The Great Life…According to Mark Cigos

It’s wonderful, almost awe-inspiring, how when the chips are down and I mean really down, the special people of our world step up. When we need them most, the leaders come out to play. And play hard they do.

There’s no secret that our society is up against the largest killer of mankind right now: obesity.

The problem is that it’s not so much the men and women that are the only grave worry here, albeit there is massive cause for alarm as our population here in North America and globally continues to expand at the waistline. It’s become deeper and deadlier than that, it’s now the children we must fear for most. Our offspring and future is in jeopardy. This young generation is expected to live a shorter life than their parents.

Chilling and absurdly astonishing.

The inactivity, the malnourishment, the video games over playground reality. We’ve come so far as a race, and yet to succumb to all the technological advances in a negative way is brutally disheartening and sad.

We have imbedded and engraved in the minds of our youth that the current lifestyles they are living are alright. That fast food and computer games are what a healthy young mind and body should be living day in day out. We have become so busy and self consumed in our own lives as adults that we’ve forgotten to nurture and empower our future – our children.

It’s gotten way out of whack. Real, true priorities have taken a back seat. Self entitlement, laziness and scarcity of motivation are direct results of the lack of energy and empowerment in the children in whom will one day carry on their shoulders our countries and economies. We have sickened them my not caring to right where they may be going wrong in regards to what they eat on a daily basis. We figure that education is up to their math teachers and history teachers. Yet education for real life issues starts at home. We must educate our youth on what’s best for them to indulge in, and we must motivate them to turn down the laptop and lace up those runners. Life was meant to live in the action, the moment. Man was made to move and eat clean to fuel its living vibrant temple.  

Perhaps we’ve lost all care. Perhaps the current economic and environmental circumstances globally have forced us to put our healthy minds and bodies on the back seat of what truly matters most.

But this is not sustainable. We will not come out on top living on like this.

And so knowing that these chips are down, way down and not leaning towards our favor, special people as I’ve stated above, have decided to step up. Special people, leaders, could be you or me, could be anyone, age, size, doesn’t matter, however in this case they are first lady Michelle Obama and chef extraordinaire Jamie Oliver.

Their talks give us hope. They provoke and instill in us a sense of urgency for the current overweight and obesity climate that is destroying the health of so many adults AND children.

The crazy thing about all the facts they both point out is that unlike many things outside of our control, what we eat and how we move and the way we live, are.

Prevention and the desire to put your best foot forward daily are not living a life of obsessive psychotic behavior or extreme worry for the unknown. It’s using common sense and making wise decisions based on what we’ve known all along but have failed to follow and act upon. Having the ambition to access the right info and self educate, correcting our old misinformed beliefs, those detrimental poor judgments we’ve made along the way. 

Hey we are only human. As humans we’re prone to making mistakes. Everyone does. No one is perfect. But for how smart we’ve become and how far we’ve evolved, we have become frightfully numb to what’s most important. We hear only part of the program and far too often forget too quickly that in which we should compute, reflect and do something about. We have let fade away the lost art of asking why and how.

Why have we let our children become so big? How can we change this?

If we don’t ask, who will?

Already it seems that by us not asking and acting, we’ve made it seem alright and normal for our children, for things to be the way they currently are.

Thank you Michelle and Jamie for your talks. Thank you for your desire to make change and thank you for taking a stand. Purpose provides pleasure. An astronomical amount of it. Right now our purpose is to provide our youth with a better lifestyle. From there we build the foundation for a crucial mind/body excellence. From there we build the platform to longer, healthier, more fulfilling lives.

From there, we build and strengthen our future. And all it takes are leaders and minor tweaks.

This is not the end of the world as we know it. But it is the beginning of something that could spiral to our own demise as a race.

Educate, prevent, live better.

What happened to all the confidence? What happened to proud people beaming with pride and self-worth? Confident and happy of who they are and what special something they can inevitably bring to this world.

In a society where we look to others for light, we rarely ever let the light within beam out loud and proud. Lack of confidence equals a lack of self-content and happiness. It suppresses us from being more than we are. It puts a cap on what we’re truly capable of.

And yet we’re starving for it. We crave to be accepted for things we’re not, a shade of the real deal we truly are.

Lack of confidence seems to be the norm, like its human nature and socially acceptable. But it does not and should not have to be this way. We should propel ourselves and others to think of ourselves in a higher manner and regard. We do deserve and should expect more of ourselves and the actions we execute day in day out.

We have a right to think bigger, act bigger, achieve more.

We have a duty and responsibility to each day, be more than we were the last.

A quote I once heard, may the best of your todays be the worst of your tomorrows.

Here are some of my thoughts on confidence and the world of believing in and being you:

• Never ask, you’ll never get – that goes with anything in any area of your life. Sometimes ultra confidence is merely a few choice words combined and delivered with a smile and voice of certainty. Ask for the sale, ask for her/his number/their name. Ask for a better seat in the restaurant, ask to be chosen for something you deep down inside would love to try/take a whack at. Ask for the week off, ask for the autograph, ask for something you know may somehow/someway enhance your life in some outrageous way. But give too. Asking and getting never leads to sustainability. Asking should inspire to do more, and become more. Ask for things that your gut tells you you should be moving towards.

• Take care of yourself. Your mind and your body. Your work ethic – ever notice how certain factors and realities in life play out different outcomes. How the guy who works out at the gym and eats clean walks with a certain aura to himself. How the woman who dresses sharp, speaks sharp and works smart at the office gets the respect, results and praise she deserves. How the young gun athlete with visions of pro in his future works the hardest at practice and in the weight room, is the one who performs best when the game is on the line. Everything you put into life, and yourself, you get out. It may not come right away. Challenges and hurdles and painful rejection and discouragement are inevitable – but that’s just the additional dues you have to pay to obtain anything truly worthwhile in this world. Energy and persistence conquer all things. That is without a doubt.

• Be you, cause there’s only one you – celebrities are who THEY are, so why aren’t you? Be YOU. Not someone else. Be proud in what you think, say, do, wear, are. If you’re not you, no one else will be. So while your time here on earth is short, it is at the same time, very long. Long enough to justify you making a name for you. Meaning that, whatever it is that you are or do, let it be done in a way only you can. When being yourself is incorporated into your everyday life, the real life you were meant to live appears. You feel great in your own skin, you speak with power and influence and confidence. You become more attractive, you radiate like a magnet. You glow. It may be hard to understand and comprehend at first, but eventually, it’s the sweetest journey you’ll ever take to the land of leading the life you were meant to live.

• Just do it – like Nike said, clear cut, simple and straight to the point. Just do it. Take the leap and love it. Nothing will ever be perfect nothing will ever shine exactly the way you want it to. No one will ever be exactly what you want or the way you want, heck half the time you may not even know exactly what it is that you truly want. Could be this one day something else the next. So just do it. Take a good deep breath and exhale with utter confidence. Know that no one ever truly knew the exact outcome before they attempted. They may have had an idea, but no one ever truly knows how anything is going to play out. No one has a crystal ball. Don’t think that you do either. So just do. Just be. And keep moving forward.

• Have a vision that’s further than you can see right now – what you live now is not the end. It’s not all that there is. What you live and have and are or experiencing right now is not the end of the line. It’s not the end of the journey. Yet. So why believe that it is. Why succumb to the trials and troubles that surround you. Why raise the white flag to the challenges and obstacles that push you back relentlessly. See further. If not just for you, for the hope and lives of all those around you. People all around you each and everyday are counting on you. Your family, your friends, colleagues, the people you pass on the street. Our world has been brought up to a higher level, an enhanced standard because of those with great thought and vision. Are they any different than you? No. They just took the time to visualize and liked so much what they saw in the future, that they decided to do something about it now. Everything we have, see, know of, was brought to existence because of what someone thought of and believed in.

Confidence comes in so many forms and bursts of courage, from the smallest and weakest to the poor and distraught. It is practiced and executed by many noble and strong people on a daily basis, and a forgotten act for so many of the same potential. It can come from those you expect it to come from, and those you least would have thought. But it comes. And sometimes when we need it most.

In my mind nothing is sexier than confidence. It is an integral ingredient for greatness.

And we all have the power to turn it on.

Turn someone on today. Beam confidence. Radiate love, life and be someone of inspiration and influence.

The world around you will thank you for it.

In life, in anything that happens, in anything that moves, grooves or lives, timing is everything.

Nothing happens until an act, a move is made. Therefore as a result, anything and everything that happens, timing is almost just as important as the initial act that was executed in order for that very result to become reality.

Timing is everything. In the moves we make, the dreams and goals we shoot for, the loves we love, the realities that are what they are at this very moment right now. Nothing is for nothing and that very much goes for the timing in which that act or acts are lived through.

Some say that self-made millionaire got lucky, that that 50 goal scorer was always in the right spot at the right time. I’d like to say that timing and more importantly everything up until that point, put that person in a position to get lucky, to be right where they needed to be when it counted most.

Timing is most of the time, out of our ultimate control. But the direction, the drive in which we must have in order to have “favored” or “unwanted” timing, is entirely up to us.

You either choose your time here in earth, or you allow time simply to happen to you.

Either way, timing will come into play in an utmost major way.

Whether it’s fantastic timing or bad timing, a great deal of it lies in your own control.

Let me explain a little deeper, a little less complex.

People are relentlessly talking about the state of our economy worldwide, the ever changing and unforgiving world in which we live in. They talk about broken relationships, heartbreaks and loves walking out on them. They talk about the global environmental issues at hand, the political conspiracies, poverty and disease plaguing many nations right here on earth.

There never is a right or wrong time for anything. There may be an appropriate time, but even that is overrated.

Time will never be better than it is right now.

Right now is the only time in which you have absolute control of and over. Anything before doesn’t matter anymore, anything on its way is way too up in the air to be sure of.

And so timing is everything.

The energy and persistence in which you live through day in day out will ultimately determine how lucrative, how rewarding your “timing” will be for you and all those around you.

The moves you make today consistently or not will appear eventually one day down the road. They will spark out of seemingly nowhere much like a surprise or shock. But meanwhile all along they were being worked at, whether through mental thought or physical action, into what they are right now right here, at this very moment in time.

The love you want to love can be the love you have. The career you want to work can be the one you live. The body you desire can be the one that gets you around each and every day.

Timing is everything, but it’s not the only thing. The life you think up, the life you live out, every single second, minute, day, week, month and year, make up the ultimate accumulation known as time.

And with this time here on earth, we are granted almost anything in which we want, whether to be or have. The world and time literally are our oyster. But we won’t have either forever.

Time is precious, it is limited. So that being said, timing truly is everything.

Do what you want and will with it. But treat it so attentively as though it’s the only thing you know you’ll never get back once it’s gone.

Timing is everything.

You ever think to yourself, that what you’re thinking right there at that very moment makes a helluva great deal of sense? More so than what public “common” sense believes or promotes. More so than what the authorities, lawmakers, teachers and even your own parents and peers will allow you to think up or play out.

You ever think and believe that what you’re thinking, pondering, wondering, imagining, envisioning, makes far more sense than what you traditionally have been told to think, believe, understand and sadly, accept?

The other day I flipped through this remarkable little Kanye West book I was handed for free at his concert a few years back. I came across a page that boldly stated the words – I wonder… Sometimes when I see a bad performance and people still clap… I wonder if they’re clapping because they liked what they saw or because they’re happy it’s over?

Hmmm… got me thinking… there are MANY things that make me wonder.

So here goes.

Watch me as I wonder and share it all with you right here right now.

I WONDER…

• When you laugh at someone’s bad joke, are you doing them a bigger favor by chuckling at the lame punch line to make ‘em feel like they delivered a winner, or harming them further by giving them the fuel to repeat that joke AGAIN later down the line?

• When you pass someone an insincere compliment, can they feel your fakeness or are they simply far too vain and/or insecure to believe what you’re saying isn’t the real deal?

• When you make a promise to someone you truly don’t intend to keep, do you make it because you think that’s what they’ll wanna hear, and if they don’t hear it, they’ll make sure you say something similar to it anyways? Either way, neither side comes out a winner.

• When someone tells you they’ll change, why are they telling you that in the first place? Shouldn’t they already have the god given power to know what’s right and what’s wrong, and if who they are and/or what they’re doing isn’t to your liking, what makes you really think they’re gonna change for you?

• When someone tells me they had a crazy busy day at work, what absolutely defines crazy busy? I believe Obama has crazy busy days, as well as a few people close to me whom I know work their tails off. Other than that, I truly question and wonder what defines a “crazy busy” day for most.

• When people say they want to help out, do they really? Or do they simply feel that peer pressure is such a bitch, might as well suck it up and help out! Last time I checked, if each one of us helped out for even one hour a week, this world may take a complete 180. No joke. Every big change throughout history started with one step. There is no shortage of places for us to lend a helping hand in our communities. Look into it and take action!

• When people say that the stuff I write is flaky and/or weird, are they really just saying, fuck man, I could maybe do that, but then what would people think of me? Maybe THEY should start changing their thinking first. They may then see through the window of ambition a little clearer and produce something that invigorates them.  

• When people say that tomorrow they’ll start to lose weight or workout, do you ever ask yourself, what the hell happened to yesterday?

• When you see people lose touch with their family, their own blood, don’t you just ever wonder, like what the hell went on there? One life, your own blood. Make the effort. Reconcile.

• When people are more interested in the lives of celebrities than their very own, do you get the feeling that they’ve never really looked at or reflected on their own life? A mirror can be a punishing piece, but it hurts even more when you don’t take its constructive criticism to heart.

• When you see someone pass you on the street, why don’t you at least give them a half smile, nod or subtle hello? I mean why not? Who knows what it could lead to? Or maybe your move just made their day.

• What happened to manners, politeness and holding open the door for people? The lost art that is so easy to master.

• Whatever happened to just being you? There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s healthy, highly required and to be extremely frank with you, one of the most important things you can do for yourself and the world around you on a per second basis. Being you is being true and nothing is sexier than the truth.

• When you hear a great, great song, doesn’t the vibe all around you just feel one notch higher than it did before you heard it?

• When you make fun of someone for whatever reason, isn’t that your own insecurity you’re trying to hide up?

• When you think you’re better than someone else for WHATEVER reason, you ever think that that other person has real good reasons for feeling small most days? Tread lightly my friends, no one walks the same line in life. Be kind to everyone, you never know who they really are or what roads they had to travel to get here. We’re ALL equal. We ALL piss and shit and breathe the same air. No one is invincible. Some of the toughest most powerful mofos I’ve ever met are some of the kindest and most considerate. Now that’s REAL power.

“I once complained about having no shoes until I met a man with no feet.”

-Anonymous

Incredible I must say how forgetful and spoiled we at times lean towards.

In a day and age when everything and anything we want is available at the touch of a button, with all the abundant gluttony and luxury, I’m still baffled how we repeatedly omit to recall how very fortunate we all are. How absent minded we increasingly have become, failing to live with gratitude for all that we have and are privileged to be living day in day out.

We complain, we are disappointed, we pout and stomp when something like a tenth designer purse isn’t sitting anew in our closet. Discouraged and ticked off when the latest limited edition sneakers don’t lace our feet. Down in the dumps when the highly sought after smartphone runs out of stock.

Where, when, how and why did we lose such perspective?

I’m not saying disregard material items and live the life of an extreme minimalist, what I am suggesting however is putting shit into perspective, radiating gratitude and gratefulness for what you have, who you are, where you’re at and what you’re living right now. Differentiate between what you want and what you absolutely must no doubt need.

There’s a big difference right there, a blatant reality check revealing truth.

I used to think I needed this and that, until I realized that what I really truly needed was a roof over my head, food, family, friends, my health, purpose and meaning. Want was more like the shit I bought when I was bored or fooled myself into believing I needed.

You don’t need anything until you really do or die need it, everything before and/or during is merely a mirage, a smoke show, an advertiser’s or marketer’s success or your own self induced belief.

Check yourself before you reck yourself.

See the thing is, the fact being, we don’t ever think we’ll die. We know we eventually will, we’ve heard plenty of death and seen it right before our very own eyes, but no way dude is death gonna happen to us, at least not right now right away today.

And that’s where real perspective starts to get blurred.

Impulse and fooling yourself fall into the same box. We give meaning to things that have no real meaning. Yet as natural creatures of habit, good habits seem easier to break than bad ones, and so we move forward and onwards and believe with all our beliefs that what we do have is never quite enough, and what we don’t have is ever good enough. We forget to say thanks for our shortcomings, dwelling solely on the negative, opting not to wake the fuck up, get up and move towards something higher and better.

We settle and remain complacent, dormant.

And it works equally the same on the other side of the spectrum.

One more designer polo or dress will make all the difference. One more martini at happy hour will settle the score.

Like what the hell.

Too much of too much is never a good thing.

One less oyster, one less pair of high end denim, perhaps that results into a few more needy mouths fed somewhere someplace on this planet.

Ever think of that?

Don’t short change yourself on what you deserve, just pay closer attention to what you really do deserve.

We deserve meaning in life, the right to leave a legacy and our world a better place than what it was before we stepped all over it.

Tread lightly as they say and give ‘em something to talk about long after you’re gone.

We never think we’re gonna die, but eventually one day we will. And when we do, what’s the remaining crowd gonna say about you?

Damn that bitch strutted Prada better than anyone else, or holy shit that guy sported Armani suits like no other.

I doubt it.

Instead, the real legends are the ones who loved what any normal human being might love, but instead chose to devote more of their time and energy here on earth to purpose and what really is needed of and from every living man and woman.

Last time I checked, no one got eternal recognition for what they bought, but more so what they gave away.

The rich drive Bentley’s sure, but the real rich drive people onwards and upwards.

What are you prepared to park and disregard? Opting for and choosing instead for real need, less greed, and a whole lot of selfless and unconditional love.

Life is short. We’ll all surely one day each see our day. Differentiate wants and needs and life may evolve into a more crystal clear picture for you, and the world that surrounds you.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with this from my favorite author and visionary, Seth Godin.

Enjoy.

You matter

• When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
• When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
• When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
• When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
• When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
• When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
• When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
• When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
• When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
• When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
• And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.

The way I see it.

Came across those words as I sipped on a damn big green tea the other day at Starbucks. The way I see it. Nice.

Now what about the way I see it?

I mean the words I write, the words many of us write, the thoughts and ideas we share, the words we speak, our opinions the great majority of the time are a direct reflection of the way WE see it. I mean isn’t the world we see and experience pretty much based most of the time on the way we see it? The way we interpret it? The beliefs we attach to everything we are connected to? The way we see it is our personal filter and belief system for the/our world we live in.

I wanted to share with you all, the way I see it. The thoughts, opinions and ideas running through my head as I ponder, wonder and approach the many circumstances and possibilities this world throws my way (or I go out and grab). Whatever comes across or into my mind, already has either been thought up of before or will demand a reaction from my thoughts and emotions.

So how I do I see it?

Here goes.

• The way I see it…make best with what you got, then make it better. That’s the key to everything great in life.

• The way I see it…be yourself, work hard and love. Success is a byproduct of all of that. Combined.

• The way I see it…happiness is a very generic and vague word. No one sees happiness the same exact way you do. So stop accepting what society sells you and create and brand your own kind of happiness.

• The way I see it…you should never be able to count your “there for you for literally anything no matter how much you pissed me off” true best friends on more than one hand. 5 fingers, no more than 5 BEST BEST friends forever.

• The way I see it…we live with way more than we’ll ever, ever need. Live with little for a little while and you’ll surprisingly awaken to how little you can live and survive on and THRIVE with.

• The way I see it…we end up spending 2 utterly empty hours watching Simon Cowell bash some barely-turned-18 year old, but can’t take 20 minutes to work on our own bodies. Does watching Simon verbally rough up others make us feel better about ourselves? Or would hitting the gym for an hour REALLY make us feel better ourselves? (don’t get me wrong, I think American Idol is a remarkable machine, but put shit into perspective here people. What matters most to you? Who gets kicked off the show tonight, or who kicks the bucket sooner due to diabetes or ultra high cholesterol – this aint a joke here, it’s your life)

• The way I see it…do what YOU want! (and what you LOVE) Not what mom and dad or your significant other or friends or society think is best for you, do what YOU think is best for you. Only then will what you do, and become, truly benefit yourself AND the world.

• The way I see it…get interested in other people. You’ll become a far more interesting person.

• The way I see it…life is utterly awesome. That’s it, nothing else more to say here.

• The way I see it…everything you put into life, you’ll get out. You’ve heard it before sure, but less then 1% of the planet live by that reality. This reality alone, when worked in every single facet of your life, will literally change your life.

• The way I see it…admire those above you, but don’t carbon copy them. You’ll never, EVER be them. You’ll either cap yourself from your potential, possibly surpassing them, or relentlessly compare yourself, lose all focus and fall flat on your face.

• The way I see it…nothing happens until ACTION is taken. Could be one small step, could be one major phone call. If you don’t like where you’re at, take action. No one else will. Nothing in this world happens without some sort of act, some form of energy pushing something to happen. If you think good shit will come your way without lifting a finger, keep dreaming. If you think nothing but bad shit keeps coming your way, act differently. It’s all about action baby.

How do you see it?

How do you see the life you see and live?

I’d LOVE to hear from you.

When I first wrote the piece two weeks ago on things that matter to me, I was overwhelmed by the reaction it domino-effected amongst peers of mine from all walks of my life.

I couldn’t fathom at first how much people wanted to share the things that matter to them, and the curiosity it sparked as to the things that mattered to me, and what else I was going to share in addition to what I had already wrote.

I did promise a part 2 the very next day, it took me 2 full weeks to complete. Why? Because the entire process was extremely thought provoking and self-reflective.

I scribbled notes in my notebook, bounced ideas off the inside of my mind and others. I questioned myself, and others. I dug deep into my heart, and the hearts of others.

It was a great reflection, an eye opener and the spark I just may have badly needed to open my soul to an entirely more sincere and humiliating reality.

What I came away with in this 2^nd part startled and shocked me more than I may have realized or wanted to experience. Nevertheless, for me personally, it was immensely valuable and beneficial for the purpose and meaning of my ambitions, goals and vision moving forward.

The future can gleam clearer when you start to paint the picture with a sharper brush.

So what then, are the things that matter most to you?

Enjoy.

• Communication – with myself, with others. It’s all about the messages/the communication we create inside then play out to the world. One thing I repeatedly hear from motivational and business gurus is that the way we communicate with ourselves, determines the way we communicate with the outside world. I love to talk. Both to myself and to others. Communication makes the world go round. Without it, life would not be a chain of endless energy and feelings. Communication means so much to me, I truly forsee my future, my livelihood and undying passion in the arena of communication with purpose and importance to all those who will listen.

• Sports – much like life, sports can never be scripted. The last second diving save, the overtime goal, nothing and nobody can truly predict the play by play outcome of any game. Although the safe best lies on the favorite, it’s the underdogs people live to cheer for. Sports is entertainment in its purest and rawest form. The preparation, determination and will are uncanny. I’ve always loved and lived for sports. It’s fun, it’s serious, it’s rewarding, it’s healthy. I still play hockey and will until I’m 90 if possible. I cycle, I run, I lift weights. I’ll never stop. It’s the challenge, the thrill of scoring a goal or beating your best time, exceeding your assumed plateau. It’s hanging around your teammates before and after the game. Sports have been around since time can recall. They can bring a nation together and they can divide countries in the championship game. Nothing thrills the spirit like sports.

• My dog – he’s an angel in a little fur suit. He’s the happiest little bastard I’ve ever met. He means no harm to no one, asks for nothing but your love. Will give you everything he has to make you feel special. It’s unconditional love the way nature intended it to be. I once had a client tell me that if everyone greeted everyone the way a dog greets his or her master, this world would be SUCH a better place. It’s that simple. Take lessons from your puppy, your dog. They’ve got a lot more to share than flees.

• Time to myself – with all the things going on in our day to day, with the promises of events to attend, gathering and birthdays to show up for, time reserved for family and friends, does one ever allocate and box-off time for themselves? I do. And I love and value that time invaluably. The more I do in a day, the more I see the dire importance of getting away, solo, every once in a while. Walks in the park, in the old part of town. Runs by the water. Drives up through the mountains. Cracking open a great book or slapping out the notebook and pen every now and then. Getting away with you and only you can prove to be one of the most important moves one can make in our fast paced, ever moving society we run amok in. The time alone is a time to take it easy, reflect, and bounce back far sharper than you were before. This doesn’t only mean a great deal to me, it means almost everything to a better me. Time out! Reflect. Move on!

• Giving it away – my extra money, my extra time, my ideas, my vision, my help. Our community is what provides us the life we live. Without the support of many, we’d surely have very little. Giving back to those in need, whether poor or rich is what life’s meaning is truly all about. Helping others, volunteering, rallying and being at one with the people, is the greatest gift life can offer. It’s a combo of love and purpose. In a world where consumption and greed have fixed us all into quite a nice corner, giving back, giving it away, will prove more fruitful and highly beneficial for society now and forever. Remember, what comes around goes around and that goes for good and bad. Tread lightly. Give it away. Your talents, you spare change, your idle time, your love and capable hands.

• Fireplaces – it’s that one sweet spot where you always feel welcome and warm. They turn the coldest night into the warmest, the most nerve racking days into the calmest. There’s something about a fireplace that always radiates that true feeling of comfort.

• Sightseeing – what’s your definition of sightseeing? I don’t think there quite is a concrete definition, at least not in my mind. Sightseeing can happen in your own backyard, your own hometown. It could be as simple as a walk in the downtown streets from café to pub, to a walk in the park solo or with friends. Sightseeing is relaxing, its eye opening and thought provoking. Sightseeing can be as extreme as trekking the Grand Canyon to an afternoon walk in your very own neighborhood. For me, getting out and taking it all in is what keeps me levelheaded and stimulated. We sometimes take for granted the gems that surround us. You need not to hop a plane to appreciate beauty, the majority of the time its all around you staring at you as you nonchalantly pass it by.

I’ve got so much more to share, but I’ll stop here for now.

Gratitude is far too overlooked and neglected these days. It truly pains me to see how many people walk and live in total un-appreciation.

Perhaps we’re too smart for our own good. We know too much and have access to too much.

Simplicity and scarcity are forgotten words. Long gone realities.

Yet in a world where more is becoming less, less is becoming much, much more.

If you had 10 years to live, no cut that down to 5, what would you be doing differently today than you did yesterday? What fear would you plow aside and challenge head on? Which thoughts and moves would you make that would impact your life and the lives of others in a BIG, MAJOR way?

What would matter to you most? What would you magnet yourself to? What would you want more of and be so strongly focused on?

The real money question is, why aren’t we already doing that right now?

If you’ve got one shot to make it hot, what would matter most, what would you do and experience day in day out, as if your life depended on it?

Because doesn’t it already?

Live like it matters.

I was on the phone tonight with a very good friend of mine. The kind of friend who pushes me relentlessly. He challenges and confronts me, and at times, more than I’d like to admit, he irks the bloody hell out of me.

But what a great friend he is.

He’s much like me in many ways. Perhaps that’s why we butt heads so often.

But it’s never malicious, condescending or counterproductive fire he spits out. It’s always fire of passion and vision. He puts me in my place when I need it most, and expects the very same from me when he trots out of line.

As the conversation came to what I thought was the end, he asked me one thought provoking question that truly took me off guard, and away from the things I was currently bitching about.

What are the things that matter to you Mark?

And then he kind of cut the conversation real short, as if on purpose, moving me to think pretty damn deep as he abruptly let me go.

Thanks asshole.

Kidding.

His closing words propelled me to dig deep, sit back in my comfy chair at my home office desk and start typing away on my trusty ol’ laptop.

Here goes. The things that matter to me, Part 1:

• My health – cause without it, what do I have? Without an energetic, healthy and vibrant me, I would not be able to do the things I envision in my life and the life of others. I would be a shade of what and who I am and will be, without the greatest asset we’re given – our health. Cherish it with all you’ve got, improve and nurture it relentlessly day in day out.

• My family – we are all products of how we are raised (at least the very great majority of us are), how we are loved and how we continue to build on those relationships with the closest people in our lives. Our family is our makeup. They support us, they push, they unconditionally love us. Without that vital lifeline, life sometimes feels like it’s on the line.  

• My friends – some whom I will consider family, that’s how tight we are. They say you should only be able to count your best friends on one hand. I’ve tried for years to count them on two, never works. There are best friends, friends and acquaintances. We’re all loaded with acquaintances, sometimes have an abundance of friends, but only one hand should hold five spots or less for those who would do almost anything for you, and along the journey of life, push you to be the person they know you can become. That’s a real friend. A best friend.

• Breezes – that little uplifting breeze going by may just be the sweetest thing since that first kiss way back when. Somehow with a breeze, especially an unsuspecting one, it always feels like the very first time. Refreshing, exhilarating, and so damn welcomed.

• Music – it’s the energy drink of life. Flip on the iPod, pop in a CD, flick on the radio. Nothing stirs my soul like music. I drive to it, I workout to it, I write to it right now. U2, Kanye, Tiesto, Elton – music that drives the mind and soul upwards.

• Beaches – the ocean is my greatest obsession. One that on a daily basis I do not live close by to, nor frequent more than perhaps a handful of times per year. But when I’m in its presence, I’m mesmerized, obsessed, truly convinced it has me captivated for a reason. It’s something I’ve loved since just a child. Something I know I will one day be very, very close to.

• Writing – this list has no order. If it did, writing would be higher up. Writing is a funny thing with me. I love it more than any other creative output I can produce. Yet at the same time, I’m confused about what I should do with it. Write all time and forget about everything else? Or write when I REALLY feel it, pumping out words that have substance and meaning to me, showcasing to those who encounter the work something real and raw and from my core. Writing matters SO MUCH to me, but at the same time, it’s that odd thing in life you just can’t seem to channel out the way you want. The good news, I’ll never really ever stop writing.

• Design – Apple/iPods, that’s design. That’s also just one example. I’m a marketing guy, a sucker for all things remarkably packaged and promoted. Design is everything from the latest pair of Oakley shades to the strategically placed tattoos on Megan Fox’s body. Damn. Design is not just fancy curtains in a seaside mansion. It’s beauty and distinctiveness at every turn we turn.

• My body – cause it’s mine, I’ve only got one, I’ll never have another. I could classify this right up there in the health category, but what I want to make here is a strong point. My body matters to me immensely. Your body is your vehicle for life. Why is it that the fat rich guy is driving a Bentley? Wouldn’t it make much more sense if he was rich and driving a Toyota Yaris while rockin’ a six pack and illegal guns for arms? Doesn’t make sense? Probably not. The point I’m trying to get across here is simple. Work hard, make money, drive whatever car fancies you, but please oh please, make and take the time to care for your temple, your body. Fancy clothes and fast cars mean nothing if your body rots from the inside out while you sport Prada in a Jaguar.

• Food – healthy food. Fresh food. Good-for-me food. This is what we are. We are what we eat? Never ever more true than right now. If lifting weights and running half marathons aint your thing, don’t sweat it. Eat right, stay tight, live life light.

Life and death. All around us each and every day.

Babies being brought into this world. New ideas and innovation being brought to life, new cures being created (like the one on track to hopefully one day wipeout HIV/AIDS). New companies being formed, new technologies, new ways of living – all brought to life. Life is all around us. Life is ideas, creativity, belief and action. It’s a great deal of other things, but I’m confident you get where I’m coming from.

And then death. Young men and women overseas and in our own backyard leaving us far too early. Legendary icons like MJ moonwalking off into the sunset. Loved ones who built our families, supported our families and kept our families together – leaving our earth for their time has finally come.

What matters most is life. What matters just as much is death.

Say what?

Life is everything we are while we’re living. Death is everything we must understand in order to effectively and potently live. With the realization and understanding of death, we can then truly begin to live.

I didn’t make this up. This mindset has been around forever. Reading Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom (still one of my all-time favorite reads) just seemed to refresh my memory.

Would you complain about the weather if you knew it was the last day you had to experience any kind of weather whatsoever?

Would you keep working that 9-5er with zero passion in your belly if you knew that the only one real risk from not leaving your job, would be the risk of losing the chance to someday change the world by starting your own company?

Would you keep eating like shit if you knew that by doing so, you’d wind up quicker in dirt than you would if you simply made more intelligent eating choices?

And would you take that grudge to the grave, knowing that in your days leading up to the grave, those grudges never had more than an ounce of real merit to them in the first place?

For some of us, perhaps maybe most of us, to live better we must die first. Not really, but mentally and emotionally somewhat. We must feel the need of urgency not in the way we rush through life, but in the way we live through life.

We should take what we have and create from the bottom up something everlasting. Something truly meaningful. A life full of “worth living”.

Dying a little. Living a lot.

Life is all around us. Death as well.

Each and every day we lose. Yet each and every day, we gain. In order to gain big, sometimes we just gotta lose a little.