Well, I thought this would be an interesting way to help get the year off right… or not. I came across a blog called Marc and Angel Hack Life, a married couple that talks about finding positive outlooks on life. In a post titled 50 Questions That Will Free Your Mind, which they actually wrote in July 2009, then offered the 50 questions below as a way to, well, free your mind of worry, stress, whatever.
The funny thing is that they must have gotten overwhelmed at a certain point with the comments, about 200 of them, because Marc only wrote one response, though he addressed maybe 10 people in that response. They actually have a pretty cool site, so if you check out this particular post, you should see the new stuff they have to offer.
Anyway, I decided that I would take up the challenge and respond to the questions in my own way, which will probably be a mix of silly, serious and thought provoking because that’s just how I am. On their site, many people answered the questions in their comments while some others answered the questions on their own blogs, like I’m doing, and linked back. For those of you who always ask “where do you come up with ideas for blog posts”, this is one of those ways. Okay, let’s get this party started.
- How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?
- Which is worse, failing or never trying?
- If life is so short, why do we do so many things we don’t like and like so many things we don’t do?
- When it’s all said and done, will you have said more than you’ve done?
- What is the one thing you’d most like to change about the world?
- If happiness was the national currency, what kind of work would make you rich?
- Are you doing what you believe in, or are you settling for what you are doing?
- If the average human life span was 40 years, how would you live your life differently?
- To what degree have you actually controlled the course your life has taken?
- Are you more worried about doing things right, or doing the right things?
- You’re having lunch with three people you respect and admire. They all start criticizing a close friend of yours, not knowing she is your friend. The criticism is distasteful and unjustified. What do you do?
- If you could offer a newborn child only one piece of advice, what would it be?
- Would you break the law to save a loved one?
- Have you ever seen insanity where you later saw creativity?
- What’s something you know you do differently than most people?
- How come the things that make you happy don’t make everyone happy?
- What one thing have you not done that you really want to do? What’s holding you back?
- Are you holding onto something you need to let go of?
- If you had to move to a state or country besides the one you currently live in, where would you move and why?
- Do you push the elevator button more than once? Do you really believe it makes the elevator faster?
- Would you rather be a worried genius or a joyful simpleton?
- Why are you, you?
- Have you been the kind of friend you want as a friend?
- Which is worse, when a good friend moves away, or losing touch with a good friend who lives right near you?
- What are you most grateful for?
- Would you rather lose all of your old memories, or never be able to make new ones?
- Is it possible to know the truth without challenging it first?
- Has your greatest fear ever come true?
- Do you remember that time 5 years ago when you were extremely upset? Does it really matter now?
- What is your happiest childhood memory? What makes it so special?
- At what time in your recent past have you felt most passionate and alive?
- If not now, then when?
- If you haven’t achieved it yet, what do you have to lose?
- Have you ever been with someone, said nothing, and walked away feeling like you just had the best conversation ever?
- Why do religions that support love cause so many wars?
- Is it possible to know, without a doubt, what is good and what is evil?
- If you just won a million dollars, would you quit your job?
- Would you rather have less work to do, or more work you actually enjoy doing?
- Do you feel like you’ve lived this day a hundred times before?
- When was the last time you marched into the dark with only the soft glow of an idea you strongly believed in?
- If you knew that everyone you know was going to die tomorrow, who would you visit today?
- Would you be willing to reduce your life expectancy by 10 years to become extremely attractive or famous?
- What is the difference between being alive and truly living?
- When is it time to stop calculating risk and rewards, and just go ahead and do what you know is right?
- If we learn from our mistakes, why are we always so afraid to make a mistake?
- What would you do differently if you knew nobody would judge you?
- When was the last time you noticed the sound of your own breathing?
- What do you love? Have any of your recent actions openly expressed this love?
- In 5 years from now, will you remember what you did yesterday? What about the day before that? Or the day before that?
- Decisions are being made right now. The question is: Are you making them for yourself, or are you letting others make them for you?
I’d be as old as I was.
Never trying.
Because we’re not always in control of every aspect of our destiny.
Probably, with all the writing I do.
I wish we were all nicer and more cordial to each other.
Writing, although I might expand it to musical composition and lyric writing.
I’m pretty much doing what I believe in, though I wouldn’t be depressed if it paid better.
I wouldn’t be here so I guess I wouldn’t be living my life at all.
I became a sole entrepreneur 10 years ago so I’d have more control over my destiny.
Doing things right because doing the right thing seems to come naturally to me.
I speak up very quickly so they’ll stop embarrassing themselves and I don’t have to leave, though I might. Then again, people I admire would know better.
Live life the best you can.
In a heartbeat.
If seeing how an artist creates a painting, then yes.
Make sure the frosting on my cake is to the left before I start eating it.
Because we’re all individuals and dance to the beat of a different drum.
Sing the National Anthem at a baseball game. I stopped singing in 1999, so it’s an impractical wish now.
Probably, but I’m not always the “letting go” type.
I’m living exactly where I want to live. I’ll say New Mexico because I’ve never been there and hope they have a lake nearby.
No.
Worried genius; they eventually accomplish something.
Because I’m good at it.
Pretty close to it. I don’t talk to any of my friends as often as I probably should but I’m easy to reach.
Losing touch with a good friend near you because these days you can always keep in touch with good friends if they move away.
That chocolate is amazing.
Ah, the Alzheimer question; I’d rather never be able to make new ones I suppose.
Yes; I know no one comes back from dying, so I’d rather not try to prove it incorrect.
No; I hope I have 50+ more years before it even thinks about it.
Actually I do, and no, it doesn’t matter but I still can’t forget it.
The day my dad surprised us by coming back from Vietnam early, although he was in a half body cast. I think the answer to the first answers the second.
I don’t have any moments in my recent past; now that’s a shame.
Soon.
Nothing; still have to figure out how to achieve it.
No.
Because religions don’t support love; they support themselves.
Unfortunately no, because people grow up in different environments. Yes. More work I actually enjoy doing. Yes. Five years ago when I created a website that, to date, hasn’t really worked for me. No one; that would be too depressing to deal with. Not at this stage of my life. We’re all alive; truly living is when you’re enjoying it. When you’ve reached that point when you realize you’re ready to take your shot at it. Because it’s a misnomer that we all learn from our mistakes. We only learn from some of them; others are just nuisances that distract us. Nothing. Anything I did differently I’d deserve to be judged on. This morning as I was trying to sleep. Since the question is “what” rather than “who”, I’d have to say nothing, and thus no to the second question. Depends on what it is I did. I tend to remember dates of things that made enough of an impression for me to remember. Great final question. Being truthful, I’d have to say others are making the decisions for me instead of my being in control as much as I’d like to be. Such is the life of a consultant.
In my own way, to show that I do things for my own reasons and not for other people’s reasons, I’m taking on what I call kind of a meme, which is based off this article on a blog called TwitterMoms titled Share 10 Little Things that Lead to a Happier, Healthier You. Actually, the title is much longer, because it’s actually part of some contest where you can win a gift card and some Tropicana juice stuff. Frankly, I don’t care about all of that, which is why I’m not doing all the other stuff they’re asking for. Instead, I thought it would be fun to do this particular thing. Why am I doing this? A few reasons. One, because I want to show some of the things I write about on my business blog, which includes motivational stuff here and there; I sometimes do that here as well. Two, because I want to show that I do know some things that might make me healthier and happier, even if I don’t do all of them. And three, because I love some memes. I hope you clicked on the link above if you don’t know what one is. However, you can check out the other 3 memes I’ve played with: Passion Quilt; Soundtrack of Your Life; and 7 Things You Don’t Know About Me. Anyway, here’s my list of 10: 1. Hug the people you care about at least once a day. I hug my wife multiple times a day, and when I see friends, I try to get hugs in as well. Had to learn how to hug my guy friends, but that only happens if they can handle it as well. 2. Find something that will make you laugh at least 30 minutes a day. I don’t do this one every day, but I find when I do it that I feel really good. 3. Eat in some kind of moderation so you don’t feel sick to your stomach. When I plan my meals I do very well, but a night like Monday night, when I was at a meeting, convinced me that I could break from my pattern and eat a lot of pizza, which I don’t eat at home; ugh! 4. Have at least one small sweet treat a day. If I don’t have a sweet treat every day I tend to get into a mode where I want a lot of it, and of course that’s not good for me. So my wife doles it out to me a little bit at a time, and I appreciate that she does that for me, even if I can’t figure out where she’s hiding it. 5. Find a reason to get at least 30 minutes a day to yourself in some fashion. I’m bad at this one because even when I take a break, I do it at the computer. I need to convince myself to get away from it here and there. 6. Find a way to get at least a little bit of exercise every day, even if it’s only 15 minutes. Yeah, this one I’m really bad at. I do something maybe 3 or 4 days a week, but when I can get myself into a good mode, I’ll try to do something longer and at least twice a day. When it gets warmer, if I’m home this summer, I’ll be at the lake in the morning and the afternoon walking. 7. At least a few times a day, do a little bit of stretching. What I’m learning is that it’s not necessarily that my being out of shape is what injures me here and there, it’s that everything is so tight. I’ve taken to doing some stretching exercises daily, and a few times a day I’ll just stop and stretch in a few positions for about a minute or two. It all helps. 8. If you feel bad in any way for 7 days or more, see a doctor. I refer you to my story of how I discovered I was diabetic back in 1997 by paying attention to some signs that many people ignore. 9. Try not to take yourself too seriously. Sometimes I have problems with this, but I also laugh at myself many times a day. I tend to view almost every situation as some kind of story, which means I try to recall it so I can tell it later on. If it ends up being funny, even better. 10. Feel good about yourself. When I talked about the movie The Secret, I mentioned this thing about the laws of attraction. If you feel good about yourself and think positive things, positive things come into your life. A motivational speaker named Zig Ziglar says “Positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking will.” I like to add “and you’ll feel pretty good as well.” And there you go. Now, I always ask people to do their own meme based on my participating, and to date no one has ever followed me and given it a shot. For this one, I wonder who’ll step up to the plate and keep it going; maybe one of my Power 50 friends? 🙂 Blogging, Social Media, Writing, Motivation and General Stuff |
