Month: January 2015

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What Creates Your Reality

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What we notice informs and creates our reality. Observation offers perspective and perspective becomes our world view.

Earlier this week Set Godin said ” Happiness, for most of us, is a choice. Reality is not. It seems, though, that choosing to be happy ends up changing the reality that we keep track of.” Got me thinking about the what do I keep track of and why.

Mostly, it is family then news and politics and the lens of the CNN effect becomes a magnet pulling my attention and framing my circle of life. If I stoop watching news will my reality change? Worth a try – so I am going to avoid news broadcast, new sites, radio news for the next 7 days. I will  report back next Saturday.

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Are You Having Enough Fun? Likely Not.

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A life filled with joy is a life worth living. Abundance of fun need not be expensive. Doing something, anything, many things that make you smile every day can even be free.

If you set a personal mission for today to recognize the ‘fun opportunity” at least once an hour, you will have a dozen or more reasons to smile (that you may have missed).

You can be childlike without being childish. A child always wants to have fun. Ask yourself, ‘Am I having fun?’  Christopher Meloni

If you need permission (you don’t) I am giving it to you. Be childlike in your pursuit of fun. and take a moment to relish in it. It seems to be infectious.

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Too Weak for Gossip

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The Human Brain is too Weak for Gossip by Neal Bearden in a December HBR article begins with ” Gossip is evaluative talk among familiars about a third party who is not present.”  This is all too common and usually goes unpunished and for the most part is thoughtless (without thought and without care). The  evaluation may only be based in opinion or bias and that too often goes unchallenged. What gives gossip its stickiness?

Is it the herd gathering to claim a slight by a common foe? Does some common prejudice or imagined  wrongdoing erase the need for valid metrics? Is it that cowardice loves company and rather than discuss the concern openly with the third person? Or have we just become less productive and more petty?

Maybe all of that is true or none of it but my challenge is for you to examine your motives before you drag someone into a gossip gabfest? Is there something of value that can/will be achieved? Likely not. If you have something to say – be courageous and say it. If you can’t, it likely isn’t worth saying.

Make Today Remarkable by doing something remarkable,

Bob

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Spam, Cheese, Veggie Burger or Nuts

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As I near the end of month one in my commitment to write and post every day, I  wonder what the content is really about; really intended to do. Am I so vain as to believe that every phrase uttered by my mouth or pecked by my fingers is worthy of the ears of dedicated or disinterested readers? Is it all just to feed my ego that needs stroking, imagined or real? Am I just an eccentric old man? Yes,yes and yes.

But mostly I hope it is received as a provocation, a call to something different. I worry that we live in a world mired to our knees in mediocrity, settling for second/fifteenth best. If I don’t expect and demand more of myself, I feed the bland beige blur. Today I am considering how the platform of this blog and fadedrecollections.com could help reach the goals that all the posts this month pointed to. I haven’t discovered and answer but the struggle is better than complacency, isn’t it?

Seth Godin’s ” What to do When it’s Your Turn” and his longstanding practice of shipping daily set me on this journey. Maybe a reread is in order.

My request today is that if you have something to say, add it here and let me and other readers what is rumbling around your life.

Resist the Convenience.

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Becoming a Legend

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On the weekend I was visiting the Surf Museum in Oceanside California, scouting out their vintage, gently used shirt collection and had a great conversation with a volunteer. We talked about retail and plovers and waves and seismic sensors. She asked ” Do you have a membership? If you are a legend, over 62, it only costs $25″. I wasn’t offended by her assertion that I look that old but rather taken by the category.

I have heard senior, retired person, retiree, golden ager, old timer, pensioner, geriatric and old fart but never legend. I love the idea and maybe I have enough time to truly qualify. I have 629 days until October 17, 2016 when I turn 62 years old.

I love the category of Legend but just surviving 22,642 days doesn’t seem like enough of an accomplishment to warrant the title.

Every day I am committed to consciously consider how my actions, intentions, ideas, words, work and play might contribute to leading a larger-than-life story that is worthy of admiration. Even if I don’t get there, it will be a blast trying. I can’t even imagine the possibilities that are awaiting now that I have put this statement out to the world.

Make Today Legendary,

Bob

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Bookends

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Don’t let a day go by when you don’t see a sunrise or a sunset or both. Let the dawn and dusk be bookends to your daily life. You have today to be and do as much as you can, to appreciate those around you, to contribute to your own success and make the world a better place. The sun goes down and marks the end of that day; a time to reflect (not dwell) on how you approached the bitter and the sweet of the day. Did you lash out? Were you open to possibilities? Did you accept and adapt? Who did you add value to? Why?

The rising of the sun is a new beginning, regardless of yesterday or all your yesterdays. You get to reboot and start being a person you admire and want to spend time with. You get to choose how to use some of your time. You can apply yourself differently. Apologize of necessary, ask questions where possible and appreciate the blessings of today.

A then another sunset and sunrise. If you are fortunate, you get about 28000 of each. Yse them to mark the passage of time but also to mark your time on earth.

Make Today Remarkable.

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Abundance

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Abundance exists in any economy. If you understand that living an abundant life, one filled with enough and then some, then you can begin to understand that it can’t be measured merely by accumulation (or maybe not at all).

Stephen Covey said “People with a scarcity mentality tend to see everything in terms of win-lose. There is only so much; and if someone else has it, that means there will be less for me. The more principle-centered we become, the more we develop an abundance mentality, the more we are genuinely happy for the successes, well-being, achievements, recognition, and good fortune of other people. We believe their success adds to…rather than detracts from…our lives.”

What are the values in your principled-centered approach to the world? For me I celebrate some the questions that Wendy and Dave Ulrich pose in ” The Why of Work”.

1. Who am I? My abundance is built on a clear sense of who I am and why I use my strengths to strengthen others.

5. What challenges interest me? My abundance doesn’t exist in the absence of challenge but rather in how I respond to it.

7. What delights me? Simple pleasures like laughing (at ourselves), appreciating beauty, relishing excellence help me feel cared for, happy, and excited about life.

I am reflecting on;

3. Who do I travel with? My relationships, collegial, social and familial enhance my abundance when I honour the care, time and complexity it takes to sustain them well.

If you would like to read the complete list or follow up on their work check out the Ulrich’s work available on Amazon.

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My book is published!

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Courageous shipping as Seth Godin would say

cancer killing recipe

It was a very hard work for me, but it feels so great to be done.

The title of my book is: “About” by Oneanna65
Short book, but very long “About”. 🙂 .
You see, the book is shorter than I first planned. Because I have some health problems I have to skip few chapters of my life. But there is still enough “About” in it – who and why I’m.

And after I recover from whatever is wrong with me now, and if anybody is going to like this book – I can write more chapters and publish some short stories…

So the book is cheaper. 1/2 a price of $9.99 = only $4.99. That’s 1/2 of an average pizza price! 🙂 !

And the book is in my English… 🙂 .

There are 10 pictures of me. I found one picture when I was 4 years old. And…

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You are Remarkable

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If you are reading this, you are remarkable. If you aren’t reading this you are remarkable. We are all far more capable and remarkable than we are given credit for or that we give ourselves credit for.

Remarkable people use their strengths to strengthen themselves and others. You can do that – right. Pick one thing, today, that you are good at and ask ” how can this be of value to me, my family or my community?” Then do it, just do it.

If you are stuck, pick one thing that you wish you were good and ask ” how would this be of value to me, my family and my community?” Then do it, and get good at it.

Waiting won’t produce results or strengthen others. Procrastinating doesn’t improve the world. Patience isn’t actually a virtue, in most cases. Strive to become an impatient imperfectionist for the next 48 hours and see what happens. Maybe you will cause a stir, maybe you will stir the pot, or maybe you will stir some passion in your heart.

Make Today Remarkable, for someone you care about,

Bob

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Challlenged – Stuck?

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What challenges are you facing? Where are you stuck?

Are you running on fumes because life is overwhelming? Too many projects at the front of your desk and way too many occupying psychic space in your head that have no traction?

The clutter in your head magnifies the clutter on your to do list. When you are carrying baggage whether it is top of mind or not, it inhibits your ability to accomplish what is in front of you. So as well as eating frogs first thing in the morning to get rid of the most unappealing task first, you probably need to pick off a ghost that is rumbling around in that huge brain of yours.

12 Ways to Calm your Overactive Mind from The Mind Unleashed makes some suggestions that seem appropriate. These 3 have worked for me but take a look at all 12 and see which ones resonate with you.

2. Stop watching TV

“Even when you fall asleep, your dreams will be affected by that of which predominates your thought patterns.  Once you learn how to declutter your mind, you will find that your dreams are no longer fear based and at times, will be prophetic.”

6. Exercise

“They say a healthy body is a healthy mind, so if you are physically able to, then find ways to integrate exercise into your daily routine.”

10. Start a journal and/or dream diary

One way to release the constant flow of thoughts is to start a journal or dream diary.  By simply putting it in writing, you can provide yourself with a simple outlet to help eliminate the clutter in your mind.

I am a better person when I am not carrying a huge suitcase, a trunk, a steamer and a box of unresolved tasks. When I bring one to the forefront in my journal after exercising and tackle it until it is finished, I feel a weight lifted that empowers me to be present in today’s adventure.

Make Today Remarkable, by taking on an old challenge,

Bob