All We Have is Now….and Now!

I am reading a book that Pankaj recommended to me, Time Basics by Jim Muncy. He tells stories to make points about time management. One that resonated with me was Michael Landon’s quote as he neared death.

“Someone should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life right to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it, I say! What ever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.”

One of the reasons that this reached my heart so vehemently is that I am currently creating a 90-day adventure program as recommended by Tim Ferris of the 4 Hour Work Week fame. This process requires that I revisit, as I often do, my goals and aspirations for the rest of my life. As I recently learned, my past is merely part of where I am going. All I have is now. Pankaj recommended a program for allocating time and resources to projects, called Hyper Plan. I have set it up with life goals and time line. Kind of like a giant Ganz chart. I like this program because it keeps things from falling through the cracks. It is much better than what I have been using.

When I wake up to this nearly every morning, I am really reminded of how grateful I am for what I have, right here, right now!

It is Always Now – Dec 1, 2019 – Transition of Molly Bitner – nee Frank – My Dear Sister

Multipotentialite

Every day is a new adventure. Case in point. Last night I discovered on a TED talk the following video:

I was inspired in my 90-day Adventure Program of what is my next interest going to be when I saw this. It gives me hope and understanding. Hope it is still available in the future from You Tube.

Friends Visit

Keep making friends. You never know who you can impact, and be impacted by, as we explore this life time. Some will stay and some may fade, and some will be strong for long periods of time. Cherish them all for what you learn.

I had the great opportunity to visit with friends Pankaj, Rose, and Arun Chand recently while they were in Virginia. I enjoyed a beautiful drive through the low mountains up to the Dulles Airport area early in the morning. The mist and awakening countryside created great memories. Pankaj and Rose have been close friends for many years. I was a best man at their wedding on the Rock. It is always a festive and learning time for us when we get together. Thanks to them and Arun for being in my life.

Life Lesson – HALT

One of the ideas my Pop explained to me as a young boy was that our mouths get us in the most trouble in our lives. A counselor in junior high school once explained to me as well, that it is not what we say, as much as how we say it. Combining those two, I have found that when it comes to having a conversation with someone that creates stress in our lives to use the acronym HALT. Never start a conversation that can become stressful while Hungry, Angry, Lonely, Tired.

If that person contacts you before you are ready, simply say you will call them back and maintain your integrity and sanity. Leaning to say “no” to oneself and others is a real challenge of maturity.

Books You Read

Kids; It.has been said by many change agents in my life, “You will be the same person 5 years from now except for the books you read and the people you meet.”\r\n\r\nHere is a partial list with which to get started:\r\n

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  • Magic of Thinking Big – David J.Schwartz
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  • Think & Grow Rich- Napoleon Hill
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  • The Power of Positive Thinking – Norman Vincent Peale
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  • Your Erroneous Zones – Dr. Wayne Dyer
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  • As A Man Thinketh – James Allen
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  • World’s Greatest Salesman – Og Mandino
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  • Psychology of Achievement – Brian Tracy –
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  • Psychology of Sales – Brian Tracy
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  • The Bible – read 5 times from cover to cover over 5 years.
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  • Charley Tremendous Jones
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  • Zig Ziglar
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  • How to Win Friends and Influence People – Dale Carnegie
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  • 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – Steven Covey
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  • Games People Play – Eric Berne
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  • John Maxwell on Leadership – many books and lectures. I sat two feet from him one time as he lectured for a recording he was making at the time
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  • 4 Hour Workweek –  Tim Ferris
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  • How to Stop Worrying and Start Living – Dale Carnegie
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  • I’m OK, You’re OK – Thomas Anthony Harris
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  • Awaken the Giant Within – Anthony Robbins
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  • The Road Less Traveled – Scott Peck
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  • Handbook to Higher Consciousness – Ken Keyes
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  • Rich Dad, Poor Dad – Robert Kiyosaki
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  • The E-Myth – Michael Gerber
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  • Personality Plus – Florence Littauer
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  • Chicken Soup for the Soul  – Canfield & Hanson
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Life Changing Event

You will hear a lot of people say that they have had life changing events. Here are a few of the medical life changing events that have totally changed my life for the better

  1. At the age of 8yrso I discovered one day that I was allergic to pollen. My pop made wine every few years and the family would go off onto the local park land and gather Elderberry blossoms by the bushel basket full. It was my job to rub the blossoms over a large screen covering a 20 gal crock. I had done my job and went to the subdivision next door to see some childhood friends. I remember, vividly sitting on the curb, rubbing my eyes. Before long, my eyes were swollen shut and I had to wander back home in total disbelief of what was happening in my body. Little Jimmy endured the testing; scratches on my back and arms to determine all the things I was allergic to, which were, pollen, animal dander, grass, just about everything in my surroundings. I couldn’t sleep on my back or sides for days after each of multiple tests. And then, I spent every summer and fall, traumatically enduring my eyes weeping and red, my nose constantly running, and red, and my mind not able to focus on much else other than the torment. Well, smart, adaptive Jimmy dealt with it until age 30. While living in Canada, I learned that I could go through a three-year program to desensitize my body to the antigen and stop making histamines. It was a total commitment to going to a doctors office, without missing one appointment from start to finish, every day for a month, every week for over a year, then every month for nearly a year. I had to restart after 5 weeks when I moved to Kingston to attend Queen’s University. After the first year, I was symptom-free, yet had to continue to attend for a shot regularly. Suffice it to say, that endurance changed my life on a significant basis. Least of all being able to avoid antihistamines circling my body for 4-5 months every year, causing drowsiness, total brain voids that had huge impacts on my performance in school and work.
  2. In 1997 I was diagnosed with a ruptured disc in my cervical spine. It turned out to be two adjoining discs. The pain I endured until it was diagnosed was excruciating. I would take Percocet every four hours just to take the edge off the pain. It never went away until I woke up from a five and a half hour microsurgery procedure. Without the medical intervention, my life would be unbelievably different today. Here are some X-rays of the titanium plate with four screws. They took bone from my hip to put plugs in between the vertebra.

After four weeks, the surgeon could not find the seams around the plugs because it had healed faster that he had seen in 40 years of practice. I am convinced that taking Nutrilite and other vitamins before and after surgery made a huge difference.

The third event involves Hep C. As a cardiovascular pump tech, I would be covered in blood after each open heart surgery. It was my job to clean the pump as well as technically run it. There was a drain in the floor of the clean room near the OR. I would simply empty gallons of blood onto the floor and wash it down the drain. I never used any protection as in those days, we worried about giving something to a patient, not what they could give to us. Being exposed to that much foreign blood and not protecting myself led to me picking up the Hep C virus. It was years later in Canada that I learned that I had Hep C by being turned down to donate blood, which I had done to the 25-gallon level by that time. Who knows how many people got my infection. And then, I lived with the knowledge that I could be stricken at any moment with an irreversible liver disease. The cost of the meds is pushing $80,000. Thanks to months of follow up with the VA, I got it covered, and expect to be 100% free of the Hep C virus in a matter of weeks. Simply amazing. I love science.Me, last night with the bottle of Harvoni pills that will rid my body of the Hep C virus. I love science!

Where I’m Going

It is always great to revisit books that have been impactful to me. Games People Play/Eric Berne, is one of those books. Written in 1964, I probably read it while in my military years. It had a profound effect on how I related to people and later for therapy interaction.

Rereading it yesterday provided one of those “aha moments” that make me stop reading and further contemplate a passage, culminating in “Wow, that is profound” being uttered out loud. It talked about how people outlook their lives and especially their past. In the introduction by James Allen MD, he states that some people look at their past as part of where they are going. As a new affirmation for myself: My past is part of where I’m going! I like it.