Over time as I have gotten older I have been more and more of a seeker in life. One of mankind's biggest needs beyond love is the quest for happiness. I know that joy is different necessarily from happiness and comes from within. Joy is kind of like this zenith of happiness. Joy can be present despite outside circumstances. It is something you hold inside. Kind of like memories.

But I have found that what can spark these feelings of elation inside can have to do with highly positive events that you create for yourself in your life. I have observed that

JOY IS FOUND IN FANTASTIC FINISHES.

 

I have used quite a few sports analogies to relate to how life works. Life is a journey. It has competition. It has its ebbs and flows. You can find yourself a winner some days. Sometimes you are mired in the agony of defeat. Life requires practice to be good. We all have our role to play in a team effort. The competition and the conditions bring out our character. You can learn a lot about a person's character watching how they handle how a poorly played round of golf goes for them.

But with joy, if we work hard along a journey, and get to a finish, a "fantastic finish", there is no better feeling in the world. It is a great sense of accomplishment. You have overcome odds that may have been stacked against you.

Think of the 1980 Olympic mens USA hockey team that got by the heavily favored Soviet Union team to eventually win the Gold Medal. The men on that team can carry that joy with them, along with those fans that followed that game, for the rest of their lives.

 

 

Even in building a new home from the ground up or searching for weeks to find your "perfect" homestead, it is a feeling of jubilation when you cross the finish line. You have that joy in your heart.

 

 

 

 

 

I've personally been training to run a half marathon. Sometimes I think my goal is too low when I know others that are performing as triathletes and one lady I know who just completed an "Ironman" triathlon with enormous distances in swimming, biking, and running. But I know on my journey when I cross the finish line successfully I will have added another notch of joy to my belt, something no one can take away from me.

 

 

 

 

Now we all can't be at the superstar level in our fantastic finishes like a Tiger Woods in grinding out a sudden death win in the U.S. Open with a torn ACL.

But the point is we need to finish. And we need to have a "fantastic finish" to generate those great feelings inside.

I provide the sports visuals to help to imagine this inner joy. It truly is available for all of us if we just think about it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A race car is probably another good visual. You are driving your life to an important goal. You need to be out on the track. You need skill. You need to navigate the turns and take a pit stop now and then. You above all need to FINISH to have that sense of accomplishment.

 

 

 

 

Fantastic finishes do not have to be all about lofty goals either. They could be as simple as taking a long needed vacation. The point is you got on the path and you completed it.

It is in the fulfillment of something when dreams come true. Live your life so no dreams are left on the shelf.

The secret to this joy thing is completion. Then there is more joy to be found.

So when you see that skinny kid coming up the road finishing his half marathon, know that he has just added another deposit into his joy bank.

May you have many fantastic finishes along your own journey.

With the financial markets in turmoil with banks and credit problems one word pops into my mind as the Scrabble game word of the day.

          TRUST.

From an institutional point of view, from our representative government, from entirely too many an individual, trust is not what it is supposed to be. These are character flaws. Human weakness. What's remarkable to me is many Americans live lives with their families showing trust in each other each day. Yet if power corrupts, and greed sets in for many an individual or organization it seems that trust just goes right out the window.

In the future days ahead, those of us who are trustworthy individuals can be examples to those who are not. Unfortunately sometimes the consequences of bad apples amongst us affect the whole barrel. For those of us who show trust in our lives keep doing what you are doing.

More than just a word.  Trustworthiness is a way of living the right way.

Certain images stand out in my mind throughout life. There is a

LIFE LESSON FROM FEEDING DUCKS.

It could equally apply to feeding geese, seagulls, or pigeons. Imagine you are one of these birds. Some little boy is throwing bread your way. You may or may not get your piece right away. You have to be PATIENT!!

Patience is that act of waiting. It is allowing life to unfold. Those in life like me and maybe you, who like to drive results with persistence stuggle mightily with patience. Patience is the wisdom behind perserverance. It is knowing that some things take time to develop. ESPECIALLY things out of your control. Focus on what you can change and accept what you cannot. Patience is for distant and difficult goals. Hang on with time and the conditions will allow you to succeed.

I have always been a student of effective time management and balance in life. Talking with coworkers and real estate clients I know that balance is a challenge for ALL of us in today's time starved work weeks. I heard an expression that goes like this:

DO NOT GAMBLE AWAY THE SWEETNESS OF LIFE.

In other words, yes we have responsiblities and roles to play as Career person, Super Mom, Soccer League coach, work at the church, Rotary Club Vice President, Homeowners Association board member, blah, blah, blah.

But rigidly set aside time each week for the sweetness of life. Family, friends, personal development, what you love to do OUTSIDE your adult roles and responsibilities.

Think of your "prime time" in the evenings for example.

Limit TV viewing to two hours or turn it off completely. Spend time around the dinner table multiple times a week (all gathered) and learn what went on for the day. Curl up in your comfy chair with your favorite fiction or non-fiction book. Take a walk outside. Get some vigorous exercise and work that body. Call a friend and do some encouragement spending more time with them on the phone and being a great listener. They will appreciate it. Network with others on your computer. Go to a restaurant and try a new cuisine. Attend a mid week evening community event like a festival or craft show. How about the arts? Is there a local stage production in your area? How about taking in some live musical event? Take an art or photography class.

Find real life experiences outside all that responsibility stuff to not gamble the sweetness of life away by not giving time to it. Use your senses of touching, feeling, and smelling to embrace all that the sweetness of life has to offer. Balance in your life with these other areas. Do not put the sweetness of life on layaway. The good things in life are meant to be lived TODAY!!!

We all remember toward the end of the Wizard of Oz with Dorothy clicking her ruby red shoes together saying, "There's no place like home... " So if you are a buyer searching for a home or a buyers' agent helping someone what is the ONE key to finding home sweet home?

                LIFESTYLE.

It is truly unique among all of us. Some downsizing, some it is the schools or the town, some nature, some noisy, some quiet. Some to be near family. Others the beach, mountains, lively night life, quiet deserted streets, or just the rodeo nearby. Buyers' agents listen carefully. Buyers think hard about where you WANT to be the next five years. The answer is there. Listen to the music inside your soul. Go for it. Lifestyle is the key!!

Your House As Seen By:

Yourself...

 

 

Your Buyer...  

 

Your Lender...

 

Your Appraiser...

 

Your Tax Assessor...

Don't you like that within the walls of this blog you just learn how the real world works. The smartest readers and commenters come here for the facts. Now you know all you need to know about how those folks gets those values on your house. Feeling pretty smart today aren't you?? Just remember you got it here first. Y'all come back now, you hear??  : )

 

While I am a big fan of dancing and the true country and western dance, the Texas Two Step, in real estate and in life, many times we should be

      AVOIDING THE TEXAS TWO STEP.

In other words, don't retrace your steps to get something done. Do it right, do it all one time. Why? Time is precious.

One appraisal, one inspection, one final trip out to find a home.

Think in life. One trip to the grocery store for the week's groceries. Make one decision about something and get on with it. In shopping for clothes do not keep going back to the store to add to an outfit, get all the pieces at one time. Don't get into the I'm not sure about something with home electronics. Are you going to shop four stores and then come back next weekend?

There is an efficiency with your time in life to not doing the two step. Don't be hasty for sure. But so often you can figure it out the first time out the chute.

Do you do the two step in your life? What have you done it with?

It amazes me with Real Estate clients, peer level relationships, and life relationships how people can turn into a weasel on you. They can cancel appointments without telling you, not do what they say, and become a master in indirect communication. You hear of bosses firing people through email or breakups in love relationships by texting. How crass is that? With difficult confrontations we can move forward however with tactfulness and diplomacy and not let ourselves become weasels.

Give a Little to Get Along and Don't Be a Weasel

It is the fine act of being tactful. Here are a few phrases to try and get things done without hurting another's feelings.

1. Say, it seems to me the problem is..

2. My concern is this...

3. Please explain this to me. Maybe I am not understanding this...

4. I can't agree with you, but you are entitled to your opinion...

5. Excuse me, I am not through, just allow me a little more time to finish my point..

6. You are too upset now, let me discuss this more later with you...

7. I don't feel comfortable talking about that...

8. Maybe I failed to make myself clear ....

9. I can see why you feel that way...

10. What would you think I should do in this case?....

There are many bridging statements or questions you can come up with in being tactful with people in keeping an open dialogue with them to resolve confrontation and disputes. We can have our differences with others many times in life. It is a real art form to disagree without being disagreeable. The trick is to remain calm, not go negative, and the BIGGIE, always respect the other person for his or her perspective. It is not easy when they get loud, belligerent, nasty, disrespect us, use profanity, or are in our face. Remember no one can MAKE you mad if you are in control of yourself.

Don't be a weasel in your life like so many others. YOU be the light that the world so needs to see shining back at them. Amazingly, you being calm, will calm them down. It works every time. Try it. I can see your bright self already there. Bright in intelligence. Bright in love.

 

Someone asked me once how do you come up with the answers you need? They must have thought I had it all figured out as a Realtor.

I thought, just like many areas of life where we need answers, we need "tests."

      TESTS IN YOUR LIFE REVEAL ANSWERS.

Sure canned tests "have" answers that are correct like multiple choice and true/false.

But life's tests reveal our character, what we may accept or not be able to tolerate, what will make us stronger or literally crush us. Think of diagnostic tests in medicine. They may reveal good news of a tumor being benign or worse yet you have months to live.

Do not fear tests. They give us answers to what we need to know. It's what we do with the answers after we have them that is the most important.

BTW, in this color blindness test, mainly for men that may have a problem with this gene, you should be able to see the number 16 embedded in the field. If not, guess what? You have another answer that you need to know about yourself.

With the events in the financial markets lately with Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the $85 billion bailout of insurance giant AIG, all which can affect the housing market, you may be getting sea sick from all the wave action.

But any good surfer knows you ride the waves. You embrace them till they take you to the shore. You've got to hang in there and manage what YOU can manage. Did you know that tube surfing, inside the curl of the wave, is from the BIGGEST and BADDEST waves? It probably is the most fun and scenic too.

We can all get caught up with the stock market falling and then rising with its whipsaw like action, but remember life goes on. Good times, bad times, good times. Many things in life are in cycles. Just ride the waves. Don't let them knock you down. Or if they do, get back on your board and swim out and show the next wave that it won't knock you down again, but you are actually going to have fun with it. What a rush. Cowabunga dude!!

Harness the power that is around you. Do not be afraid. Why? Because remember, you were born to thrive!!

                            Surfin USA