right a wrong' and acknowledge that you were hurt or offended. If you respond as noted above is diminishing or making light of their attempt. In one way, it is returning a hurtful message that the apology is really meaningless to you.

You should respond with kindness and thankfulness to that person. A simple thank you to them acknowledges the apology and it begins a process of reconciliation of the relationship. All of this will allow you to let go of the 'wrong' and move on with life. Not doing so will allow the issue to linger, which will impact both your life and that of the other person. Apologies are like gifts, be thankful for them.

One Year Anniversary of Attitude

One full year today marks the anniversary of this blog. It is hard to gauge what impact the words may have on individuals around the world. I can see that people from all corners of the earth have read this blog at one time or another.

One of my visions is to impact people in whatever way I can. If the words bring a bit of brightness and hope into your day, then I feel privileged to have been a part of it. If the words have helped you to turn around your life towards a greater life, I feel just as privileged to have been a part of it.

For I know that I am only a small part in your life. The bigger part is you, the one that makes the decision to change your life. To create movement causes change as I am fond of saying. The change may not be exactly what you wanted, but it does force you to confront and move forward. To sit and do nothing means exactly that...nothing will happen.

So thank you for taking time to read my daily words and please pass my link along if you would, for it is better then 'chain email'. And remember, "Believe in your vision, act upon your vision and realize your vision." -Joseph Primm

Friendship

The friends we have in life are varied in number. Some people have friends every place they go while others have one or two. Yet friendship is gauged not by the number but the quality of those friendships.

There are stories which abound telling of true friendship, acts by those that go beyond a mere acquaintance. From a bibilical story of four men lowering their paralyzed friend through a roof to meet with Jesus to those of friends giving an organ so that another could live. They range from the spectacular to common everyday interactions.

Each of us must count closely those whom we call friends for they are valuable in your life. To pick you up when you are down, to bring you back to reality when you stray from it and to be a stabilizing force in your life. These people give you a solid base from which to grow. You will be able to maintain a better attitude when your strength is built in part by good friendships.

In turn you need to be a good friend to others as well. Giving of yourself to others in kindness, in friendship, in many ways to lift that person is important to your own life.

"The glory of friendship is not the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when you discover that someone else believes in you and is willing to trust you with a friendship." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Success or Failure

I have been reading a book called Status Anxiety by Alain de Botton (link is to a Wikipedia description). It talks about how in our society, the anxiety each of us can have regarding what others think of us. How we react to being judged a success or failure - this is what the author terms 'status anxiety'.

It isn't a book that is attempting to make a call for a different society or return to old ways. It helps to explain why our society is the way it is. To describe how things have changed which place us into a life that helps to create that anxiety. The book offers solutions as well but I've not gotten to that part yet. It came recommended by a person I respect. But I'll leave full judgement until I'm done reading it...as you should as well.

Life Among The Aquatic

Not long back my family and I toured the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta. Quite an impressive display of aquatic life presented in an amazing way. I've included a few pictures but found it interesting some of the 'correlations' one can draw to our own lives.















There are so many of us in so many different shapes and sizes. We become drawn to one another based in many varying ways. The variety of life both in a population of fish as well as humans is quite wide.

The type of people out there range from the nicest persons one would ever want to know, all of the way to some of the cruelest ones on earth. Look at a tank full of fish and see the aggressive fish to those that go about their business not bothering others.















Some people blend in to their natural surroundings such as the Leafy Sea Dragon trying to go about life unnoticed. While others you just can't help but notice.















There are so many of us out there and life will present challenges that are unexpected. Remember there are quite a few 'fish' in the sea and opportunity to cross paths with different people. You can impact and be impacted in so many ways. So jump into life, the water is fine.

Reflection On The Day

Through out your day, do you take any amount of time to reflect on different parts of your life or daily activity? To understand what you have accomplished to understand how to accomplish those objectives in your life, reflection must take place. Peter F. Drucker, a 20th century educator and author said, “Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.”

To sit back and contemplate that which you already completed in your life or simply in the last few hours prepares you for what is to come. As I have written before, take seven minutes daily to sit and think of your day. The quiet thought can be used in most any way but should be done with a minimal amount of distraction.

There are those that sit in quiet solitude and that can be difficult to accomplish in this very busy day and age. I tend to use two different methods of doing this. One is on my drive home from work. My radio is set to a classical music station to relax and provided an atmosphere of quiet concentration. Secondly is to use this same method during a lunch hour at work. Placing head phones on to drown out the cacophony of all going on around me.

You may have a method suitable to you, but take the time to think about how your day is going. This reflection helps you understand what went right and what didn't. This will also help prepare you for what is to come. Take seven minutes to reflect and prepare you for more that life has to offer.

Life of Influence

Each of us has one, two or several people that have served as an influence within our lives. These are those people that have had an impact in how we live and believe. I myself had a high school English teacher for one that gave me encouragement to write and express. I certainly may not have all of the skills of a polished writer, but she instilled a love of it in me that stays with me today.

There have been others including a co-worker that mentored me half way through my technical career. He believed in me and gave me the push to become successful at what I do. We work together to this day and I'm forever thankful to him. The same is likely true for each of you.

If you stop and think about whom it is that means something in your life, you may be pleasantly surprised. Also, think of your own impact on others. Your life can and does have influence upon those who need it most. When you needed to be impacted by someone, the same can be said that you have impact on others. Just know and understand that the way you live your life is impacting others. As you rise to meet new challenges, there are those that have been moved by it.

It may be a case where you are fully unaware of the other person. Then again, you may have an opportunity to assist, mentor or guide that person to a greater life. So when you have the chance, thank that person who influenced your life. I missed the chance with my former English teacher, but have done so with my co-worker.

Be a person of influence on others in your world. Help them to a greater life, a better way. In your own life, your influence will carry on in ways you can't imagine. An American writer in the early 19th century said, "a teacher affects eternity; he can never tell, where his influence stops."

It may not be your profession, but your influence on others is like that of a teacher. So live your life as a person of influence on others in your world.

Attitude in Circumstances

The life we all live is filled with varying circumstances. With little regard to a persons present condition, circumstance simply happens. It is how we deal with it that dictates how it impacts our lives. Benjamin Disraeli said, “circumstances are beyond human control, but our conduct is in our own power.”

It is our conduct that you do have control over. How you react, how you perceive and how you continue on with your life will help determine the outcome. For this life that goes on through circumstance and design will create voids that must be filled. As one person moves into another opportunity, a need is created.

You get presented with these opportunities to fill and make change. How you choose to conduct your reaction to opportunity, the challenge or circumstance will determine your success or failure. A pebble in the water causes ripples of change that flow out from it. Do you choose to be angry because the pebble interrupted the calm smooth water? Or do you choose to marvel at the waves it creates along the shore?

Think of a sail boat along the southern coast of the United States. Sitting there with little chance of making progress to its destination. Across the ocean the warm air of the deserts creates a wind coming off the coast of Africa. It builds momentum and blows across the ocean to fill the sails of this boat. One effect causes another and the captain of the sail boat could have chosen to abandon all hope lost, or wait with the attitude knowing that change will occur. For he knows that opportunity will arise and he must be ready for it.

Change, circumstance and new opportunity are the conditions upon which the sail boat and more importantly our lives endure. Maintain a good attitude and believe that change will occur. Whatever the circumstance, be content in knowing that an opportunity has been presented to you. Move forward with belief and knowledge that goodness can come from it.

Bad Things Happening to Good People

You have probably asked this in your own life, "why do bad things happen to good people?" It is an age old type of question that really serves the purpose of wondering why things happen at all. We have a never ending quest to understand that which happens around us.

When it comes to the question itself, bad things don't happen to just good people, they happen to all kinds of people. Life is that way but sympathy for when it happens to bad people just doesn't happen all that often. It is our human nature to feel pity or sorrow for the good folks in life that become afflicted with a bad issue.

A friend of mine through work is recovering from breast cancer after having undergone treatments to overcome this 'bad thing' which happened. She has a great attitude and certainly realize that her bad moments occur, yet she always has a smile upon her face. She is the same person I've always known. A good person upon which a bad thing happened. But she appears to be approaching it with the same fight and attitude that has been a part of her for as long as I've known her.

In an article called, 'Why Do Bad Things Happen To Good People?' by Deanna Mascle, she gives an example of this as well. We look to the good that has been, is now and will be in the future. It is life happening at us with varying speed and variety. Good happens to good people as well and this you must remember.

Path To Change

A couple of days off from writing has helped to renew my spirit and given me some time to reflect on changes. I have written many times that movement causes change. That change is inevitable and that you must flow and adapt to what life sets before you.

My change is that a son has joined the Army within the last week and is leaving for training in a few more days. Before I go any further, I am no wallowing or asking for empathy. Nor am I here to lift any of this up into greater valor for ones country. Many parents go through the anxiety of 'what could happen'. Many parents also experience the proud feelings of a son or daughter making this step in life.

I myself ran through many of these emotions and to this day, I stand behind my son's decision to make a change. What he has done at age 21 is make a decision to cause movement in his life. His story is like many kids, young adults I should be saying. After high school, attempts at college and finding it was not the answer and then wondering around at low end jobs. Looking for some answer that would let him know what to do.

But in all of that working and waiting, he must have found that he had to make a change in his life. He was not going to be one to sit idly in his home town, same people, same circumstances, 'same old, same old'. So this is the path he chose, the movement for his life that will cause tremendous change for him. One that can cause change for those around and in his life.

In my articles about the 'crossroads', once choose to take those steps through the door of opportunity, you find yourself staring at many different roads. Your job is to choose one of them and move in that direction. No one can tell you what will happen, how the story ends or what it will do to your life. But with an open mind and attitude, movement will cause change in your life and great things will eventually happen.

Atmosphere of Attitude

"The atmosphere we create within ourselves is the life we live, the thoughts we think and emotions we feel. We create our own atmosphere with the words we speak, the attitudes we hold and the songs we sing. We create our culture with the vision we have, the people we are with and the values we live by." - Fergus McIntyre

To be a person working to achieve a great life for yourself and those around you, it starts from within. Your own thoughts and emotions drive what you express outwardly. If you have an attitude of woe and despair. If you are always feeling that 'the worst is yet to come', then your entire being will be shaped in this manner.

Those thoughts and emotions get spoken and expressed outwardly when you engage in life. To have a better image of what life is and can be will get expressed that way. When you speak to others, your words will lift instead of depress. In a woeful place of misery inside yourself, do you really want the outside world to be this way? Likely not, so turn around your internal spirit - turn around to a positive way of thinking.

A positive view will get expressed outwardly causing others to 'want' to be around you. People that are like-minded and looking for this greater life. More opportunity will come your way, more positive reinforcement will come your way. Soon you will find the atmosphere around you and your world creating a culture of greatness.

I have heard it said that there is a place of influence upon each of your lives. The many people you touch and encounter in your life at different levels - you effect each of them. If your influence is one of woe and despair, it will be one of woe and despair that you place upon others. In return it is likely you will only receive woe and despair.

But to be a person of greatness, of encouragement and aspiring attitude - surely you will receive all that and more in return. A great life is one which each of you deserve but it doesn't come free, it isn't a right but it is one that can be achieved. One that everyone can achieve at one level or another. For the great life is different for everyone. Be different and choose greatness, choose now.

Early Morning Light

Early Morning Light
by Richard A Waters

Commitment To Change

“Anyone can be an ACE: Attitude + Commitment = Excellence” - Robert Inman

You have now decided to start adopting some of the changes I have expressed at various times. I have to congratulate and commend you for taking that first step. But doing so is like anything that you have decided to embark upon. You must resolve to be committed to carrying through with your decision.

Your progress will never go forward if you don't stay focused and fully committed to the change. Like 'Twelve Step' programs or an athletes drive to finish a long distance marathon, both require commitment to the end result. Starting and stopping will never get you where it is you want to be. It will cause delays and frustration along with increasing self doubt.

So resolve to make a change and stick with it. There will be the ups, the downs and the seemingly lack of progress at times. But long-term commitment to a change will result in excellence within your life. Now all you need is the attitude....more next time.