I am posting this because I have had several friends that have lost people very close to them recently. In all of these cases there was little or no warning.
We often here sayings like ‘live each day like its your last’ but we have heard this so many times it seems cliche or at best we say yea but we go back to living life like we where.
Above is an exerpt from the speech of Dr. Randy Pausch. You probably have already seen him speak . His last lecture was widely circulated. The thing is we all watched it live or on you tube and went back to the way things were. But it wasn’t the kind of fictional stuff you normally see on t.v. He really did pass away in 2008.
If you watch the video now it what you are seeing is a digital Ghost in the Machine.
You may not have time to get your affairs in order or say goodbye. So tell the people in your life you love them. Impact as many lives as you can, and live each day as if it was your last! One day it will be.
Some people of late have suggested I might be a little crazy. I prefer to think of myself as eccentric. Most people that choose to take the path less traveled will be thought of as insane by the masses and that is o.k.
None the less I decided to take the precaution of having AJ Peudan teach me how to escape from a Strait Jacket. It is a great teaching tool. The way he demonstrates is a great metaphor to teach people how escape from their own mental restraints.
2. Walking is a great preventative medicine. Studies show that walking improves circulation reducing chances of heart attack and is known to reduce the chance of getting cancer.
3. Walking is a great way to lose weight. Moderate to brisk walking raises your metabolism and burns calories. It also increases muscle tussue wihich futher burns more calories when resting.
4. Walking makes you smarter- A study of people over 60 funded by the National Council on Aging- the result was that people were mentally sharper after taking up a walking program.
5. Walking makes you sexier- the aforementioned endorphin rush as well as increased confidence gained from the healthier lifestyle and loss of exess pounds may lead to an increased sex drive. Obviousley the fit person is usally more atractive than one who isn’t. In men walking can Prevent Erectile Dysfunction.
6. Walking increases your overall sense of well being. According to the influencers a study was done and the respondants all believed that they would receive no increased level of life satisfaction if they walked everyday but believed a $30,000 pay increase would improve their life satisfaction. The study actaully found that the people that walked everyday actually felt an elevated overall sense of life satisfaction. No increase in satisfaction was reported by those that received the raise. In fact $60,000 lifestyle increase many of those that received the raise actually increased stress levels and reduced overall life satisfaction.
7. Walking may lead to the pay increase you were looking for. Walking gives you the much needed time to decompress your mind. Combined with creative visualization walking can be the time to crystalize your goals and create a plan of action. That way you can give yourself a raise and do it on your terms.
Walking is the very best exercise. Habituate yourself to walk very far.
I am getting back in contact with a lot of people from my past lately including relatives I haven’t kept up with, old friends, and people from my past. Part of this is due to nostalgia and part is due to Social Networking techology. It is cool to reminisce with people you haven’t seen in a while. We often talk about all the crazy things we used to do ‘back in the day’. How I am not dead is certainly a miracle. It was cool talking to people from my past but in the end most of us are going different directions in life.
It got me thinking though of all the people that are just living their lives ‘Back in the Day’ you know all the Al Bundy’s of the world. Captain of the high school football team or head cheerleader. Then life for them just stopped. All they do is reminisce about the past. I have met other people who are in their sixties or seventies and life seems to have just really started for them.
Remember to live in the present moment and you can begin to build a nostalgia for the future. Life just keeps getting better if you let it.
It was a beautiful day. Everything was fine when I jumped out of the airplane. I was not brand new to skydiving but I certainly was no seasoned pro. It was my 20th jump. I had about a minute of the free fall. If you have never experienced free fall it is one of those amazing intense experiences that no description can fully explain!
I deployed my parachute and noticed it had not opened fully. The slider was up and the line was twisted. I followed the procedure to try to clear it by bicycle kicking then pulling on the risers. It did not clear and I was losing altitude fast! I kept trying to clear. I had to make a decision. I could cut away from my main chute go back into free fall and hopefully my reserve would deploy correctly. If not I could try to land the halfway opened chute- maybe I would live. I probably would crush a lot of bones but I might live. The problem was I wasn’t sure if I knew how to open the reserve. I had practiced it over and over again but I had never done it for real. The procedure had actually been ingrained in my muscle memory. I was no longer even consciously aware I knew how to do it. And what if the reserve malfunctioned then I would certainly be dead.
As I approached the 2000ft mark I knew I had to make a decision. A calm quiet voice spoke in my mind ”It’s now or never.” Time slowed down, the world took, on a strange glow, I was now in a flow state. I pulled the quick release, arched my back. I re-entered freefall! I pulled the reserve cord without a problem. The next 4 seconds were clearer in my mind than entire months of my life. Time moved painfully slow as the reserve opened fully. With less than 900ft to spare I steered down and into the wind for a hard but safe landing.
The whole incident took less than 30 seconds yet it seemed like a lifetime and very well could have been.
Sometimes you have the luxury to hem and haw all you want. Sometimes you have to just make a decision and have faith in the execution!
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Viddler video. I was at the Dream Factory the other day and was met with a special surprise. Rhonda Robinson AKA the Possum Lady brought in these cute little baby Opossums. Rhonda rehabilitates these guys and releases them back into the wild. Opossums are probably the most misunderstood animals in North America and they are far from the giant rat that some people think of them as.
Have you ever felt misunderstood?
Some facts Rhonda did not mention in the video
When cornered possums will hiss and show their teeth but this is just an act they are very placid.
If threat continues possum will “play possum” It will go into a coma like state and appear dead. It even secretes a smell similar to the smell of a dead animal.
Opossums are immune to most diseases including Rabies
I did something recently that I rarely do. I played the Lotto. I don’t normally play because I subscribe to the idea that as my nephew put it ” The lottery is a tax for people who can’t calculate odds.” Your odds of winning the Florida lotto are 1 in 22,957,480. According to the the National Weather Service your odds of being struck by lighting are 1 in 5000.
I decided to play becasue it is fun to imagine what you will do with all that money!
What would you buy?
Where would you travel?
What kind of really cool things would you do?
Now its no surprise I lost. Above is my losing ticket. Lucky for me I have a better plan for Financial Freedom than the lottery.
Unfortunately by the things I hear people say their plans for wealth are based on winning the lottery. Ever hear somebody say yes we will do that when we win the lottery. This is just a way of saying we will never do that.
Do you have a plan for Financial Freedom? If you do are you actively working to manifest it? When you do manifest it what will you do with all that money?
If you look at the biography’s of the worlds most successful self made entrepreneurs and business people they where not self made at all. Just about all them had lots of help at multiple points and in multiple areas along the way. The right connections at the right times can make or break you.
No matter what you want in life in life somebody has it or knows how to get it.
The great thing about this is that we are literally inter-connected with everyone in the planet. In book six degrees of separation we are shown that we are within six jumps of everyone. In other words you know someone, who know someone, who knows someone who knows somebody…and if you take this out to six places that covers just about everybody.
If you know connectors. People that have turned being connected into a skill. You can cut those jumps down from six places.
Do you want to become more connected? Maybe even be a connector yourself?
Enter the Super Konnector Steven Klein. Steven Klein is a master of networking both face to face and online as well.
I have uploaded the complete interview I did with Steven. It was recorded live and is unedited. It is also lower resolution than the above excerpt due to file size restrictions. It is so full of good information I had to give it out. If you would like to watch it <CLICK HERE>
You have heard it so many times it’s a cliche. It’s not what you know it’s who you know. Well some cliches are true. Think about it most of the best jobs don’t get advertised in the paper or on Monster. They are found by somebody who knows somebody. The same holds true for most of the best business opportunities, best real estate deals-you name it they are all found through having the right connections.
When I first read The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell I was fascinated by a group of people called connectors. If you have not read this book by now you should have. In fact I have made it easy for you: click on the picture of the book- it brings you straight to Amazon. Go buy it and read it.
Um…where was I? Oh yes I was fascinated by the group of people called connectors ”…people with a special gift for bringing the world together…” Or people who know a lot of the right people. I decided it would be a good idea have a few of these people on my side. Amazingly enough shortly thereafter one of them called me up out of the blue. This in turn lead to the meeting of several others.
This post is getting a little long so I want to pick this up later in the week because making connections is one of the most important skills you can learn. Talk to you soon.
The Forth of July is one of my favorite holidays. No, not just because it’s one of the few times I get to blow stuff up.
It is the one holiday that we get to celebrate our Freedom. I am so glad to live in a place where I have such freedom of thought and of expression. You can truly be anything you want here. Even be a slacker if you want.
If you read about some of the things our forefathers went through or travel around the rest of the world you begin to get an understanding this freedom thing isn’t something to be taken for granted. There are a great many people in the world that don’t have freedom. More people than not have lived out their lives in poverty and under Tyranny.
Celebrate your Independence
Continue to work TO GIVE YOUR SELF MORE FREEDOM! What kind of freedom? :
