After lo these many days . . . the Monkey stirs.

I am proud to announce that Promotion Monkey memberships will be available September 1st, 2008.

This is not a technology-focused adventure.

If you promote anything on the Internet, then you should give the Promotion Monkey a whirl.

Please check it out at PromotionMonkey.com

Thank You.

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Fact One: The State of California sucks out loud. As a place to do business . . . it rates lower than PSS from Microsoft.

So the Gubinator says . . . we have a budget crisis.

Our budget crises make the national debt look small.  :-(

So all state workers will be paid minimum wage, effective immediately.

- – - – -

My wife works for the State of CA.

- – - – -

Fast forward.

Karl and the wife go to Vegas for the weekend.

We come home and talk to our 16 year old daughter about what we saw.

“You need to go to college.”

Here are three reasons:

1) Dude in M&Ms outfit on the street in 110 degree weather.

2) Dude in Coca Cola polar bear outfit in 110 degree weather.

3) Woman in bikini walking around on the asphalt with a 3 foot headress, drawing attention to rental cars.

Daughter says . . . I bet they’re paid very well.

I say, no. You need to go to college. Every one of these people are earning Minimum Wage.

And the daughter says . . .

“So is Mom.”

. . .

You can’t argue with that.

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Here’s a question you don’t get very often: How do you define pain?

Consider what each of the following mean to you:

- Suffering
- Grief
- Anxiety
- Pain
- Depression
- Anguish
- Affliction
- Fear
- Despair
- Stress

Now think about how you might modify each of these

- Minor
- Annoying
- Sharp
- Dull
- Constant
- Crippling

We all experience pain. Physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain. But experiencing pain and suffering from pain are two very different things.

The words we attach to pain make a difference.

I have rheumatoid arthritis. Some people with the disease refer to themselves as rheumatoid arthritis <i>sufferers</i>. But I’m not a sufferer. I have pain. But when I look down that list of words, I don’t choose “suffering” to describe my pain. To me that would imply focusing on the helplessness of the situation.

In this day and age, I am certainly not helpless against R.A., or any other pain.

From time to time I’ll mention the pain to my doctor (my rheumy) because I think he needs to know where I have pain and how the disease is progressing.

He gives me pills for pain.

Most of the pills eat away at my stomach. Most make me tired all the time. Some make me dizzy. Some make me feel nauseated.

In all cases, after awhile, I stop taking the new pills and go back to mega doses of aspirin. It’s only real side effect is stomach problems, which are avoided by taking food with the pills.

So I’m in a situation where I don’t take pain pills.

I choose pain.

To me, the side effects of the medicine cause a lot more suffering than the pain.

This may sound strange to people who don’t live with daily pain, but I have a philosophy about pain. Most people only rarely experience pain, so they don’t need a philosophy about it. But people who live with pain need to think about it.

And thinking about the pain makes it much easier to live with.

After all, pain isn’t either “on” or “off.” Pain has a place, a shape, a size. It moves. It comes and goes. It has limits and edges. It can be minor, annoying, sharp, dull, throbbing, etc.

All of these things are also true of emotional pain. Putting a name and a place on the pain makes it easier to live with. Recognizing the limits of the pain makes it easier to handle.

Perhaps the greatest benefit to putting some focus on your pain is that, once you’ve given pain it’s due, you can then spend time NOT worrying about the pain. Once you’ve given it some attention, the pain doesn’t have to force itself on your consciousness. And so it diminishes for some time.

Just some things to think about.

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I am honored to announce that one of our free give-aways is now part of the “1,000 Giveaways” program at WE Magazine for Women (http://wemagazineforwomen.com/free-audio-programs/).

Our free MP3 audio of a sample relaxation meditation is now one of the giveaways. See www.relaxfocussucceed.com/RelaxationAudio.htm .

So go check that out.

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I have been just returned from my 25th class reunion at Gonzaga University in Spokane, WA.

What a blast! Three lasting images came home with me.

First, my very good friend Mary S. confided in me a secret she’s kept for 29 years. As high school students back in the dark ages, Mary and John W. and I were involved in the YMCA’s “Youth and Government” program. And somewhere along the line, Mary decided that if John and I were going to college, she could too. We didn’t come from families that had gone to college before. Thank goodness John was also at the reunion.

The lasting impression is that I am honored to have had such an impact on someone’s life — even if I didn’t know it at the time. The littlest things can turn out to be the biggest things. After Gonzaga, Mary wandered off to Vanderbilt for Law. And, of course, she’s been a lawyer for the last twenty-some years. Anyway, I’m honored that Mary gives me some small piece of credit for something she did.

Second, the people of Gonzaga are the best people in the world. When we were young, we knew we’d have careers and families. We didn’t plan on circuitous career routes and all the miscellaneous twists and turns of life.

But this crowd is fanastic. Yes, there have been a few divorces and dissappointments. But there have also been travels around the world, giving up a career to care for a child with Downs’ Syndrome, taking in a teenager whose mother passed away, and many other acts of kindness and generosity.

If you had to pick a group of people to run the world, I can’t recommend a group more highly than Gonzaga graduates. As a whole, they enjoy hard work, hard play, more than a couple of drinks, talking about what matters, doing what matters, and leading their lives with commitment, dedication, and spirituality.

As a group, their stories are not just about what they did to get where they are, but how they touch peoples’ lives. At some level, God put us here on earth to take care of one another. Gonzaga graduates do that as second nature. I’m proud to be associated with these people.

Finally, my last impression is of my daughter Victoria in this crowd. She held her own! She is quite mature and had easy conversation with adults who were accountants, lawyers, financiers, and pillars of the community. She was charming, graceful, and poised. Granted, I’m her father. But it is an absolute pleasure to see my daughter being so comfortable in a situation that can’t be fun for any 15 year old.

Thank you, Mary, and Gonzaga, and Victoria, for giving me a delightful weekend.
 

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