Thought for the Day - Life Metaphors

"Approach life as a game with growth as the objective. If you do you"ll put yourself in the right frame of mind to engage in and enjoy the adventure, whatever it brings."
Dan Sullivan

Thought for the Day - Raise the Bar

" A funny thing happens when you raise the bar. People find a way to get over it, once they realize it's expected. Human beings can do amazing things - if they are asked to."
John Powers

Thought for the Day - Resourceful Mind

"The more positive your system of beliefs, the more overall belief you will have in you ability to control your destiny. Likewise, the more you believe you have the power to control your destiny, the more expansive your mental paradigm will be; the less you are imprisoned by preconceived notions. What all this leads to is a "resourceful mind", a mind that is willing to consider virtually all possibilities."
Robert J. Ringer

Thought for the Day - Attitude

"Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one attitudes in any given circumstances, to choose one's own way."
Viktor Frankel

Thought for the Day - Accept Responsibility

"The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs."

--Joan Didion

No Excuses.......

Thanks to Tom Hill's Friday Eaglezine.

http://www.tomhillwebsite.com/

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Sade

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - The Bottle

Thought for the Day - Contribution

"Everyone has the need to contribute. It is one of the six human needs. If you give from your heart, it will come back to you tenfold."
Anthony Robbins

Thought for the Day - Perspective and Blessings

I'm reading a book " Fist Stick Knife Gun", a sociological memoir by Geoffrey Canada about growing up in the South Bronx. Mr Canada grew up in the South Bronx around the same time I did. He tells a story of a crooked finger he got around 1964 and he writes... " The slight deformity is such a small price to have paid for growing up in the South Bronx. So many others paid with their lives. Many who are still alive are addicted to drugs or are in jail, or have AIDS, or are debilitated by mental or physical injuries - all traceable back to the South Bronx. I feel so lucky to have only a part of one finger as the toll I paid to make it out. But I don't want to forget what life was like. There was a time when getting out of the South Bronx was a distant dream, one you kept in the back of your mind. Fear and the struggle to survive were ever present realities."

Very true. I recently heard about a friend I grew up with in the South Bronx who just died from an OD. It puts things in perspective and makes you appreciate your blessings. I guess given where I came from I especially have a lot to be grateful for.

Geoffrey Canada has went on to be a role model for education reform and continues to change the lives of young people. He is the CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone. Look at the great work he does.

http://www.hcz.org/what-is-hcz/about-geoffrey-canada

Thought for the Day - Learn From Mistakes

"It's all right to get your fingers crushed in the door, but don't let the same door crush them twice."
T Boone Pickens

Thought for the Day - My Personal Philosophy

I have developed my personal philosophy and beliefs for life the hard way. Some I have borrowed, some I have made up. Some of my key core principles are:

Make Your Life a Masterpiece
The Glass is 3/4's Full
DI - Daily Improvement
CANI - Constant and Never Ending Improvement
Maybe Yes, Maybe No
It's not a Problem, It's a Challenge
There's Always a Way and Always a Solution
Be Grateful
Adopt Empowering Beliefs
Develop a Phd in Results
Use Common Sense
Use Street Sense
No Excuses
No Whining
Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway
KISS - Keep it Simple Sammy
Treat others the way you want to be treated
Be Respectful
Step Up
Be a Leader

These and a few others guidelines support me in how I try to conduct my life.

Thought For The Day - Life isn't Things

Life Isn't Things and Things Aren't Life.

That's important to remember in this time of financial uncertainty. I know what it is like to have nothing. I've been there for a lot longer that I liked. But at my lowest point where I had less than $10 to my name I learned the best lesson of my life. I learned that even in that moment I was very fortunate. I had my health, I had hope, I had dreams and I had the possibility of turning it around and I did. Now I have a lot more than I had then and today while I value and promote prosperity I also understand life is much more than things and possessions.
Life is about what you accomplish, who you love, what you give back and what legacy you leave behind.
So today I chose to focus on what I can do not on what I lost in the economic downturn.

Book Review - The Drinking Life

I just finished reading Pete Hamil's "The Drinking Life", a memoir of his life growing up as an Irish- American kid in Brooklyn.
I remember reading Pete Hamil's columns in the New York newspapers when i was in my 20's. I used to enjoy his writing at the time and appreciated how he worked his way up from his working class roots to be a journalist. I remember that Pete Hamil and another journalist Jimmy Breslin stood out for their working class style of writing and and their Irish roots.
Reading the book triggered a lot of my own personal memories growing up in the South Bronx. Pete's book brings to life his Irish-American experiences in Brooklyn and his struggle of being torn between two worlds, the working class world of Brooklyn and the middle class world of Manhattan. He also struggled with two identities, one the neighborhood guy vs the educated artist guy.
Of course his biggest struggle is summed up in the title "The Drinking Life". Well for most of his life he just gave in to alcohol and was "Living in the Bottle" as Gil Scott Heron used to say. Yet he reached a turning point and made a decision at that moment to change his life and he did. How he changed from a drinker to a non- drinker is different and I know a few people in my life who did the same.
The book is a very good read and also give the reader a historical context to his life. His story is a fascinating story in how he built a life and how he life spiraled from dropping out of high school to working in the Navy Yards, going to art school, joining the Navy and finally becoming a journalist and a writer.
One story that stands out for me is when he took his father back to Belfast Ireland in 1963 for the first time since his father left in 1932. The description of hearing the news that John F Kennedy was shot on the TV in Belfast was a powerful moment. It also crystalized his life long struggle and relationship with his father.
A lot of this book has a very personal connection to my life. Growing up the son of Irish immigrants in the Bronx, I went through a lot of similar struggles and a few different ones. I was from the next generation after Pete Hamil which brought some unique challenges for my life. I had to construct a successful life with no role models and no idea of how you achieve it.
I will be sharing a lot of these stories as I embark on my writing project this year.
If you are interested in memoirs I suggest you read Pete Hamil's book....

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Flashdance

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Living in America

And Then There's Magazines

Right now I subscribe to and read the following magazines:

Success
Fast Company
Wired
INC
MovieMaker
DV
UP3Date
Markee

and I also read a few other magazines that I don't subscribe to. Too much to read too little time....

Books, Books, Books - Scratch Beginnings

My passion for reading started with Marvel comics when I was a kid. It accelerated when I dropped out of high school at age fifteen. It continued when I finally went on to college ten years later and continues to today. I once said that my image of heaven is a huge bookstore and I get to read every book ever written.

So I Just added another book to my reading list. It's a really long list and I know it just keeps growing and I'll never finish reading all the books on it. But I'll enjoy the journey.....



"Scratch Beginnings" seems like an interesting story of a young student on a journey to see if the American Dream is still alive. He starts out with only $25 and the clothes on his back and sees if he can work his way out of homelessness in a year. I'll review it after I read it.

Thought For The Day - Point of View

How do you see the world? Are you like a frog in a well or an eagle?
How you see the world comes from the perspective you have. It can come from either your personal experiences or how much you learn from others experiences. try to expand your perspective and point of view. Learn to see things from many sides not just one.
Choose a perspective that allows you to see things from above with the broadest perspective possible. Be an eagle not a frog.

Thought For The Day - Do it

"there is no try, there is only to do or do not."
Yoda

Thought For The Day - Lead Don't Follow

It is in times of turmoil, crisis and challenge that leaders and leadership are needed. Leaders are the ones that keep their head in the middle of the storm. They keep things in perspective and look to find solutions. Everyone of us has the potential to be leaders in our families and in our lives. Think and act like a leader and not a follower. Step up.