“When the student is ready, the teacher appears.” ~ A Tao saying

i just got this email from a buddy of mine “how was your week? mine was filled with activities to keep my kid busy. i’m looking forward to monday so I can get back to me.” and you know me. well, you don’t but you are starting too. an opening like that could not be ignored. so here is my “oh larry thinks he’s funny response…”

activities you say?
funny, me too.  i have house stuff, sons stuff, updating stuff, discussing with neighbors’ construction woes that minimally effects us stuff, neighborhood council stuff, if i fan that fire stuff, drama stuff, website challenges/strides stuff, extended family member’s unexpected passing stuff, capoeira practice stuff, you-pitch baseball stuff, blog writing – twitter learning – facebook – ignoring – facebook – responding stuff, presentation stuff, sisters’ stuff, nephews’ stuff, my buddies’ stuff, the everyone’s occasional PPM* stuff, laker stuff and lest we not forget the day to day car/health/money stuff.

I’d like to take credit for that rant but that seed was planted a long time ago by a better ranter with purpose, than me George Carlin.

but the cool part about ranting at the end when I slowed it down and took a breath, i managed to find a little bit of me and my sanity intertwined and connecting all that stuff.  So a little advice, the next time you find yourself covered in stuff and you are just about to board the rant train, slow it down take that breath and it will be a much smoother ride.

Be well and b10,

simplylarry

*PPM, Poor Pitiful Me, a term coined by another buddy Tony for those very Whiney moments.

“Watch how your circumstances and situations begin to change when you change the way you speak.” ~unknown

i tend to use a lot of quotes.  i’m always jotting them down or trying to commit the good ones to memory to share at some time. Maybe, someone i cross paths with will get the same little rush from it as i did. i’ve always loved words. ‘The pen is mightier than the sword” ~Edward Bulwer-Lytton kinda stuff is where i live. in fact, the following piece came to me, the way most things do, via email.  In this case  from my buddy Bones, who’s known me long enough to have had an ear-full about me and the word thing.

anyway, i thought i’d share…

Your words, your dreams and your thoughts have power to create conditions in your life.

If you keep saying you can’t stand your job, you might lose your job.

If you keep saying you can’t stand your body, your body can become sick.

If you keep saying you can’t stand your car, your car could be stolen or just stop operating.

If you keep saying you’re broke, guess what? You’ll always be broke.

If you keep saying you can’t trust a man or trust a woman, you will always find someone in your life to hurt and betray you.

If you keep saying you can’t find a job, you will remain unemployed.

If you keep saying you can’t find someone to love you or believe in you, you’re very thought will attract more experiences to confirm your beliefs.

Turn your thoughts and conversations around to be more positive and power packed with faith, hope, love, and action.

Don’t be afraid to believe that you can have what you want and deserve.

Watch your Thoughts, they become words.
Watch your Words, they become actions.
Watch your Actions, they become habits.
Watch your Habits, they become character.
Watch your Character, for it becomes your Destiny.

Speak it into existence.

be well and b10,
simplylarry

“If we all did the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.” ~Thomas Edison

The thoughts on this website are meant to spark ideas on how folks can improve lives and therein the world just by making a few things 10% better at a time.  It just occurred to me that as the drum major for such a parade I might have to practice what I preach, walk the walk, follow my lead, put up or shut up…you get my drift.  Man oh man oh what have I done?   I am far from being where I would like to be which is good because I guess that gives me lots of room to be better.

So I thought I would start with a common want to be better at task…I’m going to lose some weight.  And by putting it out there into the universe that just made it real. (Well, at least it does to me and the seven readers of this blog).  Now, here‘s the thought a 10% change is what I’m after so that would mean weigh myself right now…and then do the math to see what the 10% of that would be…subtract that number and voila’ there’s my goal weight.  For now. That sounds right, so let me go see what I weigh right now…hold on a sec (insert Jeopardy music here).  Okay, wow I’m weighing in at 235lbs so 10% is twenty-three and a half pounds to go. I can do that or now that I have put it out there, I choose to do that.

Now, someone might ask “How would you losing weight lead to a 10% better world?”

And that’s a real question but this is how I see it all rippling out into the world.

I lose twenty some pounds and I am bound to be in a better mood.  Be more pleasant.  Be more energetic. Be healthier.  Be more fun.  The healthier alone is a plus because it lowers health care risks, quality of life and expectancy.  This affects everyone around me.  My loss of weight changes my attitude. This changes how I interact with the world.  Which changes the way that person I interact with, interacts in their own world.  I believe, it’s just the beginning of a chain of events.  It’s all connected.

Now, multiply that one act by one thousand or by one hundred or even by ten and that changes lives.

So, that’s where I’m starting but to you, my magnificent seven, feel free to browse around the site and see your way to be10 in your own life and then just watch it ripple out into the world.

Be well and b10,

simplylarry

“To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.”  ~unknown

It’s funny, I have two sites this one and procrastination.com.

Yeah that’s right, the same guy that has been telling folks to embrace and own their ways of procrastination for years, is now talking about how we can be10percentbetter.  Is it ironic, schizoid, or just fraternal twins? Probably a little of each.  To some these are polar opposite concepts but I like to think of it as two sides of the same coin.

See, I built procrastination with the idea that we all do it so let’s not beat ourselves up for it but figure out how to embrace it and make it work for us.  I see procrastination as the way we slow it down since we are all so busy all the time.  The only time I can take a breath is by sneaking in some quality procrastinating.  And by taking that breath the rest of my day would be better.  See where I’m going?  If we embrace our procrastination, a little bit, we’d all be better because of it.  Not bad, right?  See the connection?

So let us fast forward from that mostly funny, irreverent, tongue in cheek type-site to this simple one of let’s all be10percentbetter.

It’s a simple idea that I’m tossing out into the universe.  And we’re not looking for miracles.  We’re not asking anybody to drop whatever you are doing and focus solely on the coming up with a cure for cancer; but who knows the world works on a ripple effect so your ten percent shift in effort could indirectly make that happen.  Or a slight adjustment in the next guy’s perspective could lead to figuring out a way to make fuel out of peanut butter and toothpicks.  Hey, you never know.

But, what I do know is that only good can come from us working to be better people, living in a better city and leading to a better planet.

If we work on the small, everyday things of life and maybe do them just a little bit better that by itself could create miracles.