Only 3 choices

Inlightenment

I have come to learn that Budah said that true inlightenment can only come from bodily suffering.
It's my opinion that makes every stroke survivor on the planet eligible to be totally inlightened.
Maybe it only comes down to how we view our stroke survival?

I REMEMBER THE DAY

I have been fortunate enough unlike some stroke survivors to retain most of my memories of my first life. Memories of some awesome family times we had together!
Teaching my son how to fish at Burney Falls, CA,  Teaching him how to wakeboard, Teaching him how to play ball, and so much more! Great memories with my best friend and wife Rebecca, Awesome times with the family!
One of our favorite things to do was to go shark and ray fishing in Tomales Bay CA. We would stop by Hog Island Oyster Co. and pick 50 or so oysters called "Sweet Waters" (small not gutty) bring the portable grill down to the beach, bring BBQ sauce and butter a loaf of French bread, Bottle of wine, Shark fish, BBQ, Family together............It  was off the hook awesome!
What I want to do is encourage each one of you to do is make sure you build your own family memories! Because kids grow up quick, and our lives are so precious on this planet and take it from me............life can change in a blink of an eye!

ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES

One of the many things I'm learning through stroke survival is that we have to learn to roll with the punches of life.
Rolling with the punches means you do get punched like everyone else but we're different! By rolling with the punch we are taking away the full impact the punch normally has on a life.
Yes like our fellow mankind we are going to be punched by the troubles of life but unlike others we have learned to lesson it's effect the punch has on our life by rolling with it. Taking away it's ability to seriously hurt us.
Next time you have to face the many troubles this life has roll roll roll. Lesson it's effect on your life by not letting it knock you down!
Realize that you can face the trouble of life whatever it is and counter with a positive attitude. You will not be able to change the fact your being punched by life but you do have the power and ability to alter the outcome by dealing with it positively!

DOESN'T REALLY MATTER

Morning Peeps!
In this Second Chance I have been given on this planet, I am committed to being a much better person than I was in my first chance! So in line with my reconstruction I woke up with something very heavy on my heart.
What is of the utmost importance in our life and what will bring us the most fulfilment is that we truly learn how to truly learn to love unconditionally our fellow man on this planet! If we do not I believe it is us that will miss out on having a totally fulfilled and satisfying life on this planet.  And isn't that what we are all looking for in our lives?
So those things we have learned from the early stages of our lives that make us hate, be intolerant, condemn, judge instead loving towards all our fellow human beings on this planet does matter and must go!

OFF THE HOOK REAL

A close friend turned me on to this person.........off the hook real!
http://www.thefeelgoodlifestyle.com/3-powerful-strategies-leverage-your-time-get-more-done.html

HOW BIG IS YOUR WORLD?

Couldn't sleep woke up early enough to enjoy the moon and the stars before the sun chased them away. I began to think how big the universe is and how my life with it's problems is just a speck in the big picture of the  universe. Helping me put in perspective all my troubles.
So next time you feel your life troubles are huge..............look up to our universe and even our seemingly huge planet becomes tiny in the big picture of the universe as a whole.
So next time you are faced with what seems like a huge mountain..........back up and look at the big picture of your life and realize it's not as big as you think! You can handle the issue! You got this! It's not as big as it appears in the big picture of life on this planet!
Make it a powerful day everyone!

What really matters?

Family and love nothing else really matters!

STOP! TAKE A MOMENT

I woke with a new awareness and deep realization of just how totally awesome my family is! My second chance birthday was off the charts awesome!
In fact it was so powerful I can honestly tell you that it was the most awesome day of my life on this planet!
Before my stroke I would go through the day to day grind not taking time to stop and fully realizing what I had in my life!
True and the most powerful force on this planet. .......LOVE!
I want to encourage each one of you my brothers and sisters on this planet to stop and realize the the most powerful force you have in your life. ....LOVE!
To me it is life itself! I remember my first life and how the worries and daily stress of life became first and foremost and how I was so guilty for not taking time to absorb and fully appreciate those people in my life that gave me what this life on this planet is really about. ......True and Powerful LOVE!
So take time today and go out of your way to absorb the love from those people in your life.
To give back to them the most powerful force known to mankind. ....genuine love!
Make it a powerful day everyone!

THE DAY MY LIFE CHANGED FOREVER

On this day September 17th  I survived a major brain aneurysm and two weeks later a major stroke! In 2010, I haven't walked since then, I don't talk very well and sound like a dying cow but you know what.............I'M ALIVE!
In this Second Chance in life I have been given, I don't want to go back to my first life but rather go forward in the Second Chance I've been given on this planet, taking with me what I have learned through what I believe is the hardest thing a person can go through in life being even better and stronger than before!
Who makes stroke survival even possible for us? Who keeps us from being thrown in some home to die a lonely miserable death?
It's our spouses, It's the caregivers, It's the medical personnel, It's our dear family, It's the support we get after we survive what kills most people.................THANK YOU! WITH EVERY FIBER OF WHO I AM! THANK YOU!
For if it was not for you, there would be no stroke survivors!
If I was to say one the biggest factors that play a significant role in my long term recovery, I would have to say it's my fellow stroke survivors throughout the world and the awesome members of our Face Book group Second Chance Stroke Survivors!
I'M ALIVE! I'M ALIVE! I'M ALIVE!

MY SECOND CHANCE STEP 1

WARNING HEADACHE

6 months prior to my aneurysm exploding in my brain I was having the most painful headaches of my life! I thought for sure they were just what other people called migraines!

I never had a migraine but I thought what else can the headaches be. I told all the people I knew had migraines my symptoms. Excruciating head pain, extreme light and sound sensitive. They also thought had all the symptoms also. So I began to take every medication that was available at the pharmacy and nothing brought me the slightest relief. So desperate for relief I convinced my friends that had prescription migraine medication to let me try their medication. They also offered me no relief whatsoever.

At this point 3 months before my aneurism exploded, The headaches became so excruciating that death started to feel like it was the only way I could get relief!

I was self employed! Had been for 12 years. My families income was seriously being affected! I must work! I mean it’s my first migraine after all! So I would go to the office only to spend most of the time laying on the floor in extreme pain.

(Months before my aneurysm exploded) -The day the Golden Gate Bridge turned upside down

My family loved to go to Boudins in SF eat, have a few drinks and enjoy the energy of the city once every two months or so. But this day was different! In excruciating pain, but it was my son Ryan’s 18th birthday, I had to go!

So our family goes to the old bunker overlook just before the Golden Gate Bridge. So here I am, in the most excruciating pain of my life trying to soak in the magnificent views. I’m being tough in front of my family down playing how much pain I was actually in. What my family doesn’t know is that I had been seeing double at times for about a week. I did not tell them because I didn’t want them to freak out! After all it was just a real bad migraine right!

Here I am sitting on a bench trying so hard to ignore the pain and soak in the just awesome views when all of a sudden everything turns upside down! Guaranteed I was the only one on the face of the planet that saw the Golden Gate Bridge that way that summer day!

I dropped my head into my hands, saying nothing to my family, I mean I’m not going to ruin my sons birthday! It's just a real bad migraine!

I kept rubbing my eyes trying desperately trying to make my vision correct itself. I told no one! At this is the point I realized something was seriously wrong with me!

The vertigo finally stopped and I told no one!. So I pushed through the rest of the day! I mean I had to!

Money? What's that? Aneurysm What's that?

Now being self employed during the years of the big crash after 2008 money was extremely tight. We could not afford insurance and after this episode I knew I better get insurance right  now! Again I told no one how scared and concerned I really was. So I get  Kaiser insurance

3 months before the explosion of my aneurysm.

Reflecting on my Second Chance Birthday Sept. 17th

September 17th is my Second Chance birthday and it's making me reflect on where I have been and where I am today. From sure death to current life! I am filled with a deep thankfulness to the very core of who I am as a man! I should have died but so thankful I was allowed to live. Truly given a Second Chance at life on this planet. I'm deeply grateful for my wife, soul mate and best friend Rebecca Avila whom without, I would not be where I am today. If there is one person I owe my life to it's her! To all my family that where there for me when I and my family needed you most............THANK YOU! With every fiber of my being...THANK YOU!
Reflection
When I think back when I had my aneurysm and stroke on September 17th 2010. I remember laying in a hospital bed scared like never before, unable to talk, unable to walk, unable to move his left side of my body, unable to swallow, tracheotomy, feeding tube up my nose and so much more! I would say that one of the most terrifying and truly frustrating effects of my stroke was my inability to tell my everything (Rebecca) I love her! I could think it but I was mute........... so scary!I have truly been to death and back!
As the dawn to that date of my celebration of life is here I see I have come so far! I am told to shut up because I'm talking to much (and I do). I can eat and enjoy my wife's awesome cooking, I can Blog, I have some movement on my left side, can comprehend like never before, I now have a creative brain and the whole planet is my play ground and it's awesome!
I realize now that there was one thing that was able to stop me dead in my life tracks, that would make me come to know the true meaning of life, to give me a deep thankfulness for the special ones in my life and that was a near death experience and stroke!
Chosen if you will to see the absolute truth of life itself!
I often ask myself if stroke and a traumatic life altering event and one the hardest daily battle can go through on this planet is worth coming to know the truth about life on this planet? YES! With all that is in me YES!
TRULY I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME! I WILL BE BETTER IN MY SECOND CHANCE!
 

My Contact Me

Emma Gee

It's with great pride I introduce our newest SCSS member..............
Em Gee!
Welcome!
http://youtu.be/RHw_q9U07YY

You Think You Have a Hard Life?

http://youtu.be/Gc4HGQHgeFE

Emma's survival

Got this awesome video from our SCSS Australian Chapter.
Emma is a true survivor not a victim!
http://youtu.be/AAr1ygVzlBs

WAM-Proping something up

WAM (What's on Aaron's Mind)
I have come to realize that propping someone up or always removing their consequences makes a person weaker not stronger!
We as parents we seem to bend over backwards to do what we think is the best for our children by running to their rescue every time they have made a decisions that has lead to a bad consequence..........(Not talking about anything serious..............I'm guilty)   
It is my opinion that by always taking away someone's hard times in this life we are not teaching them to stand strong on their own two feet in this life. We are teaching them to look to others for strength or help.
Is tough love really the best way? I say yes!
The person that has had all their hard times removed seem to never grow up!
So if we want a person in our lives to be stronger within themselves we need to think twice before we bail them out.............because life is hard and a person must be strong to be successful on this planet!
What great person on this planet has been known for their weakness? NONE!
They are known for their strength and determination!

GIVE A MAN A FISH YOU WILL FEED HIM/HER FOR A NIGHT................TEACH THEM HOW TO FISH YOU WILL FEED THEM FOR A LIFE TIME!

AWEESOME MOVIE!

My cousin Trenton Waterson produced this awesome film!
A MUST SEE!
https://vimeo.com/57033506

Mankind lives like thier never going to die.................

Really That Wrong

I had something happen that proved to me I'm still under major construction in the second chance at this life I've been given. I almost made a major life altering decision insisting I was right only to have an awakening showing myself I was so so wrong!
In our lives as human beings on this planet in order to be the best person we can be we must look at ourselves honestly and judge our own selves. We must be willing to realize we are so wrong even though our emotions are insisting we so wright.
Willing to realize we are wrong and take action and ask for sincere and genuine forgiveness. Than truly we will be ever changing becoming a better person than before!
A freeing change in our lives will occur. Be willing to admit we are so wrong. Than we can truly become a better person on this planet!
Powerful human energy will than be able to flow from our lives to the ones we love and hold dear to our hearts.

Universe Gazing

I look back 3 years ago from the time I should have died and didn't. Backing up and gazing on my life and the ones I love and seeing our lives in the big picture verses focusing only on what can be the frustrating daily grind.
We can loose sight of the big picture of life.
Someone that holds a very special place in my heart saying now that a significant event in thier life is about to occur that they have waited for for three years say "if it wasn't for all the difficult life lessons they have learned along the way that led them to this point in liife and now seeing how they were all worth it! Making this time in universe and the big picture of our life on this planet that much more awesome!
Remember it's easy to get overwhelmed by the day to day difficulties in life and lose sight of the big picture of our lives even right down to a stroke and certain death. How we as human beings have learned truth and a deep appreciation for what we now have!
Budah belived that trueth and inlightenment could not come to us without suffering. Look at the difficult times in your life as a teacher of understanding and truth.
Then we can see how the universe has come to this perfect time and space in our lives. To this place of truth and understanding.
So I find myself asking...are the extremely difficult times worth coming to know the truth about life. ..yes!
With all that's in me.....YES!

Who's the ultimte judge?

Never in my first life would I ever even consider myself or see myself supporting gay rights! Now that I've been given a Second Chance at this life on the planet through stroke survival I have come to know that true genuine love is the only way to live our lives on this planet!
My cousin Trenton Waterson is gay and I'm so so so proud of him and through stroke survival and the ultimate force on the planet.............love........... him and I have been able to connect on a very close level like him and I have never connected before! WHY?............LOVE! LOVE!!

DON'T JUDGE!  DON'T HATE! LIFE IS TO SHORT TO WASTE YOUR LIFE ENERGY ON SUCH A DARK FORCE AND SCURGE OF THE PLANET!
WHO MADE YOU JUDGE?
ALWAYS LIVE A LIFE FILLED WITH LOVE AND TOLERANCE TO THE VERY CORE OF WHO YOU ARE!
YOU HAVE THE POWER TO MAKE THIS PLANET A BETTER PLACE! YOU CAN CHANGE THE FUTURE!!!!

A new day is dawning!

Today is a new day in my stroke recovery!
The SRJCAPE has the most awesome adaptive PE program I know of on the planet!
Santa Rosa Junior College not only helps us that survive a stroke but all brain attacks, disabilities of all kinds also the elderly that want to better their  quality of life.
The SRJCAPE program is ran by my dear friend Kathy Bell and an awesome support staff. Almost gutted due to budget cuts I have seen with my own two eyes how they impact individuals lives that society would forget on the roadside. Instilling value to all those with all kinds of disabilities.
My goal is to walk again after 3 years post stroke.
I must get out of the prison of my wheelchair!
I must!
If your in a place financially and want to be part of the SRJCAPE team in making this planet a better place contact Kathy Bell to contribute any amount of money...anything will help change lives!
The SRJCAPE department does not know I'm writing this!
Please surprise them today with your gifts!
Together we can make this planet a better place!
kbell@santarosa.edu
http://online.santarosa.edu/presentation/page/?35770

Thankfull

Just when I think it couldn't get better being surrounded with people, family and friends, that know and show me what honest true love is it gets better and more awesome!
My cousin Trenton Waterson writes one of the most powerful full of real true love pieces I have read since I almost died and was granted a second chance.
Just when I thought I couldn't have a more awesome birthday....I do!
What my cousin wrote was what life itself is all about!
His words were not hollow but filled with real, powerful and true love! (I will share what he wrote tomorrow)
We as human beings strive to aquire what? A new car? A bigger motor home? A bigger house. ....what are we trying to achieve?  My opinion we are are looking for true peace and love within this one life we are given on this planet.
My opinion is we find it not in material things but only in the non material. We find a totally fulfilled life in genuine and 100% true love!
We find it when we put others needs above our own needs!
We focus on how we can help others have a better life on this planet.  It's in a smile,  it's holding the door open for a total stranger, it's in giving to someone less fortunate on this planet. I know it's found in true,  and genuine love! Genuine love is the most powerful force on planet earth!
Make it an awesome day!
Sincerely,
Aaron

MY BIRTHDAY SONG!

MY BIRTHDAY SONG!
http://youtu.be/Gi4GQG8xESM

How many birthdays do you have?

Today September 1st 1963 my life on this planet started and for that I'm grateful!

September 17th 2010 is my Second Chance Birthday! Survived a major brain aneurysm and I'm alive when I should be dead! I'm alive! I'm alive!I'm alive! I'm alive!  I get to see and be with my awesome wife of 22 years and my awesome son Ryan.............I'M ALIVE WHEN I SHOULD BE DEAD!