Marc Stamos

I just read a digital fortune cookie message looking over someone’s shoulder as they Facebooked.

It read: The secret of getting ahead, is getting started.

Wow, the right message at the right time!

Very little of what we call “facts” are fixed concepts. Take money, for example. It’s worth something, right? Actually, the value of money is simply a story we made up. It’s relative worth as compared to other currencies, metals, jewels, etc. is simply an agreed upon story that facilitates commerce.

Why am I rambling about this? Well, given that so much of what we call life/reality is simply stories that we have either made up or have bought into effect, recognizing this and acting accordingly can have profound impacts on our happiness.

As T Harv. loves saying: “Nothing has meaning except that which we give it.”

Or, as Henry Ford famously said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

Since so many of the stories that swirl around in our heads about ourselves are made up anyways, why not make up supportive ones. Similiarly, since the stories we make up about other people are made up, let’s make up supportive ones there too.

And, since the future as a concept is compleletly fabricated, what might our world look like if we invented a vision of the future that excited 6.6 billion people to strive to create?

The stories in our individual and collective minds are self-fulling. These can be either self-enhancing, or self-defeating. Why not choose to fill our heads with the stories that have happy endings!

…imagine what our world would look like if everyone practiced this!

‘nuf said!

“You may have noticed that everything an Indian does is in a circle, and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles, and everything tries to be round.

The sky is round, and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball, and so are the stars.

The wind, in its greatest power, whirls. Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.

Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing, and always come back again to where they were.

The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is in everything where power moves.”

– Black Elk (1863 – 1950) Oglala Sioux – Holy Man

From : Native American Wisdom – Running Press

I was just going through my notes from the Life Directions seminar I attended in January, and stumbled across the following:

Fear is the darkroom where we develop all our negatives.

Too true!

I was standing in line today, waiting to order french-fries and guacamole at the hotel bar. I overheard hear two people off to my right complaining about the hotel’s service. A minute later I placed my order.

Suddenly, the gentleman who was complaining marched forward and began berating the bartender.

“I’ve been waiting for 20 minutes, no one has taken my order, and you let 2 people go ahead of me,” he said.

“I’m very sorry, I didn’t mean to butt in line. I didn’t think you were waiting,” I said.

“Well, it’s chilly, so I was standing in the sun,” he said to me, pleasantly enough.

Then he returned his focus to Daniel, the bartender. Any pleasantness he mustered up for me was long gone. He proceeded to lace into Daniel, a seemingly nice 25ish-year-old young man, with venom and dripping sarcasm.

I should note at this point that off to my right, the lady (who the gentleman had been complaining with) was talking with another gentleman who looked like the manager. He seemed to be very service oriented.

But I digress, back to the gentleman barking orders and insults at Daniel…

Daniel, it seems, had reached a breaking point.

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Today’s share of the day–which hit me in the shower after verbally boxing with my brother Darren all day–is this: Growing is not a painless occurence, but it’s part of life. When the pain is there, all I have to do is remember…

If I’m not growing, I’m dying.

…Being a Family.

I just got back from visiting long lost family in San Francisco. I even met the next generation of Stamos’s!

About 15 years agao, I met my dad’s cousin Spiro, his wife Katherine, and their son Basil. Last week I finally completed the loop, meeting their other sons Peter in person, his wife Sun Mi and their son Spencer via video conference, and Chris over the phone.

Truly inspiring, accomplished people. The striking part, however, is that the warmth and kindness they exude made me feel like I’ve been a close intimate of theirs for decades.

Their license plate used to read:

Happiness is being a family.

Now I fully understand why.

PS: The picture above is the cover of a photo album my brother Darren and I made for our parents 10 years ago. We stumbled accross a picture of Spiro’s car, and thought the license plate would be great for the cover of the photo album…it even fit perfectly in the slot on the album without any resizing.