I have been a fan of Julio Melara, author, speaker, entrepreneur, publisher, and CEO of Melara Enterprises, a multi-media company which publishes Business Repost for a variety of magazines and newsletters. He also writes a monthly article which seems to appear in my emails with perfect timing. I trust you will enjoy his words of wisdom as I do.  

“Have you ever had a couple of days or weeks full of problems? Well lately I’ve had lots of them, and it got me thinking as I paused to think and reflect about how to solve them. In our journey of both business and life, we encounter a myriad of challenges and obstacles. Yet, it's crucial to recognize that problems aren't roadblocks; rather, they are opportunities for growth, innovation, and progress. I want to discuss the value of problems and the importance of confronting them head-on.

​Thirty years ago, in the month of May, my sister Maggie married Gary. When they met, Maggie was a postal worker delivering mail on the streets in central Phoenix. Gary was a police officer working the same neighborhood. He recalls seeing her one day walking her route from house to house delivering mail and it was love at first sight for him. Two years later they married. Blending their families together with adult children and a teenager still at home to raise, they went through the adjustments of matrimony and committed to each other for life. 
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After their wedding, Maggie stopped working to manage their busy home life and Gary left the police department after his parents relentlessly insisted he leave the department. They worried about his safety. He then followed his lifelong desire to become a master woodworker. With a skill for large, complex wall sectionals, cabinets, and furniture, including our Pluma Studio custom cabinetry, he has an eye for detail and spatial configuration with anything wood related. He is talented.

Just when I thought I’ve heard everything on aging well, optimal health, longevity, exercise, and the importance of emotional, spiritual, and relational health, an insightful book by Dr. Peter Attia finds its way to me. Thank you, Barbara Madorin, for the recommendation. The book is the newest wake-up call for proceeding from the eras of medicine, health, and science 1.0 to 2.0 to 3.0 and beyond. 

OUTLIVE, The Science & Art of Longevity is one of the most comprehensive and transformative dialogue on how to be ‘alive’ while living. I realize it sounds redundant to state the obvious. Isn’t everyone who is living alive? Not necessarily. 

On September 2, 2013, Diana Nyad, at 64 years old, after 4 failed attempts and 35 years from her first attempt, swam from Cuba to Florida, accomplishing her life-long dream of swimming non-stop nation to nation. Due to forceful currents in the water, the 103 miles turned into 110 miles. It took her 52 hours and 44 minutes to reach her goal. Continually in the water, swimming across shark-and jellyfish infested waters, without the protection of a shark cage, at the final moment walking out of the water on the beach in Key West Florida, she spoke to an awaiting crowd and uttered these words; “I just want to say, number one, never, ever give up. Number two, you’re never too old to chase your dream, and number three, it looks like a solitary sport, but it’s a team.” In the movie, NYAD, Diana Nyad is portrayed as a persistent, dynamic, egocentric woman who would ‘find a way’ to get things done….no matter what. 

In an interview with Annette Bening, who played Nyad in the movie, I learned of Bening’s compelling decision to play the role.  At age 62, she began training with an Olympic swimming coach for the part. Stating she would not have had the ‘mindset’ had she been any younger to take on such a task. She wanted a challenge, something new, and she too would ‘find a way’ to get it done. 

The Luck of the Irish phrase originated during the second half of the 19th century, according to Edward T. O'Donnell, an associate professor of history at Holy Cross. Many successful miners at the time were Irish. The phrase "the luck of the Irish" was used to imply the miners, immigrants in America, were finding success purely based on luck, rather than based on intelligence and skill.

Although the Irish potato blight receded in 1850, the effects of the famine continued to spur Irish emigration into the 20th century. Still facing poverty and disease, the Irish set out for America where they reunited with relatives who had fled at the height of the famine. The list of successful Irish in America is extensive, from actors to business owners, politicians, and influential leaders in every area of our country.  Were the Irish luckier than any other group of people. Perhaps.  Nonetheless they were intelligent and skilled and open to relocating, retraining, rebuilding, and adapting to new conditions. They made their luck. 
The question is, do you feel lucky?

​Most Pluma clients know her as Samantha. Her official name is Ibtisam Nisan. She was born in Iraq forty-two years ago. At the age of nine, along with her mother and four siblings, they escaped from Iraq and the warfare of Saddam Hussein. 

Along with hundreds of others, Samantha’s family walked for several days until they reached Turkey. While the people walked, many carrying their children and whatever belongings they could hold, American planes dropped food and water to keep them alive. She remembers little about this walk, except they were frightened, cold and wet from rain and they were exhausted, and their mother kept them moving forward. 

“There is more that unites us, than divides us.” – Amazon Prime Movie, This is Christmas.
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During the Christmas holidays I watched a movie, a romantic comedy, that stated people are more united than divided. Could this be true? 

The movie takes place in the UK. The main character, Adam, actor Alfred Enoch, rides the same train to work into the city daily, with the same passengers.  All of them strangers to each other, he is intrigued and curious and begins to wonder about them. Who are these daily riders, what do they do, and what is their story?  One pretty gal gets his attention, of course, and becomes interested in her. 

It’s natural to be interested and curious about people, their lives, their story, why they dress the way they do and about their overall character. We make up our own stories about them. At the airport or any other crowded place where we’re surrounded by strangers, and have time to observe, we naturally begin to wonder about the people around us. Some of us travel, join groups, read books, and watch movies for the same reason. We wonder about the lives of others and what we have in common or how we differ. 

As another year ends and we prepare to experience the next, we can’t help but consider what has passed and what is before us. Ever changing and unpredictable, we can choose to either recall the good and build on it or bemoan what could have been. Our thoughts lead us either way. Humans are complex and we are in constant transformation, we are fueled and directed by our thinking, year after year.
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Inspiration is a fuel that helps direct our mind. Whether through a book or documentary, perhaps a person or an organization, or an event that stirs our emotions, we need to feed our inspiration appetite and exercise our motivation muscle and remain open to the possibilities. Life can be better if we move forward, into our next year, consciously inspired! 

Rarely do I enjoy television commercials. But the Volvo EX30 – "It’s the little things" commercial captured my interest and stirred my emotions. 
It highlights a dad and his daughter doing the little things in life. The music, words to a song, and an expert filming of expressions on faces become relatable, and at the end, the words ‘It’s the little things that mean a lot’ win you over. And you want to run out and purchase a Volvo. Or at least I did…. but I didn’t. I’ll keep my car. 
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My son Ron is in the commercial/film industry in Hollywood and has been for twenty years. I know for a fact that attention to detail, the little things, is imperative when filming and creating an emotional connection to the product and characters in a film or commercial and with the viewers/consumers…. making it all relatable, accessible, and attainable.  It’s the little things that mean a lot.  

We’ve all heard of Lotto Winners who win millions of dollars and within a few years they find themselves broke. Perhaps with even less money than before becoming millionaires. What happened?

Over the years I’ve heard thousands of stories from people who have not only survived devastating events, but they have eventually thrived.  What got them through? 
Why do some businesses continue to do well, while others close their doors after trying their best? What was missing?

Recently I watched a documentary, Live to 100, Secretes of the Blue Zones, highlighting five ‘Blue Zone’ regions in the world where people not only live to 100 and beyond, but these centenarians are living extraordinarily long and vibrant lives of health and productivity with no signs of Alzheimer’s or diabetes… illness related to aging.