36525 days to live

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up”

Pablo Picasso

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Child with a dove

If you dream of becoming an artist; a painter, a writer, a musician, an actor or an actress; what prevents you from using your free time to get started?

All of us have some free time. I know  most of us will tell others how very busy we are. The truth is that we are very good at making excuses.

I’m too tired…I don’t have enough money… I’m too old… I’m too young…My spouse won’t let me… It’s too expensive to take lessons… fill in the blank here ________________

How can some of us spend so much time watching TV, complain about our problems or gossip about others?

Why is it that some people seem to find the time to do things that they really care about for themselves or for others?

Each one of us have spare time to pursue our dream.

All we have to do is…to actually start.

Isn’t it ironic that someone who apparently didn’t want  to become popular had in time evolved into a cultural icon?

Is it possible that when we say NO to fame and public recognition that it is exactly what we will attract?

PJ 20 is a rockumentary that explains the evolution of the american rock band Pearl Jam.

It presents the evolution of a band of young people from obscurity to fame and than to maturity.

It shows the effect of time on the behavior of rock stars who tried to do it their way. With a minimum of compromise.

The end result?

A cult following!

Just like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Ramones and The Grateful Dead before them.

I once read somewhere that the genius of  Shakespeare wasn’t fully recognized before 200 years after he died.

So if ever you find yourself working in obscurity, try to remember

that the long term effect of your work may be recognized over time.

Yes, but what if it doesn’t get recognized?

The most important question, I believe is the following:

Are you having fun as you are working on your art?

If the answer is YES, then you are not wasting your time…

Life is a song – sing it.
Life is a game – play it.
Life is a challenge – meet it.
Life is a dream – realize it.
Life is a sacrifice – offer it.
Life is love – enjoy it.

 Sai Baba

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“It is neither wealth nor splendor, but tranquility and occupation, which give happiness”

Thomas Jefferson

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Thomas Jefferson was describing the “Flow” before it was clearly defined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.

According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task.

Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be on the ball, in the zone, in the groove, or keeping your head in the game.

(source: Wikipedia, english, May 18, 2010)

How often are you experiencing the Flow?

When you are in the flow: what do you see yourself doing?

When I cannot control events, I let events control themselves.

What else could I do?

Get angry?

Become frustrated?

Be impatient?

Blame others?

Shouldn’t we focus on what we can control instead?

Wouldn’t it be a better use of our precious time and energy?

If you know you will laugh at what’s happening to you in a year, two years or 5 years,

Why not try to laugh about it now?

Let the Universe manage itself. It always had. It always will.

“The future will depend on what we do in the present”

Mahatma Gandhi

(1869-1948)

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We all know this, it is so simple to understand when we read it. However, the challenge is not only to read it and understand it, the real challenge is to practice what we understand so well.

Yes, practice it day in day out, especially when you have distractions, a bad day or a good day.

Whatever is your dream, your project, your goal, pursue it relentlessly without wasting time.

You need a burning desire to keep you absorbed and focused, even when you have so many responsibilities and distractions.

Will you?

On my way to work this morning, I could have got killed by a flying wheelbarrow!

No, I didn’t take any drugs this morning.

This is what happened:

As I was driving on this wonderful Metropolitan highway in Montreal, three of four cars in front of me started to move from left to right crossing the lines. They looked like drunk drivers racing in all directions.

If I wasn’t fully awake at this point, this really got my attention.

All in a sudden, I see it, the Flying Wheelbarrow!

It is now me who starts driving in different directions to avoid the flying and bouncing wheelbarrow.

I was fortunate enough to be able to avoid with my car.

After this incident, I started to imagine what could have happened if I didn’t.

What if the wheelbarrow had hit the windshield of my car?

Would I have been able to keep control of my vehicle?

What if the other drivers had lost control of their vehicles at 90 Km/ hour?

What if I would have been distracted at this specific moment?

The lesson that I have re-learned this morning is to always give my full attention while driving my car.

The other lesson  reminds me once again that we never know what to expect in life.

This is why it is important to live every day to the fullest in the best possible ways.

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P.S. How did the wheelbarrow ended up on the highway?

Someone didn’t tie it up properly in the trunk of their pick-up truck.

“Forget the mistakes and the disappointments of the past.

It has nothing to do with your future.

Everyday is a new day. Just move on!”

Stephen Lafond

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“When you find yourself stressed out, ask yourself this question: Will this matter five years from now?

If yes, then do something about the situation. If no, then let it go.”

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“What it lies in our power to do, it lies in our power not to do”

Aristotle

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To choose or not to choose?

To invest or to spend?

To compliment or to criticize?

To exercise or to be lazy?

To eat healthy food or junk food?

To study or to watch TV?

To smile or to look sad?

To look at things positively or to look at them negatively?

To feel gratitude or to complain?

To look forward or to look back?

To use our time in a smart way or to waste our limited time?

What will you choose?

I do not usually promote Hollywood movies on this blog, but this will be an exception.

WARRIOR is a very inspiring movie. It is all about hope, courage and dealing with the hand that fate gives you.

I recommend that you go see this movie as soon as you can if you like  the edge of your seat type of movie.  

It will be a good investment of your time.

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Warrior is a 2011 American action drama film about mixed martial arts released on September 9, 2011 by Lionsgate. It stars Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte, Joel Edgerton, Justin Berg, Jennifer Morrison, and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling combatantKurt Angle. The film was directed by Gavin O’Connor and produced by Greg O’Connor.

Do you remember where you were and what you were doing on September 11, 2001?

I do!

I was at work and we were watching the TV and everything appeared unreal.

Thousands of people have lost their lives quickly and unexpectedly that morning.

It reminds me that we have less control on our lives that we like to think.

It reminds me once again how fast life goes by when I realize it’s already been 10 years since the event.

Today, it is all over the medias.

This is the noisy and public thing to do.

Today, I encourage you to have a moment of silence by yourself remembering all the victims, their families and all the helpers that lost their lives in that tragedy.

There is only one time that is important – NOW!
It is the most important time because
it is the only time that we have any power.

Leo Tolstoy

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A  man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.

Charles Darwin

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I think he was!

Life is too short, time is too precious,
and the stakes are too high
to dwell on what might have been.

Hilary Clinton.

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The words from the title were taken from the lyrics of the famous song MY WAY from Frank Sinatra.

Don’t fight against time.

Why?

Because you will lose for sure.

Time enjoyed is never time wasted.

Enjoyment of the moment always wins!

Once you have mastered time,
you will understand how true it is that
most people overestimate what
they can accomplish in a year –
and underestimate what
they can achieve in a decade!

Tony Robbins

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I think this is one of the reasons why we give up with some of our best intentions.

We have a tendency to start strong and when obstacles and difficulties arise, we stop.

It is in this way that we overestimate what we can accomplish.

I’ll give you an exemple… every year in January, the fitness clubs are extremely busy

and by mid-February, we see only the regular members working out.

What happened to the new comers?

They started strong and they stopped exercising after a few weeks.

Perhaps they were looking for a quick fix.

Quick fixes rarely work.

Most of us have our areas of our lives where we start something and don’t finish.

Examples?

Learning a new language, reading books regularly, spending time with our children,

investing in our education,eating healthier food.

You can  jot down your own here___________________________________ .

These are all examples of habits that we  must acquire over a long period of time if we want to witness some major change in our lives.

What we really underestimate is what discipline and persistence can do for us over many years.

But how do we become disciplined and persistent?

I think one of the best ways is to keep a long term vision of what we strongly desire.

Personally, I keep a picture of what I strongly desire and keep it in a place where I can see it regularly.

I write down clearly what I want to improve or what I want to accomplish.

I find ways to measure the activities and the progress towards my goal.

How else could I really know if I’m moving in the right direction?

It seems to me that almost every thing that I write down has a tendency to become a reality over the years.

In this way,I totally agree with Tony Robbins and his quote.

I suggest you read his quote again, even better, write it  down and keep it in a place where you can read again.

“It is our choices … that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

J. K. Rowling (Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets)

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All the abilities and talents in the world will not bring us anything if there is no action.

Action requires choices.

With choices come risks, and with risks come uncertainty.

But who can live a life without any risk?

Many of us spend and waste a lot of time thinking that things will be better WHEN we lose weight, get promoted, move into a nicer place, make more money, get married, have children, get out of debt, have more free time, get the kids out of the house, retire, recover from a specific injury, illness, or whatever else it is we think needs to change in order for us to be happy.

Life is not “WHEN” ; it is TODAY.

Stephen Lafond

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“Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hope for.”

Epicurus

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Epicurus ( 341 BCE – 270 BCE) was an ancient Greek philosopher and the founder of the school of philosophy called Epicureanism. Only a few fragments and letters remain of Epicurus’s 300 written works. Much of what is known about Epicurean philosophy derives from later followers and commentators.

For Epicurus, the purpose of philosophy was to attain the happy, tranquil life, characterized by ataraxia—peace and freedom from fear—and aponia—the absence of pain—and by living a self-sufficient life surrounded by friends. He taught that pleasure and pain are the measures of what is good and evil, that death is the end of the body and the soul and should therefore not be feared, that the gods do not reward or punish humans, that the universe is infinite and eternal, and that events in the world are ultimately based on the motions and interactions of atoms moving in empty space.

Source. Wikipedia, Sept 3, 2011.

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The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.

 Sydney Harris

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It is when we are the busiest that we should take time to rest.

It seems like a waste of time at first, but when we rest, we come back stronger, more creative and more resilient.

When we alternate intense activity with period of rest, the pause in between gives us an opportunity to evaluate if what we are doing still makes sense.

This concept applies to intellectual activities as well as physical activities.

The best time to relax is before you need to relax.

The best time to rest is before you need to rest.

“No matter how small and unimportant what we are doing may seem, if we do it well, it may become the step that will lead us to better things.”

Channing Pollock

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I don’t feel like doing this job, it’s too boring…

I have too much skills or experience to lower myself on this task…

Why don t you ask so and so to work on this thing…

If we want to know how someone will handle larger tasks and responsibilities, we observe how the same person handles small and less important jobs. If the person has a tendency to cut corners and complain most of the time about what they have to do, why would we want to give them better and bigger responsibilities?

Doing what we don’t feel like doing ASAP is a good way to save time and to reduce the stress in our lives.

Just Do It !

“To choose time is to save time”

Francis Bacon (1561-1626)

English philosopher

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It’s all about choices! At every moment, we must choose.

Choose to eat well. Choose to sleep enough. Choose to be physically active. Choose to learn some new skills. Choose to teach to younger people. Choose to be friendly. Choose to be patient. Choose to give. Choose to relax. Choose, choose, choose.

We each have to make our own choices individually.

Which choice will you make today?

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

Confucius

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We are so good at making  life complicated. Don’t you find it amazing that we can send people on the moon and bring them back and yet,  so many of us have a hard time dealing with our day to day lives?

Do I always choose correctly, obviously NO.

Do I always practice what I preach, unfortunately NO.

And by becoming aware of this, I keep improving every day.

I control what I eat, drink or don’t drink. I decide to exercise or not to exercise. I can waste time surfing the web aimlessly or I can read good books with a clear objective in mind. I can stay by myself or meet with interesting people. I can take some classes or stay ignorant. I can be generous or greedy. I can be patient or impatient. I can be angry or peaceful. I can be dissatisfied or thankful.  I can be optimistic or negative. I control with who I want to spend time with and who I don’t want to spend time with. I decide who can influence me and who can’t . These choices are mine and mine alone most of the time.

What will your choices be today?

“People say that what we’re all seeking is meaning for life….

I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive.”

Joseph Campbell

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“Do not allow the little things of today to disturb you.”

Author unknown

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When an issue upsets you, try to remember how small and insignificant that issue is in comparison to what other people are going through all over the world. Some people have no food, no water, no shelter, no health…is your problem really that important?

Why do we give so much time and attention to the little things?

Why are the causes of disagreement so often on the little things?

Why don’t we invest our time on the real important issues of our lives?

“As a rule, men worry more about what they can’t see than about what they can.”

Julius Caesar

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Why do we worry so much?

What do we get out of it?

What’s in it for us?

It is true that we worry more about the unseen and the unknown.

Many people who have written or spoken about worry have told the statistics story. The earliest source that we could find of the story and most probable author was Thomas S. Kepler. He wrote about a woman who realized fears were ruining her life. She began to keep track of what was worrying her and she found:

40% of the things she worried about were about things that would never happen.

30% of the things she worried about were about things that had already happened, water under the bridge.

12% of the things she worried about were about others’ opinion. When she thought about it, she realized that criticisms are often made by those that are jealous or insecure; therefore unjust criticism is a disguised compliment.

10% of the things she worried about were needless health worries, which made her health worse as she worried.

8% of the things she worried about were “legitimate,” since life has some real problems to meet.

If you consider the above as probable statistics, it would seem that only 8% of the things that you worry about are worth the worry. Next time you are worried about something, perform a check to see if the worry is in a category other then the 8% category and if it is, perhaps logic will help free you from the worry.

Will this matter a year from now?

How much time do you spend worrying?