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Lead a vivid life that does good

Category: lead vividly (Page 10 of 18)

Life is an adventure, and adventure is defined by you.

8 January 2012 /

Cape Reinga
The noise in the back seat calms as Cape Reinga draws near. The squabbling turns to conversation about the lighthouse … the ocean … and the sea. Adventure for our family waits.

Our family value of adventure has drawn us here. A desire to explore and learn and have fun (despite another full day in the car). This particular adventure is also number 2 on my 12list for 2012.

For us, adventure means exploring, its often unusual, typically fun and sometimes hazardous. It often requires courage. Kid sized courage. The kind of courage that pressures parents into new things, because “we value adventure”.

Adventure creates learning.

Conversation.

Memories.

 

So go ahead and define your own adventure. Just don’t miss the opportunity to embark on an adventure of your own. Take your family, your friends, or yourself.

Go on be ADVENTUROUS!

 

Twelve : 12 memorable things for the 12 months of the year 12.

1 January 2012 /

Twelve - Project Leap begins. A photo each day from 1 Jan 12 to 31 Dec 12. 366 photos in total, including the leap day | 1/366

Happy New Year and welcome to the year of 12.

Because it’s the year 12, and because there are 12 months in the year, why not have a 12 list?

A 12 list is kind of like a bucket list but easier, and just for the year. I think the idea beats new years resolutions (although Jim’s new years resolution is good).

A 12 list is a list of simple memorable things you want to do this year. Don’t worry about the order, or when you will do them. Just list 12 things, anything, as they come to mind.

Then pick one a month and do it, don’t forget to take your camera to record the memory.

Here is my 12 list:

  1. Have a snow fight with my family
  2. Visit Cape Reinga
  3. Marvel at a sunrise
  4. Catch a fish with Jayden
  5. Take my wife on a picnic (without kids)
  6. Fly again
  7. Have someone I have yet to meet, over for dinner
  8. Visit a good.water project
  9. Catch up with a person I didn’t see last year
  10. Go caving
  11. Have a bbq at the beach
  12. Take my kids to a NZ city they haven’t been to before

_______________________________________

‘Twelve’ – Project Leap begins. A photo each day from 1 Jan 12 to 31 Dec 12. 366 photos in total, including the leap day | 1/366

 

 

Throw out the Alarm Clock and grab an Opportunity Clock

26 August 2011 /

Clock
In bed, out to the world, in a state of near comatose when suddenly that repulsive noise breaks the silence. The canned music or loud buzzing interrupts our dream, sleep is over, and we are called back to the land of the awake.

The work of the alarm clock is done for another day.

So why is it called an ‘alarm’ clock?

Is a new day really meant to strike such terror into our life that it is cause for ‘alarm’? Are our dreams so good that we need ‘alarm’ to bring us back to reality? Lets change the name of our alarm clock.

Lets call it an OPPORTUNITY clock.

When it awakes us from our slumber, it wakes us to new opportunities.

Opportunities to live. To taste. Listen. Touch. Smell. See.

Opportunities to create new things. To learn new things.  To experience new things.

Opportunities to experience laughter and sadness, fun and pain.

Opportunities to know and be known. To love and be loved. To seek God and experience freedom.

Everyday I have a choice. Start with an ‘alarm’ clock. Or awake to an ‘opportunity’ clock.

 

nb: I didn't create the term Opportunity Clock, just heard it and build on it.

And you prepare for the worst. And hope for the best.

11 August 2011 /

Airbus A380new
Far above the ocean, an engine bigger than a large car suddenly disintegrates blasting shrapnel and metal in all directions. The shrapnel punches holes in the world’s largest passenger jet's wing, damages flaps, causes fuel to spew from the plane and degrades 2 of the remaining 3 engines.

In quick succession an unprecedented 54 alarms appear in the cockpit of the Qantas A380 on route from Singapore to Sydney.

In an interview on 60 minutes Captain Richard Champion de Crespigny describes the situation and some of his key decisions. Part way through the interview he states, "I thought lets protect this aircraft at the most basic level possible. And that was to position it within gliding range of Singapore. And that’s what we did."

"That’s a big call, gliding an A380", states the interviewer.

I love the captain’s reply. It is simple, striking and relevant to many situations.

"And you prepare for the worst. And hope for the best."

“Prepare for the worst” means I’m not ignoring the gravity of the event I am in. I’m not hoping its something smaller than it is. Preparing for the worst means I am recognizing it for what it is. Preparing for the worst means I am doing everything I can to position myself in a place where I have the best possible chance of recovering.

Prepare means more than just hope. It means action.

“Hope for the best”. Hope is critical, without hope all is lost. Hope enables you to make decisions, to think through events, to believe in yourself and the people around you. Hope, I believe, changes your mental direction.

Preparing for the worst in a bad marriage means admitting it is disintegrating and taking steps to fix it. Then hoping for the best.

Preparing for the worst in business means confronting the brutal reality of the situation and takings steps to recover it. Then allow hope to drive you.

Prepare for the worst in health, with the kids, at your job, in your illness and in relationships. Take steps to recover them. With hope!

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best.

Choosing the long way … just because I can.

6 August 2011 /

Central Plateau
I had been driving for nearly 3 hours when my phone reminded me of the flight I had cancelled from Wellington to Hamilton. I mused at the fact that sometime in the next hour an Air New Zealand Q300 would fly unnoticed above me and deliver its passengers to my destination a full 2 hours before I hoped to arrive.

The sun had gone and darkness ensued, as cruise control limits my climb up to the Central Plateau. Then as I round a corner and head onto the Desert Road I see light. My increased altitude and wide-open spaces, allows me to catch the final stages of the setting sun, for the second time in a day.

I regret not having my real camera and wonder if it is even worth pulling over and taking a photo with my iPhone. Finally, the predisposition driven into me by taking photos everyday for a year, kicks in. I pull over (allowing a car that I had passed to get the better of me) and take this shot.

My drive home from Wellington on a Friday evening reminded me that:

I love driving. The 528 km drive home is still along way short of the 750km I used to drive everyday as a bank courier. I barely notice the 6 hours journey, but put me in a plane 3 hours and I go stir-crazy.

I love taking photos. And I miss the 365 project. I need to carry my real camera more often. This shot of the mountains would have been immeasurably better with my SLR.

I value time too much. At work I make a lot of decisions based on the value of my time. I literally, mentally value an hour at a dollar amount and plan travel based on that. Generally it is good for helping make decisions, but sometimes I need to get over it. Sometimes I value time the wrong way.

To conclude…

Sometimes I need to trade the value of my time for cruise control, wide-open spaces, photos with real cameras and second sun-sets.

Sometimes I need to choose the long journey … just because I can. 

 

Impatience that leads to frustration!

31 July 2011 /

Photo
I was excited at getting home earlier, relaxing and finally ending a long day of travel. I was “lucky” enough to get moved to a flight that was due to leave Wellington an hour earlier than my original flight. I was homeward bound.

As I waited for my boarding call I noticed the “early” flight was delayed.

Then delayed again. And again.

We board, wait for missing passengers and finally we taxi out, then accelerate down the runway. As we get airborne I glance out the window to see my original flight taxiing out. “So much for earlier” I thought. And being the competitive person I am, checked the relative speed of the two aircraft and determined I would still be in 5 minutes earlier.

Not so. The weather started to turn and our pilots weaved around a lightning storm. My “early” flight finally landed 25 minutes AFTER my original flight, which somehow managed to fly directly to Hamilton.

Talk about frustrating.

I got home frustrated, tired and late. Maybe even a little bit grumpy.

The next morning I was following this truck. “Impatience leads to frustration” it inaudibly shouts. I guess it can be easy to be impatient behind a slow truck. The more impatient we become, the more frustrated we become.

Impatience leads to frustration.

Impatience on delayed flights.

Impatience while waiting our turn.

Impatience with your computer, or kids, or wife, or staff.

Impatience then frustration. And frustration causes us to forget just how lucky we are.

Like my trip from Hamilton to Christchurch to Wellington to Hamilton in a day. It’s incredible I can do all that in a day. And I get frustrated because I arrived home 25 minutes late.

I was impatient, then frustrated, for no good reason.

 

I’d agree with you … but then we would both be wrong!

31 May 2011 /

Wrong_weed_spray

Just before summer last year I decided to spray my lawns for weeds. I used what I thought was the right spray for the job “Weed Out”. I was wrong. It killed everything (except the patches I missed) and we spent the summer with a dead lawn.

I’ve been wrong before you know. Wrong decisions; wrongly reading people; wrong answers; wrong opinions; and wrong actions. Wrong!

And I will be wrong in the future. I know that, so will you.

But right now, at this very minute, I can’t think of one single thing I am wrong about. Nothing.

In the present we behave like we are right about everything. We believe that everyone else is wrong and we are right. We know we have been wrong before, and will be wrong again. But right now we are right!

Maybe we would do well to remember we could be wrong. Wrong in hundreds or thousands of ways. Maybe if we remember that we could be wrong, maybe it would open our ears and eyes to other views and ideas and ways.

Maybe if we did that, we could become right quicker.

Despite all that, at this moment I am still right about everything I can think of.

You of course have a different view.  And I’d agree with you … but then we’d both be wrong.

The points for exercise

1 February 2011 /

Bike
 
I heard a podcast from Gallup the other day about exercise and how important it is to having energy and reducing stress. It reminded me in my relative state of sloth, what we all know, that exercise is good for us and is a vital part of our office bound lives.

So why do I run hot and cold on exercise?

Firstly, it’s because it doesn't make it to the top of my priority list. It's important but not that important. In my case it is not a lack of discipline, it is purely that I don't make it a priority.

Secondly, it’s because I don't really enjoy it. Lets be honest it is hard work. I have know desire to sit in a gym, get only mild enjoyment out of running, and can’t bike to work most days as I have NO desire to bike to meetings.

Finally, I like freedom. My calendar and commitments are such that no day is the same and so therefore exercising at the same time each day is impossible and a burden.

Yet! I know I need to exercise more.

So I am trying a new system. Not an original idea, but a system none the less. I have allocated points to various activities, based broadly on energy burn.

points per 10 mins

Biking 5

Walk 3

Jogging 7

Weights 3

I have set a goal of 50 points this week. So will have to do 1 hour 10 minutes running. or 2 hours 40 minutes walking. or 1 hour 40 minutes biking. or a combination of the three.

By setting a goal, hopefully I make it a priority. And by having flexibility hopefully I enjoy it and it fits my freedom mindset.

As always it is easier to write than do.

Each and every single day is different

20 January 2011 /

The sunrises and sets in different places and the clouds form never before seen shapes.

Tomorrows future becomes clearer and yesterdays memories fade.

Even when we feel as though life is “same old, same old”, each day is completely unique. Our problem is not that we don’t know that each day is different.Our problem is that we fail to slow down
enough to notice.

After a year of taking photos every day I took a break. I am only now realising that I no longer slow down to notice the changes each day.

Tomorrow is a different day.

Resolve to slow down enough to notice?

 

The beaches of Tauranga it would seem are laden with treasure.

25 November 2010 /

Metal Detectors.jpg

The beaches of Tauranga it would seem are laden with treasure. On a number of recent visits I have seen older people with metal detectors in hand, combing the beach for precious treasures buried in the sand.

They are the new treasure hunters, no X marks the spot needed.

As I watched them I realise that we all search for treasure. We are all treasure hunters, in a restless pursuit of things to make our own. Some of us pursue treasure in money or work or success.Others pursue treasure in family or love or organised religion or God.

I have thought about what Jesus said, “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

It reminded me to think about the things I am pursuing. It reminded me that they are a display of my heart.

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