FollowCraig: “Insurance”

Posted on February 5, 2013 by followcraig

……….and you’re still reading

When I think about insurance my first thoughts usually go to paying the premiums on my car, home or health insurance. So as I contemplate paying these premiums I’m caused to think about all the types of insurance and the premiums we have in our lives.

As an example what premium do we pay to have a safe and secure life? What premium do we pay to have a happy spouse or family? When sending our children to school and incur-raging their success or how about our careers? When we work hard everyday taking care of our minds our health and keeping a positive attitude isn’t that a form of insurance and intern isn’t this the premium we pay to have all God wants us to have? How about our spiritual and integrity standards? And what about our compassion and empathy for others? Would offering a hand up to someone in need be insurance?

A dear friend told me once that we may not always want to be present however that is when our presence is most often needed. As I look over my own life and all the self-centered behaviors and actions of my past, it occurs to me that those behaviors were literally my avoidance of paying the premium to insure the peaceful life I had always wanted.

Our lives are filled with premiums to pay and when we do, our life is certainly insured. So today I think; it’s a great joy to be here and able to continue to pay all these insurance premiums!

You’re still reading, I’m still writing so please keep following…….

Craig

FollowCraig: Street Cleaning

Posted on January 25, 2013 by followcraig

…..and you’re still reading,

When I was a kid it fascinated me so much when each week huge trucks would come to wash and sweep the streets in front of our home. First one would come and clean the other side then later perhaps an hour or so the same powerful truck would come back and clean our side of the street. Oh they were fun to watch and I so wanted to climb up and drive one. Now I was sort of a clean kid and most things in my life needed to be in order for me. My bedroom was always clean, my cloths put away and my bed made. So sometimes if the second truck didn’t come to clean our side of the street it would really bother me. Things outside just did not look even and balanced and I would think either both sides should be a mess or both clean but not half and half. Although others never seemed troubled by this. They would walk the sidewalks or drive on the streets even if only one side was clean. I would on the other hand stay on the clean side or at least try to and life would just go on weather the street was clean or not.

After many years and so many events in my life it occurred to me sometime ago that life is much like those streets and those sweeping machines. How is that you may ask? It’s simple really. When I have had disagreements or troubles in relationships both personal and business, the world around me would continue to go on just like those messy or half cleaned streets. However my own personal world would be in some degree of pain and discomfort. I would be feeling bad and try so hard to fix whatever was wrong and get back to that clean peaceful side of things. After years of trying to fix things and never really having success my frustrations and disappointments would bring my life to a total halt and I would be stalled at every turn of everyday. Then I remembered that when my half that street was clean in front of our house, everything was good. I had a clean space to walk and travel.

Like those streets so is my life today. I cannot change or fix the world or the people in it or those who surround me. The world around me still goes on no matter the troubles and mess. However I can strive to keep my part of life and my part of relationships clean. Stopping often and looking at what my place is in arguments, troubles or disappointments; then taking out my own personal street cleaning machines (compassion, love, understanding, courage, faith, prayer, integrity, humility and more) and applying these tools to either clean or keep my side of the issues clean. I have learned and know I cannot always clean that other side of the street but if my side is clean and I have a peaceful place to be then perhaps this peaceful path will be visible and available to the other side.

I’m still writing, you’re still reading, so please keep following…..

Craig

FollowCraig: “10”

Posted on January 15, 2013 by followcraig

……..and you’re still reading

’10’, yes 10 years…

Many of you have read about the day the Demons came, you know the Demons that appeared in my head so many years ago. Many people have had their own night of Demons, you may know that event or life experience that changes everything and points you to a path you never expected to travel. My own was that of ending a lifetime of drinking and becoming sober. Oh, I remember that time so vividly as if it was yesterday.

So many people have just stopped and like me turned their life a full 180 decrees. Some of us call that time our sobriety date or a date of rebirth. But what is sobriety? Does it just mean we have stopped an addiction to some personal destructive behavior? When I stopped drinking, little could I imagine the life ahead. It has taken several years and so many experiences to finally just begin to understand what sobriety really is.

I used to believe that sobriety was just about not drinking or for others not using drugs or booze and such to feel better and escape life. Perhaps part of that is true but I have found so much more.

By definition sobriety means:

1. Gravity in bearing, manner, or treatment.
2. Moderation in or abstinence from consumption of alcoholic liquor or use of drugs.

Here is what really happens when living a truly sober life. “It’s Peaceful”

Overtime everything changes and integrity takes over. No longer are you living a just a sober life but rather a life of integrity. As I have learned over the last 10 years is that when we no longer use alcohol or some other chemical to escape but rather live through each daily experience sober, we become at ease. We learn to face obstacles, problems and our emotions with a clear outlook. Overtime that outlook becomes reality. In my own life it’s honesty not only to others but myself as well. It’s knowing that the bills I’ve stacked up in life both those of finance and conscious are paid, promises are kept, stories are untold. Life changes so much when living in sobriety. My perspective of life overall is different now. Today I care more about others, the concerns of the society around me matter, my spiritual life and my beliefs matter. The opinions and feelings of others matter and I listen. I’ve learned to be more patient and forgiving. Crazy as it sounds, work is even more fun than ever. Yes, 10 years of sobriety has and is changing me.

I’ve been lucky and even blessed. I have been given a chance to live a full and very promising life. My children and their families are healthy, strong and of good character. I am married to whom I can only describe as “the Greatest partner God could give a man” and I love and cherish her so much.

Being sober and living this sober life for 10 years now has at times been challenging and scary. However as I look back and look forward, it’s today that matters most. It’s the person I’ve become or actually becoming the person I am supposed to be that brings me peace. Today I know, I just know what serenity, sobriety and integrity are and what it feels like to live it. I encourage anyone who wants to live a peaceful life to go ahead and reach out for it, it’s there for you.

Thank you for letting me share a little of my life journey with you.

I’m still writing, you’re still reading, so please keep following……….

Craig

FollowCraig: “Shiny Shoes”

Posted on December 5, 2012 by followcraig

……and you’re still reading

Just how real are you? I was watching an interview on 60 minutes recently profiling Mr. Steve Jobs of Apple fame. The biographer of Steve Jobs life shared a story from “Jobs” youth. His stepfather taught him how to build many things and one was a fence. His stepfather told him, always build the fence so it is just as attractive on the back of the fence as the front. Perhaps no one will ever know or see it but you will always know what you’ve built.

It may seem to some that this is perfection in the making or some OCD thing. But doesn’t it really describe integrity and character? It’s what we do that no-one may ever see or how we behave when no-one is looking that truly defines ones character.

My Grandfather always had wonderful small statements of fact to simplify the experiences of life. One I will always remember..Craig he would say, “Always be wary of a man who only shines the front of his shoes” I have always remembered that statement and to this day I always shine the back of my shoes because you never know who’s looking?

I too have many statements of my own making and one I will share is this: “I would rather wear a real Timex watch rather than a fake Rolex”. Being real, being of good character and integrity sounds simple enough but it’s not always easy. It takes a bit more work to build that fence so it’s attractive on both sides, a little bit more polish to shine those shoes completely and refrain to resist the temptation to wear a glimmering fake Rolex.

I’m still writing, you’re still reading, so please keep following……

Craig