Each hour of sleep before midnight is equal to 2 hours of sleep after midnight. –Nick O’Connor

Can you remember the last time you went to bed early?

Or rose and said, “WOW!  I feel totally refreshed!” ?

The constant whirlwind of doing this and doing that takes a toll on us and sleep is usually first on our list to go right out the window.

How about those European’s with their siestas?

And what’s this with athletes having a nap in the middle of the afternoon!

Why do South American shops close in the afternoon and re-open much later in the afternoon?

To have that afternoon cat nap.

To have truly a better quality of life.

And to slow down.

The faster life gets… the more sense a good night of sleep is.

hoe-lee-moe-lee!! Now That’s a Tire!

Driving north on Hwy 2 from Canmore on my motorbike I could see the flashing lights of something big up ahead.  The flashing lights belonged to a half tonne pickup truck that had an “OVERSIZE” sign above its cab.

Up the road was definitely an oversized load of tires being hauled!  The transport driver’s cab was centered half in the right hand lane and half on the shoulder and the tires hung over either side of the flatbed! Hoe-lee-moe-lee!!

I counted seven tires: two pairs stacked on top of each other and another three that were perfectly balanced–two on the bottom and one on top. Kind of like how you’d stack your Oreos on a narrow plate.  And they weren’t tied down, they were chained down.

A standard highway lane is 12 feet wide. The shoulder lane is 10 feet.

Do you have any idea how much rubber compound this is?

If you’ve ever been up to Ft. McMurray and seen the huge truck they have on display they are incredibly massive. I can only imagine just how HUGE the actual vehicle would be to fit these tires on –actually, I can’t.

Believe that you have it, and you will have it. – Latin Proverb

The Merriam-Webster dictionary says that “belief” (noun) dates back to the 12^th century and is a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing.

We always used to pull out Grandma’s old Webster dictionary whenever we played Scrabble.  I think we all dreaded getting the “Q” and the “Z” letters.  There’s nothing finer than looking up a word the “old fashioned” way.  Somehow opening the dictionary and flipping the pages just makes the words stick to the brain.  Googling words or plunking them into the Microsoft Toolbox just isn’t the same –the words go in and then out.

Remember Spelling B’s in class?  Do they even have them any more?  I mean we’ve got Spell Check and all…

At one point everyone’s probably owned a Thesaurus.  Another great book to add to the collection.  Searching online I think I’ve found the next best thing to the thesaurus.  It’s called “THINKMAP Visual Thesaurus” and it’s pretty cool!  Check it out! Type in a word as see where it takes you.  The visual is fantastic.

“What you see you create.  What you plan for you achieve.”

“Whatever you think, you are right.”  I can’t remember who said this.  What I do know is that whenever I talk with people they agree.

What do you believe?

Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. – Confucius

I read an article about the amount of clutter in our living spaces.  It went on to say that our living spaces reflect what’s going on in our world and around us.  Where there’s clutter there’s chaos.  And where there’s chaos there’s congestion.  Not that there’s any connection between the two or a parallel with what’s happening in our own world.

When was the last time we did a real “spring cleaning” and went literally through everything?  Spring cleaning?  What’s that?  Only when we move are we then forced to literally go through everything we have.  EVERYTHING!!

Do you have any idea how liberating it is to shred mountains of paper that have been collecting over the years?  Or how about tossing out items that don’t work any more or we’ve kept them “just because”?  There’s a free-ing sense that starts to happen, a release.  And the brain wants to fight it because this is comfortable.  “Keep it.  You might need it for later.”

One Hallowe’en I had a lady help me clean out my clothes closet.  She put all of the clothes I didn’t need or didn’t fit into three recycle bags.  Three of them!  For a year they sat in the basement.  My comfort zone said, “don’t get rid of them!  You’ll want to wear them some time.”  I was truly afraid to let go of them.  More honestly I didn’t want to let go of my comfort zone.  Not once did I go back into those bags.  In the end the three recycle bags were dropped off at Goodwill.

It was a start.

And little by little I’m finding out that less is truly more.

Do I need it?

Or do I want it?

Simple sounds easy.

And yet it’s one of the hardest things to do.

It’s liberating.

It’s empowering.

It means there’s less to carry around.

It’s amazing how the shoulders feel when the weight’s been taken off.

Life can be simple.

Music can change the world because it can change people. – Bono

The international language I believe is music.

Ask any traveler.

It doesn’t matter if you can’t speak the same language.

We can hum the melody together.

We can sing the chorus together.

Music takes us back in time.

To different places, people, experiences.

It touches the heart.  And it can pierce the heart.

Regardless of age, or race, or gender.

Music connects us all together.

Laughter is the best medicine. – my Mom

Lately, have you had one of those deep down, unstoppable laughing fits?
And wasn’t it wonderful?
Didn’t you feel great afterwards?
It appears out of the blue and catches you off guard so much that you’re doubled over and can barely stand up.
People around you wonder what is going on.
Secretly they’d love 10% of whatever you’re having.
Sometimes they end up joining in just because of how contagious laughter truly is.

Have you ever tried to conceal a laugh?
It’s the hardest thing to do.
Your smile gets bigger and bigger and you almost have to cover your face to stop it from growing.
And then a noise of some sort will slip out and definitely now you have to cover your mouth to stop more from escaping!
Or else the giggling starts.
And then it happens.
The flood gates start to erupt and there’s no stopping what’s coming out.

Laughter IS the best medicine.

Leap, and the net will appear. – Julie Cameron

How many times have you taken that leap off of the ledge and landed in one piece on the other side?

More times then we realize.

And more times than we have actually acknowledged that we leapt and landed safely.

So where are you today?

Sitting in your comfort zone?

How about making and taking that leap of faith into what you really want to do?

Will you stand on the edge and just watch?

Go ahead.  Get out of your comfort zone for just 60 seconds.

See what it stirs up inside…

Leap…………….. and dare to learn more.

If you risk nothing, then you risk everything. – Geena Davis

When you put everything onto the table you win. You win really BIG!

Think of the last time what you felt when you held back absolutely nothing, it was exhilarating I’m sure, and exciting!

Imagine jumping in and taking the plunge with both feet!

When we swim away from the shore imagine what we can learn.

The possibilities are endless.

When you risk everything, you gain everything.

Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving. –Einstein

Doing the same thing over and over and over and over again AND expecting a different result IS the true definition of insanity.  Einstein had it right.  And how many times did he try?

Do we dare push the limit of riding that fine line of potentially tipping over or staying upright?  Should we tip over will we get back up, dust ourselves off, and jump back on?

Moving forward are we:

• doing our usual famous juggling act?
• overloading ourselves with unreasonable requests?
• pushing the limit on deadlines?

Or are we riding a bicycle to a different tune today?

Life’s like riding a bicycle.  And that’s pretty good.

Vision without action is a day dream. Action without vision is a nightmare. – Japanese proverb

Action is energetic activity.

Combine it with imagination

And the possibilities are endless.

You start the day with your blank canvas.

What will you create today?