“Life is full of peaks and valleys, learn to find the beauty in both.” What a great thought. Let us take a literal look at both and then I will share a moment I just had that illustrates the point perfectly.

Let’s take peaks first. When you are on top of a peak, the world is great. You can see for miles. You can seem to look down on just about everything. You are, literally and figuratively on top of the world. Valleys, when you are in a valley you cannot see very far. To go anywhere you must go up. You are below anything you wish to look at.

Seems pretty cut and dry right? Peaks rock, valleys suck, end of story. Hold on one second. When you are on a peak, you have reached the pinnacle. Whatever is next will be downhill from there. Peaks are usually barren and battered by the wind. Valleys are usually lush as water flows downhill. There is usually more plant life. There is nowhere to go but up. You usually have a lot of company.

These analogies not only work for topography, but for life as well. Sometimes you are up, sometimes you are down. This holds true for everyone at some point in their lives. For me, it happened all in one day! I had just been informed I was a finalist for ‘Best author in Milwaukee 2017’ In case you would like to vote for me, the link will be at the bottom of this post. I was leaving the gym, feeling good physically. I was excited about being nominated when a man rolls up next to me at a stoplight and honks. I smile and wave at him in a fashion that probably resembled Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills cop. This kind gentleman informed me that my tire was flat.

My enthusiasm deflated just like my tire. Luckily, I was close to home and made it ok. As I was preparing to leave early for work it occurred to me that even though my tire was flat, I still was nominated for best author, I still have made it to the gym, and even made it home ok without any major damage.

I stopped by the local automotive store and purchased one of those ‘fix-a-flat’ products. Somehow it did not even go into the tire. After refilling the tire with air, I was off to work again.

The rest of the day followed suit. Some up, some down. What this made apparent was that valleys do not take away peaks, and that I learned that even the valleys have taught me a lot.

Remember this when life throws you a curve ball. Enjoy the beauty of both the peaks and valleys!

If you would like to vote for me click the link below and look for best author under the ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT catagory.

CLICK HERE TO HELP ME BECOME ‘BEST MILWAUKEE AUTHOR’

Today is Halloween. I wish to discuss with you something I find to be one of the scariest situations that occurs all year long. People allowing others to control their minds. This may sound like a scary Halloween mind control experiment, but sadly it is a reality. Daily we hear “He made me so mad!” or “I can’t believe she gets me so frustrated.” I must confess to falling into this group myself more often than I care to admit. Does it mean you should change the people around you? Maybe. What it really means is you should take control of your mind. If you do not brainwash yourself, you will be brainwashed by others.

Before you think I am taking this a bit far, according to a report by MAGNA, IPG global advertising resulted in an expenditure of $493 billion! That is more than the income of some countries. The reason they spend so much money is to convince you to feel a certain way about their products. When you think of the best dish detergent for removing grease you might think of Dawn. The best bleach? Maybe Clorox. These companies simply don’t tell you “Buy our product, it is the best.” No, they should show someone holding up a white shirt and smiling using their product, while on a split screen they have someone using ‘the leading brand’ who is holding up a shirt with a stain that just won’t come out and they are frowning. You subconsciously begin to associate clean cloths and a happy feeling with their brand.

This works with products, but does it work this way with people? You bet. Most of them are keenly unaware that they are even doing it. Growing up have you heard any sayings like these? “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” “Life is tough and then you die.” “The rich just get richer and the poor get poorer.” You may have heard these and several others from well meaning adults who were trying to offer you loving guidance. As a young impressionable person hearing these words from people you love and respect can go a long way to ingraining these beliefs in your own mind. I encourage you to take a moment and explore some of your long held beliefs and see if after everything you have experienced, they still hold true.

Next post we will look at one way in which our mind is either controlled by us, or we are controlled by it. I promise you that you do not want to miss that.

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Here is a fun secret to happiness I enjoy and you might too. In this age of cell phones and digital pictures the photograph may be a long lost treasure. Why carry around a 50 picture photo album that weighs 5 pounds, when your cell phone that weighs only a few ounces can hold several thousand pictures? Here is why – joy. One great thing about the digital age is that you can take a picture with your cell phone, send it to your favorite store and pick up a hard copy in mere minutes. Why would we want to do this? Let us take a look.

A cell phone may be a good place to have lots of pictures ready to show someone on a glamorous 4 inch screen, but other than that not much can be done with those pictures. They say a picture can be worth a thousand words, and as an author I can tell you that is a conservative estimate. Can you look at a single vacation picture and recall all the great memories you had on that trip? When someone asks you about that vacation you could probable talk for hours about it. Is there someone you miss in life? Maybe they have moved away or even passed on? Looking at a picture of them may give you many fond things to reflect upon. Maybe, as in the case above, it is just someone you love and who brings you joy. I use this, one of my favorite pictures of my beautiful Margie, as a bookmark. When I open the book to read, she is either otherwise occupied or perhaps far from where I am. That way I pause and think of how much I love her and how lucky I am. On a rough day, or even on a good day these little joyful reminders can give us a little boost. This also works great with pictures of goals we may be aspiring to, and reminders of the people we are striving to become. It doesn’t only have to be photographs, they also put pictures on mouse pads, coffee mugs and a million different things.

Pick your favorite pictures today and find creative ways you can use them to give yourself a boost. Feel free to share what pictures you use and how you use them in the comments below. I can’t wait to read them!

Here is a beauty secret you may not learn on many beauty sites. Love yourself. That might sound cliché or corny, but it is 100% true. Having a life you love begins with loving yourself. When you come to understand what an amazing person you are, life takes on a whole new glow. What if you find yourself not to be someone too amazing? Let me begin by informing you from the very start you are a winner. There were like 500 million sperm, and you reached the egg first. You defied better odds than the lottery! Here is another fact for you to consider – there never has been, nor will there ever be another you. Even if the genetic material could be cloned, they would end up having different experiences and different life lessons than you had. All of which served to make you who you are.

Ok, so you are unique does that make you special? Yes. Out there is someone who could benefit from hearing the story of your life. There is someone whose very life could depend on meeting someone just like you. Your knowledge of dog day care, how to find the perfect online deal, or maybe how to make obscene noises with your mouth is just what someone else is looking for. The mistakes you made? They have also made you who you are. The mistakes you are going to make? They will be fertilizer for your future success.

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Here is a picture of me at a local author event hosted at Barnes and Noble. I am sitting next to a gentleman who was a World War Two veteran. I am a history buff of sorts and found his story to be very captivating. It was not only because I am interested in that period of history and that specific event. Although that is what his book is about. There were also a collection of books on the same subject in the entrance of the store. What made this gentleman’s book so interesting to me?

This is what made this moment so special, while the other books in the store can reference great sources and have archive photos, this man was relaying his personal story that he experienced. The photos in his book are his personal photos taken during that time period. You not only hear facts, you hear stories and even more important, you get the feeling of what that time was like. Those do not come from a long lost soldier’s diary, but from the mind and mouth of someone who lived it. That is history you cannot buy.

The lesson here is one that I think too often gets lost. Value your elders. Sure you may have heard the story your uncle is telling you a thousand times before, and maybe the story grandpa relates is more embellished each and every time, but they are living history. When I think of how many stories I only half remember that my grandfather told me before he passed away, I almost feel ashamed of myself. My uncle who was a library of good jokes and stories yet to be told recently passed away as well. There were so many questions I would love to ask them both. So many stories I would like to hear one more time.

The lesson here is to value your elders while they are still around. Ask all the questions you can think of. When they tell you that story you may have heard a million times before, really listen. Ask them to tell you more. Sometimes sharing their stories allows them to not only relive some amazing times they had, but to feel important and to pass along lessons. I am still learning from stories I have heard from those who have passed away years ago. The sad part is I could have learned a lot more had I bothered to pay closer attention.

P.S. – this gentleman’s book is titled A Tourist in Uniform  I encourage us all to buy a copy and help support a veteran who is sharing with us his personal stories of war.