Revery

I was on a business trip to Portland- an area I find lovely (both the people and the landscape) and enjoy spending time there.  While awaiting an airplane in Portland, I was attracted to a wonderful sound.

I watched this gentleman, Lee Nicholas, play a nice blend of jazz-symphony-light rock on his electronic pianos near a sitting area in the airport lobby before entering security.  He had a gig going for some time as I watched people from many nations take his picture, listen, get closer, and finally put some money into his jar to show appreciation for sharing his talents.  We grabbed a chair as our daily stresses left and a smile creased across our faces.  The obviousness of his love for what he was doing made all the difference.  He could have been playing a wash board in a tub and it would have been effective with that infectious grin.

I had a chat with Lee who, many years ago, was on a touring gig to many Holiday Inns in the states- even my home state of Colorado.  I knew he wasn’t blowing smoke when he mentioned establishments in my town that would not be known to a fabricator of stories.  Folks in that era would come into the bar/dance/lobby to enjoy their conversations, romances, stories of the road, and even a dance or two while the background music was provided by Lee and his band.  This is the type of entertainment that likely was not coined as a “concert,” but provided a meaningful backdrop to an otherwise boring evening.  Imagine the nice revery that was created for many after the long day of work or travel on the road.  What a wonderful addition at the close of their day.

Perhaps such is the life of an artist.  They work at their craft and create, out of their hearts and minds, visions which are then rendered on canvas, cut from stone, or rendered through a musical medium.  Put out to the universe, so to speak, until someone stops in their tracks and admires with great appreciation that which was or is being created.  I have several paintings on my walls that confirm such a notion.

How he ended up at the Portland airport in a somewhat permanent gig I didn’t discover.  I assume “love” brought him there.  What I really appreciated was that now, even in his mature years, he was doing something he loved.  Something that provided a meaningful experience to those he unknowingly served.

What a wonderful example of living your passion and making your mark.  I bet Lee wasn’t super rich (you don’t see Bruce Springsteen doing airport gigs) but Lee was as rich as any other artist because he loved what he was doing and he was making a difference.  You could never gage his worth by the money in the glass jar on his piano, but he provided for us that day a little something of just what we needed.

I put an extra bit of money in his jar and bought his CD- of which all the tracks are written by him.  I’m listening to it as I wrap this up.  Long live the artists who give of themselves so that our lives may be enriched.

Rising Above Ourselves

I was inspired again by my mentor this week as he offered a quote by Sir Edmund Hilliary who said “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”

I end a three year ministry this week wherein I had the opportunity to be a mentor/guide/counselor to about 300 young adults between ages 19-31.  For Ginger and I, this has been an opportunity of a life time.  To be with the “kids” who will shape the tomorrows of the world is enlivening and empowering!  Often in my counseling with them, the thing that had to be overcome to progress and move forward was themselves.  Isn’t that true with all of us?

Recently I gave a keynote address to an industry conference.  We (my admins and I) put many hours over several months into this presentation.  I believe it was well received, but my focus to gage this was based on the immediate response, not how the principles taught might have a lasting impact on members of the audience.  In other words, I was focusing the results on how I did, rather than how the audience would eventually, perhaps, inculcate the teachings.

My observation is this: while we want to be well received, liked, perhaps even admired, it’s not about US.  It’s about how we change the world for the better by the way we live.  What is it that we conquer that enables the best results?  I would list the following:

1.  Selfishness
2. Addictions
3. Habits and Values

I had a young lady confide that she felt left out in social gatherings, that she seemed invisible at times.  I said “Join the club—we have special powers, those of us who can stand in a group and be invisible.”  But then I explained that I have always found that when I reach out to others the results are always positive, even though it may not seem reciprocal.  Selfishness is when we are more concerned about ourselves than others.

Addictions are a bi-product of several things, including idle time, poor choices of friends, and succumbing to self-gratification rather than rising above our own interests for the good of others and the world we live in.  It is akin to selfishness.  Breaking the strangling tentacles of addiction requires changing habits and often time values.

When we decide to “Conquer” ourselves, we typically will ourselves to adopt higher standards or values for living.  This requires a change of heart and behavior, not just a cease and desist order from the brain.  These behaviors are effectively changed when we discover that no one succeeds alone.  We adopt mentors, we confide in friends or counselors or even programs, to gain the higher ground, one step at a time.

In our journey, let’s remember the words of Sir Edmund Hilliary who said “It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.”

THINK. PLAN. DO.

In our leadership teachings, we introduced a sequence of success.  Some things follow a proper order; though as we all know, there are always exceptions.

 The process is not deep and intellectually challenging—-in fact, it’s simplicity is most of it’s power—-which baffles some.

 Here it is:  THINK, PLAN, DO.  Ponder this while I briefly explain.

 THINK:

Successful plans need to be incubated.  My son-in-law(Andrew) took this literally.  He and my daughter and cute young grandson are fashioning a plan to be sustainable farmers.  They are incubating this plan as they save their money toward a purchase—-in our basement.  We are happy to assist.  What I didn’t know when this started, is that we would have six chickens and twenty one quail in the basement also.  The quail were carefully incubated.  I might have seen this coming had I put two and two together.   Andrew built a beautiful mobile chicken coop in our garage a month or so prior—-which displaced my wife’s car during construction .  Did I mention we love helping?  There is more!

Our HOA has a policy against chickens/chicken coops.  Our city does not.  My wife is the HOA president—-and deals with “HOA career people neighbors” who make neighborhood patrol their occupation.  She came home from the last board meeting where Andrew “floated the chicken plan” and said something like “go for it”—- I said it was “something” like that …..(it could have been our interpretation onlyJ, and we didn’t seek clarification).  It was determined that before the HOA would get around to hauling our little chicken butts into HOA court, the little birds would have been fully grown and tested in the new mobile coop etc..  I hope our interpretation doesn’t get our HOA President into trouble!  Sometimes even the “Thinking” aspect of this formula requires risk.

BTW, to show my HOA appreciation,  I’ve ordered a life-size fake cow for our front yard—-but I digress.

Thinking is akin to incubation.  These quail running around our basement didn’t just appear.  They were carefully placed on egg holders that moved periodically; were kept at a perfect temperature, and then one early morning, the eggs cracked and out came little fuzzy creatures. 

The thinking puts in motion, the plan.

 PLAN:

The research that has gone into our little neighborhood farm is amazing .  Andrew is a lot like Leonardo Da Vinci—-taking meticulous notes–preparing for the best possible results.  twenty two quail hatched from 30 eggs, and 21 survived.  For any quail hatchers out there, you know this is a record feat!

The chicken coop the birds will graduate to in a week or so is not just another coop.  In fact, we are patenting it—–that’s what happens with GREAT planning—-the world is changed for the better—in this case the chickens will live a life of happiness—-until that fateful day.  Seriously, a big part of sustainable farming is to be a good steward of the earth and its creatures—-this is all incorporated in his plan.  Which leads us to DO.

DO:

While I was still reeling (with curious excitement) from the covey of quail and peep of chickens in our basement, Andrew constructed a green house in our yard.  He put a camouflage electric netting fence around this and the garden area—I’m not worried about the HOA on this one because they can’t see it!  he also ordered bees— which were placed in his hive last week.  Andrews good wife got him a hive for Christmas!  I didn’t think it would be launched in our back yard—but having watched the BEE MOVIE,  I know that bees are our friends—-so what the heck.

The massive winter spring snow you see in these pictures was NOT planned for; but because the THINK part of the plan was so meticulous, the Bee’s survived, the greenhouse withstood the pressures of the snow, and the birds were delayed their new home, but thrived none-the-less.

The greenhouse, though now constructed, needs preparation for these starts to be transferred—-FROM OUR DINING ROOM—-did I mention that we are supportive of Andrew’s plan?  Seriously, we love it, because he is following this simple formula for success.

Let’s summarize.

The DO part of the plan is nothing without the thinking and the plan itself.  The PLAN is nothing if not well thought out.  The DO is the faith to move forward, even with risk and sometimes, in the face of unexpected challenges.

I don’t know what my son-in-law is going to think of next.  We may have to move if the HOA gets wind of the sheep he has surely ordered, or that Scottish Highland cow he’s been talking about.  Someday, I envision them living near the city, living out the dream they thought up, planned and implemented in our garage and basement, and making their mark.  Dreams are brought to reality through this very simple yet powerful process.

Now I have a giant plastic cow arriving soon—I am now entering the planning stage of this adventure. I’m teaching my grandson how to moo!  Soon we will enter Do!!

AT YOUR POST: THINK * PLAN * DO

On a recent trip with my wife to attend to business in Canada, we were delayed in Chicago; where four flights in a row were cancelled and we had to stay overnight unexpectedly. Luckily, and you can ask yourself if you believe in coincidences (which I don’t), I was reading a new book on the way to Chicago entitled “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff…” by Richard Carlson, PH.D. The author states in the book the two rules of harmony: 1) Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff, and 2) It’s all small stuff. Fascinating book on how to achieve inner-peace.

So I was determined to make this inconvenience something I could both manage, not sweat, and make the most of. After taking nearly four hours to retrieve our bags, we found ourselves in a hotel, paid for by the airline, and an evening FREE. This is so unusual for us, so we decided to go to dinner and a movie- an official date!

We wandered into a little restaurant called Gibsons. We arrived early, so the staff was being assembled for their “charge to duty” in a separate part of the restaurant. After we sat down, we were kindly catered to, and learned that this is the ONLY restaurant in the United States that has its own USDA rating- which is ABOVE grade A. In other words, this would be the best steak in the US or we wouldn’t pay for it. That is their promise. As we enjoyed the food- the most amazing culinary experience of all time (aside from my favorite food, the Hot Dog), I was stunned in the way the staff was waiting to serve; and not just waiting, but standing at the ready- literally at their post, prepared to make this culinary experience the BEST of your mortal existence.

Witness Hugo:

Not only did Hugo stand at the ready, he polished the glasses and silverware at his tables, he was very deliberate and stood with honor and grace.

I pondered upon this powerful lesson. He performed his duty with such honor that his clients did not sweat the small stuff. All his clients had to do was “show up” and enjoy the treat of a life time. How much better would we be, if we were at our post, on time, in uniform (as it were) and stood at the ready to address all of the concerns of those we serve? Whether as a parent, an employee, a member of a congregation or other membership, and especially with our spouses or significant others, the significance of this life lesson might be life changing.

It would be a great use of time to THINK about the way in which we stand at our post, to PLAN to make our service one of dignity and honor, and then to actually DO it. THINK, PLAN, DO.

Tension or Stress

I have always felt like “Stress” was over-rated; that the negative connotation of whatever stress is, was far exaggerated and perhaps not even true. Stress is a state of mind. Do we all have days in which we can’t accomplish all we would like too? Of course. Does it seem over-whelming sometimes? Yes. But is this a negative thing or really bad for our health? I don’t think so. Read on.

Isn’t it great to be engaged in good causes, even GREAT causes? Isn’t it wonderful when our days are so filled with doing great things that the time flies by, and before we know it we are in our homes after work, trying to accomplish the things of family life and even trying to “catch up” with what we didn’t accomplish during the day? Isn’t it funny how we are always trying to get ahead of the wave, or at least not be rolled by it.

Sometimes, our leaders (and I hope I’m not one of them) have us do mundane and time consuming tasks that don’t make any sense at all; so that meaningless data can be accumulated and consumed, messaged and evaluated—-totally wasting time while GREAT tasks that bring a return on investment (and purpose and fulfillment) go unattended. Leaders need to be careful to LEAD and not to use great talent to appease their own agenda’s. A GREAT leader will know the difference. But I digress……

Most folks know Victor E. Frankle, a trained psychologist and a holocaust survivor of WWII. He created a practice and term known as logotherapy. Rather than putting someone on a couch, and discussing the painful past, he wanted to invite folks to discover a purpose and meaning to life. Hope then replaced despair. In his book “Man’s Search For Meaning”, he discusses mental health being based on a certain degree of “Tension”—-the tension between what one has already achieved and what one still ought to accomplish; or the gap between what one is and what one should become. He said this tension is inherent and indispensable to mental well-being. WOW! He confirmed my long-time belief that when we are anxiously engaged in good causes, even when we feel frazzled for not accomplishing all we should, we are in the best state of mind—because we are BECOMING. The idea of “balance” or a state of “equilibrium” then become antiquated theories, that most psychologists use to parlay their incomes and professions. What one needs, is TENSION, not the discharge of it. What Victor Frankle said we need is “the call of a potential meaning awaiting to be fulfilled….”

So there you have it. Stress is the result of negative energy put to meaningless tasks. Tension is a positive energy which is the result of being anxiously engaged in good, or even GREAT causes. It is the very act of BECOMING.

Here is to more TENSION in our lives.

Performing at our BEST

Recently I was teaching a group of young adults the Ten Scrolls of Success, from Og Mandino’s The Greatest Salesman in the World. For this one hour event, I did something unusual. I didn’t ask for cell phone devices to be put on silent, I asked them to have a one hour fast with me from the electronic media world. They placed their phones voluntarily on a table, while we taught and discussed the Ten Scrolls.

This experience was powerful to me. So much so, that I believe it will be incorporated in some of our business meetings and huddles. Why? Because I get annoyed to see folks with their heads down, thumbs a blazing, half ignoring the voice at the table. In other words, it’s RUDE to be so distracted by what is obviously more important to you than to pay attention to the task at hand

Og Mandino states in his second book The Greatest Salesman in the World part II, Vow #6:

NEVER AGAIN WILL I PERFORM ANY TASK AT LESS THAN MY BEST

What do we show when we place our electronic devices down for a moment?

1. We show respect for the others who are speaking and teaching.
2. We have real conversations; using actual words and dialogue.
3. We prove that we are not addicted to the buzz, or tweet, or vibrate of the incoming message—IT WILL WAIT.
4. We are “present” for conversation, and we show to the person or group that what is going on at hand is not subordinate to our own personal messaging.
5. We can offer more because we understand more—-we are not distracted as we contemplate things of importance.

From Og Mandino:

“I have cheated myself for too long.  I have given lip service to those who have employed me and begrudged every hour of what I considered was boring toil.  Work, to me, was the sorry price I had to pay to exist because the Gods had not seen fit at my birth, to place gold in my hands and a crown on my head.  What a fool I have been.
Now I know that the fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of all pleasures and while genius may commence great works, only labor will complete them.  My eyes have finally been opened through these scrolls.
How much easier my work would be if I put forth as much effort trying to improve the quality of it as I have spent in trying to find excuses for not properly attending it.”

The evening with the young adults was a game changer—-very remarkable to look into the faces of those being taught, rather than see them constantly reaching for the buzzing electronic device and putting their head down with thumbs a blazing. The audience actually appreciated it as much as I did, and together we discovered a great lesson; we are our best when not distracted. Social media is here to stay, but we can STILL control whether it is a tool for good, or if it actually controls us. THINK of the negative impact you create when you are constantly reaching for that world of instantaneous response and connection. Rise above the electronic world to engage in the work at hand so that you might be your BEST.

THE VALUE OF TIME and MONEY

When I was young it felt as if days seemed to last for weeks. It seemed that, whether I was working or playing, I was mostly in the present during time that was long and treasured. How does that compare with the world we live in today? I believe we are much like pinballs, being bounced between time lines, managed by the ping of e-mails, texts, tweets, Facebook feeds, and whatever form of media that crashes upon us, making us slaves and addicts to them.

I was recently reading a passage of scripture, where the person who was visiting kin, took a few extra days to savor the relationships. When did we last cancel our reservations and stay a while longer, to enjoy, relish, and make more of our time? When did we last shut off our electronic media for even one full day and simply live in the moment?

One of the tragedies of social media (in spite of all of the good it does) is that it makes one falsely feel needed, included, and valued. All you have to do is jump on the merry-go-round and participate in mostly meaningless conversation. We make a “contribution”, and voilà, we are cool. What a farce.

This instant expectation of response to our electronic media has taken away the functions of pondering, contemplation, and other meaningful non-responses. Instead we are expected to jump, and if we don’t respond within a couple of hours, or heaven forbid the next day, we are not connected and out of touch.

In my pondering of this cycle of dependency, I tried to think of a time value that requires us to be patient while we watch and wait. I immediately thought of how financial fitness works. My mentor James Ritchie presented our family with a pattern many years ago. It required our investments to never be touched except to re-invest them to build toward the future. This pattern we adopted and has become known as Financial Fitness. An example would be buying a real estate investment, watching it mature over time, and IF you sold it, you would not use the proceeds to buy a yacht, you would re-invest this into your Gold Account, and keep building the nest egg. Why? Because the value of time magnifies your worth.

[as shown in The Ministry of Business, by Hitz/Ritchie]

This is true in both finances and our personal lives. If we can detach long enough to make an investment of time in things that matter most – such as pondering our decisions, thinking through our choices, and not posting something new, just to be included in the social merry-go-round, then we can enlarge our relationships, make better decisions, and place a greater value on things that matter most. Perhaps we can cancel our reservations and stay a while longer!

Now if you will excuse me, I need to see how many “likes” I’ve collected from an extremely witty comment I just posted on Facebook