The Jamie Reports

About three weeks ago, I decided to select my most dreaded machine in the gym and focus on improving my performance and attitude toward it. I selected the stair-stepper (aka: “Stairway to Hell”). At that time, after about five minutes on the thing, I was done; silently cursing it as I made my way to the water fountain. Each day thereafter, I tackled the machine at the end of whatever workout was scheduled. During the final week, I did two-a-days with a stair-stepping conclusion each time. My goal was to climb the Empire State Building (a total of 1860 steps) within 30 minutes by the close of the week. At the beginning of that final week, I decided to tackle the entire set of stairs just to see what my time was. Keep in mind, five minutes tops when I started this. On first attempt, I made the climb in 53:38; a far cry from my 30-minute goal. At that point, I turned to two friends for advice (really, just consolation, lol). I had done the math and realized that setting such a publi...

-Written June 19, 2016- for Father's Day The Butterfly Effect is this idea that small occurrences in the present can yield massive effect in the future; much like a seed planted fifty years ago might be a large shade tree now. Not long ago a gentleman spoke at my dad's memorial. He shared the story of my father saving him from a near-drowning when he was eight years old. (My father never shared this story or many of the others I heard that week.) At that time, my dad was a life guard at the Lib erty Pool during a rather iconic period in the history of my hometown. The gentleman shared that he knew of others my dad had to pull out of the pool during his tenure there. As I listened to this gentleman describe his childhood event, I began to imagine the lives that were affected by that one moment in time. Entire generations of family, from his kids to his grand-kids, would never have come into existence had he not lived past that day. This white-haired man now in his 60s wa...

I have spent the past couple of months donating/selling belongings that do not add value to my life. During this time, I have also been working on digitizing as much of my papers and photographs as possible. It is unfathomable how, after spending months tackling this, I still find boxes of knick-knacks to go through (Today, I found a large suitcase in the corner of a closet filled with winter clothing I had forgotten about; an entire tuxedo as well). According to an LA Times article (March 21, 2014), the average household contains over 300,000 items! 300,000 “things;” the majority of which, when we are honest, do not add value to our lives. And, still being honest, their very presence absorbs at least some of our mental and physical energy. Whether that energy is spent cleaning and organizing the “stuff” or financing the storage of it in a home that is twice the size it needs to be or in off-site storage units (in the U.S.-alone: a staggering 38 billion dollar-a-year industry!!). Just...

Today's post is not a laugh-out-loud one like the others. Click "archives" on the left if you need something like that. Today's post is me sharing a change I made over the past year that has significantly improved my life. I can't help but share it. And, true to one of the points of this entire blog, I believe the changes described can dramatically "dismantle anxiety." Thank you for reading! -- I have a challenge for all of you. Details below!! 😊 Roughly half of my friends think I am bonkers. The other half seem to respect my gradual shift into minimalism. Here’s how it all started: I decided to downsize about a year ago. I had been living in a three-bedroom two-and-a-half bath three-story townhouse with double car garage. I was single for the majority of the time I lived there. I had no pets and, at that time, not even a plant to care for (Side note: I have a Peace lily now that is my little pride and joy!). There were rooms I did not even e...

This story really does make me laugh out loud! I hope you have the same response. My dad was a cook for the majority of his life. And everybody knew him! He threw his hand up waving at people left and right. I loved that about my dad; he was charismatic but so so humble and gentle. He was a good man. When he retired from cooking, it wasn’t long before he got bored. So, in his 70's he took on a paper route! My mom was still a nurse at the time, but, on most days, she would help out as well. They would leave early (like 2 AM early) to deliver papers. When I would visit, I would accompany them and, to be honest, these are some of my most cherished memories. One of my favorite parts of these adventures happened near the end of each trip. We would make a pit stop at this same little gas station ( Wilco at Bassett Forks, VA) and daddy would always buy us a pastry and we would sip coffee and eat that pastry on our morning break. It was so simple and so absolutely perfect. W...

My 26-year battle w ith indigestion Not exactly the most promising first-liner for a post on a blog about putting smiles on people’s faces, but, consider this particular entry a public service announcement!!  😊      Something must have happened to milk around 1992. I can remember as a child my mom serving milk with every meal; even heavy meals like spaghetti came with a tall glass of milk. I drank vast amounts of it with my morning (and afternoon and evening) cereal without ever a care in the world. But then, 1992 arrived and all of a sudden, I became down-right ill by the drinking of it. Not only that, but with most meals and snacks I found myself feeling sick. I can recall when, in my early 20's, every single meal I consumed was accompanied with indigestion. I could not escape it. The occurrences did not ease with age; I think I just became adept at planning for these times. Continuously devising strategies to escape meetings and immediately surveying...