Mid Life Celebration

Today’s posts will be delayed. I’m fulfilling one of my bucket list items.

#4. Chaperon an overnight Elementary school (4th grade) field trip.

We slept next to the Manatee exhibit windows last night at Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo.

Writing this from our breakfast break at 730am.

Pictures and stories (about midlife) are almost certain to follow.

Carpe diem.

PS. I’m back 12 hours later. We fed string rays at 6:30AM, Meerkats at 7:00AM, and then breakfast (above). A long and happy day followed. I’m heading over to Lane 8 to write that post now.

Hungry Mr. Ray?

Will We Recognize Truth When We See It?

The truth hurts. The truth will set you free.

At midlife, we have an opportunity to: Rethink, Reprioritize, and Recommit.

Our challenge? We’ve ingrained our poor habits so deeply that it’s impossible to change.

Yet.

Yet there is an opportunity to overcome this. But you REALLY have to want it.

This is the part that gets tricky.

(2nd of my 5 daily blogs, click here)

Never Ate Asparagus As A Child

Are we predestined, and without a choice, to be the person we grow up to be, or do we have the power to transform to something different?

If you grew up not liking vegetables, can you become a healthy vegetable eater?

If you were the shyest kid in your class, could you become a world-class professional keynote speaker?

Next blog

Being Nice To Others Has Many Forms

All that stuff I mentioned two days ago at jungle jeff has it’s roots in this idea:

No one can help another without helping themselves.

Many of you are practicing this as evidenced in your blog comments and emails. Together, we can pay it forward, pay it back, plant seeds of hope, offer encouragement, and stay positive in a challenging world.

So while the “numbers” grow, and that’s nice and all, what is really happening is the ripple effect. Thank you for being the engine that makes it possible.

College Life: Sofa, Beer & A Porch

The reason people who are successful have time to work hard is because they have traded their time trying to catch a buzz, for time trying to catch their dream.

There are enormous hours and energy wasted on having a good time.

But when the only one benefiting from your buzz is you, you are really being selfish.

Plain and simple.

When you decide to free up your time to create a buzz to help others, you’re whole life changes from meaningless to meaningful.

MIND: Attitude, Intellect, Brains

Mid Life Celebration is the opposite of midlife crisis. Not only in the words used to describe it, but in the attitude needed to be completely fair, good and decent – to be wise.

Yesterday’s post about Perez Hilton and Miss America was a controversial topic and I attempted to remain neutral.

And this is what a midlife celebration encompasses – a maturity that allows you to not judge anyone, for any reason.

Once you show intolerance to another, you can no longer ask others to be tolerant of you.

When Perez Hilton withholds the Miss America crown because the Miss California contestant is Christian, would that sort of be like a Christian Judge withholding the crown because the Miss America contestant is Lesbian?

Funny how a certain standard could make the prophet look like a hypocrite.

A big part of what Perez needs to do is create controversy. It’s some of the best free marketing there is, and he is brilliant at using it. Of the 80 million blogs out there, Perez Hilton’s blog was number one in 2009.

For a reason. And I’m studying it, as well as this:

We can become so passionate and so blind by our own beliefs, that we commit the very sin we despise.

Springtime Singles Rebirth

The new buzz isn’t from a can or a bottle.

The new buzz is from a ready and willing heart.

The long way is the short cut.

Baby Boomers and Gen X-er’s have the greatest opportunity to be a catalyst for positive change.

Old habits are hard to break and almost never broken.

As the saying goes, “Put up or shut up.”

The world needs role models who do more than talk about what needs to be done.

Are you that kind of person?

Are you a thermometer or a thermostat?

Always Click The Top Link

No matter which of the five blogs you are on, always click on the Blogroll’s top link to go directly to the next blog. No more confusion. Gonna leave this reminder here for awhile. Scroll past this for today’s post.