At What Cost?

Life Changing Transformational Changes
Life Changing Transformational Changes

At what cost will we agree to make significant change?

This question is based on the painfully obvious assumption that most adults are searching for meaning in at least one, if not all, of these big life choices:

  • Mental Clarity
  • Physical Wellness
  • Spiritual Peace
  • Financial Security

What makes this nearly impossible for well-intentioned adults is how overwhelming it feels to begin making life changing transformational changes.

Because of this, most give up, even though they never admit it.

BODY Top Ten Questions

BODY - One of Life's Big Four
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.

Guest Blogger Erika Liodice

Don't Drop It
Don't Drop It

“The Juggling Act of Life”

By Erika Liodice

As we get older, life, it seems, becomes increasingly filled with commitments and responsibilities. Most days I find myself running from one task to the next: eating lunch in my car as I frantically run errands over my lunch break, squeezing in phone calls to family and friends during my ten minute drive to work, and agonizing over work assignments and deadlines while I sleep. My car is my virtual office, my Facebook page is my only connection to my loved ones and I tend to think of life in key strokes, wishing I could CTRL + Z (undo) my error in judgement the other night when I added too much detergent to the laundry and found myself swimming in a sea of bubbles. Sometimes it feels like my mind and body never truly rest. And I’m not even 30.

Former CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises, Brian G. Dyson, describes it best, “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them – work, family, health, friends and spirit – and you’re keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls – family, health, friends and spirit – are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”

So how can we all do a better job of maintaining balance in our lives? Here are a five simple rules I try to live by:

  1. Decide what’s most important in your life and don’t take those things for granted.
  2. Learn the beauty and the power of the word “no.”
  3. Respect your time; don’t waste it on things that don’t matter to you.
  4. Do your best and learn to accept when that’s just not enough.
  5. Don’t take anything personally.

Erika Liodice is the author of Beyond the Gray, a motivational blog for anyone chasing a dream, and a regular contributor to travel e-zines Lehigh Valley Insite and The Savvy Explorer.

Mid Life 1980

Is That A Bicyclist?
Is That A Bicyclist?

Mid Life in 1980?

Hardly.  I was 21. A senior in college, and a dreamer.

There was a movie that shaped the mid life celebration vision.  A mother was videotaping herself while she spoke to her unborn child.

She was dying of cancer and would never meet her child.

She wanted her child to be able to see and hear, directly from the video tapes, what she wished for her child and what she thought her child might want to know about their mother.

It was in the following days, on the lazy, sunny, fall days in West Chester, Pennsylvania that I dreamt of writing a book for my children.

The book would contain all the secrets of life, learned through books, travels and experiences.

While the Mid Life Celebration website is two years old, the name and vision are the same, what’s morphed is Mid Life Celebration’s purpose.

And it’s more exciting than I could have ever imagined 30 years ago. Ever feel like that?

Do you have important dreams from long ago that are more exciting today than when you first dreamt them?

How did you go about keeping them alive all these years?  Or, how did you go about reigniting the flames?

Why?

Balance Deconstructed

Mind.  Body.  Spirit.  Money.  Otherwise known as Balance. This is the second of two posts today. A double shot!

Do you know anyone who epitomizes work-life balance?  I do not.  So I took matters into my own hands and came up with a life-changing model.  It’s ridiculously simple.

MIND – Mental Health, Learning, Attitude

BODY – Physical Health & Wellness

SPIRIT – Spiritual Health; Faith, Hope & Love

MONEY – Financial Health; Job, Career, our contribution to society

I’ve literally spent a lifetime searching for the secret recipe for balance. Since becoming a Father nine years ago, this is the one I’m convinced is the key to transforming my life.

Focus on Life’s Big Four.  Hey, I’m not a scientist or a genius, just a common man who looks at things differently and likes to keep it simple.