Who Cares - What Matters
Well?
Too Busy?
Too Bored?
Too Dumb?
Too Late?
Too Early?
Too Weak?
Too Poor?
Too Short?
Too Slow?
Too Preoccupied?
Too Tired?
Too Distracted?
Too Extended?
Too Infamous?
Too Misinformed?
Too Conceited?
Too Proud?
T O O. . .______________________
What’s your BLANK?
What’s your Alibi(S)?
What’s your Excuse (S)?
The greatest, most horrific problem with an Alibi–They’re highly contagious and severely TERMINAL!
There’s only one Cure for Alibi(S)
…Never Succumbing to a single one. . .
E V E R!
Movies.
The very first movie ever made was in 1878, THE HORSE IN MOTION.
I know nothing of it, and most likely, you don’t either. You probably haven’t heard of the first movie ever shot in the USA, MONKEYSHINES NO. 1 (1889 or 1890).
You might not know of the movie that just came out last weekend or hundreds sitting in your local REDBOX or the thousands that can be downloaded via NETFLIX.
The only movie you might KNOW and know intimately is the one of your very own life. The one that plays every day in your heart, projected on the screen of your Soul and needs seeing than more of just your eyes.
So, which Movie, or parts of a Movie, bests describes THAT Movie of YOU?
Is it something from, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE? PATCH ADAMS? ROCKY? DANCES WITH WOLVES? STAR WARS? MARTY? THE ARTIST? KING OF KINGS? SIMON BIRCH? THE MIGHTY? PATCHY ADAMS? MRS. DOUBTFIRE? THE TEN COMMANDMENTS? HOPE FLOATS? WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING? THE OTHER SISTER? KILL BILL? BIG DADDY? TOY STORY?
It is absolutely Flawless.
The Experiment never fails–Ever.
Dare to not only change your life, but your work, your leisure, your lifestyle, your relationships, your all encompassing E V E R Y T H I N G!
But, don’t let me tell you about The Experiment. Let me Show you…better still, YOU TRY IT!
Here’s how it works:
EVERYTHING YOU DO, DO AS AN EXPERIMENT!
Really, IT is THAT simple. There’s no special formula’s; no 1-2-3 steps to take, no special maps to follow, no A-B-C special procedural directions, no embarrassment, no, “I-told-you-so’s,” no hassle and no worry. . .Really!
This will work just as brilliantly at work as it will personally or at home.
Pick a problem to be solved. Go ahead, if you want, do what you use to do. Pro and Con it, list all the reasons For and Against, think In and Out and Around the Box; do what you do to come up with a most likely, probable, consensus decision and then apply it this way: AS AN EXPERIMENT.
By the very nature of any Experiment, it naturally calls for Trial and Error. It Expects to Fail as a means to Succeeding. Ask Mr. Edison how many successful ways he determined NOT to Invent a Light Bulb!
When you Experiment things, there’s no pressure, no winning or losing–just a faster track to Success or WHAT WORKS BEST FOR YOU OR THE SITUATION!
Under this guise, you can Experiment with an Exercise Program, a new Diet, a Short cut to work or another destination, a way to resolve a conflict at work, in a relationship, or between business partners or neighbors.
It’s NEVER FAILED.
Don’t believe me, though. Try it yourself. Mix a little of THIS will a little of THAT, shake gently and pour a drop at a time or as quickly as you dare in full measure…it won’t matter because IT IS AN EXPERIMENT.
The best part?
If IT doesn’t work, you can triumphantly shout, “N E X T”
and begin yet another Experiment again and again and again. . . .
One of my favorite Experiments is to have an Experiment inside of an Experiment–Try IT–There’s nothing more FREEING and NON-THREATENING and best of all:
E F F E C T I V E.
Did you see it?
I don’t normally watch 60 Minutes on Sunday’s…mostly because I rarely am able to put 60 minutes together consecutively…I didn’t last Sunday either; but you know what “THEY” say: “Timing is everything.”
I was REMOTELY switching through some channels when I chanced upon a 60 Minutes expose as it started…pure chance or….
It featured 104 year old Nicholas Winton. He was a young stockbroker in 1938 and he was severely distressed as he watched Hitler’s Germany march its way across Eastern Europe. When he was in Prague for a vacation he thought, “Someone should do something?” and he thought even more decisively, “Hey, I AM SOMEONE!”
Now, there’s Monkeying Around and then there’s MONKEYING AROUND!
The story goes that a group of Scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage and in the middle, a ladder with a bunch of bananas at the top.
When a monkey would make his way to the top of the ladder to get a banana the rest of the monkeys would get splashed with cold water.
It didn’t take too long for the other four monkeys who weren’t climbing the ladder to beat up the one who attempted to climb for the bananas–even a dumb monkey doesn’t want to get splashed with cold water one time or over and over.
Soon, there were no monkeys attempting to climb the ladder, banana or no banana.
This is where it gets interesting.
The best song’s have more than just one verse, don’t they?
The best song’s not only have more than one verse, but a killer chorus that bounces around in your head like a bullet ricocheting around in a steel encased room.
But we don’t believe it!
We know it, know that the song has multiple verses, might even be able to sing through everyone of them like a long Dylan song gone amok, but we just don’t believe it–or at least act like we believe it.
The Apple commercial with Robin Williams, borrows his speech from his role in Peter Weir’s 1989 film, DEAD POET’S SOCIETY. In the film, Williams plays a teacher who inspires some pretty rigid academy students with his unorthodox teaching methods and passion for poetry. Williams ends the commercial with his oft-quoted line from the film:
Question.
Have you ever felt like the “Z” in Xylophone?
It’s not always a comfortable feeling is it? In fact, most of the time, we try severely hard to feel anything but the “Z” in Xylophone, don’t we?
We don’t like finger pointing, especially when they are pointed our way. Most really like to fly under any radar recognition, even if it means not getting properly identified.
In fact, if we’re really honest, we are doing so much to “FIT IN” we give little or absolutely no thought, to stand out!
Can we re-read THAT, in a slightly different way?
How is it that we spend a huge portion and much of what we define our Life as being, devising ways to FIT IN when we are born to stand out?
CAN WE RE-READ T H A T in a slightly different way?
We are born to be OUTSTANDING people and we are constantly looking for a crowd to slip inside of to be counted. . .at the cost of being COUNTED ON!
Have you ever felt like the “Z” in Xylophone?
Psssst: The next time you feel like that glorious “Z” in Xylophone–PLAY IT!
You are an important NOTE in the Symphony that composes this Universe. Without you, the concert may continue, but continually be incomplete.
STAND OUT!
Risk being OUTSTANDING!
Be the Glorious “Z” you were created to be, now, here, in this moment you’ve been placed.
Be of NOTE!
RE-S O U N D!
Ripple on. . . .
Make Toes, Tap.
Make Fingers, drum across table tops.
Make Hearts, Beat.
Make Mouths, Sing.
Z OUT before you Zzzzzzzzz away!
Maybe it’s not so much about being Remembered as it is simply not getting FORGOTTEN. . . .
I’ve NOT been remembered LOTS as a minister, a Life-Celebrant, a Spiritual Care Coordinator with hospice, a Wedding Liturgist, a Speaker for Leadership, Communication, Spirituality, End-Of-Life Issues. Maybe too many times. But I have literally, powerfully, emphatically NOT been Forgotten.
Most of the phone calls I get to fulfill any of the roles above is merely been because I’ve NOT been forgotten.
I’m sincerely, intimately, “THAT GUY!”
Ok, I will unabashedly date myself and ask NOT for forgiveness.
I remember IT all…the Beatles hitting the USA and the Ed Sullivan Show and the Songs. . .my, my, my, all of the great music they wrote, shared and shaped a generation.
Now, before we go too far, I’m not a Beatle-maniac. Like them, Love them, but not adore or idolize them.
And as for all of the vast Trivia, no, by no means am I even remotely astute…but I know a little and actually am unaware of lots.
So, hearing this story this past week as we approach their 50th anniversary of the Sullivan show, was a little enlightening for me, and now, hopefully, you.
It has to do with VISION!
“THEY”
Whenever I hear about the “THEY’S” of the world, I don’t pay a whole lot of attention. Do you?
“THEY” say,
KINDNESS
COMPASSION
LOVE
. . .are the most powerful forces in the World.