"Can your little kid come out to play?"

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I had been working particularly long, intensive hours for several weeks in a row. I was tired beyond what a good night’s sleep can recover. So I decided it was time to invite "little Joey," my inner child, out to play to keep me from becoming a dull boy.

Now "little Joey" is always ready to come out to play. This particular day I decided to make a list of fun things I did when I was a kid and do some of them. So I wrote my list and it went something like this:

1. Go fishing.
2. Walk a dog.
3. Hang on monkey bars.
4. Skip rocks across a pond.
5. Kick a can.
6. Catch a frog.

That day, I decided to walk our yellow Lab, Jake, and not only did we walk, but we wrestled around in the backyard and threw the ball and played with the water hose. It was great!

So how often does your inner child get to come out and play? God didn’t create you to work all the time, but to play and enjoy the world around you, too. So invite your little kid to come out and play as you make a life, not just a living!

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"What's your story?"

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I regularly do Life Coaching interviews on a radio station in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, WOWO. I waited on-hold on the phone for my turn and heard my friend, Charly Butcher, announce the temperature from "the world-famous WOWO fire escape." So I just had to ask, "Charly, what’s the story?"

It seems that back during World War II, American soldiers from the Ft. Wayne area served in Europe and could actually pick up WOWO. The thermometer at that time was mounted on the fire escape for easy viewing by the announcers. The soldiers were always interested in comparing the weather back home with their own. They wrote letters home, saying that the fire escape was now world-famous because they listened in Europe. Soldiers in Korea some years later listened in also. And that’s how the temperature came to be announced from "the world-famous WOWO fire escape."

What’s your story? You may be more famous than you think. You could be God’s voice heard around your world as you make a life, not just a living today.

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"Do you practice K.M.S.?"

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I was talking with a friend recently about his children. One of his sons had married a woman that my friend and his wife didn’t particularly like. Her way of doing life and theirs is just very different. Then his daughter had just accepted a marriage proposal from a young man whose lifestyle is also very different from their family’s.

My friend talked about how he really couldn’t bring about any change in either situation, yet felt very strongly about both. Then he said to me, "I’ve learned that practicing K.M.S. really helps out a lot in these kinds of situations."

"What’s K.M.S.?" I asked him.

"K.M.S. stands for ‘Keep Mouth Shut," he said. "I’ve learned that I don’t have to comment on everything and when I practice K.M.S., I’m usually in a better position to help out when the inevitable comes crashing down around them."

God created us with two ears and one mouth. Find an opportunity to practice K.M.S. today at home or work or just about anywhere as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

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"How are you introduced?"

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I had the privilege of speaking at an event sponsored by one of the Top 100 Hospitals in the U.S.

Typically someone introduces me at these events and they ask me to provide a script. In it, I write about what I do and who I am—but not the usual boring list of educational degrees and accomplishments, but more about me as a person; as a father of two teenaged daughters and that my wife boards horses and raises yellow Labrador retrievers.

I got to meet and sit with my introducer that day. She’s quite a delightful woman with a marvelous sense of humor. As she introduced me, she came to the part about our raising yellow Labs—now remember this is a hospital-sponsored event—and said, "…and he and his wife raise yellow ‘LABORATORY’ retrievers." We’ve laughed a lot about her faux pas since.

I guess you just never know how you’re going to be introduced. Regardless, just be who you are—the person, not the credentials—as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living today.

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"How's your vacation?"

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Why is it that to take a week of vacation, you have to do two weeks of work before you leave and two weeks of work when you return? You’re only gone a week! Does the work multiply while you’re gone?

This reality can produce a certain amount of guilt about vacation times. For instance, let’s say you go to the beach, pick up a seashell, and put it up to your ear. Do you hear the soothing tides of the ocean gently rolling in on the shore? Or do you hear, "So you thought you'd get away from work for a week, did you? Don't you feel guilty? Just think of all the work you’re missing. That associate could be moving up to take your place, you know…"

When making a living interrupts your making a life, when work intrudes on recreation, remember that the word "recreation" comes from two words meaning, "to create again." Your vacation is a time to re-create your spirit, your family relationships, and your passion for life.

So listen to your life today and focus all of who you are on making a life, not just a living. And enjoy your vacation!

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