Have you ever spent time allowing your mind to wander and wonder?

Have you ever thought about how incredible it is that you can read and decipher these words and draw meaning from them? 

Have you ever contemplated in amazement how your body works, maintaining itself to a large degree without any help from you?

Have you taken time to contemplate what causes your heart to beat and what turned the breakfast you had this morning into skin, fingernails, and hair?

Have you ever taken just a few moments to simply stare at a beautiful flower and notice the incredible patterns and colors that not even the greatest artist could re-create?

Have you ever looked up at the stars and planets at night and been in awe of the expansiveness of it all, perhaps even wondering if there might be some other being on some distant planet looking back at ours at the same time, wondering the same thing?

Have you ever thought about what holds the planets and stars in place?
 
Have you ever gazed into a newborn baby's eyes and seen the infinite presence of pure spirit looking back at you and been in awe of the fact that this being just came from the absolute essence, God?

How can you or I do any of these things and not feel like an intricate and significant part of something far greater and grander than the "little me"?

I have done all these things, and I can tell you that, in part, it is what keeps me sane, grounded, and spiritually connected to God, life, and purpose when the world seems to be getting more and more crazy each day.

This also includes those times when I tend to get too enmeshed in my own personal trauma dramas. Life is always manifesting purpose; all we need to do is think about the miracle of it all.

So, the next time you feel as if you are getting caught up in the frenzy of the world or your personal life begins to look like a bad soap opera, take some time and consider some of the above questions.

Give yourself the gift of a sacred moment in the now. 

With great and clear intention, contemplate and connect with the miracle of life, where God is always present.

They say that grandchildren are God's reward to parents for having children. The older I get the more I believe that is true. I never pass up an opportunity to spend time with my grandchildren, for they have so much to teach me about life. I want to absorb it all.

Last night I read an article in Northern Life about a young 24-year old lady from Valley East by the name of Candice Kirkbride. She was the recipient of one of the 2010 Community Builders Awards of Excellence for the Young Leader category. As I read the article memories of a horrible night back in March of 2001 came to mind. Candice was among a group of teenagers who were walking home late one night from a house party along a dark street in Hanmer when the group was struck by a drunk driver. Candice was only 15 at the time. She ended up surviving the accident but suffered severe injuries, had a stroke and remained in a coma for two weeks. Her boyfriend, Andrew Chaput, died that night.

Candice suffered a severe brain injury which has left her with no memory of that night, significant short term memory difficulties to this day, is blind in one eye and has some paralysis as she continues her life-long rebuilding process. She went back to complete her high school diploma at Confederation Secondary School. 
 

About four years after the accident, Candice met face-to-face with the young driver who hit her that night and she forgave him. She claims that the act of forgiving him for what he had done to her and her boyfriend turned her life around and allowed her to be happy again. What Candice did reminded me so much about a story that I had read a long time ago by a man named Strickland Gillilan. Let me share the story with you now. 

THE DARK CANDLE. 

A man had a little daughter. She was an only and much-beloved child. He lived for her. She was his whole life. One day while she was at school, a deranged man broke into the building and began shooting wildly. He then turned the gun on himself and took his own life. When the casualties were examined, the man’s little daughter was among the dead. The father was totally irreconcilable. He became a bitter recluse, shutting himself away from his many friends and refusing every activity that might restore his poise and bring him back to his normal self. He hated the world and everything about it. It was not fair that his innocent daughter, who never hurt anyone, was a victim of this senseless act. Why did it have to happen to her? What could he have done to prevent it? Who was to blame? How could he ever get even with the man who shot his daughter?

Candice's story reminds us that we will never be able to understand why tragic events occur in our life. Nevertheless, we must move on and continue our lives in a positive manner. We must not let our lives be governed by hatred and fear. It is important for the loved ones who were lost or hurt in any tragedy that we not lose our own lives as a result of their death. What is done is done and cannot be changed.

I am currently reading a book entitled, "The Power of Small". It is written by Linda Kaplan Thaler and Robin Koval. It is basically about how some of our smallest actions and gestures can have a huge impact on the achievement of our "big goals". As most of you who read my articles already know, I strongly encourage people to know what their big goals are so that they have some focus on where they are going. However, I also believe that your life can be totally changed by some of the smallest, seemingly inconsequential events or actions.
  
   This was brought out to me just this past week when I met with Jason Kontak, who is featured in an article in the Valley East Today Online Magazine. Jason is the President of the Student General Association and was scheduled to be a special guest on my radio show on CKLU 96.7 FM. I stopped by his office about an hour before the show to discuss some of the topics that we would be covering. The door was locked for the day, but he let me in and we were engaging in a conversation when we heard another knock on the door.
  
   Jason opened the door again and greeted a young lady who looked as if she was a first-year student at Laurentian. The girl asked if he could tell her where the "pub" office was located because she thought she had lost her student card there the night before. Jason informed her that the pub was closed but that he would check in a binder on his secretary's desk just in case the card had been found and brought to the SGA office. Sure enough, the grateful girl spotted her card and expressed her extreme gratitude to Jason for finding it. She needed it to get on the transit bus which was leaving in five minutes to take her home. 
   Jason let the girl out and locked the door again before returning to our conversation.
  
   I later explained to Jason that even though it was the first time that I had ever met Jason and did not know what kind of background he had or what he was studying, the kindness he showed to that young lady spoke volumes to me about Jason Kontak. To Jason, what he did wasn't a very big deal. He was just doing his job. But to the young lady, finding her student card was a huge deal. It was her pass for just about everything important to her. Furthermore, the office was actually closed, so Jason didn't have to do a thing. The girl would have continued in her quest to find the "pub" office and may still be searching for her card. Instead, since this may have been her first experience with the SGA, she left that office with a wonderful impression of the SGA and the President, Jason Kontak. Who knows what that single act of kindness may bring about. This young lady may even decide to run for one of the positions that are up for election, and she may even one day become president, all because of the positive experience she had in her time of need.
  
   I told Jason that if I was considering hiring him for a job, none of his letters of reference, nor any of his long list of accomplishments and achievements, not even his position as President of the SGA would have as much impact on my decision to hire him as witnessing that simple act of kindness to a young lady whom he had never met. I told him that I would hire him on the spot regardless of the rest of his qualifications.
  
   It reminded me of the time that my youngest son, Marty and I met with Dave Newell, who at the time was the Head of supervisor of officials with the N.H.L. He was acting as a "mentor" for Marty and gave him some advice that would help him get noticed for promotion to the higher levels in the world of hockey. Mr. Newell explained that one of his responsibilities was to go out and "scout" prospective referees for the National Hockey League. He would go out to an arena and watch as the referee came on the ice for the warm-up skate. He would watch to see how the referee wore his sweater; how he skated around the rink; how he stood by the boards waiting for the players to finish their brief warm-up. And then, he would look at the referee's skates. He was looking at the condition of the laces. Mr. Newell stated that regardless of what kind of previous reports he had received about how good the referee was, or what he saw in the warm-up, if the laces were marked or worn out - if they weren't perfectly white - he would leave immediately without even watching the referee work the game.
  
   Mr. Newell said that in all his years he had come to realize that if a referee didn't care enough about the laces on his skates, he just didn't have what it took to meet the standard of excellence that was required to referee in the National Hockey League. Once again, it may seem like a little thing, but it says volumes about the person. Marty went out and bought two dozen new laces that day and vowed to change laces every few games following that advice.

   Jay Leno said, "Anyone who is successful can look back at one small thing someone did for them, or they did for someone, that made all the difference. These small things are what lay the foundation for success." 

   And so, as you move forward with your life, remember that it will be the small things in life that have the biggest impact in the end. The next person you hold the door open for or say thank you to may turn out to be a person who will change your life.   
 
   Have a good week!

James Barrie once wrote, "Nothing is really work unless you would rather be doing something else."

As I look back on my life I consider myself fortunate to have always had the opportunity to be doing something that I like. As a matter of fact, I have often told people that I have never worked a day in my life. That doesn't mean I've never had times in my life that my work or activities have always been wonderful, but early in my youth I adopted the philosophy that no matter what my responsibilities, I was going to find a way to "like what I was doing". I soon discovered that you can find something to like with just about anything you are doing in life. It doesn't mean that someone else will find the same level of satisfaction or enjoyment if they are doing the same thing, but if you like something it really doesn't seem like work.

For example, there are many people in the community who "work" 12 to 16 hours a day, six days a week. We often express sympathy for these "work-a-holics" and feel sorry for them for having to spend so much of their day as a slave to their work. However, a closer look will likely reveal that these people are not slaves at all, but rather they are doing what they like and that from which they find tremendous satisfaction.

Your attitude towards work is critical. St. Francis of Assisi was hoeing his garden when someone asked what he would do if he were suddenly to learn that he would die before sunset that very day. He replied, "I would finish hoeing my garden."

St. Francis demonstrated that he was happy with his life and wouldn't find it necessary to wish anything different, even if he knew he was going to die.

I am one of those people commonly referred to as a "baby boomer" and I often come across people of my demographic group who have worked their entire life in jobs that they simply did not enjoy. They endured the work for the paycheck and for a comfortable pension because they felt they had a responsibility to provide for their family. It didn’t matter whether or not they liked their job; it was just something they were expected to do. Many of them are now retired and getting back into part-time work in fields that they love and wish they would have had the courage to get into when they were younger.

Many of my friends and acquaintances have asked me why I don't travel or relax and enjoy myself playing golf now that I am retired from teaching. I tell them that I am enjoying myself. I get up at 5 a.m. every morning to work out until 8 a.m. My day is then filled taking care of what I am responsible for as Manager of Marketing & Public Relations for the Hanmer Valley Shopping Centre; running the Greater Sudbury Learning Clinic tutoring agency, a private practice I started in January 2007; working on the content for my web site publications, www.valleyeasttoday.ca , www.thelearningclinic.ca , www.afterthewhistle.com ; managing my Facebook group called Valley East and communicating with some of my "friends"; communicating with business clients with respect to advertising on my publications; writing a column for Laurentian University's newsletter, Lambda; and preparing for my weekly radio show, The Learning Clinic, which I do every Monday evening from 5 to 8 p.m. at Laurentian University. During the summer I usually still have time to take a couple of hours in the afternoon to walk over to see my grandchildren and my wife and I get to relax each evening from 8 p.m. on watching television. So when someone asks me when I am going to enjoy my retirement, I tell them I ALREADY AM! 

If anyone told me that I only had a couple of months to live, I wouldn't change a thing. I would be like St. Francis. I would continue doing exactly what I am doing now because I am perfectly happy with my life right now. I have taken the skills and talents I was given and I am using them. To simply sit back and do nothing would be like the following conversation that took place between a baby camel and his mother.
 
   One day a baby camel asked his mother, "Why do we have such large hoofs on our feet?"
 
   She turned to him. "God made us that way for a very special reason," and she began her explanation. "The big hoofs are to keep us from sinking into the sand."
 
   "Oh! So why do we have long eyelashes?"
 
   "It's to protect our eyes from the sand."
 
   "Why the big humps?"
 
   "That is to store fat and have enough energy to go long distances in the hot desert!"
 
   "I see!" The baby camel stretched his neck and looked up at his mother, "The big hoofs are to keep from sinking into the sand, the long eyelashes are to keep the sand out of our eyes, and the humps are to store energy to travel long distances...then what are we doing in this cage in the middle of a zoo?"
 
I think the baby camel represents a lot of people today. Many people, young and old, have so much potential and so many wonderful skills. And the world is so full of opportunities today, yet there are so many people who are unhappy with the work they do or their situation in life. If you have so many talents and abilities and you refuse to use them, then you must ask yourself the same question as the baby camel in the story.
 
What are you doing in a cage in the midst of all of this opportunity? Remember that bars come in all sizes and shapes. Some are physical; others are emotional or even mental. But none can withstand the force of determination that breaks them down. The effort is worth it and the results, simply amazing!
 
And so, I tip my hat to the people of this world who are not going to remain “caged” when they have so much to experience in the world today. I also salute the “older” people who have decided to get out of situations in which they felt “caged and trapped”. 

Life is too short to remain in captivity. It may be a lot more challenging to live in the “wild” and it may be more dangerous, but it sure beats staying behind bars that prevent you from living your life to the fullest.

I also salute the people who love what they are doing. Life is so much more enjoyable when you like what you do. So whether you are a stay-at-home parent doing one of the most important jobs in the world raising your children, or you are a clerk in a retail store, or you are the president of a huge company, give yourself the true test. It's only work if you would rather be doing something else. If there is nothing else you would rather be doing, then you will never feel like you are "caged in the middle of a zoo"..
 
   Have a good week!

   Ask any adult what they think is wrong with kids today and inevitably the answer will boil down to the fact that kids seem to have a serious lack of respect. However, the problem may not be with our children. Adults may have to accept most of the blame for the undesirable behaviour of our children.

   As long as children see adults themselves acting disrespectful to others, whether it is on television or in real life; as long as they see disrespect for authority by adults; as long as adults show that they do not respect themselves, we can not expect the level of respect in our children to improve. Just look at television. Look at how adults behave at sporting events. Look at how adults behave when they have had a couple of drinks. You better look, because your children are looking. Remember, respect is ‘caught’ not ‘taught’. You must be aware of what you are throwing.

   My oldest granddaughter taught me a good lesson recently that certainly made me sit up and take a hard look at what people are catching from me. It was just before Christmas and the students from Confederation Secondary School were at the shopping centre spreading the word about the dangers of drinking and driving. Hailee asked my wife what the students were doing and she explained that they were trying to get adults to understand that it was bad to drink and drive.

   Hailee, whose innocence makes her one of the most honest persons I have ever met, thought for a moment and said, “Well, that’s what Grandpa does. He drinks and drives.”
  
   Naturally, my wife defended me and tried to explain that I would never drive if I had too much to drink, but Hailee persisted, “Yes he does. The last time when he was at our house he had a been when he had lunch and then he drove home.”
  
   At first I laughed when my wife told me what Hailee had said, but afterwards I was overcome with a tremendous sense of sadness and remorse at the impression I had left on that little girl. Here I was, held in such high regard by this five year old child, and this was the message I was sending to her.