Legendary Living

2011-01-01T00:03:00.001-06:00

Happy New Year!

Mom Protests Target's Anti-Gay Support

2010-07-29T14:47:00.000-05:00

I can recall being instructed about "the power of a single determined person" many times in life. Now, with tools like the internet at our disposal, that power can be more immediate and far-reaching than ever.

Randi Reitan's protest of Target routing $150,000.00 toward the support of anti-gay Republican Tom Emmer, a candidate for governor in Minnesota, is destined to impact thousands, and be witnessed by millions.

Reitan's seemingly indefatigable support of her gay son has led her to write for the superblog The Huffington Post, which may be the most widely read site of its kind. Now, having documented her final shopping trip to Target, she is using her digital soapbox to try and raise awareness of the political implications of the Minnesota Gubernatorial race and how companies like Target may be working against their customers.

I respect and support Randi Reitan's efforts and I encourage my fellow bloggers to give a mention and a link to her by reposting or writing about her efforts. You can watch her video at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randi-reitan/a-moms-one-person-protest_b_663266.html.

Call to Action: Right to Repair

2010-03-27T19:03:00.000-05:00

My latest opinion piece on Auto-Repair-Minneapolis.com spells out my views on the underhanded actions automobile manufacturers are using to keep you locked into them for repairs. It's a shame that, basically, consumers are getting scammed by being locked into predatory relationships in this day and age.

"OK" you may ask, "how does this relate to living a legendary life?"

Well, the answer is actually rather straightforward. Living a legendary life means exercising your freedom of choice, living in a manner that promotes the best you can be. Whenever you are denied choice, you must work that much harder to live your legend.

Any action you can take to increase the quality and quantity of options you have available is an action that ultimately leads to your empowerment. I encourage you to read my take on Motor Vehicle Owners’ Right to Repair, then head on over to the CARE website RightToRepair.org and sign the petition to support your right to choose.

Choose freedom. Support choice. Live your legend!

Legendary Canadian Hockey Women: Well Done!

2010-02-26T17:37:00.000-06:00

Winning Olympic gold is legendary.

Celebrating with a beer and a cigar is a legendary and time-honored ritual in many circles.

Getting the goats of a few media antagonists and a handful of self-righteous snobs because you drank that beer and smoked that cigar is certain to help cement your legend.

Having one of the top guys in your field basically say "So what?" is legendary, too.

Congratulations to the 2010 Canadian Olympic Women's Hockey Team. You are living the legend!

Breathing Process for GERD Relief

2010-01-08T07:04:00.000-06:00

By request, here is a brief summary of the breathing process I used to help myself manage GERD as recommended in my e-book How I Learned to Manage GERD and Live Without Acid Reflux:

1. Sit or stand with the spine erect and muscles relaxed. Move the shoulders back and down and then let the muscles of the shoulders dangle loosely. Balance your skull on top of your backbone so that it takes as little muscular tension as possible to hold it in place. It helps to keep the chin tucked in a little.

2. Breathe in slowly and deeply, expanding both the chest and the lower lung area (full torso breathing). Imagine that you are breathing in a cool, fresh air energy which will instantly heal your airway. I imagine it as pure white energy which glistens like a morning frost and feels like a breath taken on a winter morning after having a mint candy. At the same time, mentally scan your body for any signs of muscular tension. Just notice where tension may be, but reserve any judgments or evaluations of this tension; just notice it is there. Hold this cool healing breath for a few seconds as you imagine your airway and stomach taking in the health it offers and your body receiving the life-giving oxygen of the air.

3. Exhale in a controlled and evenly paced manner, just slightly faster than you inhaled. At the same time imagine the cooling energy is carrying any burning and disease out of your body so it can be neutralized by the earth. Also at the same time, release any tension you noticed in your body during the inhale. This should feel like the sigh which follows a happy yawn. Make sure you exhale completely.

4. Hold your lungs empty for a moment after exhaling before repeating the process a few more times. If you get dizzy, simply slip into a regular breathing pattern until you feel stable again. If deep breathing causes you to cough, as it does for some people with asthma or COPD, try this process with shallow half-full breaths.

5. Repeat several times per day for a few weeks, and every time you notice reflux occurring. After some time and conditioning I believe this will strengthen your LES. It has become all that I need to instantly relieve those now very rare occurrences of acid reflux.

My Wishes for You in the New Year

2009-12-31T22:12:00.001-06:00

Here are my wishes for you in the new year. They're offered buffet style; take only what you wish to have, and have as much as you like.

I wish for you more love than you've ever known: given, received and shared.

I wish for you almost as much success as you need to satisfy you; just shy enough of your wildest dreams so that you still have something wonderful to chase.

I wish for you health in such abundance that you awake each morning filled with gratitude and wonderment.

I wish for you an unbreakable personal faith in your expanding spiritual awareness.

I wish for you serenity and motivation, passion and contentment, curiosity and understanding, action and rest, solitude and companionship; all in their proper times and proportions.

I wish for you the knowledge of inspiration.

I wish for you the joy of dreams pursued with abandon.

I wish for you miracles as needed.

I wish for you the magic of a life lived with artistry and compassion.

I wish for you a very happy new year!

Time Coding, Schizophrenia and Deja Vu

2009-10-22T07:10:00.002-05:00

Douglas Fox's recent article for NewScientist delves into revelations about how the human brain codes time and looks briefly at the possibility that faulty time coding could be responsible for schizophrenia.

While reading it I recalled a particularly gripping conversation with my good friend *Bill some 20 or so years ago. During our conversation we entertained the idea that déjà vu may be the brain committing an event to memory before it registers the visual and auditory perception of the event. Bill was known for reporting aloud the sensation of déjà vu rather routinely and dramatically. In fact it was positively annoying at times since it usually signaled a sudden and meaningless change in the topic of conversation as Bill would need to explore and share as many facets of the experience as he could.

I had an experience of déjà vu a short time earlier during which I was certain I could recall what was about to happen, and when I told Bill about it he insisted he was sure he could do the same thing. "When I have déjà vu" Bill said, "and something happens, I knew it was going to happen." We arranged to get together over coffee to talk more about it. Having a few days to think things over I slowly realized this should be a fairly common experience. If we have a profound feeling of familiarity with an event that is just now occurring, then the same phenomenon should convince us that we knew what would happen next, just a split-second before it really happened.

The night we met up for coffee the restaurant was unusually busy, and we could tell right away that they were short on staff. We were seated quickly enough, and immediately fell into the chosen conversation. At Bill's request I recounted my déjà vu experience once more, but added my thoughts about how this could be a common experience. Bill agreed, but I could sense the skepticism in his voice.

"Bill" I said, "you have déjà vu more often than anyone I know. Do you ever notice it usually happens when your mind is overwhelmed, when you're tired or there is a lot of activity happening around you?" He confirmed this, and we spent the next hour discussing how we might explain the experience.

I don't recall if Bill or I hit upon it first, but we both got excited as we began speculating that memory and perception may be controlled by different parts of the brain and that these two things may be registering at abnormal rates in order to create the sensation of déjà vu.

We were so engrossed in conversation that I hadn't even realized we had been talking for an hour without anyone taking our order. "Hod on" Bill interrupted. "I'm having déjà vu right now, and I need to use the restroom; but first let me ask you something."

"Sure" I said.

"What if someone having déjà vu could remember what comes next long enough before it happened that they could tell someone else? Then it couldn't be just an unsynchronized brain, could it?"

I shook my head.

"Tell the waitress that I want coffee." Bill stood up and turned to walk toward the restrooms. "Refill, purse, pen."

"What?" I asked.

Bill repeated himself as he walked away. "Refill, purse, pen."

I didn't even have time to wonder what Bill meant. As the server approached our table a man called to her for a refill of his coffee. As she turned her head to acknowledge him a woman at the table next to mine twisted in her chair, knocking her purse to the ground. The server tripped over it, landing into my table.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

"Nothing broken" she responded as she righted herself to take my order. Then, holding up an ink stained hand she added "except my pen".

*not his real name

What is the greatest benefit you get from using Twitter?

2009-10-03T02:14:00.000-05:00

A majority of the people I work with and with whom I socialize are using Twitter. But why? I suspect the reasons are as different as the people themselves, but to find out I could think of no better way than to ask. So with that in mind, please tell me...

What is the greatest benefit you get from using Twitter?

What Susan Boyle Means to You

2009-09-21T16:13:00.002-05:00

When Susan Boyle popped out of nowhere this past April to become an overnight phenomenon with her magical performance of “I Dreamed A Dream” on “Britain's Got Talent” the world changed. Perhaps not the physical world, but certainly the world of possibility in the minds of many.

Boyle is not your average candidate for celebrity. At 48 years of age she's more than a bit past her teen years. She doesn't have the model-like beauty of your average teen pop star. She's not a flashy performer or a charismatic dancer. In fact, on both “Britain's Got Talent” and more recently on “America's Got Talent”, Boyle barely moved at all during her performances. All she did was sing.

And that's the beauty of Susan Boyle. She sings. And she sings in a way that reveals the dedication, love and commitment she has made to singing. She doesn't need to move. She sings, and we are moved. She doesn't need to be perfect. She sings and we touch on a perfection in our own imperfect humanity.

For many, when we listen to Susan Boyle sing, something comes alive inside of us. We are taken, whether consciously or just in our hearts, to magical places we once dreamed of but have since abandoned as fantasy and wishes. We are reminded, at least on an emotional level, that our dreams never die, and that if we are willing to pursue our dreams anything is possible.

When Susan Boyle steps on the stage, we can see the nervousness in her expressions and in her eyes. But we also see her excitement, and deep down we know that her excitement for pursuing her dream propels her to overcome her fears and move onward despite her imperfections, her "average-ness" and anything else we commonly let stand in our way as human beings.

In reminding us of our our great and undying dreams, Susan Boyle is changing our world. Since it is only by pursuing a dream that men and women can find the courage, determination and motivation to make the big changes in their lives, Susan Boyle is helping to change us, reopening the worlds of possibility we once decided were closed.

Next time you see Susan Boyle on television or watch a video of her performing on YouTube, the next time you hear her sing; reach out to your own dreams and contemplate what Susan Boyle means to you.

Four Tips for Living a Happier Life

2009-09-13T18:14:00.002-05:00

I think most people have some notion of what would make them happy, and they pursue those things or experiences expecting that once they are attained happiness will follow.

However, even once we reach these milestones in our lives, we’re rarely happy with them for long. We tend to wind up focusing on something new, better, or more exciting in the belief that having this new thing or experience will make us happy. And so we go from one goal to another trying to achieve an ever more elusive state of happiness, never attaining a lasting level of joyfulness. Sound familiar?

The truth is that happiness is a decision; a product of your mental-emotional state resulting from your habitual thoughts and actions. As such, you can decide to be happy right this moment, even though your life is not perfect. Here are 4 easy things you can do to begin enjoying more happiness in your life:

Take time to enjoy little things. To have a consistent sense of happiness, you need to take time to relax and smile at the simpler side of life. Spending the better part of your day stressing out over the details makes it hard to be very happy. Start today by making certain you take time for the things you enjoy on a regular basis. Giggle as you think about the little quirk in a loved one that makes them so endearingly unique; watch an inspiring movie; tend a garden or your houseplants; listen to some uplifting music; talk with a valued friend. Whatever simple things you enjoy doing, make sure you take the time to enjoy a few of them each day.
Appreciate more. Gratitude and appreciation are powerful states of mind that you can easily cultivate. You will feel better, more connected and centered; plus you will be shifting your focus from an "awareness of lack" to an acknowledgment of what you already have attained, which helps build a consciousness of prosperity. Focus more on what you appreciate having in your life and you will worry less about the things which are lacking. Take a few minutes each night to consciously think of a few things you appreciated during your day. When you focus on gratitude and appreciation you will experience a deeper, more stable and enduring sense of happiness.
Be patient with yourself and others. By offering ourselves and others our genuine patience we are telling the whole world that human beings, and our happiness, is more important than any petty annoyance. This isn't to say you should excuse the harmful behavior of others; we need to let them reap the natural consequences of their actions, of course, especially if the matter crosses legal lines. But after that, let it go; not just in word, but in reality. Remember that all humans make mistakes, and most mistakes are relatively harmless. Allowing people to make mistakes acknowledges their humanity and bolsters your happiness by relieving you of stress.
Love life. The beauty in life doesn't exist in a destination, but in the moment and momentum of living. Don't commit the mistake of believing that things will make you happy. It's not the thing, but the life that went into attaining it, or the life-sense it brings out in you that really makes you happy. Live every moment in the conscious realization that you are responsible for your own happiness, and that you have the life and the resources (see tip #1) to decide to be happy right now.

Remember that happiness is something you can choose to experience at almost any time. Even when outward happiness is socially inappropriate (such as while witnessing someone else's misfortune) your habitual happiness will show as a deep sense of peace which will help strengthen those in need. Choos to live in a state of happiness and you are well on your way to living a life of legendary significance!