Follow Your Passions

I’ve had a few great inspirations for topics this week, but today, I’m in more of a mood to just share how the house hunting is progressing, and a few other personal notes.

We’ve met with our mortgage guys, our financial advisor, and our realtor now, discussing strategies with each one (we still need to meet with the accountant to chat about tax implications). The question has shifted from where we want to own a house - we have our area pretty well decided on, and there are ample houses in our price range on the market there. Now the decision to make is whether it is wise or even doable to keep the condo as an investment, renting it out to someone attending the nearby colleges and university. All signs so far point to yes, though it is a less conservative move than we’d usually make since you have to rely somewhat on having a renter in the unit for most of the time. Exciting times are afoot!

I spoke previously about my current neighborhood, and made somewhat sarcastic remarks about how you can occasionally see a star or two in the sky through the light pollution. But stars in the night sky is something I grew up with, and now I am moving to a place where I can see them again and still be ten or fifteen minutes to work most mornings.

A few other loose notes: I think it is amazing and wonderful that we are almost at the target for the month of raising $100 for Maggie’s Place, and the month isn’t even halfway over. Way to raise the bar, people. My wife pointed out to me recently that it makes sense to have my efforts tied into Maggie’s Place too, since it is a place where women are trying to pick their lives up and I am in a position to arrange for some good financial education and guidance to help them on their way. So I am likely to look into making something like that happen, and I’ll let you know how that progresses.

This week is going to be full, as I try to get a few things finished and off my plate. I’ll try to minimize the impact that has on my posting frequency. Oh, and one last thing, the charities for the next two months have been identified to raise money for via the ChipIn widget, and a few other cool opportunities have come to my attention that I will bring to yours as soon as I have more info myself.

Have a great week!

Today was one of those days that was filled with amazing opportunities and successes, but leaves you exhausted at the end of it. I’m going into “relax” mode and sort of taking the weekend off from the blog. But if you are in the Phoenix area and heading to the FBR Open this weekend, I’ll be volunteering at one of the food tents on the 16th green. The money raised is going to Special Olympics, so stop by and say hi, and buy some of… whatever it is they have me sell.

See you Monday folks - some exciting stuff planned for next week. Don’t forget about our new charity for February, Maggie’s Place.

Today’s post is just personal sharing. Not sure there are great lessons to be learned from it. But it is certainly about following my passions.

I live in a condo. It ain’t bad. It’s got a reasonable amount of space, a decent floorplan, and the location is pretty convenient. The neighborhood is okay, I have neighbors that usually aren’t too awful, and I can see a few stars in the sky through the light pollution.

If I lived in this place the rest of my life, I could certainly live out a happy enough existence. I am not unhappy here. But this place does not really add to my happiness, other than it is a good shelter from elements, has all my stuff in it, and quite often does not have police chasing someone closeby.

But it is not a home my wife and I love. It was a great starter home for us, and we’ve lived hear longer than I think we anticipated originally. 2007 is a year when one of my major themes is Independence. Another is Fun. In the spirit of those themes, we have a goal this year: to buy a home we love.

We have an area we really like, and the pros drastically outweigh the cons in terms of making the move. But it is a huge change, and it will uproot the life we have known, shake it up a bit, and plant it in some new shape somewhere else. Another of my five themes for 2007 is Balance, so while we’re looking for a home we love we’re also not going to break the bank reaching that dream. I am confident we can accomplish both the purchase of a home we love and making sure we continue to be in good financial shape.

I’ll keep you updated on the progress.

“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.”
- Sydney Harris

You know that part on a roller coaster, when you get to the top of the first big hill and you look down, and realize what is ahead of you is going to be fast and furious, fun and exhilirating, and there’s not much you can do about it at that point?

That was me about two weeks ago.  I have been whooshing along for several days now, and it will probably be next week sometime before the ride levels out a bit. So take my temporary silence on the blog lately for what it is - a temporary status while visions of paid time off dance in my head (and become reality next Friday).

“We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.”
- Albert Einstein

Something is often only a problem when you perceive it to be so. Thus, the solution to many problems is not to fret about them or work hard at them. The solution is to stop focusing on them. If you transcend your problem, and get into a peaceful place inside yourself about it instead, two things will occur; you’ll find out if it was a real problem at all, and if it was a problem that needs to be solved, you’ll find much better answers with a calm, clear frame of mind.

Once you’ve eliminated the excess and are left with things that are actual items you wish to solve, the next step is to stop thinking of them using the word “problem”, along with all of the negative connotations that come from thinking of something that way. I’ve spoken before about recognizing opportunities as they come along in your life, and here’s a great tip for an easy way to spot them - look for what most people see as problems! Bad problems and terrific growth opportunities are frequently two sides of the same coin.

There is tremendous strength in beginning to see the world for all of the opportunities it has to offer. There is potential virtually everywhere, surrounding you. It’s waiting for you to harness it.