Last week my son Brennan came down with a case of lice.  We have no idea where he got it from.

It could have been school.  I could have been trying on Halloween masks.  Who knows?

If you have never had to deal with this crap, then you have no idea.  It’s rough.  The medical treatments are all incredibly toxic so we went the natural route.  It’s slower, but still effective.

The actual lice is killed almost immediately, but these little things called “nits” are left behind.  Actually, they are eggs…which it not only a disgusting thought…but a massive pain in the ass.

The school won’t let a child come back until every single nit is gone.

We picked…then picked some more.

There were thousands.

So I shaved Brennan’s hair down to where it was tight to his head.  It looked like I got all the nits…or at least I thought I did.

Come Monday…the school sent him home again.

The only thing left to do was completely shave his head.  We talked about it and Brennan was totally cool with going “Bruce Willis.”

Kids rock that way.

So here I am shaving away and I have about a third of his head completely bald and thinning out the rest.

Then it happened.

In an instant I got absolutely overwhelmed with emotion.  It hit me out of nowhere.

And it hit me hard.

As I shaved my amazing 5½ yr old’s head and looked into his eyes with his new very fashionable look…I got images of kids with cancer and leukemia after chemo treatments.  I got images of kids who have to shave their heads for brain surgery.

In that moment, everything collapsed together – Brennan, chemo, leukemia, trauma, pain, helplessness, family challenges, appreciating things, losing things,  – it just all came over me and tears started rolling down my face.

I started thinking about how fricken fortunate I am.  I started thinking about all the people in my life that I love and am grateful for.

I started thinking about all the opportunities I am afforded and in actuality…how easy my life is.

And I started thinking about how I often take these things for granted.

So far today my biggest challenge was to get Brennan to eat breakfast…pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of life.

And yet we often make these small challenges seem HUGE.

I usually shift pretty quickly from things.  I take my lessons and go.  This one floored me.  I was numb for hours.  I had a mastermind call with my team leaders later in the morning and was moved to tears again in appreciation of their contribution to my life.

At a very real level, I am still in it.

Brennan often teaches me lessons.  He does it virtually every day.  But this experience was the most profound of all.

Sometimes we need reminders.  We need to relearn.  We need to unlearn.  We need to reprogram and reconnect.

Here is what my little lice infested angel reconnected me to…

Stuff In Life Just Happens…We Choose The Meaning

How often do we get sucked into believing something or thinking something just because that is what is familiar to us in our past…or most of the rest of the world believes a certain way?

Nothing in life inherently has any meaning.  Zero.  Ziltch.

We CHOOSE whatever meaning we want and we attach it to the events in our lives.  The events themselves give us nothing other than an experience, which alone is meaningless.  Additional years aren’t always liberating…sometimes they can aid us in creating mental prisons.

Experience is indeed the best teacher, but we have to bring awareness to what it is actually teaching us.  If I had to shave my head as a teenager I would have been devastated.  Even today, it would be a serious gut check moment.

Brennan has no negative anchor.  No need to impress.  No comparative judgment.

He has no past experience to limit how he embraces this moment and because of that…he grabbed every ounce of positive emotion from it.

Imagine if you had to shave your head today.  Would you embrace it or would it stop you in your tracks?

What emotions and fears would it bring up for you?  What would you make it mean?

We Need To Unlearn To Move Forward

It’s often said that things like fear of __________, (success, failure, embarrassment, not fitting in, etc) are “part of the human condition.”  I believe this to be true, but I would change it slightly.

I believe these things are “Part of the human conditioning.”

For the most part, we learn about fear…we aren’t born with it.  We learn most of it before we are seven, then the rest of our lives reinforce it.

Mentally, we become our own best supporter of limited thinking.  I see it over and over again.

I have been a student of personal development for over 20 years.  I have been facilitating programs that help people move through this stuff for 15 years.

And I still get stuck…all the damn time.

We HAVE to set up supportive structures in order to have any shot at UNlearning, reprogramming and creating massive success for ourselves.

You truly make up and choose your beliefs.  Your current ones have been hardened by life over the years, but they are NOT permanently fixed.

Begin today to look at the beliefs you have and look at what you want.  Are they in alignment?

If they are…awesome.

If they are not…awesome.  Now let’s change them.

Then give yourself plenty of opportunities to create small victories that support your new beliefs.

Brennan didn’t have anything to unlearn.  I do.  You may as well.

Start unlearning your ass off and set yourself free.

It’s NOT About Living Like You Are Dying

I’ve never liked this philosophy.

“Live like you are dying.”

“Live each moment as if it’s your last.”

It doesn’t work for me.  Honestly, if you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do today?

For me, what works is to be completely present at all times.  Do all I can in all I do.  Be joyful.  Let people know how I feel and how much they mean to me.

My little 40” Jedi is a masterful teacher.  These lessons for me were so unexpected.

It literally came out of nowhere…but it was exactly what I needed.

I am so incredibly grateful for lice.  If you have any question as to why…look at the pure joy on Brennan’s face in the photo below.  He could give a rat’s ass about his hair…it doesn’t define him.

What life-changing lessons are you walking past everyday because they are disguised as tiny obstacles, nuisances, “problems” or challenges?

Please forward and share this with everyone you know who has children and anyone who is committed to living an authentic and joyful life.

I found this piece I wrote years ago while traveling in Ireland. The Wicklow Mountains are a magical place if you have never been. There are sites in the mountains that from Pre-Christianity time. There’s a rural innocence to it all that is just breathtaking.

Enjoy.
==================================

The man sits on the edge of the cliff looking into his own soul,
Seeing nothing, seeing everything, seeing all the wonders of the heavens and the mysteries of the sea.

Knowing that within his self-constructed walls of protection,
There is a small child who once celebrated his freedom and knew no limits.
And yet, over the years, the man buried the child in maturity, have to’s, intellect and all things ‘adult.’

The world around the child has changed,
His body has grown, his knowledge increased, his life unfolded.
And yet this little child inside still knows what it feels like to be small, insecure and not wanting the world to look directly into his eyes.

With each passing day, with each moment experienced, with each lesson learned,
The man begins to see the child with new eyes and with a new heart.
He understand that the boy, scared yet free, is a part of who he is now.

And that makes him happy.

To be able to see the world through so many perspectives,
To be commanding, humble, powerful and cautious.
To not be so wrapped up in himself that he misses the sound of a robin telling him spring has come.

Yes, it’s an honor to recognize our smallness and our vastness,
Our wisdom and our innocence,
Our courage and our cowardice,
Our divinity and our humanity.

To be able to fully experience ourselves and the magic of being immensely small.

This post isn’t what you think.  I am not going to talk about the Pagan vs. Christianity debate about Easter or how ironic it is that we have chosen large pink bunnies and chocolate eggs to somehow represent Jesus rising from the dead.

That stuff is funny enough on it’s own.

But as I sit here Easter Sunday morning looking over my backyard in full bloom, the sun bouncing off the pool and a light breeze flowing in through a set of oversized windows…I started thinking about something else.

I love celebrations.  It really doesn’t matter to me what they are for…I just love to celebrate.  I love to celebrate events, accomplishments and most of all…I like to celebrate people.

I started thinking about all the efforts we put into the holidays and occasions mainly because they have become traditions in our families or religions.  We bust out the decorations, rush to the stores (repeatedly) and create elaborate stories for our children.

Please don’t misunderstand me, I think it’s great.  I love holidays.  More specifically, I love what they have the power to support us doing.  They inspire connection.  They cultivate the desire for people to come together.  They get us to stop the noise, sit back for even just a few minutes…and reflect about life and the relationships we have with each other.

What I am sitting here pondering this morning is what we need to do as a species to genuinely celebrate ourselves more often.  To honor ourselves, our connection to each other, our need for each other, our divinely guided creativity, and our ability to truly make this world whatever we choose it to be.

I am up for THAT holiday.

What if we took just a little bit of that special something (I may call it love) that the holidays seem to inspire in us and choose to be aware of it every day?

Can we possibly hold this much love in our hearts next Thursday when there are no menorahs to light, no Cadbury eggs to eat, no jolly fat men in funny suits to sit on, no fireworks in the sky to watch, no dead prophets to remember and no feasts to devour?

I know for most people it’s far easier to celebrate some “thing” or “event” than themselves or another person.  We get to change that.

We are worth celebrating.

You are worth celebrating.

I am worth celebrating.

So as we move through this year of 2010 amidst one of the most interesting times our generations have ever known, I want to make this one simple request of you…

Start celebrating life every day.

Take the same energy you put into getting the house ready for the holidays and put it into your kids every day, your work every day…your SELF every day.

For me, this is what these celebrations were designed to do…reconnect us to the divine love that is within us all and our power as human beings when we choose to realize just how amazing we all are.

Celebrate life.

Please share your thoughts and share this post with everyone you truly celebrate.

No, this isn’t about Og Mandino’s classic book.

It’s about my 5 yr old son, Brennan, and his talent for persuasiveness.

Many people talk about how they “aren’t a salesman” or a “salesy type person,” with great pride as if being in sales is a disease to get rid of.

The reality is, we are all in sales.  Some are just in denial.

If you are a teacher, you are constantly selling and reselling your students as to why it’s so important to learn, why each lesson is valuable and why they need to put their best effort in.

If you are a police officer, you are maneuvering for premium shifts, promotions and persuading people to follow your hunches and instincts.

If you are in a relationship…well, don’t even get me started.

If you are a parent, then your salesmanship is constantly being tested.

Unfortunately for us, we are out manned, out skilled and out worked by our kids.

Kids are naturals and my son is no exception.  He is relentless and doesn’t take no for an answer.

It’s 10:45 am and he has already asked me for a lolly pop 5 times.  5 times.

Did he get his feelings hurt when I said no the first 4 times?  Nope.

Did he take it personally? Not even a little.

Did he use other tactics like cute faces, pitched voices and the promise to “be my best friend?”  Of course he did, and he did it with style.

Did it matter to Brennan that I said no 5 times?  Absolutely not.  What mattered was what he wanted.  He was singularly focused.  He was intentional.  He was committed to getting what he wanted.

And you should be too.

We so often in life allow the circumstances of our world to impact our choices.  We react as opposed to respond.  We let temporary feedback throw us off course.

The surest way to get anything in this lifetime is to decide what it is you want, set a clear intention that you will attain it and go after it with passion until it’s yours.

Don’t stop until it’s yours or you decide you really don’t want it any more.  Awaken your inner 5 yr old incredibly powerful, always persuasive, wonderfully present little salesperson and get to work on accomplishing your goals and dreams.

Now, excuse me…I need to go deliver a lolly pop.  Brennan is riding his big wheel in the rain and being beautifully a kid.  He just shouted…”I want a lolly pop,” with a huge smile on his face.

Hey…just because I teach it, doesn’t mean I can resist it.  I think he wants a red one. (Don’t worry…it’s organic.)

We have heard it a million times in business, school, relationships and life in general.

It’s the small things that make the difference.

Then why do the vast majority of people keep searching for that magic bullet, that secret ingredient, that special something to catapult them to success?

Van Gogh said, “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.”

Vince was a pretty talented guy. You know, Starry Nights, Irisis and like a gazillion other amazing masterpieces. We remember him for great things. Monumental things. Brilliant things.

And yet he says it was all about the small things.

Thoreau said this, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. Simplify, simplify.”

Henry was a pretty talented guy too and produced some literary masterpieces on his own.

Now, I am not suggesting you go cut off your ear or go find a cabin in the middle of the woods and close yourself off from the world. I mean, if you think that’s what you need, go for it…but there are likely other routes to take.

In our insanely fast paced world, we often try and do it all. We imagine ourselves into this huge life and often think we are going to get there with one great leap forward as if there is that one thing that will propel us forward into greatness.

It doesn’t work that way.

Of course, there are exceptions. There are those occasional one-hit-wonders in life. There are the Tin Tin’s of business and entrepreneurship. (anyone who didn’t grow up in the 80’s is now Googling “Tin Tin.”)

People who struck it big on seemingly a single attempt. “Kiss Me” by Tin Tin was said to be written in 24 hrs after the band was signed by their label. It’s still on the radio today. Yeah, I know Tin Tin is the guy who went on to form Duran Duran…but he wasn’t at the time…he was just a dude who wrote a song.

It happens…but very, very, very, very rarely. Did I use enough “very’s” to make the point?

More often, it’s the Sinatra’s who make it. I tried to find exactly how many songs he recorded, but it was tough to find the exact number. The most accurate account I could find was 1285.

1285!

And that’s probably a little low.

Wow! That’s a serious body of work. That’s 25+ songs a year over a 50-year career.

That’s enough to make you feel lazy, isn’t it?

It was the countless number of hours writing and recording in the studio, consistently over his career that made The Chairman great.

It was the countless performances he gave to crowds of all sizes that made him great.

When he was first starting, he played rooms where only a dozen people showed up.  He sang his ass off anyway.

It was the thousands of martinis he drank and women he flirted with…

Okay, I got carried away.

So, what’s our lesson here?

Small forwarding, positive actions over time create enduring success.

It’s the seemingly insignificant things that when we do them don’t seem to make a difference that over time either create greatness or perpetuate mediocrity.

In relationships with ourselves and others…

It’s getting off work a little early once a week to pick your kids up from school and spend some uninterrupted time together.

It’s having family dinner consistently together so you can just talk.

It’s bringing home flowers on a Tuesday…that’s not her birthday, anniversary or mother’s day.

It’s rubbing his shoulders without being asked.

It’s setting aside “us time” and “me time” consistently…not just when you can’t take it any more.

It’s meditating, working out and reading…at least a few times EVERY WEEK.

It’s eating that one raw meal a day.

These are all seemingly insignificant things that add up over time…and over time they contribute to the body of work that is our lives.

In business and marketing…

It’s making new contacts and exposures to your business every single day.

It’s putting out 1 single piece of good content online every day.

It’s being of value in the social media space with your dialogue and interactions.

It’s stepping up to lead even when you may not think you are ready.

It’s stretching yourself past your comfort zone…and doing it with joy.

It’s doing the thing NOW, not tomorrow or next week, but NOW!

I know that we sometimes seem to get a lot of conflicting information in the world of personal development. Some advice teaches us to focus on getting the big parts of our lives in order, to focus on vision, to make sure the most important things are our priorities.

These things are all true.

But we don’t get where we are going by leaping the chasm. We get there by putting one foot in front of the other and simply taking a step forward.

It’s really not that hard.

And that’s the challenge.

It’s simple.

So most people miss it.

Do the small things anyway.

Choose what you want. Create the vision. Decide what things need to be done to move your forward towards your goals.

Then just get started…and stay consistent…even when you don’t feel like it.

Hold your vision in mind while focusing on what’s next. What is the next right thing you need to do? Then just do it.

Check it off the To-Do list.

This is so much more than just staying in action. It’s adopting a belief system that success is the culmination of many small influences and actions. It’s “a knowing” that the thing you are doing right now is either moving you closer to or further away from what you want.

Let’s go get it done.

But please, please, please…do it with style. Put YOU into your daily actions. If you are going to show up…SHOW UP!

Show up with 100% of who you are – whether it’s parenting, being intimate, marketing, training, talking to a prospect, learning from a mentor, taking care of yourself, working out, being quiet or making a difference for someone.

So what are you waiting for?

Go get jiggy with it.

Here’s one way right now for you to get jiggy. ReTweet this post for me to your followers. Be valuable for other people and repost a link to this article for your Facebook friends.

Looking forward to seeing your version of “My Way.”

Lesson 5 – When making a move, do it confidently or don’t do it at all.

Lesson 4 – Scared money always loses.

Lesson 3 – You can’t lose what you don’t bet, but you can’t win much either. Go Big or Go Home!

Lesson 2 – It’s rarely about the cards you’re dealt, but rather how you play your hand.

Lesson 1 – Mindful Observation plus strategic action generally yields great rewards.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Your life is your own creation.  It’s your game.  What rules are you playing by?  Are your belief systems about money, success, family and business serving you or getting in your way?

Enjoy this short video inspired by the Jedi himself.  Please share it with your networks and share your comments below.  People all over the world need to understand how to get out of their own way to create success.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Do you trust your intuition or are you strictly dominated by left brain critical thought?  What can we learn from the 40 Inch Jedi (my son) about the power of honoring our feeling and trusting in our internal guidance system?

Enjoy this short video inspired by the greatest teacher I know.  Please make comments and share your thoughts.  Retweet and share with your networks.  Let’s support as many people as possible to begin to think about how powerful it is to tap into our inner guidance and intuition.