Getting Our Priorities Straight

            Cancer runs in my family and is a health concern I can’t ignore without risking my life. My father passed away from colon cancer and my mother suffered from ovarian. I get checked every five years even though the procedure is one that leaves me feeling abused and dirty, if you know what I mean. Nevertheless, I have it done and have even had polyps removed before they became malignant.

            Cancer scares everyone, and rightfully so. It’s a killer that doesn’t care who you are or how old you may be at the time. It doesn’t choose between good or bad, useful or useless. No one can predict when it will come or what type it will be. It’s often like a giant sword of Damocles hanging over us, waiting to fall.

            As I’ve studied and learned about cancer, I’ve run across many stories of people who beat it without the usual treatments of radiation and chemotherapy. Not everyone will benefit from these alternative methods, but they may be an option for some of us if the time ever comes when we need to fight. As I watched my father die, I realized that the traditional treatments are often worse than the disease itself. His radiation burns were not pleasant. Remember, that’s just my opinion and doesn’t apply to everyone.

            The first alternative treatment I want to talk about is diet. Not ‘going on a diet’, but what we actually eat each and every day. There is no doubt that the standard American diet is the unhealthiest in the world. The types of “food” we eat have led to an obesity epidemic, increased rates of type II diabetes, and yes, increased rates of cancer. There are other problems caused by the food we eat, but I think that should get the point across. You can always read my post on sugar addiction to get a better feel of how I think.

            There are clinics around the world that offer cancer treatment just by changing your diet. Unfortunately, the government of the US has made it illegal for these types of clinics to treat cancer victims in this country. The incredible results achieved by these places takes a back seat to the money given by the big chemical companies that supply the chemo drugs. One excellent source of information on this can be found by checking out Gerson therapy. It’s one of the oldest and most well-known of this type of treatment. You can actually watch a video called The Gerson Miracle online or on Netflix if you’re interested.

            The second type of treatment is fairly new to me, but fits right along with what I’m trying to accomplish with this blog. It involves the change in people’s lives when they first learn they have cancer. Most people suddenly realize that everything changes and what was once very important isn’t nearly as critical as they thought. Family becomes number one and all the things they wished they had done with their lives are now close seconds. Meetings and deadlines now take the back seat as they focus on what really matters.

            Those people who decide to focus on what is now most important change their lives and as a result, sometimes the cancer goes away. More studies need to be done, but I’m really excited about this and look forward to learning more. As people begin to chase their dreams, knowing that they only have a limited time, the stress goes away and they find that inner joy that was missing. Doing what makes them happy somehow alters what is going on inside their bodies and the results are amazing.

            The reason I bring all this up is because it shouldn’t take something as horrible as cancer to make us prioritize our lives the way they were meant to be. Spending time with our family should be number one and will make the biggest impact on our health. I could never have quit my terrible job without the support and love of my wife and our youngest son. The time I have with them is precious and I long to have more.

            Our second priority should focus around our dreams. Doing the things we always wanted provides a motivation to keep living. Midlife isn’t cancer, but it is a time when we should look at our lives and make some changes. If you don’t need to make any changes, you wouldn’t be reading this in the first place. As Gandhi once said, “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

What Does Your Dash Mean?

            The other day I was looking at some of my family’s genealogy online and I saw some information on my grandfather. He was born in 1910 and died in 1979.  I had watched a video earlier that talked of the “dash” being the important part of a person’s life. As I looked at my grandfather’s 1910 – 1979, I realized how true that statement was. My dash is still in progress and I started to think about what I wanted it to represent.

             Grandpa’s dash represented a life filled with beekeeping, children, a wife, and farming. To me, his dash meant hard work and living his dream of owning and working the land. Now that he has an end number after his dash, I wish I had been able to spend more time with him in order to save up more memories.

            What will my own dash mean to my children and grandchildren? Will they remember it as years of complaining about my job and the many bad decisions I made? I don’t want that and since we always seem to remember the last thing we learned, I still have some time to change, time to make it better.

            Change, however, isn’t easy and it doesn’t happen overnight. The story of Ebenezer Scrooge doesn’t follow the old man past his first day as a changed person, so we will never know if the change stuck. No doubt he would still have had many obstacles to overcome and many bad habits to break. The key for all of us is to never give up. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth taking the time and doing it right.

            My grandfather created a wonderful dairy farm which gave me memories to last a lifetime. From milking the cows early in the morning to feeding the calves with huge baby bottles, they’re all good memories. He didn’t do all that for me, but I received more from it than he probably ever knew. My mother and father created a wonderful garden, which still produces an abundance of food each year. That little bit of Eden will be part of their dashes.

             So what can I create that will be important to later fruits of my loin? (Children- for you non-bible folk) It doesn’t have to be anything big like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel or even like my grandfather’s dairy farm. It just needs to be something created by me and that I’m willing to share with my posterity. The most important thing is that it has to come from my heart.

            Your passion is your dash between when you were born and when you die. Find your dash, follow you dream, and make your dash something to be proud of. No one will ever remember a life filled with TV watching and couch sitting. Write, draw, build, create, even fix! Get up and make your dash worthwhile.

            Do you want to know who you are? Don't ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you. – Thomas Jefferson

Air Is What Dreams Are Made Of

            Air kind of gets a bad rap in our world. People suffering from faulty decision making are called Airheads. Someone who talks about things they are not qualified to talk about are full of Hot Air. Even people who aren’t rich enough to afford a musical instrument are forced to play an Air Guitar. We often think of air as ‘nothing’ even though it’s made of lots of different gasses.

            A fire needs air to burn. I learned in scouts that a fire needs fuel, heat, and air. Since I insist on talking about lawnmowers again, you need to know about these things. Every mower has an air filter because its motor needs air to mix with the fuel in order to burn. The burning moves the parts, and pretty soon the lawn looks great and it’s time for some lemonade.

            When we dream of something other people think is stupid, we’re thought to have our heads in the clouds. In my opinion, that’s a good thing. It’s all well and good to have a firm foundation on the ground, but the view isn’t as good if we never lift ourselves up from it. Only by going up into the air can we see the potential of ourselves and what we can do.

            C.S. Lewis, one of my favorite authors, once said, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” This was the man who wrote a children’s fantasy series when most people thought it would never sell. He may have died before he got the royalty checks for the movies, but he followed through with his dream and provided joy to many children around the world. The best part is, he was over fifty when he began writing them.

            Most of us have dreams that seem too hard to accomplish and so we never even try. Sometimes we share our dreams and are told that they are beyond our reach. Some may actually be so, like my dream to become king of some tropical island. Others are just too much for other people to understand; like worm farming. We have to follow our hearts, but also realize there are just some things we can’t do. Common sense needs to play a role in our lives, like a filter on a lawnmower. (Now that was a nice tie-in back to the lawnmower analogy!)

            We all need dreams to make our lives worth living. It can be as simple as having a goal to lose twenty pounds (Just Eat Real Food) or as large as becoming a senator in Washington DC. No matter what it is; grab it, work on it, and make it happen. Time isn’t as important as just beginning. Even if you never reach your goal, the journey it provides will make your life worth the effort.

           May you live all the days of your life. - Jonathan Swift

Oil Change

          Oil in a motor is used as a lubricant to keep things working without too much friction. Without oil, a motor will seize up and stop working, which is never a good thing. As simple as a lawnmower looks from the outside, there are a number of unseen parts that are in constant motion and need oil to keep them moving freely. Friction, from the constant rubbing of the moving parts, can create too much heat or can actually make the parts stick together.(kind of like two wet lollipops)

            It would be nice if our dreams were accepted and appreciated by everyone, but that’s as likely as my kids mowing the lawn without being asked. For many reasons, other people do not want us to succeed. Their antagonism often causes friction in our lives even though they may be the same people we love to be around. They may think our ideas are dumb, too expensive, or even irresponsible. They may be jealous that we are willing to do something they are too afraid to do themselves. Sometimes people are just jerks.

            Just as a lawnmower needs oil to keep things moving, so do our dreams. Fortunately, our dream oil isn’t as messy as motor oil and can be found in the lives of other people. People who have gone on to do things that were thought impossible. Did you know, for example, that Walt Disney was once fired for not being creative enough? It’s true! The man who envisioned the “happiest place on earth” didn’t have enough imagination, according to his boss, to be a successful writer at the Kansas City Star. When I think of all the cow droppings I had to put up with from my old principal, I think of what Walt was able to do. It makes me feel better; lubes my hope, so to speak.

            Thomas Edison, the man who failed 1,000 times to make the light bulb, was considered a slow learner as a child. He grew up to be the most renowned inventor in the world and an inspiration to many. What was the reason for his success? Well, he once said, “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” His ‘one more time’ enabled him to become the creator of the first successful electric light bulb. He also went on to invent many other things we take for granted today. His story encourages me to keep trying.

            No matter what people or things stand in the way of your dreams, you can look to someone who has overcome obstacles that would make most people give up. Their example is what you need to follow as a means of keeping your own goals moving forward. If they can do it, so can you. Take the time to read about people who have been successful and learn their secrets. Heck, even my own grandfather and his dairy farm are oil for me. Gandhi, Edison, Ford, and Benjamin Franklin are all great examples, but they’re not the only ones. I have a friend, for example, named Cindy who wasn’t real popular in high school, but has shined like a beacon of hope ever since. She inspires me to do more and try more than I ever thought possible. Find people like her and move on with your dreams.

            The point is, we are all going to have friction in our lives. Adding some inspiration is like lubricating our hopes in order for them to keep going. No matter what, just keep moving forward!