Just the other day, I had to rethink my own framework that exists in my mind on how I looked at time.
My daughter, as you know, has been the source of my inspiration since coming into this world early. She continues to be my hero and my muse.

She and I opened the door the other day to "check the weather"; something she wishes to do often. I don't know why wondering what the outside will bring became fascinating to her, but she definitely has become curious about how the weather works and why the weather does this and that. Maybe it is because she adores the outside so much, she would rather be in it than inside, unless it is "reading or learning time." Her words there, not mine. She adores reading and learning time.

This particular day had no special weather happening, other than it was 28 degrees. It was still nice, clear and sunny. Looking at the day with no other knowledge, one would think it was a gorgeous spring day.

She was in her pajamas as the "weather check" is usually accomplished first thing in the morning. Oh, but even this cannot be until after we get the word of the day. The word of the day was "Swarm". A swarm is a group of flying insects or bees. Swarm. Either that or "Immediately", I can't remember. Those two words were back to back so it could be either or.

After reading our word of the day, which she reads herself and the definition, we went to check the weather. We most times forget to reset the alarm and we open the door to an intense beeping, in which she says "uh oh Daddy, you forgot the alarm!"

So we are sitting there looking through the open door, the sun has just risen a little behind the trees, not fully up. Frost covers the ground, giving us the illusion of a small spattering of snow, but alas, we know that comes only so often. So with all the hope and carefree fun that every child gives us; with all the wonderment that comes from children’s' mouths, she steps to the ledge and goes
 
"It's c-c-c-c-c-c—c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-c—-c-cc- Cold." as she shivers for dramatic effect.

"Yes, it is c-c-c-c-c—cc-c-cc-c-cc-c Cold. It is a mere 28 degrees today according to my phone's weather report." I reply.

And then, here it is, just the right now...nothing more nothing less....

"Can I go outside and slide on my slide?"

Remember, she is in pajamas, not 12 and a half minutes from awakening with her signature "Good morning!" (Life has not given her the wonderful gift of laying in bed, thinking about all the things you have to do, all your responsibilities, money issues, work problems, life nuances, nothing like that. It simply gives her the happiness to wake up every day looking forward to the new world. It is exactly what we all have in our Natural Success Principles and exactly the way we need to look and wake up every day! This is another topic for another day.)

So she is standing there in her pajamas, not 12 and three quarters of a minute from waking up, she wants to go slide.

"Baby, it is cold out there, you are in pajamas, it is really not the best time to slide at this moment."

The bane of my existence comes to fruition after I make my statement. It is the look of utter disappointment. Shoulders are dropped, again for dramatic effect, the worst gust of air that you have ever heard comes forth, the sigh from a child. The disappointment sigh. Oh my how I LOVE the disappointment sigh. Every parent knows it. You must stay as strong as you can even though you know you don't like to give your child disappointment in most cases. You can't cave, you can defer, but you can't cave. If you do, the DS will wield its power over you forever. Behold the number of times you have been in a grocery store and witnessed the power of the DS when it truly holds the parent within its claws. It is truly a sight that leaves one terrified. Parents the world over have had to have ceremonies to remove the DS's power over one another. Sometimes its hold is so tight, you can hear the sigh throughout the forests on a quiet night.

That is when it happened. She said something not very profound at the time, but what it taught me and now you, is very large.

She said, "I wish it was warm like summer again."

But winter is upon us. We get to see the tree limb shadows on the moon at night. We get the experience of red noses. We get real football. We get frost on the ground. We get teased with snow. We get snow. Winter brings so many wonderful things.

"Never wish away a moment." I replied.

Wow.

That phrase. That majestic wisdom that shot forth. It does not matter where it came from, it is here now.

Never wish away a moment.

How much of our lives are we wishing for something else to happen in another time? How much of that time between these two things are we losing by this one little wish?

I wish suddenly becomes an amazing thing. Be careful what you wish for has always been said, but look at even the smallest of wishes. Wishing for it to be summer wishes for all the time between this winter and the summer to just be gone.

Think about that. If our moments are numbered, then wishing even one away seems to be tantamount as wishing bad things. It takes away a portion of something that could be amazing.

With that being said, i thought about how many times even I have wished for moments to simply disappear.  I do not want to do that anymore. I want to embrace every moment, good or bad. You should think about that and do the same. Don't wish for a family event these holidays to "just end". What happens if it does and the next day you lose a loved one? What happens if you wish for summer and it arrives because you were in a coma?

The next morning, we looked out the front door to see the frost on the ground.

"I wish I could touch it." was the statement this time.

As my daughter ran through the frost covered grass, leaving her tiny little footprints, she began to realize that her feet were getting ccc-c-c-c-c-c-c-c-cold, I thought about how precious this vision is for me. I will never forget it. A little princess dancer through the frost covered grass, slightly bouncing as she tries to keep her feet as warm as possible, laughing and giggling.

Ok before you go "what a crappy parent" all on me, shoeless child running in the freezing grass. Cold does not cause colds. It was 23 seconds of running through the grass. 23 seconds of one of the greatest memories of my existence. Oh and no sickness followed.

So for this month and the subsequent year coming up, let's not wish away moments. Let's take every one of them with love and high regard, for if we wish one away, who knows what we could be missing!

Happy Holidays everyone. Here's to your tiny, little footprints memories!

Desperation.

I hear a lot of desperation. People are starting to feel overwhelmed. It is really starting to get me going. I want to help more and more.

But I have a secret, a real quick secret to tell you today.

You don't have to have desperation. You never have to feel desperate. Last I checked, you have complete, 100% control over your life, and if you don't, you need to call someone and escape. If your husband, wife, friends, boss or anyone else has control over your life, then break free now.

Get 100% control. Now.

Ok now that we have total control, you never have to feel desperation. You control not only how you feel, but how you react and how you live.

Yes, Jack, all of this "talk" is so easy.

No, no it is not.

Let's see, in the last 21 days I have lost my dog of 19 years, lost clients and gotten my first case of hives which required 2 rounds of prednisone. The steroid alone sent my body into a tailspin where I slept almost instantly and had other body issues to deal with.

But you know what, I could have crawled into a hole. I could have just stopped working, told everyone I was sick and quit for a little while. I did not. I could not do as much as I wanted, but I still took baby steps.

My dog leaving me was worse than anything I can imagine. She was the longest life in my life besides my parents. She was there and has been there for 19 years. I am not going to lie, I did very little that day.

One of my biggest motivations in my life are my ladies. My daughter, obviously, wife, and my two(now one) dogs. I worked hard so that my 19 year old Lulu could have the best food. I worked to give her the greatest I could buy. Or steak.

She deserved it. She has been there. No matter what Daddy did, when I came home, she was happy. We all have that feeling about our pets, they are always so incredibly in love with you no matter what you did that day. Whether it was a good day or bad, they are there.

That is my motivation. Good or bad, just continue to be happy and forge ahead like my Lulu would. She had to have an operation about 10 years ago. She had to wear one of those cones. She did not like it, but as soon as she felt good she just made the best of it.

So the lesson is, yes, sometimes life is uncomfortable. Life is sometimes hard. Life sometimes does not let you go according to plan.

Heck in the last 3 years, my mom has had a heart attack and I had appendicitis. Talk about taking your plans and putting them on a little hold. But not for long. Just as long as necessary.

So, come on, come with me. I want to help you. I can help you overcome adversity in any aspect. In the coming months, we are going to specifically start talking to Fathers.

So if you are a Father who wants to be the best Father or wants to help your kids be the best they can be, stay on the alert. We are coming to help. If you are a Mom and the Father figure for your children is not what you would call the best, stay alert and we will help you get him on the right track.

We must start with the generation that we can help. That is now.

Take control. Take heart. We can get through this and we can get through anything.

Everyone is looking at me, asking me, begging me to help. What is happening? Why are so many people struggling? Why are so many people having a bad time?

I fully understand. I am guilty of it myself. I didn't plan. I didn't think it could happen to me.

But sometimes it does happen to you, and you have to be ready. If you are not ready, you still need to the tools to react.

You must be ready for adversity. We are here and adversity is now all around us.

I am going to help you. We will get through these tough times together. Big things are coming your way from me to help you, but for right now, let's think about some things.

We got here by the decisions we made. We put ourselves in the position. I know, I know, you didn't fire you, but could you have placed yourself in a position that had no equal? Could you have done more to be less disposable? Could you have quit entirely if you learned a new task or began a new beginning? Would this have happened to you if you had made the decision to NEVER let it happen to you?

These questions are hard questions but in tough times, being soft and cuddly may not cut it. Well, here I am. Let's all man up and recognize that we screwed the pooch. We messed up. Let's fix it.

Understand people reach into their Natural Success Principle in two way, when they choose to, or when they have no other choice. You were created with these principles for a reason. They will be there when the going gets real tough. You make a decision from bad times that you never want to experience that particular bad time again.

Stove. Hot. Burned my hand. Don't want to do that again.

So, how can we start fixing our mess.

First, we must grasp all of our principles and understand it won't be easy.

We must be these things:

1) Persistent
2) Resilient
3)Learn if we are a Quitter, Level Tease, or a Peak Reacher

Ok, what are those?

Quitter - you know who you are. You quit. You get into something and you find some excuse to remove yourself from the finish line. You get out, but it usually is not your fault. Of course it isn't. Everyone is holding you down. Everything goes against you. You never get any breaks. You get fired even when you "do your job." You can't be at fault with the whole universe against you. Right?

Level Tease - You are the person that listens to the goals. You may even listen to all the motivational speakers out there(not like me) and get all excited. Pumped up ready to roll. You then reach a level and become complacent. Yes, you stop. You are ok with the status you are at. You can buy your beer, your kids are in school, as long as your car don't break everything is just fine. You teased everyone that trusted you to go and be the top person. You teased them all with all that gusto. You then leveled off. You became complacent. You "did your job" and nothing more. Now you might blame those "darn yungins" for stepping up and doing more. Rocking the boat, shaking the tree. Little Whippersnappers messing with YOUR thing. You know it. Read that next motivational book will ya? Might just get you to tease through another week. Nothing at all could be lurking with this track record....right?

Peak Reacher - Do I have to explain this? You don't quit. You don't become complacent. You grow and continue to better yourself in some way. You work hard and play hard to match. You like the finer things because cherry flavored is not the best cigar. Smoke is not the flavor of scotch. You know you can do it and you prove it. Day after day in some way you do something to get closer to your goal. Day after day, even when no one is watching you are there, getting ready to get ready. It may be practicing, it may be reading, it may be classes, it may be getting smacked with realism from my speeches, but it is something that separates you. Every day the pack goes further and further back.

Number one, persistence and two, resilience make you a Peak Reacher. They are traits to have.

The quitter does not know the meaning of the words. The Level Tease knows the meaning of those words after every seminar or retreat, then forgets on his couch with channel 8 at 8!

People we have some work to do. Let's get ready to get ready.

I have tried to keep quiet. I have tried to stay off the big "list". I just cannot keep it inside any longer.

My child was born premature as most of you know. Do you think or believe that some "panel of experts" would have listened to her 20% chance of survival and deemed her "viable" or "treatable"?

I do not. Thus, I am opposed to the removal of the Human Spirit aspect of our lives. The more and more and more laws, the more and more and more governing of what we can and cannot do slowly destroys people's spirit.

Just look at some of the poor people now on welfare. What was meant to be temporary assistance has broken the spirit of people where they just remain, not letting themselves grow or prosper. Every one of you knows someone who has had his/her spirit broken. It is very sad.

Now, sometimes it takes going to the lowest point of the lowest area in your life to realize that you have what it takes already inside you. All of us have heard of a triumphant return from the brink of disaster, but why let yourself have to sink to these depths? Sometimes, if you get there and you have effectively killed your spirit, then you will not realize that you are at your lowest point.

Is that the goal? Is it to foster a sense of nothingness so you don't know if you are at your lowest point or if you are just coasting along? If so, we have some nefarious things to overcome.

I, for one, do not accept the denigration of the human spirit. I will not sit idly by and watch our success principles destroyed under the guise of helping.

Back to my original question, would a panel of people, not knowing me or my daughter, looking at the facts before them objectively give their blessing to treatments for a 20% chance? Why, then, are we even thinking about having a panel sit around and objectively decide a treatment for any individual? How can they legislate the human spirit? How can you see everyone, looking them straight in the eyes and say to them, the cost of your treatment outweighs your contribution or your worth?

Can you believe I just wrote that? Look your daughter, mother, father in the eye one day and say to them, the hardship and cost that I am about to endure is not worth what you are going to give back to me, so without this retribution, I am saying that we will not go through with this treatment.

What are we trying to become? Everything we ever need to succeed is here. It will never run out. It will never diminish. It cannot be killed. If we try to legislate true success, we are destroying the very core of our existence.

While many people are debating many things in many ways, I just look at one thing and say that no matter what we are trying to do, we should not do this. We should not make decisions based on cost while removing the possibilities, no matter the odds.

At 20%, my daughter is 5 years old and growing every day in every way. A true hero. If we allowed a panel to take that away, we effectively removed all the freedoms that families have to make these decisions to sacrifice. The panel does not know me. It does not know what I am capable of undertaking. It does not know what I am willing to do for my child’s survival and more importantly, it cannot know what my child is capable of doing if it removes the tools she needed to help her along.

Was she worth it? I just cried a tear into my keyboard that we even have to debate the asking of a question like that. I know what we all have inside us. I cannot sit idly by and let some people take away our human spirit. It is what made not only this country great, but made a species great on this planet. We never know what we are capable of unless we are tested. If you remove the tools for the test, you remove the test. You remove the decision and you remove all of our possibilities.

 

Do we really want that? I do not. Please comment on this for your take. If you agree that we need to legislate the spirit, please tell me why. I wish to help you most of all.

 

Oh, what children will say.

If you listen, you will find that is where truth lies. It also is where the heart shows up.

It is where societal norms and years of covering up our Natural Success Principles don't apply.

Spongebob was the theme of our fifth birthday party. Everything had the sponge's face on it somewhere. Balloons, cups, plates, cake, napkins, and tablecloth all had that wonderful optimistic sea creature.

My daughter revels in his optimism. Some people don't allow their children to watch this particular cartoon. While sometimes the creators do place in subtle adult themes and phrases, one can easily see how a child would not get that particular idea.

Nonetheless, this is not about that cartoon or parenting. What we focus on when we watch is the optimism. I go through on how the loveable guy always sees the best outcome. He sometimes gets down but in the end, no matter what he is excited.

This has been shown to me by my daughter in its most purest form. She really has excitement for the smallest of things. Swimming, coloring, learning, a new book, anything that you and I would deem moderate at best.

But the real story behind all of this enthusiasm is when she wanted to let a balloon go at her birthday party. We asked if she understood that the balloon would be gone from her forever and it could possibly land and make some other little girl happy. She fully understood and really wanted to let the balloon go.

We said she can let the balloon go and say "Make some little girl happy!".

After a few minutes of thanking the balloon(True appreciation in action right there. Will talk about this later, but we don't appreciate enough in our lives and we really need to find ways to uncover this principle.), she prepared to let it go.

Cameras a-blazing, she walked forward away from her PaPa. She looked to the heavens and appeared to aim the balloon.

She let it go.

She then said -

"Go balloon, Make some everybody happy!"

As a small drop of water appeared in my eye(not crying mind you!), I realized that what started as a heart no bigger than the end of your pinky is now one of the biggest hearts I have ever seen.

I agree with her. We must go through our day wanting to exude happiness where and when ever we can. A great quick little lesson completed for me in 3 little seconds.

Now you go forth through your day -

Make some everybody happy.

I have to admit it.
I teared up big time when my daughter and I opened up our first batch of the Natural Success Principles books that were shipped to us. I handed the very first copy to her and told her it was hers. She created it and made it possible.

She said, "But the picture is Daddy."

How beautiful! The most simplistic answer from my most smartest hero. She then saw our Natural Success Principle logo on page 3 and then proudly exclaimed, "That's me!". When that logo was created she saw herself inside "Daddy" from the very beginning without anyone explaining it.

Amazing stuff.

I just can't believe it. 5 years of work now here.

My new websites are almost complete as well. What I am about to unleash on the world will be success of epic proportions. Your Success!

I have had about as much of the doom and gloom as I can stand and I'm not going to take it anymore!

This July 4th begins your Independence Day. You will no longer depend on anyone else for your success. You will take responsibility for your decisions and you will begin to succeed.

Any excuses you may have, I have the solution to eliminate them. We will destroy them.

There will be no "secret" only actionable, usable help. Get ready world, it is going to be awesome.

As many of you know, there are bigger things in the works besides the wonderful responses I have gotten from Blessed with Tragedy.
Just a quick toot of the horn, I reached the bestselling list on Amazon for Fatherhood last week which now makes me a bestselling author. My next goal is to be a #1 Bestselling Author.

I really believe this will happen both for this book and the next one which is now at the publisher. Along with this is a brand new product that will help you achieve success anytime. You don't have to wait for things to be perfect. Not the economy, not your friends, and not your own issues.

This new product will eliminate the excuses that you have for success. I have seen true success in my daughter, and I will help anyone ready to make the next step.

Get ready, it will be great!

Well, the book is available. No big fanfare. Not many people even know it is for sale.

BUT, as soon as the marketing kicks in, they will. By the end of the month, everything will be ready to tell the world. The success of this book helps PreeMiracles. It helps the Early Journey Foundation.

It also helps the March of Dimes. As you know, the March of Dimes has been a constant force for many years on helping the world's babies. I wish to help also.

I am very excited about things to come. If you know of any companies that would like to buy the book in quantity, we have select discounts on case prices. Email me for information.

Until then, tell all your friends, we are coming.

We are less than 10 days away from Prelude book, Blessed with Tragedy to be released to public. Four years ago, on 7/11, my personal 9/11, life changed. Real change. Forced change.

As I look back, I smile. I could have quit. I could have run away. When I stopped working, we sacrificed everything, no doubt. In the end, my little girl smiles back.

Reward everyday. Now I am on a new journey. One that I hope will affect everyone, everywhere. First, I must make prematurity awareness a top priority in this and other countries. Second, I must encourage people to Unleash their Natural Success Principles that they had inside them before they were born.

You have everything you need to succeed. I will show you. Follow me as I try to guide everyone as we all begin to succeed.

Even in these trying times, there is nothing that can stop you. I don't want excuses. I do not accept Can't or Don't.

Do not whine. If everything was easy, wouldn't we all already be where we wish to be?

Pay attention fans, it is coming soon, the tsunami that is Jack Hatfield. I am so glad that this journey starts now.

Welcome to my blog. Please check back soon for new entries.