Live to be 100+

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Oct 27, 2010 in Jaime Journal | 0 comments

The thought of dying is not something on my mind much, but it still makes me wonder especially after burying a few good friends this year to sudden bouts of disease, accidents and the like. It got me thinking about mortality, my children and the love of my life: Kathilynn.

I gave up working out and taking care of myself almost completely when my mom died. It was too much of a shock and unfortunately I never recovered from it until now. It’s taken some time to think through my bad choices and realize that I don’t need a diet–I need a mental, emotional and spiritual shift. So I started looking.

This TED talk is the best thing I have found and made so much sense for the simple fact that the main pattern that all subjects had in common was the natural set (with the exception of eating habits) of social and belief structures, especially when it came to family. I thought this very worthy to be shared with all of you.

Take 20 minutes and watch carefully. You’ll love it.

God Bless.
Jaime

To New Friends

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Oct 22, 2010 in Work | 1 comment

I feel like my life changed yet again. For the better of course, but on October 19th, I felt a surge of that emotional and spiritual excitement that has been trickling in since the beginning of the year.

Each and every person I met, I was impressed with and grateful to meet. All sitting together in Diana’s amazing cabin in the mountains, the good food, Kathi and my oldest children there to share the launch of our global community. My heart is still racing guys.

It says a lot about a mission/company/movement that can bring so many people together from diverse backgrounds and make them a family in one evening. To share, laugh, cry and cheer with one heart and mind int he desire to do good for the rest of the world. It not only made me grateful…I was honored to be a part of such a group.

I’m looking forward to working with all of you, both collectively and individually to bring The BIG Lagoon and Crocodiles to the world. Just make sure you all dream big and expect big. In fact, make sure it’s impossible to reach.

…that’s the only type of projects we should spend our time on.

Keeping Up

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Sep 21, 2010 in Jaime Journal | 2 comments

When you run dozens of web sites, have a large family and work 100+ hour weeks more times than not, life gets a tad overwhelming.  It also makes it very difficult to keep up on your personal blog, which I miss often.

There are times when the lists of projects on your plate can get overwhelming and seem nearly impossible to accomplish.  It makes it even more difficult if you have performed so well that impossible becomes the expected standard by those around you.

However, I believe I have found the cure: priorities and lists.

Make sure all you have to do is boldly placed on a list according to priority. Now, when the co-workers, your boss or even your clients approach you with their ‘emergency’, you have a system to take care of being overwhelmed.  Simply smile and say you will be happy to assist them, so long as they remove something from that detailed list of yours…and are responsible for the consequences of such as decision.  Let it become their worry, not yours and you will find that life suddenly becomes simplified…and a bit more quiet.

It’s wonderful to be needed and even to be a bit important to those around you.

…no one said we had to be driven insane in the process.

Road to Recovery: When is enough enough?

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Sep 14, 2010 in Jaime Journal | 1 comment

I finally have internet in my new home, with so many adventures to share I wasn’t quite sure where to begin.

Life has certainly had it’s ups and downs, but what has caught and held my mind is: when is enough enough?

When do we stop settling for what we get and reach for more? When do we stop relying on others opinions and develop our own?  When do we look at ourselves and say ‘I can do better than that’?

When do we, for Heavens sake, look around us and think that society, our circumstances and the way things are done is nothing more than screwed up?

Have we stopped believing in ourselves to the extent that nothing matters anymore?  Sure, life has changed–but isn’t that a good thing when we receive an opportunity to learn, to grow, to become a better self and therefore create a better world?  All I saw in the last few years, including my glances in the mirror, was a world getting soft, mean, greedy and out of control.  Well that spin hasn’t stopped yet and now is not the time to get complacent.

So what are you going to do about it?

I for one am shooting for the impossible.  Not quite sure what that is, or what it will become, but I know that in the limited resources, time, energy and overshadowing evil this world has spawned of late, only the impossible is worth anyone’s time.  Playing for second place doesn’t help anyone and holding back your talents and gifts makes you a hindrance, not help.

Arrogant?  No.  Hopeful is what I’m leaning towards.  I don’t know about you or your family, but mine is worth fighting for.  It’s worth kicking down those walls of my box and stepping into the light of the New Era and taking a hold of every blessing god has for me.

Mind, body, spirit and environment…a whole new life and world is what I want to build.

Possible?  I think so, but let’s see if I have the tenacity and gumption to walk the walk.

Good news is, I never was afraid of being a guinea pig.

Jonah and the Flood

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Aug 25, 2010 in Simon Says | 0 comments

Less than a week ago we had a flash flood.  It devastated us.  Our home is a basement, where all the water pooled.  We are very grateful for the help we received from kind and loving friends who came to our immediate rescue.  The experience was rough, yet it became a tender example of how well children listen to their parents.

The Sunday previous, I had spent some personal time with my little son Simon. He’s a brilliant boy and I wanted to tell him a great story with strong visuals to help him remember–which ended up being about Jonah, the Whale and Nineveh. He listened with great intensity as I described the wickedness of the city people, and also why the big fish swallowed the Prophet.  I knew he would remember the story, but not the concepts behind it.

I was wrong.

While our home had adults wading too and fro, bailing water, trying to save what furniture was left and personal belongings,  little Simon was slowly walking through the muddy water, tears in his eyes, looking to the left, then to the right.

When his mother put her arms around him, she asked if he was ok.

“No mom.  Look.” he pouted, pointing around him at the muddy water.  “Heavenly Father is mad at us.  We have been bad mom.  Very, very bad.  We need to be the good guys!”

Though he eventually learned that sometimes negative things happen for a good reason (I explained the big fish was there to take Jonah to Nineveh to do his initial job, and during our flood damage control, we received word that we had been accepted for a new place to live.), it helped me see that the personal time we spent with our little ones, instructing them and sharing is never in vain.

Eat and Fight!

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Aug 23, 2010 in Point of View | 0 comments

There is a time when a line must be drawn in the sand.

A point in your life when patience has been used up, long-suffering endured and yet the abuse continues, challenges never cease and the pressure never abates.  Thoughtfulness, manners and respect are quickly becoming myths in our society and when the soft spoken word is ignored, another option should be utilized.

Eat and Fight.

The instant interpretation might be violence, but that’s not what I’m referring to.  I’m referring to a focus of mind and purpose of heart.  I’m talking about a determination to do what is right, because it is right, regardless of the opposition, mockery or lack of intelligence, manners or class of another.  It’s about taking a counter-offense to the situations of life and ‘bridging’ your efforts (starting with a finishing move).  In short, it’s about putting the monkey when the flippin monkey belongs for a change and standing your ground!  Allowing the natural consequences to follow the path of choice.

What would that do for you, for your family and for society if we allowed the natural consequences to follow?

No bailouts, no refunding bad ideas, no turning to the morons that caused the problems to fix the problems…and allowing those who are willing to take the risks, take the initiative and take the responsibility step into their own.

Think about it on a smaller scale.

Now is the time to think big, act big and to take the initiative when it comes to our lives.  You’re not doing anyone any good thinking small, I can assure you.

Change your surroundings, change your community, change the world.

You have the brains, you have the talent and God has placed the tools in front of you.  Open your eyes and make a real, foundational difference in life.  No one gives a damn when you whine.  In fact, more companies and even social environments/organizations are finally realizing that it’s far easier and intelligent to change the squeaky wheel instead of giving it grease.

Take the time to understand that you are living in a world where YOU MUST BE PRO-ACTIVE.

Act or be acted upon.
Eat and fight.

What’s the Difference?

Posted by Jaime Buckley on Aug 13, 2010 in Family | 3 comments

I had a young man ask me today about one of my sisters.  He wanted to know why she didn’t talk to him, return his texts and so on.  My response is something I wanted to place before you, not because I’m expecting anyone to agree with me, but because I think it’s a mode of thought worth pursuing.

Understand that I have some strong old time values, and I try very hard to think them through and have a principle based reason for them.  I raise my family and protect my family by them.  They are not negotiable.  I don’t force them upon anyone…but I do hold them up and require others to abide my them if they socialize with us.

The issue is communication between the opposite sex. It’s become casual in society, especially with technology, where you can have private conversations in an instant. Say anything, share anything, and mom and dad don’t have to know a thing. Text, text, text, phone calls, instant messaging, Facebook private messages and so on…

Well, as a father and husband, relationships are very sacred things to me.  Emotions are to be shared with certain people IMO and my associations are not taken lightly or casually.  This goes double for my kids.  I tell my children not to take their friendships casually.  I have great and lasting honor for my friends.  Text and private time with the opposite sex doesn’t make sense to me, unless you’re courting (notice I don’t use the word “date”).  Why do you need it when nothing and I repeat, NOTHING good can come of it, other than opportunities for bad things to happen?

So my counsel was this: I strongly encourage my sisters NOT to talk to men, respond to texts or have phone conversations casually.  Why?  Well, first off because there’s no need to associate with a man privately when you can have all the polite conversation and social engagement in a general setting with others around.  If you argue that point with me, my question is simple: what is your intent? Why do you NEED to have ‘private time’ with the opposite sex if there’s ‘nothing going on’?

Secondly, just because you have the technology to have a conversation and get around the father/big brother barriers with the click of a button, doesn’t mean you should.  If this were 100 years ago, would the father of that lovely girl want you to casually grab her arm and skirt her off to a side room to talk privately?

Not likely.

I wish our society had better standards.  I’m not going to hold my breath.

However, I will stand by the standard that a male who tries to get around the moral structures of a family openly challenges the protective powers that be.  In layman’s terms, ‘yer asking ta get a whoopin bucko.’

It’s the standard I require of guys who show up on my doorstep, and the same standard I drill into my sons. So argue with me if you like, but I would wager your father and mother, whether they agree with me or not, would appreciate a man with honor and respect knocking on their door, rather than the alternative.