We all know it’s good to exercise.  Watch our diet. Keep our thoughts positive. Meditate.  So why don’t we regularly do these life-improving things?Because we are human. And we operate on the self-defeating premise that unless we do things perfectly or all the time, it’s – well – why bother? So, we do nothing. And, that’s where we really hurt ourselves.We don’t have to exercise as if we’re preparing for the Olympics.  Or eat like we’re applying for a Paris runway (God forbid!).  And, we don’t have to aspire to Dalai Lama-like serenity.  But we do need to drop the ‘why bother?’ excuse and do something that resembles self-care. It’s never too late to start walking. Stop eating dessert. Sit down for just five minutes with all the noise turned off.  Those seemingly small acts can add up to seismic shifts.  It’s just like Nike says – JUST DO IT.

Yes.  That IS David Archuleta of American Idol. And if you really want to be in the moment, he’ll get you there and make you want to stay there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q26vROvKeFw 

“Driving through the city for the first time, you and me
Staring through windows and my own reflection
How can no window encompass perfection

Now that I know what it’s like to be living
This beautiful world and never stop giving
I can’t return to a life with no vision
Born into eyes not by my own decision

(and) I wanna be in this moment,
No one can take it from me
(and) I wanna stay in this moment,
No one can take it away from me

Give me a chance and I’ll show you what’s real
Open your eyes and you’ll see
Then I’m stuck in a moment and no one can take it from me

I wanna be in this moment,
No one can take it from me
I wanna stay in this moment,
No one can take it away from me.”

Merriman-Webster defines ‘resistance’ as the inherent ability of an organism to resist harmful influences.  Harmful.  Hm. That would make resistance a good thing. Yet, others say that what we resist persists.  Now that sounds really harmful. So, which is it? Perhaps both.On the plus side, we certainly want to be resistant to illness.  To illicit temptations. To unwarrented risks.  It’s when we find ourselves resisting the doing of things that will help us, enhance us as individuals and contributors to society that things can get ugly.In fact, there are countless good things that we resist:  change; learning; fully expressing our creativity; commitment; taking a stand on important matters.  Just a few examples where resistance can turn into massive procrastination or dangerous malaise. And, trying to fight resistance (no, this is not a redundancy) doesn’t work. Resistance produces negative strength.  So anything we are tyring to overcome is actually reinforced by our resistance to it.  What we really need to do is form opposition to what we don’t want in our lives rather than settle into resistance. Instead of hating war, love peace.  Instead of feeding fear, nourish freedom.  Instead of allowing resistance to obstruct our progress, our success, we define it as the enemy and place opposition in front of it.

Steve Jobs is a master of presentation.  His outlook is brilliant – “I love beautiful objects. I love creating them. Negative people upset me.” And, he seems totally effortless when he presents.  So what’s his biggest secret?  PRACTICE.  That’s right – Steve Jobs practices.Frankly, it’s not one of my favorite things to do. In fact, much to my embarrassment, the only time I really rehearse is – well – when I’m at rehearsal! (The Master Chorale of South Florida).And the price I pay for this stubborness is that I seldom deliver award-winning presentations. Oh, I’m good.  I can engage an audience and leave them with good stuff.  But ‘WOW’ them Steve Jobs style?  NO.So you’ll notice a new goal on my list:  Be willing to practice. Next question you might have is what’s with the ‘be willing’ part?  I’ve learned over the years that sometimes we have to back up for a jump start. If I just said I’m going to practice but I knew in my heart I wasn’t yet willing, I’d wind up with a failed goal.  So – first – the willingness. And, I’ll let you know when I change it to PRACTICE!  Meanwhile – here’s a look at the kind of perfection Jobs delivers after he practices! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUeM6FBInfw

Sometime during this day, you’ll want to get in touch with what’s really important in life.  What really matters. What’s REAL. When that moment occurs, click on the below and visit the BBC Motion Gallery.  http://www.flashcomguru.com/apps/fullscreen_player9/fullscreen.html

It’s been barely six months since I had to put my little boy to rest. 

We spent almost seventeen years together and I can still remember the day I brought him home. I promised him a life of love, adventure, fun, undisturbed naps and – most of all – no suffering. Already on that first day when he was just three months old, I dreaded the inevitable. It came all too fast.

Our time flew by and – though he was a valiant warrior to the end – he told me when it was time to go.  And, I had to keep my promise.

I think he knew what a terrible gap he’d leave. How much I’d miss his mischief, his unconditional love, his warmth and companionship. 

And, I do. Oh, I do. Every day. Every night. And, always in between.

Can I possibly find another little guy to fill SugarFoote’s little paws?  Never.  Ever. Ever. And, I don’t know yet what I’ll do about that.

Consciously looking for reasons to laugh is often the thing that just makes it happen. The key is to put into place invitations for laughter.  Look for humor everywhere – on signs, in people’s behavior, in the silly mistakes you make. Or, ignore all the bad news and look for a few laughs as you read your daily newspaper. Believe me, you’ll find them.Here are a few real examples:Publicize your business absolutely free! Send $6.Marijuana Issue Sent To Joint Committee.Open House – Body Shapers Toning Salon. Free coffee & donuts.Air Head Fired.Kids Make Nutritious Snacks.Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery. Hundreds Dead.Man Struck by Lightning Faces Battery Charge.Teacher Strikes Idle Kids.Exercise Equipment: Queen size mattress & box spring – $175.Free Puppies: 1/2 cocker spaniel -1/2 sneaky neighbor’s dog.For Sale: Complete 45-volume set of Encyclopedia Britannica. $1,000.00 or best offer. No longer needed. Got married last weekend. Wife knows everything. And then there’s this classic:Now – go find your own and have a good laugh!

Most of us are familiar with the concept of Emotional Intelligence.  You know, the evaluation system made popular by researchers Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer involving the ability to monitor – and presumably adjust – not only our own feelings and emotions but those of others.One result of their work is that many believe EI demonstrates how competencies such as self-confidence, initiative and rapport with others contribute to the bottom line of any work organization. But what about our MOOD and the impact it has on those around us? According to a recent article in the Harvard Business review, the thing that most influences a company’s bottom-line performance is not emotional intelligence but the mood of its own leaders.  They call it ‘mood contagion’ and I’m sure we’ve all encountered it.  Perhaps we’ve even set it off or had a hand in spreading it. When it’s good – it’s very, very good.  When it’s bad – it’s toxic.Think about it.

In the best-seller Tuesdays with Morrie, author Mitch Albom quotes the star professor, “So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half asleep even when they’re busy doing things they think are important. This is because they’re chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” Author Anna Quindlen completes the thought, “ Don’t ever confuse the two, your life and your work. The second is only part of the first….It doesn’t matter what you do for a living as long as it makes you feel whole and fulfilled. It doesn’t matter how old you are when it comes to looking for love, your dream or the adventure of being alive… Find your spiritual center, your generosity for others, your compassion for the world. Take nothing for granted. Get committed to things you care deeply about that were chosen for their goodness. Life goes so quickly. Use every bad thing to good advantage. Use every loss for gain. Find the lesson in every day living. Listen. Give back.” In short, find out what really matters to you and live it.

This piece – written by Judith K. Morgan following an in-depth breathing workshop- reveals the magnificent gifts of mindful breathing.THE ART OF BREATHING. We come together – strangers for the most part – to learn to breathe.How absurd!  We’ve been breathing, some of us, for 60     years.Yet as the hours and days pass, we realize we have much    to learn about breathing. And as we are taught these new techniques, we begin torecognize there is more to this than mere science. First it’s Ujjayi breathing, then it’s Bhostrika – a little trickybut not too hard.Then we’re told we’re going to do a Sudrashan Kruja –nothing more than normal breaths but in a rhythmicpattern from slow, to moderate, to fast and back toslow again – a piece of cake – WRONG!

Our instructors skipped telling us this would go on for 30 

minutes-no stopping, no sleeping!

Are you kidding? – they should have said, no passing out!

Well, we were committed, so breathe we did-and sweat,

and ache, and tingle and go numb.

This can’t happen to a body just from breathing!!

But they swore on the altar to Ravi Shankar this was not

dangerous, would cause no harm.

And, indeed, we all survived the experience long enough

to reap the reward of total relaxation–to sleep, to

stop breathing, to leave our bodies, to weep, to return

to the womb, to know the eternal, to become steamed

spinach.

This WAS beyond science!

Moreover, as we contemplated, shared, gazed into brown eyes

and blue, took sustenance together, exposed our egos

and sat in quiet,

Our awareness grew, our prejudices dissolved, our hearts were

opened, our separateness began to blur;

And these who came as strangers, at the end, knew a new truth.

Behind the brown eyes and blue, alike, the color of our souls is the

same–it is the color of God–we really are One. 

you can’t  build on it. It’s only good for wallowing in.” -Katherine Mansfield  

The experience of regret – the feeling that a road not taken might have been the better one – is unavoidable given the myriad choices in our progressive times. In fact, we’re apt to find that risks not taken are a greater source of regret than mistakes or wrong turns. In either event, we can begin to accept regret and gather information and advice from it. We can learn to reframe situations – viewing them with different, healthier perspective. We can surrender the need to be right.    

Remember that regret is normal and that – when dealt with honestly and appropriately – it can be a constructive force in shaping a meaningful life. So, rather than living under its debilitating shadow, it is most satisfying to convert the negative energy of regret into a positive force for making peace with the past and kindly applying its lessons to the present. 

If, when regret hits, we begin to draw upon each and every resource that we have in order to conquer it, we will develop mental and spiritual muscle that will rescue us from the pit of remorse. We will, in fact, begin to welcome such opportunities for improvement just as Tallulah Bankhead suggested, “The only thing I regret about my past life is the length of it. If I had my past life to live over again I’d make all the same mistakes – only sooner.”

Most often we avoid decision-making because we fear error, regret, embarrassment, judgment or loss. We falter because we know that the smartest, best, most correct decisions sometimes involve causing pain – e.g. firing someone that we really like because they are truly unsuitable for their job or our organization.

In such cases, the biggest mistake is letting time or outside circumstances decide for us. Such avoidance produces a mediocre result, at best, and often leaves us with the knowledge that we could have made a smarter choice. That, instead, we let time or ‘fate’ make it for us.

On the other hand, even the smartest and best people make bad decisions. All the time. They simply have learned to identify and change the outcome of a bad decision quickly and effectively. Leaders can not afford to do otherwise. Decisions – right or wrong – must be made or they are not leading. And they cannot create sustainable value on either a professional or a personal level unless they do so.

If we are pledged to taking the time required and putting in the thoughtful effort towards making our best decisions – even if they turn out to be ‘mistakes’ – we can be feel good about our process.  And, fix any errors promptly.