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What is success? According to the dictionary, success is a state of prosperity or fame. Success is very relative. Consider the homeless person.
Certainly attaining a one-room suite with an efficiency kitchen and money to buy food would make this person feel very successful. Success is also
defined as the favorable outcome of an attempt or endeavor.
Should we be able to attain a status such as Bill Gates, that would certainly define success wouldn't it? You may feel that it would, but not
necessarily to everyone. Every rose has its thorn. Bill Gates is wildly successful in his endeavors; however, a status of that nature certainly
would require a lot of upkeep. He must stay on top of his game to stay there. Even Donald Trump can end up in bankruptcy. Do you really need to
reach a Donald Trump or Bill Gates status to be successful and happy?
Success means different things to different people. There are persons that would only consider themselves successful if they were to attain a
multi-millionaire status. However, I don't believe that this is the case with the average person.
I believe that success to the average person has another definition. The definition of success to the average person is FREEDOM. Freedom from being a slave to the 9 to 5 doldrums in a job they hate....Freedom from worry over bills......Freedom to spend quality time with their families and
loved ones. One would not have to be a multi-millionaire to achieve this level of success. It depends on what makes YOU happy. Would you be
happy in a two bedroom home that is paid for, driving a car that is dependable and paid for, while having the cash to meet expenses and have the
time to do the things you and your family enjoy, whether it be golfing, sporting events, travel to the beach, or entertaining your friends at home? Or could you only feel succesful with a ten bedroom home, a new car every year, the newest fashions to wear, dining at the finest restaurants?
Both are levels of success to someone. Which is it for you? Obviously the first level of success can be fairly easily obtained, and would
definitely be less stressful allowing more time to be spent enjoying your success. Although the second is a very lavish lifestyle, it certainly
would require more effort to get there, and more effort to maintain it. We've all heard about the lottery winners who become bankrupt in a
few short years because they didn't attend to their finances.
Success is usually thought to be referring to a financial situation. As you can ascertain from the above examples, that is not always
necessarily true. Success is very personal. What would it take to make you truly happy? It depends on your priorities. Is time with family
and friends without stress most important to you? Or is an outward show of wealth more important to you, even if it means less freedom?
We have all seen the cartoons of the "successful" businessman living on the antiacids to try and control his ulcers. Is he truly successful?
Maybe yes, but at a price. Consider this situation: the businessman (or breadearner) of the family is very successful in a financial sense.
He has a fine home, is transported to his destinations by his personal driver, a loving wife, two beautiful children. The American Dream, right?
Then look deeper. He spends everyday from 7am until 9pm at the office, or with clients. The wife has to have a life too, so she lives her
own separate life attending luncheons, shopping, etc. while the nanny raises the children and the housekeeper feeds them. The nanny teaches the baby to walk, to say its first word.
Really think about success. Success equals happiness right? Is this family successful? Anyone with children knows the joy of a toddler
taking its first step or saying its first word. I do understand that not all persons are interested in raising a family. They claim to be perfectly happy
remaing single and childless. That is why I say success if relative to the individual.
Think about your own personal situation. We instantly think that success means the mansion on the hill with a limo driver and a housekeeper.
However, I don't believe that it takes that much to make the average person happy and successful.

Mind if I rant a little?

Labels: cloth diapers, customer service, questions

Watch typography become illustration. Incredible to watch, and the soundtracks are perfect. Don't miss this.

A common question asked of those struggling with infertility. But not everyone is eligible to adopt - due to lifestyle, health problems, age.

Who Can Adopt? http://www.acceptadoptions.org/whocanadopt.html

China's latest restrictions on who can adopt:
1. No one on antidepressants
2. No one making under 80K a year
3. No one obese
4. No one older than 50
5. No single parents

A baby is not guaranteed, my step-brother and his wife went through 3 failed adoptions before they received their son. After many miscarriages, stillbirths, failed IVFs, moving on to adoption can be more than a couple, or single parent, can handle emotionally.

Adoption can be beyond a person's financial means. Adoption often costs MORE than IVF.

Some really want to raise a child from infancy, and there are not many newborns available. Here in Ontario, it can mean a wait of 5-8 years! There can be the fear that the birth parents will want the baby back. There can be concern about the kind of prenatal care the mother received. Did she drink or smoke?

There can be a great deal of grief at giving up your dream of how your family would become, before people are ready to move on to adoption. It's not just, well that didn't work, let's adopt!

Adoption is incredibly difficult and extremely invasive. Some can't deal with the invasion of their life, their home, their morals, their beliefs - to prove themselves fit parents when others can get pregnant easily, without thought, and without "permission".

"And it's not like you just pop back to being just like the fertile couple once you bring your child home. There are life long issues with adoption. Adoption is hard and it is not the right choice for everyone. How a couple chooses to build their family is a very personal decision. When the traditional option for family building is ripped away from you and all the other options are riddled with scarring difficulties, you quickly realize that you had no idea what infertility was like and that it is not as simple as "Why don't you just adopt."

From: You Can Get Pregnant in Your 40's
Sharing articles I find, discussing options you might consider & suggesting what might help. Each person is different, what works for one might really mess up another. So what you do with this info is entirely up to you! A Zen thought: A true expert is not the one with the most knowledge, but one who causes the most others to have knowledge. Questions, subject ideas to research & suggestions welcome!

Labels: adoption, infertility

Trying to manage time is like trying to hold water in your hand. It can’t be done. I don’t know who coined the term “time management” but it is misleading. You cannot control time.
What you can control is your actions. You control how you spend your time. You are in complete control of what you do and when you do it.

Good time management begins with examining your personal efficiency. Ask your self the question: What do you do each day and how can it be done with less effort and in less time?
Let’s look at three of the time-related choices you make each and every day and see if there are opportunities to improve them. I call these three areas “foundational activities” because they are building blocks of your day. If you get off to a bad (slow or inefficient) start in one of these areas, it will have an impact on the rest of your day.

Sleep

How much time do you spend asleep? Each person has individual needs when it comes to sleep. I know that I personally can function with as little as four hours each night but I am at my best when I get between six and eight hours of good quality sleep. Generally, it is difficult to reset your body to need less sleep. You can do it, but it takes time and it can really wreak havoc on your system so I don’t advise it. Instead you should surrender to the need for quality sleep time.

Accept that you need X hours each night (in my case I shoot for seven hours). Adjust the time you go to bed to make certain that you have the proper number of hours from the time your head hits the pillow to the time you need to get up. Don’t cheat yourself on sleep time. Manage your actions properly.

Daily Routine

How much time do you spend doing necessary repetitive things each day? Can you make them more efficient? Let me give you an example: Each morning I have one cup of coffee at home as I read the news. It takes about ten minutes for the coffee to brew. Instead of waiting for the coffee maker to finish and then starting my routine (I can’t function, let alone read, until I have had a couple of sips of coffee) I set the coffee pot to a timer so the coffee is waiting for me when I get up.

How long does it take you to get dressed and ready for work each day? Is there any wasted effort in this process? Each of us has our own ritual that we follow as we prepare for work. Generally, if you are organized you can save yourself a significant amount of time doing what I call “search and match”. Search and match is the time it takes to match shirt and tie, pants and jacket or make-up with your “look” for the day. Organize your closet. Put suits in one section and shirts in another. Separate your make-up by color. Put matching items together (Note: I’m not an expert on make-up but my wife has a huge tackle box that is segmented and easily accessible and she gets ready quickly so I know this system works).

Commute

How long does it take you to get to work? Can you take a quicker route? Does it make a difference if you leave at a different time? In New York City I take the subway to work. If I get on the train before 7:30AM I have no problems and it generally takes me about twenty minutes to commute to my office. If I get to the subway station after 7:30 I usually need to let a couple of trains pass before I can even fit into one of the subway cars. Once I get on the train (after 7:30) it takes an extra five to ten minutes to get to my stop because people are pushing and shoving at each station and it takes a couple of minutes for the conductor to get the door closed at each station. Generally, leaving my house after 7:30AM will cost me an additional twenty to thirty minutes on my morning commute. That’s a big difference.

Does it make a difference when you leave your house to get to work? Is there more traffic at a certain time? Can you adjust your schedule?

I’m willing to bet that if you look at some of the things you do each and every day you can find at least a few minutes of extra time. What is even more valuable than the time that you find is the habit of looking for new and more efficient ways of getting things done. If you constantly examine your activities you will find ways to become more efficient. Controlling your activities– and how much time you spend on them – is the essence of time management.

I've been deeply involved in a local campaign for state house rep, trying to unseat the incumbent whose only successful legislation has been to name the chanterelle "Missouri's Official State Mushroom."

By all that is holy, how can that be? I've walked in the woods mushroom hunting since I was a kid, looking for this magical sight:


photo via pfly on flickr

Furthermore, I've lived in Missouri my entire life, majored in horticulture at one point, and still, I wouldn't know a chanterelle if it sliced itself up under a flashing neon grocery sign and sang "Blue Suede Shoes." But I've hiked for hours, with a cranky toddler, a migraine and a stone bruise, for a plate of morels.

I am not alone. From The Missourian:

… three mushroom-hunting legislators on the Tourism Committee questioned the proposal, which was expected to be noncontroversial. “To make this the state mushroom when everyone in this room has heard of the morel would be a travesty,” said Rep. J.C. Kuessner, D-Eminence. “I just can’t believe that we’d do something like that to our public citizens of the state of Missouri.”

It was a travesty, and I, too, can't believe what's been done to the public citizens of the state of Missouri. With life and times as they are, the travesty is that anyone had time for any of this nonsense.

Important things are at stake. Be sure to vote Tuesday.