Tag: possibility

How I Lost 50 Pounds on the “Beer, Pizza & Donut Diet”

“Absolutely amazing results!”

“And it will work for you, too!”

I’ve discovered an eating program that allows you to eat absolutely anything you want to eat and still lose weight. In fact, not only can you eat anything you want to eat, you can eat as much as you want to eat and still shed pounds.

How liberating…walking through the never-ending aisles of my local grocery mega-mart free to throw anything I want into the basket. Or sitting in my favorite restaurant free to choose anything I want off the menu.

Continue reading “How I Lost 50 Pounds on the “Beer, Pizza & Donut Diet”” →

Life Lessons from the Number 643

“…A united self moving forward towards fulfilling our own unique divine promise…”

There were many things I learned in school that at the time made no practical sense to me. You know, the “am I ever going to use this in real life?” question. Several decades later I can confirm that for the most part time has not made what I considered then to be impractical anymore practical.

As a dad with school-aged kids I actively get involved in their studies. I like to be aware of what they’re working on. I like to be there to help out if they get a little stuck. Dad 101…here for the kids. A more secretive motivation is to see if ol’ dad still remembers the stuff, especially when it comes to math. My math skills back in the day weren’t that good to begin with, and the newer methods of Continue reading “Life Lessons from the Number 643” →

Throwing Stones At God

Surrender has nothing to do with a white flag.

There is a place I get to every now and again. It’s not a place you just happen to go by, it’s much more of a destination. An on-purpose kind of a trip. This place has become a rather spiritual place for me, a church without walls, a place where I ask life’s deeper questions and hope to hear the answers contained within the voices of the crashing waves in front of me.

This beach is anything but pretty. Not very popular, actually. It will never be confused with the elegant beaches found nearby on Cape Cod, nor will it be placed in the same class as Horseneck Beach which sits just on the other side of Gooseberry Island. It feels Continue reading “Throwing Stones At God” →

Life Lessons from Peanut Butter and Jelly

Culinary soul mates?

One of my many duties as a father of three school aged kids is that of the official sandwich maker. Most every morning I can be found standing over slices of bread, mindlessly configuring slices of ham, turkey, or olive loaf with American cheese and yellow mustard. Or if Dad didn’t get to the supermarket to pick up some deli meat, there’s always Plan B, also known as Peanut Butter and Jelly.

I guess I could have kept track of exactly how many sandwiches I’ve made in my role as official sandwich maker, but the morning usually never affords me the time to sit down and update a spreadsheet. But I wish I had a dollar for every sandwich I’ve made over the years.

PROFOUND A recent Plan B morning, it was time to make some PB & J’s. As I was about to unite the individual slices of wheat bread, one coated with a layer of peanut butter and the other coated with a layer of jelly, I stopped for a moment as I surprisingly realized something rather profound:

Peanut Butter doesn’t need Jelly. Continue reading “Life Lessons from Peanut Butter and Jelly” →

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” →

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” →

This Will Make You Think…#24

“I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than regret the things I haven’t done.”

— Lucille Ball

Up until recently most of my own regrets were related to the things I have yet to do. Things I’ve thought about and backburnered or simply dismissed for various “justifiable” reasons. Dreams and ambitions never allowed to be anything more. In the context of our own capacity to maximize the talents, gifts, and abilities we all have been given, things yet undone is greatness unrealized. It is capacity unfilled.

What is it that remains undone for you? How much of your own greatness remains unrealized?

Today is not a time for regret. Rather, it is a time for recognizing and recommitting to fulfilling the divine promise that resides in all of us. A time to rediscover and to nurture the greatness that lies within.

Waste no energy looking back lamenting what has yet to have been attempted. Instead, use that energy to propel you to maximize all that you are capable of accomplishing. Begin getting done what remains undone. It’s the first step towards fulfilling your purpose.

It’s a great day to be you!

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?” →