Learning

Navigating the Unknown

/ markmkane / 7 Comments
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When It Feels Scary To Jump…

/ markmkane / 6 Comments

While channel surfing couple years ago, I happened upon a channel that featured a 2014 movie called “A Most Violent Year”.  Although I consider myself a movie buff, I’ve never really heard of this movie until that one fateful day.  I won’t tell you what the plot was because I stumbled upon it and really didn’t watch it till the end.  But I did happen upon a scene where a man by the name of Abel Morales said “When it feels scary to jump, that is exactly when you jump, otherwise you end up staying in the same place your whole life.”

This one line totally resonated with me and I just had to write it down.  I turned off the TV and soaked in those words.  I took it to heart and it quickly became etched within my subconscious.  You could almost say that I had an epiphany of some sorts.

This one quote, this one line from a movie I have never seen told me that in life, you need to take chances regardless of the outcome.  There are times when you’ll succeed and there are times when you’ll fail, but you must learn from it in order to grow into the person that you were meant to be.  Life is too short to play is safe, it needs to be explored with eyes wide open.  Life if full of endless possibilities with the potential to be great.

I took this to heart and felt that I needed to try anything even if it took me out of my comfort zone.  I lived by the code of being open to different things; doing so would broaden my horizons both mentally and physically.  Living by this way of thinking helped me to try different things; just facing the impossible or the uncomfortable with complete abandonment.  Living this way made me realize that to do these things require both strength and faith; the will to pursue what your heart desires with the self-confidence to know that you’ll achieve something positive from it regardless of the results.

Ever since then, I’ve been bestowed with nothing but great outcomes.  I dared to take a chance and came out a winner so to speak; I count my blessings everyday for doing so.  So if you are faced with doing something that takes you out of your comfort zone, go all in and bet on yourself.  The first step will be scary, terrifying even…but the end results will be much more rewarding.  Take that leap and dare to be great!

Liebster Award

/ markmkane / 10 Comments

B1

I am truly honored and appreciative of the fact that I was nominated for the Liebster Award by Haylee.   I had stumbled across her log one day and was pleasantly surprised by her posts…most especially her poems.  They are simple, profound and touch on life experiences that we all encountered at some point in our lives.  If you get the chance, check out her site: stumblingaboutourworld.wordpress.com

You’ll be pleasantly surprised as I was.

Questions from stumblingaboutourworld:

1.  What is the most extreme thing that I’ve done?

When I was in college, I hiked along the entire ridge of Diamond Head.  Which I’m glad I did because now they do not permit anyone to do so because of the dangerous conditions.

2. Out of all the places I visited, which did I like the most?

I really like Hawaii (also known as the “Big Island”) . I got the opportunity to see an active volcano, walk on solid lava, got to go to the top of Mauna Kea, experienced the black sand beach as well as the green sand beach and saw many historical Hawaiian sites.

3. What is on of my favorite memories?

The birth of my daughter Chloe and my son Conor.  It truly was an experience that surpasses anything and everything that I encountered or will encounter.

4. Why did I decide to start my blog?

It was on the advice of my literary manager but in the end it was my passion for writing and sharing my inner voice for the world to see.

5. What is my favorite book or book series?

“Writing Movies For Fun And Profit or How We Made A Billion Dollars at the Box Office and You Can, Too!”  by Robert Ben Garant & Thomas Lennon

6.  Do I have a post (one of my own) that you favor over others?

The one that I liked best was a post called “Our Special Gift” :

midlifemaniacalme.me/?s=our+special+gift

7. If I could go anywhere in the world and take one person, who would it be and why?

I would go and see Japan with my wife because she is my everything – the love of my life, my best friend, the foundation of our family, strong, smart and a fighter.

8. If I were given $500 today, what would I do with it and why?

If given a $500 today, I would spend it on a dinner for my parents because of all they’ve done for me.  They’ve taught me the values of life, helped shaped the person into who I am today.

9. What inspires me to write?

It’s just a passion that I’ve had for the past 27 years.  The joy I get from writing anything totally frees me and lets my inner voice be heard and shared with both strangers and all of my blogging colleagues.

10. What is my opinion on the advancement of technology?

I think that it’s great.  A lot of what we do and see whether it be writing, seeing something is all instantaneous.  It’s truly convenient.

Nominees:

I had a hard time trying to determine what blogs I was going to nominate because I follow so many great ones.  The ones that particularly stuck out were the ones that touched me, inspired me, made me laugh and provoke thought.  These blogs are written by the people who provide encouraging words and have the gift of prose.  They really don’t need my help in sending people their way because so many people have found them already.  But on the off chance you haven’t stumbled across them, please check them out..you won’t be disappointed.

anotetohuguette.wordpress.com

comicallyquirky.com

peacefrompanic.wordpress.com

priyasingh91.wordpress.com

realtimelove.wordpress.com

Questions For The Blogs That I Nominate:

  1. What made you decide to start a blog?
  2. Which one of your own posts do you like the best and why?
  3. What inspires you to write?
  4. What have you learned from following other blogs?
  5. How has blogging affected your life?
  6. When do you like to do your writing – day or night?
  7. How do you decide on what blog you want to follow?
  8. Has your blogging experience been so far?
  9. Who is your biggest influence in your craft of writing?
  10. Would you recommend blogging to your family and friends?

Rules for Nominees:

  1. Thank the person who nominated you, and put a link to their blog on your blog. Try to include a little promotion for the person who nominated you. They will thank you for it and those who you nominate will also help you out as well.
  1. Display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. (Note that the best way to do this is to save the image to your own computer and then upload it to your blog post.) At the bottom of this post, I’ve included a whole lot of images you can use for your 2017 Liebster Award.
  1. For the 2017 Liebster Award, I will be shaking things up! Write a 150-300 word post about your favourite blog that is not your own. Explain why you like the blog, provide links.
  1. Provide 10 random facts about yourself. (This year I’m making this optional. If you wish to engage with your readers it’s a great idea to include random facts about you.)
  1. Nominate 5 – 11 blogs that you feel deserve the award. (Note that you can always ask the blog owner this since not all blogs display a widget that lets the readers know this information!)
  1. List these rules in your post (You can copy and paste from here or simply link to this post.) Once you have written and published it, you then have to:
  1. Inform the people/blogs that you nominated that they have been nominated for the Liebster award and provide a link for them to your post or mine if you don’t have all the information so that they can learn about it (they might not have ever heard of it!) (info)

 

Midlife Reflections #4

/ markmkane / 11 Comments

A9

How do you deal with change?  Especially the life changing ones.  This has been weighing on my mind the past couple of days.  In the past, when I was much younger, this was never a concern; in fact I enjoyed experiencing change.

As I got older, I got married, had children, found a secure job. I found a daily routine that made my life simple.  I was content with the way things were in my life and for a person that likes control…I was in heaven.

Now all of a sudden, I’m changing jobs. Going from a good paying job to something that is much less but with great benefits.  On top of that, opportunities are presenting themselves to where my passion, my dream, can become a reality.

My younger self would’ve been thrilled with what’s going on.  Welcoming the change, the unpredictability.  But my present self and my current state of mind is a bit hesitant.  Don’t get me wrong, a part of me is really excited but three quarters of me is not.  Fearing the unknown is truly terrifying.

A7

You would’ve thought that through all my years, all of my accumulated experiences would prepare me for this.  But it never does.  The only thing that I’ve learned was that sometimes you got to take a leap of faith into the unknown.

It might work out, it might not.  It’s a chance that I have to take.  I’ve always learn to bet on myself to endure whatever life threw at me.  It’s so cliché to say this, but as long as my family and friends are there for support, advice and guidance, change can be bearable.

A6

It’s a given that change will always happen.  We will always be both excited and scared from it but we should have the confidence in ourselves to know that we’ll get through it.  Possibilities for great things are there if we just take a chance.

A4

Midlife Reflections #3

/ markmkane / 16 Comments

A1

The past couple of days, I’ve pondered on my life’s journey and what it took to get me here today.  It was a smooth ride that had numerous speed bumps and detours along the way.

I’ve had days when I hit the jackpot and everything went my way; even my mistakes and miscues resulted in a favorable outcome.

AND THEN there were those days where anything and everything went horribly wrong; where life put me in a loop and a series of jokes slapped me in the face one after another.

Regardless of what kind of day, week, month or year I had, I somehow survived; I lived to tell the tale and more often than not, I remembered in detail all of the good that I encountered.

Throughout all of my life’s experiences, I’ve come to the realization that sometimes my greatest memory can be my worst enemy.  Relishing and reminiscing about all those happy times brought about a false sense of thinking; that everything would result in something wonderful.

It was good to have a positive outlook but I needed to embrace all the bad that happened in my life wholeheartedly.  With every failed attempt I grew closer to success.

With much introspection, I’ve learned to value everything that crossed my path.  It helped me to be strong, wise, compassionate, focused, determined and grateful.  Life is way too short, so “Find the beauty in every moment” and bring out the best in yourself.

An Eternal Optimist

/ markmkane / 15 Comments

A2

In the face of

insurmountable odds

and naysayers doubting

your ability

You have to have

faith,

passion,

know yourself

inside and out

Develop a keen foresight

and inner confidence

Have the drive

to fight and persevere

Knowing it will be enough

to overcome everything

Once you can do that,

a spark of hope

springs from an endless well

that leaves you with a sense of

unbridled enthusiasm

A beacon at the end of the tunnel

that will never dissipate

When you can truly feel this way

accept it as canon,

that’s when you know you’re

an eternal optimist.

To Chase The Dream

/ markmkane / 5 Comments

 A11

We all have various dreams,

some big and some small

Achieving them within our lifetime

is a most daunting task of all

 The failures, the pain,

the constant agony of defeat

Tests our will, our strength and resolve,

it knocks us off our feet

 Constantly trying and failing

is one of the best lesson we’ll get

It develops our drive, determination and passion

improves our successful living skill set

 Learning never stops

we have to grow everyday

Acquiring new and interesting knowledge

helps our dream get underway

 The grind towards the dream continues on,

it’s a path difficult and unclear

We must grit our teeth, head straight-forward

and show that we have no fear

 Our dream will never end

and in our hearts we must be true

To reach our goal, our life-long love

we must persevere and see it through

 So when you’re chasing your dream,

dig deep and give it your all

In the end you’ll fulfill your goal,

you can be proud and stand tall.

Forever Strong

/ markmkane / 4 Comments

AA3

We wish good times would last,

that feeling of no tomorrow,

but we know that’s not the case

How does one stay strong

in the midst of the dark

When your life is riddled with

change,

crisis,

death,

tragedy,

pain,

heartache

We try to summon every ounce of

faith,

hope,

love,

courage,

support,

even false bravado

to overcome our trials and tribulations

We will never know how strong we are

until strong is the only choice we have

In the end if we do this, we’ll be

resilient in hard times,

fearless of the unknown,

eternally optimistic,

steadfast in our mind’s eye,

and

forever strong.

Midlife Reflections

/ markmkane / 6 Comments

A7

Back when I was much younger and starting out in the workforce, I used to think that a good paying job was the endgame to being happy and successful in life.  All that consumed me was trying to work for a company where I could climb that corporate ladder to a six figure salary; I was young, naive and dreamed big.  Little did I know that “all that glitters is not gold”.

I’ve seen people in good paying jobs but miserable as heck.  And I’ve seen the opposite, some in okay paying jobs but loving every minute of it.

Regardless of pay, we need to be happy in our jobs.  Why you may ask?  Since we spend three-quarters of the day at our place of employment, it stands to show that it’s like our second home with our second family.

If we can’t be happy there, then those feelings sometimes get transposed into our home lives.  We may not do that intentionally but it happens.  Life is too short to be miserable and stressed out.

In my current stage in life, I’ve come to the realization that life is meant to be enjoyed to its fullest.  After enduring the trials and tribulations of working many jobs, I only now know that if you’re not happy or enjoying what you do, find something that will.  Better late than never, right?

A5

This newfound wisdom is something that I impart on my children constantly.  So the next time you’re out job hunting, rather than asking yourself “how much does it pay?”, ponder on whether it’s something that you would “love” or “enjoy” doing for the rest of your life.  If you choose to follow the latter path, the pay will come.  Work for love, not money.

A6