Life is not always a bed of clovers…..

If you could go back, would you?

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We ventured out with our friend Tiny to see Cloverfield yesterday.
Since some of you may not have seen the movie yet, I will only touch on one aspect of the plot.
Going back for someone.
The movie left us asking who we would go back for at the risk of our own lives, if anyone.
Or would we run to safety, every man or woman for ourselves.

It is hard for me to imagine being a hero when faced with the sudden introduction of a life-threatening experience.
If I were in the military, or FBI or other form of position where when you sign on you know you may be asked to be a hero, then maybe....
For people who do this for a living, it seems easier to imagine they would be able to more easily goback for someone.

But for the every day person, who without preparation is faced with a life and death decision it is more likely they would run.

The only thing that may stop them if they are able to think, would be…
Could you live with yourself knowing you might have saved someone but only thought of themselves or
Would you rather die trying?

Is there anyone in this world you love enough to die for?

Is your love of life or yourself always first?

If you have not found someone you would die for, are you missing something?

Really tough questions….

These are questions most people would not want to answer honestly in front of the people in their lives they say they love.

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The new TV show “Moment of Truth”, is basing its back account on our desire to find out the deepest darkest secrets in other people’s lives.

The show is paying people to hurt people they care about with the truth.

Unless they are able to find someone who is so pure of mind and actions, the show will let us see one disappointing example after another of what we are really capable of.

I would not go on the show. I don’t think I would ever be desperate enough to hurt people I care about in front of the entire world for profit.

So as you are reading this, you are probably wondering if I believe I love someone enough to go back for them.

I think I do and would. I think I would try.

I have only been in one life-threatening situation where a gun was pointed at me and you knew it was a life and death moment.

I can still smell the energy of danger when I think back on that day.

You become a different person when faced with death.

It is surprising what that brings out in you.

I will not spoil the ending of Cloverfield for you.

I will leave you with this question though.

Is there anyone you love enough to go back for?

The Apprentice- Can't We Just KISS and Make Up?

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I have to say that I do not like the image that Donald Trump portrays but at the same time I am thankful he does what he does.

Donald, through his show “The Apprentice” gives us a contrived glimpse into human psychology as well as what makes American businesses work.

I really don’t have a problem with Reality TV.

I know it is a step above “Professional Wrestling”.

Since I know that much of what is shown on “The Apprentice” has been well-thought out for what makes people watch Reality TV, I don’t expect it to be a totally honest view.

At the same time, there are elements of the show that do remind us of what people are capable of.

One of the things my husband excels in is understanding the nature of people.

Most of the time he also is very good with attracting people and building relationships,
unless he does not want to.

With a look and a raised eye brow he can shut down the most arrogant of individuals.

Enter Gene Simmons.

I have got to say that I totally respect that Gene likes being independent. He knows that his success is in large part from believing in himself even when no one else does.
He is like an old lion that needs to still know he can and will roar when needed and eat you alive if you get in his way.

Gene Simmons got fired on the show last night. Mostly because Gene really believed in his idea and did not care if the customer, in this case Kodak, was happy with his idea.

Gene believed he was right. End of story.

What I liked most about Gene was that he knew he would be fired and he did not care.
He was not going to point the finger at anyone else or play the game of defending his right to stay on the show. He had an idea that he believed in and it was all or nothing.

Passion…Without it...creative visionaries perish.

Gene would rather leave with his passion than become a politician and compromise his beliefs.

Passion no matter what is not a great thing but, since Gene was not passionate about being evil, I kind of admire his decision.

Life is too short to live without passion.

It is important to be coachable and humble, not strengths of Gene, but those things alone without passion and not as interesting as what we saw last night.

I have got to take my hat off to Donald. I don’t know you and don’t think I would like everything about you if I met you. You likely would not be impressed with me.

However, you made me watch...I learned some things...
and I was most highly entertained!.

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New Neighbors

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We are expecting that the house next to ours will be filled with new neighbors any day now.
We are trying to be optimistic about this.
After all, the odds are catching up with us that our new neighbors will be fun, easy to get along with and potentially even friends.

How may times can different people move in next to you who are not fun, easy to get along with and friend challenged?
We have got to believe that these new neighbors will not shoot bottle rockets onto our new roof.
They will not drive across our grass to part their cars because they did not want to ask their kids to move their cars out of the way.
They will not have cats that sleep on our cars and scratch the paint.
The wife will not hit on the teenage boys in the neighborhood.
The husband will not try to sell you a $1200 vacuum and then get mad when you don’t want to buy it.

I could go on.

The tough part here is that we really don’t think we are better than other people.
We don’t think we are the perfect people.
We know we are kinda weird in our own way.

I think we are nice people.

I hope the new neighbors will at least be nice.

3 out of 3 of our last few neighbors have really had some major things going on.

Hopefully, even if these new people are going through some stuff, they will be easy to get along with.

I feel like flying

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I am sure all of us have had dreams that we were flying.
Some of us were caught up in a peaceful supernatural experience where
we had the ability to fly.
Some of us were able to enjoy the sensations that come to those who can fly.
Some of us, are not able to relax because although the flying part was fun, the fear
of falling and not being able to land safely took away from the moment.

So, we may be tempted to stop the dream of flying because of fear of harm.
We somehow can imagine flying, but can’t imagine controlling that ability.

Sadly, we do this same thing in so many ways in other parts of our lives.
We don’t love with abandon because we might get hurt.
We don’t try new classes because we might like what we are learning and then what?
We might have to spend more time or money on something that is not a part of our current life plan.

It sounds so simple to think if I can imagine flying I will of course imagine a way to land safely.

After all, I am not into pain.

So why not imagine all things are possible and only for good.

If I can imagine loving with passion, why not imagine that the pleasure will outweigh all pain. In fact, why imagine there will be any pain?

I got my husband a flying lesson for his birthday. My dad who I admire greatly said to me, “You know, he might like this. He might want to keep taking flying lessons.”

To which, I said, “Sounds like a good thing in a gift. That he will like it so much he will want to do it again. After all I trust my husband. If he wants to do something, he will figure out a way.”

So, today….I feel like flying!

No- I am not taking a flying lesson myself.

I want to feel like I can imagine flying and safely landing in every new thing that comes my way.

It is a very powerful commodity, hope.

Why not hope…and of course only hope for good things.

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