First Steps

"The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult." -Madame Marie du Deffand

My wife and I received a very exciting email from our daughter in Los Angeles over the weekend. It was more exciting than our week long trip in France. It was seeing our grand-daughter crawl for the first time, captured on video.

This is the first of many that all of us will and have taken in life. Once we begin to crawl, we move that much closer to our first of many steps. That is how it begins, learning to crawl and wanting to get to another place in our life.

As we grow older we tend to forget those first steps. The first time we tasted ice cream, the first time we fell in love with our spouse, the feeling of seeing a child born. These moments seem to get lost in our growing older, in taking so many steps getting to where we thought we wanted to be.

We get so wrapped up in our own selfishness that we look down and find our path has diverged from those around us. And in that moment we have to make a decision to find our way back to the first time we tasted ice cream, the first time we fell in love with our spouse, and the feeling of seeing a child born.

It starts by deciding to crawl until we can find our feet again. The first step occurs and another and another. You will find things lining back up again in your life. If there was anger and hurt in your life, it will dissolve with each passing foot step. The selfishness will evaporate and greater things will begin to happen in your life.

Start crawling if that is what it takes. Soon enough those first steps will take place and when able, start running. Run to the important things in life, not from them.

Educated Confidence

"I'm not afraid of storms, for I'm learning to sail my ship." -Aeschylus

It starts early in life, from the moment we are born. I am talking about the learning process. We learn new sounds while still in the womb, figuring out that voice is our mother or father. With the first light of birth, we connect the voices to the faces, processing every bit of information.

On it goes through pre-school, elementary, high-school and college. It doesn't even matter that you go through all of the formal education. Knowledge is a constant thing in our life. The more you learn, the more you understand the world around you. The more you learn, the more you will understand your place in it.

We can choose not to learn, we can choose ignorance and become mired in the mud of life. We can choose to learn more and lift ourselves to greater possibility. It is a choice we can make each and every day.

Choose to learn more each day. Choose to make your life greater.

Childish Examples

"We are apt to forget that children watch examples better than they listen to preaching." -Roy L. Smith

Recently I was talking to my wife about the parenting program she runs. It is a small endeavor at this point, but it is impacting families one at a time. Her program is to help families struggling to use the right skills for communication and dealing with all those things that happen as parents.

I was listening to her passion for what it does for these families. To see things get turned around when someone learns new skills is wonderful. These parenting classes make a difference and probably would have served me well when I was a very young father.

One of the things she teaches upon is how children learn by example. Sitting here writing about it seems like a 'no-brainer' bit of knowledge. But we have seen so many times how a child will mimic a parent.

If a parent walks around with a cell phone chatting away, you will find a young daughter or son play-acting the same way. Now take that parent gossiping, complaining, or talking badly on the phone; the child learns the same by watching.

If a parent is driving down the rode with children in the back, a driver cuts them off in traffic. Without thinking, a parent will raise a finger and shout a curse or few chosen words. A child in the back sees and processes this information.

If a parent, if a parent, if a parent; the examples can go on and on. We all learn many times by example. But none as much as a child. You, the parent, are their hero, their guidance, their link to knowing all that exists. Sounds like a pretty heavy responsibility doesn't it? It is and you must treat it as such.

The childish examples we portray from time to time are in fact, pretty childish. You may think your children sit quietly (or not) in the back ground ignoring you. What you must realize is that they are actually being pretty attentive to your every action and word.

If a parent wants to give their child or children a great gift, then give them great examples to see. Leave behind childish examples and give them wonderful examples to live by. Give them examples of love. Give them examples of healthy living. Give them your best.

Music Changes

SMELLY DOG MUSIC

"Music can change the world because it can change people." -Bono

How big is music in your life? Do you tap your toes to the beat of some favorite band? Is there a tune playing in your mind at the present time? Are the songs you hear saying something to you?

I am sure we have all experienced at one time or another the power music had on us. A song that moved you to tears or lifted you in joyful praise of life. The variations that exist are as diverse as there are humans. In fact music can come from nature itself.

The rustling of tree leaves, a babbling brook or playful chirping of a bird. There is a cadence to most everything that goes on around us. Music exists in most every part of life; that is if we listen for it.

Music can also move us to do something great, it can move us to love, it can move us to do far greater things in our life. The sweet sound that tells us we can do more. The melodic rhythm that carrys us to a far better life.

Let the music change you. Let the music carry you to greatness. Listen to the music and see how it can change your life. Then take your song and go change the world. Make it a better place with the sounds you make, with the toe tapping greatness of your own life.