GOT MILK ? What has that got to do with this article? NOT A THING! Did it get your attention? GOOD!

GOT ALL THE ANSWERS? NO? Neither do I - that's why we are ALL "Works-in-Progress" Communication - the sharing of IDEAS - the "nip and tuck" of discussion - is there a shred of truth herein? Does it have "redeeming merit?"
Will any of this gibberish actually HELP anyone? I HOPE SO! If only one "teensie-weensie" iota of a germ of inspiration gets one solitary person "off his/her DUFF" and BACK INTO THE GAME WE CALL LIFE - then I shall be
humbly grateful!

LIVE ! But HOW ?

Copyright: September 17, 2003

Tom Hyland

You are Born! You Live ! You Die ! You, nor I, nor any living being has any choice on the first and last steps of this trilogy - but, guess what, Pilgrim? HOW you live is the one choice that makes all the difference in this journey we call Life!

No matter what station in life you are born into, no matter how low, or indigent, your level of education may well determine how WELL you live, the rest of your life! In today’s high technology society, education has become a huge, costly, money-making industry. The cost of a college education has become so exorbitant that it is almost sacrilegious. But, do not dismay - assuming that a young child learns how to read, it is then simply a matter of what and how much reading is invested into one’s education.

Here, in America, we have one of the greatest institutions ever established by mankind — the Public Library! The poorest person in the world can peruse any and every book imaginable, on any topic under the sun, and do it absolutely FREE! This secondary phase should go hand in hand with the primary Public School education (k through grade twelve) which is also FREE! Oh, and lest we be remiss, forget not the wealth of information and education that is available very cheaply via the "Ever-Lovin’" INTERNET!

Now, don’t get me wrong, this free "book-larnin’" may not be the exact equivalent of a "sheepskin," especially on a resume’ - but - the person who applies him/herself and reads and retains this knowledge can be just as informed and educated as anyone who is graduated from an expensive Ivy League college! The morale boost alone is well worth the effort!

This brings us to the next choice in the HOW to live scenario - intelligence! Just what is this overly-used and often misconstrue d term? It is the ability to use one’s intellect, or brain power, to THINK! Do you really know what the SOLE purpose of a college education is? It is not the memorization of facts and figures, and dates and times, and extraneous details of mankind’s recorded history that makes one be regarded as intelligent! The major goal of education is to teach one to THINK! In the final analysis, a college degree says: "this person has learned how to FIND or locate information, and how to think." Remember that first Library assignment? That dreaded ordeal that forced you to learn the "ins and outs" of catalogue cards, and authors and titles, and bibliographies, and reference works, and how to properly use "citations?" If you successfully completed this major assignment, then you were given the "key" or the "secret" path to unlimited knowledge - "Everything you ever wanted to know about the world, but were afraid to ask - here it is, at your fingertips, Pilgrim!" EUREKA!

While learning is a mental process, usually requiring repetition (in the Good Old Days, called ROTE memory) and some people are slower than others, and may need more repetitions for any given amount of retention, the actual ACT of doing so, will usually become a subconscious habit. Once this occurs, it becomes a natural and normal function. Remember how we all learned our multiplication tables? Yep, you got it! - by writing them down, over - and over - and over - they finally sunk into our little "pea brains."

Sure, sure - today we may not know how to calculate the square root of two-hundred-and-fifty-six - or - be able to recite the Pythagorean Theorem (in any given right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides — A squared plus B squared equals C squared) - but guess what? It matters not! "If you don’t use it, you lose it!" Many trivial details of mathematics may be long forgotten, but while we were young and absorbing information like little sponges, it was important and necessary to acquire the basic thought processes! I THINK - THEREFORE I AM!"

Organization, relationships, comparisons, contrasts, the basic finer points of language: parts of speech, conjugation of verbs, moods and tenses, the diagraming of sentences, grammar, punctuation, and more, more, more - all these help the mind to learn how to "catalogue" retain, and store all the little "itsy-bitsy" pieces of information, for later recall. "Gee, she has a great memory!" Certainly, we are all different, and some people retain more than others, and some have to work harder, in order to do so - but - the PROCESS is still the same — READ -REPEAT -RETAIN. This is slightly different from the proverbial Three R’s - "Reading, wRiting, and ‘Rithmetic" yet they are just as accurate and powerful, as far as techniques are concerned.

Before leaving this topic of education, let me dispel an old, inaccurate, and ugly rumor, namely: "You can’t teach an old dog new tricks!" BULL! If you want to assume it is true for canines, that’s OKAY, but it does not apply to humans! More senior citizens are learning more new things, or jobs, or crafts, or skills, or arts today, than EVER in history! WHY? Simply because they have TIME to take time, and DO now what they always wanted or desired to do in the past.

I personally, because of DESIRE and CHOICE have learned to shoot more pool (billiards, eight-ball to be specific) in the past three years, than in all of my previous teenage and adult years! And, you know what, Pilgrim? I am BETTER than I ever was! WHY? Repetition, trial and error, desire, determination, application, and time - these all play a part in our successful learning. This brings us to our next ingredient in our HOW TO LIVE potpourri — ATTITUDE !!!

How we train our own intellect, and how we regard ourselves in the quiet recesses of our minds, is the critical factor in our search for any successful formula for life! From little tykes, through our teenage years, and even into young adulthood, we are bombarded with so many NO’s, that it is amazing that anyone has the nerve to try anything new or different! "You can’t do that!" "Are you crazy?" "Just who do you think you are?" Sound familiar? These and similar negatives could very easily break a child’s spirit of adventure. WHY? Because the unadulterated truth is: You ARE who you THINK you ARE! If you think you are dumb, you will be! If you think you are smart, you will be! Again, it is a process of repetition and habit.

Each individual’s ATTITUDE will ultimately determine his/her ACTIONS throughout their entire life span, and someone much wiser than I once said: "THY ACTIONS ALONE DETERMINE THY WORTH!" How we perceive our own worth is really much more important than how others perceive it. Remember the classic children’s story of the little train, "Little Toot?" "I THINK I CAN. I THINK I CAN. I KNOW I CAN!"

ATTITUDE promotes ENTHUSIASM - and IT is CONTAGIOUS!

You CAN DO anything you DECIDE you really WANT to do! Attitude, along with knowledge, will pave a path of CONFIDENCE that is insurmountable, indefatigable, unrelenting - that will provide a literal "yellow brick road" to success in any chosen venture! To truly achieve any goal, it is these two tools than will fan the flames of your desire. We have all heard the old adage: "A burning desire to do something means to be WILLING to do WHATEVER is NECESSARY to REACH that GOAL!" I should like to change only one word in that old saw: replace WILLING with COMMITTED! There’s an equally accurate saying: "The Spirit is WILLING, but the Flesh is WEAK!" Ergo: Commit - Do - Succeed.

In Napoleon Hill’s oft’ quoted classic Best-Seller, "Think And Grow Rich" he tells us the answer so succinctly that some people just don’t get the point: "Anything the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve!" Ergo: THINK IT! KNOW IT! DO IT!

Education, attitude, action, what else could possibly be equally important in determining HOW one chooses to live? We just mentioned it above - BELIEF - FAITH - CREDO - whatever you choose to call it - determination, persistence, perseverance - someone else has called it "The Common Denominator" of Success - "Successful people do the things that failures fail to do!"

Many times, and perhaps even, most people will use whatever belief that was instilled in them as children, in a higher Being, or God, or a Religion - as a basis for somehow drawing on an Inner Strength. Whether this belief is actually a springboard which propels a person to the self-realization of believing in ONESELF, or not - is an individual concept, or choice.

The penultimate truth then, is your own personal "packaging" of YOU, and how to visualize your REAL self - for this is what you PROJECT outwardly to others! No matter what you may have as an occupation, people BUY YOU - not the product, nor the benefits, nor the "deal!" Whether one realizes it or not, each and every day of our waking lives, we are SELLING something - OURSELVES. If you think that you are NOT a salesperson, you are wrong! Consider just a few situations: the JOB interview, the manager training subordinates, the teacher in the classroom, the engineer with a new idea, the parent consoling an injured child, the doctor, the lawyer, the Indian Chief - and yes, Virginia, even the "vote-seeking" lying politician - like a blinking neon sign, we say: "BUY ME!"

"If you look great, you feel great!" If you dress and look successful, you feel successful. Many years ago, as an Insurance Sales Trainee, I was taught: "FAKE IT ‘TIL YOU MAKE IT!"

Being: cleancut, clean-shaven, shined shoes, polished nails (yes, Virginia, a manicure at least once a week) and only ONE truly good suit. It was better to wear that same Yves Saint Laurens pinstriped suit every day, than to be seen in five different, obviously "cheap" suits. Each prospect, on each day, at each sales-call saw only one IMAGE — success!

In closing this little "epistle" I should like to add just a "pinch" into our recipe for HOW TO LIVE - this ingredient can never ever be too much, or too powerful, it is — LOVE! Love each new day that you awaken! Love what you do! Love your "significant other!" Love your Family!

Love your neighbors! But most importantly, and paramount to your well-being - LOVE YOURSELF! If you don’t - the projected image is so discernable to others that they will REFLECT BACK what they: see, hear, smell, touch, taste! The five basic senses are ALWAYS AT WORK!

If you don’t like yourself - CHANGE! If you don’t like your job -CHANGE! BORED? Take up a hobby! Join something! Meet new people! BROKE? Get a part-time job - SAVE money! SING! DANCE! WRITE! ENJOY LIFE! You only get ONE SHOT at it, so why not take aim, and make it a really good one? HOW TO LIVE? Like each day is your last one on earth - ‘cause it COULD BE!

OH - YES --> LONELY? - CALL ME (Ladies ONLY, of course!) LOL - Hugs & Kisses, Tom.