Exit

Exit
Originally uploaded by Zane Taylor Anderson

Ever have those moments when you realize that life is real and there is no avoiding the sheer fact that you have to face it no matter how hard the circumstance or event? It always seems to be very abrupt and unexpected. There isn't a text or email saying FYI your gonna be hit with some craziness today. Nope. Just bam and here we go. Well there is no way to avoid it so I have come to accept it. Take a second and ask why, then take ten minutes and say how. How will I proceed to turn this around, to solve this problem, to resolve this conflict. How will I take control of this why and how soon can I make it happen. I am a big believer in being prompt. Don't wait to resolve or the stone may be set. It is easier to work with clay than with a jackhammer.

TOMS

TOMS
Originally uploaded by Zane Taylor Anderson

Sometimes there is a situation that comes along where a business can meet a financial need as it fulfills a social need. This situation is TOMS shoes. There is no "we will give a % of donations" or any other gray area. It is one for one. You buy a pair of shoes, someone in need gets a pair. Plain and simple. And isn't that what we are all striving for now anyway? The reason TOMS has done so well is because they realized this fact. There is no room for confusion. So I ask you today, what are you doing to make your passion, work, life or dreams a little more clear and simple? How will you grant access through a concept? How will you create an archetype that even a 4 year could grasp?

Passion

What is it in your life that you strive for? The thing you are thinking about while working or driving or any of the endless things we "have" to do. You can't stop thinking about that moment when freedom from all the "haves" occurs and you move toward participating in that thing, your passion. If you don't have one then find one, and if you do, then learn how to thrive in it, refine it, learn it and in return benefit from it. So, what is your thing?

The Juice

This is a blatant excuse to not work while my creative juices start moving. On that note, I believe there is something to stepping away from whatever you may be engulfed in and taking a breather, getting some coffee or a drink and disconnecting for a bit. Being able to step away and forget about it all will help so much when you step back into your work place with a fresh set of eyes, refreshed brain and maybe so new thoughts on how to finish that design, make that deadline or solve that problem.

Thursdays

Ever have one of those days where nothing seems to get done. You look up and the day is over and it seems like it just started? I am in the middle of one of those right now. What do i do? Accept the fact that I wont check anything off my to do list and research some new technologies and ways of creatively affect my work or designs. You could call it creative submission through learning. Enjoy your day and when you get a "wasted" one, turn it into a creative revelation or simple tool that will assist in your day to day work.

Procrastination

Everyone has those times when are just at our limit. When you feel as though the time to collapse and give into what your body has been screaming for the past two weeks is only seconds away! Some of us will perform at our peak level at these times. When iron it hitting iron and there is no chance for mistakes. I am one of those. In college I left that 17 page paper until the weekend before it was due and if I even tried to start it three weeks earlier I would waste hours staring at a blank screen. I still function on this level but just a little differently. I will wait until necessary to "think" about what needs to be done but I will have everything in place to make it happen right then! I think this is just about growing older, figuring out how YOU work and adjusting so you don't mess up, slack off or forget, but you strive for excellence and make it happen no matter what that journey looks like. Even when the sleep is not there and the fast food dinners are a daily staple, in the end you make it happen, succeed and do it with excellence. So no matter what you do to finish that project, lead that team, build that house, or clean that floor. Figure out how you do it best and then go for it. Even if you only have thirty minutes to get it done.

The end

I have talked in the past about death and what it does and how it affects each one of us. But do we really understand the true reality of its grasp and how it can take control? There are those moments and times where we can let it completely take over our lives, out of fear, concern or love. We can live in fear daily of what might happen or could happen. Grasp it, control it, and understand that it is inevitable. We all die and we can run or hide from the sheer fact of this, or we can understand that this is the way of life, the beginning and the end. Your choice, but you must realize that you will choose one way or the other, accept and allow yourself to thrive in this moment, living it to the fullest or allow death to overtake your life until that fateful end.

Create

What will you create in 2009? User-generated content is on the rise, it is expected to surpass 30 million between now and 2013, that is almost 113 million new user created, distributed and consumed content. That is a lot. It is inspiring to see people taking control of and molding their experience. People are changing the tide of society and corporations. Using the Internet as their launching pad, they are not sitting by and being control. People are connecting, expressing, changing, living and causing new mindsets and corporations to study this phenomenon. We are causing them to look to us on what is fresh and new, and how they can attract our attention, time and money. So I ask you today: what will be created in 2009 by you, me or our network of bees. Here is a great article where I got the inspiration for this post. Enjoy.

Routine

Today was full of great conversation and thought provoking concepts and realities. I was presented with a great thought from a friend. It is 2009, we are living it and experiencing it. We are also at the tipping point of a huge change for our society and world in almost every aspect. Not only is our economic situation up in arms and ready for a drastic change but every area of people's lives are in transition. We are seeing a societal shift into new ways of thinking, processing and grasping our world and our lives. The Internet is on the edge of a new horizon in ways of connecting, functioning and thriving. The question is this: During the 20's, 30's and so on, there were huge societal archetypes instilled in our nation. An industrial revolution filled with new technologies to help everyone function at a new and higher level. We are now in 2009, far removed from those days and systems, with a fresh new outlook on the future and what is to come. So what are you going to do to make a difference today? Can you cause another shift in how we as a society thrive? Can you start a new way of connecting and relating and providing value to each of us? I believe you can and I believe that during these vital times all of us have the opportunity to step out, shift mindsets and habits or the choice to just conform to the ebb and flow of this society. I want to step aside, analyze and see how I can start to shift my own routines and habits, how I can start to connect in a new and fresh way. How will you?

100,000 pounds of Reflection

Once in awhile you have those moments that really allow you appreciate God's beauty. And there is nothing like seeing a 100,000 pound Humpback whale less than three feet away from you 2 miles off the coast of Maui. I have just experienced this moment, courtesy of a marine biologist friend named CT, who took me and my wife and family on her little red inner tube boat just feet away from a Humpback whale and her 1 day old calf. Those moments take your breathe away and cause you to reflect on the beauty of this land and ocean and how magnificent it all truly is. Everyone should sit back and reflect on their own lives and how precious and beautiful it is, whether your situation is the greatest or the worst right now, life moves in clips and phases and everything will pass and go, the good and the bad, so don't take this time for granted and grasp the world around you with a new eye.

The Dash

We often look at things in terms of the beginning or the end, how every new beginning starts from some other beginning's end. But is that really it, is that what we should be looking at? The big things in life: career, money, job, social status and the number of friends on your networking site of choice...are they all that matters or as with everything, is it the little things that tend to matter most? Love, family, happiness. Things that our society doesn't weigh you against. If you live happy and thrive in your marriage or family life, yet make no money or change zero lives, you are forgotten, lost in the array of people that reside on this earth, day in and day out, 300 million of us just in this precinct, let alone the world. But it is those little things that help us thrive and grow and no matter what any society stamps its approval on, it is those that can make one fall. The dash in between life and death is what we will be remembered by, yet at our demise, people around us will look at the beginning and the end, where it started and when it ends, but really the dash that penetrates those years is the most significant part, that is where we lived, thrived, struggled, and survived. The dash is where you are now if death hasn't knocked on your door, and how will you choose to live your dash, in regret? in fear? or grasping every moment, never letting go for the sheer fact of living that "dash" up to the fullest. So I challenge you to love like you have never loved and live like never before, for all of us 300 million plus can't predict when this dash will turn numeric, and the beginning will crash into the end.

December

I truly love this time and these days when everything sort of comes into focus and most people are in great places; happy, fun, and just enjoyable. It is a great time to spend with friends, family and the loved ones that make this day, moment or minute special and lasting. I can say that this "season" as some would refer to it, is one that I look forward to, revel at and truly feel blessed to experience. It is at these times when people's true colors come out and you have to take a step back every now and then and just smile. Smile because at certain times when needed, our world, our country can start to all get on the same page and start to change some real life things. I love to see it come and as it goes I only get ready and excited for the next time it will be here. Every December is a great one. We are blessed people. Revel in it and enjoy every second.
Make life something to live for.

Surprise

As days turn into years. Babble into formation. I can feel the change. I can see the growth before my eyes and behind the scenes these realizations are clearer by the day. This surreal manifestation of life and love, fear and hope, reveals itself in ways never known before. Flesh of my flesh but an entire wavelength of his own. I didn't for see his arrival but how I don't want his departure. I strive for His presence more everyday. A precious gift to mold and shape, a life to grow. Teach not to focus on the war around us but direct his focus above all of that and seek what is always around us and really matters. Seek what is waiting for you to find.

Wilderness of Rocks

To remain in this place for hours and days will change a portion of you by opening up and bringing a refreshed sense to your body and mind. I love to relax, contemplate, and learn on these mountain sides. They are truly a place where God is. Just looking around you understand the beauty behind this place. It is easily forgotten as we navigate the concrete jungle we call home. But when you really take the time to get out here, out somewhere, your very life can begin to change. New ideas and changes in lifestyle, belief, and beauty start to manifest. To stop and just grasp this experience is all you need to do. To just get out in the open.

Focus

There is a lot out there to distract us from the passions and goals that we strive to achieve. The world is full of noise, clutter, and ways of complicating our somewhat simple lives. The goal is to connect with something that inspires you. To set a goal and watch it come to fruition. I recently have taken up "bouldering" or climbing or whatever you would like to label it, that's not important. What is crucial is that this new "hobby" as some would call it, drives me to be a better person, to exercise, eat right, stay in tune with my body so i can excel at this activity. What is in your life that grabs you, stops you, and causes a shift in the way you move throughout your day? What inspires you to be a better person? It can be more than one thing alone, but something causes you to get up each day, grab this world by the horns and take control, or do you just 'get by' do what is needed and drift. There is special things in each of us that cause dramatic shifts in how we function, react, and even live. Find what it is in your life that sparks that drive or seek it out, don't let it fade, grasp it with your entire being. It may be the very thing that helps you rise to where you not only want to be, but need to be.

Language

I read an article last night that truly sparked a thought process that has not ceased in my mind. The author said: "We must translate God's revelation into the language of the world for the Great Commission to be fulfilled. We cannot rely on just scripture when arguing over the Apologetics, but a truth that everyone can grasp." When they understand the importance of what we live daily, can they truly grasp this mindset with all of the noise the world presents? I think that for someone to truly lock into this idea of Jesus they must experience Him on their own level. That isn't saying that we must stop trying to introduce those to Him. I think getting people connected to the church and the ministries that encapsulate this vision is vital. How can they experience if they are never exposed? I think our call is to inform those around us of the experience that awaits them if they decide to connect to this life changing reality!

Fear

We aren't left alone in this world. We are chosen to act and accomplish what is needed to fulfill our "own identity" and the identity of Jesus. I stare off into the distance this morning and only ask that we will return to the mindset and actions of a time that has passed. I ask that we will start a new movement in this town, nation, and church. I pray that God will start to work in ways that have been unknown before. I pray that we will see such a renewal of the power that Jesus holds in His church body and world. I cast down pettiness and ignorance at this vital time. May we lift up our new leader and our new nation in prayer daily. We have made history this month. May we continue down this path of renewal and strength and with Jesus leading us grasp onto this concept of "true" change.

Inspire me.

I am feeling inspirational tonight. What I want to do is is give you some inspiration from people who have shaped and changed this nation from its beginning to present day. I will give you the exact words out of their mouth that helped usher in a definitive change and destiny for our nation as we know it.

"There are no accidents in my philosophy. Every effect must have its cause. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the finite to the infinite."-Herndon's Life of Lincoln by William H. Herndon and Jesse W. Weik (New York, Da Capo Press, 1983)

"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
Martin Luther King, Jr.

“There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to come by.”- Annie Dillard quote

"As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection."-President Barack Obama

"That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow."-President Barack Obama

I leave you with these quotes of hope, change and a renewed vision of what America can be and will be.

Do something about it

Here is something I have been emailing, talking and nearly preaching about since 10pm Tuesday, November 4th. It has come in the form of mass emails, conversations, and even arguments asking people to join the movement of praying for our soon to be President. I have been expressing my passion about the change we need and how to usher it in with prayer and now the next President of the United States of America has created a direct connection to express your vision, passion, and thoughts on how he should lead our country and how we can unite together during a season where the last thing we need is to tear each other apart because one voted blue and another voted red. The time has come to get over it, grab the hand next to you no matter what race, belief, denomination, or other "dividing" factors and stand together, think together and work together towards a common goal of helping our Nation get through these troubled days and navigate that long road to the change we really need.

A Legend

No one can deny that we are living history. I know it is a main factor in my re-visitation of the literary work of Dr. Martin Luther King. Not only his story but what he spoke and the way in which his poetically transcribed words is so touching and changing. Just minimal self taught knowledge of this great man is so inspiring and motivational. So I leave you with this short message of his hope, change and dreams with a quote by Dr. King: Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, Dec. 11, 1964.

"Occasionally in life there are those moments of unutterable fulfillment which cannot be completely explained by those symbols called words. Their meanings can only be articulated by the inaudible language of the heart."- Martin Luther King Jr.