The vacation is officially over. The photo you see is my favorite, partly because this is the location where we stopped to have lunch during one of our family adventures exploring Central Oregon.
We had abundant family time during this trip. Wheels are up at 5:30am. I'm thankful. Mother Nature was fully cooperative during our stay. This is a great time of year to see this part of the US. We will be back. It's time to go home. Have a great day.
According to my sleep report provided by my smart watch, I reached the top 14% of my age group. That may sound good but it's not what motivates me. My goal is to compete with my own sleep score and beat it consistently. If you want to maximize your sleep score, consider setting up your own sleep competition.
To compete with yourself simply begin sleep tracking. Set a goal to beat your last sleep report by one percent. Don't beat yourself up too much on nights when you fall short. Win this sleep competition and you will find yourself winning in every area of your life during your waking hours. Let me know how you're doing. Have a great day.
I'm happy to report the audio version of "Live Long and Prosper" is awaiting my final approval and will be released soon on Amazon. Narrator James is one of those people who puts his heart and soul into his passion and I'm thrilled to be teaming up with him. This is my top priority upon my return to civilization. Happy Halloween. Thanks James for the treat you are delivering to my supporters. Have a great day.
My parents dropped me off at Kindergarten in a VW van similar to the one pictured here. Dad yanked the seats out and replaced them with a bed so we could camp on weekends. My siblings and I cranked up our our camping prep routine once we got word dad was on his way home from work and we were going camping for the weekend.
I'm in dream revival mode for the next twelve months. We found this van while window shopping during our family vacation. The van I will begin building next summer is a throwback to my childhood. What about your dreams? Is it time for a dream revival? I hope so. Have a great day.
It's really easy to blame poor sleep on outside variables. There are people in my circle of friends who tell me they never sleep well. They seem surprised when I share my ideas about how their own brains may be the culprits. Every time you say, "I have sleep insomnia," your brain hears you and responds. What if you instead said, "I'm getting better at sleeping," What do you think might happen?
I have proof that this works - eleven months of data showing a positive trend. I'm using every trick in the book. Sleep affirmations. Sleep rituals. Sleep meditations. Smart watch sleep tracking. Revised sleep habits. Consistent bedtimes. Soon there will be a smart ring in my future to make sure the data is accurate as my smart watch sometimes fails.
My average sleep time in November, 2023, the first month of sleep tracking, was five hours, thirty minutes. The last three months of this year reveal sleep time averages of seven hours twenty minutes for August and September followed by seven hours and eleven minutes for the current month of October. This is a bit of a surprise to me as most of my sleep scores for the month of October have been recorded away from home.
The best recommendation I can make based on eleven months of sleep experiments is to begin telling your brain you are getting better at sleeping. Let your brain be your ally. I would love to hear about your results. Have a great day.
There's something about Fall that touches my heart and soul in a special way, especially when I'm in places where the colors are so brilliant this time of year. This is my first time in Oregon. The air in the high desert is dry offering a new flavor for my pallet. We are at nearly 3,000 ft on the eastern side of the cascades. It's breathtaking.
It's family time. We're visiting our daughter and two grand dogs. I will have much to be thankful for when we visit a local house of worship with a rich history this morning. Our daughter said she was going to talk to the trees and ask them to keep their leaves from shedding until our arrival. I'm thankful they complied. Nothing beats family time. Have a great day.
Wheels up before sunrise. The family is headed to Oregon to visit our daughter. The weather is cooling and the leaves are falling. We may see snow. That's okay. No matter the weather, our hearts will be warm as we spend family time together. Have a great day.
One of my sisters came up with the idea first. My wife seconded the motion. Now it's up to the family to vote on the idea – a family cruise in honor of our mom's 90th birthday in five years. The icing on mom's birthday cake has to do with two anniversary milestones that are only one month apart. One of my sisters will be celebrating 40 years of marriage at the same time my wife and I celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary five years from now.
I'm thankful my mother and my siblings place a high value on travel. All three of our adult children inherited the travel bug. We also have multiple relatives earning their wings as commercial pilots. My dad's youngest sister won an international trip when she took first place as a reservation clerk for a major airlines. Honorable mention goes to my first cousin, Molly, who was voted the top flight attendant in her organization. Should the family vote to pursue the triple family celebration in five years, the planning will be underway. The family will be eagerly awaiting mom's vote on this idea. Have a great day.
Jesus uttered the same words to almost everyone he met. "Follow me." There was one outcast who wanted desperately to hear these words. Instead, Jesus said, "Return to your village and publish all the good that I'm doing for you." This is the story of the caveman possessed by multiple demons. It's also my story. In essence, I've become God's marketer. Jesus promised he will be back. It's more important for the caveman once possessed by demons to share Jesus with others now so they will be ready for him when Jesus returns. That was my story last night. I'm thankful I was invited to share my Faith with the next generation. Have a great day.
My teenage years were a bit bumpy. My greatest weakness at the time was my lack of wisdom. I prayed for wisdom so I could better navigate all the challenges. It didn't come right away. In fact, it took decades for wisdom to knock on my door. Tonight I'm going to elaborate on this when I speak to the next generation in a five minute talk. The title of the talk is "How has God revealed Himself?" If you happen to be like me, you probably needed to wait a long time for the revelation. My hope is that by sharing my journey, others won't have to wait so long to acquire wisdom.
Please keep me in your thoughts today. By the way, if you would like me to share my story with you, just ask. I will be happy to share my journey. Have a great day.
Last night's sleep score is in the excellent range at 86. It appears my brain is listening and responding to the affirmation I have on my night stand... I'm getting better at sleeping. This is important because good sleep carries over into your waking hours. This is especially important to me because I'm doing my best to buck a trend I'm observing in people who happen to be in my age group. I'm seeing too many people who are conditioning their brains improperly.
One idea floating around in my head is that I can do much more simply by sleeping better and working on continuous improvement with my daily goals which happen to be expanding due to a recent string of successes with my experiments. Feel free to jump in and experiment on your own brain. You may surprise yourself. I do recommend starting with the sleep affirmation above. I'm proving you don't need to be a sleep expert to improve the quality of your sleep. Start with sleep and move on to any other affirmation experiment you wish to pursue, like "I'm getting better at playing the piano" or "I'm getting better at learning Spanish."
I'm coming up on one year of sleep tracking. I'm also getting ready to jump in and purchase a smart ring before year end using my health savings account to pay for it. I would love to hear how your experiments are going. Have a great day.
How well can you recall names? How much confidence do you have regarding your memory? If your answer is subpar, this story is for you. I had an amazing time with my family celebrating Mom's 85th birthday in Puerto Vallarta. I thought my brain would go into sleep mode for the week but I found myself pursuing a fresh set of experiments, especially since it's been a long time since I've been able to spend so much time with my siblings.
One of the first conversations of the vacation was about mom sharing her memory is in decline. I asked her if she would be interested in an experiment that might help her remember names. The results were staggering. First of all, my mother loves meeting new people. What would you say if I told you she can recall every name of every single person she met during our one week stay? Not only was her memory recall nearly perfect, she could tell you where these people are from. There was only one name she could not recall but that is because she had a negative encounter and chose deliberately not to remember their name. Me too. I tend to erase negative experiences from my memory.
Maybe you're asking how my mom was able to turn her brain on and recall so many names at the age of 85. Here's how the experiment was laid out...
Step One – Tell your brain, "I'm great at remembering names."
Step Two – Every time you interact with other people and they tell you their name, tell your brain to remember it, reminding yourself that you are getting better at remembering names.
Step Three – Tell others who are struggling about your brain experiment and encourage them to try it for themselves.
Keep in mind that your brain listens and obeys everything including statements you make such as, "I have a bad memory." Replace this with positive affirmations and your brain will respond favorably.
Have a great day.
I had the pleasure of sitting next to Kate and Brady on my return flight from Puerto Vallarta yesterday. I knew in the first 30 seconds the flight home was going to be "head phones off" for the duration of the flight. If the vibe is not right, my head phones are on and I go to sleep. Not with these honeymooners. In fact, the conversation was so good, I offered to buy them lunch after we cleared customs as we both had extended layovers in Dallas.
Today's story is meant to welcome the newlyweds to my blog. we had so much in common that these folks felt like family right away. They especially enjoyed the video I shared of my mom killing it on the dance floor on her 85th birthday.
It's good to be home even if only for a short while until the next family adventure begins next week. Thank you, Kate and Brady, for sharing time with me. Special thanks Santiago Valdez (pictured below), an employee at Vidanta Resort in Puerto Rico, who gave me 100 pesos of his own money when I came up short for the taxi ride to the airport. My plan was to walk along the beach with my two small bags and catch the bus. Security does not allow this option. I will be writing a letter to the resort expressing my gratitude for Santiago. Have a great day.
Family time with my mother is coming to a conclusion this morning. I'm thankful for the time my family members gave me. My experience in Puerto Vallarta is rated a ten. I would like to thank the marketing team and the hospitality team for bending over backwards to serve me, my siblings, and my mother.
My personal perspective is influenced by the way I'm choosing to wire my brain so you may wish to exercise caution should you decide to venture outside your comfort zone. It's reflected in the story of two shoe salespeople who were sent to a foreign country to sell shoes. The first salesperson sent a report back to the home office with bad news. "It's horrible here... nobody wears shoes."
The second salesperson had a different report..."Huge opportunity here, everyone needs shoes."
There may be some readers who refuse to travel outside their country due to the language barrier. Perhaps they complain that nobody speaks English. Well, all the people I met, including guests, resort employees, and people from all walks of life, helped me to improve my ability to converse in Spanish.
Top honors go to our onsite personal contact, Minerva Espinoza. She made sure we had one of our best vacation experiences ever. Wheels up this morning. It's time to put my shoes on and head home. Have a great day.
Last night I ended my evening in the place where my mom's lost teeth were found by a young man named Gabriel. He was the last one in the kitchen when my sisters and I met him to offer our thanks.
Besides the miracle of finding the lost teeth against all odds, there is something else I'm thankful for. The shirts I'm wearing are gifts. My sisters left the property to visit the town of Puerta Vallarta a couple of days ago. I asked each of them to find a tee shirt to commemorate our time together. Every time I wear these shirts I will think of them. This has been an amazing week. Tomorrow we will be heading home, our hearts filled with great joy. Have a great day.
The concierge asked, "What are you doing today?"
I answered, "Whatever my mom wants." That's a tradition in our family. The one who is celebrating a birthday chooses.
Mom's choice to review her ownership at Vidanta in Puerto Vallarta on October 15th, her birthday, was not what some members of her family expected, especially since her last update in Cancun was especially time consuming and unnerving. The hospitality team wanted to erase the bad taste in mom's mouth from her experience so the appointment was set and we met the marketing team at breakfast. The meeting did last a long time, mostly because there was so much to discern about her contract.
When the meeting was over we made our way to the pool closest to the ocean and relaxed. We ordered dinner at the restaurant by the pool as the sun was setting. Mom's stomach became upset after her meal. Her ankles were swollen. Then it happened, something that changed the mood of her birthday celebration. Her two front lower teeth disappeared when they cleared our table. We notified our waiter. He told us there were multiple trash cans where the missing dentures could be. That's when mom walked away. I lost sight of her. There were multiple trails and she was nowhere to be found. I returned to the restaurant in despair and found her on her knees searching through trash bags for two tiny teeth. The entire staff joined her and came up empty. We left the beachside restaurant with pits in our stomach.
The next day we ended up at the same pool. As we were leaving the pool one of the staff recognized my mom and asked, "Did you lose your teeth?"
"Yes," mom answered.
"We found them," the staff member declared.
We were shocked.
I asked to meet the person who found mom's dentures. Our angel, Gabriel, appeared from the kitchen. He found them with the forks that had somehow got stuck with the silverware and went unnoticed during the search.
"Es un milagro," I told the staff. "The whole world is going to know about this." I got permission to publish this story on my blog. One of Gabriel's teammates asked for the blog site so he could share with his friends.
"You're going to be world famous," I said to Gabriel while his proud boss was standing next to him. I snapped photos of the moment and we headed back to our room.
We captured a photo of the moment mom got her teeth back. His name is Jesus.
We made our way to the convention center and joined my sister and her husband for the special 50th anniversary celebration dinner. Mom told me she was planning on soaking her dentures in her drink to sanitize them. Our waiter showed up with a bottle of wine and said, "Hello, my name is Jesus and I will be serving you tonight."
Mom and I were the last two guests to leave the party. Mom didn't want the celebration to end. She asked me to dance but I declined not sure the dance floor was best because of her swollen ankles. Well, she moved like no other on the dance floor inspiring others to cast away their worries.
Our driver, Daniel, took us home on the last ride of the evening and dropped us off at building 3 where our upgraded room awaited.
My mom and our family are grateful for the people at Vidanta who are treating us like royalty. The icing on the cake was a note of gratitude from the staff offering a future flight credit for mom.
Thank you to all the staff including our angel Gabriel, the two people named Jesus, and Daniel who got us home. Have a great day.
"Hello, my name is Jesus. I will be serving you tonight."
Mic drop moment...Jesus pours the red wine.
Last video Mom on the dance floor celebrating her found teeth.
Show me what you're doing and I'll show you your priorities. My hope for you is that what you're doing fits into the vision you have for your dream life. This message is short because I changed my routine in order to maximize family time late last night and again early this morning. It's day five of my vacation. Life is good. Have a great day!
Everyone has a story. My mother is at her best when she's listening to you share your story. The most recent example I can offer you is from yesterday. She said, "Let's go meet some people." We entered the pool and waded over to the bar where a cluster of guests were socializing. Within minutes mom knew their stories. Not the superficial stuff that people offer on a first meeting. I'm talking about the deep dark fears that we want to hide because we are afraid to be vulnerable. I watched in amazement as my mom offered comfort and joy to complete strangers who needed to be set free from their worries.
Please send good thoughts to my mother today on her 85th birthday. I'm thankful to be celebrating this day alongside my siblings. Happy birthday, mom. You are my hero. Thank you for inspiring us to be the best versions of ourselves we can be, even the strangers we met yesterday who needed someone like you to listen to their story. Have a great day.
The first time you see a price tag in pesos you may freak out. On the surface, you may feel like the inflation you've been experiencing stateside is much worse until you figure out how to calculate exchange rates. Let's say you want to buy some steak and the menu states 500 pesos. Do you buy the steak or go for something else?
The exchange rate is 18.20 meaning that steak is going to go for $27.47. A quick way to calculate the exchange rate in your head is to divide the 500 pesos by 2 and take off a zero. 500 divided by 2 is 250. Take off the zero and you are at 25 US dollars.
When it comes to time, there is something to consider no matter where you wake up in the world. Every morning when you wake up you are trading time for experiences. If you want to maximize the exchange rate, consider who you are spending time with. For me, when I'm with family and friends, I add a zero and multiply by two for every hour I'm with loved ones. Waking up in a new environment is priceless no matter what the exchange rate happens to be. My hope for you is that you exchange your time for your most important priorities. Have a great day.
It's official. This is birthday week for my mother. We have gathered together to celebrate 85 times around the sun. This year mom chose Puerta Vallarta. This is a great time for all of us to recharge and refresh. So far so good.
My first night sleeping in Puerto Vallarta yielded a 96% restfulness score. This family reunion is bringing me great joy. Number one on my to do list is the lazy river with family. Have a great day.
Today is a travel day. Mama bear invited her cubs to celebrate her 85th birthday in Puerto Vallarta. Most of us will be with her to watch her blow out the candles on her cake. I'm packing super light. It's shorts and bathing suits. Nothing beats family time. Have a great day.
If you're curious about the benefits of Yoga Nidra, a full nervous system massage, look no further. Yoga Nidra is a guided meditation designed to give your body and mind restoration. I've been doing this daily for three days in a row. The results are stunning. Take a look at the YouTube video below and see for yourself what happens when you try this out. Have a great day.
Despite the Padres losing last night in game 4, we had quality family time. Game 5 is tomorrow night. Winner goes to the National League Championship Series against the New York Mets. The silver lining is that the Padres hold a better regular season record than the Mets. Should the Padres beat the Dodgers on Friday night, they will have home field advantage in the next round.
No matter what happens on Friday night, we will always be Padres fans. This team is explosive. They stick together. I'm thankful for all the excitement they bring to my family. They do well when they face adversity. Make sure you tune is for game 5 on Friday for an epic battle. Have a great day.
The San Diego Padres beat the LA Dodgers last night in a prime time game our family will never forget. The 8:08pm start time in my central time zone was personal for me as I publish daily at 8:08am in the pacific time zone where I resided for 22 years. Despite the Dodgers hitting a grand slam home run to narrow the gap to 6-5, the Padres held on to win and take a 2-1 series lead.
Our youngest son hosted the watch party at his home last night. Our oldest son joined the fun. All I can say is it was one of the greatest games we have ever watched. Game 4 is tonight starting at 8:08pm CST. Should the Padres prevail, they will advance to the NL Championship Series and be only 4 wins away from the World Series. It's worth tuning in even if you aren't a huge fan of baseball. These players are inspiring. Have a great day.
My mind seems to thrive when one of my first actions of the morning is to open up my gratitude journal on my laptop. I've read stories about people who prefer to hand write. Some purchase exotic bound journals because they place high value on the words they inscribe. All of these ideas are worthwhile. For me, a digital gratitude journal is simple and easy to access as I'm also using my laptop for all of my writing projects.
Something special happens when I review thoughts about gratitude from previous days. My heart is filled with joy. Anxiety decreases. I get excited about the new day ahead. It's really easy to get distracted when you don't record your thoughts about what you're thankful for. Although daily journaling about gratitude is still relatively a new part of my routine, I see myself continuing this practice for life.
Cultivate an attitude of gratitude in your life. Write or type at least three things you are thankful for. By the way, if you happen to be a San Diego Padres fan, the next two playoff games vs. the Dodgers begin at exactly 8:08pm, central time. All I can say is I'm thankful to bring you stories daily at 8:08am, Pacific Time. Whether the start time is a Divine sign from above for those who still keep the faith or a coincidence, I'm thankful our beloved Padres are giving my family something to be thankful for. Have a great day.
Here I go again. Another experiment for you to try that may help you, especially if you're recovering from jet lag or a poor night of sleep. It's from my favorite neuroscientist, Andrew Huberman. According to Huberman, "10 minutes of this feels like 8 hours of sleep." He coined the term, non sleep deep rest, to remove any possible connection to mysticism that is not science based, although he discovered this idea when experimenting with yoga nidra. He says he has tremendous respect for those who practice yoga nidra. He is simply taking a scientific approach to NSDR.
If you are wishing to increase the dopamine up to 60% by doing this exercise any time of day or night for just 10 minutes, why not give NSDR a try and see what happens? I will share more about this in future posts after I have experimented with this technique. Consider this story as a sneak preview. If this works for me, I'm going to add it to my growing stack of habits designed to make me the best version of myself I can be. Have a great day.
If there is an achilles heal in my sleep time, it's related to the percentage of time I'm actually awake. According to my smart watch, anything above 10% of wake time is in the red zone. I'm doing my best to calm myself down at night and minimize distractions that keep me from falling back asleep should I wake up in the middle of the night. It helped that I was active on the tennis courts yesterday participating in my first league match of the new season against a powerful opponent from the Quad Cities. I showed up early for an extended warmup before watching my teammates. Our number one singles player dominated in a 6-0, 6-1 win on court one allowing my doubles partner and I an opportunity to play our lag match at #4 doubles in the Men's 40+ division. We won in a super tiebreaker in front of our teammates who wrapped up all their matches before we finished our last match. I attribute my improved backhand to all the slow motion two-handed backhand videos I've been watching.
23% of my sleep time last night was in the the deep sleep cycle which is above average for my age. This is the cycle that promotes physical recovery. My sleep report tells me my physical recovery came in at 93%. I'm discovering from the data that intense exercise sets up increased time spent in the deep sleep cycle, especially during the first sleep cycle of the night.
It appears my brain is listening to all the instructions I'm giving it. Yes, the brain does listen to everything you say during the day which influences the quality of your sleep at night. Sleep better and you will live better. I have a long way to go to further raise my sleep scores. All I can say is it's worth the effort to increase your sleep quality. Just be careful about the thoughts you give your brain and keep them positive for positive responses. Have a great day.
Your brain is doing something critical during sleep mode. If you're thinking your brain is resting you may be surprised to learn your brain is actively rewiring the trillions of neurons while also removing toxins in your brain that build up during your waking hours. Should you short change your sleep, you will deprive yourself of the opportunity to organize your thoughts and memories. You will also short circuit your ability to consolidate all the information you accumulated the day before.
I have a stickie note on my night stand that I read before going to bed. The note reads: I am getting better at sleeping. While I'm certainly not a sleep expert, my brain is responding to the note favorably. The proof of this is displayed every morning on my smart watch.
One more change I'm embracing is the idea of learning new things and then sleeping on them before implementing the change during my waking hours. The idea is to give your brain one night of sleep first to consolidate and process before executing your new knowledge. In the past I would watch videos of top tennis players playing doubles before a big match like today's Men's 40+ league play. I have been watching slow motion videos of the best players in the world hitting two-handed backhands. My brain has been processing the information during the night for the last week. I will walk onto the courts later today with a backhand that has been refined during my sleep. The one thing I know for sure is my confidence is building. My belief is the confidence is coming from improving the quality of my sleep gradually over time, one brain cell at a time. Have a great day.
The most challenging steps in any endeavor are the first ones. This happens to be true for my boldest goal of 2025, building a dream home on wheels for me and the Mrs. to enjoy future adventures. I knew when I set up the timeline which includes seven checkpoints leading up to 8/08/25 when we pull the trigger on our van purchase, that the targets bordered on the impossible.
Today I'm celebrating that the van build is now 41% funded. The next check point is 11/29. If we avoid setbacks, reaching milestone #2 on budget means Lucy will be 50% funded. All of you reading this are my accountability partners. I don't want to let you down as I believe walking the walk is more important than talking. Daily perseverance is necessary to reach bold dreams. Thank you for the opportunity to share my dreams with you. There is much work to be done until the funds are raised. I will be spending free time learning how to be a van builder in time for the Lucy adoption in August. It feels great to reach milestone #1 on target. Have a great day.
I completed "The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People" this morning three months ahead of schedule. The idea was to read one chapter a day until the end of the year as part of my quest to make daily reading a permanent habit. Something changed. I couldn't put the book down. Although it was published in 2001, the ideas about happiness remain constant. Now the book is in my wife's hands. She will give me her copy of a book she is reading regarding the same subject when she is finished.
I'm discovering that the pursuit of goals brings me great joy. If you want to multiply your happiness, focus on being generous. Have a great day.
On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your level of gratitude? Does it change day to day? The best way I know how to measure my sense of gratitude is by recording what I'm thankful for daily in a gratitude journal. Today is day 14 which means I'm half way to making daily journaling a permanent habit.
Most people probably wouldn't consider listing activities they despise on a gratitude journal but I beg to differ. I'm having great success with the increased endorphin levels that come from activities such as standing outside in the cold facing the morning sun or the cold shower that follows. It's not the activities I'm thankful for; it's the results of doing things I don't want to do but do them anyway. I'm thankful for the rush of endorphins which remain hours later. Happiness and gratitude are from the same family tree. Start your morning with a notation in your gratitude journal and happiness will show up throughout your day.
It's worth noting that some activities are missing in my daily routine such as too much time on social media scrolling mindlessly. By the way, the frivolous activities you cut out set you up for the necessary time it takes to do important tasks like gratitude journaling. Start you gratitude journal today. Read in on days when you feel like you're in a slump. Have a great day.
Approximately 60 days ago I set up a detailed timeline for adopting Lucy and turning her into a vacation second home on wheels. Checkpoint #1 is Friday, 10/4. My hope is to follow all the checkpoints and reach our fundraising goal for the adoption by the target date of 8/08/25. As long as no emergencies come up between now and 8/08, the adoption fund will be complete and we can move forward with our van purchase.
In order to complete the van build by Thanksgiving, 2025, I'm spending time daily learning from the pros on YouTube about how to build our dream van. So far so good. I'm finding great joy in the learning process. Have a great day.
