Tag: blog

Is May Goodness Month?

Is May Goodness Month?

Yes. Goodness, to me, is a fundamental attitude to do good, versus the distinct opposite, which is to not do good.

This becomes especially clear if you’re on the receiving end of the opposite of Goodness. Ya with me now?

May is dedicated to thoughts on Goodness, collected here and there from the past 35 years of living, traveling, reading, observing, etc.

“Watch your thoughts; they become words.
Watch your words; they become actions.
Watch your actions; they become habits.
Watch your habits; they become character.
Watch your character; it becomes your destiny“.

Quote from Frank Outlaw.

Mid-life is a great time to do an inventory of our lives and ask, “Is a fundamental attitude to do Good a bad thing”?

With a followup question, “On a scale, 1 -10, ten being high, one being low, where do I rate myself”?

Hey, it’s a no-brainer that you can do whatever you want. We all have choices. I think about them all the time, because I know an eight-year old who’s watching me every day.

Make today a great mid-life celebration, if you can. Carpe diem, jeff 🙂

Mid Life Common Sense?

Mid life common sense?

Watching President Obama last night give his “First 100 Days” speech, he spoke of many things facing our Nation and the World.

First up was Swine Flu.

What struck me about this topic, is what all of us can do. He listed a handful of easy, simple steps. See if any of this sounds ridculous.

1. Wash your hands often.
2. Cover your mouth when you sneeze.
3. Don’t touch your eyes or mouth without washing your hands.
4. If you’re sick, stay home.
5. If your child is sick, keep them home.

After 50 years on this planet, I’ve learned many important lessons. Many of them were learned “the hard way”.

Hours before the President’s speech, while driving my son home from school, we talked about this very subect. It was good timing, because the school is also teaching the kids what to do.

Mid life is like this. There are simple things we can do to alleviate certain “dangers”. The difference is we already know these things to be self-evident, or common sense.

The other difference is we don’t need anyone to tell us.

Or do we?

Make it a great day to practice mid-life common sense. Because if you don’t, who will. Carpe diem, jeff 🙂

Mid Life Day Off?

Mid Life day off?

Taking the morning off. May write later. May not. Carpe diem, and have a glorious Mid-Life Sunday.

Our son’s first Holy Communion was humbling and spectacular. Peace and blessings, jeff 🙂

First Holy Communion

Our eight-year old son will receive his first Holy Communion today.

Wow!

Who would have ever thought I’d be a father?

My life centered around me for about 40 years, although I never admitted it.

The past decade, thanks to this Mid Life Celebration, it’s been a journey of Rethinking, Reprioritizing, and Recommiting.

The hardest part was simplist part. Rethink. Reprioritize. Recommit.

It takes effort, but like any good investment, it grows exponentially over time. They call it the magic of compound interest. It works as well with your time, as it does with your money.

Carpe diem, and spend wisely. jeff noel 🙂

Mid-Life Perfection?

Mid Life perfection? Not a chance. Not in my world anyway.

Yesterday, my eight-year old son and I were sitting outside a small cafe, enjoying the early evening breeze and enjoying our chicken fajitas.

From around the corner, cigerette smoke would fill our space and then our lungs. I used to smoke cigerettes. Let’s just say the smoke was “distracting”.

To be fair, it wasn’t so bad that it made us cough. However, it still was happening in a place where it shouldn’t have been.

When it got particularly frustrating, I noticed that the smoker had tossed the “butt” on the ground. Instead of the smoke source being around the corner, it was now directly in front of me.

I got up. Walked over, and before I used my foot to stamp it out, I looked at the guy and said, “I’m gonna help you out”.

Returning to my seat, I reflected on what had just happened and rendered myself “guilty as charged”.

In the same way the smoker was not perfect, my attitude (disgusted and angry) in the way I spoke to him wasn’t perfect either.

What happened next?

Well, I went and appologized. “I’m sorry if I made you feel bad or guilty. Please forgive me for that. I’m not perfect either”.

He accepted the appology and I think we both felt better and we both learned a nice little lesson – compassion.

I hope your day is filled with little moments where you get the mid-life opportunity to catch glimpes of your own shortcomings, and use that insight to be a little kinder, a little wiser, with your fellow humans.

Carpe diem, jeff noel 🙂