Love The Color Of It All

"Character is the ability to carry out a good resolution long after the excitement of the moment has passed." - Cavett Robert

A friend from Cork City, Ireland sent me the following video which was perfect timing some years back.

To see the faces of people as the excitement rushed through the crowd was quite thrilling. My wife and I have been on this same city shopping street in large crowds. Many times it is the usual passing of people trying their best to shop and enjoy a crowded Saturday.

What can happen among thousands of strangers?

An excitement of something bigger then one self and the enjoyment of just living. While the video ends and the Saturday shopping crowds go on about their business, for a moment a different possibility existed. We then go back to our normal movement from shop to shop, completing our unfinished business but maybe with a bigger smile in our heart.

The group Bell X1 sings, "I love the color of it all." Each of us can love the color of life around us and carry that excitement within us.

You might be surprised how much your heart can carry once you begin to fill it.

Stay inspired my friends!

It Is Good

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." - John Wesley

A couple of weeks ago, the Christian calendar observed Good Friday. Hopefully you do not go running away by changing your browser to Google or any other search engine. I am not here to talk religion but about a way of living.

The giving of ones self for a greater purpose.

It is an idea of sacrifice in our life for others or giving ourselves up to something greater. We each sacrifice something in our lives whether realized or not.

As children we learn to share our toys. We give up control of the Ninja Turtle and play in a group in a much more fun way.

As young adults we date, foregoing poker night with the guys or girls doing whatever it is girls hang out doing.

Marriage occurs and possibly a new baby comes along, so we sacrifice personal wants in order to provide for our child.

Giving up something for ourselves in order to give to someone else.

It is an act of sacrifice on our part for the betterment of someone else. The sacrifice of giving money to a worth while charity. We know the same money could have been used to buy a new fancy boat or the latest designer clothes.

We each have out own self indulgences to which we send our money or spend our time. But the sacrifice of something personal can one day change the life of another. It can change your own life.

It might mean giving of one's time to help another move their belongings or donating time to help feed the hungry. Impacting the life of another person in need has a powerful effect upon them and on you.

When you do for others, you are doing quite a bit for yourself.

So yes, this might have seemed like an article about the Christian belief of Jesus sacrificing his life for us. But the principle holds true for all religions and non-religious people. When we help each other, the world becomes a better place.

We become a better people.

Find a way to involve yourself in the lives of others. The return on your investment is a better life for you and everyone else.

Stay inspired my friends!

How Balanced Is Your Life

"Be aware of wonder. Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some."
- Robert Fulgham

Trying to live a balanced life, it is something each of try to do but can be difficult to achieve. A well balanced life is very much like the wheel of a bicycle. When perfectly round it rolls smoothly down the road.

An unbalanced wheel causes pain and slow movement.

We concentrate too much on one aspect of our life and the others fall into disrepair. Too much work and your family life suffers. Too much play time and your financial condition can weaken.

So much to look after.

Where is the center of your balance? Are you creating time for each area of your life? Is your life's wheel smooth and round or do certain areas need to be worked on? How do you even know?

Take a look at the diagram and imagine YOU in the center of the wheel. Each area of your life has a value. Again, imagine a series of numbers starting at one closest to you counting out to nine on the edges.

Is your spiritual life a two or possibly doing real well and could be considered an eight. Carefully consider each area of your life and place a value on the chart next to it. How closely do the numbers match?

If you connected the numbers, would they create a round circle or a very odd shaped pattern. Whatever you come up with, the intent is to help you start looking at your life and the area that might need attention.

I did not give you the number ten to use.

Ten is commonly associated with being perfect and as a person who is growing and understands what life is like will know we will never be perfect. We can be very good at things and strive for greatness, but balance is what we want in life.

Now when you have finished rating yourself, understand this is not a contest. It is a guide for you find out well your life is balanced. Look at those areas you marked low and begin to work on those areas first.

As you begin to bring balance back into your life, remember it is about the balance. Once you have achieved that, you can begin to increase your life from all all areas being a six to all areas being an eight.

Bring balance back into your life and experience a great life.

Stay inspired my friends!

Accumulation of Stuff

"What we do as individuals matters. It adds up." - Maurice Strong

It was closing in on 115 degrees Fahrenheit in Mesa, Arizona. A normal day for any hot desert location.

We were spending time attending to family matters. My wife, sister-in-law and a world of emotion surrounding our current task. With all that was going on, the intense heat was a mild distraction.

Even the search for any amount of shade under which one could parking the car was coming at a premium. If you find a bit of shade, it makes a huge difference and air conditioning continues to run at full blast trying to stay ahead of the searing heat.

Our time in Mesa was not a social visit in nature. We were handling my mother-in-law's care after her second husband passed away. Both were in their eighties at the time and Mom was in a nursing care facility.

So our task was to finish out the matters which one has during these times. It meant ensuring final arrangements were made, the home cleaned out and sold; the end of life things which each of us will go through eventually.

It reminded me of all the 'stuff' we accumulate in life.

The papers, the tools, the knick-knacks, mementos, and pictures we amass over our lifetime. There were the prescription bottles, clothes, and shoes which filled the cupboards and closets. Gardening tools and outdoor gnomes which spoke to an active life once roaming the grounds.

As we continued the process, I realized how little all of those material items mean. Their value was nothing compared to the life we have lived, or the love and goodness we had shared with others. All of us accumulate all of these things through out our life.

The good, the bad, and the ugly; yes, that was a reference to a Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. But we ourselves are also an accumulation of those things we have done with our life. We are not measured by our money or possessions, nor are we remembered for having the coolest car or the fanciest house.

The memory of me or you or anyone is based upon how we lived our life. It is based upon how we treated, loved, hated, or lifted others. And while none of us are perfect in our life's accumulation, what we can do now is strive to live it well.

Be a positive force in the lives of others and leave of memory of our life with people saying, "there lived a great person who did great things for others."

Stay inspired my friends!