The lobby of a movie theater, the airport concourse, a train station, and the snack bar at a ball game. These are places as a child and an adult that give me an energy from smell and sight and feel that is almost indescribable. I love the feeling while I am in these places. I get excited.
Watching a movie or play is an event. The audience gets to join the actors in an hour and half on a escapist treat for the mind and the senses. Taking a trip to a different place is an event, the passengers of the train plane or automobile will soon be at a new geographic destination. A sporting event involves watching athletes perform and a huge amount of escapism. before and during events like these there is a nervous energy and an excitement that feels and smells different than everyday activities.
Doing new and exciting things in a safe environment is healthy and needed for growth.
Did you feel the excitement of the ride to come? If so, then you have felt potential energy.
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Generating that excitement comes from learning and trying new things and it is hard to describe or bottle up but it is enjoyable. There is a smell and feeling to it and I wish this for everyone everyday. Never be to afraid to do something that gives you this feeling. Make today awesome
Ever since Robert Zemeckis brought the world Back to teh Future in 1985 I cannot help but imagine teenagers and adults all over the world have wondered what they would do if they could jump in the DeLorean and meet their past selves.
What would we warn our past selves off? That one bad relationship that we have scars from? The job we took right after university that had the boss from hell? If you have lived enough you are going to make missteps’.
We learn from failure not from success
Bram Stoker
The mental exercise has been done again and again. The more I consider my past the more I realize that the past has made us who we are today., not really the past but how we react and process the past has made us who we are today and I am not sure that I would want to change anything simply because I am happy now.
One thing I would of course want more of is money or maybe wealth not money. I would love to have the stability and luxury that comes with wealth. In the current pay to play system of the world money provides people security, and control of their time. I would if I could change anything get that security and control.
So if I had to tell my past self anything it would be to buy Amazon stock. as much Amazon stock as I could afford and hold onto it. Amazon opened at 97 cents per share and as of this post the stock was selling at 95 dollars a share. The Amazon stock has split 4 tines as well.
If I bought 100 shares for a little less than 1000 in 1997 I would have just over 2 million dollars! I did not buy that stock so for now I have to get back to work.
He was the king of Corinth and a brilliant man. In the Iliad Homer described the king as “the most cunning of men” (Iliad, 6:153). Sisyphus was so cunning that he cheated death twice. Sisyphus tricked Hades and Thanatos. Sisyphus got his comeuppance at the hands of Zeus though and was condemned to push a boulder up a hill for all eternity. Every time Sisyphus neared the end of his task the boulder will and does roll back down hill. Today any task that feels like it will never end or is stuck is often described as a Sisyphean.
We have all been there. The project is rolling along swiftly we are making our deadlines and then we hit a brick wall. There is one task or part that seems to never end. What do we do now? How can we handle a task that seems to never end or what do we do when we are stuck?
When you feel stuck it is important to understand what you are stuck on and why. Not why you are stuck but why the project is taking place. What business problem are you addressing? Often the answer will change the direction of a project sometimes it will not. Sometimes it will reinforce the importance of the project. The most important thing that why does with projects and life is refocus.
Write down. When you write something down you use the frontal lobe. The frontal lobe is the part of the brain for movement, reasoning, judgement, planning and problem solving.
Talk about it. When you speak you also use the frontal lobe. Speaking and writing will help with problem solving and reasoning.
Finally reach out for help. Sisyphus didn’t have the support structures that many of us have today. Friends, family and colleagues are often looking for ways to help and want to help we just often do not ask. Never be afraid to swallow your pride and reach out for help.
“Your desk is interesting.” “My kids love start wars and Legos too.” Those are polite ways that people tell me that my desk at work looks like a childs desk would. My desk is full of pop figures and Lego structures that, I built all by myself.
I sometime mention that every thing on my desk, other than the actual work equipment is a gift. I have gotten gifts from family members and colleges and they have been evicted from my home office of the years and now reside at work. I love receiving gifts I can look at them and tell you who got that gift for me and when. I can look at the gift and know that at that time in life they were thinking of me.
For my birthday last year my wife bought me and her tickets to see the Beyond Van Gogh experience. The experience was pretty incredible and we truly enjoyed ourselves.
This was one of the best gifts I have received. Not because I am a big Van Gogh fan. I do admire the talent and think that it was tragic that he could not overcome his mental illness. His bother seemed to try and help but still Van Gogh’s story ended in tragedy and should not have played out that way. No one should be to ashamed to ask for help mental health is just health.
The gift was special and amazing because it was time with my favorite person doing something new and unique. If the experience is near you you should visit it was pretty incredible.
Time spent with my wife is some of the best times I have ever had. Family matters and the best gifts I have ever received are those experiences with my family.
Tell us about your favorite pair of shoes, and where they’ve taken you.
One of the best jobs I had was working for Hugo Boss in the IT department. The house has some amazing clothes, great designs quality stuff and I got a pretty great discount. I would wear my Hugo Boss suit to work with a pair of Hugo Boss trainers or sneakers.
I eventually meet my wife at Hugo Boss she still works there but I do not. IN IT the mantra “You have to move out to move up”, has seemed true for my career. My wife worked in a different department however we would see each other at lunch and of course we carpooled together to and from campus. There was a sample sale one year while I worked there and at the sale there was a pair of amazing red trainers that I had to have. I bought the shoes and wore them so often that they were worn out and not salvageable after about three years. I wore those red shoes with my suits and sweatpants. I wore the shoes outside of work and I even wore those shoes to church.
I love wearing sneakers with my suits it is a trend that still hasn’t died for me, but the red shoes did die. I put the red shoes in the recycle bin about 2 years ago. One year at a Hugo Boss holiday party my director approached me and my future wife and mentioned how me wearing sneakers with suits reminded her of the singer Lenny Kravitz. I love Lenny Kravitz! He is so cool, his music and style are amazing. If I had any doubts about wearing athletic shoes with dress clothes they where all washed away by that compliment. Later that year as a gift my wife gave me a bobblehead in my own likeness. I was in a suit and holding my ipad and on my feet.. You guessed it those red trainers!
Are you patriotic? What does being patriotic mean to you?
I joined the United States military at the age of seventeen. When I turned 18 I left Cleveland Ohio for US Army Basic Training. My enlistment in the army was only three years and I spent every year in a different dessert in a different country.
I joined the Army for a bunch of different reasons, I was avoiding college, I wanted to see the world and I felt like it was the patriotic thing to do. Patriotism for me was the love of the idea of the United States over the actual United States.
Ideally the United States allows every person the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I believe that the declaration of independence makes it clear that these rights, life,liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are unalienable. Because they are unalienable they cannot be given away or taken by any government. Growing up I loved the idea the the United States government would work to preserve these rights for everyone.
After leaving home I watched many people even citizens of the United States get denied these rights under the cloak of patriotism. Xenophobia and racism sit behind patriotism with groups like the Oath Keepers and the Liberators. These groups are part of what is being called the patriot movement but they do not believe in life. liberty and the pursuit for justice for all. The idea of the United States was and is still poorly executed but is one of inclusivity. Everyone has these rights no matter what the color of their skin is and what their heritigat. The Patriot movement is exclusive and will not afford these rights to people based on their race, religion or sex. The current patriot movement is shameful and sadly very unpatriotic.
The hate from the Patriot movement has bleed over to mainstream politics and into the political parties and their actions. There is nothing patriotic about banning people from travel based on their religion or race however this happened in 2017 for three months and was done under the guise of protection. This is not patriotic at all it is the opposite of the great idea that the United States was founded on however it was not the first time that the idea of the United States was perverted.
Since the beginning of the founding of the United States patriotism was perverted to wage war on the indigenous people of North America. There have been 1,500 attacks on Native Americans by the United States government and countless crimes committed against the native American people. The genocide and total disregard was also cloaked in patriotism but that was not in line with life. liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all.
I like to believe that I am a patriot not because I served in the US Military but because I believe and support the idea that every person in the whole world deserves life, liberty, and to pursue happiness. I support everyone’s right to freedom no matter what that a living beings, race, sex or religion is. Being a patriot is understanding how great your nation should and can be if it has good core principles and lives up to those principles.
It is Feb 10 2023 here in the United States and very soon (in four days), most of the country will celebrate in some shape or fashion St. Valentines day. Saint Valentine was a priest who was beaten and beheaded by the Roman state for his crimes. It was against the law for Roman soldiers to get married however, saint Valentine broke the law and conducted the marriage ceremonies for the soldiers. While imprisoned saint Valentine fell in love with the jailers daughter and wrote her a secret love note signed from your Valentine. This is why we pass notes to this day.
Saint Valentine believed in the power of love and the heart. Did you know that Egyptians believed that the heart was the part of the body where the soul and intellect of a person resided? It’s true when Egyptians were mummified all the organs but the heart were removed the heart stayed with the body. When the goddess Ma’at took the person to the afterlife she would weigh the heart against the feather of truth and if the heart was mean or heavy the soul was punished. Egyptians represent the heart as a dung beetle or scarab.
When we love someone and marry them we pledge our heart to them meaning intellect soul and all of who we are. Everyday we should work to make this persons life better for them with all of who we are. When I think about love and the heart I cannot help but imagine the song that was the soundtrack of the movie starring Johnny Depp. The movie was Don Juan DeMarco and the song was Have you Ever Really Loved a Woman by Bryan Adams.
In the song Bryan Adams sings about how loving a woman involves giving up everything for that person and working for that person and basically giving your heart or your dung beetle to that person. The movie involved a man named Don Juan who was a prolific lover and being treated by a therapist for an over active imagination.
Maybe the best Valentine we can give today is a dung beetle on a secret note.
It can take 500 to 1,000 years for one inch of topsoil (the upper layer of soil containing the most organic matter and microorganisms) to form through the interaction of bedrock, climate, topography, and living organisms.
Top soil or dirt is the most important thing in and on the world and we as a species just walk all over it. Because of its importance soil conservation should be one of the top priorities in the world. Even though soil conservation is paramount to a healthy world little attention has been given to this. In the United States the dust bowl happened in the 1930s and currently the United States is enduring another massive drought. There has been some reprieve but soil health in the western states is at an all time low.
There are ways to prevent soil erosion and promote soil health. No till farming is a practice that makes for healthy soil and is becoming more widely accepted in the agriculture community. No till farming with cover crops is preferable to no till farming with herbicides. Another major change has to take place at the grocery store and restaurants. Animal based protein is consumed at an average of 174 animals per year. Each animal damages the environment when breed and raised for consumption. A diet without animal based protein is another way that anyone can help the soil.
The name earth means ground or dirt or soil. As a steward of the Earth humans should work to protect what we walk on everyday. Humanities most valuable asset is not money, housing, or a robust stock market it is a happy and health earth. The sooner we learn as a society that this should be a priority the quicker we can get on track to a happy healthy world.
If you are ever in Saskatchewan Canada visit the Paperclip Cottage Cafe . If the food is half as good as the story concerning the cafes origin you are in for a real treat.
Kyle Macdonald look at a red paperclip on his desk and thought about the game he played in school called, “Bigger and Better”. In the game you would trade up for items that were bigger and better. Kyle put the red paper clip onCraigslist in an effort to trade up and in one year and fourteen trades later Kyle had a house. You probably guessed it but that house is now teh Paper Clip Cafe in Saskatchewan Canada.
I am not going to spend this blog retelling the trades, however you should watch the Ted Talk with Kyle in it. He retells the trades in great detail and during the talk he has pictures of people from each trade. I like two things about this story most first is the humble beginnings and second is the pictures.
It all started with a tiny paper clip but Kyle knew it would be big and was big. I assume he knew because he took pictures. As a kid we are often taught about consequentialism. The idea that no effort or actions are wasted and they all have consequence. This can be easy to forget especially when we fall into routines and do the same things everyday. The tasks become route and seem inconsequential but they are not. We would do well to consider the consequences of our mundane and route tasks. If a task is routine and consequential at work many efficient managers would find ways to automate and supervise the task. Supervision and not performance of the task should free up time for the employee to engage in tasks that are more complex and not quite routine. The tasks though never go away.
Realizing that every choice we make in life has consequences can seem pretty scary however a better way to handle this responsibility is to take a picture of each thing we do and celebrate our choices (as long as they are moral).
Every trade Kyle made was a chance to meet new people take pictures and celebrate. If you haven’t watch his Ted Talk it’s really good! Kyles enthusiasm is contagious. today at work home or play realize and celebrate the actions you are part of and have fun with it! Take pictures and enjoy the ride!!
“Let’s try to do this a different way”. The coaches reaches down and grabs the hockey stick from the player as they speak. The coach isn’t yelling or demanding they are simply suggesting and nudging the player to do something in way that they believe is more efficient, quicker and more powerful.
Our brains are incredible machines that compute, calculate and control complex systems all day long. Research into the brain has taken some major steps and is still being done everyday. So far it seems like the brain works through a series of connections and when we learn something new you create a new connection. More research shows that creating new connections makes for a happier and healthier brain. Lack of new connections may even cause the brain to slow down and bring on brain diseases.
Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow.
Learning comes from doing. It is practice that is one of our best teachers. You learn to ride a bike better by riding the bike as opposed to reading the theory about riding a bike. What new thing did you do yesterday? What new things will you do today? Finding something new to do can become a little bit of a chore especially when we are in our routines. The best way to accomplish doing something new everyday then might be through adding the novelty to our routines.
Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn, and you will.
The world is a vast and amazing place and I am convinced that if a human spent everyday exploring the world they would run out of days before they ran out of places and things to explore. Now if someone lives long enough and was ambitious enough and did explore every place on earth I would challenge them to look up (especially at night), astronomers have discovered more than 3 200 stars with planets orbiting around them in our galaxy. There are probably 2 trillion galaxies in our observable universe.
My wife has told my eight year old niece on multiple occasions that “only boring people can become bored”. There is much truth to this adage.
To not be bored takes a person of action There is a pretty great Ted Talk about avoiding and dealing with boredom. Approaching everyday as a day to get new things done will help us be better more healthy people. Also imagine how much more exciting society will be if everyone is doing something new everyday.
The Corrigan Encore 