As with so many of the things that inspire me to start thinking around a topic, something popped up in my social feeds. In this case it was about how, as we live life, we are essentially standing in line. Standing in line for what? The person who presented this represented everyone as standing in line for entrance to heaven. The reality is that, depending on your belief system, it really is standing in line to die… and begin whatever adventure comes next. But there were some very relevant and valuable observations made about standing in that line and I wanted to expand on them a bit. (more…)

Dick Marcinko, in his book called “Rogue Warrior” describes an incident where he was on a combat patrol and for an unknown reason he dropped to the ground just as enemy fire opened up on his position. As he describes the experience it’s very clear that he was not at the time, and to the date of that writing, still not aware of why he dropped at that moment. But doing so saved his life.  (more…)

Every now and then we get reminded of just how good the people in our world can be. And “our world” isn’t just our circle of nearby friends, or folks from our neighborhood, friends of friends, etc.  It quite literally is people from around the world. Bear with me as I elaborate and follow along as I try to share what has been impactful for me this morning. (more…)

In today’s computer age, days where you can’t look around without seeing someone on their “smart” phone, and times of everyone being connected nearly full time, the word “hack” has come to take on a whole new meaning.  It is essentially used to mean “something that makes your life easier or an easier and faster way of doing something.” I’ve seen some pretty cool hacks posted online but I often wonder how come nobody ever shares TRUE “life hacks:” hacks that actually make your life easier in the way(s) that count most.  So… I had to.  I considered it a challenge I couldn’t back away from. (more…)

If you Google “rules for life” you get 863 MILLION returns (in under 2/3 of a second). There are whole books written on the subject. You can find lists with as few as three rules and as many as 75 rules. Every now and then as I surf the Internet (and life), I come across something having to do with “rules for life” that catches my eye. This one – Seven Rules of Life – was a meme I saw, read and thought about. I was compelled to share a few thoughts.

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Obviously, there are far more than FIVE rules for life if you want to feel motivated, empowered, fulfilled, justified, etc.  That said, every now and then I come across a meme that makes me stop and think.  If I actually think the thoughts I have are worth sharing, entries like this one occur. (more…)

Success, as defined by Dictionary.com means: the accomplishment of one’s goals; the attainment of wealth, position, honors, or the like.  Those definitions align with what most of us have been taught throughout our lives, as we grew up, as we worked to attain certain goals in school and then as we moved into our lives, careers, families, etc.  Accomplishing the goal was success.  Having money, a house, a car and lots of things, was being successful.  Luckily, along the way, most of us were taught morals and ethics and learned to abide by the law as we pursued success.  The most successful with the least concern for legalities became famous through history: Al Capone, Lucky Luciano, John Gotti and other career criminals.  My question for you is this: does having all of those material things make you a success?  Are you a success for having worked hard to attain them?  Or is there, just maybe, another way to be successful? (more…)

I know a woman who, at the grand old age of about eight years old, was taught that someone else was to blame.  Blame for what?  Everything. That summer she lived with some relatives and in a very short time span she gained a lot of weight. She had lived the lifestyle of those particular relatives: she ate anything she wanted, did next to no physical activity, watched a LOT of television and gained weight.  She gained about ten pounds in two weeks.  For an eight year old sized person, that’s a lot of weight. When she got home to her family complaining about how fat she was, her mother insisted it wasn’t her fault; it was the fault of the relatives who let her do that. (more…)

You may have recognized that all of the motivational sayings are part of an image that includes a unique stylized logo.  That logo comes, in part, from the company logo I had designed more than ten years ago.  It had a very specific symbolic meaning explained below.  After you understand what the original logo meant, in its totality, I can explain why I continue to use portions of it and what it means in this fashion. (more…)