The significance of the Wise Men's gifts

When the Christ was born three Wise Men came bearing gifts. Conceivably they could've brought a variety of things, but the Holy Bible specifically states that they gave babychronic Jesus gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Have you ever wondered why? "Frankincense, sometimes referred to as olibanum, is a common type of essential oil used in aromatherapy that can offer a variety of health benefits, including helping relieve chronic stress and anxiety, reducing pain and inflammation, boosting immunity and even potentially helping to fight chronic disease." "The health benefits of Myrrh Essential Oil can be attributed to its properties as an antimicrobial, astringent, expectorant, antifungal, stimulant, carminative, stomachic, anticatarrhal, diaphoretic, vulnerary, antiseptic, immune booster, circulatory, tonic, anti-inflammatory, and antispasmodic." Gold is a precious metel, but is it more valuable than Palladium, Rhodium, or Platinum?

Be the best version of you possible.

Often times when companies are developing a software there are several tradeoffs that are made and they normally involve the benefits of the features versus the cost. The same thing can be said when we are deciding whether we should pursue an advanced degree or take a course to learn a new skill.The question becomes what is the cost in financial opportunities or time to be a better version of you than you were? The initial question becomes why are you pursuing the degree or taking the class? What is your motivation? Are you taking the class for you or someone else? Any kind of decision like this should be made with your best interest in mind. Your goal is and should always be will this decision render the best version of me possible?

The Last Mile Is The Hardest

When running a marathon it is said that the last mile is the hardest. The same thing can be said for the challenges that people with disabilities face on a daily basis. The front door of the gym where I exercise is on a slight incline. For most people it wouldn't be a thought to get out your car and go inside. I usually stay for an hour before I leave to return home. Before I leave, I have to go through my usual exit routine of visiting the restroom. It's to the point where I have visited the restroom of 90% of the places that I've been in the last four years. I don't say that to boast, but so that you peek into a day in the life.

Managing your energy grid.

When the totality of what a City Energy Manager is responsible for doing is taken into consideration, we share much in common. Like them, we assess how much energy is needed; whether we have the resources to meet this demand and more importantly whether we generate enough energy to meet peak demands. This is the focus of this blog post. Fatigue is a major symptom of Multiple Sclerosis with an estimated 60% of individuals with the disease plagued by it. Most people take the characteristics described above for granted. If we don't have enough energy to meet the demand we simply eat more or for a short term boost drink an energy drink like a Red Bull. I would take shortcuts burning the proverbial candle on both ends. I would burn far too much energy and try to use a candy bar or energy drink as a substitute for a good source of energy. In wasn't until I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis that I really began to take seemingly simple tasks into account. I like to cook. The way that the dishes are distributed in the cabinets along with spices makes it virtually impossible to do this simple task. Even something as simple as standing at the stove and sautéing a meal requires thought about options for conserving energy like sitting on a bar stool. "Yeah, that's it Marcus! Get a bar stool and sit on that!" Well my friend, it takes energy to get the bar stool...time for a brownout.

Life is a Bell Curve

I took Statistics in college at San Diego State University. I hated it...Okay, maybe hate is too strong. I disliked it, however I did learn something very valuable. I am fascinated with patterns and the Bell Curve predicts the lifecycle of many things. Take friendships for example. They typically start out slowly then build to a crescendo and diminish over time. The challenge with programming a computer to play the game Go is that there are so many potential moves that it can only present a tiny fraction of the potential moves. The same can be said of friends. You know what your potential moves are, but you don't know your friend's potential moves. Will you be shot down? Hence, the problem.

Confusing Self Promotion With Shelf Promotion

Our Creator has endowed us with certain gifts and talents. Often we keep those gifts to ourselves and don't share them with the world. I call this 'shelf promotion' because we keep these gifts on the shelf and don't use them.

Revelation

Periodically I go through a period of self assessment or self reflection. I thought about everything that I have accomplished so far and I asked myself had my life been to perfect before? Had it been blemish free? For the most part it had. I mean, I had hit a few potholes in life, but who hasn't? For the most part it has been blemish free. That's almost scary... Many of you know that I am now an author and I was reading an article about the importance of revelation or an epiphany in the story. What is my revelation? My eureka moment.