Go to Tombstone Generator and create your own tombstone. Do it while you can still see it!

Every so often, even for the originator of this site, it is good to go back to the purpose and origin of the site:

Who is The Real Zing? My name is David Zinger but a few people called me Zing as I was growing up…as I get older, less and less peple call me zing but I thought it was a zesty moniker for this site.

Do you actually look like this? Okay, I don’t actually look like the picture on this page – maybe close on a bad day – but this is a playful site blending personal, practical, and helpful perspectives on personal growth and development. I don’t mind being a little warped and providing you with a different perspective on the field. In addition with this picture, if you ever see me in person you will be able to say, “you look even better than your picture, have you lost some weight?”

Can you really “Master” humour? I have a Master’s of Education Degree yet I can’t teach in schools because I don’t have a teaching certificate. I am not sure whether I am bragging or complaining here. I have taught educational psychology courses at University of Manitoba and other universities for almost 25 years. My Master’s thesis was on humour in counselling. I wanted to call it: This Thesis is a Joke: An Examination of Humor in Counselling. My committee made me call it: The Factors and Functions of Humour in Counselling (they did let me keep the jokes in the thesis). The jokes were not great but at least I had jokes in a thesis!

Can a person really blog after 50? I am also 54 years old, which I think is old for a blogger, but not old enough to qualify for a pension. In fact I won’t get a pension as I have been self-employed for 30 years. My professional website is an integrated web-publishing site where I blog and present on employee engagement (www.davidzinger.com). I also founded and host The Employee Engagement Network with over 890 members (www.employeeengagement.ning.com)

Do you have a family? I am married to physiotherapist who is now a project manager and soon to be a director. She does give me lots of projects but I never got any free physiotherapy and she has always given me good directions. She does not have the same last name as me so I think she is pretty smart. I am the father of three teenagers. Two of the children are twins, a boy and a girl, and I can’t believe how many people when they were young asked if they were identical. You can’t be identical when you are of different gender. I will keep my children in mind as I write posts for this site (none of you are identical) and I know my youngest would probably consider me wacky.

Did you actually work as a counsellor in a distillery? Yes I was an employee counsellor for Seagram Ltd. and I did get free booze at Christmas time and to start the summer. I worked at the distillery which was the world producer for Crown Royal. I was honored to work with the employees for 13 years and they taught me so much about counselling and personal growth and development. I have also been a crisis counsellor and a migraine counsellor (not sure whether I caused migraines for my clients or helped them manage their migraines).

Why are you writing Die Happy Today? The title came to me on a flight from Winnipeg to Halifax in December 2007. I would have preferred an extra Diet Coke or cookies but the flight on Westjet left me with the question. If the plane crashed, would I die happy today?

This is not a theoretical question as I was a private pilot, took a plane from an incipient spin into a full spin, fell from about 4,000 feet, waited for my life to pass before my eyes – it didn’t happen – and I ended up with about 100 feet to spare from literally going six feet under. I often suppress this especially when I fly but at 54 it is time to unleash the learning.

I want this site to be very useful to you (not to make you afraid of flying) and I also want it to function as a reminder…if this was the last day would I die happy?

If the answer is yes, we are on track and doing well. If the answer is no than we better figure out what we need to do. By the way, happiness to me is not being some goofy looking yellow smiley face, it is a lot more complex than that. We’ll get into that over the next year.

I have been living well lately but dying poorly.

What I mean by this is that I have been full of life and projects and very meaningful work. My life has been full. Dying poorly means I have not been taking time to think about dying and my own limited shelf life. I want to live well and die well.

Living well and dying well would mean that I am both active and reflective and that doing and non-doing get full attention. One sign of dying poorly is that I have not engaged in much writing on Die Happy Today yet I have been writing loads for Employee Engagement Zingers and Joyful Jubilant Learning.

I will do better at dying well. One step I can take is to write on this site more often.

Photo Credit: Little graveyard by http://www.flickr.com/photos/spondle/173302937/

Say YES! to happiness.

YES! magazine had a succinct article on 10 Things Science Says Will Make You Happy:

1. Savor everyday moments
2. Avoid comparisons
3. Put money low on the list
4. Have meaningful goals
5. Take initiative at work
6. Make friends, treasure family
7. Smile even when you don’t feel like it
8. Say thank you like you mean it
9. Get out and exercise
10. Give it away, give it away now

Click here to read the full article.

Gretchen Rubin writes the Happiness Project.

She offered a great post on making happiness a daily project.

Read her post here and follow her blog on your pathway to happiness.