Mr. Besilly's Blog

On This Brand New Day

The sun coming up at the start of a new day was designed to bring hope that we can have a second chance. Not simply a second chance to get it right, it's much bigger than making up for errors we've made. Each new day offers us all a second chance to love deeper, to give of ourselves more and the chance to forgive those that have wounded us.

If you woke up today and knew it was possibly the last new dawn you would see, would you really squander that time trying to make up for mistakes? I know I wouldn't. I would make every attempt to express my love to those who matter most to me, I would want to free my friends and family from my unforgiveness and let them know that they are the most precious thing to me in this life.

I realized this morning that today really is my last dawn, unless I am so privileged to wake again tomorrow. But tomorrow is not guaranteed, because for all I know today is the only day I have left. This is it. I have to go now. There is so much love to be given on this brand new day.

Black Friday: Addicted To Retail

It's Black Friday. So what? It's really like any other Friday when retailers put specific items on deep discount. The only difference is on Black Friday you must perform acts of long-suffering to obtain those deals starting at midnight. That sounds more like a retail addiction to me. Other than attending these events for the thrill and pure sport of it, like you would enjoy downhill skiing, I see little long term value for us common folk.

Ideas Are Like Rabbits

"Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen." John Steinbeck

I will always be a recovering idea guy. Creative ideas are the life blood that keeps me forever young. The most difficult part of having new ideas is knowing which ones to cultivate and which ones should be pushed aside. I have learned through much experience that when you choose to pursue an idea, that idea becomes a project. It begins as a thought, morphs into a notion, quickly turns into a concept and then it's shaped into an idea. It's merely a blink and a nod before you'll find yourself nurturing a brand new project. 

In order to grow any idea regardless if it's brilliant or not, it will take an extended investment of time. How much time depends upon your level of resource and enthusiasm. Trust me, at this point if you plan to develop your idea, by definition it now qualifies as a project.

7 Spring Cleaning Tips to Free You from Life's Garbage

The official start of Spring is March 21st opening the door for that much overdue spring cleaning. Spring cleaning can be a useful event if you know how focus your attention on the right things. The key to your success is having a solid plan. I have compiled seven practical tips to help you prioritize the important stuff in life. It's not an exhaustive list by any means, but it's a great starting place. My guess is anything beyond these seven are most likely garbage.

My Last Time With Anna Nicole

Vickie,

I wanted to send you a quick note to thank you for lunch yesterday. I so enjoyed our time together but it was too short. The baby is beautiful, you both seem so bonded and happy together. I wish I did not have to run off so fast and cut our day short. Such is life. I promise that I'll come by next Saturday leaving my day open so we can spend more time. It's been too long since we could just laugh together like that. See you next week.

Here We Are Now, Entertain Us!

We are living in a culture where entertainment is sought after like bars of gold. We so hunger for that fresh entertainment fix that we will even watch random nobodies on YouTube making an attempt to entertain, click after click. Most of the time they miss the mark. But when they hit that mark we pass it onto ten friends. Then we search for more. That's mind blowing!

David Lehre (who?) he made the "MySpace Movie" and now he's been picked up by FOX to make a TV show. Even 20/20 covered the story on David Lehre. Some of these vehicles of modern entertainment have had hundreds of thousands, even millions of hits. That's an insatiable hunger and a powerful message about our culture.

We are living in an era of information overload. Just check out Digg.com a few times a day and watch manic members posting news stories by the minute. It's obscene and obsessive all at once. Everything on Digg is submitted by the community. After you submit content, other people read your submission and Digg what they like best. Wow! It's a battle of the geeks for submission domination. There is also Delicious a social book-marking site where you can find the hottest bookmarks. I need that? Where is that beautiful golden thing called silence? Where is our time for quiet reflection? That perfect sunset. Where is that moment when...  Wait a minute I gotta see this. Exactly!

On the other swing of the pendulum, so much time is spent on the web lost in mindless pockets of nothing-at-all. Just scrolling and scanning and clicking on links and lagging. Time is spent on a quest for answers, directions or simply shopping for more things to buy. Things to buy that will entertain us. Or just shopping on-line as a form of entertainment. Is this time well spent? 

Kurt Cobain summed it up perfectly in his lyrics from "Smells Like Teen Spirit". "I feel stupid and contagious, here we are now entertain us." Too bad Kurt did not stick around long enough to see his words come to life in such a real and magnified way in our contagious, entertainment obsessed culture. STOP! Now click this link to return to the entertainment portion of this program. Exactly!

Time Is The Coin of Your Life

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.

Carl Sandburg

Lost Time Is Never Found Again

I’ve realized that our culture offers little practical training on how to spend our disposable time or how to invest it wisely to get the desired return. It was Ben Franklin that said; “lost time is never found again.” Or is it? Mr. Benjamin Franklin also said; “remember that time is money.” That quote in our modern culture has been shortened to “time is money.” Those of us that maintain a full time job know very well that we trade our time weekly in exchange for money. Some of us earn more money for less time and of course the opposite is true. I started thinking about my disposable time outside of my work hours. I hear so much talk about how we spend our disposable income, which means the amount of an individuals income that remains after the deduction of income taxes. This income is available to be "disposed of" as either spending or saving.

I have concluded that my disposable time is a valuable commodity, one that should be dispensed with deliberate care. How do you spend your disposable time? Do you spend it all in one place? How much time is saved for family and friends? How much time do you set aside for a short nap under the shade of a tree on a perfect summer afternoon? How much time is lost in passing from one event to the next? Are you just too busy all the time? Ben Franklin said; “take time for all things: great haste makes great waste.” Wow! All things? I think old Ben was a man keenly aware of time and how to spend it wisely. Take a moment of your time today and post a comment on how you choose to spend your disposable hours. More on this subject to follow.