Advertising Tips ....26 April 2002

This week

Living Full Out...  by Michael Angier

Greetings,

We've had a sad week in our family this week, with my last surviving aunt finally losing her battle against cancer, so I felt that this article by Michael Angier was particularly fitting. My aunt was 89 and had led a very full life, raising her only son on her own and working well into her seventies. She was one of those people who never complained about her lot in life, but was always ready to embrace new experiences with a laugh and spirit of adventure.

Regards,

Jennifer

LIVING FULL OUT, 100%, NO MATTER WHAT
By Michael Angier

"Every man dies; not every man really lives."
                             --William Wallace, Braveheart

My teenage son and I were watching the video of Braveheart,
starring and directed by Mel Gibson. It's one of my favorites.
Brad told me that he and his buddies used to watch it often at
his school in Maine. It had been a couple of years since I'd
seen it.

It's the story of the legendary William Wallace in his valiant
struggle to free Scotland from the oppressive King Longshanks of
England. It's a bloody and violent film (although not
gratuitously so) filled with treachery, injustice, betrayal and
courage.

For me, one of the most profound lines in the entire movie was
uttered by Sir Wallace shortly before he was tortured and
executed by his enemies. The Princess of Wales was pleading for
his life and begging Wallace to swear allegiance to the King,
thereby avoiding a slow and excruciatingly painful death. She
says to Wallace, "If you do not, you will surely die." To which
Wallace responds, "Every man dies; not every man really lives."

It was as true in the fourteenth century as it is today. We will
all surely die. The only question is when and where. If we have
the chance to reflect upon our life before we pass, will we say
that we truly lived?

Most people in the twilight of their lives have more regrets for
what they didn't do than what they did. They wish that they had
done more, seen more and felt more. They wish that they had
lived with more gusto.

Don't let that happen to you. Life is not something to be
endured. Life is meant to be lived full out. But most of us, for
a variety of reasons, have pulled back-we live carefully and
guarded-not allowing the full expression of who we are and what
we believe.

Be enthusiastic! It's contagious. John Wesley said, "Set
yourself on fire and people will come for miles to watch you
burn." You don't have to be flamboyant about it either (although
it might help). Genuine enthusiasm lies just beneath the surface
and is always bubbling to the top. What many people think of as
enthusiasm is simply exuberance pasted on the outside.

It's always been amazing to me that people will demonstrate more
enthusiasm and excitement for their favorite sports team than
they do for their own life. They think nothing of acting a
little (or a lot) crazy rooting for their team but have little
or no enthusiasm for the BIG game-their life.

I invite you-no, I implore you-to look carefully at how you're
living your own life. Where are you just going through the
motions? Where are you not living full out? What would your life
be like if you gave your all-to your job, your family, your
community, your beliefs, to your mate? Living full out is the
only way to really live.

Forget about what people might think. Like Mel Brooks said, "If
you're alive, you've got to flap your arms and legs, you got to
jump around a lot, you've got to make a lot of noise, because
life is the very opposite of death . . . You've got to be noisy,
or at least your thoughts should be noisy and colorful and
lively."

That way, when your turn on the planet is done, you (and others)
can say you lived your life, you REALLY lived.

--------------
Copyright 2002 Michael Angier & Success Networks. Part of
Success Net's mission is to position you for greater success.
Download their free eBooklet, KEYS TO PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS
from http://www.SuccessNet.org/keys.htm. Free subscriptions,
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InfoPlease@SuccessNet.org

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