Learning How To Surf Life's Waves

I was reading the following story about the oldest woman alive to Grandma Bette just now, waking her up because the time change is still throwing me off. She's OK with me waking her up, telling me she looks forward to my calls.

Only a few years ago she was telling me she didn't know why she was still around. Now she happily retells how others tell her she is so blessed to have her children and grandchildren calling her all the time.

*The attention has given her reason to live.

The love I have for her is my motivation for creating the wealth to own a helicopter so I can visit her more often. She and I have named it, "The Bette". A pursuit of any goal, created from a place of great love, allows for great confidence in its manifestation.

The simple goal of wanting to stay alive is entirely possible, if given enough attention.

Jeanne Louise Calment, who died at 122 years and 164 days of age, lived to be the oldest person on record. Though her parents and siblings also lived to an advanced age, she outlived them all. An active woman, Calment continued to ride a bicycle until she was 100 years old and lived independently until she was nearly 110. At 114, she became the world's oldest actress, appearing as herself in the family film Vincent and Me.

Jeanne Calment's remarkable health presaged her later record. At age 85, she took up fencing. At 100, she was still riding a bicycle. Jeanne lived on her own until shortly before her 110th birthday, when her cooking caused an accidental fire in her apartment and it was decided that she needed to be moved to a nursing home. However, Jeanne was still in good shape, and was able to walk until a fall at age 114 years and 11 months.

Jeanne survived a hip operation in January 1990 to become the oldest verified surgery patient. Although she needed to use a wheelchair afterward, Jeanne remained talkative and received frequent visitors until her 122nd birthday, at which time it was finally decided that her health status had declined and warranted privacy.

Indeed, it was said by Jean-Marie Robine that this "allowed her to die", because the attention had kept her going.

Jeanne Calment died five months later. She reportedly attributed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance (for her age) to olive oil, which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed into her skin.[1]

She was the last recognized surviving person of the 1870s.

She was quoted as saying, "Ha, I was over the hill a hundred years ago".

Last night at a Hollywood party the stars I met were so down to earth, even playing ping pong with me in the basement of Tony's home, that I woke up more confident than ever that all of our limitations are entirely self-imposed.....And it being so terribly and tragically obvious how we limit ourselves so much every day.

**The attention we give to our thoughts and dreams keeps our hopes alive.

Before talking to Grandma I had spent an hour texting a student from last year who is going through a very rough time and literally ready to give it all up.

*I'm hoping and believing that this positive attention will give him a reason to live, and live large! Live all the way! I learned to surf yesterday, the day after a shark killed a triathlete nearby.

The more I face my fears, the more I do in life, and the more I become full of life....perhaps even full enough to give to others and encourage them to keep on living......and living large!

I'm not going to wait around for death to find me, nor am I going to sit around while others are living a walking death or experiencing a hell on earth like the Bra Boys, who raise more hell because of it.

Went to see the movie this afternoon with my best buddy Bri with his girl Tempani, who is from Australia and lived in Maroubra where the movie takes place.



The tattoo Koby has across his upper chest, "My Brother's Keeper", came right through the screen and into me. We are all our brother's keeper. And when we don't take the time to pay attention to this, we all suffer from the effects sooner or later.

Be they young or old, family or aquaintance, friend or even enemy.......and above all with ourselves; we have to keep each other alive, our hopes and dreams, higher standards for thinking and being.

In doing this for ourselves and each other, we keep the hopes and dreams of the world alive, and change the reality of the world.

Among the many incredible people I have met in the last few days (some pictured above like Tate Donovan, Steve Eckhodlt, Tony Horton) ...Scott Fifer has proven once again how powerful a dream in action is. After creating the Tunahaki project to help children in Africa who cannot yet help themselves, he is now working with Ewan McGregor on another project.

Don't tell me why things can't be changed for the better, I'm too busy throwing myself in an ocean of people who ARE busy changing things for the better. People who have the exact same number of hours in the day as we have, who live in the same ocean of possibilities we do, and who have exactly the same opportunities to give up and get off their boards.....but don't. Not even when life breaks their board with a devastating wave....they simply get a new one and head back out into the surf.....unafraid to learn from their mistakes and continue their learning of how to surf life's waves.

Are you seeing how simple it is to become successful, to achieve your dreams and make the world a better place? I do.....And I say let's do it together. Forget anybody who tells you you can't. Listen to those who tell you the truth, and that is you can.

Are you brave enough to believe it?