London Fog

"Derive happiness in oneself from a good day's work, from illuminating the fog that surrounds us." -Henri Matisse

There are days when all we do seems to be shrouded in a heavy blanket of fog. Our mind is trying to clear out the haze in order to get a better view on our lives. Yet the thickness of what troubles us gets in the way.

Sometimes those days are due to our own negative way of thinking. We get down on ourselves, on what is happening in our life and on those around us. These are the days when the fog is thickest in our lives.

Even when it sets in like this, you need to find small things to help guide you. Little bits of positive lights that will mark the path you are on. The level of happiness we decide to shower upon our life will determine the amount of illumination that will guide us through the fog.

Do not allow the fog to burden your travel or to dampen the spirit within. Use the heaviness of that fog to heighten and focus your attention on the happiness and goodness. Allow it to make you more of aware what is important in your life.

Soon enough the fog will lift and the rest of this great world will once again be revealed. Stay inspired both in and out of the fog.

Get Out Of Bed

"In these times you have to be an optimist to open your eyes when you awake in the morning." -Carl Sandburg

Today I picked up a few local papers here in London and the headlines are not good. There are antibiotic-resistant infections spreading through Europe. The fashion world is stunned by a high-fashion robbery. We see mass arrests at Occupy protests and the U.N. Nuclear chief says we "must alert the world" about Iran.

There is so much going on that we can become overwhelmed by it all. An old saying that the world is "going to hell in a hand basket" feels so real to many people. At times we would prefer to remain hidden under the covers of our bed. Maybe if we just sleep in longer, all of the turmoil will pass.

It is redundant to say this, but the world has been going "to hell in a hand basket" since the beginning of time. There is always some issue, some disaster, something bad to report about. The fact is that we are going through a tough time right now and all of our senses are heightened.

What makes it even more profound this time and each time a down period occurs, is that bad news sells. As an example, take this article discussion from 2007 by David Blanchard. In it, the headline in question paints a gloomy forecast. But the actual news is rather positive. Lenna Gonya writes that "...while these stories may sell, they don’t do much to improve our moods, our depression, or our outlook on life. More than ever, people are discovering that they are less and less optimistic about life, and the news may be a contributing factor."

Do not get me wrong, there are a lot of bad things happening in the world today. But most surely there are a lot of good things happening out there as well. We need to understand that goodness does exist and that "getting out of bed" is a good and great thing. There are a lot of good things going on in life that we need to focus on.

Yes, we have to be mindful and concerned of the hardships that exist. But we can not allow that type of thinking to rule the day. If we do, clean water will cease to exist, nations will destory each other, cancer will never be defeated and the universe will never be understood.

Possibility exists in our hopes and dreams. It exists in the optimism that greater things can happen in our lives and the lives of others. Possibility exists and that my friends is the good news.

Forgiveness and Rocks

"Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom." -Hannah Arendt

So how often have you walked around in life holding the pain of some past offense? Do you feel offended and carry it with you like a badge of honor, showing all the world your misery?

Why not let forgiveness enter your life and give you the power to move? Why not simply let it go?

We pull our wagon of rocks around ever increasingly heavy with the burden of real and perceived hurt. We just can't seem to let it go. The rocks pile ever higher in our world and our struggle to keep pulling the wagon gets worse and worse.

If we allow ourselves to forgive, inside our hearts and mind, then we are set free from our burden. It allows us to toss those rocks from our wagon and lighten the load that only we have allowed in our lives.

Give forgiveness to those and to yourself; move on in life.

Gathering Firewood

"Confidence is preparation. Everything else is beyond your control." -Richard Kline

As I drive the back roads of New England, driving to the office and back to the hotel, you see the preparation for winter taking place by humans. Their porches are stacked with cords of firewood. Long rows of cut and dried wood line the driveway alongside the garage. Small sheds are filled to the roof line with hard and seasoned firewood. The work required in preparation for winter has been long and hard.

Each of us know that preparing for something is essential in success. Success in making it through the winter by keeping your home warm. Success in presenting a business topic at a seminar. Success in having a great relationship or marriage. Success in raising your kids to be successful as well.

Some of us are better than others in preparing. Some of us over prepare to the point of obsession. While there are those that seem to do very little in preparing for something. For all of the preparing we do though, we have to remain confident in whatever amount of preparing we have done.

Confidence is key to pulling yourself through when you start to question the level of preparedness you have done. Without it, we will never see ourselves through to the end. Confident that you will make it through the tough winter that is part of the road to achieving a goal or vision.

Try to be prepared in all that you do. Be prepared at what ever level you feel good about. But most of all, be confident in the preparation that you have done. Be confident in yourself and see the success you will achieve.

Leap Into Darkness

Leaping Into Darkness - Sherly Nome

"We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success." -Henry David Thoreau

A friend of mine had an unfortunate accident recently. Given the fall weather and the colorful leaves that come with it, inevitably the rain gutters will fill with them. The job of cleaning those leaves before the snow and ice appear becomes necessary.

So not thinking twice, he placed his ladder up against the house and climbed. What you may have already guessed is that the ladder did not remain in an upright position. The bottom slipped out and from roughly eight feet in the air, gravity did the rest.

Luckily he landed on both feet, a perfect landing in gymnastic terms. But most of us are not well-tuned gymnasts and my friend suffered a compression fracture of his L2 Vertebrae. The diagnosis is good and it will take time to heal. For now he is in a Rehab Center learning how to do all of those things we take for granted on a daily basis; like getting out of bed.

It happens that I was in the area where he lives on a business trip. So after work, I had made the decision to go visit him. I thought that a nice card and some magazines to read would help fill his days. Flowers would have been useless to him, so "Mr. Sensible" me would have to find a magazine stand instead of a flower shop.

Since this is New England, the early darkness that comes in the fall had descended like a curtain over the tree-filled landscape. So with a printed map, a GPS map on my phone, the gathering darkness and having Myopia vision (really badly), off I went.

There was no real use in bringing the maps for I couldn't read them without my reading glasses. And to put on my reading glasses meant that I could not see out past the windshield wipers on the car. The GPS map on my phone was a blur of bright light in the darkness as well. But off into the darkness I went, with a goal in mind to see my friend.

Each of us reach a point in life when we find ourselves in a similar position. Our goal is out there, somewhere in front of us and we are running out of daylight. We are scrambling to keep up with the light, trying to get as far as we can. But sometimes we need to embrace the darkness and let our other senses guide us.

The darkness is not something to be feared, it is something that merely changes the way we need to approach things. The dark may take away my clear vision, but it heightens my thoughts, my hearing, and mind. All of these other senses come to life when the light goes away. They each seem to shout out "its my turn, my turn to shine and guide me to the destination."

You have the power of many senses inside that sometimes only the gathering darkness reveals. Use them and trust them to guide you in life. Your vision in the light of day is only one-fifth of the generally known senses. There are at least four others, which would make sight an even smaller portion of what is available to us.

Rely upon everything at your disposal and not just sight. Use touch, hearing and even smells to remind you of familiar things. You have a mind that can process so many different things that soon the mystery of darkness becomes non-mysterious. Soon the darkness becomes just another path to walk on your way to those goals you have in life.

I made it to see my friend, the darkness did not hold me back. Leap out into the darkness and find your way in life. The light will return to provide additional clarity, and reveal the greatness in your life.

Fourth Down and One

"To love is to risk not being loved in return. To hope is to risk pain. To try is to risk failure, but risk must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing." -Unknown

The two teams were in overtime, playing a heated rivalry football game. The score was knotted together at twenty-three to twenty-three with plenty of momentum on one side. The offense had fallen upon a fourth down with less than one yard to go for the first down. The ball was on their own twenty-nine yard line.

Here the easy decision could have been simple, punt and wait for another chance. The hard decision though was to try and go for it. If they made the first down, momentum would have clearly swung their way. If they did not make it, the opposing team would have an easy field goal and win.

The teams lined up, excitement grew as the quarterback barked out the call. Huge men came crashing together trying to outdo the other as the running back took hold of the ball. Into the mix of bodies he went, trying to search out those few precious feet. To no avail, he was stopped short of the first down marker, short of the goal that would allow them to continue.

The opposing team had stopped them on "4th and 1" and went on to kick the game winning field goal. One team victorious and another defeated. All of this drama played out for a mere two or three feet.

Sometimes we get that close to our own goals in life. One, two or three feet is all that seperates us from achievement. As we make our final push to cross over that line, we get pushed back, defeated and rejected. It seems during those few moments that all is lost.

But not all is lost, there is hope, there is strength in knowledge of what went wrong. There is greatness in moving forward and trying again. The obstacles in life we face sometimes get the better of us. Even when we felt we were unstoppable, even when we had the greatest of confidence in our own ability, the opposition will win sometimes.

So you withdraw, replan and then reattack the goal. You jump back into it with new experience and understanding. You keep trying.

Life and Camping

Camping Under The Stars 3 - Wayne England

"At the height of laughter, the universe is flung into a kaleidoscope of new possibilities." -Jean Houston

There is the story of the famed and fictional character Sherlock Holmes and his partner, Dr. Watson. If you have not read or seen any movies about them, I encourage you to read some of the stories.

One such story has our famous Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson going on a camping trip. After a good meal and chat around the campfire, they laid down for the night, and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend. "Watson, look up at the sky and tell me what you see."

Watson replied, "I see millions and millions of stars."

"What does that tell you?" Holmes asked,Watson pondered for a minute.

"Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that God is all-powerful and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow. What does it tell you?"

Holmes was silent for a minute, then spoke. "Watson, you have missed the point. Somebody has stolen our tent!"

Sometimes we get caught up in the vastness of all that is going on in life. The twenty-four hour news giving us the latest happenings. From a bridge across the St. Croix River in Minnesota to couples rushing to marry in China on this the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the year 2011.

With all of this going on, the simple answers, the simple news might just be what is going on right in front of us. Don't get caught up in the magnitude of that is going on. The world is not "going to H-E-Double Hockey Sticks" as some might say. Life is just happening, just as the millions of stars have been in the sky for millions of years.

Take a moment and laugh. Take a moment and relax. Take a moment and just enjoy it.

Do The Right Thing

"Each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life he can only respond by being responsible. " -Viktor E. Frankl

I am finding it hard to understand what I am hearing in the news lately. Now granted it is unlikely that I can know what is in another person's heart. Also know that I'm really working hard not to get judgemental about what I am going to say here.

The story surrounding what happened around and on the grounds of the Penn State football facilities is horrifying enough. A sexual predator destroying the lives of eight or nine young boys that we know of. It will be very hard and a long process for those young men to go through in recovering from his sordid actions.

What bothers me also are the actions, or in-action of people that could have stopped him sooner. As far back as 1998 there were people that could have done something. Recently a head football coach, a man that leads college-aged men onto a playing field, teaching them to do the right things in life, didn't do that. He simply told a higher authority in the college and then washed his hands of it.

These were horrible, despicable and illegal activities; informing legal authorities was the responsible thing to do. Now we have the uncovering of a supposed cover-up and even more grief for the young boys that were molested. The sexual predator has been arrested, the head football coach says he will retire at the end of the season.

The right thing to do happened though, he was fired along with the University President by the University Board of Trustees. No more leading men onto the field of play, no more roles in being responsible for their success due to his failure to be responsible. That has taken away any privilege he may have felt or wanted in retiring on his own terms. He lost that when he failed to do the right thing.

This story is not one that I want to make all about a football coach losing his job. The story is about those boys molested by a man entrusted that did very irresponsible things. The lives harmed could have been limited if others had done the right thing. By choosing wrong, even more lives have been altered and harmed as well.

We don't always get it right, that I get. Each of us have choices to make in life. Sometimes those choices are right and sometimes we make the wrong ones. If we hide things in the dark, they only fester like an open wound, never to experience true healing.

In the end, we must do what is right, what is responsible and what will move life forward.

Asteroids and Opportunity

 

"Sometimes you have close calls and don't think anything of it, but it's a near miss really." -John Dilling

It was a close call last night (11/08/2011) at 6:28 PM on the east coast of the United States. Actually a close call for all of the planet. A rather large and imposing asteroid came within 201,700 miles of hitting the Earth. That is closer to the Earth than the orbit of the Moon.

This deep space visitor named 2005 YU55 paid us a visit and many of us didn't even realize it passed by. NASA sent microwaves onto the asteroid from a radio telescope near Barstow, California in order to reflect and receive greater details about the asteroid. I am pretty sure there were many other agencies doing the same thing.

This isn't the first time it has passed by and it will not be the last time. Its elliptical orbit takes it deep into space and was only discovered in 2005. Hence the name given as "2005 YU55" and this is the closest it has come for at least the last 200 years. It won't come close again for at least another 100 years according to scientists.

What amazes me is that we have "near misses" everyday in many different ways. Things happen in our world and life that we are totally unaware of most the time. There are ripples of life flowing through out our days that we ride through without a moments notice. Only when we start worrying about them do we feel the anxiety.

We could worry about any and every thing going on. A tree bending in the wind might fall and do damage. The tire on our car might go flat while driving down the freeway. The sun might explode, the earth may stop rotating, the 2012 predictions might come true, or any one of a million things.

You have to keep living life and let a large part of that worry go. Maybe that worry you are doing is keeping you from meeting opportunity in life. Maybe those near misses are opportunities you failed to encounter because you were sitting alone, hiding from possibility.

Your movement in life creates the chance you will meet up with great things. The intersection of inspiration and achievement can not be entered by doing nothing. The road to it may have some hardship and pain. But that road will also teach, strengthen, and grow your life. That road will prepare you.

Don't allow yourself to miss out on possibility in life. Don't let those near-misses happen. The asteroid "2005 YU55" may one day turn from a "near miss" into a "direct hit" with the earth. But we can not sit around and worry, we have to get on with the business of living life.

Stay inspired my friends.

Five Steps

"You just have to keep on doing what you do. It's the lesson I get from my husband; he just says, Keep going. Start by starting." -Meryl Streep

In a previous article titled In-Between Bits, I wrote about how nice it would be to start towards a goal and than immediately cross the finish. There would be so much we could accomplish if we could do away with all of the "in-between bits" of life.

If we are unable to skip all of that, maybe there is an easy way to get to where we want to be. So I started searching for ways to get me faster from the START of something to the FINISH of it. I wanted to know what the shortest distance was between having a goal and achieving it.

Somehow I stumbled upon the realization that there are only "five steps" to accomplish anything. There were of course three-step programs, seven-step plans, ten-step courses, and even one-step curriculums to get you there faster.

By far it seemed that the shortest route would take five steps though. There are five steps to fighting stress, five steps to accomplishing my goals, and five steps safer health care. Lucky for me, there are five step programs to better fitness, or to building my network of business contacts.

I found five steps to choosing child care and my grown adult children would be bemused to wonder why I'm looking for child care, (just doing research). There are only five steps to painless inventory management. I can only imagine what pain must be felt when trying to manage inventory.

To help me write better, there are five steps to writing argument essays, which will convince you I am correct in what this blog article is saying. Or I could take five easy steps and solve Europe's debt crisis.

There are only five steps to configuring privacy on Google Plus, great putting in golf, marketing my website, or to giving quality interviews. And if it were to happen by some strange medical oddity, I can be ready in five steps to have a healthy pregnancy

What is it about the number five? What is so significant about this one number?

The number five in religion is referred to as the Five Holy Wounds or Five Sacred Wounds that are believed to be the five piercing wounds that was suffered during the crucifixion of Jesus.

In ancient Greece, philosophers such as Aristotle believed the universe was made up of five elements: water, earth, air, fire, and ether. In radio communication, the term "five by five" is used to indicate perfect signal strength and clarity.

If you look at the keyboard (non touch screen users), nearly all devices with a numeric keypad (telephones, computers, etc.), the five key has a raised dot or raised bar to make typing easier. Knowing where that key is you can easily find the other numbers surrounding it.

I dug even deeper and found that a large majority of mammals, amphibians and reptiles have 5 fingers and/or toes on each extremity. Heck, we as humans have five appendages from the torso: two arms, two legs, and a head.

There are five oceans in the world, the Atlantic, Arctic, Indian, Pacific, and Antartic. We have five senses: Sight, Smell, Hearing, Touch, and Taste. And there are five basic tastes: Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter, and Savory.

Maybe not perfectly and possibly with an accent, but I can say five in different languages such as Spanish (Cinco), French (Cinq), Italian (Cinque), German (Fünf), and Dutch (Vijf).

Confucius even said, "To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness."

After all of my research though there was an important and overriding thing I learned. Regardless of how many steps we believe are needed to accomplish something in life, there is one that is the most important. That one and most important step is your first one.

So whether you are looking to start a five-step, ten-step or even do the two-step (random two-step dance video), begin your journey with that first step.

Shiny Things

“It is not needful for our dreams to be very grand nor very big. It is only needful for our dreams to be very shiny.” ― C. JoyBell C.

We have some very good friends that are absolutely wonderful people. We share meals and coffee, laughter and pensive moments both with this couple. They are just what friends are supposed to be.

A couple of months ago, the wife part of this couple had cancer reappear after laying dormants for twenty plus years. It has been a roller coaster of emotions and health to say the least. With the radiation treatments she is undergoing along with her chemo, the inevitable loss of hair has started.

So one day my wife and her were talking about the loss of hair. She was tired of the clumps and general care needed. For most every woman I have known, hair is a very personal thing. But to combat it, she had made the decision to shave it all off. Jokingly she told my wife that a hair appointment would be made for her as well.

My wife got to thinking about this and thought maybe this could be a nice way to show support for our friend. Again, doing something such as this is not something anyone would take lightly. My wife thought heavily and seriously about her decision. She made her decision to stand in support of her friend, it was final.

So all of her beautiful blond locks were removed and her hair was shipped off to another great place called Locks of Love. I recommend you find out more about this organization to see the great work they do.

As for my wife, she now has a shiny skin-covered noggin that beams forth in beauty. If you look up the definition of the word noggin, it not only means "one's head" but it was originally meant to describe a "small cup or mug."

This got me to thinking that my wife's gift of shaving her head was not just a shiny bald head in support and encouragement of her friend. It was more like a "small cup" of kindness filled with great promise and miracles. It is a shiny cup filled with dreams and visions for a long and wonderful life.

Just maybe it is not the shiny new head but this shiny cup of wonder that each of us need to carry around in life. A small or large cup of hope, kindness, promises and dreams that will lift us beyond what is trying to hold us back today.

I say order up a cup of the shiny dreams you want fulfilled in your life. Carry it around with you and see that miracles can occur.

Getting Over the Bridge

"When a decision has to be made suddenly, experience and gut feeling is sometimes all you can go with." -Joseph Primm

Here I was coming up I-278 towards the interchange with I-87 near the borough of Manhattan in New York City. If I successfully navigated this during rush hour, I would successfully make it out to my hotel in Teterboro, NJ. I wasn't worried because getting lost doesn't phase me too much, just the idea of not figuring it out would have bothered me.

So negotiating the various lanes, lack of signs and a 'general' map of the route, instinct had to work. I had prepared or so I thought, the maps looked rather easy but sometimes reality is a bit more harsh. Life tends to be that way most times as well.

We plan and plan, writing down on paper those goals in perfect order. If we do this first, exit to the right here and cross over the bridge to the next step; then everything will work out perfectly. But than you come to the interchange of I-87 and I-95, looking for exit 7S. Check out the map and then see what the reality is.

You and I both have had dreams for what we wanted our lives to be. Each of us held onto those visions and were working slowly towards them. Life than got in the way, the reality of circumstance and failed decisions.

What do you do when that happens and life needs you to be in the left lane when in fact your trapped in the right hand lane? What do you do when all of a sudden there are multiple exit choices and no proper signs to guide you? What happens if the GPS on your life conks out and a decision has to be made now?

You trust in yourself and simply make a decision. You go with that and adjust from it. The traffic in my life prevented me from going the original direction I wanted to. I couldn't get over into that left lane and my life took a vastly different course. So I took the road handed to me, adjusted my plans and moved on.

The destination may look different, but it is one filled with happiness and contentment. I made a decision not to force myself back into the left lane. My experience and gut feeling told me to go ahead and stay in the lane and take that course. It took me to where I needed to be, it got me across the George Washington Bridge and my best life.

You can achieve your best life, a happy life even when faced with making a quick decision. Let your instincts guide you when needed, prepare at other times, but take the road and let it lead you to your destination in life.

Look Up

"Last night I lay in bed looking up at the stars in the sky and I thought to myself, where the heck is the ceiling." -Unknown

During a business trip to Teterboro, New Jersey one recent day, the location of my hotel was near the local airport. This airport is not a large commercial airport but does serve a lot of private jets and planes. It seemed as though every time I walked to the parking lot to get in the car or returned from somewhere, a plane was overhead.

I thought to myself that there seemed to be an awful lot of people heading one place or another. It also had me looking up quite a bit. And when you are looking up, you are seeing the brilliant sun and and an endless blue sky. If I held my head down and looked to the ground, all that I could see was the dirty asphalt.

What occurred to me is that by looking to the ground, nothing can inspire us. But if we look upward, possibility exists, soaring above us, to be reached only if we look up and see that it is there. Reaching for it becomes the next hurdle, but until we look up we will never know of that possibility.

So look up, see what exists and then reach for it. An old saying that the 'sky is full of possibility' really is true.

Shot Heard Round

"They certainly give very strange names to diseases." -Plato

Today I choose to whine just a little bit. I'm not looking for sympathy or even empathy for that matter. I just want to tell you about a little issue with my shoulder.

I have developed a bone spur in my left shoulder along with some amount of arthritis in it. The pain is not so bad these days with the treatments but it still aches. A couple of days ago, my doctor injected the shoulder joint with cortisone which seems to be having a pleasing effect.

What I found funny was that the pain exists on the front of the shoulder. The injection was given in the rear of the shoulder. The doctor explained that it gets to the same place, but that it bypasses where most of the nerves are. That means less pain when the shot is being given.

My theory is that the shot is done from the back so that I can't see the needle going in. I doubt that I would be squeamish about it, but then again maybe I would have screamed at the sight. Either way, the shot seems to have done what it is supposed to.

If you ask me how I am doing, I will likely say much better and thank you for asking me. What you also may hear me say is that my medical issues are nothing compared to others. I feel blessed with the health my wife and I have. There are so many people out there with greater pain and worries.

We have friends that are under going many different medical treatments. One just underwent back surgery, another suffers debilitating arthritis and a close friend is undergoing radiation and chemo treatments for brain cancer. Is my little shoulder problem a big thing? No, not in the grand scheme of things.

What I feel many of us need to do is look at our issues in the bigger context of life. Is the need to worry over Kim Kardashian divorcing Kris Humphries more important than going to visit a friend in real need. Maybe we should put our little issues aside and decide that other people are in need. The needs of those people outweigh the pettiness that we sometimes dwell in.

All of us want attention from time to time, but you'll receive more in return by reaching out a hand in kindness to others. Take a meal to a family that is struggling or go visit a friend that is pushing through a medical issue. You could even take a friend out for coffee that has been caring for another person.

There is so much you can do that it will be like a shot heard round the world. People will know of your kindness, people will start repeating your kindness, and pretty soon your own world will be filled with kindness.

My shoulder, it is no big deal. I have way bigger things in my life to attend to.

New Books, New Stories

"Life without love is like a tree without blossoms or fruit." -Khalil Gibran

As the days pass, I will begin to build up to the announcement of my new book. The manuscript is with the publisher and potentially a few edits and changes to make, are all that stand between now and publication. This book marks a slight shift from the past couple of books, CHANGED LIVES and LIVE THE JOURNEY.

In my new book called LOVE IS, the intent is to take you through a series of stories that will give you new perspective on what love is. There is a wide variety of good and many not so good definitions of what love is on display and talked about these days. This book should bring it all back to an easy and healthy way to know and understand what love really is.

Yes, I still use my own life experiences to illustrate what love does in life, the lessons learned, and the power of love in our lives. I also bring it around to one of the greatest love stories ever told. You will recognize it and in my book I attempt to break down the meaning of each sentence for you.

The name of that love story will have to wait, but if you think about it, you'll know which one I'm talking about. If not, once the book is out, you can read and find out what a huge impact love, the right kind of love, can have on your life.

Stay inspired my friends and if you are looking for a great read today, check out @DavidSpell new book Street Cop II (Reloaded). Read stories from a 30+ year career to find out what serving and protecting really means.

Can I Live forever

"I intend to live forever. So far, so good." -Steven Wright

I have wondered from time to time, what it would be like to live forever. Or live for at least one-seventy five years as Abraham, from Bible stories did. Maybe two-hundred or more years would be sufficient to see tremendous change. And then again, maybe only ninety years will be enough.

My grandmother lived to be 93 years-old and I remember how she was enthralled by the changes she had seen. She was born at a time when telephone service was in its early infancy. She died when the first cell phones were coming out. Moving pictures went from silent films to the big screen and back down to the small screen with VCR tapes. Even the cameras used to record them could be held (on your shoulder) and instantly seen. Not to mention television sets, cars, the moon, and so many things.

What I believe would be hard if living longer would be the loss of family, friends and familiarity with every day life. Of course good health would be essential and money. Heck, who is going to hire a one-hundred twenty year old man even if I do have my wits about me. Life would be a gradual adaptation to seeing so much change.

Don't get me wrong, I will live as long as God gives me to live. I am happy for each day and each moment with my wife, kids, grand kids, and friends. The experience of life is a joy to behold and whether it is sixty years or six-hundred, I will be thankful for each of them.

The important part of living forever though is living the years you are given such that the memory of you lives on. If the life I live is a good one, as good as one can strive for, then you do live on forever in the minds and hearts of those that knew you.

My own mother lived to be almost seventy-eight years of age until Pancreatic Cancer left its mark on us. We firmly believed that she would live into her nineties and beyond. She was that rock-solid to us and invincible. She lived though for others, for her children, for her family. And she enjoyed life even with all of the heart-break and pain that comes with simply living.

The interesting part is that she continues to live on inside each of us. She lives in the stories we tell our children and grand-children. She will live on in the stories that they tell the generations. So in a way, she is living forever and so far, so good.

He Is My Son

"It takes a long time to grow young." -Pablo Picasso

I remember a boy sitting in a laundry basket, smiling from ear to ear.
He may have been one year old or two, but this I know, he is my son.

He was proud of his trick, having gotten into the basket to surprise Dad.
So proud of him and everything since, for he is my son.

Years flow by like cool mountain streams, winter's store of snow racing towards the sea.
Each drink of water quenches the soul, for he is my son.

As time runs on and age consumes, rocks will wear and new flowers bloom.
But forever it remains, for he is my son.

Happy Birthday my son.

Temptation

"Ever notice that the whisper of temptation can be heard farther than the loudest call to duty." -Earl Wilson

I guess it happens to all of us. We could be walking down the street and when we turn the corner, we find temptation standing right there in front of us. It is seductive and does very well at playing to the inner most parts of us.

Recently it happened to me and did so in such a quiet and sneaky way that I am still surprised. You see I am one of those people that like cars but not enough to pay the large sums of money required for a new one. So I tend to buy a car that is a couple of years old and drive it for quite some time.

I took our 2004 Chrysler Concorde in for some new tires, which turned into a stripped lug nut bolt. From there I went to the dealership for a new lug nut and bolt replacement. Of course the brakes were getting a bit thin so I decided to have the front brakes replaced and yes, the front rotors as well. It was all going well until they brought the car around front and the brake pedal sunk to floor and they needed to use the emergency brake to stop the car.

Back in the service bay it went to find that the rear seal of the master cylinder had broken. The ensuing explanation of what and how that could have happened took place. My only reaction was just how much and lets get it fixed. I've gotten to a point in life where I can't change what just happened, I just need to deal with it and move forward.

The dealership offered a free rental car and thus the temptation began ever so quietly. When I had walked in originally for repairs, the service manager and I spoke about the new 2012 Chrysler 300 vehicle. For me, it piqued my interest and we had a nice discussion about them. Now I found myself riding to the car rental facility in a courtesy vehicle, the drive and I also talking again about the 2012 Chrysler 300.

There was paperwork and a bit of a wait and it shouldn't surprise you, they provided me with a 2012 Chrysler 300 of course. I slipped in and grasped the steering wheel, adjusting the seat perfectly to accomodate my frame. The satellite radio kicked out a concert hall sound as I placed the transmission into reverse. The large screen lit up with a view of the ground behind, no need to turn my head as everything behind me was perfectly clear.

Onto the highway I turned and the car's Hemi V-8 engine lifted and pulled me forward down the road with the greatest of ease. As I had expected, this car was all that I had expected. The seduction of a new car was taking hold of me. Temptation had me looking at financing options. The three sirens were clearly tempting my spirit.

Yet I found myself and looked beyond the temptation of a new car. The car payments, the insurance costs, worrying about this and that when it comes to keeping a new car looking new. There are other things higher on my wife's and my priority list. This car was trying to push its way to the top and nearly made it there.

We are all tempted by the slick marketing advertisements and the material want for new things. The yearning for these items usually starts in our emotions, which can be quite powerful. But you also have to step back from teh temptation, examine the reality of it and the longterm consequences of it. For us, buying a new car wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. It would mean placing other things lower on the list, reprioritizing.

When I stepped back though and looked at what was really important in our lives, the car just didn't match up. The temptation almost worked, but understanding that once the emotional excitement drifted away, the temptation ended up holding no power over me. I ruled the day and made the right choice.

Don't let temptation pull you into the rocks like a crashing wave. Settle back and consider beyond the moment of excitement. Take a clear view of what you want in life and avoid the sirens. You will find life a whole lot better without the aggravation of a hangover from choosing a wrong temptation.

Color Outside The Lines

"We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them." -Albert Einstein

As I write this article, I am a couple of days past having submitted the manuscript for my fourth book. You will hear more about the book as the days progress, but writing it had the usual ups and downs. I am not a very disciplined writer in respect to creating an outline to frame a story. I do get a general idea in three or four parts of how I want the story to flow. But then I simply begin writing, letting words flow from inside like water flowing from a spigot.

Sometimes though, the spigot gets turned off with barely a drip of water. The flow stops and you could definitely call it "writers block." It is a frustrating thing to go through because the harder you try, the more void that occurs. It happens to many people so I know that I am not unique in that sense.

It was interesting recently to find that a sister-in-law of mine, very talented in the arts, was having something kind of similar happening. We were gathered as a family due to the recent passing of my mother-in-law. The siblings and their spouses all sat around eating, drinking wine, and talking about our lives with Mom. So I was surprised to hear my sister-in-law indicate that she had gone dry in her creativity. She was struggling to find the inspiration that would turn the spigot back on.

A brother-in-law offered a very good idea that can push you to creativity as well. The method is to force yourself into a deadline. In example, I had a deadline in order to get my manuscript completed. That can be a very good motivational thing, but a lot of times it doesn't unleash the creativity of the writing. I could tell that deadlines were not what she wanted or needed at this point in her life.

She then told us a story about her mother. One day when she was quite young, Mom was sitting with her at the table, chatting as a mother and daughter do. Mom was coloring in her daughter's coloring book. The story sounded as if they were talking about life in general and as they talked, the coloring Mom was doing was outside the lines.

Now most of us have taken crayons to a coloring book when we were young. We are instructed to stay inside the lines and use the various colors to fill in the picture. But this time Mom was coloring the areas outside the lines. I had to stop and think about what my sister-in-law was saying.

It occurred to me this was an expressive way of saying, "think outside the box." Step back and look at things differently from what conventional wisdom tells us to do. In my regular job, when troubleshooting a technical problem, when all logic fails, I employ this same method. You might call it "whacky" thinking or even "crazy" ideas, but it works. Like a broken record, trying the same thing over and over keeps you in the same spot.

I told my sister-in-law to keep after it, the creativity will come back. Take a piece of paper, just start pushing ink lines across the empty space of white. Crinkle up the paper, unfold and neatly fold it, wet the edges, and maybe end up throwing it away. Just change up what it is you are doing.

My own writers block got solved during the writing of my book by simply writing random words. I began typing cryptic and nonsensical phrases, and then printed it out and drew on it. An example is shown below. Don't ask me how it works but it works for me.

It takes several of these to get it happening again. Sometimes it is other things, but what it takes is thinking outside the box. Trying something different can be the thing that sparks a change. What we need to do though is change it up, don't sit and wait for it to happen. Movement causes change, movement will give you the chance to intersect with opportunity, and movement will keep your life moving forward.

In-Between Bits

"Between you and every goal that you wish to achieve, there is a series of obstacles, and the bigger the goal, the bigger the obstacles. Your decision to be, have and do something out of the ordinary entails facing difficulties and challenges that are out of the ordinary as well. Sometimes your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay with it longer than anyone else." -Brian Tracy

There you stand at the start line, anticipation and excitement building up inside of you. Those around you are murmuring the same thrill of the race to begin. The general tone of the crowd begins to build in crescendo, everyone waiting for the starting gun to go off.

Bang!!

Away everyone takes off and immediately they cross the finish line. That finish line tape breaks as all of the runners shout in joy. The band plays and the crowd cheers in approval.

Think of what it would be like to get rid of all the bits in-between the start and finish line. What if we set a goal in life, started and could finish it right away without having to deal with all of the ups and downs in-between? What if you could snap your fingers and you would be done?

I'm not sure we would really gain all that much. The first couple of times would be pretty cool one could suppose. But we would lose our ability to grow, to learn from all that happens in-between. Pretty soon I'm sure you would become bored with life in general. We are born and than we die; no sense messing about with all of that stuff in-between right?

It is great though that life isn't that way. It is great that we have to live all of the in-between bits. We have to struggle in order to appreciate the success. We have to endure some pain in order to experience the joy. We get to live life and all that happens from start to finish.

While the start of something is exciting and crossing the finish line is exhilarating, the tough part is what happens between the two. We can easily allow discomfort to takeover and allow us to abandon our dreams. You are running the race and someone yells "free ice cream" and we pull off course, distracted from the finish. Well, you get my point.

All of that stuff in-between is the really important part of achieving any goal or dream. Starting is easy and crossing the finish line is easy. Keeping yourself motivated and inspired is the hard part. It will be a roller-coaster ride, painful, joyful, easy, hard, and you name it.

You will finish though, you will break the finish line tape. The band will strike up a song, the crowds will cheer, the trophy will be presented and pictures taken. But before you get there, keep moving forward, keep advancing, keep overcoming anything that stands between your start line and that glorious finish line.