Rebuilding Eden

I grew up in a small town just a bit south of Buffalo, New York. A tiny speck of a place called Eden. I was born there in 1964 and spent my entire childhood there in a quite farm town that could best be described as a pre-cursor to suburbia. Sure, a good portion of the townspeople were farmers, but the vast majority were simple midlle class people who wanted to raise their families outside of the city. It was largely christian, mostly white and predominately conservative though there were exceptions to all of these.

Our house sat on a side street near the outer edge of town, just a couple of blocks from the local Catholic Church. It was at the school in this church that I spent a good portion of time when I was young. It was at the school at this church where the following story takes place… Click here to read more.. »

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In this episode of Rebuilding Eden I will explain why our present “growing economy” is not that much of a good thing. When Bill Clinton said “It’s the economy, Stupid”, did you ever wonder what economy he was talking about? We’ll talk about the state of the banks, including a couple of recent phone calls I have received that sent chills up my spine. Then we will get into how these two things work in conjuction with each other. Todays situation has placed the interests of the banks firmly against that of the governments.

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I have decided to re-start my weekly live broadcast on Talkshoe.  Sometimes life give you time to reflect on exactly what you want out of it. This is one of those times, for me personally and for many others. In this episode I will talk about Where I have been, where I am going and what I feel is coming along next. My apologies for the audio quality here. I didn’t hear the feedback until I replayed the episode and I have found the problem. Future episodes will be much better. Thanks for listening!

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I had lunch today with an old friend and we were discussing our respective future paths. He noted that one of the best ways forward is to reflect on where you have been. This got us to talking about the past couple of years, which have been a bit rought to say the least, as well as some of the brighter spots in our lives. Reflecting on this gave me a new perspective on those things in my life that I have enjoyed and benefited from as well as those that I have not. I am hoping that this will give me a platform of sorts to build from.

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Providing that you didn’t fail miserably on the first task that I set out for you in my previous article (See Becoming Successful: Getting Started) , you should be on your way to starting your new venture. As we discussed earlier, this venture does not necessarily have to be a business. It could be that you want to start or become more involved in a community or charitable organization, start a new hobby that you want to become great at, or possibly just learn something new. Regardless of what your venture is, when you sat down to create your first task list and approached those tasks over the last week or so you probably ran into my most common complaint, “I just don’t have enough time”. Click here to read more.. »

“I’m going to the store, can I get anyone anything?” That’s how most Mrs. Gravocks visits to our house started when I was younger. It seems that even though we think of our youth as a “simpler time in life”, people were always on the run. The difference however was that they announced it ahead of time. Every trip that was taken, whether to the corner store or into the next town, was broadcast along our little row of neighbors before anyone even thought of leaving. Sometimes it was foretold of the day before such as “I’m running into Hamburg tomorrow morning, do you need anything?” Click here to read more.. »

Earlier today I was reflecting on the fact that over the past few years I have been approached dozens of times by people who are looking for a little bit of help getting their project, business, or idea off the ground. It just seems to happen. I’m not sure that I’m the kind of person who brings out the entrepreneur in people, maybe I just tend to have conversations that uncover peoples desires, whatever they may be. Regardless of what causes it, over the years I have been involved with an awful lot of projects and I currently act as an advisor to half a dozen or so people who are trying to better themselves in one way or another. I view these opportunities as one of lifes greatest rewards. Click here to read more.. »

Last night as I was headed into the local Wal-Mart for yet another load of groceries for my always hungry crew I grabbed a cart on the way in as I usually do. Next to me, a mother and her three kids were walking in and the eldest boy says to the mother “Mommy, should I get us a cart too?”.

Her answer left me a bit mad, but not at all surprised. “No no honey, they have people to do that” Click here to read more.. »

I have cause today to sit back and reflect a little bit upon the course my life has taken to this point and what I have accomplished thus far in my life. At first glance it appears to me that I have not really accomplished much. If I were to die today, what would my legacy be?

There would be no buildings erected in my name, no statues of me adorning the city center, no lasting “gifts” made to the study of science, mathematics, or any other education institute. I have simply been a drop in this large body of water we call life. Click here to read more.. »

My name is John and I make lists. The crowd answers back in unison, “Hi John”. If there is anything that I have a need for in my life it is the list. Without it I am quickly reduced to a scatterbrained non-thinker. Even without a list on paper, I almost always have a list in my head.

Its not a bad thing, mind you. My lists keep me focused, they free me from the mundane task of tracking how much I have to do and how what I have accomplished. They allow my mind to work the way that it is intended to, one task at a time. My lists make me a task master. Click here to read more.. »