What would you do. Some of the things I would do is I would buy a motorhome so I could travel and see my grandkids more often.

I might buy a campground or resort so I would always have somewhere in warm weather where I know I could camp.

I would give each of my kids a million dollars (provided I won enough). You hear that! Start praying kids!

What would you do? Leve a comment and let me know.

You never know, If I win, I might use one of your ideas. If I win enough, I might give you some of it for giving me such a great idea! (Don’t hold your breath for that one!)

Life can turn to crap so fast it can make your head spin! When it does, you have two choices.

One, you can let it destroy you.

Two, you can learn, pick up and move on.

I pick door number two!

Recently, things in my life have turned to shit. People who I thought were friends, turned their back on me. Work I thought somewhat secure, disappeared.

Does it make me happy?

Hell no!

Am I going to let it destroy me?

Hells no!!!

I may get a little drunk tonight, but then I gotta keep movin’.

Here’s the thing.

Don’t let life kick you in the teeth and then win the fight.

Get back up again and fight back.

Will you win every time you get back up? No, not every time. If you don’t, however, you are guaranteed to lose every time.

Okay, so that’s it for today. I’m going to go soak my head in a vat of beer and then jump up and kick life right in the nuts!

Join me?

Is there something you’d like to do, but it seems it just isn’t going to happen? Maybe you want to start a business, but all the indicators say that this is a bad time! Maybe you want to make some life change, live in a new area, whatever, but everyone says that selling your home right now is a big mistake.

Who stops you from doing what you want?

We have a tendency to blame others, but the truth is, we stop ourselves.

When I first started running barefoot, I was embarrassed. I thought if anyone saw me, they would laugh at me. I hate criticism as much as the next guy!

What I found out was nobody cared. The few who have done much of anything just smiled or gave me a thumbs up. One guy wanted to know if it didn’t hurt and why I did it. When I told him, he was interested. I doubt he’ll become a barefoot runner, but you never know.

I did have one woman ask me where my shoes where. I just told her they were home where they belonged and that was that.

The point here is that there were times when I didn’t run because it was too late and people were up stirring. I was afraid. Who stopped me? It was me. Once I got out there, I found it was no big deal.

When you have something you want to do, do you listen to your fears and doubting self talk and chicken out? Do you stop before you even start?

The first step in doing anything is to understand that it is only you who stops you. Sure there may be outside influences, but you are the one who stops.

Think it over!

One of the major ways I’m working at getting back in shape is by running and walking. Unfortunately, it’s raining and I can’t do either without getting wet. Yeah, I know, I could carry an umbrella and walk, but it just isn’t the same.

No matter what we do, interruptions come into our lives. They interrupt our exercise, they interrupt our meals, they interrupt our work. They even interrupt that sweaty wild monkey dance you had planned!

There are some things you can do about it though.

Before I get into that, let me ask you this. How do interruptions affect you? Do you get angry? Does your blood pressure go up and you feel like your day is ruined? Wouldn’t it be nice to not feel that way?

Okay, so here’s a few things you can do when interruptions screw up your day.

Look for the opportunity.

There is an old saying that goes something like,

“God never closes a door without opening a window.”

Now whether you believe in God or not, there is something to this. Whenever something happens, there is always something else you can do.

Right now, I’m watching my granddaughters. I would be doing something else if I wasn’t, but I am. Now they are watching a movie and so I have a perfect time to write this post. If they weren’t here, I might be outside pulling weeds or something.

There is always something you can do when you didn’t get to do what you wanted! I didn’t get to run this morning due to the rain, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do something else to get my exercise later on.

Try to see the humor!

Okay, so this sounds trite! The thing is, if you can’t see the humor in the interruption, you’re just going to get pissed off. Being upset gets you nowhere. This was usually my first reaction and I have to admit, it still is sometimes.

What does getting upset get you? Nothing. You spend the time you could use implementing the first suggestion, looking for the opportunity, by feeling sorry for yourself. Nothing gets done other than blaming the situation for your own lack of control. Is that what you want?

Seeing the humor in the situation allows you to not lose control and to see what else might be done. It is the catalyst for action.

Let go of the attachment to whatever goal you have in mind.

This is probably the hardest for me. What I mean here is to do whatever you want to do with all your might, but do it for the joy of doing it, not for the end result.

In our goal oriented culture, this seems like a big no no. We are told over and over again that we have to reach our goals. Letting go of the results doesn’t mean we don’t try, it just means we are open to how things turn out.

Think of all the times you have tried to accomplish something and it didn’t turn out the way you intended. You felt upset and angry. You felt like a failure. All the while, something did happen. Something did turn out as a result of all your work. The problem is, you are so distracted by being upset that you miss the result.

Letting go of the results means you work toward your goal and accept however it turns out.

I know this is a hard concept and it is even harder to do, but it really works for the best. Next time an interruption comes, let go of the goal, see the humor in the situation and then look for the opportunity.

Interruptions are inevitable. What you do when they come is up to you.

I just got back from a week long trip to Acadia National Park in Maine. I thought I would share a bit about going whale watching, which we did.

How to enjoy whale watching!

We had to take a different day than the ticket were for due to bad weather. I can’t imagine what it would have been like out there on a stormy rainy day.

We stopped at some little island and took a few pictures of a light house and everything was good. Then we went out to find the whales.

The lighthouse before the barf storm

Here’s my major tip on enjoying whale watching.

Take the largest recommended dose of dramamine an hour before you go on the boat.

The boat must hold close to a hundred people and I would guesstamate that over half of them threw up! We were in the top cabin, just behind the captain’s bridge. There were maybe fifty people in there.

Once we started hitting the larger waves out to sea, most of those fifty people in the cabin where hurling up their breakfast! Imagine the fart scene from Blazing Saddles only with barfing instead.

I wasn’t really sick, but the sound and smell of that may people vomiting all at the same time got to me. Our Granddaughter was with us and she didn’t look too good either so I, magnanimously, offered to take her out to get some fresh air.

Once we got to where the whales were, it was more interesting and easier to take your mind off the fact that any where from five to twenty people around you were holding full barf bags.

Hard to see the size, but this was maybe fifty yards away.

We did see some whales and it was pretty impressive. I never gave it much thought to the size of those animals, but when they are no more that fifty yards or closer, it became pretty evident!

Non-Porsche whale tail

I am happy to say that the trip back to Bar Harbor was easy and everyone seemed to feel better.

Remember, I don’t care how macho you are, take the damned dramamine! It may well save you from leaving your lunch on the deck!

Do you have the art of living?

You may wonder what I’m talking about. Living doesn’t have an art. You get up in the morning, you go to your job, you come home, you go to bed and start the while thing over again. Right?

At one time, I would have agreed with you. I still live that way some days. The truth is, there is an art to living; at least living a truly enjoyable life.

• A truly artful life must have passion.
• An truly artful life has attitude.
• A truly artful life must have purpose.
• A truly artful life must have joy.
• A truly artful life must have health.

Without passion, you life is dull and listless. There is nothing to get you out of bed in the morning.

Without the proper attitude, you will never fight off the negative forces that will continually try to beat you down.

Without purpose, there is no point. You look at all that goes on around you and you wonder where you place in it all is.

Without joy, the passion is false and the purpose has either eluded you, or gone sour.

Without health, mental and physical health, you struggle each day just to remain alive. The purpose, joy, and passion are shoved to the back burner.

What is artful about your life? What is there in your life that could be more artful?

P.S. You need not be afraid of leaving a comment. I really am rather friendly!

Recently, I have begun barefoot running. I’m still in the building up stage. I am building up my endurance, building up my strength, and building up the soles of my feet.

What started out as being able to walk to the end of my driveway and back has turned into running barefoot for a mile and a half in about twenty-one minutes. Not fast by any stretch, but for me, something close to a miracle.

The reason I run barefoot is because I have had a terrible time with pain in my knees and back. Why barefoot running is good for these problems is the stuff of another post or podcast.

This podcast is about why you should not let fear stop you from living your dreams.

Recently, I was talking to two women about running barefoot and the benefits. Both of them have had problems with knee pain and I can attest to what barefoot running has done for me to greatly reduce the amount of knee pain I have.

The biggest issue for both of them was fear, fear of what they might step on or in.

I assured them that the road or sidewalk was not strewn with broken glass and the droppings of various animals, but they were not reassured. One of them actually said, “What if someone spit there once?”

I bet there is not a place on this earth where you could step that someone has not spit there. It might have been a hundred or a thousand years ago, but they did. Should I be afraid to let my bare foot step there? I don’t think so.

When I see a place where an animal has crapped, someone spit, or broken glass, I don’t step there. It’s pretty easy! I enjoy different textures. Mud feels wonderful, dog poo squishing up between my toes not so much. Should this stop me from an activity that I enjoy immensely and has provided me with a level of health that I have not enjoyed in nearly twenty years?

The fear these two women had was, to my way of thinking, irrational. It was robbing them of the possible benefits of an activity.

How many times have you stopped yourself from doing something because you were afraid? Fear is not a good motivator!

Living your life in fear of things will tend to produce a life that is mind numbingly boring. Living your life in fear will tend to make you paranoid of everyone and everything. That isn’t good!

Fear has its place. If you are hiking in the woods and come face to face with a bear, fear is probably a good thing. The fear that you might see a bear and letting that fear stop you from ever venturing out into the woods or even from you home is not.

I remember when I was in high school having the fear of asking a girl on a date. I would agonize over what she might say and how I would deal with the rejection. I worried about it so much that, often, I would just give up and not ask. I’m sure I missed the opportunity of many good times with girls and never got to know because of that fear.

I can remember times when I was asked to do things and I nearly let my fear rob me of the fun.

I remember a living in an area that had a bridge that spanned a large body of water. There were often kids there jumping off the bridge. It was maybe twenty feet to the surface of the water. Kids had been doing it for years and there was nothing down there that was a danger. The biggest danger was giving yourself a terrible belly flop.

Once, I went with some friends and they began jumping right away. I wanted to! I stood there wishing I could find the nerve. After about an hour, I finally gathered up the courage and stepped off into space. The drop to the water took only a second or two, but it felt like much longer. The exhilaration was amazing!

When I surfaced, I wished I could fly back up and do it again. The swim to the shore and climb back up seemed to take much too long! Fear nearly robbed me of that.

Fear keeps us from living! We are afraid to enjoy the things that we dream of. We are afraid to live the life we want because of some imaginary situation that will probably never happen.

Mark Twain supposedly said, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”

When you look at your life and your dreams, what are you afraid of? What are the things that hold you back from doing amazing things? Are they based in any sort of reality? Are the things you fear simply possibilities that may never happen?

Why let fear stop you from living your dreams?

P.S. Leave a comment. Let me know what you think!

Do you practice Yoga? Do you go to class where you have an instructor? Well, today what I want to talk about is,

How to dress for yoga and give your instructor a break, especially if he’s a man.

Now, I teach yoga. One of the things that get me about teaching yoga is that people don’t seem to know how to dress. Especially women! Now I know this is a touchy subject.

The human body, to me, is not something that’s terrible. I used to go to nude beaches years ago and would probably be a nudist today if my wife were willing to do that.

The human body isn’t a bad thing, and yet, there is a couple of problems with some young ladies and even some older ones who come to yoga class.

Last night I taught a yoga class and it was kind of interesting. There was one young lady who came to class in very short shorts with kind of baggy open legs. The thing about this was that in many of the postures it was a little indelicate.

I also had another young lady who was, shall we say, rather well endowed in the chest department. She was wearing a very low cut top.

Now if you’ve ever done yoga you know that there are particular postures that you get into that having this kid of clothing is a problem.

Here’s the deal. In a lot of these postures, you have to move your body in such a way that, if you’re wearing inappropriate clothing you’re going to be showing a lot more than you intended.

Now this young lady with the short shorts, let me just say that, without my being a real pervert and staring, that she shaves, and don’t just mean her legs. Also, that I had to alter what I was going to have the class do because one of the postures would have put her in a position where I would have known her as well as her gynecologist! I just didn’t think that was appropriate.

Now you may be saying, “This guy is just a perv.”

Let me tell you, as a yoga instructor, you have to look at people’s bodies. You have to look at the hip area. You have to look at the chest area. Are they sticking out the chest, are they arching their back, are the shoulders down, are the collar bones wide?

These are the kinds of things that yoga instructors look at. If you’re a yoga instructor you know I’m telling the truth. I’m not pervin’ out here or making dumb excuses.

So when a person is in position, these are the areas I’m looking at.

So this gal with the short shorts, I had her in bridge pose. Bridge pose is where you have your feet on the floor and you’re laying on your back. You push with your feet and lift your hips so you are in a back bend, your shoulders are rolled under. Your hips are up in the air. I have to look to make sure you are in proper position. I was looking at areas that were a little indelicate.

The same with true of the others postures. Postures that cause the chest to come forward and the weight is down. Like down dog. If the lady is wearing a low cut top and is well endowed, it can be a problem.

Last night, with the lady with the low cut top, one of the times I thought, “My God, I think her nipples are going to pop out! If they do, what am I going to do? I’m gonna notice and everyone else is going to notice. I’ll probably never have her in class again because she’ll be so embarrassed and besides that, she’ll probably slap the crap out of me on the way out!”

Well just don’t wear that kind of stuff and it won’t be a problem!

I have to look at body parts. It’s happened to me. I’m looking to make sure that shoulders are down, collar bones are wide and I get a look like, “Quit scopin’ out my tits, man!”

Just don’t have ‘em hanging out there then! Okay.

So, when you go to yoga class ladies, and it happens for guys too. I mean, you’re wearing short shorts with no underwear and you have testicular escapation! Dress appropriately!

This is a tough one. I understand, you want to wear something low cut because it’s hot, especially in the summer! If I had my way, I don’t care, come to class topless, but then don’t get pissed if I look!

Wear loose fitting clothes and wear something comfortable. For goodness sake, if you don’t want people seeing various parts of you, dress appropriately!

P.S. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think. If you think I’m just a perv, say so, I want to hear it. Don’t forget to sign up for updates!

I’m not going to transcribe this one. I know that’s a big no no, but I could never write the passion I have for this subject. The fact that exercise is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves would not come through with the same fire! The video isn’t that long.

P.S. Don’t forget to leave a comment or story of your own!

The title of this post is a bit deceptive. I don’t think there is any other way to succeed. Normalcy usually means fitting in with everybody else. If you do that in the blogging world, or in any area for that matter, you will disappear. Don’t be normal!

How To Not Be Normal And Succeed!

One of the things that I have struggled with the most, and still do, is wanting to fit in. I don’t mean so that I can be just like everyone else, but how do I fit in the blogging world and how do I fit in in helping others. What makes you want to read my blog, watch my videos over anyone else? Sure, I’m forty years older than most of them, but that doesn’t exactly make me cool. (Maybe it does!)

I think nearly all of us who are working at this blogging thing can feel the suck of the quick sand that is called fitting in. We strive all our lives to be “normal” to fit in, to be part of the crowd, only to find that this strips us of our individuality and our uniqueness. It doesn’t make us more acceptable, it makes us disappear.

An example

I remember a guy who transferred into our high school my senior year. Yeah, we did have high school back then. We just had to chase the dinosaurs away for football.

Anyway, I remember this guy. He was so unique! In our school we had the hippie group and the jocks. This guy didn’t fit in either. He didn’t want to. He was who he was and he made no apologies. Pretty soon, like within a month, he was the most popular kid in school. He didn’t try to be like everybody else and everybody else wanted to be like him, different.

What’s my point?

My point is, don’t try to be like everyone else. Be yourself. I see people get on the net and push their blog and it is no different that ten thousand others in the niche. Let’s say their thing is cats. The first thing you know they are reviewing the same cat scratcher thingies that everyone else is. Gag me! Be authentic, it is much more enjoyable!

Tell everyone that your thing is learning how to get your cat so high on catnip that she gets a glazed look in her eye and attacks the neighbor’s Doberman like she’s a frickin’ mountain lion! (Don’t be afraid to use run-on sentences!)

Every time I see my stats go down, I go back over my posts and videos that I’ve done and usually, what I see is that I have fallen into the same mindless crap that everyone else is doing.

When I start getting lots of hits and comments, it is when I have stepped away from the crowd and been my very own self. (I feel a lot better too!)

I read recently that one of the keys to success is to stand out from the crowd. See what I’m sayin’?

This ain’t Kansas anymore!

Some of the giants in the blogging world today had it easy. They were the first. There was no one like them. Now I’m not saying they don’t have good content, but when they started, they had much less competition. How many bloggers do you think there were in your niche ten years ago as opposed to today.

Don’t be normal, be abinormal!

(anyone seen Young Frankenstein?)

In today’s world, ya gotta stick out or you’ll be stuck! Actually, I don’t think that has ever been untrue. It is for those who dare to stick out that greatness comes!

There is an old saying that says if you stick out, you’ll be knocked down. That may be true, but in the world of blogging, if you don’t stick out, no one will notice you. I would rather be knocked down than ignored!

Don’t Be Normal!!!

P.S. What experiences have you had in sticking out or not being normal and having it work to your advantage. Leave a comment and share it with us!