"too soon we get old and too late we get
smart"
I started this blog as a bit of a lark and it seems to have succeeded in allowing me to blow off a little steam, share some personal thoughts and insights and generally fulfill the idea of an online journal. September 13 is my 60th birthday and sometimes, as we reach age-related milestones, we begin to assume that we have a bit of wisdom to share and every once in a while someone asks for some of it. Not that that is necessarily the case at the moment, but in the event that anyone should ask, I think I'll list a few random things I've learned over the years.
So, in no particular order:
1.) the older I get, the more I know I don't know
2.) chaos is much better organized than I thought
3.) real power is never having to tell anyone you have power
3a.) the same for independence
9.) common sense when reviewing marketing, political, pharmaceutical and religious claims is more important than celebrity endorsements
20.) out of great emotional upheaval comes the possibility of self discovery
27.) there are four highly secret additions to the Recommended Canada Food Guide - popcorn, wine, ice cream and chocolate - you know it's true
28.) laughter really is the best medicine
29.) gratitude = completion and leads directly to wholeness
30.) happiness is a natural state of being, not a goal
31.) being smart and being knowledgeable are not the same thing
32.) we need to tune all 8 senses into seeking out the inspiration that surrounds us
33.) getting older gives us permission to do more of what we want and less of what others want
OK, presumably I have learned more than this over the past 60 years but I have probably bored you to tears by now and I need to leave for my next adventure in a few moments. It has been an incredible 60 years and the last few weeks have been absolutely fabulous - 10 days in Myrtle Beach, SC with my family - playing golf with my son on some of North America's finest courses along with great nightly dinners, shopping and beaches for the four of us, we returned home to a backyard full of white tents, caterers and friends and family offering bottles of incredible wines and port and now, in a minute or two, we leave for the Invermere Valley in B.C. and a glider ride over the Rockies and valleys and lakes that I have been looking forward to since I was six years old. We return Sunday night and begin plotting the next adventure. Thank you to everyone who has crossed my path over the years - "may you live in interesting times."
4.) the difference between success and failure is not education, luck, birth, God, race, geography, politics, astrology, work ethic, environmental, intellectual, creativity or anything other than "thought." Simply put, we are who and what we think we are!
5.) the answer to any problem is always within ourselves - looking to some outside source for an answer is a cop out
6.) buy on rumour - sell on news
7.) other people will always rise, or fall to our level of expectation
8.) including ourselves
9.) common sense when reviewing marketing, political, pharmaceutical and religious claims is more important than celebrity endorsements
10.) avoid people who claim to never take vacations - there is something wrong with them
11.) don't hang out with people who proudly proclaim that they never read a book
12.) ignore "breaking news" items on TV after you have already seen it twice
13.) do something every year that will scare the crap out of yourself
14.) scientific fact is simply a theory based on current (and surprisingly out of date) information combined with opinion which has been spiced with all sorts of social bias
15.) if the opportunity to do something you have never experienced before presents itself, never say "I don't have time, I'll do it later."
16.) double the above if it is suggested by one of your children
17.) get a colonoscopy
18.) find some way to lower stress - focus on the cause as opposed to the result and it shouldn't be a drug
19.) never accept the responsibility for a project if you don't also have the authority to manage it
20.) out of great emotional upheaval comes the possibility of self discovery
21.) there are 8 senses - touch, smell, sight, taste, hearing, humour, intuition and the most important - COMMON
22.) the best teachers are our own mistakes
23.) trying to use only the last 100 years of recorded history to explain and understand planetary forces like evolution, plate tectonics and climate is not only myopic but stupid
24.) the " F " word may be the most flexible in the English language as it is used variably as a noun, a verb, an adjective and an adverb (sometimes in the same sentence) but there is an inverse relationship between its frequency of use and the knowledge level of its user
25.) contrary to what most of us have been led to believe, there is no such thing as a perfect relationship - it's always a work in progress
26.) what goes up also comes down including oil prices, house prices, stock prices, interest rates, egos, media hype, temperatures, water levels, airplanes, reproductive appendages, inflation, hot air and stress if you insist
26.) what goes up also comes down including oil prices, house prices, stock prices, interest rates, egos, media hype, temperatures, water levels, airplanes, reproductive appendages, inflation, hot air and stress if you insist
27.) there are four highly secret additions to the Recommended Canada Food Guide - popcorn, wine, ice cream and chocolate - you know it's true
28.) laughter really is the best medicine
29.) gratitude = completion and leads directly to wholeness
30.) happiness is a natural state of being, not a goal
31.) being smart and being knowledgeable are not the same thing
32.) we need to tune all 8 senses into seeking out the inspiration that surrounds us
33.) getting older gives us permission to do more of what we want and less of what others want
OK, presumably I have learned more than this over the past 60 years but I have probably bored you to tears by now and I need to leave for my next adventure in a few moments. It has been an incredible 60 years and the last few weeks have been absolutely fabulous - 10 days in Myrtle Beach, SC with my family - playing golf with my son on some of North America's finest courses along with great nightly dinners, shopping and beaches for the four of us, we returned home to a backyard full of white tents, caterers and friends and family offering bottles of incredible wines and port and now, in a minute or two, we leave for the Invermere Valley in B.C. and a glider ride over the Rockies and valleys and lakes that I have been looking forward to since I was six years old. We return Sunday night and begin plotting the next adventure. Thank you to everyone who has crossed my path over the years - "may you live in interesting times."
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