First Think, THEN Ink.

Sometimes I need a kick in the pants to get things moving. I need the proverbial "wake up call" to refocus, rethink, retool. So there are recurring themes in my life that happen, circular thoughts that come around again and again, much like the earth rotating around the sun. These thoughts don't change. And inaction only means they will return at a later time, usually bigger, nastier and with more bite. So, I need to start examining again.

It's all about LIFE. Life is all there is. Without life, nothing else can happen. So, the big question is how do you live your life? How do you handle the situations, the circumstances, the choices you want or need to make in order to live?

I always have to reflect on Tom Brokaw, the former anchor of NBC Nightly News, who wrote a book titled The Greatest Generation. That was a series of interviews with and stories of the men and women who worked together to deal with climbing out of America's "Great Depression," and winning World War II in the European and Pacific Theaters.

But, and here's where that circular thought comes back around, I didn't think that generation was all that great. Not that they didn't do fantastic stuff, make incredible sacrifices and achieve the goals needed to help save the world from the Axis of Evil, or whatever you want to call it.

The fact is life is always a lot easier when you know what to do. When Hitler rose to power and Pearl Harbor was attacked, what were the choices? Either sit and do nothing or go and stop him.

Life is always easier when you know what to do.

Yes, it may be difficult, challenging, possibly even unlikely. But if you are aware of what the situation is and what needs to happen, it makes things a lot more possible.

It's true across the board. How do you get a date? How do you fix a car? How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

INFORMATION. That is crucial.

But so is knowing what you want to do. And how can you know that unless you have made a choice to do it? You first must decide what you would like to do. And too often, that decision is either not made actively, i.e. you drift into it, or it's made badly, or made without thought. We can be impulsive as humans; we can be capricious about what we would like. And that can cause problems for ourselves. But it can also create "interesting" situations and opportunities. You may not become wealthy, but you can still have a very rich life.

So deciding what you want is the first step. This can be a problem though. What are you "good at doing?" Is this something that can earn you a living? If not, can you think of a way that it might? Are you ambitious enough to make the bold choices to follow that?

The alternative is doing something that can earn you a living and permit you to enjoy the rest of your free time. Safety and security is important.

Then you need a method of approach. Just how are you going to get from point A (where you are) to point B (where you want to go)? Will you drive, walk, take the bus, a private jet?

Then again, some of these decisions are contingent on what is available to you. Maybe you can't afford the Gulfstream and need to use the Chuck Taylors instead. The idea is to get moving.

But this is an issue I have about my generation, which I labeled spaceagers. I feel that parents of that era either didn't have or wouldn't share the information needed to help this group get along. I don't quite understand what was going on there. Why didn't these parents pass what they learned along to their kids?

It seems as if there were a couple of schools of thought. Maybe they wanted to keep the playing field wide open and let their children discover life in their own way, on their own terms. This was the "Free To Be, You And Me" era, the post-hippie, flower child, live and let live segment of US History. Time to try something new. Or maybe kids did get all the wrong info from their parents! I really don't know. I'll have to do more research into that to get a better grasp on what happened.

At any rate, learning lessons from observation and action is a big part of the process. This makes me concerned for the current crop of kids who are watching the celebrity hi-jinx that have been going on for the last couple of years. It's difficult to resist something that's working, and right now, it seems like "being bad" is very good, at least when it comes to the media.

That brings me to that classic story, Cinderella. It is, after all, the most popular fairy tale in history. But the question remains, why? I believe it's because we can all see ourselves in Cindy's situation. Unloved, undervalued, abused and forsaken, this little rag doll is simply being mistreated at the hands of people who certainly don't deserve to be where they are.

It takes someone of wisdom and kindness to observe that person and take them and raise them to the level where they belong. And that's what we are all hoping for: we all need and want that person who can understand our true value and will help us reach the goals we seek.

But most of us don't have a fairy godmother. We might not even have a godmother. So we need to find a way to be our own help. Or maybe we make a tiny team of supporters, people we can rally with and create success. One thing that's true is you can only do so much on your own. Eventually, you'll need to have someone else be a part of whatever you are doing. You might as well find what wonderful people you can to be on that list.

So in living life, there are some easy steps that need to take place to help with the quality. The idea is to remain in control of as many elements as you can as you progress. The more in control you stay, the more likely you will get what you expect.

Sometimes it's more difficult to apply this theory to one particular life. There are always circumstances and situations that are exceptional. But that doesn't mean you can't begin to start utilizing the concepts, and slowly start changing the scene to your advantage. It's all in getting started that you're halfway home.