Great Golfer, Poor Husband

Life is a balancing act. Yin and yang. Good and evil. Vegetables and ice cream. Intuitive and counter-intuitive.

Here are ten common sense things all of us can do to live longer and live better.

To know is to do. To know and not do, is to not yet know.

What Does Balance Mean To You?

How much is enough?

Was speaking with my Banker friend yesterday.

As he was listening to the vision of Mid Life Celebration, you could see and feel his interest in it’s long-term dream.

The Mid Life Celebration dream is so far out there, it seems impossible.

And yet, at it’s very core, it’s so ridiculously simple and painfully obvious.

It’s the solution to life.

The Banker reminded me that “wealth” in one area doesn’t mean overall wealth, doesn’t mean balanced wealth.

And without balanced wealth, what do you think you get out of life?

MIND, BODY, SPIRIT, MONEY

Mid Life Celebration has now been writing five daily blogs for one year.

This is not an April Fool’s joke (although the timing is perfect).

I remember how it all started.  March 2009.  Our 2nd-grade son was questioning why he had to read aloud 20 minutes every day.

“If you want to be a good reader, you need to read a lot”, I said.

Then I continued, “You know I’m training for the World Championships, right?  If I want to be a good runner, I need to run a lot.”

Then, the flash of light!

“If you want to be a good writer, you should write a lot.”

What started as a simple 100-day challenge to write daily, in the five blogs, has turned into a heretical marketing and brand value proposition.

Are You Ready For Today?

Lists. Top ten lists.  Mid life.  Midlife lists. Midlife top ten lists.

Mind, Body, Spirit, Money.

Life’s Big Four.  Life’s four big decision areas.

All day long we make decisions around these four very simple concepts of mind, body, spirit and money. Mostly unaware.

Having answers to critical questions empowers us with a peace that is unknown to people still searching.

What they are searching for and why they pass by the obvious, is understandable and it is also sad. Humans are conditioned to complicate life. Complicated does not get us closer to peace.

Only discernment, organization and finally, determination to be focused and disciplined.

I know well. It’s taken me 50 years to figure it out.  Ok, I’m slow. But also determined.

There is hope for you and your dreams. If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times – there is no shortcut.

MONEY

Top ten MONEY questions you should have answers to:

1.  Do you spend less than you earn?

2.  What is your net worth (assets minus liabilities)?

3.  Do you have a CPA and Attorney?

4.  Do you have a will?

5.  Is your image tied to your possessions?

6.  How much do you donate to charity?

7.  Do you have a passive income source(s)?

8.  How are your investments and assets diversified?

9.  What size is your rainy day fund?

10.  What’s your retirement date, and plan afterwards?

These are the basic, fundamental questions you should have ready answers to. Money is the one most people struggle with understanding how it works.

There is a Peace that surpasses all anxiety, when we have a solid, practical, and proactive approach to Money.

SPIRIT

Top ten SPIRIT questions you should have answers to:

1.  What is Love?

2.  What is more important than Love?

3.  What is Hate?

4.  What is worse than Hate?

5.  How does the mind or body influence Spirit?

6.  If you or your dearest loved one was dying, what would you do?

7.  How do you count your blessings?

8.  Whom do you thank for your blessings?

9.  How often do you pray?

10.  What’s at the very center of your spiritual beliefs?

These are the basic, fundamental questions you should have ready answers to. If not, you will not have Joy in your Spirit, nor will you have Peace in your Soul.

It’s that simple.

BODY - One of Life's Big Four

Things you should know the answers to:

1.  What’s my weight?

2.  What’s my cholesterol?

3.  What’s my blood pressure?

4.  What’s my BMI (body mass index)?

5.  What’s my trigyliceride level?

6.  What’s my resting heart rate?

7.  What do I do for exercise?

8.  How important are my eating habits?

9.  What are my health goals?

10. What are my health beliefs and habits?

Knowing these is crucial for being personally responsible for your health. Not knowing these is a recipe for disaster. There are no short cuts to finding Peace.

There is a Peace that surpasses all understanding when you have done your best. Making excuses chases Peace away.

MIND

Top Ten MIND questions you should have answers to:

1.  What do I read?

2.  What do I study?

3.  How much time do I spend learning?

4.  How much time do I spend teaching others?

5.  How well do I know my priorities?

6.  What do I watch on TV?

7.  Who are my friends?

8.  How do I stay focused on continuous learning?

9.  What is my IQ?

10.  What should I be learning that I’m not?

Knowing these will give you Peace.  There is no short cut.

Midlife Is Like An Ocean

Midlife Crisis is a household name.

There are two Mid Life Celebration Guest bloggers who are not.

Up first, this Sunday, is Erika Liodice, from Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania.

Erika found Mid Life Celebration and invited me to be a Guest Blogger at her blog, Beyond The Gray.

Lorie Sheffer is also from Pennsylvania, and from my hometown of Spring Grove.  Small World After All.

You’ll find their Midlife perspectives similar, but different.

Carpe diem!

Children Watch Everything We Do

Have you ever done something you weren’t supposed to do?  And in order to do it, you had to do it in a sneaky way?  And often, there was a close friend who had already done the thing, and they helped you?

Smoking, drinking, stealing, bad pranks, and so on.

Seriously, these are things adults do not make a conscious effort to teach children.  Can you imagine a Mother saying, “Come here son, it’s time you learned how to smoke cigarettes.”

Heard a Chantix commercial last night. Chantix helps smokers quit. Let me set the scene:

Mom comes on saying, “I smoked a pack a day for 25 years. I could not quit smoking, no matter how hard I tried.”

Until one day……

“I told my son to promise me he would never start smoking.”

He said, “Promise me you’ll quit.”

And the Cat’s in the cradle and the silver spoon.  Little boy blue and the man in the moon……he turned out just like me…..my boy was just like me….

1.  What’s my weight?

2.  What’s my cholesterol?

3.  What’s my blood pressure?

4.  What’s my BMI (body mass index)?

5.  What’s my trigyliceride level?

6.  What’s my resting heart rate?

7.  What do I do for exercise?

8.  How important are my eating habits?

9.  What are my health goals?

10. What are my health beliefs and habits?