Mid Life Celebration

Ordinary Life Is Gold

“Know where you’re going in life, you may already be there.”

Do you ever find yourself in a quiet moment, wondering where you’re headed, and wondering how long it will take to get there?

And maybe, if your dream lasts long enough, you find yourself at your destination, astonished.  “How did I get here?  This isn’t what I wanted?”

We may have already arrived at our best place.  Good health, only a few bills, a steady paycheck. Ample friends. Reliable things.

And yet, in midlife, if we aren’t careful, we might completely miss our exit.

Super Hero?

Men of a certain age is the target audience for Mid Life Celebration. Baby Boomer men, and Gen X men over 40 years old.

All are welcome, of course.  Yesterday’s Mid Life Celebration Guest Blogger, Lorie Sheffer, recommended “Men of a Certain Age” on TNT, tonight (Monday’s) at 10PM.

Click here to view Men of a Certain Age website. Viewing it will give you a quick idea whether or not you want to check it out.  I’ll have to record it because 9:30PM is “lights out”.

Took a quick look yesterday.  Really liked what I saw.

If you’ve seen it, and feel like it, share a quick comment about the show. Happy Monday.

Impossible Is Nothing

Click here to read the six steps from an Everyday Health article.

Or, simply read my list that says the same thing, just differently:

1. Make your goal impossible
2. Start small, I mean seriously small
3. Plan on it taking the rest of your life
4. Do it for someone else, someone really (significantly) important
5. Plan for set backs and mis-steps
6. Have fun and reward yourself occasionally
7. (Bonus step) Search, and find, your indomitable will along way

Ready, set, go!

I Can Only Imagine

Here are the top five finalists, in no particular order:

1. I Feel Good – James Brown
2. Fruitcakes – Jimmy Buffett
3. Netherlands – Dan Fogelberg
4. Lifesong – Casting Crowns
5. I Can Only Imagine – Mercy Me

This was way harder than I thought.  Anyone else struggle?

Oh, I almost forgot, you really don’t have time for this nonsense. I get it. Everyone is crazy busy.

January was supposed to be simple – Simplicity.  What the heck happened to simplicity?

I can only imagine.

Hard To Pick Just One

First thing on the list today, inspired by the Third Day song I’m currently listening to:

1. THANK YOU Mid Life Celebration readers for visiting

It’s simply joyful to know that so many people visit each day. Your visits humble me, inspire me.

Second thing on the list: If a movie was made of your life, what song would be featured?

If it’s easier, what top two or three songs? Hard to pick just one.

Breathtaking

“To Love and be Loved.”

“Wait! That’s it? That’s all you got? Are you kidding me?”, people might be thinking.

And I say, “What? it’s too simple for you?”

Hello. Earth to astonished person. Wake up. Of course it’s simple.

It’s profoundly simple, and yet simply profound.

“To Love and be Loved.”

Most of life is simple. It’s our nature to want to complicate things, to believe, “Everything is important.”

Why?  It’s remains a mystery to this very day.  Perhaps it’s the whole “keeping up with the Jones” syndrome.

Simplicity is the way.  The only way.

By the way, “I’ll bet you still don’t have an answer, do you?”, he thought to himself as he finished writing this blog post.

Brain Power to Dream

It’s fun to dream big dreams, isn’t it?

We did this constantly as children, a little less often as adolescents, and even less as teenagers.

Well, maybe we dreamed more as teenagers, but mostly about  sex relationships.

But when did we stop dreaming about flying, or becoming an astronaut, artist, inventor, teacher, parent, Olympic athlete, President, CEO, farmer, race car driver, explorer, adventurer, writer, etc?

When?

When life started to get complicated.

When we can return to simplicity, our dreams will start to flourish again.

How do I know?  Because I’m writing this for you to read.

Don't Bother Me Kid

Okay, my wife says I march to the beat of a different drummer. And after 50 years, I’m finally okay with that. It’s who I am – who I want to be.

Are ya with me?  Are you cool with who you are? With the way people judge perceive you?

No, really, are you?  Most people are, right? Because most people are pretty “normal” (whatever that means).

But if you’ve ever felt sort of out on the edge, the fringe so to speak, it’s a fairly lonely place to be. And it takes guts to be out there.

Had to tell you all of that to tell you this: “You didn’t give enough consideration to yesterday’s challenge to have a convincing answer today.”

How do I know? Because I live on the fringes, an outsider. Outsiders know. Wish it was explainable.

So, may I ask you, again, to take yesterday’s challenge more seriously today?

You know what, don’t even worry about. It’s far too much to ask of an adult, in mid life, to have an immediate, and convincing answer to the most basic of childhood questions.

Just tell those precious young minds to run along, and not to bother you.

Mid Life words are helpful. So are mid life phrases:

• Just do it
• Carpe diem
• Life is short, play hard

Life can change in an instant.  This One-Take-You Tube video I shot the other day while leaving from my podiatrist illustrates this perfectly.

Life is short, play hard. Carpe diem. Just do it.

And expect Joy to follow.

Nothing Under Mid Life

Are you getting this? Mid Life Crisis versus Mid Life Celebration.

These are simply mid life words, but the difference between the two sets of words is as profound as the difference here:

• Hate and Love
• War and Peace
• Terrorist and Missionary
• Dishonest and Honest
• Criminal and Saint
• Death and Life
• Apathy and Passion
• Crisis and Celebration

Have I told you lately how much joy it brings to know there are others out there who benefit as much from Mid Life Celebration as I do?

Three days away from New Year’s Eve. Got big plans for 2010?

Ice Cream For Everyone

Christmas is filled with Joy. Do you exchange gifts this time of year? How about for birthdays?

There are many who think gifts are only physical items, usually bought, but sometime handmade, items.

The real gift at mid life is a cumulative book of wisdom.  People at mid life have varying degrees of self-confidence in the value of their “wisdom book”.

All mid life adults have something to offer.  And most of us have a unique chapter we could add to Life’s Wisdom Book.

Take for example, all these confident, famous people – click here to be inspired and to perhaps grow a bit more confident in your own mid life wisdom.

Merry Midlife Christmas.

“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…..”

Dream Chaser

Guest Bloggers wanted.

Ever consider blogging but haven’t done it yet?

Ever dreamed of being a writer, but haven’t “published” anything yet?

Are you an experienced writer and want to expand your reach, relevance and impact?

If you’d like to be a Guest blogger at any of the five-a-day blogs I write, please think about it over the holidays.

Most of you saw this coming, and 2010 promises to be the best year ever. How could it not be?

So, seriously, think about it.

I’ll never embarrass you or make you feel uncomfortable. Not intentionally anyway. I may embarrass myself occasionally, but that’s part of taking risks.

All part of being a Dream Chaser. Ya with me?

A few days ago I posted a one-take-You Tube video while passing through the Columbia, South Carolina airport. Lexington Medical Center’s unbelievable track record of excellence caught my eye.

Well, they are even more amazing than we first thought. They’ve actually been rated number one for ten years, not eight.

They even have their own You Tube channel. So I checked it out. And may I suggest you think about doing the same?

Whether your You Tube videos are professionally done, whether you do them in one-take, or even if you’ve never shot a You Tube video, you can learn about excellence at any moment.

Click here, if you have a moment now.

The road to excellence has no finish line.

Many people I know perceive mid life as a time that signals the beginning of the downhill side of life – the decline.

Rubbish. However, Henry Ford once said something to this effect, “If you think you can, or you think you cannot, you are right.”

What is there to be joyful about at midlife?  Everything. Even the wellness challenges we all face. Pick one: mid life crisis or mid life celebration.

No brainer, eh?

Lexington Medical Center

Was I having a midlife crisis moment a few days ago while sitting in the pew at Church, listening to our inspiring Priest?

Nope.  It was a midlife celebration moment. It filled me with joy and went something like this:

Lately, I’ve been questioning the percentage of time I write about serious and deep stuff on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

That’s when the revelation came.

My ability to think deeply and profoundly is either innate or highly developed.  My ability to laugh is similar. But reading my entries, you’d think I was just a serious person only.

And then something else happened.  The realization that I can turn on a dime and go completely comical.

And then this thought.  How many can turn on a dime and go deep and profound?

Finally, the question of is one better than the other?  No.  It’s not about better. It’s about balance.

And, it’s about preparation.  Mid Life is something that can be planned for and joyful.

Being serious, profound and deep, is a world-class way to be ready for mid life.