Cow's Heaven

In his book, A Cow's Heaven, Steve McNulty presents ideas and thoughts about life, and presents them in a fun, easy to read manner. The book contains thoughts and suggestions about living life, and being happy doing it. Cow's Heaven Theorems, Rules, and Dictates are offered that can serve as stepping off points for discussion. And Steve reminds the reader that we're animals, just like the cow. And with that recognition, for some, things don't seem quite so complicated or quite so serious. Provocative ideas are found in the book, including the key Cow's Heaven Dictate to treat yourself as you would a member of your own family. In other words, don't beat yourself up when you do something stupid. Just like you wouldn't ridicule a family member or a friend when they do something wrong. You would offer encouragement, just like you should do for yourself. There are other features in the book such as Cow's Rule #42 which is to make charitable contributions first to your family and friends, rather than to some large charitable organization. Since everyone knows someone who needs help, financially or otherwise. And of course the exclusive Cow's Heaven Diet is spelled out in the book - featuring the requisite dairy products, and a good mix of fruits, vegetables, and fish. And plenty of exercise. We all know what makes up a good diet, but good discipline is the primary "ingredient" in our recipes that enables the diet planning to become a reality. With key decision points needing to be made prior to the hand (containing food or drink) approaching the mouth! Think about it before you put something into your mouth. And think about how much exercise you'll need to do to offset those calories. In the book, useful insight is offered to the reader, such as: Happiness is a Choice. That is, don't expect happiness to come to you automatically, go look for it and find it. The author provides some observations about business - such as the Cow's Heaven Rule #21 that the busier things get, the more you should slow down. And there's the author's ever-popular service industry theorem of: Price, Quality, Speed: Choose Two! Steve offers that we need to make plans in our lives, and then lay out steps to initiate and undertake those plans. Plans for future education, for a career, and for finding a partner, a mate. Even pre-planning for what to do on the weekend, and with whom. Without proper planning - and execution of the plans - we can end up drifting through life and not achieving the things we know we have the potential to achieve. The purpose of this book is not to tell others how to live their lives. It just presents some Observations and Lessons Learned about Life and Living (per the subtitle!), and readers can take from it what they like, and ignore what they don't like, or don't agree with. We're all unique individuals, and everyone needs to find what works for them. The book wraps up by offering that we make the best of what we have - here and now. And that we don't know what happens to us when our animal bodies expire. But when we do expire, even if we don't get into the Human Heaven, maybe the cows will invite us into their Cows Heaven.
About the Author: Steve McNulty was born in Tomah, Wisconsin and grew up in Nutley, New Jersey. He attended college at the University of Colorado in Boulder. His professional career has been - and continues to be - in the field of energy, largely energy efficiency and renewable energy. He began his energy career in the late 1970's with a state energy office. He's worked with non-profit organizations and for-profits, all in energy, and business management. And during the course of his energy business activities, Steve has done a fair amount of international travel - to Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, and a number of other countries. Steve enjoys playing sports such as beach volleyball, golf, and skiing; and playing a few instruments like the recorder, guitar, piano, and drums. He dabbles in writing music, creating videos, and trading in collectibles and antiques. Oh, and he hereby proposes to remove the first "r" from the word February!