Think Positively

This being Thanksgiving, I'll say thanks to anyone reading it and will pass on a bit of advice regarding life. Take it or leave it, it's advice, it's one of the things in life that's honestly free anymore (which I can afford), and heck, you just might go "hmmmm", and then perhaps "aahhh!!"

So here the advice; "Live it" (Yeah, I know, right? Pretty short and lazy of me, huh?)

Take a good step back and look "behind you". Not literally, because if you're at work, no doubt, your boss will be standing there tapping his foot and if you're in a room full of relatives, they'll all think you're looking guilty for browsing something naughty. But I digress...look where you've been and then ask, "Have I done my greatest thing yet?" In the case of people with children, I guess you can say "yes" followed by "and I'm paying for it" or if you're lucky, "and I'm proud". So, excluding proud parents, if you looked around and discovered that your greatest joy hasn't yet been realized, the only person to make it happen is you. Corny, I know, but I actually "got off the couch", (which isn't easy because I'm a house husband and it's always there lulling me to have a nap).

Here's how I came to this epiphany. I turned 40. On that birthday, my wife bought me a guitar and the whole notion behind it was simply that it wasn't a sports car. - But - with the *guitar*, I could potentially buy as many sports cars I wanted. (side note: Dream car = 1967 sunshine yellow Ford Mustang w/289 V8 and stock "everything"). I'm 44 and if I hadn't decided to chase my rock star dreams, I wouldn't be gearing up to recording an album with two very talented guys right now. A big part if this is how I changed my thinking from "aww, this sucks" to "ahh, it's only temporary, we'll get through this". Also, I didn't let go.

I have this vision in my head that I hang on to when I get discouraged. It's a simple vision; it's the view from a stage overlooking thousands of screaming fans. Those of you who've ever been on stage in this capacity know what kind of a rush that can give a person. The mere thought of it, on some days, gets me motivated. So, find that vision, whatever it may be, hold tight to it and "keep plugging at it" (another side note: Alan Doyle of Great Big Sea told me this when I had 1 song under my belt...I now have 52 with three 'backstage' still being worked on).

You've heard a phrase thrown around a lot; "The power of positive thinking" and once I started to look at life from under THAT umbrella things started changing for the better.

Case in point: Our old motto, (my wife and I), used to be "If we can survive this, we can survive anything" because I, at one point, lost my job to the Dot Bombs that fell in Silicon Valley, I also lost functionality of both my kidneys, and eventually I wound up in the back of an ambulance hearing nothing but white noise until the paramedic asked, "do you want Morphine?" (yet another side note: DUH!?) The fun didn't stop with that night because I had remained on "CAPD" Dialysis for a year and three months before my then-girlfriend, (who hates doctors, hospitals, emergency rooms, syringes and anything that smells remotely like a hospital), donated a kidney to me. (yeah, she's my WIFE now).

My point being is that the motto; "If we can survive this, we can survive anything" just temped the fates and they'd say things like, "...oh yeah? How about surviving THIS", and "you ain’t seen nothing yet" We'd be dealt life-challenges a lot, but we'd get through it.

So, when we moved to where we live now, we changed that motto to "Life is good and getting better"; a delicate, easy, and "event-free" way of looking at things which has done wonders for our lifestyle, albeit we've had a couple of setbacks, but with our positive outlook, those setbacks weren't really too hard to overcome. It's kind of like when you practice the guitar - your fingers hurt at first and then you get the calluses and the pain leaves.

I've said quite a lot to simply say "stay positive" but I really believe in this stuff, so keep your chin up, laugh at adversity, help your fellow man or woman (or cat, dog, lizzard, snake, spider, etc...), and know that life is, indeed, good....and getting better.

Sing, Dance, Live,

Junkyard Academy

Bonaparte - Junkyard Academy (Original) ©2010 by Lewis Nowosad

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce a friend of mine...Music.