Do you remember the Charlie Brown comics?

              -The funny little dog, Snoopy, who believed he was a pilot? 
             -Maybe you can recall how Lucy pulled the football away from                               Charlie Brown...over and over again. 
            -Better yet perhaps you can picture vividly how much Linus loved                   his  blue little blanket. His blanket never left his side. 

For those that have not read this comic series it focuses on the life adventure of a child named Charlie Brown. His normal life is fraught with obstacles. He constantly enlists the help of a group of friends to help him. 

On the side and out of the way are the adults. In this comic series these grown up children only get in the way.

When this comic transferred into television the adults voices were mumbles of unintelligible words.  Only  the characters in the show could understand them. Not only were the viewers unable to understand the adults, but we also never saw their faces.  Every time the screen would cut off their heads. 

Unlike Charlie Brown and his friends, the adults must never have a need for heads or clear words. 

(This is the point where you stop and wonder why.) 

The adults have lost everything that Charlie and his friends have. Adults go on no adventures. Nor do they bother to concern themselves with the adventures of Charlie and his posse. They all talk the same, and their necks are just copies of each other. 

The adults have lost their individuality. 

They  have lost their sense of adventure. 

They can no longer express themselves without sounding exactly like every other adult. 

Charlie Brown was and is about more than a group of children.  It is a tale of children clinging to what makes them children, while everyone else has "grown up" around them. 

If we were going to jump into the Charlie Brown world, who would you be? 

Are you a part of the posse of children? 

Or are you the mumbling adult?

"We are plain quiet folk and have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!" -Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit


Many of us are like hobbits. We have our scheduled meal times. We have penciled in all events into our planners.  

Hobbits like us tend to create a bubble around ourselves. It pushes away at anything unplanned, and new.  

This bubble is great, as long as you don't mind going through the same routine with the same people for years. The seasons change more than us  hobbit folk do. 

Unfortunately, life in this bubble or shire setting may not be what's best for us. Without adventuring outside of the shire one may never discover their passions. Bilbo Baggins never knew he loved to write. This passion was discovered after his grand adventure. A tale so thrilling that he found he must write to share his adventure.  

As a fellow hobbit, I must ask--what adventure are you avoiding? I can almost guarantee that some odd adventure has scratched at your hobbit hole. Have you answered it? 

I encourage you to be like brave little Bilbo and dive into your adventure. Don't worry about being unprepared. He was too, he even forgot his handkerchiefs--A great loss for any hobbit.  Hobbit folk are sturdy and strong creatures. 

 When you adventure you may discover your passion. You may come to realize that you are not a hobbit at all. You could be an elf or a dwarf, or even a wizard. You will never realize that potential until you leave  your shire.  

You could even find the one ring to rule them all...My wouldn't that be grand? 

Alice's Wonderland is a spectacular place. She has adventure waiting around every bend. A grinning guide who is just as helpful as he is frustratingly aloof.  Along the way she meets a colorful assortment of creatures. The unpredictable happens with every step she takes. 

This is a world without boundaries or limits. 

Wonderland's boundless imagination has ensured this story's survival in today's culture.  This story has been remade into countless movies, televisions shows, and video games. One of the most interesting retakes of this story is Alice the Madness Returns. In this video game Alice's Wonderland takes place in her mind. Her Wonderland is falling to pieces because of negligence and outside corruption. Her struggle is to return Wonderland to what it once was. 

As she progresses in Wonderland she realizes that outside influences and her emotional state are key to setting Wonderland right. Who she deals with in the real world spills into Wonderland. Past emotions, and history, she ignores come boiling over.   

This begs the question. 

If you could personify your mind as a Wonderland--what would you find?

Christmas Season is in full swing: it's December first, boxes stacked like towers are filled with decorations, the indispensable fir tree is put front and center.  

A Christmas tree is a symbol of Christmas spirit. Watch the twinkling lights. The room smells of fresh pine.  Love spouts out the top star like a fountain. The needles weave together like a family. Ornaments hung on the tree bring out joy. 

This is not always the case. 

We have become distracted. 

The pine needles shake as arguments over silly things commence. When did setting up the tree become such a battle? We've forgotten. We've forgotten why we set up the tree. 

The tree is decked with frustration. Why must all the relatives come? More shopping with longer lines and higher prices has left no survivors.  We pay our gifts and time with frustration and only receive more in return. 

Our Christmas trees are bloated with stress.  What gifts are we giving? How are we going to manage our time? Why must there be so many Christmas parties we feel obligated to attend? 

Don't let this distraction get put in your living room. Stop this tree before it gets a foot into your door. 

Be mindful of the tree you're creating in your living room.  
 

A cup of Joe is more than just a drink.

Don't believe me? 

Take a peek at just a teaspoon of the pluses. (Disclosure this article is not meant in any way to compel you to drink 10 cups a day. This merely serves to create more excitement as you drink your coffee.)

Energy! Nothing says you're awake and ready for the day like coffee. Imagine a world in which everybody went to work still bedraggled and sleepy. Terrifying. I'm pretty sure that would count as the apocalypse.


People Watching! Just think of all those strangers you see everyday at the coffee house.  All those different kinds of people with different lives, and different coffee orders than yours. Definitely interesting  to watch as you sip your plain black coffee. Just make sure they don't catch you staring! That  could be awkward... 


Breaks! You know what's even more tedious at work? Not having breaks to escape work. You know those five, ten, thirty minute gaps of time that you are not at your desk. If you went to the vending machine every time you had a break then there'd be no need for lunch breaks. Everyone would be full ALL the time. Coffee to the rescue! Now we can couple our coffee breaks with bathroom breaks. 


Conversation! Imagine a room full of people. Everyone is waiting. Waiting for the host to arrive. Oh, and conveniently enough, no one knows the other. Silence and nail biting small talk. Bring coffee into the situation--presto! Instant laughter, and conversations.  


What are you waiting for? 


Go enjoy some great coffee! 

Monstro is a beast of a whale. A terror on the seas. It is also the creature that swallows poor Geppetto and his little wooden boy, Pinocchio. 

Monstro exists outside of the story. 

It lives in all of us. 
It is the fear of failure. 
It is the enormity of a project. 

For every project Monstro lurks beneath the surface. The whale is waiting-waiting for a chance to surface. If the whale detects any sign of wavering in the project--it strikes! 

You can't outswim it. 
You can't hide. 
You can't kill it. 

Once Monstro is allowed into your project it never leaves. 

Unless... Unless, you acknowledge and confront Monstro head on.  

You must dive into the belly of the whale.

Only then can you overcome the Monstro of your project.

Busy? 
Exhausted?
Not in the mood?

Looking back on the previous blog, your dream is a lot like a pet. Like all pets it needs to be fed. Five minutes a day, or hours a day needs to be spent working on your dream.  
What happens if your dream isn't fed? 
2 things can happen. 
It will die. Your dream will disappear, along with your drive to ever accomplish it.  Only problem is that even with its death, you will not be at peace. Too often these dead dreams will fill the dreamer up with regret and remorse. This hinders the dreamer from moving on and picking a new dream to chase. 
Or
Your dream is a little monster that lurks in your shadow. This creature is in constant search for new ways to sabotage future dreams.  It's motto is "You weren't capable of finishing me, so you can't accomplish anything".  

Be wary of both. 
The damage either one, or both of them can do is fearsome. The damage they do without you acknowledging them is ten times worse.  
Don't let either one hold you hostage. 

Imagine a dream of yours as a pet. 

What would it look like? 

How it would it act? 

And how would you take care of it? 

Just like a real pet dreams require care. Most importantly they require regular feeding. 

How do you feed your dream? 
                What do you feed your dream? 

Your time and energy is your dream's chow. By spending an easy five minutes a day you can ensure your dream is fed. Dreaming of writing a novel? Five minutes a day spent writing, learning grammar, or learning writing styles is all it takes to feed that dream. 

Are you feeding your dream? 

     "Soaring high in the air, 
     Your dreams can take you anywhere. "

Some people never leave the ground. For them their dreams are like anvils. Anvils that they drag around. Dragging them around day in and day out will break you down. Eventually it will also shatter your dreams.  

Five minutes a day. 

Spend it on your dream. 

Turn your anvil weighted dream into a wicker basket--big enough for you to stand in. 

Ten minutes a day start putting together the balloon. Every patch of fabric you stitch into your balloon is another bit of planning.

Fifteen minutes a day and you can construct the hot air engine for transport. 

It all starts with five minutes. 

What are you going to spend your five minutes on? 

Have you ever pushed something to the side? 

Are you waiting for the right time, or right circumstance?

Recognize any of the following as statements? 
"Oh, that vacation will come, as soon as I get promoted."
"When I feel creative, I will write."
 "Once I have extra energy I will spend more time with the kids/wife/pets." 

Any of these ringing any bells? There are thousands of phrases like the above (I'm sure you can think of many more). I call these sentences catch phrases. You're caught from doing the end of the phrase because the first condition isn't met. 

Can you imagine if Batman, or Superman functioned on our catch phrases? "Oh, I'll save the poor citizen as soon as I have the energy to do so."

Do you see the problem? 

These catch phrases relay on something else that most likely won't be fulfilled at the time. The something else may never be fulfilled whenever you want to do the other activity. 

These catch phrases are our kryptonite  Yet, we routinely bring them into our thinking. Constantly around our kryptonite its no wonder why procrastination is one of the biggest villain's in our goals.  

We can beat kryptonite and reverse these foul thoughts on our actions! 

1st Catch those thoughts! Recognize when those catch phrases come up. 

2nd Put those thoughts on pause! You don't need to let those catch phrases filled with kryptonite run on repeat. 

3rd Realize that you don't need to wait on others events to solve your catch phrase. You don't need to hope for that promotion/raise for that vacation. Start saving your pocket change.  Don't wait around for creativity or energy to hit you. Hit it with perseverance or caffeine.  

4th You can always do something that will accomplish the catch phrase. It may take longer than you hope. Or be more work than you wanted. But you can do it. 

Let your catch phrases be the thing that empowers you to be your own superhero!