January 2012
1 post
Reclaiming Your Light
I woke up this morning before sunrise and I lit a candle for inspiration. And I was immediately reminded of my belief that we’re all born into the world with an inextinguishable light inside of us that is there to guide us on our journey through life. For most of us, our light seems to burn brightest in our early years, when our main purpose in life is to explore and enjoy the world around...
July 2011
3 posts
Closing the Chasm
In the race for a meaningful life, we often find ourselves stuck in a chasm between “our time” and “the right time.” And regardless of our efforts, no amount of self-inflicted pressure is gonna magically transform desire into destiny.
Purpose calls to us from a thousand miles away. And while we may hear it early on, the voice is usually faint. And almost always ignored. But if we commit...
Are You a Lemonade Farmer?
So how’s your lemonade crop this year?
I ask…because our ability to harvest lemonade is essential for creating and living our Best Lives.
In the creation process, there are times when we set the plough in front of us and confidently push forward…allowing our talents and gifts to drive us toward our reason for being on this planet. And then there are times when the plough bogs...
How Fast Is Your Star Dancing?
(from BeautyArtSoul.com)
My artist-mom created this graphic on her iPad the other day and sent it to me. I immediately uploaded it to my mobile phone to use as my wallpaper. Because it reminded me of Nietzsche’s famous quote:
“One must have chaos in oneself in order to give birth to a dancing star.”
And lately my dancing star has been doing the quickstep! Because in the last...
May 2011
2 posts
Losing Sleep and Gaining Purpose
I don’t sleep much these days. My calling won’t let me. Inspired to do more with my time on earth, and infused with a keen sense of life’s finite nature…I move forward in the world with a renewed belief in the power that we all have to make a difference in the world.
But there are times when I say to my calling, “Look you’ve got me out here on an...
Are You a "Winner-in-Waiting?"
Going through my email inbox recently, I came across a newsletter from one of the better known folks in the personal development movement. The title of his newsletter was “The Difference Between Winners and Losers.”
My reaction to the title was probably the opposite of what the author had hoped for, because I was so disturbed by it that I immediately deleted the newsletter without...
April 2011
4 posts
When All You Have is Belief
In his wonderful book of meditations entitled, “The Book of Awakening,” Mark Nepo quotes poet Kurtis Lamkin:
“Believing is all a child does for a living”
I’ve been thinking about that quote for the past couple of days as I move my life in a new direction. And it occurs to me that as adults, we would do well to get back in touch with the child in us that had no other options but to believe.
...
Rethinking the High-Wire Act
Recently I watched a documentary film about Philippe Petit, who walked a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. And it occurred to me that sometimes our lives feel like a high-wire act.
Whether it’s money, the kids, our health or some other pressing issue, we try to maintain our balance on a very thin line. Make it to the other side and we can breathe again....
Laundry Lists and the Meaning of Life
This morning I felt pressed for time. I had a deadline looming and a laundry list of things that I needed to do before I could call my day a “success.”
And then my friend Tom called.
Tom’s been living with MS for a while now, and this morning he wanted to tell me about a new treatment regimen that he has been undergoing since receiving the results of his latest MRI.
He began...
March 2011
1 post
Living Our Best Stories
Recently I completed the manuscript for my first book. It’s the true story of a ten-year period in my life that was filled with amazing adventures, a bit of international intrigue, and more painful experiences than anyone should have to go through in a single lifetime. It’s a “lessons learned” kind of book that I hope will inspire people to create and live their Best Stories (aka their Best...
February 2011
2 posts
If You're Not Failing, You're Not Trying
I’m not real comfortable with the word “fail.” Mainly because I believe that everything we do in life produces a result, and that what’s most important is what we do with the result.
Setting that aside for a moment, yesterday morning I started thinking about all of the major things I’ve attempted in my life. Or at least the things I’d labeled as...
On Choosing Life's Default Position
It’s always amazing to me how simple life really is.
I’ve read tons of books and traveled around the world. I’ve meditated, reflected, and spent a bunch of quality time with myself. And after all of that, I’m sitting in my room this morning thinking about the fact that the key to living a passionate and purpose-filled life comes down to one thing:
Making a choice
Now...
January 2011
6 posts
The Beauty of a Well-Lived Life
This morning I attended a memorial service for a dear man and a dear friend. The circumstances of his passing were both tragic and sudden. But the reality of his life was that he created beauty in the lives of everyone he touched. And the memory of that beauty is firmly fixed in the hearts and memories of everyone that knew him.
Jim was motivated by his mission to make the world a better place...
Rethinking the High-Wire Act
Recently I watched a documentary film about Philippe Petit, who walked a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. And it occurred to me that sometimes our lives feel like a high-wire act. Whether it’s money, the kids, our health or some other pressing issue, we try to maintain our balance on a very thin line. Make it to the other side and we can breathe again. Fall off...
Rethinking the High-Wire Act
Recently I watched a documentary film about Philippe Petit, who walked a tightrope between the twin towers of the World Trade Center in 1974. And it occurred to me that sometimes our lives feel like a high-wire act. Whether it’s money, the kids, our health or some other pressing issue, we try to maintain our balance on a very thin line. Make it to the other side and we can breathe again....
When the Bits and Pieces Come Together
It’s a beautiful thing when the bits and pieces of our lives come together to create purpose. All of the events that we viewed as random, sometimes painful and many times joyful, now begin to coalesce into a life that honors the reason we’re in the world.
Yesterday I was doing some writing and I stopped to consider my purpose for being in the world. Suddenly the floodgates opened and...
Survivor: America
It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that there are very few universal truths and that for most of our lives we’re just kinda following the tribe and hoping that our lives work out the way we want them to. Social mores derive from our tribal scripts. And the ones that resonate the most with the tribal council (parents, grandparents, etc) become the values we’re expected to...
A Communion of Souls
Every day an older man walks a Siberian Husky through our neighborhood park. Bundled up tight against the cold, gray winter day, he walks briskly and rarely speaks. The dog dutifully walking right beside him. There’s a rhythm. And a sadness. The man was never much of a dog guy. The Husky belonged to his son who had passed away not long ago.
Whenever I see the two of them, I wonder if the...
December 2010
3 posts
When All You Have is Belief
In his wonderful book of meditations entitled, “The Awakening,” Mark Nepo quotes poet Kurtis Lamkin:
“Believing is all a child does for a living”
I’ve been thinking about that quote for the past couple of days as I move my life in a new direction. And it occurs to me that as adults, we would do well to get back in touch with the child in us that had no other options...
Grecian Urns and the Meaning of Life
I think Keats got it right:
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty - that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know”
As I write, I’m sitting at my window staring at the first snowfall of the year. First snowfalls, even for those of us that are not particularly crazy about snow, are really beautiful. And like a walk in the woods with my dog or time spent in the mountains or on...
Soul-food Italian-style
So last week I’m sitting at my favorite Italian restaurant. Mary’s my waitress. At the end of the meal she brings me the check and we engage in some small talk about her major and what she wants to do after college. I could sense the lack of enthusiasm in both her voice and in her course of study. And then, as I’ve been known to do, I hit her with one of my favorite questions:...
November 2010
3 posts
A Starbucks Intervention
I was standing in line at Starbucks the other day, when I struck up a conversation with a nice woman that had recently graduated from a local university with an art degree. After congratulating her, I asked her what she wanted to do now. She told me that she really wanted to move to California. I could feel the positive energy and excitement in her response. Said she had a relative out there that...
What Do You Live For?
I was in the post office yesterday. The woman helping me noticed my flying pigg T-shirt. She looked at my last name on the envelope, Pigg, and looked again at my shirt and proclaimed, “Oh, I get it.” That launched us into a conversation about flying and the fact that I’m a pilot. She said her ex-father-in-law was a pilot and that she’d flown with him on several occasions....
Sunsets and the Meaning of Life
Tonight, driving through the Shenandoah Valley, I watched a beautiful sunset slip behind the mountains to create a mountain outline against the darkening night sky. It was ten minutes of soul-stirring magic, and then it was gone.
In the eleventh minute it occurred to me that I would never again see that sunset exactly the way I saw it tonight. A moment of beauty and a connection to creation that...
October 2010
2 posts
When's the Last Time...
When’s the last time you stepped out into the yard and gazed at the nighttime sky, taking in the beauty of the stars and planets? When’s the last time you took a walk through the woods, carefully studying a beautiful red fall leaf as it released itself from a tree and floated to the ground?
When’s the last time you were fully present in life? Whether it was patting your dog,...
Finding Passion On the Road to Bullhead City
Okay. So you may be thinking to yourself: Martin’s gonna hit me with some kind of religious message. Well, you’d be wrong.
This is Chuck. Or as he calls himself, Cross Carrier Chuck. Last week, I passed him on a road near Bullhead City, Arizona. I passed him quickly and it was kinda one of those, “Did I just see what I think I saw?” moments. After all, I had spent most of the past four days...
September 2010
2 posts
Time For a Fourth Party
I’m watching all of the negative energy being floated by political candidates and bashers of everything gay, muslim, and undocumented and I can’t help but ask myself: How is being against anything going to brighten your day? How is spewing disdain and disgust going to improve the quality of your life and the lives of the people around you?
Should contempt really be a rallying cry?
...
Frank Roosevelt Was Right!
You remember the famous line: “The only thing we have to fear is (dramatic pause) fear itself.”
Turns out President Roosevelt was right! We all know it! And the people tapping into our psyches for profit and political gain know it as well. People selling stuff (ideologies, viagra, etc) have become really good at convincing us that we need protection from things that we didn’t...
August 2010
1 post
Faith, Fear and the Meaning of Life
If we allow religious freedom (building a mosque) then the Muslims win! If we allow gays to marry then the gays win! If we allow illegal aliens (a.k.a. undocumented workers) to come out of the shadows and into the light of citizenship then the illegal aliens win!
Life. Liberty. Pursuits of Happiness. Freedom of Religion. Sound familiar?
We have two choices: We can believe in Faith or we can...
July 2010
2 posts
Gene Wilder - My New BFF
I absolutely LOVE the AT&T commercial that’s been on television lately. A guy’s sitting on a bench, visualizing his childhood drawings coming to life, with Gene Wilder singing in the background, “Come with me and we’ll be in a world of pure imagination…” The announcer says, “Remember when you were 5 and anything was possible? Happy 5th birthday...
Burning Boats On the Way to Your Best Life
In his book, The Greatness Guide, Robin Sharma refers to a time in history when Hernando Cortes and his army landed on the shores of Veracruz, Mexico to conquer the land for Spain. As he sent his army into battle, he ordered one of his men to go back and burn their boats, ensuring that they would have no other choice but to stand and fight.
It’s an interesting metaphor for how we can choose...
June 2010
2 posts
Is God Winking at You?
Squire Rushnell wrote a book called “when God winks: How the Power of Coincidence Guides Your Life.” In it, Rushnell defines a Godwink as a personal signal or message, directly from a higher power, usually, but not always, in the form of a coincidence. I’m on my second reading of the book.
Most of my friends know that I passionately love to fly airplanes. And since my first trip...
The Art and Business of Being Offended
palestinians and israelis. oil companies and shrimpers. republicans and democrats. blacks and whites. gays and straights. the list can go on for as long as we have lists.
A couple of years ago I read a quote that sticks with me to this day: “Most people look for opportunities to be offended.”
In the last few years the act of offending people has been elevated to an art form. Oh sure,...
May 2010
4 posts
Bacon, Eggs and a Side of Love
This morning I walked into one of my favorite “feel good” haunts for breakfast. The woman behind the counter asked if she could help me and I immediately noticed the “LOVE” tattoo on the inside of her forearm. Thinking there was probably a good story, I asked about her tattoo.
She told me that a few years ago she was visiting a friend in the U.K. During her visit the...
The Journey of A Lifetime
Consider these words from Patanjali: “When you are inspired by some great purpose, some extraordinary project, all your thoughts break their bonds. Your mind transcends limitations, your consciousness expands in every direction, and you find yourself in a new, great, and wonderful world. Dormant forces, faculties, and talents become alive, and you discover yourself to be a greater person by...
Your One Wild and Precious Life
I love Mary Oliver’s poem, “The Summer Day.” I don’t think anything sums up my outlook on life more than the last few lines:
“I don’t know how to pay attention, how to fall down, into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass, how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields, which is what I have been doing all day. Tell me, what else should I have...
Where Does Courage Come From?
Life comes down to choices. And it seems to me that taking responsibility for our choices, without blaming ourselves or other people for the ones that went awry, can often be a catalyst for positive change and growth in our lives. But in a world where too often people look to blame others for their plight, how do we find the courage to proclaim to ourselves and the world, “I screwed up. This...
March 2010
4 posts
Will Your Life be a Foot-note or a Foot-print?
I know this may come off sounding a bit depressing. But I find myself thinking about death more these days. Not as some morbid preoccupation. But more along the lines of my place in the world and what I want to do with my life before I move on to my next adventure.
Human beings have short memories. 9/11 happens and we’re all united. A month goes by and we’re back to fighting with our...
The Answer
If I met you on the battlefield and I asked you, “What’s the one thing we need in this world to end all wars?” what would your answer be?
If we met at the hospital, me with good insurance and you without any, struggling to find the money to pay for your son’s surgery and I asked you, “What do we need to have in our hearts and minds to do right by this child and by...
Artful Living
A couple of years ago one of my pilot friends gave me the book, “Artful Flying” by Michael Maya Charles. In it, Michael encourages pilots to develop a curiosity and awareness of themselves and their flying that transcends rote learning and brings an “artful” mindset into the cockpit.
The book was inspirational for me. It helped me view my own flying as more than radio...
Triumph or Tragedy: Your Choice!
A heart beat stops. The officer plays taps on a cold winter’s day as friends and family gather to bury a loved one. The earth shakes and people are suddenly thrown into chaos. The doctor starts his conversation with, “I’m sorry to tell you this, but…”
Why is it that sometimes the only thing that can cause us to see beauty is tragedy? Why is it that sometimes we have...
February 2010
4 posts
Masahide's Barn and the Meaning of Life
After watching his barn burn to the ground, 17th Century samurai and poet Mizuta Masahide wrote the following haiku:
Barn’s burnt down now I can see the moon
His quote came to me, as most God-winks do, at a time when I was struggling to see the half-full glass in front of me. Moving my life in a new direction, sometimes it was easier to see the obstacles in front of me than the...
Life at the Intersection of Needs and Passion
This morning I find myself at the intersection of what I want to do and what I need to do. What I need to do is the work that pays my bills, at least for the near future. And what I want to do is the work of my soul, the work that’s not really work but more my passion come-alive.
I imagine that I’m like a lot of people at a crossroad in life. We begin our adult journey in pursuit of a...
Snow Angel Memories
Indications of the impermanence of life are all around us. Some signs are small, like a rose that is vibrant and beautiful one day and then gone the next. And some signs are large, like when a friend or beloved family member passes away. But as I sit here this morning thinking about life, I’m reminded of my belief that life is not about what we own but about what we experience.
The concept...
Marxist Sandwich Maker Saves Family of Three
This morning one of my Facebook friends posted a message for all to see, writing about a billboard that was recently put up in her town by a group of small business owners. The ad was a picture of George W. Bush with the question, “Miss me yet?” Not being a fan of Barack Obama, her comment was, “How interesting!!!”
Politics aside, I think there’s a larger point here....
January 2010
5 posts
Living a "Blue Sky Life"
This morning I watched one of my favorite programs, CBS Sunday morning. Commentator Mo Rocca did a story on the play, “Our Town” and at the end of the piece he wanted to find out if the play was relevant for young people today. So Mo asked four people in their early 20’s to join him at a performance. At the end of the play, two of the four people were moved to tears.
In the interview that...
Will you be an Ivan or a Matthew?
Yesterday on my way home from Bridgewater, I got to thinking about my life and my place in the world. The word purpose came to mind and I immediately considered the way I make my living and how so many of us do jobs with no real nod to the work we arrived on this planet to do. It occurs to me that, for most of us, we just put our heads down and plough through whatever it is that we have to do to...
A Lack of Deathbed Regrets - The Litmus Test
This morning mom called to tell me that she’d emailed me a copy of one of her latest iPhone artistic endeavors. She’s an amazingly talented artist who is extremely passionate about the beauty she creates. So I get a kick out of seeing her work. But what struck me as funny was her request that, after opening the email, I call her back to encourage her to take some time away from her art...
A Charlie Rose Intervention
Last night I watched a Charlie Rose retrospective on some of the well-known people we lost in 2009. When I watch such a show, I’m always filled with emotions. Saddened by the loss, my heart also swells with the beauty and love of a life well-lived. On a personal and spiritual level I connect with that person’s energy as they move on to their next adventure.
Invariably what...