Life...Be Daring

Be Daring

"If you're looking for a big opportunity, seek out a big problem."  -- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

This is a picture of my brother Jordan.  He and his band "Sargent Avenue" recently made a humanitarian trip to Thailand and Cambodia.  They went there to educate themselves and find out how they can help in the fight against the sexual trafficking of women and children.

It's a big problem...a huge problem, a problem so big that you wonder, what can one ordinary person do?  What can one band of six guys who barely make enough money to cover the cost of their band gigs do?

Let me repeat myself..."If you're looking for a big opportunity, seek out a big problem."  -- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

What big opportunity did they get in exchange for seeking out such a huge problem?  They did get the opportunity to play on the MTV stage in front of over 10,000 people....but they will tell you, that as great as an experience as that was, it was not the opportunity they are most thankful for.

They came back from their trip, changed men.  They came back with a desire and a passion to help make a difference.  The got an opportunity to help change the lives of women and children, and they took that opportunity and decided to run with it.  They have made it their mission to raise $250,000.00 to build a home for children who are rescued from trafficking, a home where they will be safe, receive an education, be loved and receiving healing for their physical and emotional pain.  And a home, where, as an added bonus, they will be provided musical instruments and musical training, offering them the ability to express themselves with the creative outlet of music.

It may not be the opportunity they thought they would find...but they've found that through this experience they have gained so much more than they ever thought possible.

The name of their band is "Sargent Avenue."  The name of the home they are building is "Sargent House." They are partnered with "Traffic Jam" a not for profit organization that exists to "jam" up the traffic involving the widowed, orphaned, abandoned, sold and vulnerable who are often forced into horrific lives of labor or sex slavery.

For more information or if you feel compelled to help Sargent Avenue, Sargent House or Traffic Jam, please follow the links below.  -- Rachael

Sargent Avenue Facebook Page:

http://www.facebook.com/SargentAvenue

Video with footage from their trip to Thailand and Cambodia:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=787103556401

Traffic Jam website:

http://trafficjam.org/

Information on the campaign to raise funds for Sargent House:

http://trafficjam.org/campaigns/view_campaign.php?campaignID=9

Life...Be Original

Be Original

"To achieve the impossible, it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought."  -- Tom Robbins

There is a popular saying that goes something like this, "Doing the same things over and over, and expecting different results, is the definition of insanity."  I would like to elaborate on this and say that if you do exactly what everyone else does, your results will be the same as theirs.  This is fine, if you are hoping to be mediocre.  But, if you want your life to be great and different and original, that means you will have to engage in great and different and original behavior.  -- Rachael

Life...Be Present

Be Present.

In life, there are no ordinary moments.  Most of us never really recognize the most significant moments of our lives when they're happening."  -- Kathleen Magee

Don't miss out on life because you are too busy with other things...did you take time to look around you and appreciate the people, places and things in your life today? Or were you so busy with the stresses of life that you forgot to stop and actually live?  -- Rachael

Life...it's meant to be lived!

"If you haven't had your life, what have you had?"  -- Henry James

"Oh, the experience of this sweet life."  -- Dante

Sunset at Fort Desoto Park in St. Petersburg, FL

"Life is here and it is now...either we meet it, we live it or we miss it.  All life resides in the narrow margin and the broad expanse of the moment.  It is in the doing, the dreaming, the feeling and the caring.  It is always present in a glorious attempt, a lofty dream, a brilliant insight, an irreplaceable experience, a calming breath, an unbelievable feeling and an irrepressible passion.

An unlived life is littered with 'could haves,' 'should haves,' and 'if onlys.'  Each moment greets us full of possibility and leaves us hoping we are better for having met.  While it is true that we only have right now, there will never be a time when it's not now.  Grandma Moses said it best, 'Life is what we make it, always has been and always will be.' "  -- Kobi Yamada (an excerpt from the book "be")

Daily Stress Relief - Slow Down

Here's a great tip to de-stress.  Slow Down.  Sounds too simple, right?  But have you ever noticed that sometimes you eat faster than you should?  Does anyone ever comment that you walk like you're in a race?  These things are totally sub-conscious...we do them a few times and then our brain takes over and assumes that they need to be everyday, all the time, habits.

Slow down.  Take a deep breath.  Make a conscious effort to relax while walking.  Put the fork down in between bites.  Chew.  Have a conversation.  Slow down.  Take the time to mentally and physically relax.

Remember, when you move through life so quickly, you miss out on so many of the things that bring joy, comfort, beauty and enjoyment to life.  Take time to smell the flowers.  Don't go through life so quickly that you forget to live!

If you have an example of how you have re-trained your brain/body to slow down, I'd love to hear about.  Please share it in the comments for this post...your experience may help someone else on their path to true health!

I choose to live!

Everyday, we make decisions.  Will we make the most out of our life? Will we rise up and be all that we can be?  Will we get back up when life knocks us down?  Or....will we lie there, broken, watching life pass us by?

I choose to live!