Tag: personal Leadership

Mid Life Celebration on You Tube

Mid Life Celebration.  It’s the antithesis of mid life crisis. Same thing, different outlook.

Attitude makes all the difference, doesn’t it?  Whether it’s personal or professional, attitude is a way to excel in anything.

jeff noel (that’s me), founder at Mid Life Celebration, was traveling through Columbia, South Carolina a few days ago and noticed this airport hallway billboard.

To be excellent once, or maybe twice, is a huge accomplishment. But to do it eight straight years, well, unbelievable.

But that’s exactly what Lexington Medical Center has done. Here’s the one-take-You Tube video with my commentary:

You know what watching this video does for me? It reminds me that attitude is everything and also that much can be gained by reinforcing simple principles like this. Ya with me?

Happiness Is Your Nature

“Happiness is your nature.  It is not wrong to desire it.  What is wrong is seeking it outside when it is inside.” — Ramana Maharishi

Yesterday’s post spoke of escape, implying that when faced with an overwhelming obstacle, we may run from it, try to avoid it, ignore it, medicate it, deny it, etc.

We are always going to be faced with life’s challenges.  And the proverbial mid life crisis is more or less a universal phenomenon for virtually all adults.

We get to a place, don’t like it, and then think we can take a short cut to move past it.  Maybe.  Maybe some can.  I certainly couldn’t.

However, when I started to look inside for the answers instead of outside, my life began to transform.

Consider this, there is infinite joy to be had, to be discovered, to be shared.  I mean, happiness is our nature.

When I dream without any limits, I dream of others having this wonderful mid life celebration, instead of the proverbial midlife crisis.

Mid Life Escape?

Maybe escape is the wrong word. And if it’s not the wrong word, it certainly seems like a strong or desperate word.

I’m in no position to tell anyone what to do.  Duh, right?

Mid Life Celebration is the escape route I took.  Rather than feel defeated and hopeless, it seemed like a good idea to rise to the occasion and be the change I wished to see in the world.

Perhaps my story will help you with yours. Perhaps not.

Can you start to see how this works?

For me, honesty is the first step.

And the fruit of honesty, eventually, is joy.

Food For Families

Central Florida volunteers gather at a local High School every Thanksgiving Day morning to pick up and deliver boxes of food to needy Families.

Tomorrow will be our tenth year of this Thanksgiving Day family tradition.

A decade ago, and even before Cheryl was pregnant, I suggested to her that we find a way to show our children that we are here to serve and not to be served.

This is a simple, and seemingly insignificant act of kindness influences our thinking, and our actions, all year long.

A Publix Grocery Store Produce manager started Food For Families many years ago.  With help from Central Florida Churches, Schools, and community members, needy Families are identified.

The Central Florida Community also delivers Food for Families on Christmas morning and Easter morning, providing us opportunities to put others first on three special days where we traditionally didn’t.

Mid Life Celebration

Mid Life Celebration.  Mid Life Crisis.

If I have to explain the difference between a Mid Life Crisis and  a Mid Life Celebration, then you may find the concept too much to grasp.

However, if you can look at the two phrases, and say the two phrases, and immediately sense the opposing attitude each brings, well, then you might already know the huge opportunity that awaits anyone facing midlife.

It’s so simple it defies logic.

Just like being thankful.  Being thankful is so simple it defies logic.   This is why I am constantly giving thanks.  If I pause and give thanks 100 times each day, it wouldn’t be enough to keep up with all there is to be thankful for.

Ever think about stuff like this?