Lane 8, Impossible?
“When everybody tells you that you are being idealistic or impractical, consider the possibility that everybody could be wrong about what is right for you.” — Gilbert Kaplan
Unconditional Love (Both Ways)
By mid life, most of us (not all, but most) have had family pets and have had to deal with the loss of a beloved pet.
This can be gut wrenching, and deeply emotional.
Have you been there?
Sometimes we see it coming. Sometimes it happens in an instant. Either way, it is never easy.
Finding a good way to express our grief at the loss of a beloved Family pet will bring us a mid life peace we so desperately need.
Click here, if you find yourself in need, to read a comforting article on this topic.
I just read it and fold greater peace.
This is exactly what me and my Family needs right now.
Yesterday, we laid Carter, our beloved Canine Son (yellow Lab of 11 years)), to rest.
John 3:16
Valentine’s Day. Mid Life Celebration. Sunday, February 14, 2010.
Today’s thought is a simple one.
John 3:16
Brothers
Tell me.
Show me.
Involve me.
Common sense is hardly common practice.
If anyone has anything to help my Family find peace and comfort as we say good bye to our beloved Canine Son, Carter, please know you may leave comments here or email them to jeff.noel@me.com , if you’d like to remain private.
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.
Rethink, Reprioritize, Recommit
Happy Monday everyone. Hope you had a great weekend. I actually worked Saturday at my “real job” – yes, I’m a career employee at a large company.
This whole five daily blogs thing is like a hobby, like growing a garden or something. And as any avid gardener will tell you, “It’s a labor of love.”
Quite literally, a labor of love – for a child.
Anyway, back to the updates:
1. Erika Liodice’s Mid Life Celebration Guest Blogger post yesterday was a first here. Please check out her site, Beyond The Gray, if you want a midlife perspective from a not yet 30-year old. Erika gave me “my first big break” as a Guest Blogger.
2. The numbers thing the other day. (gulp) Well, that was sort of like a time capsule to look back on later.
3. February is about Peace. Peace to me means – tranquility, balance, solace, contentment, harmony, simplicity, acceptance.
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!
Spirit
Midlife heartbreak or midlife opportunity. Pretty simple. Two choices. You get to pick one.
If you and your spouse (and yes, want to acknowledge some readers will not be parents), worked hard all your life and played by the rules, and you gave birth to a child without eyes and never able to walk, which would you pick?
Mid Life heartache or mid life opportunity?
Well, there was a Family that had to make this choice. They were featured on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition as well as numerous other media pieces, including a heartwarming You Tube Video feature, about 6 minutes long, available at the end of this post.
One of my “secrets” to unspeakable joy is the daily effort to read, listen, watch, experience, think, do and reflect on the countless blessings that surround my ordinary life.
You have all these blessings too. But in order to feel the Peace and Contentment that are the fruit of these blessings, you must become fully aware.
You must become willing to invest time everyday. Even if it’s only six minutes. Will today be another day to postpone your new beginning?
If it’s not, click here.
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:
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?
A Word Is Worth A Thousand Pictures
Do you have words that fill you with Joy? Words that inspire you? Words that instantly create positive images in your mind?
Four favorites are in the Mid Life Celebration blog post title here – wisdom, confidence, courage, joy.
Do those do anything for you? How about these:
Words. So many good ones. So much meaning.
Mid Life Crisis and Mid Life Celebration. Ya with me?
Mid Life holiday stress can rob us of the joy we could be experiencing, if only we could focus.
But how are we supposed to focus when this time of year is so hectic?
And it occurred to me that this time of year has always been hectic. Ever see “A Miracle on 34th Street“?
It was inspired on Christmas eve, 1944, when Valentine Davies, a screenwriter, went gift shopping for his wife. It was hectic, crazy, and lacked the spirit of Christmas we all know in our hearts, but often fail to make time for.
Valentine set out to create a movie that would help remind everyone that the spirit of Christmas and Santa Claus, is real. Very real.
Considered a “B” movie, it was released during the summer, and never advertised as a Christmas movie.
The American public embraced the movie so much that it ran in theaters straight through the end of the year.
It is one of the all-time great Christmas movies and one that my family and I watch every holiday season, when we can find the time.