Living your childhood dreams...

“We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”

Randy Pausch

The Last Lecture

A lot of professors give talks titled “The Last Lecture” -- Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them. And while they speak, audiences can’t help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance? If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, an award winning teacher and computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn’t have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer...

"On September 18, 2007, computer science professor Randy Pausch stepped in front of an audience of 400 people at Carnegie Mellon University to deliver a last lecture called “Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” With slides of his CT scans beaming out to the audience, Randy told his audience about the cancer that is devouring his pancreas and that will claim his life in a matter of months. On the stage that day, Randy was youthful, energetic, handsome, often cheerfully, darkly funny. He seemed invincible. But this was a brief moment, as he himself acknowledged.

Randy’s lecture has become a phenomenon, as has the book he wrote based on the same principles, celebrating the dreams we all strive to make realities. Sadly, Randy lost his battle to pancreatic cancer on July 25th, 2008, but his legacy will continue to inspire us all, for generations to come."

See it here

Randy's last lecture isn’t about dying, instead, it's about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment and about living your dreams! It is inspiring and life enhancing. So I've shared it here with you. If you've already seen it, then watch it again, I have many times, and it continues to inspire and remind me to live my dreams, savour every moment of my life and appreciate the people I love. If you haven't seen it before, then take the time now to do so, it will definitely enhance your life.

Check out Randy's book here:

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form. It is a book that will be shared for generations to come.

How to live to be 100+

TED is life enhancing: http://www.ted.com

TED is "Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world"

TED is a small nonprofit project devoted to 'Ideas Worth Spreading'.

It started out in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. More than 500+ life enhancing 'TED Talks' are now freely available online, with more added each week. TED is based on the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world.

To introduce you to the value of TED (in case you weren't already a TED aficionado) and to share some incredibly life enhancing research on how to live longer and with greater health, here is a TED talk on 'How to live to be 100+'. I hope you enjoy it and find it as fascinating as I do.

Into the blue zones... how to live to be 100+

What do Seventh-Day Adventists in California, the residents of Sardinia, Italy and the inhabitants of the islands of Okinawa, Japan have in common? They enjoy the longest, healthiest lives on the planet. National Geographic writer and explorer, Dan Buettner assembled a team of researchers to seek out these "hotspots of human health and vitality", which he calls Blue Zones, and to figure out what they do that helps them live so long.

Dan and his team have distilled the secrets of the world's longest-lived peoples into a single plan for health and long life. In this TED talk he shares the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that keep them spry past age 100.

In Summary:

The 9 principles for health and longevity can be summarised into:

Right Outlook - Sense of purpose, Enjoy your life, Follow your passions.
Move naturally - Remove laziness, Setup your life so that you naturally exercise and get out in the nature that surrounds you
Eat Wisely - Eat right @ right time
Connect with others - Family, friends, community and have long meaningful relationships

Make sure you live a full life where you engage with your community, the people in your life and the nature that surrounds you. Don't let modern society stress you out. Celebrate your life. Do calm abiding, forgiving, appreciation, savoring and compassion for yourself and others. And check out the life enhancing wisdom that TED has to offer.

wishing you a long enhancing life,

Grant

Inspiring your soul

"I breathe white light through the skin of my soul every day, and I hope you do too."

Thomas Sullivan

I was reading this month's 'Sullygram' - the eloquent and thought provoking monthly missive from Pulitzer nominated author Thomas 'Sully' Sullivan, and Sully's words moved and inspired me so deeply that I just wanted to share them with you here.

They talk about freedom, personal agency and the magic that is life. They evoke a call to action towards excellence and to live at your life enhancing best. They remind us to get out into nature and revel in our world.

"The cues to magic are all around you.  Take the trees.  Don't they always seem to stand straighter in spring, like they are launching in slow motion, trying to reach escape velocity?  But in the end they never quite summon the courage to let go of the earth.  People are like that.  Maybe that's why we wind up buried in dirt, as if we collapsed into our own roots.  And yet, if that mortal destiny is inevitable, there is no reason for it to be premature.  Nothing is stopping you from transits in nature, from soaring where you can, trying to reach escape velocity -- and sometimes doing it!  Gravity should have no effect on your spirit, your mind, your heart.  I'm always astonished to see people whose every instinct screams that truth at them, and yet they remain spiritually inert.  Sadder still if, when they are shown how to become permanent escapees, they succumb to fear or guilt or some other useless rusting chain.  You wouldn't think that would happen.  The power of imagination and inspiration is within them, but something negative keeps them grounded like nested birds in the unknown night.  To never achieve starlight or circle the silver moon or meet the sunrise before its appointment on the new horizon seems like such a colossal waste to me and an affront to creation.  I celebrate reaching for optimization in every way.  You don't have to BE optimum; you just have to reach for it.  The magic is in the effort"

So true! So true! The magic is in the effort. The magic is in doing the best you can every day. Sure some days will be better than others. It's a journey. Celebrate your life by focusing on enhancing it. Strive for excellence. Use your powers of imagination to dream great dreams and inspire yourself to action. Never let the gravity of daily life effect your spirit, your mind or your heart.

Breathe white light through the skin of your soul every day!


yours with life inspiring wishes,
Grant

ps For those who would like to sign up for Sully's monthly 'Sullygram', delivered to your email inbox, go to: http://www.thomassullivanauthor.com/sullygrams.htm
and click on the link to email Sully to be added to the bcc list.

You can also follow Sully's tweets at: http://twitter.com/thomassullivan



And for those interested in reading some of Sully's books: