The Early Morning Shift

There are some major advantages of working the early shift at work.

First off, the traffic is very light, so it takes a lot less time to get to work and you don't have to deal with all the crazy drivers.

Secondly, you get to choose your choice parking spot; no need for parking out in the boondocks.

Thirdly, it is quiet at work and you can't even imagine how much work you can get done without interruptions.

Fourthly, you get to see the sunrise. And may I say, today's sunrise was one you did not want to miss. The clouds in the sky were pink and purple against the blue sky. One word can describe it - Wow.

Fifthly, if you are lucky, you get to leave early and you don't have to deal with the traffic. See first point.

With all that good, your day can't help but start off right.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. And since you are up for the early shift, you might as well perform the act early and make someone's day start off right.

Remember to Take Time For Yourself

I owe, I owe, so off to work I go. Like I blogged earlier, most of us have to work. Work pays the bills. Hopefully, your job is something you enjoy doing because you are there the majority of your waking hours during the week. But work should not be the only thing you do.

Make sure that you take time to smell the coffee and the other fun things in life. Spend time with your spouse and family. Take time to have a bbq or go to the park and have a picnic. Check out downtown or go to the farmer's market. Take time and listen to music. Okay, maybe you and your kids don't listen to the same kind of music any more.

Life is short. Enjoy the ride and remember to take some time for yourself. Life is not all about work.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It not only is good for the other person, but good for you as well.

Life is a Journey

Life is a journey. Enjoy it. It is not the ends.

Challenges make life's journey less mundane and make us enjoy the good things and sometimes the mundaneness. When things don't go right, don't dwell on your unhappiness, but learn from it so it does not happen again. You can also pass on your experience to your kids, friends, or strangers so they don't have to learn the same lesson the hard way.

Good things happen in life. Enjoy them. They make us forget about the bad things that happen. Don't take them for granted. You don't know when the next good thing is going to happen.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It will make their journey a little less challenging, even if it is just for a day.

Carpe Diem

Carpe Diem - seize the day, as most of us know it. We are not guaranteed tomorrow. I don't mean that you have carte blanche and you should live an existential life style. What I do mean is that you need to make the most of everyday and tell your loved ones that you love them everyday, because you might not get the chance after that.

Make sure you spend time with your kids, because before you know it, they are going to be all grown up and you will wonder where the time went and how they grew up so fast. Don't forget to tell them that you love them everyday.

Call your mom and dad and let them know that you love them as well. You know it has been a while since you have. Carpe diem and do it.

Don't let anger and sorrow rule your day. You have too many blessings to let that happen. If someone gave you $86,400 with the stipulaton that you had to spend it all that day and enjoy it or you could not have it, would you take the money? Most people would take the money and run. This being said, there are 86,400 seconds in a given day (daylights savings days excluded) and you should enjoy them; don't sweat the small stuff. Carpe diem.

Do something nice for someone you love. It will make you feel good twice. Once for just being able to something nice for that someone special. The second good feeling is seeing the happiness that it brings that love one. When you do, you spend your time wisely and have seized the moment.

Seize the day and make someone's day by performing a random act of kindness. It is time well spent.

Forty-two ...

Anyone who knows me personally knows my favorite answer to any question is 42. The meaning of life, the universe and everything - from the book and movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

I try to categorize life's issues into elephants and goldfish. Elephants are obviously the big issues and goldfish are the small ones. If you take care of the elephants, the goldfish will take care of themselves. You will find out that you really don't have that many elephants. Don't sweat the small stuff.

Do you know the secret of life? It's one thing, just one thing. If you stick to that one thing, everything else will work itself out. I bet you want to know what that one thing is don't you? I am glad you do, but that is something that you have to find out for yourself, because it is different for everyone. Keep an open mind and heart and you will find it; probably in the most unexpected place.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. You just might find the secret of life or provide the answer for someone else.

Kill Them With Kindess

Sometimes people don't do what you expect them to do. And sometimes people don't act the way you expect them to act. Everyone has freewill, so we can anticipate how some is going to act or react in any given situation, but we can seldom force someone to do something they don't want to do.

If someone acts in way that you don't like or is not especially favorable, kill them with kindness. Just because someone else acts badly, does not mean you can or should. If someone is frowning, smile back at them. If someone takes your pencil, ask them if they need an eraser. They will often wonder why you can be positive in a negative moment. By being positive, you can possibly have a bigger impact on the person's life than by any negative issues going on in life at the present time. You can slay the negativeness with your kindness.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness and kill their negativity.

Role Model

Being a role model is a full time job - 24/7 and 365 - especially when you are a parent. Your kids watch everything you do and try to mimic it as well. Don't let your guard done, because they don't turn off their eyes, minds and memories.

I am a believer in the model that I don't expect anyone to do anything that I have not done or am not willing to do myself. Others believe in the model that they will take on other tasks so they do not have to do something they don't like to do. Just don't pick the model where you expect everyone else to do everything for you.

I help coach youth basketball at my church as well as coach 6th grade girls basketball for one of the local high school affiliations. Being the basketball coach not only means teaching the kids how to be players on the court, but also how they should act on and off the court. You are not just their coach, you are a role model. They are always watching you whether you want them to or not. So if you want them to always perform well, you need to as well.

One of the hardest lessons to teach the kids is just because another team or player does it, does not mean that you can and/or should do it. In basketball, I believe in letting my skills do the talking on the court rather than talking smack. This is a lesson that I try to teach all my players. Make the other team respect you for your abilities. It's not always the cool thing to do, but it is the right thing. Other kids look at athletes as role models; so you never know how many kids are going to be affected by the way you act and teach your athletes.

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. You never know who is watching and they just might do the same for someone else.

Count Your Blessings ...

In my opinion, the good things in life are the things that should be sensationalized.

What comes around goes around.

If you do good for people, generally, good things start to happen. It's kind of like the old Suave shampoo commercial. You do something good for two people, and they do good things for two people, and so on and so on. Ok, maybe I am showing my age and the younger generation has no idea what a Suave commercial is because they Tivo and don't watch commercials, even the old ones on tvland.

If you are having one of those days, count the blessings you received so far that day, and you will realize that the day is really not one of those days. If you wake up and see a wonderful sunrise, then you can add two to your tally for blessings for the day. If you were able to tell your wife or husband and/or kid(s) you love them before going to work - add at least two more - one for your family and one for your job. If you are able to stop at Starbucks and get a coffee on the way to work, you probably can add 2 more blessings to your tally for the day - the first one is that you have a car that is working. And the second is you can afford to get that coffee drink that you like so much.

Life is good. When you think that it is not so good, start counting your blessings. Before you even get to work, you probably have at least 6 blessings that you can count. By the time the end of the day comes along, you will most likely have more blessings that you care to count. :-)

Make someone's day and perform a random act of kindness. It just might be the blessing that someone needs.