Last night, my wife and I ventured out to dinner at a reputable deli near our house. Upon the delivery of my salad, one quick look at the cheese and I knew there was something wrong. The waitress was caught off guard when I looked at her and said, “this cheese is moldy” and asked for a fresh serving. Minutes later she returning declaring, “the cheese is okay” of which I assured her, it wasn’t.

All I was asking for was something fresh.

Today, you and I are both heading, full-force, back into reality. If you’re not careful, you’ll reach for the motivation that you had weeks ago when you left for vacation, rather than looking for something fresh. Your attitude this morning may be the first indicator of your freshness. If it stinks, perhaps you’re relying upon moldy motivations? Is that you? Here are three things you can do to freshen up:

1. Put your head down and smile. Go ahead and try it. It may be awkward, but I guarantee you won’t be to not smile, or at least smirk, when you’re done.

2. Do a favor for a coworker, without being asked. Look around and find a need, then meet it. The satisfaction of helping to meet someone elses need is guaranteed to bring you an internal smile.

3. Go back to day one. On day one, expectations, challenges and the possibilities were fully in focus. It was at this time that nothing could stop you. Go there again. You are unstoppable.

The fresh stuff isn’t that far from you. All you need to do is reach for it.

I’ve had plenty of conversations with people over the years about social networking (blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn etc). Based on those conversations, I find that there are many types of social network users, but for now, we’re going to concentrate on two: reactive and proactive.

Reactive social networkers experience life and then post about it. It becomes your next blog post, your next Twitter, a picture posted on Flickr or your next status update on Facebook. Simply stated, life happened and you want to tell people about it. The main benefit to this approach is that it gives you “presence” with your friends, family and colleagues.  It asks and answers the question, “What am I doing?”

Proactive social networking is completely different. When you view each social network proactively, you have a baseline understanding that whether you like it or not, every Twitter, blog, picture posted, or comment left, is one step towards building your personal brand and reputation. Like the butterfly effect, each contribution builds upon another to create what people, especially those who only know you online, will know you by. The main benefit to this approach is that YOU determine how people know and judge you. It requires you think beyond “What am I doing?” but also about, “What do I want to be about? What am I interested in? What am I learning? Who am I learning from?” Proactive social networking asks and answers many questions, not just one.

When it comes down to it, your intentions, whether defined or not, is what drives your expectations for social network activity. For me, I choose to utilize these networks as a tool in which I can learn, engage, extend my “network” and inspire people to make their mark on this world. For many, and probably most people, it’s a tool in which you keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues. One is not right over another. It’s how you choose to use the tools.

Seth Godin says, “Many of us are taught to do our best and then let the world decide how to judge us. I think it’s better to do your best and decide how you want to be judged. And act that way.”

Do you agree?

My friends at Soles4Souls recently launched a campaign to raise 50,000 pairs of shoes for those who have never, I repeat, never had them before. While the goal is daunting, please don’t focus on the 50,000. Focus on the 2 for $5. Yep. INVEST $5 and GIVE 2 pairs of shoes…today.

In case you’re thinking, I don’t have $5 to give, consider the following ways to find $5 you didn’t even know you had:

• Find and sell something forgotten on Craigslist
• Cash in the piggy bank sitting on your dresser
• Brew your coffee at home today and stop by here instead
• Donate a percentage of your companies profit for one hour or one day
• Make some fudge and sell it to a friend at work
• Work one hour of overtime this week
• Don’t order the dinner drink next time you go out to eat
• Opt to borrow your next book, not buy it

What other creative ways can you find money in a cash-crunch economy?

GIVE.

First of all, thank you all for your prayers and support of my dad. We, as a family, are elated that dad has made it through pneumonia, staph infection and surgery on his neck with flying colors. The best part is, after being told that he would remain in Mother Frances Hospital for the new two weeks, we are being told that he will get to go home today (Wednesday). If you know my dad, the idea of sitting in one room in one of two positions for the next 14 days was inconceivable. So this news comes with great excitement!

Thanks again!

All filters require cleaning and changing. Overtime, they become clogged and full of dirt, residue and waste. If you don’t change the filter, your system bogs down and requires an increase in resources to operate at a normal capacity. This results in decrease output and efficiency.

Personal filters are no different.

We all start with a clean filter, then life happens: hurts, frustrations, abuse, misunderstanding, distrust, hate … the list goes on.

Here are five warnings signs that your filters need a change:

• You assume you know what people are thinking
• You start a sentence with “I will never…”
• You offer more complaints than thanks
• You’re always looking to place blame
• You’re quick to judge someone you don’t know or just met

The important thing is to react quickly when your filters require a cleaning or change. If you miss the warning signs, your ability to see reality become seriously hindered, if not impossible.

Do yourself a favor, start today by changing one filter and leave a comment below on how your perspective changed. Here are some filters to choose from:

• job
• finances
• spouse
• child
• boss
• friend
• yourself

It’s time to change the filters.

I just got word that dad is doing well enough to get out of ICU tonight! What does that mean? His staph infection is successfully being fought off by antibiotics, the swelling in his neck has gone down far enough to be able to swallow liquids again (food is still to come) and his temperature has remained at or below normal.

Many of you have asked for me to say hello, which I am happy to do. However, if you’d like to send him some love, here are a couple links:

• Facebook
• Email

Of course, you can leave a comment on this post and I’ll be sure to send him your messages. He would be encouraged by your thoughts and prayers.

Too often, we take life for granted. We believe that we’re invincible—that nothing can or will touch us. Nobody would admit it, but that’s what we believe.

Often times, when “life” hits, we hear people say, “I had no idea _________.” It’s then that the idea of an accident, cancer, seizures, death and even birth, solidifies and we embrace empathy. Our perspective allows us to understand what someone is going through and we reach out knowing exactly what it means to live life in their shoes.

For those of us who are going through these life circumstances, we have a choice to make: how will we respond?

If you’re looking to place blame in answer to the question of “why,” welcome to being a victim.

If you’re looking to the face of hope, you’ll find that “life” has no power over you. It’s fleeting.

Today, my dad is in the hospital fighting a blood infection, recovering from surgery on his neck and fighting to kill the cancer that invades his body. Moreover, my sister is fighting to kill a cancerous brain tumor that earnestly desires to overtake her, while living with the “life” that results from such an intrusion. Furthermore, one year ago, my mom was recovering from a life saving surgery on her neck.

I refuse to give honor to the “life” my family is fighting through and with. It doesn’t deserve the attention. We choose to be thankful for each other and the time we have today.

Nobody is guaranteed tomorrow.

Want to practice your emphathy? Randy Miller of the band, The Myriad, needs your help. Go here (YouTube.com) to learn how you can empathize with this family in deseperate need of a miracle.

Approximately 8:30am, Mom text messages me: Dad’s temperature has spiked; a new, resistant strain of bacteria has entered his body resulting in ICU isolation; suspect infection somewhere else in his body.

That…is not the way to start your day. Just when you think things are getting better, they took a turn for the worse…or so we thought.

For about an hour, our hopes were smashed only to learn that the isolation and new strain was a miscommunication between the nurse and doctor. While dad’s lung infection (pneumonia) had gotten slightly worse, the strain and isolation weren’t true. He was okay, and we were hopeful again.

The rest of the day saw dad becoming back to his old self. His sense of humor was back, his smiles were adorning his face again and he was ready to do the bills. THE BILLS? Yes, he wanted to do the bills.

His pain from the surgery and infection comes and goes but is made tolerable by the pain meds. He’s now on a number of strong antibiotics to fight the infection in his blood and will have to be on a heavy regiment of antibiotics, two times a day for the next six-to-eight weeks. Due to the neck surgery, he will be in a cervical collar for the next six weeks as well. Obviously, he’s not out of the weeds but he’s well on his way to recovery.

Thank you everybody for your love, prayers and support for our family during this time. I speak for us all when I say that we have felt your prayers. We couldn’t have made it without you. I will continue to post updates as new information becomes available.

Funny moment of the day: When dad was asked if his neck hurt, he said “I don’t know, prick my finger and I’ll let you know which one hurts more.”

For those of you who know my dad, he’s an extroverted, life-of-the-party kind of guy. He’s the kind of guy who makes an adventure out of anything, and everything. Best of all, he’s my dad.

A week ago, my mom called and said that dad was in a lot of unexplainable pain. The symptoms had gone beyond the typical headache, flu or common cold. This was downright uncomfortable, painful at every move and often times shrieking out because of something.This isn’t characteristic of my dad. I knew that something was wrong.

Tuesday (11/18/08), mom had had enough and they went to the ER to try and figure out what was going on. Through a series of tests, nothing showed up abnormal so they sent them home with some pain meds.

It didn’t work.

Thursday at 5am, mom and dad headed back to the hospital. Something was very wrong.

To make a long story short, my dad has had a PICC line in his body to help fight the prostate cancer he was diagnosed with back in April. That line introduced bacteria into his body that ended up in a full-on staph infection. Moreover, his neck had swollen to such a state that it was impossible to move his head without immense pain. Come to find out that the bacteria went to the weakest part of his body; a buldging disc in his neck that he’s apparently had for quite some time.

Saturday morning at 7am, dad went into surgery to remove the foreign abssesses and fluids that inflamed his neck and face. They also removed the disc that was causing the neck pain and bacteria attack, replaced it with a plastic spacer and titanium plates to hold it all together. We were told that if we didn’t do this surgery, dad could be paralyzed within 24-48 hours. Yikes.

Now that the neck had been taken care of, the next concern was if the bacteria had affected his heart. What we know today, is that so far, his heart seems to be doing just fine. We are thankful. Very thankful.

By Saturday night, dad pain was finally under control…after a week of pain so intense you couldn’t help but see it screaming in his eyes. Moreover, his temp had dropped from 102.7 at worst, to right around 100. While the fever is a good indicator of his body fighting, what we’ve been concerned with is whether or not the three different antibiotics would begin to fight off the bacteria that’s invaded his blood. The drop in temperature is the indicator that the drugs are indeed, working. Moreover, the blood cultures that were positive on Thursday are coming back negative. We are thankful. Very thankful.

This mornings report: his temp is 99 and while he’s super sleepy from the surgery yesterday and the pain meds, he seems to be on his way to recovery.

Staph infection isn’t something to mess around with. Had my parents not done something about this when they did, dad could have been paralyzed within days and at worst-case, dead.

Today, I am very grateful for God’s hand of protection over my dad. The road ahead is going to leave him in the hospital for about another week. Because of the severity of the infection, he will also undergo 4-8 weeks of strong antibiotic treatments. But, my dad is alive and well and one day closer to becoming the life of the party again.

Today, I celebrate my dads life. I’m glad that we get to keep living it together.

Yesterday at church, this challenge was given:

“This Holiday season, go without your luxuries so that others can have their necessities.”

As the downturn of the economy affects each of us in our own unique ways, one thing that stands true for most of us is that there are luxuries that we still afford because we can. However, this does not apply to everybody.

Soles4Souls just launched a campaign to collect 50,000 shoes in 50 days. For only $5, you can buy two pairs of shoes that will be given to people in Mexico who can’t afford to buy their own. Moreover, if you give during their new campaign, you could be chosen to be one of the people who gets to deliver the shoes. Great stuff.

If you’ve ever been in a third-world country, you fully understand the need for people to have shoes. If you haven’t, just imagine millions (no exaggeration) of people walking on dirt filled with trash, sewer, broken glass, metal and only God knows what else. This need is huge and the Soles4Souls goal is as well.

Please take a moment and consider what luxury you could go without today, for the benefit of those who can’t afford to buy their own shoes.

Donate today!