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.