Balancing Life, imperfection is required.

Balanced Scale

One of the earliest achievements in our lives that is heralded is the ability to walk.  This ability requires the mastering of balance.  Balance seems like a simple enough scientific term.  All you need to do is maintain a vertical line with the center of gravity.  This is true for something that is a permanent structure but we are living, moving things.  Better known as human beings or in scientific terms, bio-mechanical structures. Because of this, in order to maintain balance we must have a certain amount of sway.  This sway is needed to keep our muscles constantly working and adjusting to re-calibrate our center line of gravity.  This sway comes from the simplest things like breathing or a child constantly bouncing back and forth.  In short, if you aren't constantly adjusting for your center of gravity, you are very likely to loose your balance.

Same is true for balancing our lives.  If our life was constant we could set one balance point in our lives and never need to adjust.  But lets face it, life is never a constant.  We are always growing, learning, expanding, pushing new boundaries, and always making new connections.  Adjustments have to be made for every change in our lives in order to keep balance.  And here's the catch.  For all those that like to plan ahead, you never know how someone in your life will react to a situation or new event in their life.  It's these little nuances that you have to keep adjusting to keep up with balance.  If you ignore the little pet peeves of those closest to you, sooner or later they start to add up.  Then things tip way out of balance.  It's best learn to make small adjustments every chance you get instead of having a massive break down and having to make a large life altering change.  People that say change is hard are the ones that refuse to make minor course corrections along life's road.  Better to have ounce of prevention than a pound of cure, if I may quote Ben Franklin.

Gyroscope

Just like a Gyroscope or a Bicycle, balance and life require constant motion and course correction.  Lose either one and you lose both.  Get a big head and think you have it all figured out and don't address either issue and both will come crashing down around you.  More often than not, those who are down and out, or have had a string of bad things happen to them are the ones that have stopped course correcting.  You can never stop adjusting your balance point in life.  To do so would tip the scales and send you crashing.  So if you are 16 or 65, always grow, learn, adjust, add, and always course correct.  And stay balanced in this thing we call Life.

A chicken in every pot, healthcare for everyone, it's all still a Genie in a Bottle!

The magic of unleashing the Genie.

Ever been sold a bill of goods that was to good to be true?  Have you ever fallen in love with an idea that turned out to be nothing but work in the end?  To often we see the positive side of a deal before we look at the price or negative connotations of it.  You can see it clearly on late night television infomercials.  The benefits of the new state of the art knife's ability to do all types of slicing and dicing are put front and center. The fact that you'll be charged and recharged over the next seven months is not disclosed.  It's what I like to refer to as the Genie let out of the Bottle effect.  My generation grew up watching "I Dream of Jeanie".  On the show, an astronaut finds a bottle and releases a beautiful Genie.  She seemed like a dream come true and was so beautiful no one could take their eyes off of her.  The problem was all her "magic" and help led to more trouble than anyone could imagine. Which interestingly enough holds true with the origins of Genies.  The concept comes from the Muslim world. A Jinn (which is plural) was a spiritual creature made by God but has a free will like man.  A Jinn almost always ends up tricking a human in a negative way in the folklore of Islam.

We are still to this day being promised Genies in Bottles.  Wouldn't it be great if we could give all the elderly money to live out their final years on?  Well sure it would.  Then you need to talk about how to pay for it.  Wouldn't it be just perfect if the richest nation on Earth would feed all the poor people for free?  Of course it would.  Now let's talk about who pays for that.  Wait, what's that?  You don't want to have that conversation?  You only want to be part of the feeding the poor not the paying for the food part?  How's that going to maintain it's self?  Well, maybe it was a bad idea.  Let's not do that anymore.  The problem then becomes, how do you put the Genie back in the Bottle?  Once all the poor people (and others) are used to eating for free, how do you stop feeding them?  Nobody wants to pay for this but nobody wants to be the one that says no more free food.  Same thing with universal healthcare.  Everyone wants all of humanity to benefit from the best healthcare on Earth.  But we only want to talk about all the good it would do.  No one wants to talk about the nuts and bolts of the actual implementation of it.  The new Affordable Healthcare Website is up and jammed.  It's not working and it won't do the job that it's supposed to do.  But none of that matters.  The laws are passed and the Genie is out of the Bottle.  There is no going back.  Now we must learn to live with this ill thought out mess that is going to impact every part of our nation, whether you are for or against it.

Sometimes it's best to not make promises.  Some things are better left alone.  If it sounds to good to be true then it probably has a price to pay on the back end.  Our Founding Fathers didn't talk about Utopia or a perfect world.  They fought for a place that everyone would be free to find their own path.  When you put us all in the same pot or healthcare system, then we are no longer free to find our own way.  It's time to stop asking Genies for wishes and do like our forefathers and blaze our own trails in this country.  Time to leave the bottle in the sand.

Caution! Beliefs are no longer a certainty.

Belief says the sun will rise again.

In today's politically charged world opinions and attitudes change with every newscast.  If the latest poll data show that one way of thinking is popular, then that's the direction we should all go.  A person's belief should be something that they stand firm in as the truth.  The dictionary actually states that belief is trust, faith, or confidence in something or someone.  In America, we've obviously changed the definition of belief.  We change our mind on what we believe in so much that the concept of belief is becoming as mythical as a unicorn.  The question is why?  Why don't our beliefs stand the test of time anymore?  Are we so advanced that nothing is true anymore?


The biggest problem with our belief system is our moods.  At certain points in our life we have a basic need to believe in something and have major convictions to take a hard stand on that belief.  Then at other points in our life, usually when things are very successful, we have a much more lax view of life, and our convictions wane because of it.  One of the key moods that kill our belief system is self pity.  We are all raised to believe that you should work hard to get ahead in life.  Then times get tough and we start to list all the things that we have working against us in life.  That's when we allow self pity to intervene and let us by-pass our belief of hard work.  Then we are free from the restraints of our belief system and can get ahead by any means necessary.  Most of us are raised to believe that a higher power is watching over us.  Unfortunately, when times get tough we feel like that higher power has abandoned us.  Then our selfish feelings push away those beliefs of a higher power and more importantly the self governing rules that come with that belief.  We will all to quickly abandon the rules that protect us and those around us from our selfish acts that come with self pity.  Letting your feelings govern your belief system can be harmful for all you come into contact with.

A solid belief system can lead to a happy family.

I guess the question is, if you change your belief for any reason at all, was it every really a belief of yours? Yes, I know we all grow older and make wiser choices and believe things we should have believed all along.  That's not what I'm getting at.  The issue I'm talking about is changing your beliefs with the change of seasons.  A belief should be something that can guide you through the ups and downs of your life.  Whether your feeling good or bad about your life, your belief should remain in tact.  No matter what your friends are doing your beliefs should still dictate your actions and reactions to this life.  If your belief is on uncertain ground so is your life, family, and friends.  A little discipline in your belief system will go a long ways to stabilize your life.  I hope you find the courage to stand firm in your beliefs.

The whole world done gone and got a Superlative complex!

Ever notice how people these days add an -est to the end of every sentence they say.  The need to be dramatic has gone haywire in our society.  It's very annoying and it also breaks many fundamental rules of our language.  Let me take you back to elementary school, somewhere between the 2nd and 4th grades. We are taught in these early grades that things are good, better, and best.  Things that are best usually have and -est on the end of them and fall under the category of superlative.  Sometimes it's and adjective like "most" to add to the word.  But on a whole we are obsessed with superlatives.

We want the Biggest of everything.

We are bombarded by advertisements and stores trying to get our attention.  It seems the best way to have effective advertisement is to have the biggest sale, lowest prices, or largest selection.  Consumers don't want to settle for a low price, they want the lowest.  We don't want a big sale, we want the biggest.  And you better give us the most selection, because more selection just won't do.  Now we've move this language into our everyday lives.  This past weekend was the best ever!  Really?  Our favorite football team just played the greatest game of all time.  Are you sure?  Government is even in on the superlative kick.  We just had the best three month GDP in that last six years.  (I have my doubts about the governments math)  And lately, we seem to add the superlative kick to our personal lives.  We make statements like, "this has been the best year of my life".  Learned from past years of experience have we?  And we all have to have a title stating we are the best at_______.

What's wrong with normal?  Why can't things just be good?  We're not all made to set world records, so quit acting like that's a requirement.  When you apply -est to everything in your life, you put yourself out of reach of the average person.  You actually isolate yourself.  And I guess that's the purpose of our superlative society.  If we are the best and isolated from others, then others can't have any input into our lives. Sometimes being normal means that you put yourself in a position for others to help you out.  Being good, and not best, means others can connect with you.  So put aside the best, most, biggest, and worst, and just be another guy that everyone can relate to.  Being superlative can lead to a very lonely life.  Try your best at everything you do, but be happy with being an average Joe.  You will be surprised how much that will endear you to others.

I hope you have a GOOD day!

Do you "green screen" your life?

Weather man with side monitor.

Modern TV and movie screen technology is a visual wonder to see.  The green screen has changed television and movies forever.  No longer is there a need to create real back drops that take months to build. Now all you need is a big green sheet and you can act like you're in a whole other world.  Computer generated images now fill in the green screen with any and everything imaginable.  One of the more common uses of this technology is your local weatherman.  A weatherman can stand in front of a green sheet and with the help of a monitor off to the side the weatherman can point to imaginary images of radar and such on the sheet.  The technology is called Chroma-Keying and is actually a fairly simple concept.  The only thing that hampers the process is the shadow of the real person and that can be controlled even lighting of the actors.  It makes for a great presentation and stunning movies.

It seems that some people have the ability to green screen their lives.  Instead of taking the time to invest in people that become the back drop of their lives they would prefer to live in front of a green screen.  If someone doesn't see things in the same light as us, then we can just push them away and hide behind our green screen.  Don't want to face the truths in your life?  No biggie, just stare at the green screen and the truth will fade from memory. After all, avoidance is such a problem solver.  Don't want to face the person you've done wrong?  That's okay, we'll just create a computer image in his place.  It's an easy pattern to fall into.  We drive to work alone, then do our jobs alone in a cubicle.  With so little personal contact it's easy to live in a fantasy world. But even with the ability to create our own dream world we are still not happy.  Why is that?  Much like the issue plaguing Chroma-Keying, we can't seem to get away from our greatest nemesis, our own shadow. Even with controlling all the external variables in our lives we are unhappy because we don't want to change the one constant in our lives, ourselves.

A life free of self imposed barriers.

Hiding from others, the truth, and the real world doesn't solve our issues.  We must face all these things or we will become a slave to avoiding them.  And most importantly we must face the man in the mirror.  You can wrap a green sheet around yourself but it won't change what's on the inside.  Have the courage to face the truth, others, the real world, and yourself.  It will set you free from the green sheet prison you've created. You will be able to see the beauty of this world and it's people only if you remove all the self imposed deception you've created yourself.  Be bold enough to live free of lies, deception, and fantasy.  The rewards might just surprise you.

Salt, the ancient balancing act of Life.

Salt mounds by fotopedia

In today's health conscience world, we like to believe we are so well educated on the things we consume to keep us healthy.  We put so much emphasis on sugar, fat, and carbohydrates that we often ignore one of the most basic needs of the human body.  Salt is vital to our day to day life, yet it is also deadly if not consumed in the right amounts.  Like everything else in life, salt is a balancing act, and to often we ignore the importance of this strange little rock crystal.  Salt is needed by almost all living things.  Salt is the key to your body regulating it's fluid levels, and salt is the mineral that your brain uses to send electrical signals to your body.

Historians disagree on the dates that man first started using salt.  This date obviously predates written history.  With it being so vital and such a basic instinctual need, I think it's safe to say that man has always being using salt.  The most common and oldest form of salt production is the simple technique of evaporation.  Today salt is mined in huge underground caverns.  While most people use salt in their cooking or sprinkle a salt shaker over their plate, refrigeration has changed the amount of importance we place on salt.  We've only had refrigeration for roughly a hundred and twenty five years or so, but it's been in place long enough that we can't remember what we did before we had the luxury of refrigerators.  Before refrigeration the only way to make meat last more than a few days was to salt it.  There are a couple of ways to salt meat.  You can simply make a coating of salt on the meat or put it in briny water to absorb the salt. Salt was well known as a necessity because it was used daily to preserve food.  It is well known that salt was once a very important commodity in trading.  At one time in history trading for as must as the equal weight of gold.  Another interesting note about the history of salt is the word salad is from Roman times and means salted vegetables. The Romans also had the word "salarium" which was the salt that was used to pay soldiers.  Yes, you guessed it, that's where we get the word salary.  Unfortunately, like so many things in our modern world the many uses of salt are done at a factory instead of your home.  We don't see the salt going into the daily things in our lives so we don't understand it's importance.

Table salt.

These days salt has a bad reputation.  We blame salt for strokes, high blood pressure, and even neurological problems.  It's not that salt is bad for us, it's the fact that we are no longer aware of it in our food supply.  I recently learned the hard way that a single can of cola has ninety percent of your daily needs for salt. Definitely something to think about when you open your third cola before noon.  How much salt do you get in the fast food drive through lane?  That's a guessing game.  Like everything else in life, to much of a good thing can be bad for you.  We can't live without salt but we also can't indulge in it without limits.  We take for granted the important roll salt plays in our daily life.  Sounds like salt is the poster child for all that is wrong with people today.  We overindulge in a good thing and give no regards to it's consequences. We think we are so advanced that we don't have to account for our need of such a base thing.  We would do well to not think so highly of ourselves that we don't consider some of the most simple things like water and salt are more important for long life than money and notoriety.  Could it be that our vast intelligence is insignificant compared to our primal needs for a crystallized mineral?  The more likely answer is we should use our intelligence to balance our basic needs instead of our greedy, selfish ways.

Have a great day and I hope you taste a little salt in your food today.

Still Waters lead to a Stagnant Life!

Stagnant pond with algae bloom.

Being surrounded by marsh and swamp I know all about stagnant water.  So it baffles me when people are nostalgic about the silly expression, "still waters run deep".  First, still waters don't run anywhere.  Secondly, most of the time still water is shallow.  The biggest issue is still or stagnant waters are a breeding ground for bacteria, algae, and mosquitoes.  Mosquitoes carry diseases such as Malaria and West Nile virus.  Also, stagnant water loses it's oxygenation ability.  Without oxygen in the water marine animals die.  This is why at your local park the man made lake has a sprinkler or some other aeration device.  The bottom line is water is a life giving source but if left stagnant it can become diseased and deadly.


Same concepts apply to our lives.  If we become complacent or trapped in one location we often develop serious problems.  Sitting still is one of the most obvious issues of our society.  Without sufficient movement we become overweight and develop serious health problems.  The list of diseases from obesity are far to many for me to list.  Just keep in mind that all those diseases stem from stagnation.  We also have problems when we don't venture outside of our homes.  Staying inside the four walls of your home means that sun light will never contact your skin.  This means no natural Vitamin D, which helps prevent many diseases.  Also, without being exposed to the natural pollen in your neighborhood, you are more likely to develop allergies and other breathing issues.  If your only source of information everyday is the TV, then you are only using a select part of your brain and the rest is wasting away.  If you want a healthy brain it is best to expose yourself to many different sources of information.  Such as reading, talking, listening to speeches, internet searches, and good old fashion trips to the library.  Then there's the concept of exposing yourself to different people. Yes, yes I know, there are weirdos out there but you do need to have some sort of live social input in your life.  It can't all be FB and Tweets!  Getting to know other people gives you a perspective into your own life. You need something to compare your lifestyle against.  This is also good for your language ability.  If you only talk to ten people in this world then you are likely to develop bad language habits that are acceptable to those people.  The classic example is when little Johnny shows up on the first day of kindergarten and still talks baby lingo because that's all he needed to learn at his house.  Without other sources of input your vocabulary is very limited.

Meet new people.

So the question is are you stagnant?  Do you get out of the house?  Do you make new friends?  The best thing for your life and health is to be in constant movement.  Let your waters flow over land and stream.  Pour yourself out into everyone you meet and your life will flow for generations to come.  Life is about flowing not staying inside four walls.  You have some unique insight or talent in this life.  What good is that talent if it sits stagnant in your living room?  Even if you can avoid the diseases that come with stagnation, what would be said about you when they bury you?  Here lies a man that kept his abilities and talents to himself his whole life? Grow, flow, pour, and experience this life to it's fullest and you won't have to worry about all the problems stagnation can bring to your life.

Have a flowing Day!

Hold on to Sixteen as long as you can!

My wife in the hospital with our second son.

Today is my older Son's last day as a sixteen year old.  Tomorrow will make his seventeenth birthday and he will officially be an adult according to the state of Louisiana.  Needless to say, I'm a little sentimental because it feels more like a bullet train ride than an entire childhood that has passed. I still remember the night he was born.  My wife was in labor for more than twenty hours.  The doctors finally decided to cut him out at about quarter past midnight.  Because of the medicine and the long labor they gave the wife some more medicine to sleep and at three o'clock in the morning handed me my Son for the first time and left the room.  I was all alone with this strange little baby that I knew nothing about.  I had no connection with him at that point.  After all, it was not me who carried him for nine months.  Three days later I was shaking like a leaf when I drove him home for the first time.  Seems like a few weeks ago.


He had a severe case of colic.  For six months no one slept for more than twenty minutes at a time.  I thought that six months was a sentence to an eternity in hell.  Looking back now, it was just a blip on the timeline.  The other seasons came and went with increasing speed.  The cost of diapers and formula is very high but before you know it that season was over.  Then came walking, running, talking, toys, video games, and something new for Dad to learn everyday when I got home from work.  How many nights I laid in his bed and played Mario for him because he couldn't get to the next level?  He sure doesn't need much help from me these days. Then came a little brother that changed his whole world in one day.  Then came school, learning, PTOs, Tee Ball, music, and Scouts.  When he made eight my life changed and instead of working I was the one staying home with him.  How many firsts did I get to experience with him?  I'm not sure, but it was a privilege to be on every single one.  Lately, there has been many crowning moments for him.  He is now an Eagle Scout, Captain of his High School Band, and employee at the local grocery store.  And the future is very bright, with his outstanding academic scores he is sure to get into the college of his choosing.


So basically that's it, an entire childhood in one paragraph and it seems that it went by as fast has reading that paragraph.  No matter what season you and you child are in, I suggest you cherish it.  Crying babies may not see like a good time but it will pass soon and very soon.  Trying to keep up with a toddler that climbs and touches everything may seem never ending but it will be memories you miss.  Doing homework for four hours every night may seem like a prison sentence but it will be time very well served. You can't stop time, nor should you try, but take a few moments to cherish all the things that happen in your brief time to raise a child. Don't wait till the seasons are over to pour your life into your kids, start now.  If you put forth your best effort in all these season then the sadness of your child entering into adulthood will be replaced with the joy of a fine young man or woman that you are proud to call yours. I think my boy is off to a great start, even if it was at mach two.  He's a fine young adult man.

1996

2013

Happy Birthday my Boy!

Milestones Ahead! Please don't hit the Brakes.

Photo by flickr

As parents their are so many milestones we reach in raising our kids.  Obviously, the first big memorable moment is when you take your child home from the hospital.  The euphoria of bringing your little bundle of joy home is quickly replaced by crying, dirty diapers, and sleepless nights.  It's easy to look back at the first day home as the only great day of being a parent.  In due time life gets into a more comfortable rhythm and soon you are on top of the next big day. The day your child takes his first steps.  Your so excited that you don't realize that you now have to pick everything up to keep the new little track star from grabbing everything in the house. Then comes kindergarten followed by the first day of high school and all of a sudden it's graduation day.  It really goes by that fast, but is it over at that point?


Dealing with the milestones in our kid's lives is no different than the milestones in any life. It's great to celebrate your child's first steps but you also have to press on to the next challenge or your kid will never learn to speak.  Just like it's great to celebrate getting that job you always wanted, but if you don't get busy with the job you won't have it long.  In my home the 2013-2014 school year is going to be one for marking major milestones.  In May the wife and I will watch as one Son graduates 8th grade and the other Son graduates from High School.  We will find many ways to celebrate and make memories of the occasion and make a big fuss over the boys.  Then after the festivities it will be time to tell the boys, "great job, now get on with the next challenge in your life."  One will face High School and the other College, but if we only live in the moments of May 2014 neither one will succeed in their next challenge.  And that is where the danger lays.  If graduating from school is the greatest accomplishment in one's life then there will be little or no emphasis put on the next challenge ahead.  If you let a child make a single accomplishment as the end of his challenges in life then he has met the end of his ability to make himself better.

Photo by Google

If you've anointed some day as the greatest day of you life then you've lost all reasons to strive for something better. You basically stop in mid-life.  All the work you put into your resume to get that dream job shouldn't end because you accomplished one goal.  If you work non-stop to catch a young lady's attention then ignore her after she says, "I do", you won't stay married for long. Everything in this life requires work to keep up and maintain.  That goes for relationships, raising kids, jobs, and lifestyle. If you rest on your laurels opportunities will pass you by at lightning speed.  It's great to celebrate big milestones.  It builds confidence and self esteem.  But please don't let a milestone become a stopping point in your life. If you live in the past then the future doesn't hold anything for you.  Always strive to make the next day the greatest day of your life.  With that attitude the future will always be bright.

It's about Time!

Everyone is busy, busy, busy these days. We are all pressed for time.  Life is full of schedules, dates, appointments, and clocks to punch.  We use phrases like, "time is money", or "my time is valuable".  Ever stop to wonder what is time? Time is not something you can touch or grab. Who came up with this idea?  What is the purpose of time?

Archaeologists point to artifacts found about 6,000 years ago when man first started making lunar calendars to try to predict the planting seasons.  This would be roughly the time man converted from hunter-gathers to farmers.  Knowing the seasons is a big deal to farmers but we now know that the moon is on a 28 day cycle and after a few years changes would have to be made to the calendar.  The next advancement was the "sundial".  Most believe it showed up in Egypt in 1500 BC, but that is debatable.  While the sundial helped in dividing the day it to had to be constantly adjusted for the different lengths of the day over the course of the year.  Obviously Summer days are longer than Winter days.  Then came those thoughtful Romans.  The Julian Calendar (Julius Caesar) was created in roughly 45 BC.  This calendar was much more accurate.  It did loose 11 minutes a year.  While some would jump on that 11 minute issue, remember this is 1500 years before Columbus sailed to disprove a "flat world".  I'm thinking the Romans and Egyptians knew the world was round, but that's just my opinion.  After Columbus came the modern calendar called the Gregorian Calendar.  Then shortly after that the world was divided into the 24 zones and modern time keeping began.

So the concept of time was born out of need to keep up with the growing seasons, but it has now spiraled into an all consuming thing.  Time not only measures the seasons, it measures the speed at which we get to work, the speed we work at, the amount we work, the amount of sleep we get, the amount of time spent with children, the speed we enter into responsibilities, and on and on.  The biggest thing it measures is the amount of time we have here on this Earth. "Life is but a vapor" is one of my favorite bible quotes.  It shows how quickly our time here on Earth can pass and how little impact can be left if we don't make the most of it.  One of my pet peeves is when a parent says that some extracurricular activity for their child isn't worth the time.  When I know they spend entire weekends in front of the squawk box while their kid is in the other room wearing out their thumbs on some video game.  Don't get me wrong, I know some people work multiple jobs.  Paying the bills does take precedent in this modern world.  If you think your time here on Earth is short, think how short 18 years is when you bring a kid into the world.  I assure you it will pass more quickly than you can imagine.  The time to start spending time with your kids is today.  Don't wait until they are out of diapers, or old enough to play T-ball, or entering teenage land.  Start now, if not sooner.  We all have to juggle time in our lives.  The question is, when your time has run out who will remember you?  Who will carry on your hopes, dreams, and experiences?


Take the time to impart all those things in to your loved ones.  And not just your kids.  Take the time to catch up with old friends.  Write a note to someone whom you appreciate.  Call an old classmate.  Yes, all these things take time, but when your time is up what are you leaving behind? Do you think a 401k or a home is what you will be remembered for?  You will only be remembered for the precious commodity of time that you spent on others.  Your sons and daughters will value the times spent with you more than your Earthly possessions.  So take some time to invest some time into the people in your life.  Who knows, you just might cheat time and live on in other's memories.


http://harvestbaptistbath.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/time.jpg
http://harvestbaptistbath.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/time.jpg