Rule #1 for the Book of Life: Do Not Skip Pages

I was reading--and I use this term loosely--a business book today and found myself flipping pages very quickly and even skipping some.  Not a real big deal for me as I just wanted to get an overview of the book and have a high-level concept of the content, I didn't really want to experience it.

Then my day unfolded...and it hit me.

Life is a book.  For some it is short, for others it is long.  For Hellen Keller it was a "daring adventure....", while for other it's a conundrum.  Everyday in this book of life we have the opportunity to skip pages.  It seems that many people, my self included, never really look to skip the Friday, Saturday and Sunday pages.  But man, can we turn through Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday real fast.

As I read the article, Top five regrets of the dying (see link below), the substance of this blog post began to percolate.  Too often I see and hear many people turning the pages of the week quickly, not fully absorbing the wonderful message on the pages.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/feb/01/top-five-regrets-of-the-dying?fb=native

So...Slow down...get out of your email...turn off your computer...your iPhone, Blackberry, Droid and whatever else is getting in the way!

Go to a movie.  Read.  Be still.  Smile.  Talk.  Pretend like Tuesday in really Saturday.  Call out from work.  Go somewhere within a two hour drive that you always wanted to visit.  Tell someone you love them.  And then tell someone else.  Ponder what you would do if you got fired.  Create and hold the image in your mind's eye what a happy and fulfilling life will look like for you in 3 years.  Take one action to move toward that image.

And above all, be well.
Danny

MIND THE GAP

During a recent trip to London I received some thought-provoking advice from a recorded voice as I made my way onto the Heathrow Express heading into Paddington station.  Over and over the voice instructed me and my fellow travelers to do one thing, three words - MIND THE GAP. 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkmclPnAy1A

As I gazed out the window at the rolling English countryside I realized that this wonderful voice was almost like my inner voice, my self talk.  It seems that many people have a gap between where they are and where they want to get to--to their vision.  If you're one of these people (I sure am), welcome to the masses.  Take a guess at the number of people, that if you asked them, 'Are you where you want to be in life?'--with career, health, spirituality, relationships, finances and all the other wonderful areas that make up their life--would answer an emphatic NO.  I'm guessing for me it would be somewhere between 7-9 people out of every 10 I ask.

So, about 30 minutes later, I stepped off the train in Paddington station and right onto a sign at my feet with three simple words on it, 10 letters...

I smiled and said out loud to the amusement of the young lady exiting next to me, "Okay, okay, I got it."  I'm certain she thought I was talking about the gap between the train and the platform.

So during my time in London, and after a wonderfully inspirational performance of Wicked at the Victoria Theater, I began to "mind the gap." 

A few things showed up for me:

1. My book  project was not where it needed to be
2. My earnings for the year were okay, but certainly not where I wanted them to stay
3. My relationship with my wife and kids (and a few others) needed some more "quality" attention (notice the word quality; by this I mean that I am with them not just in body, but also brought my head and heart along...no iPhone, computer or any other wonderfully distractive gizmos)
4. My health was not where I wanted it to be as I stood just two years out from the big 5-0

What to do now?  Simple.  Number one: create a picture--a vision--of how it will be when I get to where I want to be and the gap no longer exists; and number two: identify what actions I need to take to move toward the vision.

Interesting for me as I sit in a coffee shop completing this blog post--two months after that trip to London--is that the gaps I identified after encouragement from an anonymous electronic voice with a delightful English accent have moved a great deal closer to closure--to the vision.

So?  MIND THE GAP!

Be well
Danny