When the opportunities arise, go for it.  

I've often plotted the course of my life and my actions, almost always to be surprised by the outcome.  Basically, life almost never goes the way that I think it's going to go.  Sometimes those surprises lead to some very interesting places.  

I've heard it said many times that success is when opportunity meets preparedness.  Every day I am working at the things about which I am most passionate.  And, today is no exception and the opportunities, they continue to come.  For the opportunities, surprises, and work along the way, I am very grateful!

When I was a child, my mother regularly received, "The Reader's Digest."  There was a monthly article in the digest titled, "Laughter Is The Best Medicine."  That phrase stuck with me as a child and I believed it.  Later, as an adult, I read extensively about the effects of laughter on the human condition --- mentally, physically, emotionally, etc.  According to the experts and studies, laughter could help heal extreme sickness and disease.

I am fortunate to have some very funny friends and clients in my life who keep me laughing on a regular basis.  Their stories, and even some tales of woe, always have a funny twist to them.  Of course, I have a big laugh and a great appreciation for humor, so my friends really enjoy getting me going.  And, though I sometimes forget, it is the laughter during the day that allows my mind to take a  break from some of the more serious matters at hand.

This is a little "shout out" to the many friends, family, clients, and associates who give me a good dose of medicine on a regular basis.  I'm feeling strong and healthy due to your influence.  I appreciate that you continue to keep me laughing.

Sometimes my mind plays tricks with me.  It's the function and job of the mind to do so.  It's called "the egoic mind."  It is an identification with self, an identification with the thoughts in the mind as truth.  We all have one and we all do it.  We think that our thoughts are us.  We perceive things in a certain way and we believe our thoughts KNOW how things are.  We perceive others through this egoic mind and we make assumptions based on what our "mind identified" programming tells us.  However, it is merely that, programming from past events that inform how we are perceiving the present moment and informing how we will react.  We defend, justify, fight, protect, retreat, etc.  This is all to protect the identity that we have created for and about ourselves.  Ultimately, the only escape from this mind prison is to recognize our over-identification with the mind and take responsibility for all of our thoughts, feelings, and actions.  This may be more difficult than it sounds because the mind has a vested interest in maintaining the identity.  If its identity, its integrity, its honesty, its absolute truth is questioned, the ego is threatened and the wall of "rightness" that the ego has defended may fall like a house of cards.  The ego, the identity, faces losing a piece of itself.  The ego fights to maintain its identity and it does so by assigning blame or responsibility to the world around it.  "I'm in this situation and I feel this way because of him, her, them, or that."  The ego uses this defending, justifying energy to build itself up.  Ultimately, this egoic identity has to fall because it is powerless.  It falls either through a complete breakdown in "life as usual" or death.  Either way, it must fall.  Regaining power (and some semblance of happiness) comes from the awareness that your thoughts are not right.  They are simply your thoughts --- nothing more, nothing less --- just thoughts.  This awareness coupled with full responsibility for your own thoughts, feelings, situations and actions is the pathway toward freeing the self from this egoic power trip that enslaves the emotions to an endless cycle of "he said, she said."  

When this happens to me, and it often does, I immediately look for something else, something opposite, upon which to focus my mind, my attention, my thoughts.  If I am blaming someone else for my situation or feelings, I think of someone to whom I am grateful.  If my mind rolls over and over again with thoughts of regret, I think of something for which I am exceedingly grateful.  If my mind puffs up with anger over a perceived wrong, I think of something or someone that I love greatly.  In doing this, I am training my mind not to dwell on the things that keep it trapped and enslaved in emotional duress, but to align itself with the things that lift me up and help me to stay at my optimal best.  Sometimes it may take a while to realize that I am off course, but eventually, when I give up my need to be right or justified, I find my way.  

I enjoy practicing yoga, but I admit that I go periods of time without taking a class.  Life gets busy.  Appointments come up.  My schedule changes.  A deadline looms.  Then, the "late afternoon, early evening" class goes by the wayside (those early morning classes simply have not made it onto my radar).  I always feel better after a yoga class and I know that if I practice regularly, my body, mind, and emotional state seem to be at an optimal level.  I think it has everything to do with the deliberate breathing during class, the "feeling into" muscles and areas of the body that otherwise don't get any attention during the day, and the required resting at the beginning and end of each class.  There is something "natural" about the practice.  I have noticed that when I go for a few days without this stretching, breathing, resting practice that I can become irritable, much like a child that misses his nap and meal time.  So, recently, I have made the commitment to myself that even if I can't make the twenty minute drive to class, followed by the ninety minute class, that I will make the time to stretch, breath, and rest in my home.  Twenty minutes of practice on my bedroom floor is better than no practice at all.  I may not work up the usual sweat or hold the poses for quite as long, but I am actively participating in the most important parts of the practice --- sustained stretching (challenging the mind and body to remain calm), deliberate breathing (inviting the old air to empty and oxygen rich breath to come in), and much deserved resting (something that receives too little attention in a "go, go" society).  As I am the one who decides my schedule, I must be the one with the discipline to do what is best for me.  My health and happiness depend upon it.

Just like all things in life, there is an ebb and flow to everything --- the tides, the seasons, and relationships.  Recently, I know of several clients and friends who have gone through this letting go process.  It can be very challenging, but if there can be gratitude and forgiveness mixed into the healing process, then as the song goes, "love heals the wound it makes."  And, it is good to remember that usually what takes the place of hurt and pain is love and compassion.  Let go and feel the good things that can fill that empty space.

This morning, I'm not thinking about anything.  Funny, huh?  But, it is true.  There is no thought pulling at me, no dream that keeps playing over in my mind.  There is only a peaceful feeling of this moment.  This does not happen all of the time.  In fact, the morning and afternoon into the early evening is usually filled with many thoughts that cycle and recycle through my brain, as if on automatic.  This morning as the rain gently falls and I smile to my own amusement at my lack of thought, I realize that there is nothing I want to think about.  This moment is everything and there is nothing more to recall, replay or analyze.  I'm thankful for this peaceful morning ... I just had a thought.  I wonder if this feeling will last all day?  And, the moment is gone.  Funny, huh?

I've always enjoyed doing a great many things.  In a romantic sense, I'd be referred to as a "Renaissance Man."  From a business point of view, I may be considered an entrepreneur.  From a psychological point of view, I believe I could be labeled as ADD.  My strength to be competent at a great many things is also my weakness.  I've envied people who have one passion and that passion drives them greater than anything else.  My wide array of passions seem to move in and out of me like unexpected gusts of wind.  There are times I wish that I could be madly passionate about only one thing in life and that then the other things would fall away.  Alas, as I creep into middle age, I realize this is not to be the case.  I am moving into a full acceptance of that personal truth.  The reward is that I am NEVER bored.  On the contrary, I always have plenty that keeps my attention and I often want more time in the day to be able to do all that I enjoy doing.  This aspect of my life, I would trade for nothing else.  However, it is only recently that I have understood that my many loves can all fit under one umbrella.  Yesterday as I sat looking at my activities board, I rearranged some of my categories and sub-categories and realized that they do seem to all fall under one umbrella.  They may not all be directly related to one another, but they do all have one thing in common.  All of my passions involve forms of communication --- with groups, with individuals, with businesses, with strangers, with creative partners.  They all have stories to tell that are intended to inspire and to foster love.  Some are specifically for the business world and some are best served in a relaxed jazz club, but they all are forms of communication about which I feel passionate.  So, the decision that I made yesterday is not to limit myself to one thing hoping it would "win out" over all of the others, but to enjoy all of the things which give rise to communication.  It is not my job to make myself fit into one category, it is only my job to serve my ability to communicate with passion and purpose ... and that all fits under one umbrella.

Okay, this saying goodbye and welcoming the "new" is working out very well.  In the past 24 hours, my mind has been buzzing with ideas and inspiration about the new business ventures I've undertaken.  Several years ago, I made a conscious decision to be more of a "producer," to create my own products and my own events.  To be the creator, the artist, and the business man takes a lot of work, patience, vision and a huge dose of forgiveness of self.  There have been many times in the past few years that I've thought I've not done such a bang up job of that.  Of course, in hindsight, I can see in the big picture that all of it has been part of my learning curve.  What I have gotten clear about is to stick with producing those things about which I feel most passionately.  In particular, this includes life-affirming programming for the entertainment medium, live events that inspire (whether speaking, workshops, seminars, or performance events), and creative endeavors that are in the greatest alignment with who I am choosing to be.  In order to be more in alignment, I have had to do some housecleaning.  I've had to say "no" to that which does not bear fruit and "goodbye" to that which is not supportive of my intentions, passions, and big picture.  And, of course, I've said, "thank you" to all of it because without the learning curve, I could not be creating "new business" with such inspired vigor.

Recently, it has felt as if I have said "goodbye" to a great many things.  I'm not so great at goodbyes.  I like for them to be quick and painless.  However, it does not always turn out this way.  There are times when I simply know that what I have "known" is comfortable, but is no longer serving my highest good.  It comes in many forms --- foods, behaviors, outgrown dreams, relationships and previously thrilling desires.  For me, when goodbye comes, it leaves me with a bit of an empty feeling because I wonder what will fill its place.  I have learned that the more consciously I fill the space with something of my choosing, the better it is for me --- thoughts of things that inspire, lift, motivate, illuminate, etc.  Conscious or not, something comes in to fill empty spaces.  As the saying goes, "Space abhors a vacuum."  Clean out your closet and you'll find that a year later, the closet needs cleaning out again.  It is simply how things work.  You clean out a space in your life and you make space for something new.  2009 saw a lot of saying "goodbye."  2010 is bringing much that is new.  Though there can be melancholy in it, I am thankful for goodbye.  It makes room for so much to enter into my life that is new and exciting and more in alignment with who I am at this moment.

I woke up several times this morning.  I awoke once before my alarm, once with my alarm and a final time about ten minutes after my alarm.  It's not that I was especially tired this morning.  On the contrary, I woke up feeling great.  There was no reason in particular for this feeling.  

I could hear the parrots in the early morning hours waking up and starting their day.  I could have gotten up then.  I did not.  I heard the first cars going down the canyon road in the dusky morning light.  I could have gotten up then with no problem.  I did not.  Finally, as I lay in bed breathing deeply and looking up at the paintings on my wall and listing all for which I am grateful, the one thing that was most profound was the simple warmth and comfort of my bed.  There was no reason to rush from my bed.  I was not late.  I was not early.  I was in the perfect timing for today.  I thought of the many days that I had stayed in bed not wanting to get up and start the day and the many days when I suddenly got out of bed because I realized that I would be running behind all day if I did not get up.  Today was not one of those days.  Today I was simply grateful that I had had a great night's sleep in a warm, firm bed.  I suppose, knowing that there a great many people who do not have even that simple pleasure, was what made this unremarkable morning, most remarkable.

The first day of February has started very beautifully for me.