The Claims, The Claims

DE Plane, De Plane!

Pretend you heard Tattoo from Fantasy Island saying the post title. Go ahead, we'll wait.
Not so funny? Fair enough, but neither are most of the things you read on the internet.

I was reading a blogger's site for some interesting stuff. It was ok, but one thing stood out on the pitch to join his subscription list. "100s of people can't be wrong!"

Join all the other readers to get apparently exclusively FREE stuff, along with all the hundreds of others.

Really?

They just can't be wrong? I think we'd all beg to differ. I've seen some GREAT posts dig into this one better than I can. In particular, Susan Young's latest rant was GREAT.

My fave there: "A Tweet that says “I just worked all day on my new blog post. Read it at________.” A touch of Jersey sarcasm here, but no one cares about how long you struggled to create your genius post."

Priceless, but true. Do you care how long it took me to synthesize this nugget? Er, no. Was it useful? Dear god, I hope so.

But if not, at least, I introduced you to Susan and reminded you to keep an eye out for De Claims!

Check out my appearance on the The Toddcast Podcast

Click and watch the podcast recording of my appearance on the Toddcast Podcast Such a fun time!

New Life

It's weird, sad and slightly freeing. I've been headed towards a completely different life for a lot longer than I even knew. It took me a while to catch up to realize it was happening. Thankfully, I was cognizant enough to see it finally and mostly ready for it. It's amazing when you have the rug completely pulled out from underneath you. The adjustments are jarring. I made mistakes, but like most I learned from them, adapted, and tried my best to do better. The reason you see that truck next to a storage place? That's the sum of my life right now. Never take for granted that you will work hard for something or someone, and it will end up meaning very little. You are guaranteed nothing, owed nothing, promised nothing. Anything and everything can be taken away in a heartbeat. I wrote this to my kids a while back: I tried to be the best father I could be based on what I knew when I knew it and how I could. One of the lessons for your life needs to be: you need to b

Guiding Light

Most folk who know me, know I lost my father when I was 14 years old. However, before he passed, he shared a timeless secret with me—a practice that would shape my life in ways I could never have imagined. He didn't teach me meditation in the traditional sense, with incense and crossed legs. Instead, he showed me how to meditate by gazing at a lone light on the ceiling. When I was very young, I had night terrors that would wake me in the middle of the night. I'm sure it was terribly frustrating to calm a child from that. But my father had the way. I never understood how he came to the practice. But over the years, I've come to understand that my father's unique approach to meditation was, in fact, a profound lesson in mindfulness and presence. In a nearly pitch black room, he would tell me to find a speck of light, not unlike a star. Then focus. He would say, "Just watch the light, like you're watching a story unfold. Be the observer, not the thinker." I

Todd Lyden

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