Hug Backs & Stillness

He was on his second round of chemo and sleep was easy, but even in sleep he was having a hard time turning off his anxious mind.  There are moments in my day I stop everything to experience stillness, and in these moments I am hugged by the “be” within me.  For most, our days are hijacked by our “do” driving us to maximize each moment and be called high achievers.  But it’s the “be” within us that serves as our pilot lights, and reignites our passion for living.  I’ve learned that in these moments of stillness, hug backs to the “be” within me, keeps my pilot light lit.  Find more moments of stillness in 2015 and feel the glow.   

Well-Being Centric Life Journey

We are two days away from 2015 and even if you don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, most of us can’t help but think about how we want 2015 to be a better year.   After parking my truck, I walked in with a nurse that had worked through the holidays, and talking with him reminded me of my own effort to better fit work with other pieces of my life.  In a HBR article, Work-Life “Balance” Isn’t the Point, the author suggest we strive to be effective in all aspects of our life by better aligning and blending our many roles.  This effort redefines life success, and gets us back in control of a well-being centric life journey.

Music of Life

Christmas morning I woke up with a little boy’s excitement about the presents under the tree.  Tradition in my family required us to be fully dressed, breakfast eaten, and teeth brushed before we could start opening presents. I quickly got out of bed, and just as quickly realized I was no longer that little boy, but the excitement stayed.  After dressing, I stood on our lake house pier wrapped in an excitement for life as I watched the fog silently dance across the water.  Today let the excitement of past moments and future possibilities surround you with the music of life. 

Fragile Scent of Today

Yesterday, I had an email conversation with a friend who was just waking up in Byron Bay Australia to the sweet sounds of the magpies, and who plans to surf Christmas day.  Morning came early today with the sounds of surf and the rolling feeling as waves pass underneath my surf board, it’s like being gently rocked by the hand of God.  Fleeting memories circle my soul like a soft ocean breeze, past moments I try hard to embrace, realizing if I blink all will disappear.  It’s impossible not to blink, as morning whispers my name and I am caressed / blessed with another day.  Be mindful of the fragile scent of today.

Fragile Scent of Today

Yesterday, I had an email conversation with a friend who was just waking up in Byron Bay Australia to the sweet sounds of the magpies, and who plans to surf Christmas day.  Morning came early today with the sounds of surf and the rolling feeling as waves pass underneath my surf board, it’s like being gently rocked by the hand of God.  Fleeting memories circle my soul like a soft ocean breeze, past moments I try hard to embrace, realizing if I blink all will disappear.  It’s impossible not to blink, as morning whispers my name and I am caressed / blessed with another day.  Be mindful of the fragile scent of today.

Ripples of Mindfulness

I’ve reached a stage in my life where I work at maximizing every minute of my journey, yet my daily thirst for internal peace is usually experienced for just a few moments each day.  But these moments of internal peace are like water ripples providing an internal peace throughout my day.  Each day becomes an adventure filled with calming moments to be claimed, moments that become powerful ripples of internal peace.  I’ve reached a stage in my life where I’ve learned that maximizing every minute is all about the ripples created by my mindfulness.

Life Sounds

They had chosen an oblong booth, and I slid in next to my oldest grandson Robert.  He’s a hugger and immediately gave me a hug that only grandsons can give.  He couldn’t wait for me to open my present, but first his mom had him read what he had written on the wrapping paper, and his eyes sparked.  Ever notice how much the sounds of life matter?  A shadow caught in the winds whisper as it bends around a tree, rain drops reflecting the sun’s rays like miniature rainbows, a shy moon circling around the trees, and the sound of love, “Happy Birthday Grandpa”!  Today be mindful of the life sounds around you that matter. 

Touched by an Angel

By 7:15am the nuclear medicine tech had injected a radiotracer into my vein, and told me to come back around 9am for the scan.  I headed for breakfast, but realized I had a different kind of thirst, so I walked over to one of my favorite sacred spaces in Mays Clinic the Water Wall.  A young man was standing there, and we talked briefly, and I walked away still thirsty.  Halfway down the sky bridge I heard someone calling, and turned to find the young man, “Mr, out of your heart flow’s the river of life”.  We hugged, and then he was gone, as I stood with tears streaming down my face realizing I’d been touched by an angel.  Listen to your heart today.

Happy Birthday Billy

Wow!  Came to work today to find a “turkey” sitting in my chair and he looks like he started my birthday party without me.  Thanks Team!  What have I learned after 66 years?  Life is an adventure of being, learning who we are and the energy we become through the synergy of our body-mind-spirit connections.  Connections that are energized at the cellular level when we quiet our minds and are mindfully present in the moment.  My birthday gift to myself is a line from Thich Nhat Hanh, “The mind can go in a thousand directions, but on this path I walk in peace”. 

Life Bench

My dad waited patiently as I sat on the bench.  He missed my 1st football game because of business travel, but when he returned he beamed, when I told him all about the game and showed him my broken finger.  Riding my 1st medevac the soldier we were transporting gripped my wrist hard, and I swear I heard my father’s voice, “You did well”.  Yesterday, my cancer markers called for body/bone scans, but I left smiling as I thought about the string of birthday’s my son started in November.  My daughter’s birthday was yesterday, grandson today, mine is tomorrow and another grandson on Thursday; plenty of Baun’s sitting on the bench we call life, waiting to be called up to hear our father say, “You did well”.  Pass on the goodness of life today! 

Cancer Leash

Today is a cancer care day.  It will start in a few hours at the diagnostic center (blood / specimen collection) where many anxious individuals will be waiting.  Early in my cancer journey I heard a man talking about his 3 month “leash” on life, and I remember thinking, I’ll never live like that, but I did.  Each 3-month checkup was a nightmare of watching my cancer markers, and then one day when my cancer markers weren’t doing so well, but life was, I simply let go of the leash.  Instantly, I was re-energized by the courage of letting go, and felt its healing fullness in my soul.  Today, let go and be re-energized by life.    

Vietnam and Autumn Leaves

It was the summer before college and I was working as a hiking counselor at a camp in the White Mountains.  My mother was in her last year of her life, and thousands were losing their lives in Vietnam, but both were so far away.  Just off the trail I was headed for some real food, and reading letters from my mom.  I remember stopping, walking to the lakes edge as the tears flowed and I read the line over and over, that a friend had died in Vietnam.   The next year, cancer would take my mom, but I would remember her words about my friend’s death in Vietnam, “Billy, he’s gone to a better place”, as I laid autumn leaves on her coffin.  Be open to the lessons / blessing adversity gives. 

Do More, Be More, Now!

All of us, at times hear only our inner critic that pushes so hard and fast we stay stuck in what Daniel Siegel, in his book The Mindful Therapist, has called an unintegrated state.  Our lives fill up with missed moments, as we become stuck in the chaos of non-mindfulness.  As I coach individuals with advanced cancers, many talk about the overwhelming need to not waste a minute of life.  I’ve lived this rush as an advanced cancer survivor, and then one day was stopped by the weight of the missed moments dragging far behind.  Harness the power of mindfulness and not waste a minute of life! 

Clinton Foundation Halfday Conference

Today I spoke at the Clinton Foundation / Shape Up Houston “Best Practices in Inproving Employee Health” halfday conference.  My session was Tobacco Free Implementation, and the bottom-line of my talk was becoming a tobacco free worksite is a journey, not a destination!  Most companies implement tobacco free policies and then forget they exist.  Tobacco is still the #1 preventable KILLER in the U.S., and each year companies need to renew their fight against tobacco.  How do you renew the fight?  Start with being truthful about how you are doing on the bullet points in the attached slide.   

Joy Showers

I’d just walked off the sky bridge and saw him sitting alone by the big front windows.  We talked about the deep blue of the Texas sky and how much we both enjoyed the gardens surrounding MD Anderson.  Like me, he is a fourth stage cancer survivor, and he pointed to the bandage on his neck, his third metastasis.  But we didn’t linger on our cancers; but talked instead about family and the approaching holiday season.  As he talked about family holiday traditions, his smile grew and I was blessed with a joy shower.  Share a smile today and give someone a joy shower. 

All Over Again

Some nights I sleep in the past, maybe it’s an old habit hard to break from when I lived on morphine as I lay in the hospital in the late 70s with a broken back.  The morphine affected my eyesight, so I couldn’t read or watch TV.  So for six months, I relived my 27 years, and the high and low points brought too many tears, but also the gift of getting to do all over again.  Lost life moments filled with life’s passion flowed within me each night energizing my soul.  Some nights we sleep in the past, working hard at remembering those times we want to forget – life lessons that energize the “be” within us. 

Dance with the Solitude of Your Soul

Some Fridays, I crave the solitude of my inner space, and lean on my reflective practices to gain a few moments of peace away from the outside world.  Today I worked on an old poem and practiced dancing with the solitude of my soul.  // Most of my poems / Are written inside out / They are tiny windows into my soul / Sentence fragments never spoken / Words linked in odd ways / Reflections of feelings and emotions / Imprints of memories long forgot / Who I am when I am not / A dance with the solitude of my soul

Impermanence in Being You

Watching the rose colored sunset spread across the tree tops reminded me of my impermanence.  One of my favorite morning rituals is to look in the bathroom mirror, see my dad in my face, and share heart-to-heart dad / son talks.  What’s neat about this ritual is that many times we are talking about things I am having a hard time addressing in my normal self-talk.  Why am I having these deep conversations with my dad?  There is something about us now being the same age, sharing similar life experience, or maybe it’s just more years of feeling his love.  Enjoy your impermanence today as you practice being you. 

Morning Monet Thoughts

The morning sun had risen, but my morning thoughts were still softly wrapping around my soul with deep colors as the cool breeze swept across our lake.  I watched a Monet painting come to life and my thoughts went to his life, and how after his wife’s death he created some of his best paintings.  Life’s difficulties have a way of bringing out the best in us if we allow ourselves the patience to heal, and the courage to redefine who we will be.  Tiptoe through your morning thoughts today as they lightly touch your soul and appreciate how awesome it is to be alive. 

Camellia Memories

She seemed to blush as I walked by, so I finally stopped and took a picture of the camellia bloom on the bush by our front door.   My mother fell in love with camellias when we lived in Japan and planted bushes in our yard in Baton Rouge.  We would visit Mr. Burbank who lived several streets away, and they would sit for hours drinking coffee and enjoying the smells and colors of his camellia filled backyard.  In her final fight with her cancer, Mr. Burbank brought her a bowl of camellias each day till she died.  Camellias might not have cured her cancer, but I watched his gift soothe her soul.  Consider the gifts you give others today. 

Thanksgiving 2014

MaryBeth, Mary (Marybeth’s mom) and I spent Thanksgiving holiday at our lake house that sits on Lake Mt. Pleasant in the middle of Sam Houston National Forest.  The forest is covered with pines of winter green, and hardwoods dressed in burnt orange and yellows.  I woke up early Thanksgiving morn and watched the rising sun burn the mist off the water, and realized this day we would celebrate “what’s not wrong”.  Tears rolled down my face as I felt love from family, friends and a world filled with so much untapped healing energy. Be mindful of what’s not wrong and tap into a life energy filled with joy and peace.   

Life Storms

Yesterday was my son’s birthday, and as we ate lunch at his kitchen table I told him how proud I was that he had become a loving and caring man.  We talked about how he has his grandpa’s entrepreneur spirit and how when you weave in his caring, these two make a potential awesome life journey.  As I was riding home after work at dusk, I felt the storm clouds moving in, as they do in life.  But when I looked up the clouds were framed with a church steeple, and I knew I had one more thing to tell Kaleb on his birthday.  “You have always had the gift of faith; let it be your guide in the life storms that will come”.  Happy Birthday Kaleb

10th Special Forces Lesson

My interview with the 10^th Special Forces group went well, and after a few days I received confirmation they were holding a position.  My colonel said, “Baun, we’ve spent over $100K to train you to protect special weapons, I’m not giving you up”.  Within a year I left the Army as my frustration and feelings of being stuck were too much.  M.J. Ryan in her book This Year I Will… talks about the “elevator being broken, use the stairs”.  For me it was a broken back after the Army that taught me to use the stairs and take one step at a time to a new career, and now my cancer has taught me one day at a time creates a life journey. 

Tachikawa Airbase and Pete

As the holiday season approaches and the layers of holiday memories begin to unfold, I’ve had glimpses of Pete.  The first years of my life we lived on the Tachikawa Airbase in Japan where I had a nanny, but I also had an imaginary friend named Pete.  Pete played with me in the foxholes that ran through the housing area, and then one Christmas Pete became a doll baby I received as a present from Santa.  I carried Pete with me everywhere, but our relationship changed, and at some point I let Pete go.  Learning to let go is one of the hardest lessons we must learn in life, not because we want to, but because we have to, in our journey to be whole. 

Great American Smokeout

Today we celebrate the 39^th Great American Smokeout, because tobacco use is still the number one cause of preventable death and disease.  You’re thinking I don’t smoke and secondhand smoke is harmless, but it’s not harmless!  In this month’s AJHP Editor’s Note O’Donnell describes secondhand smoke as small particles containing high concentrations of chemical carcinogens that have real killing power.  Be around secondhand smoke for just 5 min. and your aorta stiffens, in 20-30 min. blood clotting & fat deposits increase in your blood vessels, and by 2 hours your heartbeat becomes irregular.  Your body can’t put up with an assault from secondhand smoke, why do you? 

O'Donnell "Assault from Secondhand Smoke"

Life Messages

Years ago he suffered a stroke that left him without speech, and at 86 his legs are so weak he barely walks.  So as I walked up the driveway last night I was surprised to find him standing in his front door.  He quickly started pointing at something by the side of the house, and after 30 minutes and a call to the city, I finally worked out that his water was turned off.  I went to bed thinking about how my frustration with our inability to communicate had only been resolved by his determination and persistence; a message life had been giving me all week in my readings in Prayers to the Moon.   What messages has life given you this week or have you been too busy to really listen?

Methodist DeBakey Heart Center

I was running, trying to fit in a mid-morning visit to a friend.  His hospital bed was empty, but the patient care assistant told me I could catch up with him on the 9^th floor at echocardiogram services.  When I arrived on nine, he wasn’t finished, so I somewhat impatiently waited, and explored the nearby hallways.  Funny, how at times life gives us just what we need. I walked by the meditation poster, being pulled by the pulse of the DeBakey Heart poster.  Then I turned; ready to be drawn in by the calmness of the meditation poster, and my heart was realigned, I was no longer running, but had the caring heart I needed to visit my friend.  Be present when life steps in today. 

Cathedral Spaces for Mindfulness

When I was a single dad with my kids in college, and trying my best to keep their school and the three household bills paid, I became a secondhand shopper.  The workers at Salvation Army and Value Village stores became first name friends as I looked for furniture for my kid’s apartments, and clothing for me.  Secondhand shopping is now one of my relaxation practices, self-time looking for odd pieces of art or craft, like the wood cathedral sitting among my small books.  In Peace Is Every Step, Thich Nhat Hanh suggests we set aside space in our lives that remind us to breath/smile, be mindful.  Do you have such cathedral spaces in your life?

Wandering Your Backstreet

Absolutely a beautiful morning!  When the temperature dips down in the 30’s my scooter is tough to start, so I ride my cargo bike to work.  My bicycle route takes me through neighborhoods and back streets of the medical center, places I only see when on my bike.  Funny, how there are pieces of me I rarely touch, until a moment or memory takes me there, and then I find myself wandering around my backstreets and better connecting to me.  When I am in this space I’m reminded of how richer life is when I’m not playing who I am, but really being me.  Wander your backstreets today and experience the richness of life. 

MD Anderson Care Community & Gratitude

Yesterday, I spoke at a nursing pre-holiday party focused on thankfulness and gratitude.  I talked about how gratitude encircles much of what we do and who we are in the MD Anderson care community (employees, caregivers, and patients). When gratitude becomes an integral part of our day it can create a ripple effect through our lives, energizing our search for joy, happiness, inner peace, and wholeness.  Give thanks today and deeply embed gratitude within your soul as you strive for wholeness tomorrow. 

Thankfulness and Gratitude Sparks of Wholeness

My fondest memories at my Uncles farm in Pennsylvania are of the campfires were we would sing, laugh, hear old family stories, and pray together. I learned the meaning of family, and that thankfulness and gratitude are sparks to wholeness. Wholeness is our ability to experience and appropriately manage all of life’s emotions, through the good, bad, and dark times. Wholeness is about owning our emotions and thankfulness and gratitude can get us closer to the “be” of living. Fire up some thankfulness and gratitude today and feel the sparks of wholeness.

Veterans Day 2014

It was one of the very early family stories I remember, 1^st Lieutenant Dwite Schaffner was awarded the Medal of Honor in WWI “for bravery and contempt for danger that inspired his men”.  My dad Eugene Boyd Baun, had been a bomber pilot and flew in WWII and Korea, and I had dreamed of flying helicopters, but flunked my flight physical, so became an Airborne Ranger instead.  Friday morning after my walk, I looked down at the USS Midway in San Diego Harbor pointing at the setting full moon, and felt really proud that I had served like my dad and so many others in the Baun and Schaffner families.  I wear my dad’s and my dog tags today with pride, and salute all veterans who served this great country.  Thank a veteran today!    

Wholeness in "I Am"

Most morning, I realize almost instantly, “I am”.  Maybe it was the Army that taught me how to move from dreams or deep sleep to being immediately conscious, feeling full and whole.  Or maybe it was growing up in Louisiana and Boy Scouts where you were always looking out for snakes seeking warmth in your sleeping bag.  Richard Moss in his book The Mandala of Being describes being aware of “I am” is recognizing our wholeness like water can assume any shape into which it is poured, never losing its own essence.  Pour yourself into life today and experience your wholeness and the inexhaustible energy in “I am”.     

Mindful Moments Living Between the Clouds

The Minneapolis plane was small and half-full, so I sat by the window, read, watched cloud formations, and dreamed of other worlds. Thick clouds met our anxious descent into Minneapolis, but before landing I experienced a brief moment of synchronicity as we flew between two layers of very thick clouds. We didn’t stay there long, but long enough for me to realize there are moments in each day I choose to live between the clouds. These are mindful meditation moments where I focus on my breath, feel my energy life force, and inner peace. Take a moment today to live between the clouds.

MD Anderson Caregiver Week

Yesterday, I facilitated a session called “The High Cost of Caring” to kick off MD Andersons Caregiver Week activities.  Susannah Fox of the Pew Research Center,  said, “More health care is happening at home…as more people are being sent home medically fragile to caregivers who are the first line of defense.”  Four in 10 U.S. adults are caregivers, 86% care for relatives, 66% are female, and 70% report work-life-balance difficulties.  The participant stories brought tears, laughter, and a spirit of comradery shared because caring gives life its deepest significance and meaning.  Don’t miss an opportunity to care today!

MD Anderson Caregiver Week Flier

Heart Steps

At the beginning of last week I taught several days in Palm Beach at the Public Health Department, and had some wonderful walks around the older neighborhoods.  There are days I find I’ve lost touch with me and tend to live too much in my head.  This disconnect, puts me in a box where I slosh around old memories or create life dreams detached from reality.   Old memories and future dreams can be good for the soul, but stay there too long and we begin to miss what Nepo calls “heart steps” that are achieved by living in the present.  The old tree had survived by climbing outside her walls, and shared a heart step with me that day.  Don’t miss any heart steps today.

Patch Adams & Life Lessons

The mix of blue/gray hair, a ponytail, & his outrageous clown suit, those were my memories of Patch Adams from 1999.  Yesterday, we walked him to our Children’s Cancer Hospital & watched him engage kids & families, helping them escape their cancer fight for a few moments by just clowning around.  As he was leaving I told him, “When I heard you speak in 1999 I was all about my research & keynotes on the benefits of worksite wellness, but you pulled me out of my head & into my heart, now I teach more classes & keynote on joy, happiness, & living fully each day.”  He grabbed my head & brought it to his shoulders, patted my head as he made cooing sounds, and his approval was awesome!  Plan to clown-around a little more today.      

Passion Buddy

It started as a long distance relationship in the mid-80s when Michael O’Donnell asks me to be one of the founding members of the American Journal of Health Promotion.  In 1988, we finally met at a conference where I was doing my usual fly-in-speak-fly-out.  We talked as I packed, but in those few minutes we both silently realized we’d probably be “passion buddies” for life.  In 1994, Michael asks me to write the Program Management chapter for the 2^nd Edition of his very popular Health Promotion in the Workplace text, followed by the 3^rd Edition in 2002, and the newly published 4^th Edition in 2014.  I look at the new text with pride, but what I really see is 30 years of a friendship inspired by passion.  Find a passion buddy today and be inspired for life!

Tuesdays with Morrie

If you haven’t read Tuesdays with Morrie it’s a good read and full of the wisdom and insight we want to pass on to those we love.  I was working as a hospice volunteer when I first picked it up, and living the book with several of my cases.  Carl would wait for me on the bench outside his nursing home with his walker.  Some days I’d help him walk a few yards to just stand under the trees, one day we took a ride in my Miata convertible.  His smile grew as we drove past houses, schools, and parks.  We stopped at his old church, too tired to get out, and after long minutes of silence he said with tears in his eyes, “Good to be going home”. 

Strengths – Never Too Old to Try

My first summer job outside of Louisiana was at Camp Rio Vista in Kerrville, Texas. Seventeen and one of the youngest water front counselors; this was a summer for many “firsts”. I learned I was a natural goofy foot surfer after long weekends surfing Port Aransas, and in the springs of San Marcus did my first scuba diving. My best friend at camp ran the archery program, and I spent most of my off hours with a bow in my hands. I was a natural at archery, and after that summer back in the swamps of Louisiana, where friends carried sawed off shotguns for poisonous snakes, I carried a bow and 5 arrows. We learn our strengths through trial and error and we are never too old to try.

Sky Button

We’d met in basic training at Fort Sill in the late 60’s.  The Oklahoma heat never bothered him and his contagious smile and Cajun humor kept our tent laughing all summer.  I’d lost track of my Cajun friend when he left for Vietnam, till a letter informed me the “Cajun smile” had died trying to rescue another tunnel rat.  It was a day full of too many tears that started nightmares I fought off for years.  Friday, as I entered the sky bridge elevator, read “SKY” and pressed the up button, I instantly felt that Cajun smile as he pushed the SKY button and left this world years ago, leaving his pain and my nightmares far behind.  Today choose the SKY button and up your gratitude and attitude for another day of life. 

Friday Rituals

Fridays always haven’t been the end of my week. Many of my Army Fridays were just another day to put on a flak vest, helmet, 21 rounds for my .45, and 360 rounds for my M16. In graduate school Fridays started before sunrise and 3-day weekend shifts working in the emergency room to cover family expenses. I had a ritual to stop in a park before I went to the hosptial, and take a short walk around the playground watching and listening to my kids that weren’t there, but in my own way spending time with them. We create simple rituals that help us through times when life disconnects us from those we love. What rituals are important in your life today?

MD Anderson Cares! Indoor Bike Barns

I’ve been riding my bike to work in the cool October weather.  Last year I bought a Sun Atlas Cargo bike with a steel frame that weighs 50 pounds, and has an extended back rack that carries 4 grocery bags, and a front rack that easily carries a case of 6, 1-gallon water bottles.  What’s so neat about riding my bike to work?  I can park it inside my building in a Bike Barn that has showers, restrooms, and lockers.  How cool is that?  Over 600 MD Anderson employees ride their bikes to work each day, and our 3^rd indoor bike barn is being constructed in the Zayed building.  MD Anderson cares about its employees’ health and well-being!

Start of a New Day

Most mornings I wake, and find myself looking down what feels like a tunnel for the courage to let go and focus on healing, and to be all of me again today.  Some mornings the tunnel stays around longer, but most mornings it slips away as my passion and excitement to get to do life another day triggers the courage I need to be me.  Passion and excitement fueled by a mirage of life experiences, and felt in a joy filled millisecond.  Filled with joy, I start my morning prayers and meditation.  How do you start your day? 

Enjoy the Passage of Time

What fun!  Halloween decorations are going up around the neighborhood making our evening walks a whole new adventure.  One of my favorites is where jack-o’-lanterns are hung throughout the branches of three majestic live oaks.  The other night I stood under the jack-o’-lanterns and listened to James Taylor sing, “The secret of life is enjoying the passage of time, any fool can do it, there ain’t nothing to it”.  Some days, I do this better than others, and on those days I don’t work so hard at just enjoying the journey.  Know what I mean?  Today, don’t work so hard at getting somewhere, instead be present for the passage of time.   

James Taylor Secret of Life

Delusional Happiness

It was one of the last comments and she questioned the potential dangers of delusional happiness. When we use the practice of gratitude, joy, and laughter to provide breaks from the stressors of life, can this disconnect us from reality? It rained hard on Sunday, but for just a few minutes at dusk the sky was streaked with splashes of pink. I pulled over and watched it through my scooter mirror and felt joy, an edge in me that streaks my life’s reality with happiness. For me joy is not a disconnect, but a calming breath filled with hope and the need to be. Streak your life with an edge of joy.

Intent on an Adventurous Journey

Last week I taught in Austin at the UT Work-Life Balance & Wellness program for faculty and staff.  My first class was the art of calm which looks at several mindfulness practices that quiet the mind encouraging participants to settle deeper into the present moment, just for itself.  For it is through this centering or grounding that we distill our intentions down to core actions that reenergize our passion and purpose for this adventurous journey we call life.  Tap into your inner wisdom by letting go of yesterday, and tomorrow, and live fully in the present moment.   

Believe and Shine

There are times when life moments blend in ways that transform our understanding and the emotions tied to words forever.  I’d been reading scriptures out loud to him, looked up and realized he was passing as the sunlight “shined” on his bed.  I told him not to be afraid, but to go with the light.  Friday, I stood in the Indian Orthodox Church before my talk listening to the prayers and chants in a language I didn’t understand, but instantly was drawn back to the sunlight in his room as I held his hand and felt a warmth as he died.  Shine - you could hear it in their chants, see it in their eyes, and feel it in the warmth surrounding all.  Believe and shine!

End Tobacco

In 2014, the American Cancer Society has estimated that 1,665,540 Americans will develop cancer and 585,720 will die from this disease changing the lives of their families forever.  The data is clear that weight and inactivity are threatening to overtake tobacco as the #1 risk factor for cancer, but tobacco is still an issue in many communities where secondhand smoke kills 50,000 nonsmokers a year.  Yesterday, my wife and I testified at the Houston City Council meeting supporting extending the smoking ban into several high pedestrian traffic areas.  I hope our actions yesterday in Houston inspire others to take a stand in their communities.  Take a stand and save lives! 

Houston Smoking Ban Vote Today

In two days Houston City Park and Library property will become smoke free and the Mayor would like to extend the ban to other public areas. Some Council members are saying, “It’s not fair…smoke outside, just goes in the air.”  They’re right it’s not fair for CDC data shows secondhand smoke exposure in Texas is higher than in the nation overall and there is no risk-free level of secondhand smoke.  Children whose lungs are still developing and elderly who are fighting chronic diseases are especially vulnerable.  It’s not fair that the 19.2% of smoking Texans can create a toxic and hazardous environment in those public spaces we love to hangout and share with tourists.  Support extending the ban today!