Tag: inspiration

Love, Rain and the Cactus Heart

It’s not every day that a cactus teaches you about love…

So, I finally made it to California. It was a promise I made to the world via my high school yearbook, that California was in my future. That’s what it said under the picture of the long-haired, seventeen year old soon-to-be high school graduate.

It just took me 29 years to get there.

I don’t remember exactly why I wanted to go to California. I think it was because I had a crush on a girl who had plans to go to Continue reading “Love, Rain and the Cactus Heart” →

So, What Will You Bring Into The Next Moment?

The Next Moment can redefine us.

Or go obliviously unnoticed. 

It’s all up to us.

So here we stand on the edge of a new moment. Moments, if defined as seconds, happen 86,400 times per day. We move from one moment to the next almost seamlessly, as one moment morphs into the next, and then the next. The busy pace of life today causes us to misplace entire days, let alone notice a single individual moment.

Transitioning between the moments is done without much thought or reflection. As we blindly enter the Next Moment, we bring with us the contents of the previous moment, which contained the contents of the moment prior to that one. Each moment is a clean Continue reading “So, What Will You Bring Into The Next Moment?” →

The Ultimate Pain Killer

I recently had a conversation with a friend I didn’t know was a friend. I had know this person for the past few years on a very casual basis. Neither one of us really knew anything about each other. All I knew was that this person was the kind of person you’d probably like to get to know better.

Never did I expect one simple question to dramatically impact me so profoundly.

It wasn’t so much the question itself, it was the interaction that stemmed from the question. We began with a very innocent and Continue reading “The Ultimate Pain Killer” →

2,134 Ways To Be Happy: Confessions From The Functionally Unhappy

WARNING:

This post contains a BIG BOLD STATEMENT.

It seems like a lot of people are looking for happiness. Walk through any bookstore and count the number of times you see the words “happy” or “happiness”. If you had $5 for each time you saw those words you could probably make a mortgage payment. Just for fun, Google the word “happiness”. The last time I did, Google came back with over 75,400,000 entries. I found sites about happiness quotes, happiness poems, happiness articles, happiness blogs, happiness affirmations, happiness posters, happiness videos, even happiness retreats. I found happiness everything.

I can’t help but wonder…with such an overly abundant supply of happiness support materials, are we in the middle of some sort of Continue reading “2,134 Ways To Be Happy: Confessions From The Functionally Unhappy” →

How Tomatillo-Red Pepper Relish Can Change Your Life

I don’t know how to eat.

You’d think after some 50,000 meals that I’ve had in my lifetime I would have figured out this eating thing. It’s not the physical act of ingesting food that’s got me stumped. It’s not the chewing, and my fork skills are excellent.

It’s the tasting.

Food, for the most part, is something that I simply consume. It’s no different than regular unleaded is to my Honda Accord.  When the tank gets empty it’s time to refuel. Spending a great deal of my time on the road affords me the opportunity to sample a wide variety of not-so-good-for-you fast foods.  Far too many of my meals begin with a static-filled conversation involving a speaker and a window.

Continue reading “How Tomatillo-Red Pepper Relish Can Change Your Life” →

The Perfect Gift: 3%

Looking for the ultimate gift this holiday season?

Give yourself 3%.

I just purchased my all-new 2010 calendar. Just waiting for December to end and up on the wall she goes.

It was about this time last year that I purchased my all-new 2009 calendar, waiting for 2008 to run its remaining course. In some ways 2009 was a breakout kind of year. Certain goals, such as starting this blog, transitioned from concept into reality. LivingHalfFull.com has been read in 49 US states (hello W. Virginia?) and in 59 countries around the world. As much as I look back upon the successes of 2009, in other parts of my life, the only thing that changed was my age.

All I have gotten is older.

A STINGING REALIZATION This past year’s 365 days presented themselves to me as opportunities for growth in so many areas of my life. Yet in many areas of my life all I am is just another year older. Years, like life, can easily just slip away, one innocently wasted unfocused moment after another. I’ve incorporated the “I’m just too busy” mantra into my life for years. I’m really quite good at it. But of the 8,760 hours we have in a year, couldn’t I have found even a little time to work on areas of my life I’d like to improve upon?

Continue reading “The Perfect Gift: 3%” →

So, How Great Could You Be?

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.”

— T. S. Eliot

Have you ever wondered how far you could go? How much you could accomplish?

Usually, the need to accomplish is a function of ego driven by competition. Many derive their own self worth and self esteem by measuring their accomplishments against what others have or have not achieved.

I am reflective in quiet moments contemplating Eliot’s words. How far could I actually go? What is actually possible for me to accomplish? In my contemplation, ego is absent. I am no longer concerned with achieving to impress either myself or the world. I am inspired by the possibility of fully living up to my most advanced self.

Each of us has been created and sent into this world with a unique combination of talents, gifts, and abilities. With these talents, gifts, and abilities comes the capacity for fully expressing such talents, gifts and abilities. Our greatest challenge and responsibility is maximizing our capacity to express ourselves fully…to live up to the greatness that lies within all of us.

Continue reading “So, How Great Could You Be?” →

Counterpunching Adversity

“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.”

— Ben Okri

The human spirit is amazingly resilient, so long as we remember that we are all stronger than we often give ourselves credit for being.

Some days the world just seems like it is out to get you. One test after another, challenging and pushing you. These tests are designed to measure your faith in many things, including yourself and your ability to deal with life’s unwelcomed jabs and uppercuts that can put you on the ropes.

At some point in life we’ve all had to overcome, to endure, to transform…relying upon hidden sources of inspiration and strength that we never even knew we had. Those hidden sources remain within, always available to help us move forward and past that which threatened to bring us down.

At times of adversity and uncertainty, embrace the source of strength which lies within you. Yes, you really are stronger than you think you are.

It’s a great day to be you!

One Common Heartbeat

“God will put a wind at our back and a rising road ahead if we work together as one.”

— Desmond Tutu

It’s amazing what happens when we work together. The synergies created by the whole quite often exceed the sum of the individuals.  Even more so when the work is based in compassion and love.

We’ve all witnessed the results when we collectively come together to aid and comfort those in times of darkness. The unity of the cause creates exponential energies. You can feel the presence of spirit which acts as a divine wind at our back.

Continue reading “One Common Heartbeat” →

Words of Wisdom From Dr. Seuss

Wise advice from my favorite doctor:

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.”

So much about the quality of life is really how we chose to look at it. It’s where and what we chose to focus our attention on. The quote above, from Theodor Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss, perfectly illustrates that point.

Think of anything good that has ever happened in your life. A special relationship, a great vacation, the best school year ever, an incredible concert, your business taking off. Anything. The laws of the universe dictate, unfortunately, that all things will eventually come to an end. At some point, something is gone. A void will be created. When things that matter no longer exist, we are conditioned to focus on the loss and sadness that accompany it.  It’s a very natural reaction, one that I’ve quite often experienced myself.

WHAT IF… With our understanding of the temporary nature of all things, what if we could use that wisdom to change our response to life when what was no longer is?

Continue reading “Words of Wisdom From Dr. Seuss” →