We have all heard the motivational question … “What do you want to have carved on your tombstone”?  But the above statement is much more “SHAKING”.

If your life passed before your eyes right now, would it be interesting?

If not, why not? If not, what is there that would make it interesting to YOU (no, not to anyone else … to YOU!)? What can you do TODAY to change that? Why don’t you do just that very thing?

The comment area is OPEN:

I couldn’t stop smiling as I watched. They were not only good musically, they were so much FUN to watch. Their joy and passion poured out. It made me feel GREAT!  And it was clear that they felt great!  And best of all — They were having FUN! 

What would we feel if we poured our hearts out in our relationship with our family; had obvious passion in our relationship with my spouses; attacked our jobs with all my heart; and did it every day.Imagine what would happen in your life if you lived it with the passion and the emotion and the love that these kids live their lives with. 

Why do we live our lives with such restraint and lack of  passion and JOY?  Why do we stop being kids?

Tell me your thoughts … or share your stories of living life passionately.

Of the children I have known who have died accidentally, only one set of parents have been able to keep their marriage together. I have heard that experts say divorce is almost a certainty.

The emotions of that time are incomprehensible to me.  I would need all the support that I could get.  But it seems that blame and lack of support is what actually comes.

The blame that each parent places on the other sabotages the relationship. “You should have …” or “Why did you …” are too common in these situations. They suffer the loss of their child; and while they are still suffering, blame and the resulting loss of the support of their mate makes it hurt even more.

Why do so many people need to make others hurt? Does it really make them feel better?  Kids seem very good at this.  The bullies and the kids who make fun of the slightest mistake another child makes.  Why don’t more people grow-up and out of that style?  Is it lack of self-esteeem?

I know bosses who have to make the people below them hurt and feel stupid. How much good would come if they supported and complimented their employees and encouraged them to be creative and to be leaders rather than demean and pass blame for things down to them?

What do you think? Fill-up the comments section with your thoughts on this.

As it flew out the opening, I felt better about saving a life. Right then our cat jumped off the grass and knocked the moth to the ground. The cat pounced on the moth and I sighed. “What is this a sign of?”

I turned and walked dejectedly down the hall and opened the door to let the dog out. In raced the cat with the moth in its mouth. “Oh great. There must really be something I am supposed to learn from this!”

Not only did the cat bring the moth back into the house; but she let it loose over and over so that she could jump four feet in the air to knock it down and pounce on it again.

So, should I have just let the moth beat itself to death against the window? Should I just realize that survival of the fittest is still alive and well? Should I get rid of my cat because she is a killer? Should I spend my energy saving more worthwhile things than moths?

What do you think? I welcome all comments.

There are three emotions I absolutely hate. Those are Guilt, Failure and Frustration. Over time, I have found that mine are not too different from most people’s. It is pretty easy to do something about eliminating Guilt - don’t lie (well, maybe no easy to do, but easy to define how to control it). And it is not too difficult to define how to avoid Failure - just succeed (now there’s something easier said than done).

But how can you control Frustration when so often it is caused by someone else. Someone out of your control. The epiphany that I experienced is: If I have no expectations, I will never be frustrated. Now I have put the control back in my lap.

Try it. Go into every situation with NO EXPECTATIONS of what the result/outcome will be. Do your best to make the outcome great, but don’t expect it to be great. Of course, don’t expect it to be terrible either. Just don’t expect it to be anything.

I say that I have Hope and I have Commitment to do my best. But I have no expectations. It works folks!

I am sure this will generate some awesome comments. Let ‘em rip.

Trust is the hardest thing for someone to give because it makes them the most vulnerable.  If I trust you, you can hurt me.  But, we need to trust someone.  It’s an inherent to a good life.  Finding that confidante, the very, very special person we TRUST.   We’ve tried it a few times on a limited basis but we’ve always ended-up hurt.

So we finally go all-in.  And then they betray us.  “Never Again!” we swear.  And from that day forward, we won’t trust.  And our lives will be the lesser for it.  But at least our lives won’t be hurting.

So how do we make sure we don’t break the trust that a close relationship has?

The Truth shall set you Free.  Total, brutal, painful, HONESTY.  And you thought being trusting was hard! Ha …. being totally honest is far harder.  And it goes right along with being true to oneself.

How often do you think about what someone else WANTS you to say before you say it?  How often is what you end-up saying what you think they want to hear … but is not what you really want to say?  How happy does that make your life?

My mantra for the past week or so (I try not to have the same mantra for more than a week) has been “What will our great world (or country or state or city) be like when all the self-centered people that gravitate toward me at every opportunity take it over?”

Why do so many people think they are better than I am?  That they deserve to get to the stop light three seconds ahead of me; therefore, it is fine for them to blast by me on the right.  That they deserve to talk as loudly as they want in the movie theater; afterall, they paid to be there.  That they have every right to demand that their child have a certain teacher; disregarding that the school could never handle it if every parent acted the way that they do.

A long time ago, I read a definition of Freedom that I have always felt worked.  It said that “My freedom extends as far it can go until it takes away someone else’s freedom. And there it stops.”  I like that.

I have the right to speed, as long as it doesn’t take away someone else’s right to go slower.  I have the right to be noisy, as long as there is no one wishing I would be quiet.  I have the freedom to do whatever I want, as long as I don’t take away anyone else’s freedom by doing it.

How can we bring these self-centered people to care that they are taking away our freedom?  The comment booth is now open.

Having raised five of my own kids, five step-children and having over twenty foster children in my home at one time or another, I absolutely agree that self-esteem is the most important attribute to help a child have.

With self-esteem, saying “no” is easy. With self-esteem, there is no test-anxiety. With self-esteem, a child doens’t need a boyfriend or a girlfriend to feel good about themselves.

With self-esteem, a child grows up knowing they don’t have to do what someone else tells them then have to do. That child grows up knowing that who s/he is, what s/he wants to be and what she thinks is OK! And that child will not be controlled by another human.

Feeling that you need valadtion from someone else in order to be important or to feel good will cause you to do whatever it takes to get that other person to “like” you. OH OH. Now you are living your life the way someone else wants you to live. And you will never be happy living that way.

But, if you lack self-esteem, you’ll never be happy with yourself anyway. That is why I feel strongly that helping kids feel good about themselves is the #1 priority of raising a child.

Now, out of curiosity, how does the way kids are treated in youth sports positively or negatively impact their self-esteem? The comment aisle is now open.

My wife says the word “content” or “contentment” should be banned. Why would anyone settle for a life of contentment?

Oh, I know. It’s nice and it’s mellow and it’s low stress and it’s … well, it’s just plain vanilla. I suppose there are people who are made for mellow vanilla. I guess there’s nothing wrong with that.

On the other hand, could that be? Could being mellow vanilla really by what someone is made for? I don’t think so. You know how people say that someone died doing what he loved. What if someone said that about a person who died lying on the couch watching American Idol? Now that would be an interesting comment.

I’m not saying we all shouldn’t sit in a swing and ponder shooting stars or sit on a beach and build sandcastles with our kids (or our adult kid-friends). If pondering shooting stars is your passion, then go for it. But darn it, make sure it IS your passion.

What do wish you could do every day? What are YOU made for? The comment section is now open!

So why would you want to change your life to live differently? To live slower? Wouldn’t that lessen how full of joy you are? I can’t help but wonder “Should I live life the way I want to and be full of joy, even if it is a riskier life than slowing down and living life the way I “should” live it … even if it means I give up being full of joy? Ummmm, I don’t think so!

Quoted from Yahoo:

“She never stopped moving. Was energy in motion. … I have never seen a being, human or animal, always so full of joy,” Winfrey says of Gracie, who ran amok and gulped food and treats. “This dog lived every moment as though it were her last.”

Winfrey says she “got the message” to slow down and catch her breath when Gracie died.