Expecting Green To Be Blue

Expecting Green To Be Blue

Funny how most of the important parts of our lives don’t come with any instructions. But buy a $10 toaster and inside the box you’ll find an owner’s manual with detailed instructions on how to turn soft room temperature bread into warm crusty bread. Usually this information is translated into several different languages, ensuring that a language barrier will never prevent any one from enjoying the simple pleasures of toast.

As much as I enjoy toast and the science and technology behind it, I’d like to think that a troubleshooting guide to life’s deeper questions would be far more valuable than figuring out how to get my bread to toast a little lighter.

Life, and all the questions that come along with it, is just one of those things you have to figure out on your own.

Perhaps life is just far too complicated to have all its mysteries resolved by following a few simple steps. And since no two of us are Continue reading “Expecting Green To Be Blue” →

Are You Buying Into The BS of Your Own Imperfection?

Are You Buying Into The BS of Your Own Imperfection?

So, you’re telling me God got it wrong?

Growing up in an industrial mill city here in New England we had our share of factory outlet stores. Not the fancy destination “outlet” malls with food courts we see today. Our factory outlets were an extension of the manufacturing facility where “slightly irregular” items were sold off in an effort to recoup some money on manufacturing mistakes. These imperfect items just didn’t measure up and meet the quality standards demanded by their customers.

It’s logical to expect some manufactured items would end up with some imperfections. But when it comes to people, I just don’t see God as one who makes mistakes.

I was intrigued earlier this week overhearing a conversation about imperfections. The premise surmised personal imperfections are Continue reading “Are You Buying Into The BS of Your Own Imperfection?” →

Your Mother Did Not Give Birth to a Cubic Zirconia

Your Mother Did Not Give Birth to a Cubic Zirconia

My dog doesn’t have earrings. And neither do I.

But everyone else in my house does, along with their collection of rings, bracelets, and necklaces. None of which belong to me.

Or my dog.

Jewelry. It gets dirty and dull sometimes. Gunk like hair spray, soap, gel and other yucky stuff build up and the jewelry loses it’s sparkle. From what they tell me, the best way to clean such delicate items is by using ultrasonic sound waves. Rings and bracelets are placed in a small water-filled container and the thousands of microscopic bubbles created by vibrations within the container gently remove all the dirt particles.

Once cleansed, the jewelry regains it’s original luster, allowing it to shine as brightly and radiantly as it originally did.

Life has a way of coating all of us with it’s own residue of yucky stuff which can prevent Continue reading “Your Mother Did Not Give Birth to a Cubic Zirconia” →

Why You Really Need To Hug Your Toaster

Why You Really Need To Hug Your Toaster

Perhaps your toaster is trying to tell you something?

I never think about my toaster. Even when I’m plugging it in. Even when I’m putting my English muffins into the over-sized slots. I never think about my toaster.

My toaster is just sitting there on the counter. It’s always been on my counter. Probably always will be, too. It’s just one of those props on the set of my mornings, just like the coffee maker and the can opener.

My relationship with my toaster is decidedly one-sided. It’s always been about what the toaster can do for me. White, wheat, or Continue reading “Why You Really Need To Hug Your Toaster” →

Karma the Boomerang Meets Grace the Stick

Karma the Boomerang Meets Grace the Stick

“He’ll get what’s coming to him someday.”

I overheard this in a conversation at a store today. Apparently this person was rather upset with another person, but at the same time she seemed to take some comfort in her gleeful anticipation of his impending demise.

In the world of Karma, what goes around comes around. And this person just couldn’t wait for Karma to settle the score. As if Karma was some sort of big brother thug with a baseball bat about to smash the headlights out of this guy’s pickup truck.

Karma is a force in this world for sure. It’s a magnetic energy of attraction with a “give and you shall receive” tattoo on it’s bicep. I, Continue reading “Karma the Boomerang Meets Grace the Stick” →

How Would You Answer This One Question From God?

How Would You Answer This One Question From God?

We all love to see a sign from God.

But perhaps you may have overlooked the most obvious sign of all.

You.

So often our search for peace, love, and happiness leads us on a journey away from ourselves. We look for the favorable circumstances which will allow us to be happy. We look for a soul mate to complete us. We seek the spiritual in the material, coming up disappointed every time. In the process we pray God will send us some sort of reassuring sign of hope and guidance leading us to that place of peace Continue reading “How Would You Answer This One Question From God?” →

Finding Perfection in Imperfect Places

Finding Perfection in Imperfect Places

I’ve found Perfection.

It’s in Nevada.

A Google search tells me about a place called Perfection, Nevada. I imagine that living in a place called Perfection would be quite special. Immediately the mind paints a picture of a place where everything is exactly how I imagine it should be.

Apparently, though, Perfection, Nevada doesn’t really exist. It is the name of a fictitious town in the 1990 movie Tremors. And the place where everything is exactly how I imagine it should be? That place doesn’t really exist, either.

Perfection is perhaps the cruelest of all expectations. It allows us to place unrealistic Continue reading “Finding Perfection in Imperfect Places” →

Could Happiness Be This Simple?

Could Happiness Be This Simple?

Sometimes we are waiting on the world to live up to our expectations for how we think the world should be. And when the world doesn’t, we feel justified in our unhappiness, quite comfortable in blaming the world and those in it for all we believe to be missing in our life.

Perhaps, though, the only thing really missing in our life is our appreciation of it?

It’s a great day to be you!

Two Beers, The Truth, And A Little Thing Called Destiny

Two Beers, The Truth, And A Little Thing Called Destiny

In the name of science, take two beers from the same six pack. Place one on the counter and the other in the refrigerator. Return in 60 minutes and you’ll find the temperature of both beers have been greatly influenced by the environment in which they’ve been immersed in over the past hour.

Hardly ground-breaking, Nobel-quality science when you prove the obvious. But the obvious outcome is something which may not be obvious when looking at the emotional and psychological influence our environment has upon our lives.

The basic principles of equilibrium empowers the dominant temperature of any environment to extend it’s influence over that which is makes up it’s environment. This holds true for temperature, but in human terms it also holds true for environments filled with negativity, stress, uncertainty, and doubt. Left unchecked, we can unwittingly allow any dominant negative energies around us to Continue reading “Two Beers, The Truth, And A Little Thing Called Destiny” →

Becoming Your Own Mother

Becoming Your Own Mother

When I think of motherhood, the one word which comes to mind is love. Actually, I need two words…

Unconditional love.

I’ve felt it as a son, and I see it in my wife’s eyes as we raise our three daughters.

Unconditional love isn’t always pretty. It is often loud, sometimes quite contentious. Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like love at all.

But underneath the drama and the slamming doors, the love of a mother is always there.

Continue reading “Becoming Your Own Mother” →