The Open Mind

“Where there is an open mind there will always be a frontier.” - Charles F. Kettering

It was very early one morning, only 5:50 AM without any light trying to paint the day just yet. I was leaving my hotel for an early start on a two-hour drive. Just across the street stood an open McDonalds Restaurant. It was a chance to grab a morning coffee for the long drive ahead.

A few people sat, reading a morning paper or enjoying their "Mc-whatever". I was more interested in a large coffee to go in order. My haste was in hitting the road early. But as I made my way from the counter, an older gentleman came up to me.

He asked me, "Do you have an open mind?"

Startled and defensive at first, I asked him about what? He simply asked again if I have an open mind, continuing with "an open mind about life in general." Quickly I tried to assess his motive for asking and then simply responded, "Yes, I do have an open mind."

He responded, "That is great, have a good day."

I left the restaurant repeating in my mind what had just happened. Maybe I was overthinking it too much. Maybe I was finding it much more profound then it really was. It did make me consider what the question meant.

As we live our lives, do we have an open mind to the changes which can and will occur? Are we open to possibility, to love, to greatness, or just to doing things differently?

After a few miles driven down the road I was able to finally ease off of the question. Before I did, there was a definite sense, a real belief, that I do have an open mind. I have the ability to accept new things in my life. Not always easily but then not everything in life is easy to accept.

Do you have an open mind which will allow you to accept possibility?

Is your mind open enough to imagine greater things for your life?

Brave new adventures exist out there that will take you to bigger things. All you have to do is open your mind.

Stay inspired my friends.

An Open Mind

“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.” ― Isaac Asimov

Here it is April 2nd and I do hope you did not think I was serious about quitting my blog. While I have been writing this blog since August 2005, I feel I'm just getting started. With a new design of the blog page, I hope you enjoy reading.

In saying all of that, let me tell you a story. 

It was very early in the morning, only 5:30am without any light trying to paint the day just yet. I was leaving my hotel for an early start on a long drive to a customer meeting.

Just across the street stood an open McDonalds Restaurant and a chance to grab a morning drive breakfast. A few people sat, reading the morning paper or enjoying their "Mc-whatever". I was interested in a large coffee to go so that I could get on the road.

As I was about to leave the counter, an older gentleman came up to me and asked, "do you have an open mind?"

Startled at first, I asked him about what?

He just asked again if I have an open mind and added, an open mind about life in general. Quickly I tried to assess his question and then simply responded, "why yes I do have an open mind."

He responded with, "Thats great. Have a good day."

I left the restaurant repeating in my mind what had just happened. Maybe I was overthinking it too much. Maybe I was finding it much more profound then it really was. But it did make me consider the question.

As we live our lives, do we have an open mind to the changes that can occur?

Are we open to possibility, to love, to greatness, or to doing things differently?

After a few miles down the road I was able ease my mind off the question. Before I did there was a definite sense or belief that I truly want to always have an open mind. I want to have the ability to accept new things in my life.

It will not come easily but then again, not everything in life is always easy.

Do you have an open mind that will allow you to accept possibility? Is your mind open enough to imagine greater things for your life? Can you brave new adventures that exist which will take you to bigger things.

All you have to do is open your mind.

Stay inspired my friends!

Forward To Opportunity

“There will always be a door to the light.” ― Shiro Amano

There will be days go by when all we do is contemplate and worry over that which we have or has been done in our life. We will obsess over what might have been or what our current lot is in life.

Looking backwards constantly in our lives is one thing we must change in order to move ahead in our life.

Yes, knowing and understanding the history of where we have been is a good thing. We use it to study and reflect upon what we have previously done to place us where we are now.

To move ahead, we must look forward for opportunities that await us.

The key thing is to move forward and not stay chained to what has already occurred. In the physical sense, our eyes are in the front of our head...looking forward, not backwards. We walk forward and not backward.

Alexander Graham Bell said, "sometimes we stare so long at a door that is closing that we see too late the one that is open." If we continue to look backwards never seeing the open door, we will never see the open door. We will never see new opportunity opening before us. We could drown in the fading light of history, wondering if things could have been different.

Keep your dreams in front of you, looking for new doors to change; for new opportunity that is presenting itself to you.

One door may close but another is always opening if we simply look for it. History and current circumstance will be your support, but forward momentum will be your future. Keep your eyes open and looking for that open door of opportunity.

Stay inspired in 2015 my friends!

Sliding Through Life

"It's a beautiful thing, diving into the cool crisp water and then just sort of being able to pull your body through the water and the water opening up for you." - Dawn Fraser

How fascinating the above quote is and how you can apply it to everyday life. Our interaction with others is greatly impacted by our own opening up. So many times we develop a thick carapace or shell around our lives. We protect our feelings and self; so much that the shell becomes a heavy weight upon our lives.

When we carry this shell or build walls around our life, opportunity is lost for us to experience the cool crisp water. We slowly deteriorate and harden even further to anything beyond what we have within the walls we've erected. Our covering becomes such a hard disposition that nothing new can be breathed into it.

If we open ourselves to the world, things change.

Like diving into the water, the world will pull your body through life. It is the world opening up to you. As the words from a song (paraphrased) say, "...you'll love the color of it all."

Remove the hardened shell over your life and experience life for all it is worth. Do not wallow in the silent and lonely darkness. Open up to a life that exists, waiting to pull you to new heights. Once you remove the shell, you will never want to put it back on.

Stay inspired my friends!

Dreams Become Real

"Vision, it reaches beyond the thing that is, into the conception of what can be. Imagination gives you the picture. Vision gives you the impulse to make the picture your own." -Robert Collier

As you dream at night when nothing else can interfere and in some cases these dreams can be remembered during your waking hours. Some of these dreams are horrible or confusing with no meaning to be found. Others are of a yearning, a vision, that you want for your future. But dreams are only an undefined mound of wet clay, waiting for you to form it.

As you begin to take hold of your dreams, trying to remember the details, it is your imagination that will start to mold the dream. You will mold the clay into something that only you can create. It may change from what you first dreamed, but it will start to take shape and become a clear thing for your life.

As your dream becomes more real, you have to apply vision in order to move towards the dream as a tangible part of your life. It prods you to walk through the open door and begin a journey. A trip that begins with movement.

Allow yourself to dream big things and let vision push you towards it. Go beyond what currently surrounds you. There is a large life out there waiting for you.

And stay inspired my friends.

Almost

almost
Main Entry: al·most
Pronunciation: \ˈol-ˌmōst, ol-ˈ\
Function: adverb
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English ealmæst, from eall + mæst most
Date: before 12th century

: very nearly but not exactly or entirely

Yesterday, you almost called home to say hello to your mother. With a passing thought, you almost held a door open for someone carrying a package. Early this morning you almost had a conversation with your teenaged child. Those things that we almost do in life but never seem to find the urge to actually do.

Your day goes by, then a week and eventually the year is nearly over. We think back and wonder at all of those things we missed doing. We feel that we came close, that we almost had the ability to do all of those meaningful things. But in our own self assessment, we know that almost really wasn't quite good enough.

The analogies one can use vary with many examples how almost results in things lost. In sports it might be said, "we almost made the winning touchdown." Yet the team still lost so almost doesn't quite cut it. In a political race, others may state, "we almost won the election." And once again, almost does not put the person into office.

Take the idea of almost completing your high school education. Almost does not make it easy to find a job or move ahead in life. There is also the big one, "I almost called to say hello," or for others, "I almost called to say I love you." Life on earth is finite, and almost will turn into never being able to do those things.

Find the time today to actually do those things that you know and feel need to be done. Do not put them off any longer, take the time now. Do not almost try it, actually accomplish and look back on all of those things you did complete.

Stay inspired my friends!

Eyes Wide Shut

“Open your eyes, look within. Are you satisfied with the life you're living?” ~Bob Marley

So the thing is, I had a meeting in the Huntington Beach area south of Los Angeles. I was heading back to the Hollywood area north of the city and decided to set my camcorder on the dash and record coming into the city, the traffic and some of the sites. There are some amazing views along this drive and wanted to capture some video for future use.

When I arrived at my destination, I grabbed the camera ready to view what neat scenes I had captured. But to my dismay, when I set the camera up on the dashboard, a failure to open the lens cover resulted in several "blacked out" videos. The kind where plenty of sound exists, but no pictures to fill ones view.

That is sort of how we go through life at times with our eyes wide shut. Going through our daily routine but never really seeing where we are going. We exist and accomplish the everday routines, but we never seem to get closer to our goal. The sounds fill our life, but the picture never seems to brighten or come into view for us.

Just maybe we have our own lens cover closed. Maybe its the idea that we are not opening our eyes to new possibility. The kind of view that allows us to see beyond the everyday. The kind of view that allows us to see a greater vision for our life.

When I viewed the various videos on my camera, there were others that existed without a closed lens. Those videos gave me a look at a young couple full of dreams and goals. It revealed pictures of the landscape that has so much to offer. Much nicer then the depressing blacked out videos. It makes a huge difference when you open your eyes and see everything.

So make sure you open the camera lens each and everyday. Look towards the future with eyes wide open.

Open Road Missions in Peru

I wanted to pass along an update from my friend Paul O'Connell and his Open Road Missions work being done in Peru.

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Ho la from Peru,

Trying to stay connected with everyone is always a challenge but this certainly makes it easier..if you're interested, here is the latest from Peru.

Hot off the press..we had an earthquake last night..well technically the epicentre was in Bolivia. It was a 5 point something, but never-the-less a nervous experience. I don't believe things were meant to move like that. I am up on the 4th floor so not much chance of making it out if it was a big one, but it wasn't my time.

I have just returned from working at an orphanage high up in the Andes. There are about 100 orphans and they have a school along with a small medical clinic. I taught English classes and worked in the bakery. No machines here so all is done by hand. There was about 60lbs of dough to mix, a good workout to say the least.

The kids were great and teaching them was a highlight. The school also accepts kids from the surrounding area. One of the boys in my class walks 1.5 hours each way to get to school..unbelievable.

The altitude also takes a few days to adjust to. You feel short of breath and tend to have headaches for the first few days. A few minutes on the soccer field had me thinking I was having a heart attack. Yes, when you come to Peru, every day you get to experience near death emotions (just kidding). Not really, but it just reminds one of just how awesome life is and to enjoy the most of it.

If you would like to help out down here, you can donate by visiting my website at: http://www.openroadmissions.com/ or send a check to ORM P.O. Box 491985, Lawrenceville, Georgia 30049, USA, which is my home base. It is real easy and it would help me out big time.

Talk to you later! Paul
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If you have the chance, check out his website, pass along some of the information for others. He could really use your support in his efforts.
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Open Road To A Better Life

Sending out another plug for my friend Paul O'Connell at Open Road Missions. His group was founded to reach out to people in need and bring needed resources and services into their communities.



If you would like more information, please visit his website at Open Road Missions. Also consider becoming a regular contributor to this great organization.

Something Small Impacts Big

Today I'm sharing a video update from my friend Paul O'Connell with Open Road Missions and his work down in Peru, South America.

Making a Change

Today I'd like reintroduce you to my friend's website: Open Road Missions. Paul is doing some good work out there with "a way to hope and healing." Paul took a step out and changed his life. There will be many days of hope for people that look for even the smallest of goodness.