YOUR HEADLINE... READ ALL ABOUT IT!

CHOOSE TO MAKE YOUR OWN HEADLINES... IN ADVANCE

CHOICES: This blog begins and will end with the word "choice."

If you took a quick look at Sunday June 8, 2008 headlines you would read about earthquakes, floods, destructive and deadly tornados, mass murders, tragic accidents, wars and rumors of wars, diseases, increase in oil prices, global warming, political strife, and some stories sprinkled in the headlines offering HOPE… medical news, heroics, and what would seem just plain old good fortune smiling on a lucky few.

In reality most people are going to wake up tomorrow morning without a building they are in or a bridge they are on collapsing. Their plane will arrive safely and most of those on time. Politicians will actually do little to affect how most people decide to live their lives, and much of the bad around us will offer a new look at the opposites – creating previously unconsidered opportunities.

Though deaths in family and among friends inevitably happen, so do births. Losing fortunes or the house means you get to assess anew what really matters most. I know…It has happened to me. No one eats you, though the news would make it out they would. Credit scores plummet, but now you quit racking up a mass of stressful debt to live a lifestyle you couldn’t pay cash for anyway.

Wars rage, sons and family members go. Some will not return. Most will though. Even when we had a world at war (1939-1945) with 16,000,000+ Americans in uniform roughly 15,500,000 came home. This is not to diminish the tragedy of the lost or fallen. Heroes are made from how strife is handled, not from unending ease or lack of conflict. It is real life; to look at the thousands of decisions ahead of us yet to be made regarding how we will respond to the vagaries of life, the sudden reversals, the trials and losses. They certainly will come to all, and though suffering and stresses occur, the sun rises tomorrow and everyday with a question for you… “What will you decide to do with this day?”

CHOICES and Attitudes: We have much to be grateful for in America. Sure there are bad policies affecting us and our life-styles formed by either self-centered politicians or stupid ones (or both) and sure it isn’t $1.50, $2.50, or $3.50 for a gallon of gas any more. Things could be better. But here in the USA you can get up in the morning and change your life, your career, your job. It won’t necessarily be easy. It might take re-training. It might take re-locating. It could be selling one dream in exchange for a new one. Jobs aren’t handed out by governments anyway – not in a prosperous country. They are made or unmade by people with ideas, hopes, dreams, visions of accomplishment. That’s what brought my English ancestors here to virgin land untouched by all but natives 400 years ago. My Dutch ancestors one hundred years ago came with luggage and dreams. They did okay leaving Holland behind – not because someone handed them “freebies” right off the boat, but because of dreams they had and choices they made.

Life isn’t always fair. But, as the saying goes, “What doesn’t kill ya usually makes you better.” It is the future that drives an individual to have faith in the hoped for better days, not the past. Thank God for HOPE. Thank God for INSPIRATIONS which come to us. Thank God for Freedom of CHOICE. And I have to say, thank God also for family, friends, and opportunities to begin anew... I know, you may wonder if the fair-haired (younger years) "golden boy" (quite a while ago) really "gets it." I must sound like one more "positive mental attitude" cheerleader to many.

As I write this I have come to the end of a four year near “zero income” cycle in which I finished two novels, started three more, finished one screenplay and built a company from scratching out the concepts with a friend on a note pad. From hope, creativity, support of loved ones, encouraging words of readers, and belief that great things were ahead, I have created new and prosperous alliances I never would have had if former professional dreams all came true. I have generally laughed my way through each day with the love of a great wife, good friends, and this dream... To do some good with my talent. To remake my life into one that stands for principles during storms and carefree days of ease was not in my plans a few years ago. I was a one novel a year man with what I figured were slam dunk opportunities. Funny how it goes...

Since over one thousand sun risings, I have experienced some sad and almost unbearably hard moments; health and family welfare concerns, deaths and tragedy. But the sun always came up with a question on the following day… "What will you decide to do with this day?”

The dreams never died and choosing them over surrender made all the difference. They are my HEADLINES written in advance. I see what “will be” not what “was” or “can’t be.” I love more because of losing love. I feel more because of pains that nag and ridicule my fading youth. I believe more because I must. I am more because of going through less than comfortable moments; those adversities so common to all. I've earned my "cheerleader" badge.

The Headlines in tomorrow’s news will no doubt speak of destructions, mayhem, violence, and unspeakable tragedies. Don’t you add to them. Make your own Headlines. Announce on a notepad what you are willing to do, who you want to be. To make your life as big as anyone ever has, start and finish new projects. Touch the lives of others around you. It doesn’t take money to begin. It takes a decision. A great novel never will be written in ease or comfort until several have been written out of necessity with grit and determination to the final punctuation mark preceded by these words; The End.

Good beginnings promise victory and good endings. Good beginnings are offered each new day; our "choices" make them or break them. Make sure you have a dream bigger than mere “survival.” Cut loose all those who have hurt you. Do not hate them but do not tether your life to theirs, or to broken promises. Ignore the politicos who promise the moon. The sun is already shining for you. Forget a boss who doesn’t deliver; just make sure you “deliver.” Let go of “unfair” and make the world “fair” by how you live it; what you do for it.

Today, be someone who changes a life for the better, and begin wherever you are… and with whatever you have. Create a HEADLINE in advance! Soon the world will see who you have become and will READ ALL ABOUT IT!

I know this all sounds terribly optimistic. But… the alternative attitude is a terribly poor choice. It’s all up to you and one little word arriving with tomorrow’s sunrise and morning news: Choice!

JMP http://www.jmpratt.com/