Mark E. Lampkin

Wait Watchers

Here we sit at the mid-point of the second month of 2012.

There are some of you who have dropped away from the regular workout routines you committed to in January…

Still a few who are still reading the affirmations that were created as the new year began…

While others have resumed their regular routine of worry, work and wonder about how to make this your best year ever…

Today I am here to applaud the quiet minority who have, for likely the first time ever, continued to do the daily little things; read the chapter of the self-help book, exchange the sweet, sugary delight for a piece of fruit, and invest in a new way to think and work…

Which of these scenarios best describes your GPS location today?

Are you waiting for another year to pass?

Are you watching others live the life you secretly wish to experience?

It can be yours…

Get off the couch and begin today to have the health, wealth and freedom that you believe is your destiny.

Stop waiting.

Stop watching.

Live free beginning today.

Peace.

It Ain’t About You…

It has been one week since my latest PSA test and Digital rectal examination showed no further growth of my prostate…and I am still excited about those findings. Since then I have had discussions with a few friends, with the intent to uncover their thoughts and concerns about their health issues; and particularly where it relates to men.

There were a few women who shared with me that their father’s had died at an early age, and thus had wished for a longer time to have spent with there Dads. I believe both of their father’s succumbed to heart failure brought about by diabetes. As I sit and think about my time spent last summer with my grand and great-grand daughters, it became crystal clear that my taking care of myself was important to me…but it really mattered even more when I looked into the eyes of the youngest bloodline that I have created.

And so I ask you men, and women, to consider how you might think of a world that your grand children would live in…without you. That’s right. You are nothing more than the picture in a frame on the fireplace mantle. Stories are told about you and who you were, and always end with a sad refrain, “he/she died so young.” Those of us on the north side of 50 realize how young 60 is looking every day. It is all in our perspective.

On my social media pages I am listing my morning breakfast menus…showing a balance of protein, fruits, juices and sometime a little meat to keep my inner dinosaur happy. Having recently received my cholesterol reading I know that I am doing the right things with regards to my food intake. Again, it ain’t about me…

You see, I am thinking years ahead to my granddaughter graduating from her schooling…my great granddaughter getting her high school diploma…even my youngest daughter getting married. I want to be walking upright and of my own volition…not being pushed around in a wheelchair or worse, not being alive to witness these special occasions.

So, do me a favor and spread the word. We are going to begin the second half of 2011 by making a true commitment to a healthier lifestyle. We will walk more. Eat more fruits. Drink more water. Eat less red meat. And show gratitude for another day of life.

And for those of you who are still not sure if this works…keep my mantra from today in your mind and spirit…”It Ain’t About You.” This is for those future generations who will be doting on you when you are the patriarch/matriarch of the family and telling the stories of how life used to be…in 2011.

Peace.

Caregiving is never Easy…

As we are at the end of May, and in the middle of moments when we have celebrated Mother’s Day and in a few weeks will honor our Father’s, I came across an article that reminded me of the challenges our family faced a few years ago when our parent’s needed care. Take a read and let me know your thoughts

Please click here for the article:

What will it Take…?

To agree to eat two pieces of fruit each day.

To match each other and drink 4 glasses of water daily.

To insuring our walking partner will not succeed in quitting.

To give away those old, big clothes.

To parking the car and taking mass transit one day each week.

To commit to reading a new book each month.

To agree to spend money with a local business instead of a Big Box business.

If you and I will agree to this, we can make a difference. Every day. In a society where we are bombarded with what is wrong, what the problems are, and the belief that there is little chance for change…we will prove just the opposite is true.

We can have better health. We will lose weight and lower blood pressure. We can help local businesses succeed against the Big Corporations.

What will it take for YOU to make a difference in your life and those who are watching YOU?

Check out this article and consider another way to live.

Peace.

Baby steps to bangs…

Today is the 8th anniversary of the birth of my youngest daughter, Meisha Kalila Lampkin. It was only a few short years ago that we celebrated her taking her first steps. And now she runs faster than many of her friends. Just recently she let me know that she is not a little girl anymore, when she said she could now do her own hair. What, the old ponytail in the back is not good enough? No. She now wants bangs….oh man.

She is truly a gift from God, and keeps me laughing about things that I would have likely never known about without her in my life; Sponge Bob, Hannah Montana and iCarly just to name a few…what is coming next, at my age, is going to be quite an experience. It is during these times that I realize the importance of telling our children how much we love them and want them to be good people as they mature. I don’t want her to have any doubt about how I feel about her.

I often sit and watch as she interacts with her schoolmates, our family and even new acquaintances, and am grateful that God gave me another opportunity to get it right as a parent. For being a father who can say “no” without guilt seems to be a rare quality in these ultra-permissive times. Yet, I want her to remain my little girl for as long as possible. What kind of world will she inherit? It is the major question I ask myself…and you.

Let’s take inventory today of how we live, interact and prepare for a more global environment where people will live longer and require more services than ever in our history. Will American culture learn to honor the elders of society and the wisdom and experiences that have shaped them, or will we be cast aside like an unwanted or broken electronic game? I believe we are at a major crossroads.

So, enjoy the beauty of Spring and I shall be ever humbled by the majesty of life as I celebrate my daughter’s 8th birthday…a truly sacred gift from the Creator.

Peace.

Checking the YES Box…

The other day I went to a new massage therapy professional. His session was a gift to me from a friend/colleague. When I called the office to get the correct address I was told to come a few minutes before my appointment time in order to complete a new client questionnaire. No problem. A piece of cake. Just like the good old days….Right?

Now you know the way this goes…a litany of questions with yes and no as the options. Do I have any history of heart disease, high blood pressure, back injury, arthritis, etc. And that is when it began to unfold…Sitting in that chair with the form on the clipboard, halfway through the questions. I have answered YES to more of the questions than ever before in my life.

Granted, I am blessed with reasonably good health. I even like to boast that I have never spent a night in a hospital since I left it 56 years ago…but here I am now looking at a form that I used to check the no boxes without thinking. And here I have to admit to myself that YES, this now applies to me.

What do we do with that? How does it make us feel when we now have a chronic illness? A disease that will alter how we approach each new day. The most that I do is take ibuprofen to muffle the pain that Uncle Arthur is wreaking in my fingers and toes…

Will you join me in the journey as we gracefully grow older together? Let’s take heed to our bodies each day…eating 2-3 helpings of fruit, drinking 4-6 glasses of water and moving. And no, going to the bathroom is not considered effective healthy movement. Go for a walk. Dance to the music in your iPod. Heck, play a Wii fit game with your grandkids and break a sweat. Do something that will raise your heart rate above “just enough to survive.”

So that the next time you are in that office and completing the new patient form, your no’s will once again outnumber your yeses…

Peace.

The Choice Is Yours…

Many of you know that for the past 21 seasons I have officiated high school basketball in the Bay Area of California. It is a passion of pure love for me. I am proud to have been selected in 2002 and 2009 to work one of the State Finals games, which is the highest achievement for any official and the goal of all of us who wear the black and white shirt.

Back around my fifth season, I attended a playoff game to support the officials working that night, and later went with the crew and other officials to a local establishment to have a bite to eat, drink a beer and share that games highlights. Believe me our perspective of a game is quite different from that of players, coaches and fans.

This night, while seated next to an official who had worked a couple of championship games and is well respected among our peers…I asked him the question; what do I need to do to be a state championship game official. He thought for a moment, then said something to me that I never forgot; “Have you ever seen a state championship official with a beard?”

Now you might wonder why this was so profound. At the time, I sported a very neatly trimmed and well-maintained beard. Not the kind where remnants of today’s lunch was visible. I actually took great pride in my beard…being a guy from the Midwest; I annually grew a beard in winter to keep the face a bit warmer from the chilly winds of The Hawk.

So here I am now having to make a choice between two things I cherish. Yet, to get the place that I now know I want to achieve, I will have to give up a thing that I have embodied, even been identified with for years, in order to be happy. The rest, as it is said, is history.

How about you? What might you need to choose to leave behind in order to have what you say you want today? Bad eating habits from your childhood? Negative self-image from a failed relationship/marriage? Laziness? Procrastination? Poverty mentality? Take an honest inventory of what is keeping you from the life that you envision for yourself, and begin today to let go of the things that are keeping you from it.

I had the choice to make…and it became a fun thing to grow my beard AFTER basketball season, instead of during. My daughter, Meisha, lovingly calls it my Spring beard.

Holding onto the past has it’s place, but not if it holds you hostage. The Choice is Yours.

Peace.

Thanks for Riding With Me…

How exciting it is to be at the threshold of another new year. For many of us 2010 was quite an amazing experience filled with some triumphs…and a few troubles. Yet, we made it through. Hopefully, we are changed in at least some small way. Maybe you finally stopped smoking. Or you lost those unwanted pounds…and kept them off by employing a new way to enjoy food. Some of you have that book written and out for the public to embrace.

What will be the driving force for your 2011? Let’s acknowledge that we can have a different life. It starts each day when we choose consciously. Taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Drinking more water and less soda. Telling your loved ones…”I Love You.” Before they become the dearly departed…

I am grateful to those of you who kept me in your inbox as I wrote my blog posts. There were times I had that old tape playing…why am I doing this? No one is reading…Crap!

But, I kept going, determined to honor my commitment to sharing my life and thoughts in public view. Some people dropped out…more dropped in. And many of you gave me encouragement to keep going. I thank you.

As I did last December, I would like to know what it is you deem important going forward. For it is true that when we have people to whom we are accountable, we are less likely to quit. Something about knowing that someone cares gives us even more of a reason to press on. So, forward one or two of your 2011 goals…and I will do the same.

A year ago I challenged us that when we looked back at 2010, we would see a new path created. And, thus, a new life experience. I am pleased with what I can see looking behind me. I pray that you are encouraged as well…let’s make 2011 an even better year.

Peace.

Are you a Cell out…

Funny how the more things change, the farther away from the past we get. Now I know you were expecting a different conclusion to that old cliché, but I had another thought.

Some of us are seasoned enough to recall a time when you were told by a parent to always keep a dime, so you could make a phone call in an emergency. Great advice when you had pay phones on almost every other block. Then along came cell phones. They were these big deals…literally and figuratively. My first cell phone weighed about 6 pounds, as it had the battery block attached to it. Something you would see in an old army movie. Big rubber antenna. Left it sitting on my car seat in Oakland’s Chinatown one afternoon in 1992…came back to the car and it had been stolen. Oh snap. Do I have a dime?

Here we are today, and almost everyone has a cell phone. Small enough to fit in your pocket, purse or other grandmotherly hiding place. And to see how we have been programmed to where we feel lost without it is a sad state of affairs. I even heard a friend say recently that if he had left his briefcase at home during the morning commute, no problem. He could just wing it that day at work. But, if he had left his cell phone at home, he would have turned around and headed back home. The risk of being “out of touch” superceded the fact that he would be late for work. I shook my head in disbelief.

The next time I see a person riding a bike, pushing their child in a stroller or standing at the checkout at the store and talking on their cell phone, I might just scream at the top of my lungs…LET IT GO! I mean do we have to be connected to someone all the time? Can we have a few minutes of alone time? Must we be at the end of the tether and available at every moment of every day? During your bath/shower? Meals? Prayer?

As we ramp up toward 2011, I just want you to consider how we might become a bit freer when we can put the cell phone down, and spend time really engaged in a conversation with our fellow brother or sister. No sneak peek at your device when it buzzes, rings or sings the newest Beyonce song. Show the person with whom you are talking that they matter when the next digital interruption occurs. It just might make them feel important to you.

More importantly, you might find that life is pretty good without that incessant interruption. By the way, if you do not hear from me for a few days, call and check on me. But only after 10:00 PM and before 7:00 AM. It’s a free incoming call for me…

Peace.

Blessed Beyond Measure…

In this journey of life there are many seminal moments when we know that “it was nothing but God’s mercy and grace that kept me…”

As I prepare to return to the house I co-own with my soon to be ex-wife, it is with joy and a sense of excitement that I make my re-entry. For the past 12 months, I have been a well cared for resident in the home of my sister and her husband. They have loved me, encouraged me, even chastised me where appropriate, all in the name of love. On numerous occasions I have had to stop and wonder where I might be and what I could be doing, if not for the generosity displayed by my family.

I have long felt a pang of sympathy with the men and women I see on the streets of our cities; living hand-to-mouth, having been reduced to beggars and dismissed as outcasts. We often take little time to consider what life circumstances have pushed them to this current place of destitution. The phrase we Christians use all too frequently, “there but for the grace of God go I”, has a whole new and personal meaning for me. I have replaced the sympathy with empathy…the look of disinterest to one of compassion.

The rebuilding of ones life is no small feat at any stage of life. It is certainly compounded when one is past the half-century mark and in the midst of an economic time that has rivaled the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Yet, I am so much wiser and better because of the time I have had to take an honest look at my thoughts, feelings and beliefs. All of that was made possible because of the loving environment in which I was immersed. Whether a kind word from my sister, a funny exchange between my brother-in-law or one of their grandchildren walking through the house looking for Uncle Mark…I have been shown true love given unconditionally.

This current resetting of the American and global economy has, I hope, given all of us reason to pause and consider what is truly important in our lives. It cannot be the vehicles we drive, the stuff we pack into our over-priced homes or the letters placed after our names or titles. It is really all about the love we share with each other. For as we have witnessed, the wealthy, many of whom obtained their riches dishonestly, being sentenced to prison, and the contraction of major employment sectors throughout the land, it comes back to the basics…God, family and country. In that order.

So, when you see that man or woman, boy or girl, on the street of your city, consider that their plight is likely one not of their own making. And that they may not have a loving and available support system to comfort, encourage and help them rise up once more. Say a prayer for them, ask them how they are doing…and listen to them for a few minutes. I guarantee that you will be the better for the exchange. And you will then be more inclined to not complain about those small inconveniences that daily present to us. Because, like never before, you can utter these words, when asked how you are doing, “I am truly blessed…”

Peace.