Lahti Travel, August 2009

Finland Travel Vacations posted one of my Lane 8 videos a few days ago.

Social media, and trying to do your best, has a place in our world.

The journey to discover, harness and spread it’s influence continues to amaze me.

Some are daily. Some weekly. Some monthly. Some annually.

Some only come once in a lifetime.

And these decisions never go away. There is no place to hide.

Good thing if you ask me. Who would want to hide? It’s so exciting, to have the privilege of living.

What are some of the once-in-a-lifetime decisions you’ve made that have made all the difference for you?

Turning 51 next week which is cause for reflection…

And yesterday I stumbled upon this You Tube video from last year’s Master’s Track & Field World Championships, which were held in Lahti, Finland.

Plenty of reasons to NOT celebrate midlife, right? Well, here, you’ll only find reasons TO celebrate. Plus, a funky and mesmerizing Suomi (Finland) groove.

John 3:16

Valentine’s Day.  Mid Life Celebration. Sunday, February 14, 2010.

Today’s thought is a simple one.

John 3:16

Florida Real Estate

As we all strive to stay alive in this brutal recession and down economy, it is the most creative and the hardest working that not only survive, but thrive.

How is it possible to thrive in a great depression?  Well, for starters, we’ve already mentioned it: be the most creative and hardest working in your industry.

Like this Central Florida Real Estate Agent.  She placed her business cards in the most creative and unusual place ever seen.  Shot a One-Take-You Tube video and posted it Super Bowl Sunday.

Yesterday, my Google Alert for Mid Life Celebration captured this viral spread of that You Tube video and the most amazing, simple, and creative Florida Real Estate Marketing you’ve seen in a long time.

Click here to check it out.  It’s brief (20 sec), powerful and it might just be the catalyst for your next successful, creative idea to market your business.

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.

Mid Life: A Celebration or Crisis?

Is it?

I mean seriously, humans have complicated life, in a noble attempt to simplify it. Haven’t we?

Perhaps greed is the underlying thread that has made simplicity so complex.

No matter, we continue our search for the meaning of life and the peace we hope to gain from embracing it – if only it would be revealed to us.

Tell you what, I’ll reveal it to you tomorrow and all your challenges will vanish.

Meanwhile, mull on this overnight:

If a child asked you, “What is the meaning of life?”, what would your immediate answer be?

“I have no gift to bring, pa-rump-a-ba-bum….”

“….that’s fit to give a King, pa-rump-a-bum-bum….”

While thinking about what to write on a day like today, it’s incredibly humbling, and immensely joyful and glorifying to know that “I got nothin” on a day like today.

“Shall I play for you, pa-rump-a-ba-bum…..”

Evergreen - Finland

What Joy it is to simply be alive to experience Christmas Eve one more time.

It is so easy to take the gift of life for granted. Would you agree?

As we count our blessings for making it to mid life, let us endeavor to help others learn from our successes and our challenges.

You have my commitment. I’ll continue to write five daily blogs to help bring a balanced approach to life’s four big choices:

1. Mind
2. Body
3. Spirit
4. Money

What will you commit to?

Hey, I know its challenging to read all five every day. It is not an expectation, only a wish.

If I didn’t believe reading these each day would help others make the world a better place, I wouldn’t do it.

But I do believe.

And may I put it in a different perspective? Think about what it takes to write them, let alone simply read them.

Enjoy this Christmas Eve, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, please know that I wish you three simple things:

1. Peace in your Soul
2. Joy in your Spirit
3. Love in your Heart

Women who pushed the boundaries of what people thought women could do.  I don’t know what motivates or inspires you, however, it would seem that we all have more in common than we think.

Most people know and understand this simple truth – there are people who push the boundaries of what’s possible. They make the impossible, possible.  How can we not be thankful for that?

Wednesday in Alaska, I was simply walking through the Anchorage International Airport, and saw a picture on the wall, walked over to see what it was, read the description, gave thanks for Susan Butcher’s life, and then shot this short jeffnoelmidlife You Tube video:

I must also be the most thankful person in the world so our son will understand how thnakfulness works.

Celebrating Thanksgiving every November, or going to Church once a week to give thanks simply doesn’t cut it.

I must become the most thankful person in the world.

There is no other way.

Not me.  So what can a person do?  Why not “roll with it“.  A phrase I learned a long time ago.  It means to take whatever you are given and “roll with it“, or make the most of it.

If you can’t change what you are given or presented with, why not make something good from it?  Because if we don’t, then we are destined, it would seem, to complain.  Who wants that? Here, let me demonstrate how simple this concept is. Please pay attention, it’s over in ten seconds.

What is at the heart of this, I believe, is that children provide adults with an opportunity to finally have someone in their lives more important them themselves.

This is a feeling that literally defies explanation.

And yes, there are readers here today that do not, and will not, have children.  That’s ok.  We are all blessed in wonderfully unique ways.  I am so thankful my wife and I are blessed to be parents.

1. Re-THINK
2. Re-PRIORITIZE
3. Re-COMMIT

Common sense, isn’t it?  Pretty simple actually.

Be careful though.  Simple does not mean easy.  Carpe diem.

However, I just can’t accept the status quo.  Can you?  Do you? There has to be more.  Intuitively, there has to be more.  Doesn’t there?

So if there is more, how do we strive to get it?  Why do we strive to get it? Should we strive to get it?

Whatever it takes to give ourselves Peace and Contentment. Ralph Waldo Emerson said it best, I think:

“We aim above the mark to hit the mark”.

“We learn as much from sorrow as from joy, as much from illness as from health, from handicap as from avantage – and indeed perhaps more”. — Pearl S. Buck

Maybe.  Maybe not.  What do you think?  Many mid life adults are too busy to even contemplate this kind of thinking.  I know full well the medicinal affects of a busy schedule. It can be used as a shield to protect us from painful truths.

“In youth we learn; in age we understand”. — Marie von Ebner Eschenbach

Mid Life learning?  Maybe.  Maybe not.