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“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss it you will land among the stars.” – Les Brown

The end of the year is near. Many of you have New Years resolutions that you like to do this time of year. “2009 is the year I [insert goal here]” and so on. While I’m sure you’d like to believe that next year is the year, it probably won’t be if you give up. Us humans are terrible at estimating what we can accomplish. We tend to overestimate what we can do in the short term and underestimate what we can do in the long term. When we realize we can’t accomplish what we wanted in the short term (overestimation) we give up and it ruins our chances at the long term. Many people spend time in Dip, and never follow through. Seth Godin talks about this a lot. Malcolm Gladwell has a new book about this called Outliers: The Story of Success that I am very interested in reading, where he talks about how life circumstance, a little bit of luck, and straight up hard work is what makes you successful. Gladwell writes some really throught provoking stuff, so I’m interested to see what he brings with his latest.

For those of you who do the resolution thing, aim huge. Go BIG or go home. If weight loss is your thing, don’t try and lose a few pounds, try to turn into a calvin klein underwear model. When you aim big, you are going for your FULL POTENTIAL. None of this pussyfooting bs. Go for it, all the way or don’t bother trying cause you will quit when you don’t see immediate results in the short term. When I started rockclimbing last year, I saw these guys climbing walls that seemed impossible. I was so impressed with it. My climbing partner and I both agreed that that’s how we were going to be, if not better, despite not having the body type for it (the best climbers are usually tall and lanky). Since then, we haven’t quite gotten there but we have gotten pretty darn good. Balls out, that’s how we go. Am I dissapointed that I haven’t gotten as good as I aimed for? Heck no, the process has been FUN, and I’m still lightyears better then I was when I first started. All it took was a belief that I could reach for something that seemed unattainable, and then start moving. Be the absolute best you can be, because settling for anything less is disrepectful to yourself. Stop making up excuses. Don’t wait till Jan 1, start now.

“God doesn’t require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.” – Mother Teresa

Well I hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas and took advantage of the Boxing Day sales.  I know I most certainly did.  I got a really snazzy computer that I can’t wait to play with.  I also got a ton of money, but I gave it to my mom.  She told me that I should keep it, and I said I would but I would be donating it so she decided to keep it instead.  She’s going to use the money to buy clothes and toys for some of the kids of my Mom’s employees.  Aaawwww, how nice.  *tear*

Christmas can be very stressful.  I have a confession to make, I wasn’t looking forward to something.  Every year, our entire family meets up at a family owned restaurant and we have a turkey lunch and there are some gift exchanges.  I went last year, but hadn’t gone in the previous 5 years prior and wasn’t planning on going this year.  I don’t like going because I really really reallyyyyy don’t vibe with a lot of the family members there.  But my mom always insists that I go, and so this year I obliged again dreading it on the inside.  I’m sure some of you may know the feeling I’m talking about. 

When I talk about compassion, I personally really struggle with it with this side of the family.  I guess you could call it one of my big sticking points.  For many years I tried and tried for them to like me, but for one reason or other just couldn’t make any ground.  I just haven’t cut through their arrogance and pompous attitudes and their hostility.  Ever since I was a kid, it has been like that.  This year was no different.  As soon as I walked into the place, my uncle says to his daughter (who is currently dating a guy in my industry), “Hey, here’s Martin!  The engineer, he’s in IT!”.  And she quickly snapped back, “SO?! Am I supposed to be his friend now?!” and gave me this icy cold stare. OUCH!!  The worst part is I didn’t even SAY anything.  I got hacked for just showing up.  I just smiled and said Merry Christmas and just let it roll off my back and excused myself from the room.  But I know in previous years if she busted that out on me I probably would have threw some stuffing at her (not really, but it would have really ate me up inside).  I REALLY dug deep and was pulling up buckets full of compassion from my ocean.  “It had nothing to do with me, she just resents her dad for belittling her in front of people all the time, probably.” is what I kept telling myself (I told my mom later about this story and she confirmed it).

Other things happened at this gathering that I could talk about, but I’m sure you can relate to not getting along with at least one member of your family and then having to spend time with them during Christmas.  Its not easy, even when you consciously try.  Even when you can be the more mature one, holding onto that energy afterwards can really tear you up inside.  Sometimes family gatherings can get really stressful.  Combine that with the pressure of buying gifts and it really is a recipe for disaster.  I tend not to sweat too much about it, this year I received a gift I didn’t give a gift back to in return but I hope they bought the gift for me out of the goodness of their heart, and wasn’t EXPECTING anything back.  I very rarely reciprocate a gift (just ask any of my close friends), and I feel no guilt not reciprocating either.  I shouldn’t have to, and neither should you.  I buy gifts when I want to buy them, not because I have to.  Just like I don’t feel any guilt for not showing up to any family gatherings.  Its not natural, to force family to get together even when some members don’t want to (that would be me in this case). 

All of this holiday season should come from LOVE, and yet it very rarely does.  It has become a CHORE, it has become ARTIFICIAL, it has become CONSUMERIST.  Actually, its been like that since I was born, just like many of you reading this blog.  We were BORN into this brainwashed season.  Just one of the many.  I hope some of you are starting to see how much of this really does influence your thoughts, behaviours and emotions.  Christmas can be incredibly rewarding, or it can be absolutely dreadful, both for the very same reasons.  Which would you rather choose?  I loved this Christmas, it was pure awesomeness deluxe.

I was talking to my manager about good Christmas movies yesterday, and he said he watches “It’s a Wonderful Life” every year and it never fails to make him cry.  So, I said to him that I would keep my eyes out for it and give it a whirl.  Sure enough, I caught it on TV (thank you universe) and sure enough, it made me cry.  Its old school acting at its finest; really cheesy and overacted like all the great ones, but with an open mind and an appreciation for art it really is a classic.  I think I’ll pick it up and watch it every year as well, just as a great reminder about how wonderful life really is.

A short synopsis of the movie is that its about a good man who tries his best to do good deeds for himself and for the people of the town he lives in.  However, its not so easy, especially in the tough economic times they are facing (Its actually eerily similar to present times).  But nonetheless, he tries and tries and turns down money, power, and greed for the greater good.  Again, its HARD, as it is in real life.  He struggles and sometimes gets really sad, frustrated, and depressed as he continues to be down on his luck.  It takes an angel to show him the way and really appreciate what he has; His loving family and supportive friends.  I would definitely recommend you watch it.

I wonder if you realize how wonderful your life is.  Do you have a loving family and supportive friends?  I know I do.  Sometimes it may not seem like it, sometimes life can get you really down, but don’t forget about what you do have and focus on that.  Don’t forget the things that make your heart beat.  Do you have an angel watching over you?  I most definitely do.

Merry Christmas y’all.  Don’t be bitter, don’t be sad, let all of the negative gunk go, and I mean ALL of it (complete and utter honesty with yourself is a must).  It’s a Wonderful Life.  Enjoy it!
Its a Wonderful Life