"We are what we repeatedly do." - Aristotle

Well, for some lucky people like Rush Limbaugh, he's known for what he repeatedly does, a conservative commentator. For the rest of us, it's not quite so clear. It does make you think though.... It goes back to that time thing. There are only a certain number of hours in the day, and what are we doing with them? I drive a heck of a lot. Does that make me a driver? I sell ads for a big part of the day. Am I just an ad salesperson? ugh... I certainly don't want to be remembered for THAT.

When I was in college, I heard someone say that you make life's three biggest decisions around the college age - your Master, your mate, and your mission. The first, of course, is obvious. And once you've made that decision, God will help you with the second two. Who you marry is critical to your life, and sets it on it's course. And then what you do... the one the majority of people struggle with. There are certain career areas, like doctors and ministers, that seem to get the calling early in life. For them, they just seem to know. The rest of us? Well, we switch our major many times and hope we've 'landed' in the right field. And then, once we've had children, it's really hard to change course. It's possible, yes, but much harder. I wish I had spent more time really thinking it through back then. Advertising seemed more glamorous at the time....
I'm still trying to help my children figure out their life's destiny. It's such a huge thing. It's what we'll be remembered for. It's scary actually.
What do YOU repeatedly do??

"May you live all the days of your life." - Jonathan Swift

Just had a conversation with my 13 year old.....we were discussing how we should LIVE our lives instead of being voyeurs that vicariously live through someone else. Our nation has become a bunch of lazys that come home and switch on the TV and watch someone else live their life i.e. reality shows. We're allowing pop stars and hip hop stars to be our idols. Our schools are dumbed down, and we're going backwards. When I was young, the coolest thing at Disneyland was 'Future Land,', where they had displays about what the future looked like - things being pushed with a button! And phones in cars! And a lot of it happened.
Where are the inventors? Where are the scientists? The most respectable job anyone could think of in the sixties was a scientist who was working on the cure for cancer. Look back at actor interviews. Many of them said, 'well, it's not like I'm working on a cure for cancer.' What do kids aspire to now? Either a top sports player or a pop musician. What about engineers? What about going into space? What about exciting new architecture? We need to kill the television and not let it steal our lives away. Other countries are far surpassing our country in inventions and intelligence.
China is quickly becoming (or has become) the biggest super power. We lead this world for many years, and allowed capitalism to give incentive to the best new thing. But along the way, we got spoiled and lazy. Too many years of indulgence has brought us to this. We're allowing celebutards like Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, who've never DONE anything except have a rich dad, be the benchmark of what our kids strive to be. We're watching regular people like Jon & Kate Plus 8, and wasting our time in all of this. Do we want to be participators or spectators?
I want my children to have a life of adventure. I want them to help people. I want them to be leaders. I want them to live their own lives and not through someone else. Especially these amoral fame whores. Besides, fame ruins 99% of people, and I've never seen the 1%. It's nothing to aspire to. We need to go back and emphasize what really counts, what really contributes.
Do we die and meet our Maker, and when He says, 'What did you do?,' answer, 'Watch TV.' Oh, I hope not....
Now get out and LIVE YOUR LIFE!!

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." -- Henry David Thoreau

Take this from someone who should've done this years ago.... Sit down and figure out what you REALLY want. Forget about the economy, and what do you really want to do for a job. Where do you really want to live? Do you have a burning passion to do something? You must. God puts it in each one of us. Because we all have a purpose. We all have somewhere we're supposed to be. When you're there, things fall into place. I'm not saying it's easy, but it all just fits like a puzzle. When you're out of God's will, everything is a struggle. You're not under God's umbrella of protection. You feel like you're at odds with everything.
It's sort of like the story of Jonah. God told him to go to Ninevah and tell them to repent. But those folks were uber evil and did baby sacrifices, among other things. Jonah didn't want to go. He wanted them to burn in hell. God will never force His will on anyone, but He can make you very uncomfortable i.e. the fish swallowing. He can turn up the heat to try to get you do to something. But you still have free will.

I think God places certain things in our souls. I think musicians aren't happy unless they are doing music. Artists aren't happy unless they are doing art. Dancers. Writers. You get the picture. We all have a purpose. I've heard that we should go back to what we wanted to do when we were young. Sometimes the dream gets warped along the way, and we follow someone else's dream or we settle or just give up. I think a lot of people fall into something and just stay there. But whatever.

Take a day, a weekend, some quality time. And REALLY think what you REALLY want to do. It's there. You'll feel peaceful when it hits you. You'll know in your knower, or as Oprah calls it, you're 'a-ha' moment.

You owe it to yourself. Warren Beatty says, "You've achieved success in your field when you don't know whether what you're doing is work or play." Wow.

Would'n't THAT be nice...