Anyway

Good Morning,

Sometime back we had an intern at work who was from South Africa. The difference in our cultures made for some very interesting and enlightening conversations. One such conversation was her observation on how we here in America seem to only love those things that are most like us, or we tend to only pursue the sure thing. Although this was a generality, there seemed to be a small grain of truth in her observations. We do tend to play it safe and we do seem to localize our love and efforts to our own inner circles. There are time times though when we must go outside these boundaries and do something extraordinary, we must push ahead no matter how uncomfortable the task and do it anyway. . .

People can be unreasonable, illogical and self centered. Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway.

The kindness you show today will be forgotten tomorrow. Be kind anyway.

Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest person with the smallest mind. Think big anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway.

People really need help, but may attach you if you help them. Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you've got, and you might get kicked in the teeth.

Give the world the best you've got anyway.

Have a wonderful day and keep this in mind: It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.

Peace and Love, Jim

Our Time

Good Morning, As many of you may know Kelly and I are taking our what vacation we have to spend with our two 12 year old nephews. We do not mind because in reality there is so much to share with them that it is a learning experience for all. I remember a time when Kelly would help everyone to the point of having no time for herself. I remeber everyone including myself telling her to quit doing so much and enjoy a moment for herself. I must say now that I believe Kelly had it right. Spending all ones time keeping oneself content is quite a bit of work with very little payoff. Many people spend their lifetime trying to keep themselves happy, comfortable and content and never seem to find lasting joy.
I too have spent much of my life trying to keep myself pleased with very little success, sure you can make yourself happy for a little moments, but there is nothing lasting. I can honestly say that the happiest days of my recent life have been in doing for others. Seeing the smile on a friends face when you bring them flowers, watching a child glow with excitiement as you show them something new, those moments last much longer than anything I can do for "me."
So as I sit this morning watching two sleepy headed boys wake up, I feel strangely in touch with the world. I have come to realize in this life that it is not my time or their time, but our time and that is the best time of all.
Have a wonderful day and encorage someone to come out of the circle of time and into the circle of love.
Peace and Love, Jim

Reflect

Good Morning,
We are but fragments of a mirror whose whole design and shape we may never understand. Nevertheless, with what we are, we can reflect light into the black places of this world - into the dark places in the hearts and minds of humanity - and maybe help change some things in some people. Perhaps others may see and do likewise. This is what we are... this is the meaning of a life well lived.
Have a beautiful weekend, shine on my friends, shine on.
Peace and Love, Jim

Carry The Light

Good Morning,

Back in my days of being in a band and traveling throughout various cities always offered plenty of opportunities to meet interesting new people and learn something along the way. Once on a several night tour in one city I had gotten to know two skinheads (not the nazi type, the old school punk rocker types). One of them was blind and the other often acted as his guide and companion. Their relationship was close but quite comical most of the time and you rarely saw one without the other.

It had gotten late one night after a show and the one skinhead who still had his vision had gotten really drunk and passed out. The other one had drank as well but was sober enough that he wanted to go home, which was just a few blocks away. As he donned his coat and prepared to walk home i wondered how he would make it without his friend. About that time he asked the club owner for a flashlight. Why carry a flashlight?" asked the club owner. You won't see any better with it. No, said the blind one, but others will see me better, and not bump into me. So the owner gave the blind skinhead a flashlight. Off he went with the flashlight and being wrapped up for the night I decided to quietly follow along to make sure he was ok (and see how he fared on his walk home). Before he had even gotten a half block from the club "Crack!" - he walked right into a another person. The blind skinhead immediately got very angry. Why don't you look out? he stormed. Don't you see this flashlight?

Why don't you turn it on? asked the person.

It just goes to show no matter how compassionate we may be about helping someone, they must first want to help themselves. After a good laugh I let him know I was there and we safely navigated the rest of the short walk home with flashlight on of course.

Have a great day and help others achieve their dreams and you will achieve yours.

Peace and Love, Jim

Worry

Good Morning,

This week we had an important meeting with the CEO and founder of a very large account we are working on. We have met many times before, but this meeting became something different (in our minds) because the client insisted on coming to our humble studio and visiting us. Being that this had never happened before we collectively started speculating on why he wanted to come to us? Was he curious? Is something wrong? Have we made a wrong turn on his project?

The point is you can see how quickly the speed of the mind can turn speculation can into worry. Speculation in and of itself is nothing more than curiosity, but worry is a useless beast. Why do we worry? Are there any real tangible benefits to the act of worrying? In my experience it is simply useless habit, the thing we default to when there is uncertainty. We can not save anyone or anything by worrying about it, worry is like a rocking chair--it gives us something to do but it doesn't get us anywhere.

When we worry we are helping no one (including our selves) and we need to learn to recognize when we start to default to this state of mind. Worry is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If allowed, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained. So I encourage us all to take note of worry, investigate it for yourself and if you find a practical use for it, let me know, I would love to hear it.

So how did our meeting go? Great! we were reassured of the great work we have been doing, asked for more help in the strategy/thinking part of the project and secured another four months of work! Were any of our worries or fears valid. . . . . . . . . ? Not a one.

The funny thing about worry is that it often gives small things big shadows.

Take care and have a worry free day today and everyday, after all what is the point?

Peace and Love, Jim

Open

Good Morning,

When we live our lives mindfully we engage our everyday circumstances from a simple yet powerful perspective: We are open. Without rehearsals, we are awake and available, precise in our conduct, and familiar with our feelings and instincts. Our mind, body and physical setting synchronize, and our lives become both art and science, spontaneous and planned, relaxing and demanding. By being open, we discover the little moments cannot be taken for granted. Our jobs, tools, friends and strangers all share and display a lively part of our lives that weave themselves through each moment in all directions. We discover that not only are we open, but that our situations are profoundly open as well: vivid, inviting and playful.

Being open requires nothing more than simply being human, being curious about the world and moments we encounter (or choose not to encounter). Just noticing a fall leaf tumbling to the pavement or the steam gently rising from a hot cup of tea can immediately remind us of the natural open state of life. We simply must remember to do what we naturally did as children, to stop, notice and be curious, then suddenly we see that our world, indeed our lives are energetically happening happening with or without us. . .we only need to be present and simply acknowledge what happens next.

Have a beautiful day and be open to each moment. Not being open to something does not make it go away, it only makes you uninvolved.

Peace and Love, Jim

Captive

Good Morning,

I hope everyone enjoyed a beautiful weekend. A marvelous lesson appeared for me over my weekend. While helping some friends this weekend, I startled a large moth, which, upon spreading it's wings, displayed a bright red "tail" hidden by the motley brown wings, more a "butterfly" than a moth. It flew immediately to its perceived escape, a window where it frantically tried to exit thru the invisible wall of closed glass. Hating to see anything suffer I started opening doors and raising windows in hopes of aiding it's escape. This only caused it to fly higher and higher and become entangled in a spider web. Fearful that it would remain entangled in the web, I selected a long-handled broom to assist him escaping the tangled threads. At this, he returned to furiously pumping his wings and banging into the glass, which was, in his perspective, the pathway of escape, but remained his cage.

What was my lesson here? That we often fixate so much on one way, one idea, one path that we become oblivious to all else. In the case of my butterfly friend, by simply turning his focus to one side, he would have easily found the exit to his prison. Rather, due to his intent on one direction, he remained confined, captive (I did finally free the exhausted creature).

Have a great morning and remember, A mind is like a parachute, It only functions when opened.

Peace and Love, Jim

Conversation

Good Morning, We have quietly grown accustomed to engaging our world as bits of information. We scan printed words and pictures, watch others on TV describe life and push buttons to escape to digital landscapes and fantasies. Such an approach to our lives has become common and for many preferred, but the lone image of a person twitching in front of some device should come as a sign: Information is addictive and makes us unavailable to reality. A good conversation is one of life's greatest gifts. Whether we are listening to an amusing story unfold or recounting a tender and insightful moment, conversation can be a great delight. In all of our modern technology a good conversation continues to be one of the most effective and enjoyable ways to learn. Having a cup of tea with a neurosurgeon will yield more insights into spinal cord research than days spent exploring the web. Talking with a politician can give us a truer measure of their stance than reading reams of campaign literature. And in the course of such conversations, we run the delightful chance of making a friend. So I encourage everyone to get up and get out from behind their computers and cell phones to engage another person one to one, to enliven our natural humanity by noticing and listening to one another. By doing so we can take a moment - in fact hundreds of moments a day to enrich not only our lives and minds but the lives and minds of others. Have a wonderful weekend and remember, a single conversation with a wise person is worth a month's study of books. Peace and Love, Jim

Anyway

Good Morning, Sometime back we had an intern at work who was from South Africa. The difference in our cultures made for some very interesting and enlightening conversations. One such conversation was her observation on how we here in America seem to only love those things that are most like us, or we tend to only pursue the sure thing. Although this was a generality, there seemed to be a small grain of truth in her observations. We do tend to play it safe and we do seem to localize our love and efforts to our own inner circles. There are time times though when we must go outside these boundaries and do something extraordinary, we must push ahead no matter how uncomfortable the task and do it anyway. . . People can be unreasonable, illogical and self centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway. If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies. Succeed anyway. The kindness you show today will be forgotten tomorrow. Be kind anyway. Honesty and frankness will make you vulnerable. Be honest and frank anyway. The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest person with the smallest mind. Think big anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight. Build anyway. People really need help, but may attach you if you help them. Help people anyway. Give the world the best you've got, and you might get kicked in the teeth. Give the world the best you've got anyway. Have a wonderful day and keep this in mind: It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult. Peace and Love, Jim

After A While

Good Morning,

As time marches on some of us begin to really see for the first time in our lives, while others vision only gets poorer. It is not only the fact that our eyes begin to soften and go blurry but that our minds do the same thing as well. We can always wear a pair of glasses to correct what our eyes perceive, but we must be more diligent and take efforts upon ourselves to keep our minds seeing clearly. Time can takes it's toll, but it is also the greatest teacher we can have. . . After a while,

You learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul. You learn that love doesn't mean leaning and company doesn't mean security.

You begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises. You begin to accept you defeats with your head up and eyes open, With grace and not grief.

You learn to build all your roads on today because tomorrows ground is too uncertain for plans, and futures have a way of falling apart.

After a while,

You learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much.

You learn to plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

And you learn that you really can endure...

That you really are strong, you really do have worth.

After a while,

You learn and learn... and come to understand that if you are not learning, you may not be living

Peace and Love, Jim

Full

Good Morning,

When i was in high school I was fortunate enough to have a science teacher who genuinely took an interest in his work and ensuring that we as a class received some form of lesson no matter how small. One day we were discussing mass and volume and he used the following illustration.

He pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouthed jar and set it on a table in front of him. Then he produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?" Everyone in the class said, "Yes."

Really? He then pulled out a bucket of gravel. He slowly poured the gravel in and shook the jar causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. Then he asked us once more, "Is the jar full?" By this time the were onto him. Probably not, one of us answered.

He then reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in and it went into all the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?" No! we shouted.

Good! Then he poured a pitcher of water in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked up at the class and asked us , What is the point of this illustration?

My best friend raised his hand and said, no matter how full our schedule is, we can always fit more in. Not quite replied our teacher. The point this illustration taught us is this. If you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get the rest in.

What are the "big rocks" in your life? A project that you want to accomplish? Time with your loved ones? Your faith, your education, your finances? A cause?

We must proceed with order and patience in our lives, their is room for everything, but we must start as empty vessels and fill ourselves in some logical sequence. Remember to put the BIG ROCKS in first or you'll never get them in at all. Have a great day!

Peace and Love, Jim

Sandcastles

Good Morning,

I hope everyone had a gracious and rewarding weekend! We spent part of ours on the lake with friends and I was reminded of my childhood days on the beach building sand castles and I was reminded of how much we can learn from such a simple childhood activity.

A little boy is on the beach, he scoops and packs the sand with plastic shovels into a bright red bucket. He upends the bucket on the surface and lifts it. And, to his delight a castle tower is created. All afternoon he builds. Spooning out the moat. Packing the walls, using bottle tops for sentries and popsicle sticks for bridges. Without a care he builds his sandcastle.

A man is in his office, he shuffles papers into stacks and delegates assignments. He answers the phone, juggles the numbers, and gets the contracts signed. A job well done. All his life he will work. Formulating the plans, forecasting the future. An empire will be built.

Two builders of two castles. They have much in common. They shape granules into grandeurs. They are diligent and determined. For both the tide will rise and the end will come. Yet that is where the similarities cease. For the boy sees the end while the man ignores it. Watch the child as the tide approaches. As the waves near, the child jumps to his feet and begins to clap. There is no sorrow. No fear. No regret. He knew this would happen, he is not surprised. When the waves crash into his castle and his masterpiece is sucked into the sea, he smiles, picks up his tools, takes his father's hand, and goes home.

The grownup, however, seems not so wise. As the wave of years collapses on his castle he is terrified. He hovers over the sandy monument to protect it. He blocks the waves from the walls he has made. Salt-water soaked and shivering he snarls at the incoming tide. "It's my castle," he defies.

The ocean need not respond. Both know to whom the sand belongs... Do not worry about your sandcastles, watch them and learn. Go ahead and build, but do so with a child's heart. When the sun sets and the tides take - applaud. Salute the process of life and quietly begin your next masterpiece.

Peace and Love, Jim

Today

Good Morning,

The weekend is here! I know not many people are into poetry or verse but to end the week on such a beautiful day I wanted to share one of my favorites: Look to this Day! For it is Life. In its brief course lie all the realities of your existence. The bliss of growth, The glory of action, The splendor of beauty; Yesterday is but a Dream, Tomorrow is only a Vision; Today well lived makes Every Yesterday a Dream of Happiness, And every Tomorrow a Vision of Hope. Look well therefore to this Day! For it is your life.

Have a great weekend and remember: How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.

Peace and Love, Jim

Why

Good Morning,

This week I have touched upon learning and curiosity a good bit. This comes from my childhood and always being the annoying little one who incessantly asked "why". Yes I was a curious one and that has carried me far in my world as a creative professional. It is just recently that I see how this same curiosity has helped me in life overall. The world has never been as cut and try as everyone always made it out to be. It is a world full of potentials and fantastic outcomes, it is a world where the impossible becomes possible and the imagined can touch millions. For me seeing what something can be instead of what it is, has always allowed me to move freely through life, turning obstacles into challenges and life's arrows into flowers. I encourage everyone to bring some imagination and creativity to their daily lives or even someone else's.

This passage from Lewis Carol's Alice in Wonderland has always stuck with me:

"I can't believe impossible things." said Alice. "I dare say you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

So for just one day become that child and ask why? You may be surprised not only by the question but the answers you find as well. Remember, millions saw the apple fall, but Newton was the only one who asked why.

Have a great day!

Peace and Love, Jim

Curiosity

Good Morning,

I learned many things back in college that had nothing to do with my course of study and I believe that came from being open and naturally curious. It was in this curiosity that i began to understand that there is a fundamental opportunity for happiness right within our reach. Ironically the approach to getting there tends to go against the grain of what we have been taught. Instead of avoiding the situations that cause us pain or fear we must instead move towards them, embracing them with friendliness and curiosity, relaxing ourselves into the situation. It is there in the midst of seemingly endless chaos that we can discover the truth and love that are indestructible.

It has been said that whatever occurs in our life can be regarded as the path and that all things, not just some things are workable. This is a fearless proclamation of what's possible for ordinary people just like you and me. I have grown to understand this simple curiosity in my heart and want to pass it on to others. May it take root and benefit us all, for now and in the future.

Have a beautiful day and keep this in mind: Curiosity will conquer fear more than bravery ever will.

Peace and Love, Jim

Ignorance

Good Morning, I once had a college professor ask me how I knew that I "know" anything since almost all of my formal education was given to me by others or read from books. I pondered this for a few days and began to ask myself "just what do " I " know? For me this became the beginning of my journey. The journey to find out my own truths for myself, to shine a light into the dark corners of my mind and illuminate the natural wisdom I felt lived there.

Knowledge is important in order to be successful on any path we choose to take, but what type of knowledge? Is it knowledge such as math and science? Is it the knowledge about how to meet the challenges that life presents to us? Personally I feel that a well balanced education along with investigating our own lives and truths, are invaluable skills that prepare us for a lifetime of lessons. This balance is the light that allows us to illuminate our hearts and minds for both ourselves and others, which brings me to my thought for the day:

Ignorance is like a shadow. It has no real substance of its own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it. Have a great day and remember, who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.

Peace and Love, Jim

Good Days

Good Morning!

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and enjoyed their time. I was asked recently if I always have good days since my disposition makes me appear as if I do. My answer was of course I have days like everyone else. Where they differ is that I do not see them as good or bad, but simply days. I have days when my body hurts and days when my feelings are hurt. I am tired like anyone else and enjoy a good nap like anyone else. I just accept the day for what it is and what it brings me in the way of lessons and understanding. In this way everyday is an an experience and every moment an opportunity for me to learn something about myself and the world we all share. I do not seek the even level days we think we should have, I accept the ups and downs for what they are. So I ask you are there good days and bad days?

I encourage everyone to appreciate their day in a different way. Adopt a person who is having a bad day and take the time to show them how good it feels to offer an anonymous act of kindness. It seems kindness does more for us as a whole than we may ever know.

Enjoy and remember: thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of that one candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.

Peace and Love, Jim

Passing

Good Morning,

A dear friend and his family are going through the loss of a loved one this week. My regards to him and his immediate family, death is never an easy part of life to accept. Yet we must. Experiencing the death of a loved one, or witnessing the death of others, can be one of the most profound events in one's life. Especially in Western culture, death is something we pretend does not exist. We are constantly encouraged to hold onto life, and even if we're with someone we know is dying, the subject is rarely brought up.

Death can be a teacher. Only in facing death, those of loved ones and our own, can we be free from the fear of it and learn the lessons it has to teach about life. Think about how much positive change has sprung from death. MADD whose work has reduced the numbers of those killed by drunk drivers was inspired by the death of a mothers child. Even the stories of christianity are centered around the death of a significant one.

The death of someone close propels us to enjoy others more fully, to assess our time carefully, to be in the present as much as we can. We must be in this moment because we will never have this moment, with this person, again. This is not wrong, this is simply the reality, this is simply how it it is and we can embrace the facts and learn from them or we can place our heads back in the sand and continue on with the illusion, only to be snapped out of it and suffer many more times in our lives.

Death can be a teacher, because it brings home to us life's temporality, its ultimate illusory quality. Viewing death in this way offers us a place from which to perceive life and death as two parts of the same wonderful experience.

My respects go out to the family and friends in this time and I want to share a simple thought: Do not seek death. Death will find you. Seek the road which makes death a fulfillment.

Peace and Love, Jim

Choices

Good Morning,

Someone once told me that I could never fully experience the world unless I was willing to give everything away. That was many years ago and the meaning of what I was told took many years to reveal itself. After all how could I enjoy life if i did not have anything? Time has a way of making us all just a little wiser and i have come to understand that "giving it all away" means not holding anything back, not constantly preparing my escape plan, not always looking for alternatives, and not thinking I have ample time to do everything later. When we give it all away we limit our choices and that puts us into action and in turn that thrusts us into living our lives and not planning our lives.

Life plays a trick on us and we tend to take our time for granted, we tend to think we have endless options and a myriad of choices when the reality is we really have few choices concerning our life and it's timeframe. . . we enter then we exit, plain and simple. What we do in-between is our life and there is no better time than now for thorough, utter, and complete enjoyment. To what do we commit ourself? Is it playing it safe and manipulating our life and our whole world so that we will feel secure and comfortable? or do we commit to something deeper and go beyond our normal safety zones? Is there any other choice but this?

So give away all the planning and worrying, give away the illusions that we have plenty of time, give away the concepts of security and comfort and do something brave. Make a choice to live right here right now instead of planning and playing movies of the past or the future. The only thing waiting in the wings is your life!

Have a great day and think about this: It is our choices ... that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.

Peace and Love, Jim

The World We Create

Good Morning!

I truly hope everyone had a great holiday weekend and got to spend quality time with those they love! It is amazing the type of environment we can create we come together for even the smallest of gatherings. Everyone jumps in doing what they do best without a care and in the end the moments created are priceless. The same can be said for our world in general, after all without us it is simply a planet and not our world at all!

When we believe that the world makes us, that it determines what we can and cannot do, then we in turn see ourselves as small and weak. When we understand that WE make the world (one thought and gesture at a time) then we come to understand we are strong and significant, that WE have a responsibility to each other to make this the best world we can.

Life is a series of moments, doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.

Have a wonderful day and share your moments with others, it is OUR world after all!

Peace and Love, Jim

Happy Fourth!

Good Day!

Just wanted to wish everyone a happy Fourth of July and a simple thought to carry you through:

Enjoy the journey, enjoy ever moment, and quit worrying about winning and losing.

Peace and Love, Jim

Sky

Good Morning

I hope everyone is enjoying their time away from their normal routines this holiday weekend! Today I just want to share a simple observation:

Our minds are like the sky, in which the sun of awareness is always shining. We may experience hurricanes, ice storms, and monsoons, but behind the clouds the sky remains spacious and open. Much like when we fly above the clouds on a commercial jet, the sun continues to shine.

Have a beautiful day and remember: Every one of us has four endowments - self awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom...the power to choose, to respond, and to change.

Peace and Love, Jim