Just Do It...Damn It!

What if the life you've always wanted was just one decision away?  What if you did even one thing every single day that took you down your dream path?  What would that look like? What would happen if you stopped dreaming and started doing?  These are all questions I've been asking myself recently.  I finally figured out that the answer is: Stop asking!  There is nothing more cliche or more true than the Nike slogan "Just Do It".   In an effort to avoid trivializing life's many hardships, I will admit that this is harder said than done.  The point is, however, that it can be done!

I know that I've spent way to much of the last 10 years dreaming about how I want my life to be.  That equals about 10 years that I've wasted not making it happen.  I've allowed circumstances and people to dictate the quality of my life.  I've forgotten that my dreams require action in order to come true.  As Kelly Clarkson put it, I've been "breaking my own heart".  You should never stop dreaming; but dreaming alone will never create the reality.  If you truly want something in life...go for it.  Do something...anything...to move you in that direction every single day.  One day you will wake up, look around, and realize... I'm where I want to be!

The Bottom Line:
Give the "seeds" that are your dreams the "water" of your actions.  Warm yourself in the "light" of inspiration and witness the growth!

Dendritic Cell

I was reading about the unfortunate passing of this year's Nobel Prize recipient for medicine, Ralph Steinman.  He was a biologist who had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer but was able to extend his life using therapy based upon his discovery. Read about it here.

He is credited with the discovery of something called the Dendritic Cell and it's function in the immune system.  This cell is what got my attention.  I read up on this small wonder.  The cell acts as a messenger between the two types of immunity our bodies have...innate and adaptive.  In essence, these cells are responsible for linking things that never change to those things which change often.  

It's amazing how bodily processes mimic our everyday lives.  We struggle to find that one thing that can help us travel between those moments in life that are both constant and ever-changing.  For some, I believe their dendritic cell is religion, god, or spirituality.  For others, that dendritic cell is a spouse or partner.  I also believe some use addictive behaviors as a type of dendritic cell.  We all seek a connection to or reliable path between those things in life which always change and those things which don't change.   It's that "dendritic cell" that makes bearable the transition from one place to another.  Simply put, it's that thing that helps us cope.

That's when the concept leaped right off the page I was reading...  The answer is within us.  While we spend all our time seeking outward ways to get back and forth from these two places in life, we completely overlook the path that is already within us.  Ralph Steinman didn't have to create anything or look outside the human body.  He simply had to better understand what was already present in all of us.  Once this happened, he literally figured out how to extend life and fight those things that make us sick.  It's truly amazing!

The Bottom Line:

Nine times out of ten, the best answers to life's unsolvable equations come from within.  The way forward is already there, just waiting to be discovered.  That ability to cope with the constant and with change is inside us all. When you make a commitment to understanding yourself, you will find your path...your way to and from...that calm within the storm.