Finding my LEGO spirit from childhood

Jennifer and I were at the mall yesterday and we wandered into the LEGO Store. I wanted to see what the new school of space LEGO looked like. In many ways it had changed, there were logos and cross branding and new types and styles, but its heart and soul was still the same.

The store was awesome, it was bright and filled with colors, there was tons of LEGO for kids to play with. They had high tech video stations were you could scan a box and it would play a video and show what could be done with the blocks inside. I was really very inspired and my heart was filled with memories from my childhood. It seems that I am returning to the inner nerd that was creative, and playful, loved computers and learning. (when I use the term “nerd” know that I mean nothing negative, I was in an advanced learning program as a child and I affectionately referred to us as NERDS)

The greatest part of the Lego store was when I turned around and my son was elbow deep in two tubs of LEGO blocks and was so engrossed I struggled to get his attention. It reminded me so much of myself and how LEGO made me feel as a kid. I spoke with the store manager, a guy named Matt, and he was super nice, spent some time with me, helped me look for some classic LEGO kits, and then gave me a card with the information for the LEGO charity where they support projects just like mine.


Here is the Lego Vision (taken directly from their website www.lego.com)

LEGO’s Vision

The purpose and vision of the LEGO Group is to inspire children to explore and challenge their own creative potential.

• We strive to accomplish this by offering a range of high quality and fun products centered around our building systems.

• In the hands of children, the products inspire the unique form of LEGO play that is fun, creative, engaging, challenging - all at the same time.

• This activity supports the child, giving it the special pride of accomplishment. In the process it "automatically" or playfully develops a set of future, highly-relevant capabilities: Creative and structured problem-solving, curiosity and imagination, interpersonal skills and physical motor skills - building with LEGO bricks is thus about "learning through play".

I found certain elements of this to be perfect metaphors for what I am trying to accomplish. LEGO lets you dream and create and actually build those little creations. It gives you directions that you can follow and earn a sense of accomplishment, but you can also take the pieces and build something totally abstract as well. There are so many great lessons for kids of all ages.

I am going to approach LEGO with a request for corporate partnership for the Dream Cadets, the non profit aspect of my project. It will surely prove to be interesting working with these big corporations and seeing what they have to offer, what interest I can generate and how big we can make this project.

Like the little penny stop motion movie that I made, LEGO offers a great lesson for me to return to as well;

Question: How do you complete your LEGO projects, both big and small?
Answer: One block at a time and follow your plan.

Until next time,

Jim Moss
The Panhandling Spaceman

A note about inspiration and having dreams...

A quick honest chat about the project…

Lately, I’ve noticed a lot of great questions come up and ensuing banter about the project and the intentions of it. I know that there will be people who don’t take the time to understand what I am doing, or who judge it with whatever opinion they have from the little they know about me or will take the time to understand the project. Truthfully, I don’t mind. I need those people. I need to be questioned and put to the test and reminded that I believe in this. I don’t have it all figured out yet, and I don’t want to. I really am betting that the journey will be most enjoyed through the life changes, the newly developed relationships and the side projects – it will be enjoyed by the lessons I learn about myself. As I set out this course for space, I’ll get a whole lifetime of experience in return.

I appreciate that people will have their opinions and I appreciate that they will take the time to voice them. I also appreciate the people, who come to the defense of the whole thing and the chatter that ensues, the fact that people are taking positions and defending their views, getting in the mix, that is a great thing. Our lives are easily drummed to sleep by the fast paced beating of the economic machine. We don’t take enough time to sit and think, talk, argue about what we believe in and in turn, it seems we eventually concede to someone else’s views. It feels like less frequently we take a new view point or allow ourselves to be convinced of something good and true.

There are many sub-goals for this project of mine, and this increase in awareness, is a personal priority. When Obama was inaugurated, I felt this wonderful tingling inside of me. It was hope and inspiration and it was a feeling I’d been longing for that I hadn’t felt in sometime. I loved it and I want to feel it more often – it was motivating me to be a better person. I want everyone to feel like that.

To inspire others, I’m realizing you have to be out there – sharing your message, hence the blog and the speaking engagements and of course, the mission to outer space. I’m also realizing that it is in these grand gestures that people seem to pay attention. My first speaking engagement will be this week. My niece, Nicole is going to do a project for school that focuses on the mission and my drive to be a leader through my own project. We plan to do some video interviews and have a lot of fun. The exciting part – is our ability to work with new technology to reach so many people in different parts of the world. Her class in Cambridge, Ontario in Canada and I will be Skypeing in from San Jose, California! I am pumped that I can be an inspiration to my niece and I hope that she can be an inspiration to other kids. Inspiration can be very contagious. What was exciting was that she approached me with the idea and I was already brainstorming mini-curriculums to present to other classrooms. This will be a great test-pilot to see how we can increase the awareness aspect of my project. I intend to “Skype” into classrooms to get the discussion going with kids and teens and get them thinking about their dreams and goals. I want to give them advice on how to stay on track and not underestimate their abilities.

Like I said - inspiration is contagious and what a great feeling to spread around! I love that people are passionate; it is one of the defining characteristics that make us human. When we lose that and subsequently drone away at life, stop pursuing our goals and dreams, our lives turn into the movie Groundhog Day. The days just keep repeating themselves until we figure out the meaning and the important stuff. It might be cliché but life is too short; people are dying around us, text messaging drivers running over babies, earthquakes in Haiti, 9/11, airplane underwear bombs. If there was ever a time to support the people who are trying to do more with their life, people who are trying to lead us into change, it is now. That might sound self-serving but I really believe it.

In earthquake lingo, I had a minor tremor last September, when the Guillain Barre hit. In fact, as I sit here right now, the bottoms of my feet are still tingling and my big toe is completely numb. One day my 7.2 quake will hit and if I am trapped under the rubble of my own life, when all of the construct collapses down on me, I hope as I lay there and wait for help, I can say that I was awake, I breathed in life, I took chances, I got people talking and thinking, I inspired people. If I can do that, when my time comes, I’ll have done something right.

Thanks for your continued interest and support in my journey through Guillain Barre, life, and my trip to space.

The "I'm Going to Space Guy"
Jim Moss

Day 10 - Better to have Loved and Lost

Life is full of clichés – simple or common phrases that metaphorically compare universal truths to everyday experiences. Better to have loved and lost, then never to have loved at all. It is better to have taken risks, understanding the potential of those risks, even if you fall short of reaching your goals as the true honor lays in the effort spent in the pursuit. Is it true that “dreams were never meant to be prudent but instead to have brought joy into our lives?” I sure hope it is.  When I was younger, I remember saying one time, and I wrote it down because it seemed oddly pertinent, “better to shoot for the stars and at least make it to the moon, I’d bet the view is still pretty good”. It seems particularly ironic now, given the dream I am working towards.

Since deciding to begin this project, I have had a few interesting conversations since I decided to begin my project of going to outer space. One of my good friends has just completed a lifelong dream of making a movie.  Just this weekend he celebrated at the wrap party to his first script that will see the big screen. I was speaking with him about his accomplishment and you could hear the euphoria in his voice. I found it so inspiring. These are the kind of people to keep around, people who are actively pursuing their goals. When you talk to your friends or family or co-workers, are you the person that beams with joy because you are on the right path, or are you the person who can’t seem to say anything positive because your life has been so unfulfilling lately?  I have a few examples of each in my life and I am finally learning the impact that those people have on how I feel. What I find the most frustrating is that you could want, with all of your heart, to help some people, but the likelihood is that they are not easily helped, that their language makes them always the victim and they are not quick to take responsibility for why they are failing. I am trying hard to be more like the first example, to take responsibility for my own happiness and health and to support anyone that is interested in the same. It’s not that I don’t want to hear about your problems, it’s that I really want to hear what the solution is, or the question that asks to help find the solution? Those are the people that want to make changes for the better, that really desire to find happiness. My new boss always says “bring me solutions, I can get behind solutions”. I guess I have been listening after all.

One of my fundamental premises in this project is that the pursuit of your goals is the pursuit of happiness. If your dreams are truly your dreams and they are well thought out and right-minded, they must represent a happy place. Therefore, the pursuit of those things must be the pursuit of happiness? I am sure that not every day will be filled with bliss, but even on the worst days, at least when you close your eyes before bed, you can find peace in still being on the path to your happy place.

To give you a quick idea of what my happy place looks like: “it looks down at the earth, all of the colors in pure sunlight, raw and vibrant. For the only time ever in my life, I can actually visually see all of the people that I love in my life at one time. It is deadly silent. I don’t want to blink because the time spent here will be so finite. It is nature. It is our place in the Universe. It is alive in every way and it is so much bigger than any one of us. I don’t want any pictures or movies.  I want to burn this image into my mind and the feeling into my heart. From this point forward, when I close my eyes, I want this image to drive me forward in helping others to live out their dreams. This is my motivation.

The “I’m going to space guy”

Jim Moss