Simple

"We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do." -Mother Teresa

After a long and extensive research, Boeing has concluded its flight attendant call button on 737 airplanes was a bad design. They have now come out with a new location for the call button.

A simple yet very effective change to an age old design issue. Some may wonder why it took so long. A simple answer that can change so many things. But many will say that life is much too complicated for simple answers. The only way to solve our problems is through complex and intricate resolutions. It isn't easy to move a button to a new location, "it is hard." I hear it in my job, the words rolling out in many different forms. But the response is usually, "that is too hard."

I understand that there are complex issues in our life. But we tend to over-complicate, over-think, and over-worry. Sometimes the answer lay in the simple. You will probably call me naive but don't get me wrong. I fully understand there are things to worry about in life. We must be good stewards of our planet, our countries, and our neighborhoods with everything that entails.

What I'm referring to is the simplicity of a smile to break the cold. A simple handshake to break down barriers. The simple act of sitting down and talking with another person can move mountains.

There will be plenty of math problems, social issues, political disagreement and unsolved mysteries of the universe. Start with a simple smile, the simple connection of two or more, the simple belief in all that is possible.

SCREEN: ORIGINAL HORROR MOVIE!

"Give them pleasure - the same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.' -Alfred Hitchcock

There is a film maker I know by the name of David P. Baker. He is one of those passionate guys when it comes to making movies. Which is pretty much like you or me when it comes to doing what we love in life. For him its about making great movies which gives him his greatest pleasure.

Currently he is a long way from his home in Scotland. He has joined forces in Tulsa, Oklahoma with another passionate movie maker named Oklahoma Ward. Together with Nicole Alonso, the three are on an ambitious project to film two movies and a documentary about the whole process.

The first movie (currently being filmed) is called CRAWL. This is Oklahoma's movie and will certainly make a lot of heads turn.

The second movie will begin shooting after the completion of CRAWL is called SCREEN. This is David's and has been...well a lot of years in the making. All I can say is that after seeing this film, chances are you might be too scared to ever go to a drive-in movie theatre again....if you can find one.

Now to the point of my article. David is making this movie on what some would call a 'micro-budget'. There is no major studio backing him, nor is there a rich executive producer funding the whims of this director. No, David is pushing forward with this film in such a manner that will make it easier for others to follow in his foot steps.

So now you are asking, "what is the sales pitch?" I have been backing David for a couple of years now. Mainly I do this because he is a pretty decent guy, talented and most importantly passionate about what he does. I like that and with a few limited bucks, I try to help him out. If it helps give him that little added boost to keep him moving, then its worth it.

You can do the same thing, with just a few bucks. We all know times are tough and money is tight. But David could use your help with some additional expenses he has in the filming of SCREEN. My pitch is $10, $20, $50 or even more if you can. The goal is $5000 and he is part way there with roughly nine days to go. Take a chance, donate a few bucks and be part of something that is pretty cool.

And as Hitchcock said (paraphrased), "send a little pleasure ($$) David's way, the same pleasure he'd get when waking up from a nightmare."

Click on the picture below and it will take you to his campaign site. There you can see a video from David explaining things, some additional information and a place to donate.

Follow your passions folks, those dreams and goals you have are achievable. Surprisingly you will find others that share your vision and want to be a part in making it a success. And thanks for your donation to David's vision!

Make a Decision

Volition by Michael Micali

Volition is defined as the act of making a choice or decision. Other sources describe it as "the cognitive process by which an individual decides on and commits to a particular course of action."

So what that means is we have the power to choose our own attitude, our own happiness, or even our own path in life. All it takes is making a decision to do just that. All it takes is overcoming our own self-doubt.

It is the making of a decision that we often struggle with. We worry either about the outcomes of a decision or about having enough information. Sometimes it comes down to trusting our own ability to accept the choices we have made. Other times we are simply scared to decide.

Whatever is preventing you from making those decisions, know that the power to decide still lay in your own hands.

Knowing that you have that power is a big part of moving forward. But if you need some added ideas, Kathryn Britton wrote a good article in Positive Psychology News Daily titled "On Making Choices". In summary, she offers six tips on improving your ability to make a decision.

1. Learn how to make good enough choices, rather than aim for best choices.
2. Make a choice and then focus on its benefits instead of peering down the road not taken.
3. Remember that the identifiable attributes of a decision may be negligible compared to the accidentals that one cannot predict.
4. Create personal heuristics for choices that do not warrant great effort, such as selecting items on a menu.
5. Group large numbers of options into categories so that you can rule out several at a time, rather than having to study the pros and cons of each individually.
6. After collecting the pros and cons of the remaining alternatives, give your intuitive mind a chance to work on decisions that involve integrating a large number of complex options.

The choice is yours to make. Start with small ones if you must but the key is to make a choice and move forward. There might be setbacks but you make a choice and you go with it. Of your own volition, you keep moving your life forward.

Truth or Lies

"A lie may take care of the present, but it has no future." -Author Unknown

The news has recently been filled with the scintillating news of a New York Congressman. The public appetite for this type of news has always intrigued me.

There are U.S. Military personnel risking their lives in foreign nations to help the oppressed and fight terrorism. We spend our day reading of someone who took some pictures and then lied about it.

There are Japanese people still without a home due to a nuclear plant disaster after a tsunami. But yet we spend our day debating the social aspects of what this man did and his resignation.

I guess it has to do with our attention span as human beings. The ever increasing ADHD nature of our lives. We flip from channel to channel and the last hour's news is old news. But it wouldn't be quite so bad if we didn't just focus on what is termed lurid pictures. The real story is why do we lie in the first place.

My belief is that if you come out at first with the truth, no lies, no cover up, people are pretty forgiving. The truth sets you on a path to recovery or redemption much quicker. You save yourself having to fix two problems instead of just one.

But what a lot of people tend to depend upon is the short memory of others. If I lie and get away with it, they believe "no foul, no harm." But if I get caught in the lie, people will eventually forget about it. the only problem is that it doesn't make you a better person. Not telling the truth pulls you down and makes telling the next one easier and more costly. Lies will only hurt you and those close to you.

So try telling the truth upfront. It is going to hurt most certainly and maybe its that pain we are trying to avoid. But the pain is short-lived and redemption so much greater. Your life will be greater for having told the truth.