The Mind of KLH

So I’m on the job, bringing something out to my truck, and for whatever reason I notice something on the ground.  My first thought was that it was a slug, but then I thought that thing was too big to be a slug…it must be a twig…and that was that…or so I thought.  I go out to my truck a few more times…and then as I’m packing up the last few things into my truck, I realize…it’s not a twig it’s a big ass slug!!! (insert big horn blast right here)

So I look more closely, and the slug grosses me out, just like I knew it would.  Then I think as I drive off, “I’m probably going to run over the slug”.  I get way too queasy to pick it up, and the freakin’ thing is right in my path…I’m probably going to run it over.  Then I think…”It must suck to be a slug”.  (I have these kinds of conversations with myself all the time.)  First of all slugs are ugly, and for some crazy reason they come out onto the pavement, where work vans, like mine, run them over.  It SUCKS to be a slug.

Then I start thinking more…the slug doesn’t know that it sucks to be a slug.  In fact the slug probably thinks it’s good to be a slug.  No pressures…no worries…unaffected by the recession.  Female slugs surely think that male slugs are really hot, and vice-versa.  Slugs probably think that we look funny…by the way…Do slugs have eyes?  But I digress…slugs do what slugs do…they take their sweet ass time going to where they’re going…some of them make it…and some don’t…but they ain’t gonna worry about it.

So, I start thinking more (you’d be surprised how many things I think about)…maybe I can learn from that slug.  After all there’s something to be said for not letting things worry you.  Stress is really overrated, slugs would just as soon let us humans have it…they have important slug things to do, and stress just isn’t in the program.  “Live in the moment…live fully and completely in the moment.  After all, this moment is all we really have”.  Slugs have that all figured out. 

I watch Mr. Slug (just seemed like a dude) make his way to where ever he was going.  He had his little slug antennae up and was moving ahead in all his slimy splendor.  I wonder if he had a family…or if he even thinks that far ahead.  Maybe the slug brain can only hold the action he’s taking right now, and that’s it.  Maybe that’s how slugs have survived…they don’t worry about problems, threats, birds, lizards…nothing…just the step he’s taking right now. 

That slug had no worry about whether or not my big blue van would run him over…he was focused on right now.  The truth is that’s all any of us have, is right now.  The past is gone, the future isn’t here yet, but now…is here…or it was.  Right now you can act.  You can act in a way that moves you forward.  Or, you can be paralyzed by stress, and worrying about the future ,  fretting about the past, or big blue work vans.  Do what you want…but now…right now, is all you really have…it’s all you’ll ever have.  Just ask Mr. Slug. 

So…I look at Mr. Slug, and plot my move.  I get into my van and drive around my little friend.  He probably knew I’d do that all along.

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH

Happy New Year to you all!  This is a time when so many of us reflect on the year past and anticipate the year ahead.  This past year has seen a lot of things happen.  The rise of the Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements.  Presidential campaigns are in full swing.  Babies were born and unfortunately we lost a lot of people.  I’d like to mention a few.  Steve Jobs technological revolutionary, Nick Ashford half of the genius songwriting team Ashford and Simpson.  Amy Winehouse the soulful and tragic songstress, Clarence Clemons the great sax player behind Bruce Springstein.  We also lost the eternally opinionated and witty Andy Rooney.  No longer with us the sworn enemy of America Osama bin Laden.  Moammar Gadhafi, and Kim Jong Il are gone too, many are happy with the deaths of these last three, but death to me is always sad, even when it’s deserved.

Trust me I’m getting to 2012.

Troy Davis was executed after having been convicted of murdering a police officer.  Normally I am a supporter of the death penalty, but this case was, to say the least very problematic.  Eyewitness testimony was either very questionable and in a couple of cases recanted and there was no physical evidence to connect him to the murder.  So after a number of appeals Troy was executed even though in the minds of many people he was innocent.  A lot of people, me included, think justice died the day Troy was executed.

We also lost a young man named Mikyle Frank.  By all accounts a very popular, loving, and loved person.  He was in his early 30′s and he was stabbed in a bar over some foolish little argument.  Over nothing a young father is gone…the victim of senseless violence.  In response to the tragic loss of Mikyle and many other young people at the cold hand of meaningless violence I have decided to launch an organization called Peace Squad.  I intend to take the fight to the violence that is taking our young people away from us.  Please visit the website at http://www.peacesquad.org for details and please understand it’s about to go down in 2012.

So yes we are here in what many believe to be a very significant year 2012.  The ancient Mayan people of South America were great astrologers and mathematicians and they created amongst other things a Long Count calender.  This calender delineated a 5,126 year era.  The end of the current era is December 12, 2012.  Many very devout people think on that date there will be a huge shift of some kind.  Perhaps a shift in the global mindset.  A spiritual shift that will unite mankind.  Others who are equally devout believe 12-12-2012 will bring the Apocalypse…the end of the world as we know it.

Personally I don’t believe in any of that stuff.  I’m not into astrology, I think we make our own choices and those choices have certain consequences good or bad.  However, I do think we can use these End Of The World pronouncements to our advantage.  The last year has been really difficult for many people, me included.  So, why not use this year of 2012 to create the world as we would like it to be? 

We do not have to accept that violence will always take our young people away from us.  We do not have to accept that our politicians will never care about us, the people who they are supposed to work for.  If you’re over weight, that is not your destiny unless you decide that it is.  If you’re in a relationship that doesn’t honor you, and make you better, that doesn’t have to be a life sentence.  If the recession has dealt you a bad hand, you can throw those cards away, the game is not over. 

My point is that whatever you didn’t like about 2011 can be changed in 2012.  This year can be exactly what you want it to be…but you have to REALLY want it.  You have to be willing to roll up your sleeves and jump in.  The work may be hard, but the pay off can be staggering.  So what do you want?  A better paying job…or any job at all?  You can have that.  Lower or eliminate your debt, a new car or just a reliable car…you can have that.  How about a world where your kids can be safe, because violence is something we only ‘used to know’…yep…we can have that too.  What’s important to you?  Do you want to be in love?  Do you want to record an album, plant a garden on land you own, send your kids to a great college, visit your parents in another state?  What do you want for your life?  How do you want this world you live in to be? 

No matter what you want, no matter how ambitious your dreams and desires are, you are just a number of steps away.  Here’s the thing that makes all the awesomeness of your goals manageable…ALL YOU CAN EVER DO IS THE NEXT THING.  People tend to get intimidated by big goals and consequently throw up their hands and walk away.  They settle for a life that is easier to see.  Don’t settle!  Any goal imaginable can be broken down into small chunks that you can acomplish today.  Want to lose 100 pounds?  Pick up the phone and make an appointment with your doctor or join a gym.  You don’t have to do the sit-ups today…just call and join.  Want to start a business selling solar panels?  Do a Google search on where to buy solar panels.  You don’t have to order, ship and sell them today.  Just take one step…and after that another…and then another. 

People who do big things know that there is a pay off at the end of a thousand steps.  People who live small only see the thousand steps…they get winded before they even move…and they give up on their dreams.  2012 can be your year.  This year can change your life.  Greatness in whatever endeavor you choose is within your grasp.  But you have to reach out.  Greatness will not drag you out of bed.  You have to get up and get after it.  You have to chase it down…but if you believe…greatness can be yours.  Greatness in what ever is important to you, is right around the corner…waiting for you.

So yes 2012 is, or certainly can be The End Of The World As We Know It.  I am so ready for a new day…a new life…This is my year.  2012 is my year…and it’s yours too.  We are all giants with awesome powers…we just have to except that it is true.  I’m so excited for you.

Stay Fly and Fly High,
KLH

It’s so easy to get overwhelmed in these uncertain times.  Record high unemployment, soaring health-care costs, oppressive gas prices, political discord, and scandal on The X-Factor… What are we supposed to do?  At the end of the day I think we all desire pretty much the same thing.  We want good health, financial security, love, and a good future for our children.  However is seems to be getting harder and harder to achieve the things that were so hard to achieve 4 or 5 years ago.  I ask again, ‘what are we supposed to do’? 

Setting goals is important and often even necessary.  You may want to earn more money, you may want to lose more weight, you may want a job that is more secure, or more fulfilling.  The reason so many people set goals and then fail to reach them is the gap between they we are and where they want to be.  For a lot of people that gap might as well be a 50 ft. high steel reinforced concrete wall…”that is electrified, and a sign reading it will KILL you” (shameless political reference).   For others the gap is a red carpet, welcoming them to the Promise Land.  This is the thing, the gap is exactly what we perceive it to be.  It is this perception that makes it easy or impossible to achieve our goals. 

So, if we want to achieve anything, how we look at that thing is critically important.  How we look at the process to achieve is equally important.  It is a fact that the recession has us in it’s grip.  At the same time there are people right in our midst who always seem to thrive, recession or not.  Those people see opportunity when others see obstacles.  These people are often seen as being really lucky.  I’d suggest that luck has nothing to do with their success at all. 

People who live well, accomplish goals, and fulfill dreams BELIEVE THAT THEY CAN.  When you believe that you can, you look at “the gap” entirely different than people who believe that they cannot.  When you believe that you can, you see possibilities, options, and opportunities.  Your perception of what can be done will determine what you can actually do.  It comes down to this – If you will start with believing you can do and have what you want, you will have moved yourself into the world of possibility.  If you will then, act on that belief, one step at a time, the universe will open up to you in a way that will astonish you. 

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH

So once again another young black man has been killed.  I know some of his family, I didn’t know him…but that doesn’t matter.  Apparently this young man was loved, I draw that conclusion from the outpouring of support and expressions of deep affection I saw on Facebook.  I saw pictures of a handsome young man with a brilliant smile. His name was Mikyle… I learned his name from the numerous messages saying R.I.P.  So now he is gone…one more in a long horrible list of young black men who are killed in the prime of their lives….and for what?

Of course people will talk.  I’m gonna assume that at least some of what I heard is true…and it boils down to this – that young man died for nothing.  An argument or disagreement, escalated into a fight, that ended in a death. Time and time again this keeps happening…we get sad, we get mad…we say STOP THE VIOLENCE…and yet nothing changes.  Why?

I think it’s clear that the problem is complex, no one thing will fix this.  However, we cannot as a society let the complexity or pervasiveness of the problem make us feel impotent against this scourge.  We cannot as a society throw in the towel or develop apathy or a short memory.  This problem persists because we let it persist.  That cannot happen any more.  One lost life affects the balance of our universe…we are all less than we could have been otherwise, every time a young person dies.  Mikyle was a child of God, and now one more of God’s children is gone…for nothing.

Any day now there will be a wake, and then a funeral.  A mother will endure the unspeakable pain of burying her child.  People will cry, and scream in agony.  People will say wonderful things about Mikyle…and in time  a lot of people will forget.  Not because they don’t care, it’s just what happens.  They will move on to other things, and face the challenges and even joys of their own lives.  But here’s the thing…WE CANNOT AFFORD TO FORGET!  We must as a society…as a community remember the pain of this loss and collectively vow to fight against the violence that took Milyle’s young life.

So what’s the answer?  We must have outrage when violence or for that matter any kind of anti-social and destructive behaviour is displayed.  We must stand up for goodness, patience, self control, forgiveness, generosity…and most importantly love.  We must teach young boys how to feel anger, but not act out in anger.  We must teach young boys that to have hurt feelings is not ‘soft’…and we need to allow young boys, young men, and even grown men to feel all of their emotions.  We have got to instill in our youth that real strength includes being willing and able to walk away from conflict.  Somehow it has gotten cool to be a thug…truth be told you can be quite popular with the ladies if you’re a bad ass.  I can go on an on…and I will at another time.

For now I say for us all…let’s dig down deep and connect with the divinity in all of us and find the resolve to rise above and conquer this madness. Let’s use our creativity, power, and resourcefulness…let’s use our compassion and most of all love for each other…and frankly love for oursleves, to find our way to a place where we no longer say the sickening and all too familiar words Rest In Peace to a young person lost to violence.

To the families of Mikyle, all those lost before him, and those yet to come…please know that you are in the hearts, minds and prayers of many.  May you find strength in the love and support of family and friends you know…and those who wish you well from a far.  God Bless you.

To save our children…I am ready to fight for that…I hope you are too.  Stay tuned.

Stay Fly and Fly High
KLH

So here we are, 90 Days Later.  I set some goals, designed to change my life.  I purposely wanted to make a public declaration of my “90 Challenge” because that’s what I do for one…and the reason is I want to have accountability in my life.  Making goals  or at least the intention of achieving goals (as in my case) puts some pressure on you.  People will wonder whether you did what you said you would do.  This kind of pressure can be used to good affect…or not.

Well I had several goals, and I’m here to report to you that I only accomplished one of them.  I launched my website www.klhbeats.com. It was a big one, but it was only one.  On a certain level I feel proud of myself because I know that most people don’t have the skill to do what I did.  Most people could never visualize, follow through, and build what I did.  Had it not been for my setting the goal to have it launched by July 4th, I might still be caught up in the trap of perpetual tweaking.  But the goal of having it done by a date certain, provoked me to have an end game.

To be honest, on another level I’m disappointed. I felt like if I really applied myself, and focused, I really could accomplish everthing on my list…but I didn’t.  I even had my cable TV temporarily turned off, to get rid of a huge time killer.  Even that wasn’t enough.  I still managed to find ways to do things other than what I had written down as goals. So yes, I’m disappointed.  However, I did learn something from this experience.

Even though I’ve always had this intuition in my head about a 90 day goal challenge…it became clear to me that 90 days is too long a period, at least for me it was.  I’ve talked in the past about breaking big goals down into small chunks.  The benefit of this is, it makes the goal more feasible…more attainable.  The shorter the gap is between where you are and where you want to be, the greater your chance is to get to where you want to be.  A lot of people would love to be a millionaire, I know I would.  But if you are currently only making $35k per year the gap between the two is so big, that it makes the goal seemingly unattainable.  If you want to loose 80 lbs. you have a much better shot at success if you focus on 2 or 3 lbs. at a time.

I knew that breaking goals down was very important, and I think that my impatience moved me to jump into my 90 day challenge without properly preparing for it.  Had I taken the first 2 or 3 days to plan my activities, and to set up small incremental goals, I think my end result would have, or could have been different…Lesson learned.

This won’t be the end of goal setting challenges for me, it’s really just one step in my journey…that strikes me as corny, but it’s true.  I learned that I really could get by watching a lot less TV, that I can accomplish a goal, and that it’s always better to break bigger goals down into smaller more manageable chunks.  So I’m gonna look back on my 90 Day Challenge as a success.  Not quite the success I envisioned but a success nonetheless.

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH

Yes…I’ve been thinking…I do that a lot.  Lately I’ve been thinking some negative thoughts, thoughts that I know don’t serve me well.  I am fully aware of the power of our thoughts, but when I am just thinking those thoughts, without being aware, it’s very easy to get carried away…to a very bad place.  (If you need to rewind…and read the first couple of sentences I’ll wait.)

…….So…after feeling really crappy for a while I did what I thought was prudent, I called a friend.  A friend who is smart, supportive, who could understand what I was going through…but more importantly who knew that to continue thinking negatively about my situation would keep me imprisoned by that situation.  It boils down to this…our reality is what we think it is. 

I have heard a couple of authors that I read put it this way – “When you change what you think about, what you think about changes”.  So if I (I’m gonna spill some beans here) believe that being a great guy is a liability when it comes to attracting a woman…then the universe will make appear before me, boat loads of women who want the “bad boy”.  Women who go after the popular guy, the player, or God forbid the jerk.  Being that I am none of the above, this situation has been very upsetting, because of course I…am a good man…just ask me. (I wish I could make that line echo….I AM A GOOD MAN…anywayzzz…)

So my very wise friend told me what I already knew, that I have to change my thoughts…that I have to think about, not what I don’t have, but what I do have.  I need to think about what I want, not what I don’t want.  When we operate from a position of despair, lack, victimization we tend to see all the world through that lens.  The more we think about how hard things are, how bad the recession is (it sucks…oops!!), how women don’t want the good men, or how men are all dogs…the more those thoughts become a part of who we are, they become ingrained in us. 

We all see the world through the filter of our experience and thought process.  The reflection of the world that we see is OUR REALITY.  If we want our reality to change we must change our filter, and when we do the world will appear differently.  The way that we change that filter is to change our thoughts.  Now, to be fair, it’s not an easy process.  We didn’t become who we are instantly, nor can we change who we are instantly.  We must become aware…of our thoughts.  Think about that.  We must notice when we are having a positive thought or a negative one.  When the negative ones that don’t serve us come up, we can simply redirect that thought to one that will benefit us or maybe just make us feel a little better in the moment.

We have all heard of self fulfilling prophecies.  We have all had an intuition that turned out to be true.  We have had a certain feeling about a person, perhaps without adequate information, and formed a bad opinion about that person.  Then we had to eat crow, when we found out we were wrong…but our thoughts made us think they were bad, bad, bad.  How many of us bought a car…and then suddenly noticed how many of those cars were on the road with us?  (Must have been a sale on Ford Explorers)   The point is this…our thoughts shape our reality. 

Here’s the thing…if we think something often enough, long enough, and intensely enough that thought will grow into a belief.  That belief will inform us, and guide us.  In time that belief will become our reality.  My friend reminded me how important it is to pay attention to what we think about.  I know this to be true…My life is exactly…no more…and no less…what I think it is…and so is yours.   Think about that.

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH

While I was laying on the couch… in the back of my mind I knew I should write a post on this blog of mine…but the couch felt so comfortable…and comfort has a way of disabling ambition and progress.  I have these dreams and big goals…and I know fully well that I will never achieve what I want in life, if it’s up to this damn couch.  So…I decide to sit up, grab the laptop, and start writing…even though I didn’t want to.

Here’s the thing, at the other side of ‘didn’t want to’ is a whole new world.  A world of accomplishment and dreams come true.  Any worthwhile goal will require of you sacrifice and discipline.  You WILL have to give up things.  You WILL have to do certain things, and stop doing others.  You WILL have to be patient and persistent.  You WILL have to say no to yourself…perhaps a lot more than you’ve been accustomed to.  But that is the price of accomplishment.  I heard someone say you must ‘give up what others have now, to have what others cannot have tomorrow’. 

Now trying to one up the Jones’s is not what that is about…at least not in my mind.  It’s about being willing to not watch that really funny TV show and practice your guitar.  It about not going out with your friends so you can complete the report for your college biology class.  It about getting up off the couch to write your blog, even though you have a right to be on that couch because you worked all day.

There is a price for success.  The price varies depending on what it is you want to be successful at…but please be clear, there is indeed a price.  Success demands that you pay that price up front, and in full, before you can have it.  You can’t get a discount…you can’t get a ‘hook up’, you have to pay.  The good news is, success has a layaway plan!!!  You can put down a small deposit and pay a little every day, or every week.  As long as you keep paying, the Universe will hold your ‘merchandise’.  If you continue to pay until your balance has been met, success will give itself to you.

So do you want to be successful?  Are there things you want out of life?  Places you want to travel to? You can have it all.  However you have to pay the price.  You have to put in the work…Even When You Don’t Want To.

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH

Yes that’s right time does keep on slipping…Steve Miller says “Into The Future”.  I’m not sure what the future part means, but I do know about time slipping away.  This ’slippage’ is a very big challenge when you’re trying to accomplish goals.  You can want to earn $20,000 more this year, lose 20lbs., or start a new business and it all seems good, exciting, and possible at first..  But then, time keeps on slipping, and before you now it a week has passed, a month, and then a year.  Eventually you give up on your goal, or even forgot you ever set a goal.  Yes…’time keeps on slipping’, and if you are ever to accomplish things you have got to prevent the ‘slippage’.

So, how do you prevent time from slipping away?  First you have to be present, or to put it another way you have to be aware.  Be aware that you have some important goals on the table that require action.  Be aware that if you do not act that time will indeed keep slipping away.  Be aware that there is no better time than now. 

If you have a goal you want to accomplish I would suggest that you commit to acting on that goal on a regular time schedule.  Some things can  and should be acted upon daily…other things may be better suited to weekly or monthly action.  The important thing is to commit the consistency.  Consistent action will prevent time from slipping away from you.  Consider this…February 2012 will come, and it will go.  The question is where will you be in relation to your goal? 

If you would take even a small action on a regular basis to move you closer to your goal, then February 2012 will look a whole lot better to you.  Don’t let procrastination rob you of the future you want for yourself.  Act on your goal regularly.  Now…don’t kid yourself into thinking you only need to complete an action once a month, when really you should be acting once a day.  Be honest with yourself…and be true to what is REALLY in your best interest.

How do you want your future to look?  If you want your life to be different than it is now…you’re gonna have to do things differently.  Take time regularly…preferably daily (there… I said it) to move yourself closer to your goal.  If you give it half a chance time will slip right through your fingers like water…Don’t let it.

Stay Fly and Fly High!

KLH

Well…I think this may be the first post I’ve written that begins with a question…and a question (good ones at least) deserves an answer.  It is so hard to do big things because they ARE BIG.  It’s easy to say “I want to be rich”, but it’s hard to get rich because that’s such a big thing.  Or, “I want to lose 50 lbs.” That’s hard to do because 50 lbs. is a big thing ( the pun really isn’t intended).  How about a couple more:  “I want to buy a house on a lake”, “I want a Mercedes S550″, “I want to be a successful singer, rapper, basketball player”.  You understand what I’m getting at.  These are all big aspirations.  It’s easy to say them…but much harder to do…because they are big.

So, how do you accomplish big things?  The answer is very simple…you break them down into small things.  If you want a million dollars in the bank, you’re most likely not going to be able to do that with one big deposit. Because of that most people will never become millionaires.  If a person could diet and exercise for one week and lose 50lbs. everybody would be willing.  The fact of the matter is it takes many weeks of very hard work and sacrifice to lose 50lbs., so most people who need or want to, will not.  It’s too big of a goal, it’s too hard. So what you have to do is break it down.

The challenge with breaking big goals down into small manageable chunks, is it’s hard to see how you’ll ever get to the finish line.  Right here I’m gonna let you in on a little secret…The Finish Line Is There…and it’s always gonna be there.  Even if you can’t see it from your current vantage point…it is there.  One of the qualities that most successful people have is vision.  Even when it’s not apparent to most people, a successful person can see the finish line.  So…they take small steps often.  Wanna be a millionaire?  I can tell you a very simple way…it’s not exciting…it’s not sexy…here it is:  Open a savings account and start saving $500 per month every month.  Next year increase the savings by $100, so you’re saving $600 per month.  Every year increase your monthly savings by $100 per month.  At the end of 20 years guess what???  You will have a million dollars in the bank.  This example assumes that you’re not making any interest at all…so in reality with compounded interest you’d get to that million even faster.

Want to lose 50lbs?  Start by going for a walk around the block, once a day…take 10 mins. to do it.  After a week, walk for 12 minutes a day.  Increase your walk by 2, 3, or 4 minutes a day, each week.  Start cutting back on calories gradually.  Have one scoop of ice cream rather than two, then gradually cut back to having ice cream once a week.  Do you see where I’m going?  You can accomplish anything if you just break it down into small chunks. 

Trust that the finish line will be there.  Do those small things consistently, and in time you will be amazed at the results you’ve achieved.  I heard a very smart man I listen to and read a lot named Micheal Niell say “all you can ever do is the next thing”.  It’s such an elegant approach.  Even if you want to literally build a rocket and launch a satellite into space, “all you can ever do is the next thing”.  Even NASA can’t design it, build it, and launch a rocket all at once.  They break it down, and do the next thing.  Do you want to start a business?  Do the next thing.  What might that be?  Maybe it’s just buying a book, to research the business, or taking a class to learn some skills. Then after that…do the next thing, then after that…do the next thing, and on and on. 

The bottom line is this, the reason why it’s so hard to do big things is because so many of us are under the false presumption that we have to do it all at once.  We psyche ourselves out of the thing before we even start.  STOP THAT!!!!  If you want to do something big…anything at all…break it down into small steps, ideally an action you can do today.  Once you’ve done that, do the next thing…then repeat.  You can thank me a year from now!

Stay Fly and Fly High!

KLH

It’s been a while since I’ve written…more than anything I’m writing to save myself…in the process I hope I can help someone else.  I’m a proud man, perhaps a little arrogant if I’m being honest.  So, as this recession wraps it’s bony ugly fingers around my neck trying to squeeze the life out of me, not only is it hard to breathe, but my pride is hurt.  I’ve gotten used to having things, doing what I want, without concern for whether or not I could afford it.  I never bragged about it, but I lived well and I was proud…and perhaps a little arrogant…ya dig?

So here I am, feeling small…afraid to pick up the phone.  People say “talk to the collectors, it’s better”.  But what do you say to the collector when you honestly don’t know when you will have any kind of payment?  I don’t have a good answer to that question.  I used to have two vehicles, now I have one…the one I use to make money with…it’s not cool…it doesn’t have the 20″ shinny rims…I won’t pick a girl up in it…so it hurts my pride.  I can’t eat out like I used to…and I’m finding out how expensive groceries are…I’m making choices I never had to make before…I feel small…and it hurts my pride.

If a friend of mine called and told me they were in this predicament, I’d know exactly what to say…but it’s not a friend …it’s me…and more often than I want to admit, I don’t know what to say….I’m afraid, and I’m embarrassed that I’m afraid, because men aren’t supposed to be afraid…so…here I am literally sitting in a dark room…pecking away at this keyboard, hoping…praying…thinking…meditating…wiping away a couple of tears…but a “man ain’t supposed to cry” that’s what the Temptations sang, that’s what people say.  So, what do I do here alone in this dark room, feeling hurt. and afraid? 

Well…maybe I can start by caring about myself at least as much as I care about my friends…and I wouldn’t let a friend stay in the dark, afraid and alone.  I would empathize with her, and tell her that I understand how hard it is for her right now.  I would gently correct her and tell her that it’s OK to be afraid, but it’s not OK to say she’s small…because she isn’t.  I would hold her hand and remind her where she comes from.  I’d tell her “you are made from the same stuff as, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Bill Gates, and Oprah Winfrey.  In the image of God you’ve been awesomely made.”  I’d tell her that “as hard as it is right now…if you look up ahead…there is a faint light, and if you walk towards it…it will move towards you.  That light will reveal a new, better, more fulfilling, and happy world.  In you my friend is a mighty power capable of overcoming anything thrown in it’s path, and achieving anything you can imagine.”  I’d say that for starters.

So…I think I’ll take some of my own advice…I’ll remind myself what I am made of.  I won’t belittle myself, I won’t continue to think I am small…because I am not.  I have goals and aspirations, I’ve always been a big dreamer, but I don’t know exactly what the future holds…but this much I do know…I am made from the stuff of stars…of  mountains…of Martin, Bill and Oprah.  They don’t know it…but they are my teachers, they showed me how…Jesus set an example for me.  He knew that if he could…so could I. 

I will not lie…I’m still afraid, but that’s OK.  In spite of my fear I will continue to work at what it is I am here on this rock to do.  I hope you will do the same.  Right up ahead there is light…I know it can be hard to see it…but keep on moving and it will move towards you…I’m not sure how I know that, but I do. 

Stay Fly and Fly High!
KLH