WELCOME TO THE LIFEWORKS BLOG

The is the inaugural blog for my website and business LifeWorks! So fasten your seat belts, put your trays and seats in the upright position and prepare for takeoff.

For many of you blogging is second nature. For a minority of us, well like me, this is a new adventure. Growing up as a kid in north central Iowa in the 60's, waiting for the black and white TV to warm up so you could select from one of three channels was as good as life got. (Oh and you had to ask to turn the TV on). On a good weather night, you might pick up a fourth channel which was the Public TV channel out of Des Moines a good 70 miles away.

Then one Christmas, I moved up in the world of technology when my parents got me a Transistor radio. All you needed was a 9 volt battery and you could get all the AM stations you wanted. That's right AM...FM hadn't been born yet...and when it was they had all this funky music with weird DJs.

Well now I have a flatscreen, HD, stereo, cable, 48" TV. I have NO idea everything it can do. I think one night I "linked up" to the Space Shuttle. I have a computer which is a big deal when you consider when I was a kid in elementary school a piece of chalk and a blackboard was all we had. Prehistoric right? Oh that and a #2 pencil. America's schools taught millions of kids with the chalk, blackboard and pencils. A notebook was well a notebook.

Let me tell you what I don't have though. I DON'T own a cellphone. When I tell people that they don't believe me. How could that be possible? In today's world...really? No cellphone? My Dad who is 80 has a cellphone! He talks to his 82 year old brother on his cellphone.

I find cellphones for the most part annoying. If I'm to believe everyone, they have them in case of an emergency. They purchase cellphones for their children and their elderly parents for emergencies. We must live in a country in great disarray, confusion and crisis.

People think I'm a dinosaur...out of it...I need to "catch up". Truth is I'm not interested in catching up. I'd rather actually "talk" to people. If I have to walk 20 ft. in an office building to ask someone something rather than send an email, I'll walk the 20 feet.

The other day I was in restaurant. Sitting at a table next to me was a family of five and grandpa and granma. Sunday dinner I imagine after church. The father was on his Blackberry, two of the kids were playing games on their cellphones, and the other child had an Ipod on. Granpa was at the end of the table with no one to talk to as Granma and probably her daughter just sat. There was NO conversation going on. You should have seen the waitress trying to get their orders!

So I'm a firm believer in developing communication skills with the brain, ears, mouth, eyes and heart. And in future blogs that's one area we'll be going. We already have a generation of incredible technology and people who have no idea how to communicate with their family, spouse, children, co-workers, neighbors. Effective communication goes well beyond your finger and thumb tips. As you will learn in blogs to come, LifeWorks is all about helping people get the most out of their lives and relationships. As Seals & Crofts sang back in the 70's, "we may never pass this way again." So why not build meaningful relationships?

As a footnote...this very first blog is dedicated to my Mom. About 5 years ago she died a terrible and painstaking death due to pancreatic cancer. It was on Easter Sunday. She was my Mom, prsion guard, counselor, friend, enforcer, teacher, coach, and hugger. She was tough, she was loving. She was Mom...(and yes she had a cellphone!)