on the run...

If this week has taught me anything, it is we are running hard and faster, every day. Every day.

It use to be we tried to keep up with the Jones's. They are the very least of our problem, these days. Most of us have built in keeper upper withs, that put the Jones's, to shame. If you have been on the internet, turned on a TV or radio or just little or no attention, the 2012 Koby movement has most certainly, crossed your path. It started trending immediately after it launch and went viral in a very short time. Heard that yesterday there were over a million people an hour, watching the 29 minutes video. Try to keep up that!

So, if we have left the Jones's way behind in the dust, we have inserted ourselves as the Team to beat. That means we can redesign how that looks at any given time. We are now at the mercy of ourselves, and while that may bring up some red flags, the truth is - we have the power to change how that looks. This is a good thing. If I choose to race, it is against myself. If I choose to change, I know the source, pretty well.

Have a 2012 Koby icon on my desktop. I have never been more proud of young people this week, they know social media and aren't afraid to use it. They will blanket the planet and Joseph Koby will have no place to hide. The Jones's have nothing on them, mostly caring about manicured lawns and granite countertops. We have much to learn and I for one, can't wait...

cool...

You who know me, have met me or seen me know - I am anything but cool. My art and nanahood, have been graciously called cool and while I am honored, thinking that it is more of a geezer-cool than the cool of Today.

When I think of cool, I think the young, hip, Apple-Loving crowd. I think of the Arab Spring people all over the world, who have been busy changing the world.

Joseph Kony. Ever heard of him? Me either, until today. A 24 minutes movie brought a whole new coolness, into my awareness. In a nutshell, Joseph Kony has been waging a war for the last 26 years where his soldiers he has kidnapped and trained. Girls are kidnapped and used for prostitution. Uganda has been his playground and he has been runnig wild. That is no longer the case. The cool kids, the ones who know how to use social media have forced him to go into deep hiding. They are on his case. The cool kids now that if a bad guy is known, if his face and name are plastered on every wall, post and is no longer, invisible - there is no place to hide. Their effort is hard to take in, tears come to your eyes when you realize how our lives are changing, that the evil dictators of the world, have been taken out in so many countries.

Josepk Kony, you have been outted. The cool kids are after you and I am cheering them on. Cool by association, and so proud, I could just bust...

adult children...

I was so naive when my girl was a toddler. Thinking that, if I could just get thru the next couple years... there would be the reward of, making it.
Toddlers have nothing on adult children but you couldn't ever have convinced me of, that all those years ago.

The worries of toddlers, the crashing into the coffee table or escaping out the front door disappear. Those crazy fears pale in comparision to losing jobs and heart-breaking life events. While it takes many years to see this clearly, when you do - it helps put your thinking into a more, understandable state.

Those toddlers eventually go to teens and that is a whole, other world in itself. Those years where death doesn't seem possible until a group of friends are killed on a late Saturday night. That feeling of invincibility goes from improbable to possible as one moves into adulthood but for the parent, there are just more things to worry about. Add in grandchildren and you push the ante up, even more.

I am so proud of my girl. She has grown up to spend her time, raising her family. She has no problem telling the kids, doesn't matter than bobby's parent's let him watch R-rated movies, you won't be. All those things that take constant attention, the watering, feeding, running around. I thought I had it hard with one, with three, she knows what to ask and where to look.

Still, there is a part of her, that will always be my little girl. I want none or very few bumps along the way. No more worries about coffee tables or escaping. The worries are different but have the same intensity. If I could protect her, my fabulous SIL or my darling 3 - I would do it in a heartbeat but I can't. I can lift them up to the One who holds them tight, and I do. When I remember to whom they belong, I am a better mother. I have been allowed to be a part of these wonderful peoples lives, never take it for granted. The worry just comes with the job, seems like a small price to pay for such a great privilege...

in the now...

Loving these photos that are technically, less than perfect but their captures of everyday life, can't be denied.

Do I live my life, like Gage? Focused, waiting, no hurry or do I live it like Mr Flash, going 100 miles an hour with my hair on fire.

Truth be told, we all go back and forth from each camp but may find ourselves more like Mr Flash. Life never allows us to take it slow, that task is solely up to us. WE are the Captains of our ships and we decide and steer Our Boat.

The times that I identify with Mr Flash, seem totally out of control. There does not seem to be any level of control, yet in fact there is. We can always, always, choose to breathe. Stop, take a few seconds and breathe. There is no one that is not able to do this. Might take some time to exercise and create that muscle but it can be done.

Even in basketball, there is time to stop and think. Of course there are times that nothing but a slam dunk or basket at the buzzer, will do but for the many Moments inbetween, there is time to breathe and give our hair a rest...

treat...

Sometimes, you just need a treat. A reward for a task, new learned behavior or just because. Just because is the reason, we as a society are in some of the trouble we are in.

A treat is just that. A one time, little celebration of us. We make enough bad and selfish decisions that when we go beyond ourselves, that is Something definitely worth elevating to the tune of Something Special. The thing is, we have gotten too good at treating ourselves and it is costing us, big.

It starts with a little, you deserve it. Those are fighting words. As a culture, we have gotten a bit lost. What we deserve is to take better physical care of ourselves, or manage our finances so we can sleep at night - not a reward of 6 donuts or getting a Birthday car that comes with a payment book.

We deserve better.
We deserve to be honest with ourselves.
We all deserve a treat, a healthy treat. One that won't do us in...

sit...

Sit, take a load off.

It is the prefrontal of your brain that has to reconcile the artiste of your right hemisphere with the logician of your left, the tough guy of your hypothalamus with the drama queen of your anterior cingulae cortex.


Stay with me, it gets better.

All that seems like more than enough but then come the dorm rats and party animals of your midbrain, the place where your most decadent appetites - drinking, gambling, eating, smoking, shopping, sloth, sex, come to get fed.



Told you.

The battle between your noble lobes and ignoble ones isn't even close. Eating, having sex and sleeping are vital for the survival of the species, so evolution arranged for them to be irresistbly pleasureable.

Explains a lot, doesn't it?

Acquisitiveness is important too, so shopping and gambling carry kicks of their own. As for smoking, drinking and taking drugs, they have no survival value but they don't need to, since they sidestep evolution and pick the chemical locks of the brain's pleausre centers directly.

Sidestep. That explains quite a bit.

This article from Time magazine, Getting to No, The science of building willpower goes on to explain much about willpower and how the brain works.
We are complicated creatures and there is So Much about us that has nothing to do with willpower and everything to do with survival.

The bad news is that there is no pill, to fix this. We need to create new habits that take the place of old ones instead of just trying to go, cold turkey. I have seen cold turkey in action work, just once. Almost 40 years ago, DH stopped smoking in a weekend. He just stopped. He is also the one who can eat two cookies and stop. Would love to study his brain, because for most of us, it is not that simple. Most of us, sidestep. If it is true that we can learn to build willpower, as I look around at our world, now would be a great time to start...

idle...

Idle, a place we find ourselves from time to time. It might really be the best place to be because if you can't see behind you and ahead of you, seems out of reach, all you have is the present. Wonder why Sometimes, it is not enough?

Feeling caught between between old life and new life that is coming, maybe it is about holding on with both hands. Not sure what the future holds and at least the past, holds some familiarity. Something to hang on to. Maybe that is the point of being idle, time to lose that comfort zone.

I have been here a few times in my life. After a job loss when it was easier to look behind, rather than ahead. If memory serves, that turned out fine. Maybe you can have one hand on the future while holding on to the past and thinking about the present.

Have always heard that you are either going forward or backward, never standing still. Never idle. Whatever this state is, I don't plan on staying here long but for today, it's where I need to be. Happy Leap Day!