Our Son, A Guardian of Ga’Hoole

“Once upon a very long time ago, in the time of Glaux, there was an order of knightly owls, from a kingdom called Ga’Hoole, who would rise each night into the blackness and perform noble deeds.  They spoke no words but true words, their purpose was to right all wrongs, to make strong the weak, mend the broken, vanquish the proud, and make powerless those who abuse the frail.  With hearts sublime they would take flight —-“

In mentioning to a work colleague that I recently read the first (in a NY Times best seller series), Guardians of Ga’Hoole book, and how refreshing it was to not read a business or self-help book, she said her doctor commented that this is a tactic to help prevent Alzheimer’s disease.

While I had never heard this before it made me feel good.  How often do we, as mid life adults, hear something totally unsubstantiated and automatically believe it’s true?

The real reason I started reading Guardians of Ga’Hoole is to find common ground with our son (9). Perhaps that’s a good antidote against aging too.

It Begins With The Father

“It is said to begin with the Father”.Maxine Kumin

Our models are our parents.  And for boys, this is primarily the Father. And if the Father is absent, well, the Father is still the model.

And even when the Father is present, he might still be absent.  This makes a compelling case for being a great Father.  BFO, right?

And yet, I don’t really recall when my Dad actually sat me down to teach me important stuff.

Maybe Maxine is full of misguided notions.  Maybe she’s right on target. This confuses me, scares me, and motivates me.  What about you?

An Old Ironic Habit

“It is an old ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way”.Rollo May

I’m tempted to question myself. Why? Because many I talk with, think I’m crazy to believe that people will want to change if the right recipe comes along.

There is a secret recipe. Everyone knows it. But because we ignore it, it remains a secret.

The secret is, “work hard and find your purpose”.

Most people don’t want to do either. I certainly didn’t. Most of my life was, “Work hard, play hard”. That’s a catch phrase for, “Hurry up, we’re lost”.

Then I regained consciousness and started looking around.  There’s much work to be done.  The harvest is great, the workers are few.

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Mid Life Fanatic

Mid Life Fanatic. Why yes, yes I am.

Why wouldn’t anyone want to be a mid life fanatic? Actually, why wouldn’t anyone want to be fanatical about life? Period.

Fanatical. Defined as excessive enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm is just another word for attitude. Attitude is up to you. No one else. Period.

We get one chance to have enthusiasm. It’s the time between our birth and our death.

Ya with me?  Seriously.  Are you with me?  Carpe diem 🙂

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Mid Life Self-Discipline

Mid Life Self-Discipline. We may never be perfect, but we can be better.

Discipline is remembering what you want.

First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you.

If you do not conquer self, you will be conquered by self.

The chief cause of failure and unhappiness is trading what you want most for what you want now.

If we don’t discipline ourselves, the world will do it for us.

You never will be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life.

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