Achieving Adventure

"Adventure is worthwhile in itself." -Amelia Earhart

There is so much in life to experience. From the time we are born, crawling across the floor to a toy all of the way to old age discoveries, we can experience new wonder. It is a great part of living, being an active participant in so much of everything.

A flight for business to Ireland placed me next to a man from Colorado. A man flying back into his past. a man flying back into adventure.

At this time I couldn't tell you what his name is. Nor could I tell you the name of his brother. And I certainly can't tell you the name of their father. But I can say they are on an adventure together, rediscovering their history.

I hope that I hear from them after the trip so that I can write about it. But if not, my imagination tells me that they are going to have a wondrous time together. They will have the time of their lives. They will be adventurous.

Each of us need to experience some level of adventure. It might be taking a canoe down the local river or fling half way around the world. It is pushing your limits slightly past your comfort level.

By stretching ourselves we realize that the impossible isn't quite so impossible. We find that our ability to achieve becomes more real when we push beyond our comfort.

Rapture Thoughts

"This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it." -Ralph Waldo Emerson

This morning my wife and I decided to have breakfast at our local Waffle House. A chain of diners mostly through out the southeast that allows for varied experiences. So this morning was not too different.

As it was quite early, there were few people eating so the conversation was easy to hear. And as any small diner goes, we were drawn into this conversation. I'm not sure if it was tired night shift workers or not enough morning coffee, but the rapture was the topic.

There was news of the rapture occurring tomorrow (May 21, 2011) fresh on the minds of Waffle House patrons. I will state up front that I believe rapture is a personal experience of faith. That our own death is our rapture and if your faith is such, you will do good as much as possible in life.

With that out of the way, even if you believe in the fire and brimstone version of rapture, I am not here to mock or convince you otherwise. And if you have no belief in any of that, I am not here to persuade you of it.

What was interesting is that the Waffle House folks were concerned about what to do and how to prepare. I thought to myself, maybe just start now by being a good person. I'm not suggesting these people are not good and decent. But maybe all of us should just try to live a good life everyday.

Our physical lives are not infinite and our time can disappear in an instant. So why not try to live a good and great life all of the time. Being a good person to your family, your friends, your neighbors and even strangers leaves a great legacy for others to follow.

The rapture may happen tomorrow and I may get hit by a bus, but either way I'll try to do good until it happens. I'll keep going to the Waffle House. Heck, I'll just keep going on and on until I no longer can.

Your Attitude Today

"If you don't get everything you want, think of the things you don't get that you don't want." -Oscar Wilde

Definition of Attitude by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary

1: arrangement of the parts of a body or figure; posture
2: position assumed for specific purpose (threatening attitude)
3: ballet position similar to the arabesque in which the raised leg is bent at the knee
4: a:mental position with regard to a fact or state (a helpful attitude) b:feeling or emotion toward a fact or state
5: the position of an aircraft or spacecraft determined by the relationship between its axes and a reference datum (as the horizon or a particular star)
6: an organismic state of readiness to respond in a characteristic way to a stimulus (as an object, concept, or situation)
7: a:negative or hostile state of mind b:cool, cocky, defiant, or arrogant manner

I guess I find the definition non-surprising. Neither of the "state of mind" definitions (4 and 7) are positive. While definition four could be considered a neutral stand, item seven supposes attitude to be a negative one.

We as humans tend to always go to the negative as a first response. You hear people say, "oh, thats too hard", "that will never work", or "I'm not smart enough." And why do we go to the negative first? Because it is an easy place to go, it is the quick and easy learned choice. But being negative actually consumes quite a bit of our physical energy.

Is that scientific? Maybe, but mostly its my experience in observing people these many years. Additionally, several articles including one in Psychology Today says, "For the same reasons negative people zap your energy, negative emotions, such as anger, resentment, regret, and jealousy, zap it as well. Negative emotions make our minds and bodies tense. In addition, when we experience these kinds of emotions, we have to exert a lot of energy to contain them, which can be exhausting."

So having a positive attitude is really easier then being negative. It simply comes down to retraining ourselves to be more positive. Once you get into the 'groove' of being more positive, it gets easier and easier.

And like I do once or twice a year, read the following titled ATTITUDE by Charles Swindoll. Its a good reminder of how you can view your own attitude.

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes"

Time Passing

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of 60 minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." -C. S. Lewis

Wednesday comes like a wishful gift to a work week for so many. It is likened as "hump day", in which we've climbed a hill that represents the work week. Many feel that if they can just make it to this day, the rest of the work week will be easy. But experience tells us that life doesn't play by our rules.

We can plan to have a nice slide down the hill towards Friday, but circumstance can alter the topography. It could very well be a Sisyphus kind of week in which we are constantly pushing the boulder up the hill. Only to find that the weekend is short and the boulder is once again ready for us.

The good thing in all of this is that time is truly a constant. The minutes, hours, and days come at us in the same constant fashion. We can't wish it to slow down nor can we jump past the present. It is an equalizer of sorts amongst all of us. We each must live the minutes, hours, and days in order to reach a future point in time.

So before we get to Friday at 5:00 PM, all of Wednesday, Thursday and the waning hours of Friday must be experienced. So whatever life and circumstance is going to throw at us, try to enjoy each minute of it. The good, the bad, the ugly are all part of the life experience.

***Yes, that was a link to one of my favorite movies.

Time will pass on its own. It is up to us to make the most of it and not wish it away. How we live during those moments is what matters. I say choose to enjoy those moments and in the collective end, our time here will have been more enjoyable than not.