Pure.

Hi folks. It's been a while.

There are a lot of things on my mind, which is typical, and stressful.  This evening I was researching my "life," a ritual I find myself falling into every Sunday.  Should I live in Colorado? What job suits me best?  That kind of stuff.  Anyway, in the process of analyzing the best cycling routes in the Rockies, the song Jupiter, from The Planets, happened to randomly play.

Are you aware of the things in your life that put you into a trance?  Watching perfectly breaking waves puts my life on "pause."  And so did this song when the melody hummed through my headphones.  What an incredible feeling.

I need to find more of these things.





--Schmidty

Your Neighbor Might Be a Hero.

When I was a young boy I was a huge fan of anything Superman, Star Wars and Top Gun related. Something about "heroes" fascinated me, I guess.  20 years later I still have a fascination with incredible people, heroic acts and monumental accomplishments.  I admire people that push themselves far beyond their comfort zones; ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

In a simple google search you can easily find traits of a hero: Dedication, Conviction, Selflessness, Courage, Loyalty, Etc...

Our media typically labels firefighters, military personnel and police officers as heroes--I wouldn't disagree. But, don't you think it is possible for anyone to be a hero?  Running into a burning building is courageous, but so is raising children. I think it is important that our (my) perception of what makes a hero isn't limited by what media tell(s) us.  There are millions of people that carry out heroic acts every day that go unnoticed.

The Bigger Picture is this: As a society it is important that we alter our perception of heroes and heroism beyond what we see on television or in the news...A hero doesn't have to be marketable or profitable.  Risking your life isn't a prerequisite either. Ironically, when you google "Heroes" the #1 link is for the popular tv show with the same title...

My Dad and I had a discussion about a year ago about "being heroic."  His claim was that anyone can be a hero and it is something you can work to become. After listening to his opinion I tore his head off and vehemently disagreed.  Sorry, Dad. It took me a year, but I agree with you now.  --This is a common theme in my life:  Dad almost always ends up being right, but that's an entirely different blog post.

Check this link out: Hero Awards
More irony:  The host of the show is Dean Cain (former "Superman" tv actor). Oh well, separating the idea of heroism from fictional heroic characters might not be feasible...good link, nonetheless.

We can all be heroes. We all have the capability.



--Schmidty

Give It Time

Whoa. What a difference a couple of days can make.  It was almost 60 degrees in CoMo yesterday (that's Columbia, MO).  I had a great morning swim workout and an awesome afternoon ride with a grad school buddy.  Downtown is almost "electric" this morning--KU is in town, the sun is out and tomorrow is supposed to be nice too!

A week ago my positive attitude was severely waning and I was beginning to wonder what the hell I was doing in Missouri...The lesson here is that allowing a little bit of time to pass can make all the difference. Sometimes there is nothing you can do but be patient and wait for things to change on their own.  I'm a bit of a control-freak, so this idea doesn't sit very well with me.

In one of my courses we are learning how successful organizations design their internal structure--the  common trend among them is the ability to readily adapt to change--they're flexible and exhibit a "bend but don't break" mentality.  The idea sounds simple, but implementation is more difficult because the process is perpetual.

Life is all about "Ups" and "Downs," right?  Adapting to the good times is easy!  And, like good organizations we can all overcome the difficult times in our lives by first expecting challenges to happen and second, being patient and allowing a little bit of time for things to change.

By now you can probably tell that I analyze life entirely too much.  I'm not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing.  But, I do know this:  Today is going to be a great day.  That's all that really matters.

I hope yours is the same.






--Schmidty

I Could Use Your Help.

I'm fortunate to have traveled quite a bit and have worked in a job that has allowed me to experience some exciting, albeit dangerous things.

I spent four years in the United States Coast Guard. Three of those were spent in Clearwater, FL where I worked as a Helicopter Rescue Swimmer--I always thought I would be an Olympic Swimmer growing up but I ended up jumping out of helicopters and chasing drug smugglers instead.

Currently, I'm in graduate school in Missouri--how the hell did that happen?  Not sure. Well, that's not exactly true, but the story is too long and too boring to tell.

Lately, I have been dealing with "excitement" withdrawal. It has been miserably cold, the ocean and mountains are about a million miles from here and school hasn't been that intriguing either.  Ugh.  The silver-lining in all of this is that I live in a relatively stress-free world.  When I start to feel a bout of negativity coming on I consider what life must be like for our troops around the world. The fact that my life is uneventful is something they would probably suggest I don't take for granted.

So, I'm fortunate. But I'm still bored.

I don't receive many comments on my blog posts, but if you read this and have any suggestions/tips on how to add excitement to one's life, I would like to hear them!

This May I turn 31.  To me, life is all about perspective.  I want to learn as much about the world as I can through travels, reading, music, conversation, etc...I find "discovery" exciting. Time, when I am exploring, stands still.

What I am ultimately getting at is that I need a new adventure.  This will provide excitement and motivation.  There is so much out there to discover, but I could use a little bit of advice on which routes to research.

Thank-you.



--Schmidty

The Simple Inch

In the movie "Any Given Sunday," Al Pacino gives an inspirational speech about how football is a game of inches--that in order to be successful, one has to sacrifice for the greater good of the team.  Watch the video here:

Inches Speech

What I especially appreciate about this clip is its relevance to everyone in life, not just football players and other athletes.  He claims that inch by inch we can improve ourselves. I would like to add that inch by inch and minute by minute we can also help others improve.  And this might just make all the difference.

Too often we read about how someone escaped major catastrophe by mere inches or one more minute would have resulted in disaster.  Let's spin this in a positive light:  An extra minute spent with a friend could lead to a life-long bond.  Or answering one more question from an admirer could help them uncover their true passion.  There are a million examples:  holding a door open for an extra second could change the complexion of someone's day just as helping someone change a flat tire on the side of the road.

Most of you have probably seen the commercial that takes place in a busy city where a good deed is witnessed and subsequently passed on.  And most of you are probably familiar with the cliche "a little bit goes a long way."  I'm just not sure we realize how true this statement is, however. Typically we move throughout our day at the speed of light allowing little buffer between meetings, practices and other obligations.  To set a schedule this way eliminates any opportunity for improvisation and drastically reduces the odds (no scientific proof) of us taking "extra" time to spend with a friend, colleague or stranger. Extra time that could make a world of difference, literally and figuratively speaking.

We are all on the same team on this planet, like it or not.  Our success, as Pacino claims, will be determined by our willingness to go an extra "inch" and as I have discussed, to spend an extra "minute" helping others.  It's that simple.




--Schmidty

What a Dog Knows (Or Doesn't)

So much has been written and researched when it comes to our happiness, but if we were able to understand how dogs think we would have all the answers to our questions.

So, what does a dog know that we don't?  I think the better question is, what do we know that a dog doesn't?  What we know is that life gets difficult and as we get older we are expected to "grow up" and eliminate the amount of "play" in our lives.

We have a terrible habit of slowly eliminating the amount we play in our daily lives as we grow older because of the pressure to make money, have children, a house, a spouse and, of course, a dog.  The irony here is that each of these things are good reasons to play instead of keeping us from doing so.

Listen folks, we are all in this big world together--why then, do we choose to make our lives so much more complicated than they need to be?

This is where my analogy about dogs comes in handy....Dogs aren't racist, prejudiced or materialistic--those are all man-made features.  Dogs represent what we used to be when we were naive and carefree children.  They live to play!

I'm actually glad we can't communicate easier with canines because that would give us the opportunity to infect them with our views of the world, which, in turn, would cluster their lives with information detrimental to a carefree existence.  But I do wish we could take some hints from our furry friends and collectively realize we are way off track to the true course of happiness.  Dogs embody happiness because they don't know how to act any different. Further, when a dog encounters something it doesn't like, it doesn't do it!

A quick aside:  My mother hated it when I tried to feed the dog people-food because she said it was bad for its health---so, why the hell do we eat 99% of the crap we eat if it isn't even good enough for the dog!!!?

Dogs don't have to ask themselves why they do what they do.  They simply exist and do it happily.  We need to eliminate the things in our lives that keep us from this type of existence. An existence where it is second nature to only do things that make us smile, to only eat things that are pure and good and to build relationships around a focal point of carefree living.

They say that dogs are a man's best friend.  That's because deep down we really wish we could be more like them.

We make hundreds of choices every day. What proportion of the choices you make are likely to please the dog?




--Schmidty

Just for me, I guess...

This was an odd weekend for me--for some reason, I was reminded of the past over and over and over again.  The rain reminded me of home, talk of travel reminded me of an old girlfriend and Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" reminded me of my time in the Coast Guard and my Mom.

I think memories have a much deeper effect on our overall happiness than we realize.  I made the mistake of sending an email to an old friend recalling some of the good times we had only to be shunned for doing so. This reaction should have little bearing on my happiness because our good times were so long ago, but I would be lying if I said my feelings aren't hurt.

It's important to always be moving forward and not dwelling in the past, but I would argue that dwelling in the past can feel really good. Despite the unexpected reaction from my friend, our good times are sealed forever. They can't be taken away. However, sometimes memories are better off when enjoyed alone.



--Schmidty