Must be present to win

Don't ask me why but this phrase popped into my head this morning at 4 AM as I was rolling over and trying to go back to sleep. Must have been part of a forgotten dream but for some reason the phrase stuck with me.
How many times have we heard that phrase when entering a contest? I know for me it was always a turnoff. I have to be there? Shoot! Can't they just mail me my prize? Why must I sit through something I wouldn't have just to win something? None times out of ten, I wouldn't enter then. Too much work.
"Must be present to win"... sounds like a great title for a book [and I am hereby officially calling dibs on this one. It's mine.]. But I think it's also a great metaphor for life.
Call it Zen, call it practical but it hit home for me. We can't go through life just going through the motions and expect anything great to happen. You really have to be "present" in order to do anything that's going to be worthwhile.
In the vernacular of my youth - "Far out!"
I have been putting in more effort lately to make some life-long dreams a reality and it's working. I had done this "half-assed" in the past and didn't get very far. I see now that I needed to be "present" and make a concerted effort if I wanted to see the best outcome, not just an okay outcome.
Far out, indeed!

Giving

I just finished Pres Bill Clinton's new book Giving. Fantastic book!
Years ago, in her book Passages Gail Sheehy talked about the decades of the 50's and 60's of a person's life as being the ones where we would reflect and give back. Now the Boomers have arrived and are doing exactly that.
Pres Clinton's book gives some very good ideas and suggestions. How wonderful this planet would be if we all did even just a little bit of what he suggests.